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THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 AND
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL
DOCTRINES
EUGENE NEWTON CURTIS, M. A.
Assistant Professor of Modern European History at Goucher College
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN THE
Faculty of Poutical Science
Columbia University
NEW YORK
1917
X53?
Co
ATHERTON CURTIS
IN AFFECTIONATE GRATITUDE
PREFACE
This study was begun at Paris in 191 3, before France
and the United States were allied in war a second time. In
the light of this alliance, it becomes peculiarly gratifying to
find that a close friendship existed between the two countries
in the early days of the Second Republic. The extent to
which this friendship was based on a like attitude toward
constitutional problems and issued in an endeavor to find
similar solutions has seemed a question worthy of in-
vestigation.
I wish to express my gratitude to M. Emile Bourgeois,
professor of diplomatic and political history at the Sor-
bonne, to M. Georges Renard, professor at the College de
France and editor of La revolution de 1848 for helpful sug-
gestions at an early stage of my work and for invaluable
assistance in gaining access to the archives of the Chamber
of Deputies and to the archivists of the Chamber for their
unfailing courtesy. I am indebted to Professors James
Harvey Robinson, James T. Shotwell and Charles A. Beard
of Columbia University for kindly encouragement, to Pro-
fessors Charles D. Hazen, William A. Dunning and Wil-
liam R. Shepherd for useful criticisms, to Professor Hazen
for unstinted aid in correcting proof, and to my wife.
Blanche O. Curtis, for faithful cooperation in overcoming
the mechanical difficulties of the task and for continued in-
spiration.
185] 7
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Europe and America in 1848: A Contrast
Importance of 1848 13
Economic and political situation of France under Louis Philippe 17
Crisis of 1847 21
Revolution of 1848 24
Territorial expansion of the United States 26
Military spirit 25
Economic prosperity 29
Social enthusiasm 31
French interest in the United States Constitution, 1 789-1 791 32
« «< «< «< <« «« 1830 35
«* « « «« <« « 1848 36
CHAPTER II
Composition of the Assembly
"Work of the French provisional government 37
Growing disaffection of the working class 38
The executive commission 41
Increased discontent of radicals 42
The June insurrection 43
Contrast in spirit of February and June, 1848 47
American influence in campaign addresses, April, 1848 ..,.,..,. 47
Elections for the Constituent Assembly 50
Opening of Assembly 55
Parties in Assembly 61
Organization of Assembly 66
Chronology of constitution 68
187] Q
10 CONTENTS [igg
PAGB
CHAPTER HI
What France Thought About America
Official recognition of French Republic by United States minister 69
Action of United States consul 76
Action of American colony 77
President Polk's endorsement of minister's action 78
Action of Congress 81
French government's reply 87
American offers of concrete assistance 91
Meetings in American cities 93
The Democratic National Convention 96
Effect of American friendliness on French thought 96
Tocqueville's Democracy in America , 97
Chevalier's letters . , 10 1
Poussin's works loi
Collections of constitutions 102
French attitude toward the American ideal 103
«' " «« " America of daily life no
CHAPTER IV
The Representatives
Biographical compilations 116
Test-votes 117
Party classification 122
Liberals 123
Radical Republicans 1 27
Socialists 129
Conservatives J30
Legitimists 136
Unclassifiable representatives 138
Members of constitutional commission 1 39
Attitude of representatives on test-questions 143
« " ** " American example 146
CHAPTER V
The Constitutional Commission
The prods-verbal 149
Subject-plan 150
Debate on legislature 150
" « executive 157
" " judiciary 162
Conclusion 163
189] CONTENTS II
PAGE
CHAPTER VI
The Assembly Debates
Preliminary allusions to American example 164
Debate on preamble 165
" " legislature 169
** *« executive . . , 186
« " judiciary 215
« « government ownership of railroads 215
« « «' control of press 223
" « " encouragement of agriculture 229
Remarks on American spirit of individualism 230
« " paper-money 232
Miscellaneous allusions 233
CHAPTER VII
Contemporary Comment
Classification of newspapers 241
News-reports . . 244
Report of bureaux' discussions of the constitution ... 247
Editorials on general value of American example. . „ 258
" " American executive 269
" " " legislature 271
" " ** judiciary 278
" " " preamble 278
Miscellaneous comment 279
Newspaper reprints of the United States constitution 283
Special articles on the United States 286
Pamphlet literature 312
Books on the United States 317
CHAPTER VIII
Conclusions
Influence of American example on the constitution of 1848 324
Summary of references to the American model 324
Character of the influence 326
Attitude of French parties toward the American system 326
APPENDIX
Constitution of 1848 331
Bibliography 347
CHAPTER I
Europe and America in 1848: A Contrast
To a generation like our own, whose emphasis has been
increasingly transferred from the individual to society,
whose deepest problems lie in the relations of employer and
wage-earner, the year 1848 stands out from the background
of its insignificant neighbors with a special meaning. Down
to 1848, economics, so far as it affected politics, had been pre-
eminently the science of the production of wealth ; from then
on it began to address itself seriously to the problem of its
distribution. The year 1848 marks the appearance of the
wage-earner as a serious political force; it is the starting-
point of labor's effort to make for itself a place in the sun. It
is distinctly a year of revolution!, of bloody fighting, mostly
in the streets of great capitals, a translation of the industrial
conflict into terms of barricades and bayonets. But it would
be a grave error if one were to think of 1848 solely or even
primarily as a conscious struggle between clearly distinct,
bitterly hating social classes. It became that to some extent,
but never entirely; it was certainly not that at all in the be-
ginning. On the contrary, 1848 began with and never quite
lost a certain idyllic charm of universal brotherhood, a pas-
sionate sense of human equality. To some extent this was
a hypocritical pose ; the selfish capitalist of Louis Philippe's
time could not and did not suddenly change his skin, as was
amply proved before the year was out. But the mere fact
that the pose was necessar}-, that rich candidates for of^ce
gave ouvrier as their profession in order to have a chance
for victory at the polls, shows how general the enthusiasm
191] 13
14 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-j^2
for social justice had become. All Europe, catching fire from
France, burned with radical fervor. No doubt it was an
impractical time; age-long abuses cannot be suddenly solved
by a burst of sentiment. Uncalculating, generous, emotion
formed the essential atmosphere of the moment, but the vice
of impracticality caused its failure. The year 1849 was
an equally universal time of reaction, whose edicts of ban-
ishment gave America one of the most valuable of its im-
migrant strains.
But however transitory the constructive work of 1848
seems tO' have been, its importance is undiminished as wit-
nessing the beginning of the practical study of the social
problem, in a modern way. The ideal reconstructions of the
Utopians, of St. Simon and Fourier began now to yield to
definite schemes for the improvement of society as it is. This
marks the first aspect in which 1848 has permanent social
meaning. As one of the leading French authorities on the
period, M. Renard, said to the writer, " For me, 1848, even
more than 1789, is the mother of revolutions. The latter
was a political struggle for individual rights, the former a
struggle for social rights. Many of the concrete schemes for
social betterment which are now on the statute-books of
Europe, were suggested then." ^ The French Revolution of
1789 was concerned with the Rights of Man in the singular,
the Revolution of 1848, in the intent of its more thorough
exponents at least, sought to realize social justice. In this
respect it was more, not less, practical than its great prede-
cessor, for modern man has moved out of Rousseau's Gar-
den of Eden into- the cities. And there was hard thinking
on concrete problems, though it was too confused with
visionary schemes to get much of a hearing. In brief,
1848 did not accomplish as much as its reformers expected
1 For a detailed statement of modern labor laws traceable to the in-
spiration of 1848, see G. Renard, La Repuhlique de 1848, pp. 383 et seq.
193] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 j r-
of it; their enthusiasm was rudely dealt with by the tri-
umphant forces of reaction. It was, however, a seed-time
of ideas, whose fruit has been the great modern body of
legislation for social betterment. Herein lies its success.
The second aspect in which 1848 has permanent historical
meaning is in its failure. Disillusionment followed hard on
rosy dreams of a millennium, and with that disappointment
came bitterness. In France, the new order of things was
hardly more than a month old, when such posters as the
following were affixed to the walls of Paris :
The Committee of the Democratic Radical Clubs
TO the
Popular Societies
The Republic, quite as well as the Monarchy, may harbor
servitude under its banner.
Sparta, Rome, Venice were oppressive and corrupted
Aristocracies. In North America, slavery is an institution of
the State.
LIBERTY! EQUALITY! FRATERNITY!
This device which gleams on the front of our buildings
must not be a mere theatrical adornment [une decoration
d' Opera.] Let us not permit it to become a lie as celebrated
as that of the Charter : " All Frenchmen are equal before
the law."
There is no liberty for those who lack bread!
There is no equality, when opulence flourishes at the side of
misery !
There is no fraternity, when the woman of the people drags
herself, famished, with her children to the doors of palaces.
No sterile formulas! It is not enough to change words,
it is necessary radically to change conditions.
The Republic for us is the complete emancipation of the
workers! It is the coming of a new order, which will sweep
away the last form of slavery, the proletariat.
The tyranny of capital is more pitiless than that of the
sabre and the censor. It must be broken.
l5 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [j^^
The February Revolution has had no other aim. This aim
is ours, and each of the members of the democratic Committee
engages himself to pursue it without relaxation, until it be
attained.
Paris^ April, 1848/
This dawning despair was destined to increase, not to
diminish. When the fearful insurrection of June had been
quelled with equally savage ferocity, Lamennais exclaimed
" The Republic is dead," while George Sand wrote, " I am
horrified. I believe no longer in the existence of a republic
which commences by killing its proletarians." ^
This loss of faith in the republic as the outward expres-
sion of universal harmony ushered in a narrower, but in-
tenser loyalty, that to one's social class as such. Proudhon
and Blanqui had steadily stood for that idea as against
Louis Blanc and Pierre Leroux. But the classic exponent
of the doctrine of essential antagonism is Karl Marx, whose
star begins to rise at this time. From now on Marxian so-
cialism becomes the orthodox form of radicalism, whose
leadership passes from France to Germany.^ This definite
rise of class-consciousness is one of the permanent legacies
of the failure of 1848.
No doubt can exist that while the train of revolution
throughout Europe was already laid by the romantic, liberty-
loving tendencies which had dominated thought and had
found expression in art, literature, music and political aspira-
tion through the whole first half of the nineteenth century, yet
the spark was ignited by the February revolution in France.
The specific form taken by the movement varied everywhere
according to local conditions. In some countries, it was a
1 Proclamation of Blanqui's club, just before April 16. Printed in
Les Afdches Rouges.
2 G. Renard, op. cit., p. 86.
3 Cf. G. Renard, op. cit., p. 380 et seq.
1^2] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 ly
struggle for constitutionalism, in others for nationalism,
whether centripetal as in Germany or centrifugal as in Hun-
gary. The definite impress of the French rising is to be
found in Baden and elsewhere. But the line was not yet
sharply drawn between political and economic radicalism;
it could not be until the failure of 1848 brought a sharper
classK:onsciousness into being. Thus it happened that in
most of these revolutions, the more advanced economic pro-
gram of the Paris movement was entirely lacking, while
their general spirit of radicalism was manifestly akin. At
that time all men looked to political reform as the panacea
for social ills.
Turning from the general causes that lay back of the
European revolutions of 1848 to a closer analysis of the
movement in France, let us consider briefly the economic
and political situation in the reign of Louis Philippe.
Speaking generally, the social and economic structure of
the country resembled more closely the France of the
eighteenth century than the France of to-day. Life was
still relatively simple. As late as 1850, more than three-
fourths of the population lived in communities of less than
two thousand inhabitants. Except Paris, which had
i»053>ooo at that time, only Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux
exceeded 100,000; Rouen just touched that number. There
were no great industries in the modem sense ; manufactur-
ing was carried on in small establishments, often in a family
atelier. The country was essentially agricultural. Agri-
culture itself was backward. The rotation system (assole-
ments) was practised, 25,000,000 hectares being worked,
while 5,000,000 were kept idle to rest the soil. There were
few means of locomotion. Macadam roads were just be-
ginning to be built, the majority of roads were still paved.
Railroads were rare; the diligence transported passengers,
wagons carried articles of commerce tO' the market. Food
l8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 |-jq5
crises still occurred, especially in the provinces, as in the
eighteenth century. There was little popular education.
Newspapers (subject to a cautionnement, or bond for polit-
ical good behavior) were expensive luxuries. Public life
was restricted to the pays legal, which meant that only those
voted who paid 200 francs in direct taxes (not more than
200,000 were so qualified), while only those who paid 500
francs in taxes were eligible to sit in parliament. There were
few shares listed on the Bourse ; mostly Government rentes,
titres of the Banque de France and canal-shares, little else.
Limited companies were almost unknown. France was
strongly centralized, but very slightly unified. Social dis-
tinctions, for example, were strongly marked. The blouse
marked the workman, the habit the bourgeois; the former
wore a bonnet^ the latter a chapeau; the latter was a mon-
sieur, the former an homme.^ Such was the case despite the
monarch's supposed democratic tendencies. The old heredi-
tary aristocracy, based on birth and land, had, it is true,
lost control with the downfall of Charles X, but it had
merely been replaced by the new aristocracy of wealth.
Bourbon legitimism had yielded to bourgeois capitalism, in-
significant as yet if measured by modern standards, but
growing ever more powerful through the favor of the Or-
leanist regime.^
1 P^ide C. Seignobos* lectures, "Histoire politique de la France con-
temporaine depuis 1848," in the Revue des cours et conferences for
1907-08, vol. i, esp. pp. 175 and 176. Cf. E. Levasseur, Histoire des
classes ouvrieres et de Vindustrie en France de 1789 a 1870, vol. ii, bk. iv.
2 " Posterity, which sees only striking crimes and whose notice, ordi-
narily, vices escape, will perhaps never know to what degree the gov-
ernment of that time had, toward the end, taken on the features of an
industrial company, where all the operations are made with a view to
the profit which the stockhold'ers may draw from them. These vices
sprang from the natural instincts of the ruling class, from its absolute
power, from the very character of the age. King Louis-Philippe had
perhaps contributed to their increase." A. de Tocqueville, Souvenirs,
p. 7.
jQ^] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 ^g
It is this great and sudden growth of weahh that forms
the chief significance of the Orleanist period to the student
of 1848, for without it the revolution in the form which it
assumed would have been impossible. It is interesting to
see how undeveloped the age still was, in contrast to the
twentieth century; it is even more important, however, to
note the new tendency which had gripped and mastered it
and was rushing it away from the quiet past into new and
complex problems. For France was in the throes of a vaster
movement than that of 1848; she was in the full tide of the
Industrial Revolution.
The political philosophy of Louis Philippe was essentially
that of his favorite minister, Guizot, whose power lasted
uninterruptedly from 1840 to 1848. It was a policy of ex-
ternal peace and internal economic development. Having
managed to go through the Oriental crisis without warfare,
though without much glory, the government's caution in for-
eign affairs became more and more pronounced. It reached
its extreme point in the Pritchard affair (1844), when
France humbled herself before England. This was so much
the easier to do, because England's constitutional and social
structure was the model which Orleanist France admired
and strove to emulate. The entente cordiale with the Eng-
land of Adam Smith was as fixed an article of political faith
with Guizot as was the entente cordiale with the Austria of
Metternich. These two ideals furnish the key to the last
years of Orleanist France. " Enrichissez-vous " ^ cried
Guizot to his capitalist friends, while turning a stony im^
passivity to the opposition in its efforts to extend the pays
^ Guizot denied ever making use of this expression, attributed to him
by a hostile newspaper in its report of a speech made by him to his
electors in 1846. It became famous, however, and even if unhistorical,
adequately expresses his economic philosophy. Cf. Hamel, Histoire de
France depuis la revolution, vol. 8, p. 573 and note.
20 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-j^g
legal ever so little. The glorification of property, both land
and fluid capital, in the fifth chapter of his Democratie en
France was written from Guizot's heart. To this official
policy, the new capitalist aristocracy responded with zest.
Mechanical inventions, new industrial processes, but especi-
ally railroads, gave opportunities for speculation and enrich-
ment at a rate previously unknown. Guizot points with
justifiable pride to the fact that the increase in the ordinary
revenues of 1847 over those of 1829 amounted to 349,413,-
354 francs. Of this increase, a part was indeed due to new
direct taxes, but the growth in revenue from indirect taxa-
tion, amounting to 243,317,400 francs or nearly three-
fourths of the whole, was "almost solely the result of the con-
tinuous progress of general well-being and national wealth." ^
As early as 1842, a proposed trade agreement between
France and Belgium was abandoned by the government at
the behest of the great manufacturers and mine-owners of
the north. On February 7th, 1842, Guizot launched his vast
railway scheme. Up to that time, little had been done,
though much had been said. According to the new scheme,
France, then far behind other countries in railroad con-
struction, was to be covered with a network connecting
Paris with Lille, the Channel, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Lyons,
Strasburg, in fact all the important cities of the kingdom.
2500 kilometers were thus to be built by joint public and
private effort; the roads (which were owned by privaite
capital) were to furnish the equipment, complete the con-
struction and operate on a long franchise. There were
scandals and speculations, but the roads were built, in part
at least. At the end of 1841, France had only 877 kilo-
1 Guizot, Memoires pour servir <i Vhistoire de mon temps, 1867 ed.,
vol. 8, p. 609 et seq.
jgg-^ EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 2I
meters of railroads, of which 566 were in operation. In
1847, there were 1832 kilometers/
The era of speculation and prosperity was followed by the
panic of 1847, which started in England. The period of
expansion began there about 1843. ^^ 1844, the deposits of
the Bank of England passed fifteen millions, while the dis-
count rate fell to two per cent, even to one and one-half per
cent. Then the railroad-building fever came there too. The
Economist calculates that the new lines, receiving conces-
sions at that time, called for £200,000,000. There was
great speculation in other new enterprises. Such was the
position of affairs when, in 1846, a potato disease and a bad
wheat crop required heavy food importations which necessi-
tated considerable exports of specie in the spring of 1847.
Credit was violently shaken in January, but, during the sum-
mer, gold began to return, and the danger was considered
past. Towards autumn, the drainage of gold began again
and the Bank of England was compelled to raise its rate of
discount abruptly. Panic ensued. Bankruptcies com-
menced with those of the wheat merchants. The quarter
fell from 102 shillings in January to 49 shillings in Septem-
ber. In October, the crisis was at its height. Discount was
then at eight per cent. Factories were closed, railroad
workmen discharged, construction ceased for lack of capital.
Misery was universal.^ This situation was not without a
parallel in other countries. France and Germany saw their
1 Articles " Chemin de fer" and "France (Industrie)" in La Grande
Encydopedie. Guizot states, however, that on Dec. 31, 1847, there were
2059 kilometers in full operation and 2144 under construction. {Mem-
oir es, vol. 8, p. 626.) That this is an overestimate seems probable
from a comparison of the figures given in the text with those of A. de
Foville (in La Transformation des moyens de transport, p. 18 et seq.).
Foville gives for 1841, 571 km.; for 1847, 1829 km.
2 Art. " Crise," by Emile de Laveleye in La Grande Encydopedie,
vol. 13, p. 383.
22 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["200
unsubstantial cloud-castles come crashing to the ground in
turn. In France, government expenses had been mounting
steadily. From 1840 to 1846, in spite of an average annual
increase in receipts of 40 millions, the total excess of dis-
bursements over receipts had reached 433 millions. The
failure of the wheat crop in 1846 affected France as well as
England: here, too, grain had to be purchased abroad, at
the cost of heavy specie exportations. Floods in 1846
caused much damage. The railroad project drained the re-
sources of the state heavily and, as the defeated partisans
of government ownership grumbled, all for the benefit of
private corporations. In less than two years the companies
had contracted loans to the amount of 1300 millions, and the
treasury a loan of 200 millions, or 1500 million francs for
railroad construction. The public was swept away by the
mad fever of speculation in these securities, which rose to
fabulous quotations. Meanwhile the Bank of France, un-
able to cope with these heavy demands, saw its balance
diminish by 172 millions from July ist, 1846 to January ist,
1847. It was compelled to borrow 25 millions in bullion
from London. Discount commenced to rise. Credit was
tightened and the market began to totter. The budget for
1848 foresaw a further deficit of 243 millions in the national
treasury. To cover it, a new loan of 350 millions was
contracted in July, which added its weight to depress the
already overburdened market. Wheat continued to rise ; in
January, it was already up to 29.92 francs a hectolitre, by
June in certain places it touched 49.70. Riots broke out,
bands of armed peasants opposed the movement of crops,
and blood was shed, before the mihtary could restore order.
Railroad construction was suspended, workmen saw them-
selves discharged or their wages reduced, industry came to
a halt, it was a time of panic and privation.^
1 Gamier- Pages, La Revolution de 1848, vol. i, ch. i and ii. ,
201 ] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 23
Perhaps if the economic crisis of 1847 had stood by itself,
there would have been no revolution in France, any more
than in England. But it did not stand by itself. It was
aggravated by a political crisis.
To begin with, the two causes of popular discontent, the
economic and the political, were unhappily linked by the
revelation of a number of grave scandals affecting men in
high position. Corruption was uncovered in the supply
departments of the army and navy, particularly in connection
with Algeria, whereby inferior food for the men and
horses and poor coal for the ships had been accepted by the
authorities.
A still greater sensation was caused by the publication of
letters which had passed between M. de Cubieres, lieutenant-
general, and a mine-owner at Gouhenans, whereby the for-
mer demanded and obtained 45 shares, worth ioo,cxx) francs,
to gain for the latter the necessary support in the council of
ministers for certain coal and salt-mine concessions. The
man higher up in this scandal turned out to be M. Teste, a
former minister, then sitting in the Chamber of Peers and
acting as president de chambre at the Court of Cassation.
In July the trial was held before the Chamber of Peers, the
defendants found guilty, and sentenced to- a heavy fine and
imprisonment
These sporadic scandals, however, though more spectacu-
lar, were in reality of far less importance than the insidious
and thorough-going corruption of the parliamentary major-
ity by the government. As has been indicated above, the
parliament was elected on an extremely restricted franchise
and was thus already the choice of the property-holding and
well-to-do classes. It was thus almost entirely conservative
in its composition, as a result of such an election. But to
make its control absolutely sure, the government appointed
no fewer than 200 out of a chamber of 459 to posts in the
24 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [202
civil service/ These office-holders, who owed their places
to the cabinet, always voted for it solidly and constituted
the main strength of the government party. There were
hence two lines of action on the part of the opposition,
electoral reform and parliamentary reform. The first line
was taken in the proposition presented by Duvergier de
Hauranne in March 1847; i^ called for a lowering of the
voter's qualification from 200 to 100 francs!, the addition
of the '' capacities " to the list of voters (i. e. a limited num-
ber of intellectuals, whose education would be a sufficient
safeguard of their conservatism), and an increase in the
number of deputies from 459 to 538. The other line was
taken in M. de Remusat's project of April, which would
establish the ineligibility to the chamber of all officers of the
army and members of the military and civil households of
the king and the princes. Both of these projects were de-
feated, the latter by a smaller majority than the former.
There soon followed the famous campaign of the ban-
quets, which began at Paris, July 9th, and continued through-
out the remainder of the year in all parts of France. At
these banquets, organized by the opposition, the principles
of reform were patiently propagated among the people.
It was this campaign which led directly up to the Revolu-
tion of 1848. The prohibition of the final banquet, planned
for February 22, the popular uprising on that and the suc-
ceeding day, the dismissal of the Guizot ministry, the public
rejoicing interrupted by a fresh clash with the troops, the
renewal of the struggle on February 24 with heightened
bitterness, the abdication and flight of the king and the vain
effort to establish a regency are too well-known to need
repetition here.
Republican propaganda had been going on all through
1 E. Hamel, Histoire de France depuis la rSvoluHon, vol, 8, p. 499.
203] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 25
Louis Philippe's reign in the clubs and secret societies. Of
late it had taken a distinctly socialist turn, due in large part
to the economic distress traced above, and to the miserable
condition of the working-classes in the early days of the
Industrial Revolution/ It is to be noted that the Revolu-
tion of 1848 was carried through in the cities; the country-
districts, still strongly agricultural, followed their lead, but
with lukewarm interest, and later formed the strength of the
reaction that carried Louis Napoleon into power. The 23rd
of February was the day when the political interests of the
lower middle class were uppermost in the public mind ; the
battle-cry was Vive la reforme; that night, with the choice
of the Barrot ministry, they had gained their cause. The
24th of February was the day when the economic grievances
of the wage-earning class held the stage ; the workers won
their victory that afternoon when in a stormy session, in-
vaded by the populace, the chamber rejected the regency and
chose a Provisional Government consisting of Dupont
(de I'Eure), Arago, Lamartine, Ledru-RoUin, Gamier-
Pages, Marie and Cremieux, the majority of whom were
1 A careful study shows that workmen took little part in the republican
societies and propaganda until 1834. Both during the Restoration and the
first four years of the July monarchy, the membership of the societies
was bourgeois, students and journalists playing an important part. The
secret societies from 1834 to 1848 were, however, largely composed of
workmen, the Saisons being entirely so. Workmen were, however, rarely
leaders of the societies. It is to be noted also that the workmen interested
in politics formed only a small minority of the total working population,
and consisted chiefly of those living in Paris, Lyons and a few large
towns, the industrial north and east being largely indifferent. The
majority preferred the strike as a weapon for industrial grievances,
and many of these strikes were violent. Cf. G. Weill, Hist, du parti
republican en France de 1814 d 1870, 1. Tchernoff, Le parti repuhlicain sous
la monarchie de juillet, but especially the contemporary sources referred
to in the latter's excellent bibliography, particularly the Revue retro-
spective, no. I and the reports of the various political proces of the
time, published in the pamphlet literature of the period.
26 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [204
moderate republicans. Their number was soon after in-
creased at the Hotel de Ville, which became the new seat
of government, by a socialist and radical group, Louis
Blanc, Marrast, Flocon, and Albert, a workman, who were
first accepted only as secretaries, but presently tacitly ad-
mitted as full members. These groups represented, roughly
speaking, the more moderate National and the more radical
ReformCy the two chief republican newspapers in whose
offices the preliminary caucuses on names had been held.
Here was a line of cleavage destined ultimately to destroy
the republic. For the moment, howeven, all was harmony.
Social distinctions were forgotten, political oppression had
reached its close. The people were light-headed with the
intoxication of their painless victory, so sudden, and so in-
credibly complete. Tous les hommes sont freres was a
phrase repeated again and again in official and unofficial
proclamations. The atmosphere men breathed was sur-
charged with sentiment. " It was as though one swam in
a sea of milk," says M. Renard. Lamartine, the poet, was
the natural head of such a movement. " We are making to-
day the most sublime of poems," he cried in a sort of Delphic
ecstacy to the enraptured throngs who mistook his eloquence
for statesmanship. Idealism, radicalism, brotherhood were
on the tongues, if not in the hearts, of all.
Such was France in 1848. America presents a striking
contrast. In the first place, the United States was at that
time in the full swing of an era of territorial expansion.
For some years there had been a growing sentiment, especi-
ally in the south, in favor of the annexation of Texas. In
1844, Andrew Jackson wrote a letter of introduction for the
Texan commissioner to the United States, in which he said
that " the present golden moment to obtain Texas must not
205] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 27
be lost," ^ though Texas was still claimed by Mexico, a
friendly state. The annexation fever spread like wildfire
and the election of 1844 turned on it. James K. Polk was
nominated by the Democrats on a platform calling for an-
nexation. President Tyler, the original annexation man,
was renominated by a faction with the slogan " Tyler and
Texas," but his personal unpopularity was too great to be
overcome by the catchword of the hour. Van Buren, the
favorite, lost his chance for the Democratic nomination by
coming out against annexation, and Clay, the Whig nominee,
hedged. Mass meetings were held all over the south de-
manding annexation; at many of them there were threats
to secede rather than abandon Texas. The interests of the
cotton-trader and the desire for more slave territory were at
the bottom of this Texas enthusiasm, but the spirit of im-
perialism in north and south alike kept it from being a purely
sectional issue. Polk, though relatively obscure, was elected
over his more distinguished opponents and on March ist,
1845, ^s one of his last official acts, Tyler signed a joint
resolution of Congress annexing Texas.
Meanwhile, the Oregon claims provided an opportunity
to restore the political and economic equilibrium of north
and south. Oregon was a region between California, which
belonged to Mexico, and Alaska, which belonged to Russia.
For twenty years, the delimitation of this territory had been
in dispute between the United States and England. The
question was partly one of discovery and partly one of occu-
pancy; the crux of the matter was who was to control the
fur-trade of the Columbia River. If Texas meant cotton,
Oregon meant fur, and both meant money as well as the
satisfaction of national pride in extended boimdaries. The
latter motive was perhaps uppermost in the popular war-cry
1 McMaster, History of the People of the U. S., vol. vii, p. z^Z-
28 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [206
of the time, " Fifty-four forty or fight," 54° 40' being the
southern border of Alaska. But the realization of the fact
that the Rockies could be crossed and that the Far West was
open, country to such settlers as chose to come, lent another
economic motive to the patriotic impulse. The Polk plat-
form declared " that our title to the whole of the Territory
of Oregon is clear and unquestionable ; that no portion of the
same ought to be ceded to England or any other power, and
that the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of
Texas at the earliest practicable period are great American
measures, which the Convention recommends to the cordial
support of the Democracy of the Union." ^
If war with England over Oregon was averted, war with
Mexicoi over Texas was not. In consequence, military pride
at that time became a marked characteristic of America in
our period. It is only fair to say that there was a strong anti-
war party among the northern Whigs and that Congress was
flooded with petitions to stop the unrighteous contest. But
the dominant sentiment was shown by the Whig nomination
of General Zachary Taylor for President in 1847, so little
a politician that there was some doubt as to whether he was
a Whig or a Democrat. But he was the incarnation of the
victorious army and that was enough. "All parties, and all
the politicians might combine against Taylor ; abolitionism,
Fourierism, and radicalism might unite to cry him down;
the North and the South might rally as they pleased on the
Wilmot Proviso, and the cry of ' slave-holder ' might be
uttered by every Abolition press and throat in the land, but
it would not avail. A great, generous, and grateful people
would unite, and with one accord put Zachary Taylor in
the seat of him who had not scrupled to plan his destruc-
tion." ^ The Democrats could do no better than put up
1 McMaster, op. cit., vol. vii, p. 355 et seq.
2 New York Courier and Enquirer^ quoted by McMaster, op. cit., voU
vii, p. 541.
2oy] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 29
another man with a military title, General Cass, who, how-
ever, was more eminent in politics than in war. The Lon-
don Times in an editorial of October 20, 1848, says, some-
what exaggerating the General's military exploits : " Cass
is nothing more than a mihtary rival. Glory just now is
the fashion and the President must at least be a distin-
guished General. The Whigs have set up one and the
Democrats another. The achievements of the two candi-
dates are compared step by step, their killed and wounded
reckoned up, their marches timed and measured, and the
value of their captures reduced to hard cash." Taylor was
elected. Van Buren polled 291,000 votes as the candidate
of the Free-soilers, the only party that stood definitely for
higher things. The curious circumstance that a Whig could
be elected in 1848 as the exponent of a war policy which
sprang directly out of the Democratic triumph four years
before shows how little theoretical party allegiance signified
when contrasted with such dominant national ambitions as
those for territorial expansion and military glory.
A third factor of great importance in the general situa-
tion was the economic prosperity and consequent self-satis-
faction of the time. To illustrate both points it is hardly
necessary to do more than quote a portion of President
Polk's fourth annual message to Congress, dated December
5,1848:
Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our
borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral
spectacle to the world. The troubled and unsettled condition
of some of the principal European powers has had a necessary
tendency to check and embarrass trade and to depress prices
throughout all commerical nations, but notwithstanding these
causes, the United States, with their abundant products, have
felt their effects less severely than any other country, and all
our great interests are still prosperous and successful.
In reviewing the great events of the past years and con-
30 T^HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^og
trasting the agitated and disturbed state of other countries
with our own tranquil and happy condition, we may con-
gratulate ourselves that we are the most favored people on
the face of the earth. While the people of other countries
are struggling to establish free institutions under which man
may govern himself, we are in the actual enjoyment of them — >
a rich inheritance from our fathers. While enlightened na-
tions of Europe are convulsed and distracted by civil war or
intestine strife, we settle all our political controversies by the
peaceful exercise of the rights of freemen at the ballot box.
The great republican maxim, so deeply engraven on the
hearts of our people, that the will of the majority, consti-
tutionally expressed, shall prevail, is our sure safeguard
against force and violence. It is a subject of just pride that
our fame and character as a nation continue rapidly to advance
in the estimation of the civilized world.
To our wise and free institutions it is to be attributed that
while other nations have achieved glory at the price of the
suffering, distress, and impoverishment of their people, we
have won our honorable position in the midst of an uninter-
rupted prosperity and of an increasing individual comfort
and happiness.^
In a history of the Polk administration published two
years later, one reads '' There is something so just and
equitable in the constitution and laws of the United States,
that no one can have cause for dissatisfaction. . . . Let the
boundaries of the Union then be extended; let contiguous
territory be incorporated with our own, let all the keys to our
rivers and harbors be secured ; let the model republic increase
in greatness until its political, moral, and physical power
shall be felt and acknowledged throughout the civilized
world." ^
1 J. D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of
the Presidents, vol. iv, p. 629. The entire message was translated in
the Journal des debats of Dec. 23, and was published in whole or in
part, in most of the leading Paris newspapers.
2 Lucien B. Chase, History of the Polk Administration, pp. 109, no.
209] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 ^^
x^merica, of course, was unanimous as to the desirability
of political liberty ; it was hard for her to see her own self-
contradictions. The London Times, not then inclined to be
gentle with us, helped us to see them in a leader of October
26, 1848. We read: *' Political slavery is an abomination in
the eyes of our friends on the other side of the Atlantic . . .
social slavery an unobjectionable condition of humanity.
The figure of a spare, yellow, sinewy man, holding in one
hand a red banner, inscribed with the words, ' Death to
Tyrants,' and in the other a cat-o'-nine tails, would afford a
not inapposite image of the present condition of the Amer-
ican mind as reflected in the press." ^
To ignore the social enthusiasm of the time would be a
gross error. The Abolitionist movement was, of course, in
full swing. By 1840, there were 2,000 antislavery societies
with a membership of 200,000. Afterward, though they
continued to be of great importance, the unity of their
counsels suffered from a split on the advisability of political
action.^
There were other fine efforts to better human conditions.
The Fourierists were never more active than in the 40's.
They gained the interest of Horace Greeley and the use of a
column in the Tribune. They founded nearly forty
phalanxes, one of which, at Red Bank, N. J., lived thirteen
years. The majority lasted two or three. Brook Farm, with
its distinguished group, began as a community in 1841, be-
came a phalanx in 1844 and died in 1847. One cannot say
that the communistic theories of Europe failed to touch
America at this time. On the other hand, they were more
thoroughly tried out here than anywhere else. One can only
say that they all promptly failed and that the overwhelming
^ Cf, J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, ist series, nos. 5 and 6.
2 Cf. J. F. Rhodes, Hist, of the U. S., vol. i, ch. i, esp. p. 74.
32 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["210
majority of Americans never took them seriously. There
was labor reform, educational reform, and prison reform.
Dorothea Dix was engaged in her great work for the insane.^
But these were the few. As we have seen the main interests
of American life lay in other directions. America was in
the full exuberance of material growth with all the vanity
and indifference of healthy youth. Let older civilizations
wrestle with the complex issues of industrial life; America
had plenty of room for all her people; if they were not satis-
fied, they could move elsewhere.
Such was the contrast between Europe and America in
1848; the old continent seething from end to end with revo-
lutionary spirit, the new continent complacently materialistic,
wedded to political immobility, the old world radical, the
new world conservative, the former dissatisfied, the latter
self-satisfied. Given this contrast, our curiosity can hardly
fail to be aroused when we discover that a strong interest in
American institutions and particularly in American constitu-
tions existed in the France of 1848.
There had been such interest at other important crises in
the past, it is true. It was keen from 1789 to 1791. Jeffer-
son, who was in Paris when the Estates-General met in 1 789,
was not above suggesting helpful ideas out of the fullness of
American experience.^ He was most optimistic about the
proposed French constitution. The leading members, ac-
cording to his information, had in mind a federal system,
with a royal executive, a House and Senate, the latter
" chosen on the plan of our senate by provincial assemblies,
^ For a comprehensive account of social reform activity at this time,
see McMaster, op. cit., vol. vii, ch. Ixxiv.
2 Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.), vol. v, pp. 99-104 (Letters of June
3 and July 19).
21 1 ] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 ^^
but for life," their powers limited to those of " a mere coun-
cil of revision like that of New York ; " there was to be an
order of judges, " a good deal like ours " and provincial as-
semblies analogous to the American state governments.
" In short ours has been professedly their model, in which
such changes are made as a difference of circumstances ren-
dered necessary and some others neither necessary nor ad-
vantageous, but into which men will ever run when versed in
theory and new in the practice of government, when ac-
quainted with man only as they see him in their books & not
in the world. ... It is impossible to desire better disposi-
tions towards us, than prevail in this assembly. Our pro-
ceedings have been viewed as a model for them on every
occasion; and tho' in the heat of debate men are generally
disposed to contradict every authority urged by their oppo-
nents, ours has been treated like that of the Bible, open to
explanation but not to question.'' Jefferson goes on to fear
that this interest in us will be checked by our placing them
" on a mere footing with the English." ^
The actual position of affairs has been summarized as
follows.^ In 1778, the state constitutions of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and South Caro-
lina, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Con-
federation and certain Acts of Congress were collected in
one volume and published in French. In 1783 a more com-
plete collection was issued at Franklin's request. Demeunier,
the royal censor, made a still better collection in his
Encyclopedie Methodique, 1784-8. He published them also
separately with comments. These constitutions were studied
with great interest by French statesmen. Turgot in 1778
1 Letter to Madison, Aug. 28, 1789, Writings (Ford ed.), vol. S, pp.
108- 1 10.
2H. E. Bourne, "American Precedents in the National Assembly,"
Am. Hist. Review, vol. 8, p. 486.
34 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^212
attacked the American bicameral system ; John Adams' fam-
ous Defence was read at Paris in its EngUsh version even
before it was translated in 1792, while William Livingston's
rejoinder was translated at once, ( 1789) . After the Ameri-
can Revolution, however, the weakness of the Confederation
caused a decline in America influence; the early collapse of
the system was predicted. The new constitution of the
United States was much admired by philosophers, according
to Lafayette. But Condorcet wrote to Franklin, " I see with
pain that the aristocratic spirit seeks to introduce itself
among you in spite of so many precautions" (July 8, 1788).
It was thought that the English constitution had been too
much imitated. The abandonment of the Declaration of
Rights created displeasure. Jefferson wrote : "The enlight-
ened part of Europe has given us the greatest credit for
inventing this instrument of security for the rights of the
people and have been not a little surprised to see us so soon
give it up." The strength of the central power and the
division of Congress into two houses was disliked. In the
National Assembly, there were many references to American
example in the discussions on the Declaration of Rights
(where the practice of state constitutions was freely cited),
the veto power of the king and the bicameral system,
though the people who upheld the American example had an
even greater weakness for that of England which was re-
garded as a still stronger government. This conservative
group, represented by Mounier, met with Barnave and the
radicals (who opposed two chambers and an absolute veto)
at Jefferson's house in a conference, August 27th, 1789. It
was after this meeting that Jefferson wrote the over-enthu-
siastic letter to Madison quoted above. In September, the
matter was. brought to a vote; the single chamber and a
suspensive veto triumphed, the enlargement of the provin-
213] EUROPE AND AMERICA IN 1848 ^5
cial assemblies into Americanized state governments was not
seriously discussed.^
Another writer dtaws three main conclusions: (a) that
the influence of America was so powerful between 1776
and 1789, that the American Revolution may be called a
*' proximate cause " of the French Revolution, (b) that it
was distinctly traceable, though to a less degree during the
latter movement, from 1789 to 1791, (c) that during the
Legislative Assembly and the Convention it was almost im-
perceptible.^ In other words an increasingly radical France
found American precedents less and less to its liking.
It is impossible within our limits to trace the American
influence in each of the later constitutional changes in
France. The probabilities are that it was very slight.
Most of the changes were made under circumstances of
stress and urgency, and were not the product of calm deliber-
ation. It is interesting to note, however, that when the
Revolution of 1830 had placed Lafayette in a position of
authority, he came to the Duke of Orleans in the Palais-
Royal, being instructed by the republicans to procure from
him a guarantee of popular rights. During the conversa-
tion, Lafayette said, ''You know that I am a republican and
consider the American constitution the most perfect." To
which the Duke answered, " I am of the same opinion: no
one could have been two years in America and not share
that view. But do you think that that constitution could be
adopted in France in its present condition with the present
state of popular opinion?" ''No," Lafayette replied,
" what France needs is a popular monarchy surrounded by
1 This was substantially the result as embodied in the Constitution of
1791. Cf. C H. Rammelkamp, " French Constitution- of 1791 and the
U. S. Constitution : a comparison," South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 2, p.
56 et seq.
2 Lewis Rosenthal, America and France, pp. 296-298.
36 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^i^
republican— thoroughly republican — institutions." " There
I quite agree with you," said Louis Philippe.^ Thus the
head of the House of Orleans expressed his approval of
American ideas. It has been shown above how he admired
even more the ways of England.
But independently of the dramatic contrast between the
France and America of 1848, there is another reason which
gives French interest in American ways at that time peculiar
importance. For this was the first time in history that the
American constitution was deliberately studied by a great
European country since it had become a practical success.
In 1 789, it was at best a hopeful theory ; sixty years of trial
had now given an opportunity for some definite appraisal of
it as a working institution. What judgment did the critics
across the sea pass upon it? How did it impress them?
And above all, who were the men chiefly impressed ? Was
it those who were anxious to set up a bulwark of repul>-
licanism as opposed to reaction toward monarchy, or those
who were seeking a support for conservative institutions
as opposed to radicalism? For both of these groups were
desperately in earnest : they were not idle, academic theorists,
and if they praised or blamed American ways, it was with a
very sharp eye to their own interests. Who praised, who*
blamed American example, and why ?
These are the questions which this study attempts to
answer.
1 W. Miiller, Political History of Recent Times, sec. 7, p. 109.
CHAPTER II
Composition of the Assembly
The Provisional Government, as has been already said,
consisted of two groups, one more radical than the other.
Notwithstanding this divergence, the record shows an honest
effort to cooperate in thorough-going reforms. "At what
epoch and in what country," asks Louis Blanc, " will one
find a government which in two months, — in two months ! —
has issued so many decrees favorable to liberty and stamped
with respect for human dignity ? In two months, to abolish
the death penalty, to establish universal suffrage, to proclaim
ithe right to employment, to give a tribute to the proletariat,
to decree the emancipation of the slaves, to suppress cor-
poral punishment in the maritime code, to prepare a plan
of universal and free education, to extend the jury system,
to suppress political oathsi. to abolish imprisonment for
debt, to assert the principle of judicial suspension and recall »
to facilitate the naturalization of foreigners, to organize the
immediate representation of the working-class, to inaugu-
rate the great principle of association, and to denounce the
wage-system as the last form of slavery, was all this noth-
ing?" ^
Nor is this list exhaustive. As instances of further
social legislation, we find the following decrees: that of
March 2, reducing the hours of labor for all workers in
Paris to ten a day, in the provinces to eleven, and abolishing
the hated system of sub-contracting (marchandage) ; that of
1 L. Blanc, Histoire de la revolution de 1848 , preface, pp. v and vi.
215] 37
38 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [215
March 7, establishing national discount banks (comptoirs
nationaux d'escompte) for the extension of credit, in all in-
dustrial and commercial cities; that of the 7th, fixing the
rate of interest to be paid by savings-banks at five per cent,
this being the rate of treasury-bonds ; that of the 8th, estab-
lishing an employment bureau in every mairie.^
In spite of all this legislation (some oif which was in-
adequately carried out), a sense of disappointment began
to creep over the working-class as time went on. As
early as the 25th of February, the republic began to have
its journees revolutionnaires. On that morning, a crowd of
workmen gathered in the Place de I'Hotel de Ville, demand-
ing the proclamation of the droit au travail, but were forced
to be content with a skilfully worded formula by which the
government s'engage a garantir du travail a totis les
citoyens.^ In the afternoon, a still more alarming demon-
stration in support of the red flag was discomfited by Lamar-
1 A complete list of decrees passed by the Provisional Government is
to be found! in E. Carrey, Recueil des actes du gouvemement provisoire
de 1848, Paris, 1848.
2 The importance of this formula has not received the attention it
deserves. Louis Blanc proved himself an extremely able politician by
devising and carrying through this compromise and thus saving the
government. A complete refusal of the droit au travail, such as Lamartine
wished, would have driven the working-class, whose barricades were
still standing, into a new revolution : a complete acceptance of the prin-
ciple, which of course Louis Blanc would have preferred, but which
he was clear-sighted enough not to insist upon, might have caused the
resignation of Lamartine and a split with the conservative element of
the government and the community. However, the compromise, success-
ful at the time, proved in the end disastrous, because it opened the
way for Marie's national workshops, which were doomed to failure
from the start, while Louis Blanc's ateHers, if accepted in their en-
tirety, might have succeeded. The Clichy tailor enterprise, at least, car-
ried out on his lines, had sufficient success to show his scheme to be
not impracticable. The inevitable failure of Marie's ateliers dragged
the republic down with them. Thus, from one point of view, this com-
promise formula holds the key to the future history of the republic.
217] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 39
tine's oratorical glorification of the tricolor. The 28th wit-
nessed a gathering, which in concert with Louis Blanc, de-
manded the creation of a ministry of progress, instead of
which the government organized a commission to sit at the
Luxembourg and consider plans for improving social con-
ditions; of this commission, Louis Blanc and Albert were
made the heads. Whether or not this was a clever scheme
to shelve the two socialists by putting them at the head of
a debating society, is perhaps uncertain ; at all events, their
duties at the Luxembourg kept them thereafter from taking
much part in the councils of the government. The substitu-
tion of a commission for a ministry had the further effect,
as Louis Blanc justly complained/ of giving the cause of
social betterment an ineffective parliament instead of an
executive department with power to act ; it might discuss and
recommend as much as it pleased, provided it did nothing to
disturb the status quo. It served thus as a safety-valve for
inconvenient radical energy.
The next journee revolutionnaire was March 17th. Its
object was to secure a postponement of the elections for the
Constituent Assembly, in order that more time might be al-
lowed for the republicanization of the country districts. It
turned into a sort of field day for Louis Blanc, who made a
speech that sent the crowd away satisfied. The result was
the decree of March 26, adjourning the elections to April
23. This was one of the few demonstrations that resulted
in a radical victory, and the public was much impressed.
Afterward, however, the radicals complained that the post-
ponement then made was for too short a time really to effect
any considerable change in the popular mind.
A month later, the radicals met a decisive defeat that com-
pleted the alienation of their sympathies from the govern-
1 Vide L. Blanc, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 134 et seq.
40 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 |-2ig
ment. The real purpose of the manifestation on April i6th
remains obscure; whether or not the great procession that
bore banners calling for the " abolition of the exploitation
of man by man " intended to overturn the government is not
clear/ The facts seem to be that there imdoubtedly was
something serious in the air, though it is hard to trace the
responsibility to anyone, as all the leaders made haste to
exculpate themselves after the fiasco. It is certain that for
some time prior to the i6th, Ledru-Rollin was being urged
by radicals to consent to a coup d'etat by them, and to allow
his name to figure in the composition of a new Provisional
Government, that Flocon and others were urging him not to,
that he was in sore doubt and perplexity, and that it was not
until the morning of the i6th that he went to Lamartine and
frankly announced his intention to stand with the govern-
ment. Whatever revolutionary purposes the gathering
might have had were frustrated by the national guard, which
occupied all the square before the demonstrators appeared
at the Hotel de Ville, and only permitted them to pass in
small groups through narrow lanes in the ranks. Thus the
effect of the manifestation was totally destroyed and it broke
up without accomplishing anything. The sight of the Place
de THotd de Ville full of bayonets and the angry cries of
'' A has les communistes " from the troops, together with the
very cool reception of their delegates by the government,
strengthened their growing conviction that the republic of
February was to be in no sense the Repuhlique democratique
et sociale of their dreams. It is easy to believe Lamartine,
furthermore, when he says that from this time on, the in-
1 For divergent explanations, vide L. Blanc, op. cit., vol. ii, ch. i6,
Lamartine, Hist, de la revol. de 1848, vol. i, bk. 13, sees. 14-21, and the
conservative historians, Pierre and de la Gorce. But cf. the careful study
of Suzanne Wasserman (Les Clubs de Barhes et de Blanqui en 1848,
Paris, 1913), which shows clearly the relatively minor influence of
these leaders and their clubs in all the social uprisings of the time.
219] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 41
formal confidence that had ruled within the government
itself, yielded to suspicion; the simple friendly atmosphere
of their meetings gave way to a strict officialism.
With the election of the Assemhlee C onstituante the term
of the Provisional Government came to an end. It had
worked hard and done as well as it could under very trying
circumstances. Its lack of greater success was partly due,
no doubt, to the administrative inexperience of its members,
but even more to its lack of a unified political philosophy and
program, which merely reflected a similar lack in France at
large. No conceivable platform could have been agreed to
by the socialist workman in Paris, the capitalist manufac-
turer and the peasant monarchist. The diversity in their
ideals could not but be reflected, though less acutely, in any
government which tried to please everybody. If all the
members had represented one social class, they might have
forced through a strong policy, but it would have been the
success of 1793; lacking sufficient unity and energy to be
tyrannical, the government tried to be fair to all and satis-
fied nobody. The solitary idea that held it together was
la republique; when it came to defining the content of that
word, chaos entered. It is on the whole surprising that it
accomplished as much as it did and finished its term, as
Lamartine earnestly desired that it should, with a record
unstained by bloodshed.
On the tenth of May, its place was taken by an Executive
Commission of five elected by the new Assembly. The
choice fell on five members of the old government. Arago
headed the list with 725 votes, Garnier- Pages had 715, Marie
702, Lamartine 643 and Ledru-Rollin 458. The vote shows
in part the loss in popularity of the two last named (Lamar-
tine's decline being to some extent due to his insistence that
Ledru-Rollin be included in any government) ; it also shows
the relative strength of the parties in the Assembly, to which
reference will be made later.
42 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [220
The executive commission was no more successful than
its predecessor in checking the rapidly growing cleavage be-
tween bourgeois conservatism and working-class radicalism.
The latter class was growing more and more desperate as it
saw the reins of power slipping completely from its grasp.
It began to feel that the control was getting back into the
same hands from which it had been rescued only three
months before.
Less than a week after the Executive Commission came
into office, the first of its two great tests took place. Poland
was at that time just losing the last fragments of its inde-
pendence. France had always been interested in Poland and
there were many Poles in Paris whoi endeavored to get ma-
terial aid and official recognition. The Assembly made an
interpellation on the subject an order of the day, to be de-
bated May 15. The clubs arranged a demonstration for the
same day. Barbes and Blanqui, the chief club-leaders, dis-
approved of it, but lesser lights, Sobrier, Huber and Raspail,
from various motives, favored it. A petition demanding
French intervention on behalf of Poland was to be brought
to the bar of the Assembly by a procession of the clubs, —
this was the only ordered program; whether some of the
more violent leaders intended to carry out a revolutionary
design under cover of the resulting confusion, is uncertain,
but not improbable. The result of the elections and the
military repression of the election disorders at Rouen had
lately revived the painful memories of April i6th. The
Assembly was already unpopular among the workmen; it
would take very little to make them hostile. The military
guard and its leader, General Courtais, proved unable to
prevent the demonstrators from entering the Assembly.
For three hours, a scene of utter confusion took place, in
which all the popular orators took turns in trying to make
themselves heard above the clamor of the mob. Finally the
22 1 ] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 43
more radical betook themselves from the Chamber of
Deputies where the Assembly was in session, to the Hotel
de Ville and there constituted a new Provisional Government.
Various lists were drawn up, most of which contained the
names of Louis Blanc, Albert, Ledru-Rollin, Barbes, Raspail,
Pierre Leroux and Thore.^ The Assembly, however, re-
tained control of the troops; the new government was not
supported by the populace and fell still-bom. The result
was disastrous for the radicals. Barbes, Albert and Raspail
were imprisoned in the dungeons of Vincennes. Blanqui
escaped arrest until the 27th, Huber fled to England, Sobrier
was seized. The Assembly decided that Louis Blanc (who
w^as a member) had not been seen at the Hotel de Ville on
the 15th, and voted against his prosecution for complicity,
by the narrow margin of 369 to 337.
From this time on, the bitterness between the classes be-
came pronounced. The government was openly condemned
by the radicals as reactionary, who' in turn were called les
factieux by the conservatives. The Executive Commission
satisfied the working-class even less than the provisional gov-
ernment. " Were MM. Arago, Lamartine, Garnier-Pages,
Ledru-Rollin, Marie no longer the same men? Ah, the
trouble is that a great change had taken place around them ;
what had changed was the air they breathed. Once subject
to the rule of the Assembly majority, they saw themselves
condemned to live in the atmosphere of a bourgeois coterie,
while the Provisional Government had lived in the atmos-
phere of the people." ^ Making allowance for personal
pique, this judgment of Louis Blanc is not without
foundation.
It was six weeks later that all these journees revolution-
1 Pierre, Hist, de la Repuhlique de 1848, p. 296, note.
2L. Blanc, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 113.
44 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^222
naires and the mutual hatred they had gradually engendered
found final expression in an outburst of such horror that it
ranks with 1793 and 1871 in sad pre-eminence. The final
decision to close the national workshops and to distribute
their members among the army, the railroads and private
factories where possible was to the populace a final, definite
surrender of the droit au travail even in the attenuated form
in which it had been attempted. The republic had plainly
abandoned any thorough-going social reform and had fallen
completely into the hands of the bourgeoisie. Industry had
not been able to recover from the economic crisis of the
preceding year ; ^ constant agitation had prevented the return
of confidence and Garnier- Pages' addition of 45 per cent to
the taxes, while it saved the state from bankruptcy, was ex-
tremely unpopular ; ^ the misery caused by unemployment
and inadequate employment was acute. The members of
the national workshops had formerly furnished, under
Marie's guidance, a sort of possible counter-army to the
delegates of the Luxembourg; now, enraged by their sum-
mary dismissal, they made common cause with the latter.
The workshops had indeed become a sort of Frankenstein ;
they had been created, they could no longer be maintained ;
the question was how they could be peaceably dissolved.
The government's solution was a complete failure ; it was a
dangerous thing to place over 100,000 desperate, hungry
1 The revenue from customs in the first six months of 1847 (a year
of crisis) was 65,000,000 francs; for the same period in 1848 it fell to
38,000,000 francs. Using these two periods as a basis of contrast, cotton
imports fell from 220,000 metrical quintals to 182,000; wool from 57,00O
to 34,000 quintals ; raw silk from 3842 to 1662 ; spim silk from 2824 to
1279; olive oil from 156,000 to 70,000; sugar from 433,ooo to 200,000;
cast iron from 512,000 to 234,000, etc. (Figures from the Constitution-
nel of July 26, 1848, quoted in Niles* Register, vol. 74, p. 229 et seq.)
2 Especially among the peasants, whose consequent disaffection car-
ried Louis Napoleon into power.
223] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 45
men between serfdom and dismissal. Their absolute refusal
to accept the plan made the June insurrection a matter of
hours.
Those three frightful days of street-fighting, in which
the whole eastern section of Paris was involved from the
23rd to the 25th of June, without obvious leadership yet with
evidences of careful preparation, had several results of the
first magnitude. In the first place, it compelled the resigna-
tion of the Executive Commission, as inadequate to the situ-
ation, replacing it with the one-man government of Gen-
eral Cavaignac, which lasted ( Paris being officially in a state
of siege for a major part of the time) until the inauguration
of the newly elected president, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte,
on December 20, 1848. Cavaignac's authority sprang from
the Assembly, by which he was chosen as president of the
council of ministers and chief of the executive power. In
the second place, the brotherhood in arms of all who stood
for I'ordre, the popular catchword of the time, minimized
the importance of all previous political distinctions between
legitimist, Orleanist and moderate republican in comparison
with the sharp line henceforth drawn between conservative
and radical. This definite adhesion of the republican gov-
ernment to the side of conservatism and the stamp of social
approval consequently placed on it by the west half of Paris
are facts of prime importance for our study. In the third
place, the ten thousand dead bodies of June formed an im-
passable barrier between conservative and radical. The June
insurrection is the dividing line between the two phases of
the Second Republic, the phase of harmony and the phase
of hatred. Although, as we have seen, the harmony began
to be disturbed more and more from the very first days, yet
it was in theory le peuple which had triumphed and was rul-
ing, and any mistakes on the part of the authorities (from
the radical point of view) were mistakes of the head and not
46 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [224
of the heart ; there was always hope that the true light would
be more clearly seen next time. In May, this idea became
seriously suspect ; after June it became definitely impossible.
The bloody fighting and the stern reprisals mark a change,
not only in French politics, but in the history of economic
radicalism. Before, socialism had been Utopian in one
form or another ; its key-note was brotherhood expressed in
cooperation. From now on, socialism becomes Marxian;
its motto, class-consciousness embodying itself in the class-
struggle. Besides these far reaching results, a special con-
sequence important for us is the control of the Assembly by
a terror-stricken spirit of reaction. Measures of repression
were taken by Cavaignac with its approval, whose applica-
tion lasted from the end of June to the end of August.
Twelve to fifteen thousand arrests were made; half of the
prisoners were released without judgment, most oif the rest
were transported to Algeria en bloc. A decree of July 3rd
closed the national workshops. Louis Blanc went into* exile ;
Ledru-Rollin was isolated on the extreme left of the Assem-
bly. Those legions of the national guard which had not
fought against the revolt were disbanded; the bourgeoisie
thus acquired complete control of the armed forces. The
best-known clubs were closed ; the rest remained under police
surveillance, must be public, open at certain hours only,
free, the subjects of discussion limited, petitions were
forbidden; henceforth the clubs lost all influence. Many
newspapers were suppressed; the bond for the rest was
fixed at 24,000 francs for Paris, 6000 and 3600 for the
provinces), thus rendering cheap, popular organs impossible;
attacks on property or the family, were forbidden. Thus
of all the new freedom of '48, only the republic and uni-
versal suffrage remained, and these were not unmenaced.^
^ A clear summary of this repressive legislation may be found in
Seignobos, op. cit., in Revue des cours, vol. i, pp. 801-4, 810.
225] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 47
Our aim in recounting this preliminary history has been
to show the gradual cleavage in the French body politic be-
'tween the radical and conservative groups, a knowledge of
which is indispensable to a correct understanding of the
Constituent Assembly. Without such knowledge, one
might conceive the Assembly as working in that atmosphere
of idealism and fraternity, which remains for us, as in-
deed it was originally, the spirit of 1848. No error could
be more capital; between February and June, a gulf lies.
In feeling they are decades, not months, apart.
In sketching the character and composition of the As-
sembly, we must go back to April, when the electoral cam-
paign was in full swing. In that campaign several of the
electoral addresses, issued by candidates, already introduce
the thought that American example ought to be considered.
Thus we have the circular of Charles de Montalembert, the
Catholic, whose progressive sentiments had involved him
with Lacordaire and Lamennais in the pre-Modernist failure
of UAvenir. The circular, dated April 3, contains this pas-
sage: "If this republic, in improving the lot of the workers,
guarantees, like that of the United States, to religion, to
property, and to the family their supreme benefits, it will
have no partisan more sincere, no son more devoted than I.
If, on the contrary, it follows the steps of its predecessor,
if it proceeds by way of exclusion, of suspicion, of perse-
cution; if it does not recoil from violence and confiscation,
then it may well have me as adversary or as victim, but never
at least as instrument or as accomplice." ^
Lucien Murat's address declared : " Banished by the
enemies of France I bring you from the United States
twenty-two years of experience and of republican opin-
ions." ^ Ambert wrote from Nantes to the electors of
1 Vide UUnivers, April 6, 1848.
2 Garnier- Pages, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 312.
^8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^226
Lot : " I visited the republicans of the United States. A
conscientious study of democratic organization taught me
that true Hberty was the daughter of order. It is then or-
der which must be estabhshed, in order to arrive at Hberty,
at equality, at fraternity." He speaks of himself as " ready
to protect property, the family, the Church, quite as much
as the workshop, the house of the rich quite as much as
the cottage of the poor." ^
K Pacini, a naval officer, thus addressed the electors of
the Seine : " Commanding a steam frigate in the transatlantic
service, I have had commercial as well as maritime interests
in my hands, and I have been able to observe in the United
States the happy results of a government truly democratic
and liberal. As for my principles, behold them : Liberty
for all ! I will, therefore, combat every retrograde tendency,
but I will likewise struggle against violence with the energy
which I have had to employ against ocean tempests." ^
Blanchet, advocate at the court of appeals, wrote to the
electors of the Seine : " Soon after, my republican instincts
led me to America, where I devoted nearly two years to the
study of the different democratic constitutions of the New
World, the observation of their governmental mechanism
and the drawing up of a body of legislation for the Haytian
republic." ^
Eugene Guillemot of Pont-Saint-Maxence, first deputy-
mayor of the first Paris arrondissement and an editor of the
Reforme, gave this account of himself to the electors of the
Oise:
I was quite young when the July Revolution broke out ,yet
already full of love for the democratic principle, full of grief
^ Dictionnaire des parlementaires frangais, s. v. "Ambert."
^ Murailles revolutionnaires, vol. i, p. 441.
^ Ibid., vol. 2, p. 19. '
227] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 49
at seeing it trampled under foot by royalty, I went to America
to study republican institutions. There I remained three years,
occupied with the study of the political and economic problems
solved by the sagacity of the citizens of the United States,
I returned, thinking only of making my country profit by
these studies. The spectacle of the complete well being I had
found everywhere, in the cities as in the newly cleared fields,
had impressed me. Convinced already of the greatness and
beauty of the democratic principle, I saw and touched in a cer-
tain sense its useful side. . . . Profiting by what my travels
and my experience have taught me, I would oppose a centime's
leaving the coffers of the republic for unproductive works. In
the Reforme for Sept. i8th and 23rd last, I reminded the
government that for a sum much less than that used by it in
scientific labors [travaux d'art] on the railroads, the United
States had covered their vast territory with rails.^
M. Maillefer, writing March 18 to the electors of Seine-
et-Oise, announced : '' For thirty years I have served the
cause which has just triumphed. In France, in both
Americas, [where he wrote for the New Orleans Abeille],
in Ireland, in Italy, in Spain and in Portugal, I have written,
fought and suffered for the rights, whose full possession
you have at last acquired. . . . For me, the republic has
nothing new, nothing terrifying or intoxicating, even in
practice, for I have taken part in these virile exercises in
the country of Washington and of Bolivar; travels and
experience have doubled in me the results of study and
meditation." ^
A bit of the old February spirit of cosmopolitan fraternity
flares up in the radical newspaper. La Commune de Paris,
Avhich is quoted with approval by Le Demo crate of April
19, 1848: " Not only should Lamennais, Cabet, P. Leroux,
1 Murailles revolutionnaires, vol. 2, p. 89 et seq.
'Ibid., vol. 2, p. 422.
^O THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^2%
Proudhon, Considerant, Louis Blanc form part of the na-
tional representation but Robert Owen, Emerson and various
other foreigners, if it were possible, ought to figure in that
council."
The election took place on Easter Sunday, April 23rd and
on the 24th. The polls were established at the chief towns
of the cantons. In the country districts, in many cases the
whole male population of the commune attended early Mass,
and then marched in a body to the voting-place, the cure and
the maire at the head. Such splendid discipline had its roots
too deep to be shaken by a few carpet-bagger commissaries
from Paris, eminent neither for ability nor character.
Ledru-Rollin's educational propaganda failed, partly because
the time was too short (it might well have taken years!),
but also because it was not well carried out. Another of his
pet ideas produced a more successful result. The election
of 1848 was the first real application of the principle of uni-
versal suffrage. It had been provided for in the abortive
Constitution of 1793, but this was its first practical test.
The vote was enormous ; of 9,636,000 enrolled on the regis-
ters, 7,893,000 or 82 per cent voted. Except at Rouen and
Limoges, where regrettable disorders occurred, the two days
passed off quietly, without disturbance.
The victory went to the moderate republicans, the men
who dominated the Provisional Government and the Execu-
tive Commission. Of the 900 new members of the As-
sembly,^ the majority were bourgeois, principally lawyers
and landlords. The vote was taken by scrutin de liste, i. e.,
each elector voted for the total number of representatives to
which his department was entitled according to its popula-
tion (i to every 40,000), and there was neither residence
qualification for the candidate nor limit to the number of
1 There were really 885, though 900 is the number usually given. See
complete list of names in Lamartine, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 230 et seq.
229] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 51
departments from which he might be chosen. As there were
no strict party organization or party nominations in the
modem sense (a candidate's name being suggested either
by a group of political friends, a newspaper or even by him-
self), it is very hard to form an exact idea of the result.
Almost every estimate differs in its classification. Of con-
temporary historians, for example, we find Odilon Barrot
saying : "They [the radical republicans] represented at most
a quarter of the Assembly; the legitimist party, about the
same number ; the rest were divided between moderate repub-
licans and former constitutional liberals. There was the true
force of the Assembly ; to these last especially belonged the
principal influence, by reason of their experience in assem-
blies and of their already established political notoriety.
One may judge of this by the fact that of the nineteen presi-
dents elected for the first time in the bureaux, seventeen
were former members of parliament. Although beaten, they
were naturally called to direct or at least to moderate this
revolution." ^ As an ex-Orleanist (under the late regime
he had been a leader of the liberal opposition), Barrot might
be expected to over-emphasize the influence of his party in
the new Assembly. But we find Louis Blanc asserting that
" there was something not very reassuring in the fact that
out of 900 members, the legitimist party claimed 150, and
the Orleanist party 300." ^
Without presuming to give figures, the Vraie Repiihlique,
Thore's radical newspaper, indicates its bitter disappoint-
ment in these terms :
Since one can guess the composition of the Constituante, we
have the right and the duty to say that the Republic is com-
promised!
1 Barrot, Memoires posthumes, vol. 2, p. 166.
2 L. Blanc, HUtoire de la revolution de 1848, vol 2, p. 67.
52 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-230
Today, the party which seems to triumph is that which
often made a coalition under Louis Philippe, and which
reached a cordial understanding toward the end of the mon-
archy. That bourgeois coalition commenced on the outskirts
of the conservatives, of whom several even passed to the ranks
of the opposition and became almost its chiefs; examples,
MM. Duvergier de Hauranne, Lamartine and some others.
It included all the ambitious or disappointed dynastiques, aim-
ing for power, or even having concurred in all the tyrannies
of the court; examples, MM. Thiers, de Malleville and
others, of the left center. It was allied with the left of Barrot,
Cremieux, Bethmont and the radical left of ^ Carnot, Marie
and Garnier-Pages, who contented themselves for the moment
with the Constitutional Charter. It fraternized with ''the
National and all together wanted to organize the parliamentary
system, that is, the rule of the bourgeois class. Their common
enemy was not so much the institution of monarchy, as the
personal system. The dynasty removed, one and all, with
only a few differences in affections and regrets, will persist
in what was the profound conviction of their whole lives, the
government of the country by the privileged, and for the pro-
fit of the privileged.
It means little that the name of the political form is changed
and that the Bourbon personalities are replaced by lawyers
or bourgeois. The foundation of society will be the same.
The lot of the laboring classes will be improved. There will
be much talk of the sovereignty of the people. But the rich, the
capitalists, the skilful, will remain the sovereigns in fact, and
Equality will be stricken from the flag as in 1830. Citizens
of, the social and popular republic, do you think that the can-
didates of the Siecle, the Constitutionnel and the National
united, who are going to represent Paris in the National As-
sembly, do you think that citizens Lasteyrie, Bethmont, Vavin,
1 These designations apply, of course, to the parties under the July
monarchy. The radical deputies of that time were the conservatives of
the republic.
231] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 33
Cormenin, Wolowski, Berger, Peupin, Corbon, Smith, Garnon,
Coquerel and others, represent the young French Republic ? ^
Later writers confirm the impression gained from Thore's
editorial, so far as the popular disappointment at a moder-
ate republican victory is concerned, but also fail to agree on
details. De la Gorce says that the legitimists won 130 seats,
that all the ex-monarchists together amounted to about a
fourth of the total, that the rest were republican, dominated
by the moderate wing.^ Pierre maintains that the legitimists
secured 100 seats, and makes no effort at a summary of the
rest.^ Seignobos declares that the moderate republicans
were the best represented, having elected all their notables
and gained more than 300 seats; about 100 belonged to the
party of the Reforme; the rest were legitimists or former
partisans of the gauche dynastiqu£ (the O. Barrot group) ;
there were no Orleanists, even Thiers lost (though subse-
quently chosen at a by-election).* Berton gives the legiti-
mists not more than 150. As for the strict Orleanists, he
says that they, like the legitimists, were not numerous ; they
were, however, according to this writer, closely united, and
succeeded in electing the ablest of their party, who were
determined to regain the leading position. The greatest
part of the Assembly called themselves republican (he in-
cludes O. Barrot, Duvergier de Hauranne and others in this
group rather than among the Orleanists) . The pure demo-
crats of the Mountain had only about 100 representatives. '^
Renard's estimate of the situation is probably as near as
^ Vraie repuhlique, April 29, 1848.
2 P. de la Gorce, Hist, de la seconde repub. frangaise, vol. i, p. 214.
3 V. Pierre, Hist, de la repuhlique de 1848, vol. i, p. 239.
* Seignobos, op. cit., Revue des cours, vol. i, pp. 749-752.
5 Annales de Vecole libre des sciences politiques, Nov. 1897. H. Ber-
ton, " La Constitution de 1848," pp. 683 et seq.
54 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-232
we can get to the facts : " Lamartine, head of the poll at
Paris, was named ten times, and the republicans of his
nuance seemed the most numerous, so far as one could dis-
cover in the very confused results, as happens when the vote
has been cast on men rather than on measures. But the
legitimists were numerous (130 to 150), the Orleanists of
the dynastic opposition were returned en masse; two Bona-
partes were sent by Corsica; the Catholics had Montalem-
bert, Lacordaire, de Falloux, several bishops, without count-
ing hostages in all the parties; the radicals, except in two
or three cities, were beaten; the socialists crushed." ^
The astonishing divergence in the estimates of the number
of Orleanists returned is due to the fact that the number of
irreconcilables was very small; the great majority accepted
the republic nominally, while inwardly preferring a constitu-
tional monarchy ; some tried to pave the way for a return of
the Comte de Paris ; the greater number set to work through
alliance with the moderate republicans, to give the republic
a content in harmony with their ideas. Thus it becomes dif-
ficult to distinguish Orleanists from moderate republicans;
the former were to be recognized chiefly by a heightened con-
servatism. The different estimates appear to arise from the
circumstance that some historians reckon only professed
Orleanists of the unreconstructed type while others include
all who had accepted the July Monarchy when it was in
power, no matter what they called themselves in the new
regime.
The first reference to the United States after the election
occurs in a shout of victory from the moderate Havre
Courrier, on the local election of the list headed by Lamar-
tine over the radicals, headed by one Deschamps. " The
cause of order is won. . . . No more of '93 ; nothing of that
1 G. Renard, La Repuhlique de 1848, p. 40.
233] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 55
hideous epoch. One may, without drenching oneself with
blood, pure or impure, be an excellent republican ; there are
already more than fifty millions of that kind in the United
States. Let the French rally to these. In New Zealand
and in other savage countries of the world, one finds enough
republicans like those of citizen Ledru-Rollin and his
companions." ^
Before leaving the elections, it is impossible to resist quot-
ing from Lamartine's account oi his own triumph. Lamar-
tine did in fact quite overshadow every one else by being
returned from ten departments. This moves the excellent
poet to the following comment. As is his custom, he refers
to himself in the third person. " If he had said a word,
insinuated a desire, made a sign, he would have been named
in eighty departments ; his popularity was boundless at Paris,
in France, in Germany, in Italy, in America. For Germany
his name was peace ; for France it was the guarantee against
the Terror; for Italy it was hope; for America it was the
republic. He had really at this moment the sovereignty of
the European conscience. He could not take a step in the
street without arousing acclamations. They followed him
to his house and interrupted his sleep," etc.^
Just two weeks after the vote was counted, Lamartine
came out a bad fourth in the election of the Executive
Commission.
The first meeting of the new Assembly witnessed a mo-
mentary revival of the February spirit, a wave of emotional
enthusiasm for the republic and for the principles of equality
and fraternity. The members of the retiring Provisional
Government marched arm in arm through the thronged and
decorated streets; there was cheering, drum-beating, trum-
1 Havre Courrier, Apr. 27, 1848.
2 Lamartine, Hist, de la revol. de 1848, vol. 2, p. 229.
^6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-234
pets and cannon ; then when the Assembly had come to order
in the huge temporary structure erected in the court of the
Chamber of Deputies to seat the great number of delegates,
it must needs adjourn to show itself on the peristyle to the
people in the streets below. Nor was this enough; intoxi-
cated by the enthusiasm of the moment, the deputies rushed
down to " fraternize " with the populace, and all spectators
were greatly edified at the view of Lacordaire, the monk-
deputy, in his Dominican black and white robe, clasping
hands through the grille with blouse-clad workingmen/
The moderates were of course full of confident expecta-
tion in the Assembly's success. The radicals differed. A
few were temporarily swept away by the current of popular
enthusiasm, but not for long. One of the most extreme
newspapers describes the occasion in the following terms :
Good people, I saw you day before yesterday, and on the faith
of Pere Duchene, I, too, nearly forgot myself to the point of
breaking out in frenzied exclamations. Yes, your intoxi-
cation won me; I already felt my heart beat with violence
and my eyes wet with tears. . . . Enthusiasm is almost always
dangerous. It has caused us to fail in all our revolutions. With
enthusiasm one converts a republic into a monarchy as easily
as a monarchy into a republic. . . . What is the new Chamber?
An assemblage of heterogeneous elements, a mosaic whose
badly assorted colors, whose thousand pieces, disposed as by
the hand of chance, shock the eye and fatigue the spirit, a
chaos where the shadows absorb the light until the hand of
the people comes to disentangle it. That is the National
Assembly. I ask you, can a fine, regular constitution pro-
ceed from its midst ? Will great and generous ideas germinate
1 Vide Gamier- Pages, Hist, de la rev. de 1848, vol. 2, p. 360 et seq.;
also interesting selections from a contemporary diary of the provisional
minister of education published under the title of Memorial d'Hippo-
lyte Carnot, as vol. viii of the Bihliotheque de la Soc. d'histoire de la
revolution de 1848.
235] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 57
in the heart of a majority fashioned according to the royalty
of Orleans? What difference do you find between the Na-
tional Assembly of today and the Chamber of Deputies
of former times? None. There are the same usages, the
same habits, the same dispositions, and, mUle diables! there
is still the same language. How many imbeciles, among
these canton-representatives who cannot articulate clearly the
word citizen! Be assured, ex-deputies, you will have to pro-
nounce and to hear words which will seem to you much harder
than that. Great struggles are about to begin, burning
dicussions are about to take place between the last defenders
of tyranny and the young tribunes of the Republic. What
will be the final word ? ^ You will know before a month.-
Victor Considerant's paper, La Democratic paciUque, was
willing tO' give the Assembly a fair trial. " Let us hope to-
day that the National Assembly has accepted the Republic
with enthusiastic unanimity; we are through with the
reservations of certain papers, which were pleased tO' sow
irritation betw^een the various classes of citizens ; let us hope
too that the Assembly will justify by its frankly democratic
attitude the confidence which the people has placed in it
since its first acts, and that it will repair by prompt and
energetic measures the time unfortunately lost in half-
measures by the Provisional Government." ^
The majority of the radicals, however, were hostile from
the start. Thus we have an editorial by Proudhon in the
Reprcscntant du pcuplc, which shows a keen comprehension
of the spirit of '48. It begins in this wise : " The National
Assembly has formed itself to the soamd of the cannon, the
drum, fanfares, surrounded by all the pomp of war. In
1 The text reads ynois, apparently a misprint for mot.
^Pere Duchene, May 7. The last sentence has a sinister sound, in
view of iMay 15 and June 23, and raises the unanswered question of
how far ahead these movements were planned and organized.
^ Democratie pacidque, May 5.
58 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [235
these days when the imagination is seduced by the senses,
the heart drawn on by the imagination, reason absorbed by
sentiment, when the mind thinks itself infinite because it is
empty, the soul has no more attraction except for the un-
folding of sensibility, for the illusions of hope. Reflection
seems to have lost its rights, judgment to have laid down its
authority. It is the wofk of Lamourette kisses, it is the
moment of perfidious reconciliations. But soon enthusiasm
wanes; sentiment vanishes like a caress; in place of con-
genial ideas, reason returns to put its redoubtable ques-
tions." '
The Reforme, somewhat later, says that nothing vital is
being accomplished, " because the chamber elected is not a
serious assembly ; because it does not comprehend the severe
duties of this time ; because, in talent and in vigor, it is in-
ferior to the chambers of the monarchy; because it is wast-
ing its hours (last hours of hope!) in personal debates, in
useless colloquies, in frivolous prayers." ^
Thore's Vraie republique in its bitterness, throws an inter-
esting light on the question already referred to, as to who
are to be classed as Orleanists.
Do you believe in conversions ? The whole National Assembly
has cried together: Vive la Republique! We watched care-
fully the hands which have for so long weighed down upon
us ; all were raised today for the Republic. Here the Domini-
can Lacordaire and Monseigneur the Bishop of Langres ; there
M. the Marquis de La Rochejacquelein and M. Berryer; then
M. de Hauranne, M. de Lasteyrie, M. de Remusat, M. de Malle-
ville, M. Barrot, M. Dupin and all the friends of all the odious
regimes which have crushed France since the end of the
eighteenth century. All cried: Vive la Republique. Not a
single man was met who had sufficient conscience to declare
1 Representant du peuple, May 5.
'Re for me, May 21.
237] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY ^g
that he was not and that he never had been a republican. . . .
An assembly is like a man. One may judge it at first sight
by its physiognomy. The social and popular republic, the
republic of equality and justice, how many adorers does it
count in that reunion of bourgeois who considered it yesterday
a crime or a folly? On leaving the hall, real republicans
thought perhaps of that fine scene in Hamlet : Words, words,
words.^
One of the principal ex-Orleanists referred to, admits the
justice of There's stricture. " In all political bodies there
is a certain dissimulation, which is not hypocrisy nor false-
ness, but a concession forced by this or that circumstance of
the moment. Thus to judge from the outside demonstra-
tions of the new assembly one would have thought that it
was entirely composed of profoundly convinced republicans,
which was far from being the reality: the great majority
felt, it is true, the necessity of rallying to the republic and
lending itself with a good grace to the experiment which was
about to be made; but for a large number, this was only a
concession made to circumstances, a pure marriage of rea-
son, as one spoke of it at the time." ^
The legitimists were little friendlier than the radicals.
"Those who regularly attend the debates of the Assembly,
have already the conviction that a constitution cannot come
out of this Assembly and that it conceals nothing but storms.
Nothing has come out of it but disputes, in place of dis-
cussion, and questions of personalities in place of questions
of principles." '
To complete the picture of the first meeting of the As-
sembly, we have the impressions of two outsiders. One
was an American. " Even in modern maiden parliamentary
1 Vraie repuhlique, May 5.
20. Barrot, Memoires posthumes, vol. 2, p. 166 et seq.
3 Gazette de France, May la
6o THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["233
meetings, be it by accident or design, some place consecrated
by the occasion will be visited in time to come ; but the great,
or monstre temporary shed in which the National Assembly
of France first met, with its pasteboard figures without and
its pasteboard presidential canopy within, its endless tri-
colored flags in faisceaux, and its scenic decorations, par-
taking partly of the circus, and partly of the Bal Morel, will
disappear like a mimic stage scene, carrying with it no unapt
commentary on the no less fragile performance beneath
its roof." '
We have also the remarkable letters of Mme. d'Agoult,
who wrote under the pseudonym of Daniel Stern. Her
History of the Revolution of 1848 is one of the best accounts
of the early period from the moderate republican angle.
" Let us enter the National Assembly together, if you please.
Our first impression will be one of surprise. Bald heads,
gray hairs, bent backs, heavy steps, broken voices, that is
what one sees and hears, when one plunges, from the height
of the tribune, into- the gathering of the first choices of
revolutionary France. Let us say it politely, the National
Assembly is of a certain age. . . . Everybody agrees to-
day, if the National Assembly has a defect, it is assuredly
not excess of revolutionary ardor. . . . The great breath of
February has not penetrated that enclosure." ^
The Assembly contained 99 lawyers, 51 commissioners
and sub-commissioners of the government, 47 magistrates
(including former judges and those still on the bench),
25 physicians, 21 workmen, 16 priests (including three bish-
ops and a Protestant minister), 16 generals of brigade and
division (including two admirals), 18 cultivators, 21 pub-
licists and editors, 1 1 present or former notaries, 6 members
1 J. F. Corkran, History of the National Constituent Assembly, p. 14.
2 Daniel Stern, Lettres repuhlicaines, " Lettre ii : Physionomie de
I'Assemblee Nationale. A Fanny Lewald, June 4, 1848."
239] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 6l
of the Institute, 4 dramatic authors, 4 colonels, 3 sons and
nephews of an emperor and of kings, i pharmacist, i inn-
keeper, I confectioner, i chief of an institution, i baker, i
street-porter.^
One may fairly distinguish four main parties in the As-
sembly, the moderate republicans, the radical republicans,
the socialists and the legitimists. The moderate republicans
should again be divided into what were called at the time
republicains de la veille (republicans of the eve) and repub-
licains du lendemain (republicans of the morrow), or as we
should say, original republicans and converts. The line be-
tween them is very obscure, but the existence of the two
elements is highly important for our study.
The former element was the majority party in the As-
sembly, as it had been in the government from the start.
Lamartine,^ Marrast, Gamier-Pages and the other heads o:f
the provisional regime were its parliamentary leaders;
Cavaignac soon became its executive representative. Le
National was its official organ. This party represented the
capitalist bourgeois class of liberal political opinions. It
wanted a republican form of government as a greater safe-
guard of the reforms won in 1789 and not well maintained
under subsequent governments. It desired freedom of
speech, press and person, a wide extension of the suffrage,
1 This curious and somewhat miscellaneous list is taken from La
Vraie republique for May 16, 1848, which also prints the names of the
deputies practising the professions enumerated. It is obviously ex-
tremely incomplete.
2 While acting with this group politically in 1848, Lamartine had pre-
viously been an independent, affiliating with no party during the Orlean-
ist regime, willing to support any government whose spirit was demo-
cratic. " It will appear that in Lamartine's view, the question as to
form of government was rather one of circumstances than of principles.
. . . While his conscience forbade him to excite a revolution, yet
should circumstances produce one, he would gladly accept it." Lamar-
tine, Hist, of the revol. of 1848, bk. i, p. 46.
62 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-240
the abolition of parliamentary corruption. Lamartine and,
to a somewhat less extent, his political friends, had all the
virtues and vices of the Girondins whom they admired so
much.
The repuhlicains du lendemain were ex-monarchists;
some had been followers of Charles X and then of the Due
de Bordeaux, more had been adherents of Louis Philippe.
In general, the legitimist cause had deeper roots in sentiment
and tradition than the Orleanist, and its supporters were
more stubbornly loyal in the hour of defeat. There were
some legitimists, indeed, who rallied to the republic (not of
course as an ultimate form of government, but as a tem-
porary modus vivendi) with savage satisfaction at the down-
fall of the usurper's throne; better a republic than a false
royalty, they declared. In certain legitimist journals ap-
peared a deadly parallel, illustrating the remarkable coin-
cidence in the external episodes of the revolutions of 1830
and 1848 as an instance of divine retribution upon the
traitorous Duke of Orleans. But the majority preferred
not to compromise their pure devotion to their king merely
to gratify their spite. The Orleanists, on the other hand,
being attached to their dynasty by a past of eighteen years
instead of one of thirteen centuries, had fewer misgivings
about leaving the ship when it was manifestly sinking. It
was they, therefore, who formed the bulk of the repuhlicains
du lendemain, some no doubt with the secret purpose of
working for the return of the constitutional monarchy,
others content with any form of government, provided its
substance guaranteed the safety of their economic interests.
Like the repuhlicains de la veille, they too represented the
capitalist bourgeois class, but rather that portion which held
conservative political opinions. Barrot was their most dis-
tinguished representative in the Assembly, until Thiers later
joined him. Le Constitutionnel was the faithful journalistic
241 ] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 63
exponent of this type of mind. Its emphasis was on a
strong executive, whereas the other wing of moderate repub-
licans would prefer to see the power in the hands of the
legislative. Being essentially cautious, however, it sought
for the preservation of peace and property in a system of
checks and balances.
The radical republicans were rather a group apart. They
had for their political masters, not the Girondins, but the
Jacobins. Ledru-Rollin and Flocon stand as typical of this
party : La Reforme should be read to secure their political
point of view. A concise statement of their platform is to
be found in one of Ledru-Rollin's circulars to his com-
missaries, with reference to the approaching elections.
After exalting the French republican trinity, liberty, equal-
ity, fraternity, he continued, " From them are deducible :
the abolition of every privilege, the division of taxes ac-
cording to fortune [income-tax], a proportional and pro-
gressive inheritance-tax, a freely elected judiciary and the
most complete development of the jury system, military ser-
vice weighing equally upon all, the instrument of labor as-
sured to all, the democratic reconstitution of industry and
of credit, voluntary association everywhere substituted for
the disorganized impulses of egoism." ^ Despite the slightly
socialistic sound of a few of these phrases, which are to be
attributed to the atmosphere of the times and the desire to
catch the proletarian vote, the radical republicans were in no
sense socialists. They were made up of the small shop-
keeper class, who in their reverence for property and the
wage-system, were as firmly bourgeois as the large capital-
ists. They already had their feet on the lower rounds of the
ladder of fortune and had no wish to overturn the ladder
and construct a new one, but merely to be assisted to mount
1 Reprisentant du peuple, April 8.
64 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [242
more quickly. They believed in the " democratic," but not
in the " social " republic, in Robespierre, but not in Babeuf.^
The socialists, then as always, but perhaps even more
then than now, were united only in dissent. Louis Blanc,
Proudhon, Cabet, Leroux were among their chief leaders;
no two of them could agree on a constructive system.
Blanc's system of cooperative workshops was as different
from Proudhon's anarchism as Cabet's community on the
banks of the Mississippi was from either. No newspaper
could rank as "the" socialist organ par excellence; most
were purely personal ; Cabet spoke through Le Populaire as
individually as Proudhon through Le Representant du
peuple. The bulk of the socialist strength lay in the work-
ingmen of Paris; the proletariat of other large industrial
cities contributed, though less ardently.
Finally came the legitimists, of whom we have already
spoken. Berryer and La Roche jacquelein were two of their
most conspicuous leaders in the Assembly; La Gazette de
France, strongly Catholic and royalist, was their chief jour-
nal. They found the officers of their army in the Faubourg
St. Germain, the privates in the peasantry of France.
A few deputies like Barbes, a few newspapers like Le
Pere Dtichene, represented the clubs of Paris; lacking a
definite program, they sympathized more with the socialists
than with any other party, but were more at home in street-
demonstrations for the purpose of upsetting abuses than in
constructive administration.
A few others, like Lacordaire and Montalembert, repre-
sented the Roman Catholic Church, and were willing to
forward its interests by republicanism or monarchism as
1 Strictly speaking, this party, too, shouldi be ranked among the re-
publicains de la veille, having as good a right to the title as their more
moderate brethren.
243] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 65
might seem most convenient. L'^re Nouvelle, Lacordaire's
paper, was the standard-bearer of these devots.
The strong parties were, however, those sketched above,
of whom the legitimists may be called the right, the repiib-
licains du lendemain the right center, the moderate repvbli-
cains de la veille the left center, the radical republicans the
left and the socialists the extreme left. These parties were
rather common tendencies of political thought than organi-
zations as we understand party organizations. Such com-
mon action as they had was usually for some temporary
purpose.
There were, however, certain " groups " of a more or less
permanent character into which the Assembly presently
divided itself. These groups were named from the location
of their meeting-places and were each composed of men of
similar political beliefs. The leading ones were five in
number : (a) the Reunion du Palais National, the coterie of
moderate republicains de la veille, with more than 300 mem-
bers; (b) the Groupe de la rue de Poitiers, mostly legitimists
and Catholics, joined after June by the old dynastic opposi-
tion, the Barrot and Thiers ex-Orleanists, who made up the
core of the republicains du lendemain', (c) the Reunion de la
rue de Castiglione and (d) the Reunion de la rue des Pyra-
mides, both composed of deputies of the left; (e) the Re-
union de rinstitut, made up of the members of the Executive
Commission and a few of their friends, who seceded from
the Reunion du Palais National after June, the larger body
supporting Cavaignac. The latter was of course the most
powerful group. ^
Even these groups were not in the least political party
machines, but rather rallying points for common counsel
1 For a summary of the various combinations attempted by these
groups, see Seignobos, op. cit., Rezue des cotirs, 1907-08, vol. i, pp.
804-806.
66 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["244
outside the walls of the Assembly. There was, no doubt,
some effort at common action as well, but not of a highly-
organized character.
Such was the party-system in the new Assembly. It
should be added that before getting down to work, the
Assembly divided itself into fifteen permanent committees
of sixty members each for the study of such bills as
might appropriately be referred to them; special commis-
sions of reference might also be appointed. The Assembly
was also divided by lot into fifteen bureaux, the personnel
of which was changed monthly. The bureaux were sim-
ply so many subdivisions of the Assembly to which every
important bill must be referred for discussion, before being
voted on in the Assembly as a whole; a vote was taken in
each bureau, (though this was not binding on the Assembly)
and a reporter chosen to express the views of the bureau to
the Assembly. This was merely a device for expediting the
consideration of a measure and giving everybody a chance
to express himself without delaying all other business till
each in turn had had the ear of the whole Assembly, a mani-
fest impossibility in so large a body. Every report must be
distributed twenty- four hours before discussion. Amend-
ments must be voted on before the principal question, the
articles then voted separately, finally the bill as a whole. The
vote was taken by rising or by a public division (on demand
of twenty members), or par appel nominal a la tribune et au
scrutin secret, each member depositing his secret ballot be-
fore the presiding ofificers, (on demand of forty). Five
hundred were necessary for a quorum. Every motion was
submitted to a preliminary vote of prise en consideration;
if the subject was deemed worthy of discussion, such could
not take place until ^we days after. Every amendment pre-
sented during the discussion was sent to the committee in
charge of the bill, on demand of its reporter. Matters
245] COMPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY 67
could always be expedited by a vote of urgence, which re-
quired only a simple majority. Each committee must make
a weekly report of petitions addressed to it. The president
had the right to requisition an armed force to guard the
Assembly. All recommendations and requests relative to
private interests were forbidden to representatives.
Such were the Assembly's chief working-rules, adopted
May 20.^ The presiding officer was one of the members,
elected monthly. Buchez was chosen May 5, Senard
June 5, A. Marrast held the post by continued re-election,
July 19, 1848-May 26, 1849. Finally, a few words must
be said on the chronology of the constitution. The first step
was the election of a commission de constitution of eighteen
members, which was done on May 17 and 18. On the first
ballot, Cormenin received 657 votes, Marrast 646, Lamen-
nais 552, Vivien 517, Tocqueville 490, Dufaure 395 and
were declared elected, none of the numerous other candi-
dates having an absolute majority (393, there being 784
present).^ The next day on the second ballot, 374 being
necessary to a choice, Martin (de Strasbourg) received 550
votes, Woirhaye 474, Coquerel 453, Corbon 459, Tourret
(de I'Allier) 414, G. de Beaumont 388 and Dupin 388. On
the third ballot, with 332 votes necessary to elect, Vaulabelle
had 390, O. Barrot 368, Pages (de TAriege) 353, Domes
352 and V. Considerant 339.^ Of the personalities of these
men, something will be said later.
The history of the formation of the constitution may now
be briefly indicated in tabular form :
1 Vide F. Helie, Les Constitutions de la France, p. 11 13 et seq.
^ Moniteur, May 18.
^ Ibid., May 19. Woirhaye here misspelled Voirhaye.
58 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^246
Election of commission May 17, 18
Formation of constitution in commission May i^June 19
First report of constitution to Assembly.^ Ordered
printed, distributed and sent to bureaux June 19
Discussion in bureaux July 1-22
Conferences between delegates of bureaux, reporting
their criticisms, and commission July 24-August 5
Revision by commission August 7-26
Revised text read to Assembly 2 August 29
Second report of constitution August 30
Beginning of public debates in Assembly ^ Sept. 4
End of debates ; third reference to commission Oct. 23
Final revision by commission Oct. 23-31
Final report of constitution * Oct. 31
Commencement of final revision by Assembly Nov. 2
Adoption of constitution Nov. 4
Proclamation to people Nov. 12
1 This first draft was read to the Assembly by Marrast. Cf. Moni-
teur, June 20.
2 The revised text of the constitution was read by Woirhaye, Marrast
being indisposed. The following day, Marrast formally presented the
report of the commission's work, but did not read it; it was ordered
printed, together with the text of the constitution and furnished the
basis for the Assembly debates. Cf. Moniteur, Aug. 30 and 31.
3 Beginning with Sept. 4, the Assembly held two sessions daily, from
II a. m. to I p. m., for the discussion of ordinary legislation, and from
2 to 6 p. m. for the discussion of the constitution. Vide Moniteur, Aug. 31.
* It was not read as a whole, but printed and distributed to the mem-
bers at their homes, on the evening of Oct. 31. Cf. Moniteur, Oct. 31.
? CHAPTER III
What France Thought About America
Having considered what France was thinking about her-
self at the time she started constitution-making, it is now
time to find out what France thought about America. That
will put us in a position to see why the American constitu-
tion appealed very strongly to some Frenchmen and not at
all to others.
That the attention of France was early directed toward
America in the February days is beyond dispute. The offi-
cial friendliness of the two governments went rather beyond
the merely formal courtesies of diplomatic recognition.
The interchanges begin with an act of the American min-
ister, Richard Rush, so unprecedented in its nature that his
official report of it to the Secretary of State betrays no little
anxiety. It is addressed to the Hon. James Buchanan, Sec-
cretary of State, and dated '' Legation of the U. S., Paris,
March 4, 1848." x\fter describing the fall of the monarchy
and the establishment of the republic, the dispatch continues :
Of a revolution so total and sudden, I am not now to speak.
The journals of the world are still teeming with it. Nor can
I yet speak of the acts of the new government, except to say
that they have been characterized so far by moderation and
magnanimity in the midst of triumphs of a nature to have
intoxicated minds less pure and firm than happily are believed
to be possessed by its leading members.
I press to what, foremost of all at present, I am bound to
report to you — namely, the part which, as representing the
247] 69
yo THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-^^g
United States, I have taken under the new duties that encom-
passed me.
On Saturday, the 26th, I received an intimation, earnestly
given, that my personal presence at the Hotel de Ville, to
cheer and felicitate the provisional government, would be
acceptable. The information was not officially sent, but I
believed it to be true.
I asked a short interval for reflection.
Before the day was out, I imparted my determination to
take the step. Monday morning, the 28th, was the time ap-
pointed for it; and accordingly I repaired to the Hotel de
Ville, the Secretary of the Legation accompanying me. To the
provisional government there assembled, I delivered the ad-
dress, a copy of which is enclosed.
It was cordially received, and M. Arago, on the part of the
members, replied to it.
He remarked that they heard without surprise, but with
lively pleasure what I said; France expected it from an ally
to whom she now drew so close by the proclamation of the
Republic. He thanked me, in the name of the Provisional
Government, for the wishes I expressed for the greatness
and prosperity of France; and in alluding to the words it
had called up from General Washington's address in 1796
on receiving the French colors, he expressed a confidence
that they would be not merely a desire, but a reality. M.
Dupont (de TEure) as President of the Provisional Govern-
ment, then advanced, and, taking me by the hand, said, " The
French people grasps that of the American nation." Here the
ceremony ended. In coming away, three of the members of
the Government conducted us out of the building; the guard
presented arms, and cries went up of '' Vive la Republique
des Etats Unis!" Major Poussin, a French officer, who
accompanied General Bernard to the United States, and who,
from his attachment to our country, was naturalized there,
also attended me.
On Sunday, the 27th, I received the note of that day's
date from M. Lamartine, as Provisional Minister of Foreiga
249] ^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA yi
Affairs, which announced to me, in official form, the existence
of the new government. I answered it on Monday. Copies
of the note and answer are enclosed.
The Provisional Government published my answer the
morning after its reception. My address of Monday has also
appeared in the newspapers — not, however, in its exact form.^
I had written it out, to guard against inaccuracies on an
occasion so grave, and left the paper in the hands of the
Provisional Government ; a transcript of which you now have.
This succinct narrative will accurately apprize the Presi-
dent of what I have done. I shall anxiously await his judg-
ment upon it all. The events were as new as momentous.
They had transcended all expectation. In recognizing the
new state of things, as far as I could without your instruc-
tions, and in doing it promptly and solemnly, I had the deep
conviction that I was stepping forth in aid of the great cause
of order in France and beyond France, and that I was acting
in the spirit of my Government and country, the interpreter
of whose voice it fell upon me suddenly to become. If I
erred, I must hope that the motives which swayed me will
be my shield. The Provisional Government needed all the
moral support attainable, after a revolutionary hurricane
which shook society to its base, and left everything at first
portentous and trembling. In such an exigency, hours, mo-
ments were important; and the United States are felt as a
power in the world, under the blow that has been struck.
I am not unaware that the course I have pursued departs
from diplomatic usage, and separates me, for the time being,
from the European diplomatic corps, accredited, like myself,
1 The version published in the Moniteur and the National, which was
identical in both papers, seems a fairly accurate translation. The prin-
cipal divergences are where "this early opportunity" is translated
" la premiere occasion " and where " All will ardently hope that
through her wisdom the results may be beneficial to mankind, of which
the magnanimous bearing," etc., is rendered "Tous les Americains
auront I'ardent espoir que, grace a la sagesse de la France, ces institu-
tions auront pour le genre humain les heureux resultats dont la conduite
magnanime," etc. See issues of these papers for Feb. 29.
^2 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 T^co
to the late Government of France, all members of which will
probably wait instructions before adopting any steps of recog-
nition. Having acted under a sense of independent duty in
the emergency, I am, however, not the less aware that the
diplomatic corps represents countries in friendly relationsi
with the United States, and that it will hence be as much my
duty as inclination to go on maintaining that amicable footing
with its members, ever dictated by reciprocal good-will among
the representatives of friendly powers, whatever different
forms of government they may represent.
I have the honor, etc.
Richard Rush.
Hon. James Buchanan^ Secretary of State.
The address which Rush had made to the members of the
Provisional Government and which he enclosed in his letter
to Secretary Buchanan was as follows :
To the Members of the Provisional Government of the French
Republic :
Gentlemen: As the representative of the United States,
charged with the interests and rights of my country and of
American citizens now in France, and too far off to await
instructions, I seize this early opportunity of tendering to you
my felicitations, not doubting the sanction of my Government
to the step I thus take in advance. Nor can I avoid the oc-
casion of saying that the memory of the ancient alliance and
friendship between France and the United States is ever fresh
and grateful with us, and that I am of nothing more sure
than that the voice of my country will be universal and loud
for the prosperity, happiness, and glory of France under the
institutions she has announced, subject to ratification by the
national will. All will ardently hope that through her wisdom
the results may be beneficial to mankind, of which the mag-
nanimous bearing of her people in the late events affords so
auspicious a promise. It is under such institutions that the
United States have for seventy years enjoyed constant pros-
251] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 7^
parity, with a Government of uniform stability; and whilst
they invariably leave to other nations the choice of their own
forms, without interference in any way, they would naturally
rejoice in beholding this great nation flourish under institu-
tions which have secured for themselves the blessings of social
order and public liberty.
Allow me then, gentlemen, using the words of the great and
good Washington, the immortal founder of my country, on
an occasion which the present recalls, to signalize this address
to you, by mingling my felicitations with a fervent aspiration
that " The friendship of the two republics may be commensur-
ate with their existence."
Rush also enclosed Lamartine's letter of February 2y, an-
nouncing his succession to the portfolio of foreign affairs,
and his own answer to the same, dated February 28. After
felicitating France on the choice of Lamartine " as a favor-
able first step in the new order of things," and promising
" with great satisfaction " to transmit to his government
a copy of Lamartine's communication, '' not doubting its
cordial reception," he declares his readiness in the meantime
to transact with him any business affecting America or its
citizens.
He then says : " The United States, having learned from
their own experience the value of free institutions, will
naturally anticipate from similar institutions in France, ad-
ministered with the wisdom and moderation of which the
enlarged and beneficent principles announced in your note
are the auspicious harbingers, nothing but the best results
to the interests and well-being of both countries." ^
An interesting comment on this despatch is afforded by
the diary of Lord Normanby, the British minister, who says
that on February 27th, he received a visit from Mr. Rush
^Congressional Globe, vol. 17 (ist session, 30th Congress), p. $79
et seq.
74 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [2^2
and Mr. Martin, the secretary of legation. Mr. Rush
denied the news in the morning papers, that he had already-
gone to the Hotel de Ville and acknowledged the republic,
but said that, because of his distance from America and the
sympathy she would feel for the new government, he should
probably do so to-morrow. Lord Normanby, receiving
Mr. Rush's consent to express his opinion, admitted that
the latter could not wait for instructions before giving any
expression of views, but thought the proposed step " unusual
and premature." This was only a provisional government,
itself not yet ready for such a step, as no notice had yet
been sent from the new minister of foreign affairs ; it was
" quite unheard-of for an individual without credentials to
present himself officially to any Government which had
opened no communications with his own ; " probably after
getting Lamartine's circular the diplomatic corps would
meet at the request of its senior member and decide on some
course ; waiting for that customary occasion would not ham-
per him.
It appeared to me that would be the natural moment for
him to take his own line, not confining his answer to the dry-
acknowledgment of its receipt, which the others without in-
structions would probably give, but putting himself personally
upon those terms with the Government which he desired to
establish; and that, as he was only accredited to King Louis
Philippe, he could not well go much farther than this in the
course he contemplated till he received fresh letters. Mr. Rush
listened very attentively to what I said, admitted there was
much reason in it, and added that he would consider it; but
I am convinced he will still do as he announced, a course to
which, in fact, he is probably already committed.^
Lord Normanby was doubtless right on the point of diplo-
1 Marquis of Normanby, A Year of Revolution, vol. i, p. 130 et seq.
253] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 75
matic etiquette. Yet Mr. Rush was himself an experienced
statesman, then 68 years old. The son of Benjamin Rush,
signer of the Declaration of Independence, he had already
occupied the posts of Attorney General under Madison, tem-
porary Secretary of State, Minister to England for seven
years under Monroe, Secretary of the Treasury under John
Quincy Adams and candidate for Vice-President with him
in 1828. He was neither youthful nor ignorant, but he
had the courage to feel that an extraordinary situation
should not be decided by looking up precedents.^
Recognition of so conspicuous a sort from such a man
greatly flattered republican susceptibilities. The National
announces that at two o'clock, Mr. Rush " recognized the
Provisional Government. It was fitting that the representa-
tive of the American Union should be the first to come and
salute our young republic; there is no more powerful bond
between peoples than community of sentiments. The step
taken by the Minister of the United States, had, in the pres-
ent circumstances, something solemn about it: although it
was anticipated, it touched the members of the government
deeply; and, after an interview in which the noblest words
were exchanged, they conducted this representative of a
great people, in a body, to the threshold of the Hotel de
Ville, to testify the cordial affection which must forever
exist between republican America and republican France." ^
Allowing for the sentimental optimism of the period, it is
plain that this unusual act made an impression.
1 Mr. Rush, in his journal, gives an account of the Normanby inter-
view in substantial accord with the above. The person who urged him
to recognize the republic was Major Poussin, who called on Mr. Rush
for that purpose on the 26th, not without the Provisional Government's
knowledge. Rush surmises. A full account of the matter, including
Poussin's arguments and Rush's gradual determination to accede to
them, is contained in Richard' Rush, Occasional Productions, pp. 364-376.
2 National, Feb. 29. Cf. other Paris papers of same date.
^6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^c .
Immediately after the action of the minister, the Ameri-
can consul, who had lived many years in Paris and whose
judgment on French affairs Rush greatly valued, wrote the
following letter to the government, which was not published
in the papers.
Consulate of the U. S. of America, Paris.
1st March, 1848.
To the members of the Provisional Government of the French
Republic,
Gentlemen: In the year 1782, the City of Paris offered to
Louis XVI, a ship of war to aid him in protecting the final
independence of the Americans. The generous sympathy of
the French nation may be exemplified by the circumstance
that the small community of St. Germain-en-Laye contributed,
for the same purpose, by an extraordinary tax, the sum of
forty thousand francs.
The City of Paris has just accomplished a work — the
foundation of a mighty Republic — in which all Americans
must feel the liveliest satisfaction and deepest interest. In
testimony of these feelings, I beg to render, for the Hotel de
ViUe — the temple of power and wisdom of the City of Paris —
American engravings of Washington, of the Senate of the
United States, and the present Chief Magistrate of the Union.
Your recent glorious Revolution was begun on the anniversary
of Washington's birth. May it prove in its advances to perfect
liberty and order, such as shall rejoice the spirit of that illus-
trious friend of France, and as the heroism, moderation and
philanthropy of its commencement authorize an attentive world
to expect ! j ^^^.^ ^j^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^
Gentlemen,
with the highest consideration,
your very obedient, humble servant,
Robert Walsh ^
Rue de Rivoli, No. 30 bis. U. S. Consul.
1 Archives Nationales BB 300 No. 2292. A French translaUon is
added in the same hand. (^)
255] ^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 77
If this seems a trivial gift, offered in bombastic phrases,
it should be remembered that it was the kind of thing that
appealed to the people of 1848, who were unusually sensitive
to romantic idealism.
The American colony in Paris was not long in following
the example of its official chiefs. From February 2y to
April 28 nearly 300 deputations of various kinds were re-
ceived by the Provisional Government. The American
colony came eighth in this list. It was presented March 6 ^
by the indefatigable Major Poussin and the inevitable con-
gratulatory address was read by Mr. Erving, former min-
ister of the United States to Spain. In the course of his
speech, occurs this sentence : '' Recognizing the right which
each nation possesses to form its own government, we think
however that we may felicitate France on the choice of a
system, which is based on the great principles of enlight-
ened liberty and political equality." M. Arago replied for
the government, after which an emblem, consisting of the
united flags of the two nations was presented and accepted
by Arago with the adjuration to place it in the Hotel de
Ville and the hope that despotism would never come to tear
It down.^
1 See the list in Daniel Stern, Hist, de la resolution de 1848, vol. 2, p.
371 et seq. The only foreigners presenting themselves at an earlier
date were some English Chartists, who were received' the day before,
bearing a congratulatory address adopted at a Chartist meeting in
London on March 2d, The other foreigners received were Democrats
of London and the English colony of Paris on Mar. 12th; 2000 Swiss
on the 13th; Greeks on the 15th; Hungarians, the i6th; Norwegians,
the i6th; Irish, the i8th; 'Roumanians, the 21st; Portuguese, the 23d;
Poles, the 27th; ItaHan Association, the 28th; Irish citizens of Dublin.
Manchester and Liverpool, April 4th ; the Swiss colony, April 4th ; the
Spanish colony, April 13th.
2 National, Mar. 7. The Moniteur for the same date gives Mr. Good-
rich as the American spokesman instead of Mr. Erving and omits any
mention of Major Poussin, whose activity is, however, proved by an
78 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["256
Not to be outdone, the American women also " offer for
your acceptance the Tricolored Flag and the Star Spangled
Banner, now united together by the ties of Liberty, Equality
and Fraternity," as a " slight mark of the Sympathy which
the daughters as well as the sons of America feel for the
success and stability of the French Republic/' ^
The effect of all this on the French mind is attested by a
letter from " a gentleman residing in Paris to his friend in
this country," read in the Senate of the United States, in the
session of April 6. The letter, dated March 8, says in part :
" Believe me, the proclamation of the republic has raised you
here ten ells. You already know, perhaps, that not only the
American minister, but all the Americans now in Paris, have
waited upon and congratulated the Provisional Government.
This double compliment has had an admirable effect. Never
has there been so much anxiety to draw closer the alliance, I
should rather say the fraternity, with the United States." ^
The friendliness of the United States toward the French
Republic, expressed by Mr. Rush's early recognition, re-
30
unpublished letter in the Archives Nationales (BB 300 No. 2206),
dated Mar. S, signed by Hawkes, Richards and Levering on behalf of
the colony, and addressed to Dupont de I'Eure, agreeing to present its
felicitations at two o'clock on the 6th, "le gouvernement provisoire
ayant bien voulu accorder aux citoyens des Etats-Unis par I'entremise
de Monsieur le Major Poussin, ... la permission," etc. If Poussin
was acting in this case, as Mr. Rush suspected that he was in the other,
as an unofficial agent of the provisional government, his efforts to
secure American recognition are peculiarly interesting. The Erving
here mentioned is probably G. W. Erving, minister to Spain, 1814-18.
Washington Irving was in New York in 1848.
1 Letter dated Mar. 6, signed by Josephine Wickliffe, Archives Nat.,
30
BB 317, No. 214.
(2)
2 Appendix to Congressional Globe for ist Session, 30th Cong., p. 459.
For a less favorable view, r/. D. G. T^Iitchell. The Battle Summer, ch.
xiv.
257] ^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 79
ceived the endorsement of President Polk. James
Buchanan, Secretary of State, wrote a long letter to Rush,
dated Washington March 31, saying that the President ap-
proved the minister's conduct, the policy of the United
States being to recognize de facto governments. The
United States is not indifferent to France's help in the
past. " It is therefore with one universal burst of en-
thusiasm that the American people hailed the late glorious
revolution in France in favor of liberty and republican gov-
ernment." Then follows much advice to France, that she
take care not to become involved in a general war and that
she create a federal system, combining her departments to
form sufficiently large units. " I have ventured upon these
speculations, because it is certain that, in your intercourse
with the authorities of the new Republic, you will be often
called upon in conversation for information respecting our
political system. State and national, which they seem to have
adopted as their model ; and also for your opinion how far
this system ought to be changed or modified, so as best to
adapt it to the peculiar position of the French Republic.
Your intimate and enlightened knowledge of our govern-
ment, both theoretical and practical, will enable you to im-
part much valuable information and advice to the French
authorities." ^
On April 26, Mr. Rush presented his official letters, ac-
crediting him to the French Republic. In his remarks on
that occasion, he expressed the hope that " when the Repub-
lic shall have passed from your hands, which have guided
its destinies, into those of the National Assembly which is
soon to meet, that great body will crown its labors by the
establishment of institutions which will assure to France the
greatest prosperity and the purest glory."
1 Niles' National Register, vol. 74, pp. 98, 99.
8o THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 V2^^
Lamartine replied that this first official recognition of the
French Republic was a fitting return for the similar honor
which France had been the first to confer upon America.
He was confident that the republic, despite the inevitable
confusion of readjustment would leave the hands of the
present government, strong and great. His confidence was
based on the fact that France was now ripe for such
institutions.
What, fifty years ago, was only the idea of the leading men
of the nation has passed into the ideas and habits of the whole
people, without exception. The Republic which it wants today,
is that which you have founded yourselves; it is a progressive
republic, but conservative of the rights, of the property, of
the industries, of the commerce, of the probity, of the liberty,
of the moral and religious sentiment of the citizens.
It was a republic which had abjured vengeance in favor of
fraternity. These principles, adopted by the Assembly and
strengthened by the power of the people,
will make of the French republic the glorious sister of the
American republic, and one will be able to say of the French
people and of the American people, what was once said of a
man dear to our two countries, the republic of the two worlds.
As for the sentiments which the French people transmits with
emotion and gratitude to the citizens and to the government
of the United States, I will express them to you, in a single
word, citizen minister: every Frenchman has for the Ameri-
cans, the heart of Lafayette.^
1 Moniteur, April 27. A socialist newspaper, La Republique, has a
remarkable editorial on this occurrence. After recounting the various
evidences of American enthusiasm for the French republic, crowned by
its official recognition, the editorial quotes Lamartine's words, "The
republic which it wants today is that which you have founded your-
selves," and continues, "These last words will obtain general assent.
It is certain that the Republic of the United States is, in many respects,
259] ^VHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA gl
Meanwhile the question of recognition had been brought
before Congress by a joint resolution offered in the Senate,
March 28, by Mr. Allen, a Democrat of Ohio.
Resolved, That in the name and behalf of the American people,
the congratulations of Congress are hereby tendered to the
people of France upon their success in their recent efforts to
consolidate liberty by imbodying [sic] its principles in a re-
publican form of government. Resolved, That the President
of the United States be, and he is hereby, requested to trans-
mit this resolution to the American Minister at Paris, with
instructions to present it to the French Government.^
The second reading took place, March 30.^ Allen, in oppos-
ing a motion to refer the resolution to the Committee on
Foreign Relations, seems to have some sense of the contrast
between Europe and America in 1848, set forth in Chapter I.
It was remarked by a distinguished member of this body not
long since, that we, now-a-days, hear but little said upon the
great elementary truths of public liberty; that -the subject
seemed to be forgotten. Here, sir, is an occasion for reviving
and reviewing the elementary principles of public liberty : and I
a model for European nations. Its constitution, the causes of its pros-
perity must be today the object of the meditations and studies of all
serious men. A people which for sixty years has made the noblest use
of its sovereignty and which without disturbances, without commotion,
has reorganized all public services and given to labor the most precious
guarantees, that is a striking, decisive fact, which should close the
mouth of the detractors of democracy." La Rcpublique, April 28. The
same article was reproduced, accidentally or by design, in the issue of
the 29th. This radical organ's sympathy with the United States de-
serves notice. The key to it is apparently in the last sentence of the
quotation, though the reference is not clear.
1 Congressional Globe, vol. 17, p. 549. Some of the speeches, here
summarized, are given in full in the Appendix, published in a separate
volume.
2 Ibid., pp. 567-570.
S2 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^260
desire, for one, to contribute my humble efforts to remedy this
evil of which we have heard so much complaint — that in our
discussions here the public mind has seldom been directed to
the great question of liberty — that we were distracted with
ideas of conquest, and had lost sight of ideas of liberty.
The anti-slavery men caught at this and endeavored to
turn the matter to the benefit of their cause. John P. Hale,
of New Hampshire, wished to add after the word " govern-
ment " in the resolution, "And manifesting the sincerity of
their purpose by instituting measures for the immediate
emancipation of the slaves of all the colonies of the re-
public." Calhoun now made a considerable speech, moving
to lay the Allen resolution on the table, as premature. The
French have decreed a republic, it remains for them to es-
tablish it. "If they shall prove themselves to be as wise in
constructing a proper constitution, as they have proved
themselves to be skillful in demolishing the old form of
government ... if they shall really form a constitution
which shall on one hand guard against violence and anarchy,
and on the other against oppression of the people, they will
have achieved, indeed, a great work." Failure, however,
might result in a military despotism, for the old govern-
ments could not be reinstated. In that case, there would be
no ground for congratulation. Let us wait for the action
of the French convention, called for April. This far-
sighted plan was defeated, 14 to 29. The yeas and nays on
Calhoun's motion show that 7 Whigs and 7 Democrats voted
for the motion, 8 Whigs and 21 Democrats against it. A
discussion nov/ arose as to when the Allen resolution had
best be considered. In the course of it Stephen A. Douglas
of Illinois declared that he regretted any postponement.
This was the glorious beginning of a revolution, without
bloodshed. The Provisional Government's decrees were very
wise; they intend a radical revolution; never except the
26l] ^i^HAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 83
Continental Congress has a body shown such skill and wis-
dom. Why defer congratulations? Sympathy is needed
now, not when success is achieved. Calhoun was wrong, in
saying that liberty would be greatly hurt by failure ; this is
the first step, which will generate another if it fails. The
dethronement of the king and the decree founding a republic,
the abolition of titles and orders of nobility, universal suf-
frage, the moderation that has combined all classes and
parties in a bond of brotherhood, inspire confidence in their
success.^ The French are keen to know what America
thinks, the only real republic in the world. "All republicans
throughout the world have their eyes fixed upon us. Here
is their model. Our success is the foundation of all their
hopes." Rush should be supported; delay would seem to
criticize his action, whereas he expressed the sentiments of
the American people.
The question dragged along on that and the following
day, without decision. On April 3, a message was read
from President Polk, enclosing the despatch from Mr. Rush,
quoted above.^ Mr. Polk shows himself an ardent champion
of the new regime. " The world has seldom witnessed a
more interesting and sublime spectacle than the peaceful
rising of the French people, resolved to secure for them-
selves enlarged liberty, and to assert in the majesty of their
strength the great truth that, in this enlightened age, man
is capable of governing himself." Needless to say, Mr.
Rush's prompt recognition of the new government " meets
my full and unqualified approbation. ... He judged rightly
of the feelings and sentiments of his Government and of his
countrymen, when, in advance of the diplomatic represeiita-
1 It is interesting to notice the difference between Douglas' notion of
a radical revolution and that of the French socialists. It illustrates
the contrast between the two countries in 1848.
2 Congressional Globe, vol. 17, pp. 579-581.
84 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["262
tives of ether countries, he was the first to recognize, so far
35 it was in his power, the free Government estabhshed
by the French people." Our poHcy has always been non-
intervention, leaving foreign countries to establish the form
of government of their choice. While continuing this policy
toward France, we cannot help feeling great sympathy for
her people, " who, imitating our example, have resolved to
be free." We can never forget France's help in the past.
" Our ardent and sincere congratulations are extended to
the patriotic people of France upon their noble and thus far
successful efforts to found for their future government lib-
eral institutions similar to our own." The message con-
cludes with a hope that France will cultivate with America
*^ the most liberal principles of international intercourse and
commercial reciprocity, whereby the prosperity and happi-
ness of both nations will be promoted."
Allen then moved to take up his joint resolutions. After
a wrangle over parliamentary procedure, the vote was taken,
resulting in a defeat of the motion by 21 to 22. Of the 21
yeas, 19 were Democratic votes and 2 Whig; of the 22 nays,,
6 were Democratic and 16 Whig. The division seems to
have been on purely partisan lines ; the Democratic support
of the resolutions being due to a desire to follow the lead
of Polk and his minister, the Whig opposition having a pre-
cisely contrary motive. A few votes were based on other
considerations, as the affirmative vote cast by the Whig
Hale, who approved of the anti-slavery stand taken by
France, and the negative vote cast by Calhoun who was un-
friendly to the Administration ^ and who doubtless drew
some Democrats after him. Northern and southern votes
were about equally divided. This vote (which was not on
the resolutions themselves, but merely on their immediate
1 See Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, passim.
263] ^H^T FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 85
consideration) was explained by the National of April 22 as
an instance of American reserve, which must not be held
indicative of hostility or indifference toward France, es-
pecially in view of the President's message, which it repro-
duced in full.
On April 6,^ Hannegan, Democrat from Ohio, presented a
long series of congratulatory resolutions from the Commit-
tee on Foreign Relations, which did not differ in spirit from
Allen's. The French are, among other things, felicitated
on '' their successful efforts thus far to found for their
country institutions similar to our own."
A lengthy discussion ended in the defeat of Hale's amend-
ment 28-1, and in the passage of Allen's resolutions as sim-
pler than those of the committee, the only change from their
original form being one of improved phraseology, the final
draft alluding to " the success of their recent efforts to
consolidate the principles of liberty in a republican form of
government." The vote was 19-13; it was immediately
made unanimous.
Meanwhile, on March 28, in the House, Flaskell, Whig
from Tennessee, gave notice that he intended to present
resolutions concerning France. He was anticipated, how-
ever by Cummins, Democrat from Ohio, who, in the ses-
sion of April 3,- offered an even more verbose set than had
Hannegan in the Senate. Two anti-slavery amendments
were offered and a long, bitter debate ensued, which began
on affairs in France, but ended in a general discussion of
the slavery question and became intensely personal. Hil-
liard, Whig from Alabama, had some misgivings as to the
droit au travail, but most of the remarks about France were
sentimental eulogies like that of McClemand, Democrat
1 Congressional Globe, vol. 17, pp. S90-592.
^Ibid., pp. 572-579.
^fj THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 1^264.
from Illinois, who " wished to see France and the United
States as the two great repubhcs of the Old and of the New
World soar and culminate in the moral grandeur and glory
of eternal freedom and Christian civilization." The same
orator, referring to the late king, declared : " The people
bear his shattered throne along the streets, hymning the song
of liberty, and calling anon for a republic on the model of
the United States." Ingersoll, Democrat from Pennsyl-
vania, thought that " the mere expression of the good will of
the American people and the Congress of the United States
and now (with the communication of the President) of all
the branches of this Government " would be so potent " that
everywhere, not merely in France, but in Italy, England,
Germany, everywhere, the consequence must be the peace-
able establishment of something at least approximating to
the public institutions of this country."
Haskell now introduced his resolutions, drawn up so as
to exclude the possibility of any reference to slavery, which
Cummins' frequent references to " all forms of tyranny and
oppression " might perhaps admit. " It was from this coun-
try that they [the kingdoms of Europe] had caught the
flame. It was by looking at us and seeing us advancing in
greatness and harmony, developing our resources, accumu-
lating wealth, and enjoying all the benign effects of civil
and religious liberty ... it was this view of our condition
which animated and inspired the nations of the world."
Then France was forgotten in an angry wrangle over slav-
ery, closed only by a motion to adjourn, which required the
Speaker's vote to cari-y it, 81-80.
On April 7 and 8, the House was asked to take up the
joint resolutions received from the Senate, but objection was
made each time. On the loth,^ the discussion was begun,
1 Congressional Globe, vol. 17, PP. S98-604.
265] IVHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA Sy
and after another long slavery debate, the Senate resolu-
tions were concurred in and passed, 174-2, two northern
Whigs alone voting in the negative. A motion to reconsider
was made in the anti-slavery interest on the next day, but
was defeated 123-46, all the forty-six being Whigs. Vot-
ing in favor of the resolutions as they stood were the Demo-
crat, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi in the Senate and the
Whig, Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois in the House. Every-
body wanted to congratulate France, the only question was
as to the form of the congratulations, as to which the radical
anti-slavery men took up a separate position.
This action by Congress was officially transmitted to the
Executive Commission by Mr. Rush, May 22, accompanied
by an address of his own dated May 1 7, conveying the feli-
citations of the American people, as wxll as its government,
declaring that the President hopes for France that it will en-
joy internal and external tranquillity while it is occupied in
giving itself new institutions and that these institutions, the
fruit of calm and wisdom, will redound to the happiness of
the nation. " The people of the United States, free by right
of birth, since it has existed in the Occident, found after its
own revolution, that the action of time and of peace was
necessary to consolidate its system of government, whose
form is republican, its essence popular, and which finds
stability in the elements of order which compose it." He
feels honored at being the bearer of this resolution, " so
much the more keenly because it is at an epoch when the
whole French people, represented by the majesty of the
National Assembly, is to deliberate to found its constitution,
Lamartine received the resolution as a happy confirmation
of the fact that America was first to recognize the French
republic. He continued
88 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r265
The new government of the republic would regard with just
sensitiveness foreign governments mingling advice with their
good wishes. But in the very intimate relations of the French
and the American republics, every word which it may address
to us will be received in token of perpetual friendship. The
senate, the legislative body and the executive power of the
United States may be convinced that these wise counsels are
already the law of the French republic ; not only will it follow
its course, but it will follow its examples of regular institu-
tions, (ses exemples d'ordre df institution reguliere), of caution,
with its neighbors, of solicitude for the labor, the instruction,
the prosperity of the people, substance and goal of its resolu-
tion. The names of Washington, of Jefferson, of Jakson [sic}
are inscribed on the banner of the new Republic, and if France
is so happy as to find in its future names worthy of these great
names, liberty will assume its true character on the old conti-
nent as it has found it on the other side of the Atlantic.^
The next day, M. Bastide, minister of foreign affairs, in-
formed the Assembly of the resolution, its reception and his
haste to have the transaction recorded at once in the Moni-
teur, that it might be brought immediately to the knowledge
of all French citizens.
Now, I take the liberty of remarking that this fact is entirely"
new in the democratic history of the republic of the United
States. Up to the present, communications of this kind had
always been made by the executive power alone; today it is
the whole Congress, the representatives of the American re-
public who address themselves to the representatives of the
French republic, to felicitate them on the advent of their
government. You will feel, citizens, like your executive com-
mission in the name of which I have the honor to speak, that
this act, so new, so honorable, and which may be so fruitful
in useful consequences, should call forth from our side an
'^Moniteur, May 23.
26y] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 89
act of the same nature. I will propose, then, to the Assembly
to name a committee to draw up an address in response to
the resolution of the United States Congress and this address
will be transmitted as quickly as possible through your execu-
tive commission of government to the government of the
United States.
The committee on foreign affairs was then assigned the duty
of drawing up such a resolution.^
On the 25th, M. Drouyn de Lhuys reported the commit-
tee's resolution in a speech which reviewed the various acts
of friendly recognition on the part of America from the
28th of Februar}^, when " the barricades opened before M.
Richard Rush." In addition to official acts, he alluded to
the numerous addresses, particularly to " that assembly at
Baltimore where thirty thousand citizens gave regular and
pacific expression to their good wishes for a friendly people,
as if a single heart had spoken by a single voice." Finally
he reached this latest step of the nation united with his own
"by an ancient alliance and by the recent confraternity of
an identical political dogma." As to this, he asserted on the
part of the committee that after consulting with care the
annals of American diplomacy, they were convinced that at
no time, wdth reference to no government or people, had the
United States ever taken such action before. It had always
been an executive, never a legislative act. France should
respond to this flattering exception made by the United
States by an equally unusual response. They proposed,
therefore, that a decree be drawn up by the Assembly in the
name of the French people and transmitted through the
regular diplomatic channels to the President of the United
States, to be brought by him to the cognizance of the people,
the Senate and the House. This procedure would cor-
1 Moniteur, May 24.
^O ^^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [258
respond with that of Congress and further, " the solemn
and laconic form of a decree "is the most fitting way to
express " the virile and austere friendship of two great re-
publics." They proposed the following decree :
Art. I. The National Assembly, profoundly touched by the
sentiments which have dictated to the Congress of the United
States the decree of April 13th last, offers to the American
people the thanks of the Republic and the expression of its
fraternal friendship.
Art. 2. The commission of executive power is charged with
transmitting the present decree to the French legation at
Washington, with orders to present it to the American
government.
No remarks being made, the decree was passed by a un-
animous rising vote.^
This decree was borne to the United States by G. L.
Poussin, who had been so prominent in bringing about the
rapprochement between the two countries at the time of
Rush's recognition, and who, though a naturalized Ameri-
can, was now appointed French minister to the United
States. The Washington Union called attention to the
striking coincidence, so expressive of the fraternal relations
of the two nations that at the same moment, the United
States was choosing M. Vattemare (a rather eccentric
Frenchman, who originated the idea of each nation exchang-
ing objects of art, specimens of fauna and flora, etc. with
the other), American agent at Paris for international ex-
changes. These reflections of the Union, together with an
account of Major Poussin's reception by President Polk are
1 Moniteur, May 26. The reception of the decree is acknowledged in a
brief message of the President to Congress, dated August 8th; vide
Congressional Globe, pp. 1050, 1057,
269] IV^^AT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 91
recorded at length in Le National of September 4,^ quoting
from Le Courrier des Etats Unis.
In addition to these expressions of friendship, which after
due allowance for the courtesies of diplomacy and for 1848
sentimentalism, remain cordial beyond the ordinary, certain
concrete offers of help were proposed in Congress.
Pierre states that as soon as the constitution began to be
discussed, the United States proposed to send to France their
most eminent statesmen, who were to bring the experience
of a half -century's practice. The offer was not received
with sufficient cordiality, and was dropped.^ The same
statement is also made by Berton, (following Pierre?) who
speaks of a consultative commission, offered by the United
States, but withdrawn on account of its cold reception.^ An
examination of the Moniteur and the Congressional Globe
fails to reveal any trace of this offer. The nearest approach
to it is in a speech in the Senate, April 6 by Hannegan, who
made this proposal :
When the National Assembly, which is to convene on the 20th
of April, shall have closed its deliberations by giving to France
a constitution after our own model, I would go further: I
would send a solemn embassage — its members composed of
the snow-crowned and most honored servants of our Republic,
those who have given the energy of long life to liberty and
their country, and whose mellow but all-radiant light still rests
upon the theatre of action. I would send such an embassy,
in the name and with the spirit of our people, to fraternize
with the descendants of those who shed their blood on the
battle-fields of our Revolution.*
1 Cf. also Moniteur, Sept. 4.
-V. Pierre, Hist, de la repuhlique de 1848, p. 479.
^H. Berton, "La Const, de 1848," Annales de I'ecole libre des sciences
politiques, 1897, p. 685.
'' Congressional Globe, App., p. 458.
92 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-270
This, however, is a congratulatory, not a consuhative com-
mission; if the latter was really offered, it must have been
by the executive.
A more practical suggestion was made in the House on
April 17, by C. J. Ingersoll, Democrat from Pennsylvania,
who moved this resolution;^
That the Committee of Ways and Means ascertain, by con-
sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and otherwise,
and report to the House, whether the immediate reduction of
fifteen of the thirty per cent ad valorem now imposed as duties
on French productions imported into the United States will
not, at this crisis in the French Government, aiford great and
seasonable relief to the distressed industry of that country, to
which this is so much indebted, and also be without disadvant-
age, if not beneficial, to the revenue, commerce and general
welfare of the United States.
There w^ere several amendments and some discussion by a
member unfriendly to the resolution, of the relative merits
of " French gewgaws " and Pennsylvania iron, but the whole
subject was finally laid on the table by a vote of 99 to 85."
On Jime 20th, Mr. Pearce, from the Committee on the
1 Congressional Globe, vol. 17, p. 638 et seq.; cf. p. 343.
2 According to the Paris Union, quoting from the Courrier des Etats-
Unis, Mr. George Sumner, a Bostonian, resident for some years in Paris,
had on Mar. 22 addressed a plan to Vice-President Dallas and Secretary
of Treasury Walker, proposing the reduction of duties on a large num-
ber of French products, for the excellent moral effect it would have in
France and the ensuing benefit to the commerce of the two nations.
The Union continues on its own account that Mr. Dallas was believed
to have studied the matter and to have been preparing a set of resolu-
tions when the Ingersoll bill was defeated. The latter's failure was
credited to insufficient preparation, and the belief expressed that it
would be brought up again at the next session, especially if the French
government showed any intention of " replying to the good dispositions
of the Americans." Vide Union, July 29. George Sumner was Charles
Sumner's brother.
271] J'VHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 93
Library, reported a joint resolution to the Senate, authoriz-
ing the presentation to France of a series of the standard
weights and measures of the United States, which was
passed, apparently without contest/
As Drouyn de Lhuys suggested in his speech, previously
mentioned, unofficial enthusiasm for the new republic had
been expressed in many American cities.
An open-air meeting was held April 3, at New York in
what the American correspondent of the National calls " the
immense park opposite the City Hall," where according to
his report, 30,000 people were gathered about various tem-
porary platforms, from which speeches lauding liberty and
international fraternity v/ere made in all languages.^ A
complete account of the meeting with extracts from the
speeches is taken by the Moniteur from the Courrier des
1 Cong. Globe, vol. 17, p. 857. The details of the bill, not found in
the Globe, are given by the Paris Union of Sept. 11, quoting from '' one
of the recent numbers " of the Washington Union. It is there spoken
of as the bill of July 25th ; since the Globe contains no record of any
action relative to France in either branch of Congress at that time, the
Pearce bill is probably meant. The measure provided that Vattemare,
as agent for international exchanges, should receive for presentation to
France seven folio volumes of American archives, a new edition of
United States laws, legislative documents published by Congress, the
report of Wilkes' voyage around the world, duplicate copies of Amer-
ican works not contained in the American library in Paris, and a series
of weights and measures. To this motley collection the director of the
Patent Office added drawings of the twenty-five most recent inventions,
and the Secretary of the Navy drawings of a new warship and of " a
machine for constructing large masts." Various maps were also sent,
including a chart of winds and currents. Parchment addresses, signed
by senators and representatives, were added. The Paris Union was
deeply moved by this transaction. " It is with joy, we doubt not, that
the country will receive this double expression of the sentiments of the
American Congress. Between the United States and' France there has
existed for so long a time a close bond, glorious and touching mem-
ories !"
' National, Apr. 22.
94 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^272
Etats-Unis.^ Another detailed report is furnished by the
N. Y. Evening Post,^ which says that '' at dark the crowd
was so immense that no estimate could be formed of its
numbers." The mayor presided, many spread-eagle
speeches, poems and resolutions were read (one calling for
reciprocal citizenship, without probation, between the people
of France and the people of the United States), and then the
" City Hall was illuminated on all sides except the north,
with more than fifteen hundred sperm candles — one to each
pane of glass — and produced a most magnificent appearance.
Tammany Hall and the block of buildings adjoining were
also illuminated, as were most of the hotels, and especially
the residences of the French." Finally came fireworks from
the balcony of the City Hall, concluding with a set piece,
the letters Vive la Republique, flanked on either side by two
stars, " each representing the star of America enclosing the
newly risen star of the French republic. The shouts which
now rent the air were truly tremendous. Cheer upon cheer,
and hurrah after hurrah, were given, as if in perfect ecstacy
of enthusiastic joy at sight of the glorious words." ^
Three weeks later, " one of the most brilliant and im-
posing pageants that has ever been witnessed in this metro-
polis " * was held in the Park Theatre, presided over by a
prominent lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick. The occasion was
a military ball, at which a velvet and gold liberty cap was
presented by the city of New York to the city of Paris and
^ Moniteur, Apr. 23,
^ N. Y. Evening Post, Apr. 4.
^Cf. M. Moses, Full Annals of the Revolution in France, for an
account of the similar celebration in 1830, when ex-President James
Monroe presided over the meeting and when " the students of Colum-
bia College, with their President and Professors" participated in the
parade.
* A^. Y, Evening Post, Apr. 26.
273] ^^^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 95
received by the French vice-consul. An enthusiastic letter
was read from Martin Van Buren, the purport of which was
that in spite of past failures, the new republic had a good
chance to last. In due season, the bonnet phrygien was sent
to the minister of foreign affairs, together with a manuscript
book containing the speeches made, and a long letter de-
scribing the ball.^
What is described as " a dignified meeting " took place in
the Chinese Museum, Philadelphia, at which speeches were
made and long congratulatory resolutions read by William
A. Stokes. One clause contained these words : "And,
whereas, during sixty years the friends of liberty in France
have in each successive struggle invoked their countrymen's
regard to our political institutions as models for their own
imitation and adoption." ^
Another gathering, at Boston, strikes a somewhat more
radical note in one of its resolutions, " That the active efforts
of the Provisional Government of France, to conciliate the
rights of property with the still more sacred right to live,
merit the praises of all those who esteem both life and
property." ^
Both houses of Congress adjourned their sessions on April
24, to attend the local celebration of the February Revolution.
Though the Marine Band, " playing the Marseilles Hymn,"
the Washington Light Infantry, the mayor and aldermen
and other dignitaries marched in the procession, though
speeches were made before the east front of the Capitol and
salutes were fired by the Columbia Artillery, the glamour of
this particular occasion seems to have been somewhat
dimmed by '' the unfavorable condition of Pennsylvania
1 National, July 12.
^Phila. Public Ledger, Mar. 23.
3 Journal des debats, May 12,
g^ THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^274.
avenue, which was literally a cloud of dust all the morning
and at the time when the procession passed along it." ^
Other meetings are reported ^ at Richmond, Baltimore
and Rochester, and doubtless these are not all that were held.
Special addresses were voted by societies of various
descriptions. The Boston typographers sent one to the
printers and compositors of France.^ A group of New
York Fourierists sent another to their brothers across the
sea.*
But more important than any of these, the Democratic
national convention that nominated Cass, inserted in its plat-
form long resolutions of congratulation to the French As-
sembly, expressing wishes for the " consolidation of their
liberties ... on the basis of a Democratic Constitution." ^
The Whigs adopted no platform.
The importance to us of these meetings in American
cities and these resolutions of the American Congress does
not lie in their revelation of America's enthusiasm for re-
publican France, but in the fact that they v/ere carefully re-
ported, often at length, in many French newspapers, and
thus could hardly help having a tendency to predispose the
French mind in favor of the United States. It was some-
thing more than the international fraternity, common at the
time, for a study of the newspapers fails to show any similar
interchange of courtesies with any other country.
The more detailed knowledge which the educated part of
the French public had regarding Amxcrica was based essen-
tially on a very few books. Foremost among these was of
^ Washington Daily National Intelligencer, Apr. 25. Cf. Cong. Globe,
vol. 17, pp. 664, 665.
^National, May 20.
* Journal des dehats, May 12.
* Democratie paciHque, "May 8.
^ A^ Y. Evening Post, May 29.
275] ^-^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA gy
course A. de Tocqueville's Democratic en Anieriqice. He
and his friend, G. de Beaumont, studied the prison system
of the United States from May, 1831 to May, 1832, during
which time they travelled from Boston to New Orleans.
The results of this study were set forth in a book by the
two men, entitled Systeme penitentiaire aux Etats Unis et
de son application en France, published in Paris in 1832 and
reaching its third edition in 1845. This work, which re-
commended the partial adoption of what was known as the
Auburn system, (modified system of silence) was crowned
by the French Academy, given the Prix Monthyon and
translated into German, English, Portuguese and other lan-
guages. From the observations made on that journey, com-
bined with his own reflections ( for he was essentially a de-
ductive thinker) Tocqueville wrote his classic on Demo-
cracy in America, which, appearing in part in January,, 1835,
was the first reasoned political account of the American ex-
periment. It created a great sensation. Royer-Collard, the
old statesman of Restoration times, said, ^' Since Montes-
quieu, nothing like it has appeared." Four thousand copies
of the first part were sold in a short time, an extraordinary
number for the period.^ It was widely translated. In
1836, the French Academy awarded it a special prize of
8000 francs, the ordinary maximum being 6000.^ The au-
thor, on the strength of it, was in 1838, elected a member
of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and in 1841
of the French Academy. By 1848, the book had reached
its tenth edition, and was generally familiar to cultivated
people. Tocqueville's attitude was that of the early nine-
teenth century aristocratic liberal. He was not a democrat,
1 Eugene d'Eichthal, Alexis de Tocqueville -et la democratie liberale,
p. 106.
2 G. de Beaumont, Correspondances et oeuvres posthumes de Alexis
de Tocqueville (vol. 5 of Oeuvres Completes), p. 48.
^ THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^2^6
though not violently hostile to democracy ; he regarded it as
inevitable, and sought to study its workings where they had
been in most successful operation. Originally a legitimist,
he had sat in the liberal opposition during the July Monarchy,,
and was now a repuhlicain du lendemain. His attitude to-
ward the republic is clearly described by a later writer.
Tocqueville, he says, about the time that Beaumont's elec-
toral profession of faith appeared, produced a new edition
of the Democracy/ It was preceded by an elaborate preface,
which was reproduced in a great number of newspapers and
"very noisily commented upon." Tocqueville and Beaumont
began to be considered pronounced republicans, '' while the
republic had never been more than an object of study for
them," nor had they voted with the republicans in the cham-
ber of deputies. It is to them, the writer continues, that is
to be traced back the distinction between the moderate and
the violent republic. He then quotes Tocqueville' s own
words in the preface of the 1848 edition, as follows :
It is no longer the question whether we shall have in France
royalty or republic, but it remains for us to learn whether we
shall have an agitated or a tranquil republic; a regular or an
irregular republic; a pacific or a warlike republic, which
threatens the sacred rights of property and of family, or a
republic which recognizes or consecrates them. A terrible
problem, whose solution concerns not France only, but the
whole civilized universe. ... If we save ourselves, we save
at the same time the peoples which surround us. If we fail,,
we lose them all with us. According as we shall have demo-
cratic liberty, or democratic tyranny, the destiny of the world
will be different, and it may be said that it depends on us today
whether the republic shall end by being established cA^ery-
where, or abolished everywhere.
1 This 1848 edition is unfortunately not to be found in the Biblio-
theque Nationale.
277] ^^^^'^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA gg
The later writer, a radical, observes somewhat bitterly that
the real point was whether '* under the aegis of that regular
and tranquil republic, of which one spoke with so much en-
thusiasm, it w^as not desired to keep things practically as they
were under the government of Louis Philippe. ... It was
on the 14th of March that the preface of M. de Tocqueville
appeared and certainly many points of reform remained to
be noticed, many improvements to be demanded." ^
In America, Tocqueville became an ardent admirer of the
system of checks and balances. The particular points of
the American system, outside of the central structure itself,
which appealed most strongly to him were local self-govern-
ment, the independence and authority of the judiciary, and
the federal scheme in general. " Such were the great reme-
dies which Tocqueville perceived opposed in the United
States to democratic excesses." ^
Tocqueville begins his constitutional study with the New
England township as the best expression of Anglo-American
popular sovereignty, proceeding outward to the county and
the state. When he takes up the federal constitution,^ he
finds worthy of particular attention the two chamber system
in the legislative branch, the President's suspensory veto and
indirect election, and the power of the Supreme Court. He
considers the greater independence in the federal constitu-
tion of the three branches of government over against the
people, as proof of its superiority over the state constitutions.
It is in fact "the most perfect federal constitution that ever
existed." * European conditions, however, make its slavish
imitation undesirable ; it should be studied and the best parts
1 F. Rittiez, Hist, du gouvernement provisoire, vol. 2, pp. 78-80.
2 E. d'Eichthal, op, cit, p. 88.
^ Tocqueville, op. cit., pt. i, ch. viii.
* Ibid., p. 210.
lOO T^I^E, FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^J^
of it adapted to European conditions.^ In fact, one of the
most important features of his attitude is his dictum that
of the three vital elements in American prosperity, " the laws
contribute more to the maintenance of the democratic re-
public in the United States than the physical circumstances
of the country, and the manners more than the laws." ^
'Nevertheless, he was so generally recognized as an admirer
of the American republic that he was dubbed Vamericain and
laughingly accepted the title. " I have already," he writes
in a letter to M. de Corcelle, dated Berne, July 27, 1836,
" as an American [<?n ma qiialitc d'amcricain,] conceived a
very superb disdain for the federal constitution of Switzer-
land, which without ceremony I call a league and not a
federation. A government of that nature is surely the soft-
est, the most powerless, the most awkward and the most in-
capable of leading nations anywhere except to anarchy. . . .
Then English kingdom is a hundred times more republican
than that republic. . . . Enough of politics. If Quincy
Adams' speech is still in your hands, I beg you to keep it
for me." ^
Tocqueville was not alone in his interest in America, in
the early days of the July monarchy. " The idea, further-
more, that a republic, somewhat similar to that of the x\meri-
cans would be one day founded in France, preoccupied many
minds at that time; the due de Broglie was thinking of it
and Armand Carrel in disappointment was commencing to
rally to it." *
At almost the same time appeared another book on which
^ See especially, Preface to ed. of 1850 (p. liv in Century ed.) and
close of ch. xvii.
2 Ch. xvii, esp. p. 409; by "manners" (moeurs) he meant religion,
morality, the tendency toward social equality, etc.
3 Correspondances; Oeuvres completes, vol. 6, p. 62.
* R. P. Marcel, Essai politique sur A. de Tocqueville, p. 289.
279] ^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA loi
the educated Frenchman based his impressions of America,
a series of letters written by Michel Chevalier, during a
visit to the United States from 1834 to 1836/ The author,
a St. Simonien in youth, afterward settled down into a con-
servative professor of economics in the College de France ;
he was of the Manchester school, a great believer in individ-
ual liberty and free-trade. The letters are written from the
standpoint of a liberal Catholic royalist. They are some-
what rhetorical in style; on the whole they are laudatory.
The subject-matter is chiefly concerned with banks and rail-
roads, then with social conditions; little is said on purely
constitutional issues. Chevalier was in America at the time
of Jackson's conflict with the Bank, in which his sympathies
inclined toward the latter as the most stable financial force
in the country. Like Tocqueville, Chevalier's fortune was
made by his book on America (which in this case, included
Cuba and Mexico) . It seems to have been widely read and
Alexander von Humboldt praised it. Chevalier received a
government commission to study financial conditions in
England as a result of the book's success and later was made
a member of the council of state.
A third writer on America at this time was Guillaume Tell
Poussin, to whom reference has been made. In 1834, he
wrote a book on canals and railroads in the United States,
a subject which Chevalier later developed.^ In 1841,
Poussin published his Cofisideratioits sur le principe demo-
cratique qui regit Vunion americaine, et de la possihilite de
son application a d'autres etats. This was largely a review
of Tocqueville and highly eulogistic of the United States.
^ Lettres stir I'Amerique du Nord, Paris, 1836; 2 vols., 2d ed., 1837.
2 Travaux d' ameliorations interieures, projetes . . . par le gouverne-
ment general des Etats-Unis d'Amerique de 1824 a 1831, Paris, 1834.
^ Hist, et description des voies de £Ommunication aux Etats-Unis, 2
vols., Paris, 1840-41.
I02 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [280
But his principal work was De la puissance americaine, pub-
lished in 1843 ^01" the first time, and appearing in an enlarged
third edition in 1848.^ The first part is a history of the
colonial period, the second a discussion of the " military,
agricultural, commercial, and industrial resources of the
United States."
Still another writer on the United States was Achille
Murat, son of the marshal, an American citizen living in
Florida and a strong admirer of his adopted country. He
published at Paris in 1832 his Esquisses morales et politi-
ques des Etats-Unis de rAmerique du Nord, which told
about everything except the constitution.
There was, however, another class of publications, which
is very important for our purpose. As the meeting of the
Assembly approached, collections of constitutions began to
appear. In some cases, these were purely former French
constitutions; in many other cases, however, the American
federal and sometimes, various state constitutions were
added ; rarely were those of any other country included.^
Another class of writings is made up of ideal constitu-
tions ; here American influence is often perceptible. One of
the most important writers in this class is E. de Laboulaye, a
professor in the College de France and a publicist of the lib-
eral school, equally hostile to socialism and to reaction. He
was a strong admirer of the United States and held it up as
an example in many books, mostly written after our period.
He wrote an essay, entitled Cotisiderations sur la Constitu-
tion (Paris, 1848), filled with quotations from American
practice, to which was appended a plan for a constitution,
based on the report of the commission, (then before the
1 Published in English in 1850 under the title The United States, its
Power and Progress.
2 Cf. ch. vii and bibliography.
28l] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA, 103
Assembly), amended largely in accordance with the United
States constitution. He gave a lecture December 4, 1849,
at the opening of his course on comparative legislation, en-
titled Dc la constitution americaine et de Vutilite de son
etude. ^ This, of course, came too late to have any effect on
the thought of the Assembly, but it shows what was in the
minds of some of the leaders in Parisian intellectual life at
the time. For other writings of this nature reference must
be made to the bibiliography. There was also no little in-
formation about the political and constitutional life of
America in the newspapers, as will be seen in a subsequent
chapter. If now, we essay to determine the general feeling
about America in the France of 1848, we must distinguish
between the American ideal and the American fact.
As to the American ideal, there was general adulation.
Washington, regarded as its incarnation, was constantly held
up by all parties as a sort of republican superman. We find
Lamartine replying to the Italian delegation, who had come
to pay their respects to the Provisional Government, March
2y, bidding them remove from their pantheon the name of
Machiavelli and substitute for it " the purer name of Wash-
ington ; there is the name which must be proclaimed to-day,
it is the name of modern liberty. It is no longer the name
of a politician, it is the name of the most disinterested man,
the one most devoted to the people. There is the man
whom liberty needs. A European Washington, that is the
need of the century : the people, peace, liberty ! " ^ And
again, in a letter to the electors, defending his policies, he
predicted, " The republic inspired by Washington will tri-
umph over the republic of Baboeuf, of Robespierre and of
1 Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence, Dec. 1849. Published sep-
arately in 1850.
2 Lamartine, Trois mois an pouvoir, p. 144.
I04 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [282
Danton." ^ The chief radical newspaper printed an article
on Washington a propos of the approaching American presi-
dential election. His name is here said to have remained
great and respected, because '' that name is a synonym for
honor, for courage and for devotion to the country, for dis-
interestedness. Never did ambition trouble the severity
of that conscience, inaccessible to petty calculations and to
vanity; so the errors of that great man were excused by his
contemporaries, who honored in Washington political vir-
tue, if not the most impetuous, at least the most severe." ^
The same article praised Jefferson's '' firmness and noble
modesty " which marked the daw^n of a new era for
America, the triumph of democracy. Of him might be
said, what he had said of Washington, that when he died,
" a great man perished that day in Israel."
The royalist organs held the same opinion.
In America, Washington reveals himself. Again a man who
directs all the forces of the revolution. . . . Those who follow
him have confidence, those who combat him esteem him; in
the councils, his opinion is followed, because his opinions are
never ambiguous ; in the assemblies, he is listened to, because
his character gives power to his speech. So history records
one more great man. . . . But this time, in your second re-
public, where is the man who directs it?*
And again, " Meanwhile, permit us to deplore that absolute
void, that profound lack of leaders commanding respect,
under the rule of a revolution which ought to produce the
expansion of so many high intelligences. We count several
candidates ; but where is Washington ?" *
^ Le Steele, Sept. 2.
^Reforme, Oct. 25.
3 Union, May 22.
*Ibid., Oct. 28.
283] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 105
One paper seeks partisan advantage from Washington's
relations with the French monarchy.
And who then, in the history of the world, would pretend to
put himself above Washington and all those illustrious
founders of the American Union, for devotion to country and
for jealous care given to her honor? And yet were not
Washington, Franklin and all their glorious friends found in
accord on the principle of asking aid in men and money from
the Versailles cabinet ? This aid was granted and accepted and
we recall it in passing, to the eternal glory of the founder of
American independence, that the grateful heart of Washington
kept to its last beat, homage for the memory of Louis XYI, an
instinctive and insurmountable horror for his executioners.^
Another royalist paper remarked that the Assembly is now
discussing presidential candidates. " It is not a question of
designating another Washington, named already by the
glorious renown of his services : there is no man who, hav-
ing long been the representative of the republican idea, has
so to speak personified it in himself, and who, elected presi-
dent, would be the worthiest to install in power the form
of an elective government. No such man exists in
France." ^ Again it is said that " the authority which this
famous chief of the United States enjoyed was the result
of the freest and most regular choice," " which would how-
ever be more difficult to obtain in so large a country as
France, for which a king was more desirable than a
president.
Other newspaper references might be given, but these
must suffice. There are besides such statements as that of
Guizot, who said of him, " Washington does not resemble
1 Assemblee tmtionale, Oct. 4.
2 Opinion publique, Oct. 22.
3 Gazette de France, Mar. 30.
Io6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [284
Napoleon ; the former was no despot. He founded political
liberty, at the same time as the national independence of his
country. . . . He is the model for the chiefs of a democratic
republic. . . . He was of those who know that in a repub-
lic no more than in a monarchy, in a democratic society no
more than in any other, dees one govern from the bottom
up.'* ^ The historian Baron de Barante writes of Cavaignac,
If M. Cavaignac had wanted to be anything except a factional
republican, he would have had a fine chance. But this French
soil could not produce a Washington. I read the other
day his farewell to the American people on leaving the Presi-
dency; what reason and simplicity! Has God refused the
faculty of good sense to our poor nation? Shall we never
know other liberal opinions than those of journalists and
litterateurs ? -
Others, however, had a better opinion of Cavaignac, as
Tocqueville, who in a conversation with Nassau Senior on
January 29, 1851, said " Cavaignac was the only chance of
the republic. He is not a man of wide views, but an honest
man who prefers glory to power. His model would have
been Washington." ^ The same role was assigned to La-
martine a little earlier. *'A11 France considered him as a
providential mediator between parties and classes. The
name and the role of Washington were assigned to him by
the public will." *
While all parties joined in the expression of esteem for
the great American patriot's memory, it is easier to find such
references from royalist than from radical pens.
1 Gnizot, De la Democratie en France, p. 28. As in the case of La-
boulaye, this book, published in 1849, is cited to show the feeling of
prominent men of the time.
2 " Letter to Mme. Anisson du Perron," dated Nov. 9, 1848. Revue
de Paris, vol, iii, p. 562,
3 E. d'Eichthal, A. de Tocqueville, p. 282.
* Daniel Stern, Hist, de la revolution de 1848, vol. 2, p. 19.
285] ^VHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 107
For a long time there had been pubHcists interested in
American governmental theory. On the eve of the revolu-
tion of 1830, Thiers wrote in the National, " We shall be
content to seek our political examples and our models of
government in England, across the Channel; but if you force
us to it, we shall cross the ocean and go as far as America." ^
In 1839, Guizot wrote of the American system,
In its own interior organization, the central government was
well conceived and well weighed; the rights and the relations
of the different powers were regulated with much sense and
a strong appreciation of the conditions of order and of political
vitality, at least for the republican form and the society to
which it adapted itself. Comparing the Constitution of the
United States to the anarchy from which it sprang, one does
not tire of admiring the wisdom of its authors and of the gen-
eration which had chosen and sustained them.^
In 1848, Kenri Martin in his course on modern history at
the Sorbonne laid stress on that
imperishable monument, the Declaration of Rights [sic]. For
the first time in modern societies, a people justified theoretically
the assumption of its liberty by philosophy and universal right,
and no longer by the violation of some special pact, of some
ancient custom; no revolution, not even the glorious revolt
which gave birth to Holland, had laid claim to that august
character. Nothing was more radically opposed to the genius
of old England, nothing was more in conformity with the
genius of France than that declaration pronounced in the
English tongue by English lips. It was not only in the name
of liberty, but in the name of the natural equality of m.en, that
America proclaimed her independence. France recognized the
echo of her thought, the thought which others were realizing
before her, and she arose with a start.^
1 Spulkr, Hist. pari, de la seconde repub., p. 41.
2 Washington, Etude historique, p. Ixiii.
^ Moniteur, June i.
I08 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["286
But it was not only intellectual leaders who were thinking
of America at this time. To get any idea of the mass of
material on the subject, reference must be made to the news-
papers, many of which published long articles about the
American constitution, (not all friendly by any means)
which will be discussed in another chapter. Among the
sample constitutions, which were produced so prolifically at
this time, it is interesting to find suggestions for the new
government by Robert Owen.^ The letter suggests the op-
portunity France has for making a new experiment on true
principles, some of which he lays down, as opportunity for
the education and self -development of every individual, re-
ligious freedom, liberty of speech, thought and action, no
taxes, except perhaps a graduated property tax, " reason-
able ideas of unity and of association," a local government
based on small divisions, most advantageous to secure the
well-being of all, no interference by foreign powers, and
the principle of being armed for defence, not for attack.
His nth clause reads: "The American government, in
principle, with some essential modifications in their practice,
will be a good present model with which to commence."
The notion that other countries and particularly the
United States were being studied by the constitution-makers
at this time and for several years after, was sufficiently
popularized to give birth to a doggerel reactionary verse,
containing these lines.
Certain reve pourtant, titre de liberal,
N'en doit guere a celui qui se dit social ;
Et quand, croyant pour nous f aire chose qui vaille,
1 To the Men and Women of France. An English copy, dated Lon-
don, Feb. 27^ 1848, is in the Archives Nationales (BB so 299(1) ); a
French translation is printed as an appendix to E. Dolleans, Robert
Owen (Paris, 1907), taken by him from a newspaper, La Voix des
Femmes, March 25, 1848.
287] IVHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 109
A nous constituer nuit et jour il travaille,
Son constituantisme aura cela de bon
Qu'il ne se mettra guere en f rais d'invention ;
Aux Chartes, en effet, qu'il voulut nous prescrire,
Les Grecs et les Romains ne pouvant plus suffire,
Les Anglais, sur leur sol, I'ont vu plus d'une fois
Gueuser stupidement d'inapplicables lois;
Et pretendant, de plus, d'un elan heroique,
A defaut de la Manche, en j amber I'Atlantique,
II n'est point de sottise, il n'est point de travers,
Qu'il n'aille mendier aux bouts de Tunivers.^
Another rhyme in equally bad verse, but this time on the re-
publican side, is equally interesting as an indication of popu-
lar opinion. It is fifteen pages long and is based on Napo-
leon's prophecy that in fifty years Europe would be Cossack
or republican. It sets forth the exhaustion of the mon-
archies like aged men. What is to come next? Domina-
tion by Russian tyranny would be horrible. America is
free. The star of empire is passing to her. Then comes a
disquisition on the excellence of quadrennial presidential
elections. There is no party spirit in America. Her future
glory is sure ; she is destined to conquer Canada and Cuba.
The lines which follow are perhaps the only ones in which
James K. Polk has ever been regarded as a poetical subject.
Et I'homme qu'il erige a ce point de hauteur,
Tel que vous, monsieur Polk ! un marchand ou planteur,
Cet homnie sent en lui la royaute plus forte
Que si vingt regiments paradaient a sa porte;
II concentre en lui seul toutes les volontes,
Fait la paix ou la guerre, affermit les traites,
Soutient par sa sagesse, et meme developpe
Un Etat aussi grand que nul Etat d'Europe,
1 Claude-Simplicien Constitutionnelisky, Considerations plus ou moins
poetiques, etc. {'48-' 52), p. 27.
no THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^gg
Regne enfin par les lois mieux qu'un prince absolu ;
Puis le jour le peuple appelle un autre elu,
II vient au Capitole, avec un front austere,
Resigner le pouvoir dont il fut mandataire,
Et rentre dans la foule en simple citoyen,
Entoure de respects, s'il fut homme de bien.^
This is as important as a treatise by Guizot, because it shows
that the American constitution had become a subject of
popular as well as of academic interest.
The American ideal contemplated across the Atlantic was
on the whole regarded with favor, though, as will be seen,
there was strong opposition to the American political system,
viewed as a model for France. When one comes to con-
sider the America of daily life, as she presented herself in
her acts, the balance of praise and blame was much more
nearly divided.
The two subjects of immediate interest in American af-
fairs at the time were the Mexican war and the presidential
election. As to these, opinions differed. We find ardent
defenders of the war, such as the Reforme, which closed a
despatch recounting the conclusion of peace, by saying : *'A1I
republican France will applaud with joy the success of the
Washington republicans, our friends and our brothers." ^
Another paper, in the last days of the monarchy, printed
Polk's message of December 7, 1847, almost complete, with
a eulogistic editorial, the whole taking up nearly ten columns.
The message recalls unfavorably the king's late speech at the
opening of the Chamber, " what a contrast ! One would
think he was really leaving Lilliput and entering a land of
giants." The year has been " as fruitful and prosperous
lA. M. Barthelemy, A M. J. K. Polk, President des Etats-Unis
d'Amerique, Paris, 1848.
-Reforme, March 14, 1848.
289] IVHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 1 1 1
for the New World as it has been sad for the old continent,
a year of glory for the Washington government and of
transition for the United States." The American victories
and the approaching annexation of Mexican territory were
received with complacency, the internal prosperity resumed
in the words " tout niarche, tout se developpe, tout
s'ameliore " and the article closed with the comment, " The
dignity of the acts has elevated the words which have natur-
ally reflected the situation, quite as naturally as the speeches
of our ministers reflect the feebleness of their character,
the poverty of their ideas and all the miseries of their
poHcy." ^
Other papers took a gently critical attitude. " The year
which is just closing will remain a glorious date in the
history of two nations friendly to France. In the United
States, it will recall brilliant victories, whose glamour lacks
only a juster cause." ^ So the following : " The war against
Mexico was not a just war. The citizens of the United
States, most considerable for their lights and their political
renown, had been almost unanimous in blaming it. . . . The
spirit of conquest is the enemy of political liberty ; " ^ the
rest of the article praises the United States for its generosity
in purchasing the new territory, and discusses the increased
complexity of the slavery question.
Still others blamed the Americans sharply. The follow-
ing are typical : " The United States will not stop before
counsels of moderation nor before scruples of conscience;
they regard all North America as their domain and only wait
the occasion to claim their rights. Mr. Polk has contributed
no little to push thought into that channel. And yet all
1 Presse, Jan. 2, 1848.
2 Constitutionnel, Jan. i.
^Journal des dehats, Aug. 15.
112 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 |-2qo
the eminent men of the Union have signaHzed the peril." ^
" Mr. Polk is at much pains to prove that Mexico has been
the aggressor, and that the United States have only used
reprisals; it is a task whose least defect is its uselessness;
the North Americans would do better to cast the respon-
sibility for their conquests, as they have already done more
than once, on Providence or on fate." ^ One of the bitter-
est enemies of the United States was F. de Courmont, who
wrote a pamphlet on the war in 1847, which contained such
sentences as these. "A meddlesome spirit [Polk], a few
months were sufficient for him to cast the republic into a
war whose avowed object is an infamy and whose secret
object, a ridiculous project if it is not one of the most Ma-
chiavellian. . . . Personal interest being the sole motive
which acts seriously on American minds, it resulted that
every citizen has examined the question of peace and war
according to the good or the harm, which eventualities might
bring to his business," ^ and so forth, the author being con-
vinced that underneath this infamous war lurks a secret
polic}^, whose mysteries it is highly important for European
diplomacy to penetrate.
The feature of the presidential campaign which chiefly
impressed French observers was of course its connection
with the war. The Constitutionnel was astonished that the
Whigs, the peace-party, should nominate the general who
led the campaign.
But the Americans are, after the French, the people who show
themselves perhaps the most sensitive to the glory of arms.
America has already had for president several general officers :
Messers. Jackson, Harrison, without speaking of Washington.
^ Univers, July 10.
2 Revue des deux mondes, Jan. 15.
^Des Etats-Unis, de la guerre du Mexique et de Vile de Cube, p. 29.
291] WHAT FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 113
The appeal which the I>emocratic party has the habit of mak-
ing to the warHke sentiments of the nation, is one of the prin-
cipal elements of its success; it is for having flattered these
sentiments that Mr. Polk has arrived at presidential power.
Today the Democrats have chosen for candidate a general,
Mr. Cass. . . . This party dreams of the establishment of the
rule of the United States over the whole extent of the American
continent, by war and by conquest ; it wishes to fortify the insti-
tution of slavery. If its clamors had been heeded, the United
States would have seized Oregon at the risk of war with Eng-
land. It is the party which required the annexation of Texas
and which made an unjust war on Mexico, defending the
independence of its territory. General Cass is a man to enter
into all its views. If Mr. Cass is elected, he will be the repre-
sentative of an arrogant and bold policy; and besides he will
contribute to binding closer the chains of slavery, for slavery
accords perfectly with the ideas of progress of the Southern
democrats, who are, as everyone knows, the democrats par
excellence in the United States.^
Two policies, this interesting editorial concluded, are face
to face ; the policy of peace, moderation and liberty, and the
policy of war, turbulence and servitude; the victory of the
latter was feared, from a division of the majority.
UUnivers, in its editorial of July 10, saw the same strik-
ing fact, that both candidates were generals and predicted a
warlike future with no limits to " the ambition of the young
republic." The other Catholic organ asserted that it seemed
as though the United States government were going to be-
long to " a military president for life, with a military presi-
dency and a military ministry," ^ while if Cass wins, he
wall do all he can to get into a war with England. The same
paper remarked later in the campaign, " The Americans are
1 Constitutionnel, Sept. 27.
^ tre nouvelle, July 9.
114 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^go
decidedly intoxicated with their military glory." ^ There
is very little close study of American politics in the radical
papers. Except in the Reformer there are few allusions to
events in the United States. The Democratie paciUque did
give two and a half columns to a reprint of part of Polk's
message of December 7, 1847/ but that was exceptional.
In spite of his Icarian colony in Texas and Illinois, Cabet's
paper showed such astonishing ignorance of American poli-
tics as to announce that "M. Wuithrop [sic'\ has been elected
president of the republic of the United States in place of
M. Polk." '
Slavery is alluded to, when at all, only as a plague-spot
in the American system. The discovery of Calif ornian gold
is reported, and the San Francisco newspaper can no longer
appear for lack of subscribers.*
But whether the writer is sympathetic and calls it magni-
ficent progress or envious and calls it egoistic materialism,
the dominant note of all these various comments is wonder
at America's great prosperity. An excellent expression of
this general feeling is given at the very start of the republi-
can era by Cordier, who signs himself " depute du Jura "
and who was later a member of the National Assembly.
He holds that America is the heir to the power of England.
Indeed, the United States, having neither indirect taxes nor
public debt nor a large regular army, nor colonies, nor navy
de luxe, nor sinecures, nor office-holders for life richly paid,
nor any monopolies nor class divisions, nor germs of intestine
wars, etc. ; the United States, disposing of immense forests,
of the finest rivers, of 1500 steamboats, 3000 sailing-vessels,
1 kre nouvelle, Sept. 6.
^Democratie paciHque, Jan. 2.
^Populaire, Jan. 9.
^ Assemhlee nationale, Oct. 12.
293] ^^^^ FRANCE THOUGHT ABOUT AMERICA 115
in possession already of numerous and large manufactories
of stuffs, of steam-factories, of the richest mines of coal, iron,
copper, lead, the United States are advancing, almost miracu-
lously, to an extraordinary prosperity, and are entering with
advantage into rivalry with the English in all the markets of
the globe. . . . The American Union possesses more unculti-
vated and fertile lands than still more numerous emigrants
from Europe could cultivate, a greater surplus of diverse
agricultural products than it could consume,^
and so on at considerable length and with heightened em-
phasis on the marvels of the new world. All of which ex-
plains why America was not radical in 1848; she was too
busy and had too much room to be discontented with pres-
ent conditions.
The mention of this deputy suggests that before discuss-
ing the speeches in the Assembly, bearing on American
solutions, it becomes necessary to classify as far as possible
every member of that body who expressed an opinion on the
American system. This classification is undertaken in the
next chapter.
^ Cordier in the Gazette de France, Feb. 29.
CHAPTER IV
The Representatives
To classify the members of the Assembly according to
party affiliation is not an easy task. It has been pointed out
in a previous chapter that there was no strict party system,
and that the labels by which men were called indicated rather
tendencies of thought than membership in an organization.
The " groups " were somewhat more closely bound together
and might have been of service for our purpose, had any
available lists of their membership remained extant. Un-
der these circumstances it becomes necessary to work out the
political cast of mind of the representatives from the facts of
their lives, so far as these can be determined, combined with
their attitude in the Assembly. For the former purpose,
various more or less elaborate directories of members were
drawn up at the time, of which Alhoy's Biographie par-
lementaire, Lesaulnier's Biographie des poo deputes and an
anonymous Biographie des reprisentants du peuple, pub-
lished by the editors of Notre Hist aire, a weekly magazine,
(all three appearing in 1848) are among the best. The
Biographie parlementaire was compiled by " a society of
publicists and men of letters under the direction of Maurice
Alhoy"; there were eighteen in the group, each of whom
signed his initials to the article for which he was responsible.
There is much valuable information in the book, though it
is somewhat rhetorical and is inclined to be partisan, in
favor of the radicals. The Biographie des poo deputes is
similarly the work of " a society of literary men and pub-
116 [294
295 ] -^^^ REPRESENT A TIVES ny
licists under the direction of C. M. Lesaulnier," published
June 19. It was apparently Alhoy's main source; some of
the sketches in his book are copied verbatim from Lesaul-
nier, though others differ entirely in their judgments. Gen-
erally speaking, the books are written from the same demo-
cratic point of view. Some strange discrepancies in dates
show the haste with which they were compiled and the
caution with which they should be used. The Biographic
des representants, issued by Notre Histoire seems to have
been very popular; it went through at least four editions.
It is much shorter than the others, with less detail; the
sketches are brief and clever, devoting less attention to
previous biography, more to a summing-up of the represen-
tative's political position. The authoritative compilation
to-day is, however, the Dictionnaire des parlementaires
frangais, published in 1891, in fixo: volumes, which is a
careful study of the members of all the Assemblies from
1789 to 1889, based on many more sources than were avail-
able to earlier biographers, whose work was necessarily
more journalistic and hurried. J. F. Corkran's History of
the Constituent Assembly is of interest for its lively por-
traits of the principal members as they appeared to a keen
American observer, but the author is intensely partisan and
unfair to all the advanced groups.
The attitude of the representatives toward political ques-
tions as they arose in the Assembly may be determined by
their votes on a few test issues. Alhoy selects as such
issues the Grevy, Leblond, Deville and Goudchaux amend-
ments, and the final vote on the constitution. His record is,
however, by no means accurate, and is especially faulty in
the vote on the constitution, when compared with the semi-
official report in the Moniteur. While retaining his test
questions, therefore, we shall substitute the record of votes
given in the Moniteur (often itself corrected in the issue
Il8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 |-2q5
succeeding the report of the vote, by a letter from some
member inaccurately reported). Where the Dictionnaire
des parlementaires frangais differs, its record is to be pre-
ferred, as based on the proces-verbal of the Assembly. The
unwieldy size of the Assembly is no doubt partly account-
able for the frequent errors in the record. To these test
questions, suggested by Alhoy, we shall add two others, the
Glais-Bizoin and Duvergier de Hauranne amendments, the
latter not so much for a party-test, as for convenience in
determining the member's attitude on the American example.
The Glais-Bizoin amendment proposed that in Article
VIII of the preamble to the constitution, which as re-
ported from the commission August 30, then read in part.
La republique doit proteger le citoyen dans sa personne, sa
famille, sa religion, sa propriete, son travail, et mettre a la
portee de chacun Tinstruction indispensable a tous les hommes ;
elle doit I'assistance aux citoyens necessiteux, soit en leur pro-
curant du travail dans les limites de ses ressources, soit en
donnant, a defaut de la famille, les moyens d'exister a ceux
qui sont hors d'etat de travailler,
the first clause be allowed to stand down to and including
the words " son travail," the remainder being changed to
read:
Elle reconnaSt le droit de tous les citoyens a I'instruction, le
droit a I'assistance par le travail, et a I'assistance dans les
formes et aux conditions reglees par les lois.
The point of the amendment was therefore the introduction
of the droit au travail, which had been recognized only in a
very imperfect form by the Provisional Government ^ and
had become even more unpopular since the fiasco of the
1 Vide supra, p. 38.
;297J THE REPRESENTATIVES 119
national workshops and the June insurrection. The amend-
ment was defeated, September 14, 596 to 187. The final
form of the constitution eHminated even the droit a
V assistance provided for in the project of August 30 in
favor of a still more shadowy assistance fraternelle with the
dangerous word droit quite eliminated.
The Goudchaux amendment proposed that in the second
clause of Chap. II, Art. 15, which, referring to taxes, read
in the project of August 30,
Chaque citoyen y contribue en raison de ses facultes et de sa
fortune,
the words en raison be changed to en proportion. The rea-
son for this was that the ambiguity of the expression en
raison was held to leave the way open for the introduction
of the progressive tax, a favorite scheme of the radicals for
doing away with large fortunes. The amendment ruled out
this possibility by incorporating the alternative plan of the
moderates, the proportional tax, in the constitution. The
amendment was adopted, September 25, 644 to 96.
The Duvergier de Hauranne amendment would change
the proposed draft of Chap. IV, Art. 20, from
Le peuple f ran(;ais delegue le pouvoir legislatif a una assemblee
unique
to
Le peuple frangais delegue le pouvoir legislatif a deux
assemblees.
This two-chamber legislature was beaten, 530 to 289, Sep-
tember 27.
The Grevy amendment would amend Art. 41 in Chap.
V from
I20 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 v^g^
Le peuple fran^ais delegue le pouvoir executif a un citoyen
que re^oit le titre de president de la Republique
to
L'Assemblee nationale delegue le pouvoir executif a un citoyen
qui regoit le titre de president du conseil des ministres
and for the former Arts. 42 to 45, which provided among
other things that the president should be named by direct,
universal suffrage, with secret ballot and absolute majority
of the votes, and that the election should be for four years
with a prohibition of re-election until four other years had
elapsed, — for these articles would substitute an Art. 42, thus
conceived,
Le president du conseil des ministres est nomme par I'Assem-
blee nationale au scrutin secret et a la majorite absolue des
suffrages. Elu pour un temps illimite, il est tou jours revocable.
The design was thus to perpetuate the system which then
existed, according to which General Cavaignac was merely
an executive head, acting during the pleasure of the As-
sembly. There would be no real executive, as a separate
power ; the legislature would be supreme. The amendment
came to a vote, October 7 and was defeated, 643 to 1 58.
Immediately afterward, a somewhat similar amendment,
proposed by Leblond, was discussed. This would retain the
commission's plan of a president, functioning as an inde-
pendent branch of the government for a fixed term, but in-
stead of having him elected by universal, direct suft'rage, it
proposed as Art. 43 that
Le president de la Republique est nomme par I'Assemblee
nationale au scrutin secret et a la majorite absolue des
suffrages.
299] '^^^ REPRESENTATIVES 121
Thus the legislature retained a certain superiority by its con-
trol over the executive, who, as its creature, could not boast
a separate mandate from the people, a very real danger, as
subsequent history proved. The Leblond amendment was
however defeated, also on October 7, by 602 to 211.
The object of the Deville amendment was to restore to
Art. 107 in Chap. IX, which dealt with military service, the
words " en personne," and the clause " Le r emplacement est
interdit/' both in the August 30 draft, but later withdrawn
by the commission, which instead proposed to refer the
decision on the principle they embodied to the organic laws,
on account of the angry discussion they had excited. The
amendment, by requiring personal service of every French-
man and forbidding paid substitutes, would provide a na-
tional army, in which rich and poor alike would be com-
pelled to serve; the opponents of the amendment wanted a
professional army, with the right to hire substitutes. The
amendment was rejected, October 21, by 663 to 140.
It will be seen, then, that in general a vote for the Glais-
Bizoin, the Grevy, the Leblond and the Deville amendments,
and against the Goudchaux and Duvergier de Hauranne
amendments would be a radical vote. To remove any doubt
on this point, there have been added to the table on pp. 144-
146 in which are to be found the votes of all those who men-
tioned the example of America on any constitutional ques-
tion, favorably or unfavorably, the names and votes of the
leading radicals and conservatives ; their attitude on the test
questions will be a further aid in determining the political
position of the men we are studying.
Certain reservations as to the perfect accuracy of the
standards we have chosen, must now be made. The great body
of moderate republicans, which controlled the Assembly,
furnished the bulk of the majority on all these questions.
It was, however, by definition, a center party, neither radical
122 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848
[300
nor conservative in an extreme sense. On the Duvergier
de Hauranne amendment, for example, it voted on the radi-
cal side, on all the others, it voted with the conservatives.
Nor did it ever vote as a unit. Many moderate republicans,
particularly of the republicains du lendemain, voted with the
conservatives on the Duvergier de Hauranne amendment
while on the other hand, we find Dupont de I'Eure voting
with the radicals on the Deville amendment ; F. Arago and
Garnier-Pages, both republicans of the National nuance, are
on opposite sides on the Leblond amendment. Again, such
a pronounced legitimist as De la Rochejacquelein voted
with the radicals on the Grevy amendment by the side
of Greppo, the socialist. It is obvious, therefore, that no
one of these amendments can be taken as a fair test by itself.
Party discipline was too loose to control the erratic ex-
pression of individual opinions. But it may fairly be said
that if in the majority of these seven test votes, a man's
voice be given pretty steadily for one side or the other, he
can be classified with justice as holding a political attitude in
general symapthy with the radical or the conservative posi-
tion. In many cases, the man's speeches and his previous
career will enable us to fix this attitvide with greater
precision.
For convenience, we shall group the 55 representatives
who referred to American example, favorably or unfavor-
ably, into- six divisions, three of which, the liberal, radical
republican and socialist, express various shades of advanced
opinion, while two others, the conservative and legitimist,
take the opposite attitude. A few neutral individuals will
have to be grouped apart as unclassifiable. Those here called
liberals are in general moderate republicans of the Natiotial
stamp, the men who controlled the provisional government
and the executive commission and were in majority in the
Assembly. The party contained the moderate republicains
301 ] THE REPRESENTATIVES 123
de la veilky as well as some others and took up a left center
position. The radicals were that more intransigeant group
of repuhlicains de la veille, who followed the leadership of
Ledru-Rollin and the Reforme newspaper/ The conserva-
tives were usually repuhlicains du lendemain and for the
most part ex-Orleanists, often men who had held office un-
der the July Monarchy, though the majority had been in
opposition to the Guizot ministry. Some were still Orlean-
ist in sentiment, though most professed republicanism, be-
ing practical men. This was the right center party. The
extreme groups, socialists and legitimists, require no special
elucidation. The socialists had no common program except
one of criticism, but each individual leader had a more or
less definite scheme of his own ; the legitimists on the other
hand, were limited to one simple ideal, — the return of
Charles X's grandson, the due de Bordeaux, as Henry V.
In the liberal group, we may fairly place 16 members who
alluded to the example of the United States either with ap-
proval or disapproval.
M. Barth was the son of a workman who had grown
wealthy. He became a Fourierist, but in the Assembly
grew more moderate, attaching himself to Cavaignac's for-
tunes. He voted, however, against the interdiction of the
clubs, for the abolition of the death penalty, and against a
cautionnement for the press. Lesaulnier says that he was
light and easily open to influences.
J. B. Brunet was a soldier, chiefly interested in Algerian
colonization.
1 It should be remarked that elsewhere in this study we have used
the term " radical " in the looser sense to cover all the more advanced
groups, rather than in this technical sense, which we have en-deavored
to distinguish by the term " radical republican." The same caution
should be given regarding " conservative," elsewhere employed less
specifically.
124 "^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^2
J. L. E. Cordier, as deputy for many years, had sat on
the extreme left, voting against the Pritchard indemnity and
for electoral reform. In the Assembly, he occupied a mod-
erate democratic position.
Adolphe Cremieux, one of the party leaders, was a strong
Bonapartist in 1815 and always opposed the Restoration.
Though an office holder under the July Monarchy, as deputy
from 1842 to 1848 he sat with the dynastic opposition. He
did, however, at first favor a regency in February, and was
said, according to Lesaulnier, to have sat beside the Duchess
of Orleans in the Chamber and to have written a little speech
for her, which she did not deliver. He managed to change
sides quickly enough to become a member of the provisional
government, and to hold the portfoHo of justice. He was a
moderate republican, somewhat vacillating.
P. N. Gerdy, a physician, sat on the left in the Assembly,
holding strongly democratic opinions. He did not remain
long in politics, and after one session returned to private life.
Jules Grevy, the future president of the Third Republic,
was commissioner for the Jura in the early days of 1848 and
becoming very popular there, headed the delegation from the
Jura in the Assembly. Here he sat on the left and was the
author of the celebrated Grevy amendment, previously re-
ferred to. Alhoy speaks of his clear and close dialectic.
Alphonse de Lamartine was the principal figure in the
first phase of the republic as Cavaignac was in the second
and Louis Napoleon in the third. He was still a power in
the Assembly, but his glory was on the wane. Born at
Magon in 1790 of an aristocratic family, he was brought up
in a strictly religious, legitimist atmosphere. He hated the
Empire and devoted himself to travel and poetry. He mar-
ried an Englishwoman and during the Restoration held vari-
ous diplomatic posts in Italy. As a legitimist he opposed the
July Monarchy, but he gradually became more and more in-
303] ^^^ REPRESENTATIVES 125
dependent in politics and was finally given up by his old party
associates. He traveled in the East, entered the Chamber
in 1833, and in 1847 wrote that Histoire des Girondins,
which flattered the moderate republicans and gave him his
prestige at the outbreak of the revolution. Under the re-
public, he aimed at occupying an absolutely central, non-
partisan position, the friend of all parties. This doubtless
accounts for his admiration of Washington, but despite his
brilliant oratory, Lamartine was not convincing enough to
be permanently successful; men began to suspect his love
of dramatic effects and his vanity; despite his undoubtedly
pure ideals, he lost popularity and influence.
Lavallee had been a member of the society Aide-toi, le del
faidera, Gamier-Pages being one of his principal friends.
According to Notre Histoire, he had been on the staff of the
National at one time, and represented its type of politics.
Armand Marrast was born at Saint-Gaudens in 1801.
He struggled out of a poverty-stricken home and became a
teacher of rhetoric and the humanities, ultimately securing a
position in the college of Louis-le-Grand at Paris. While
there he took his doctorate at the Sorbonne. In 1827, he
made a speech at the tomb of the republican, Manuel, which
lost him his academic position. He turned to tutoring and
journalism, writing principally for the Tribune, the republi-
can paper. After 1830, he vainly sought office and his fail-
ure drove him into uncompromising opposition. Imprisoned
for his writings, he escaped to England, married a natural
daughter of George IV, and after being condemned to death
in Spain for a song insulting the queen-regent, returned to
Paris and became editor-in-chief of the National. He had
now learned prudence from experience and his fiery style
was refined into a more delicate, mocking wit, sharp rather
than profound. Member of the Provisional Government,
mayor of Paris from March to July, representative from
126 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["204
Haute-Garonne, president of the Assembly from July 1848
until May, 1849 and reporter of the constitution, he was
one of the most important figures in the early republic.
Yet his vanity, the ostentatious luxury of his habits and his
moderation in politics made him unpopular, especially with
the radicals, who regarded him as cynical and selfish and as
the real adviser of the government from June to December.
J. B. Payer attached himself to Lamartine, and was chef
de cabinet when the latter took over the foreign ministry.
Charles Rolland was another follower of Lamartine.^
Sarrans had Bonapartist sympathies during the Restora-
tion. It was in his Nouvelle Minerve that Cormenin pub-
lished his famous Timon articles. He was Lafayette's aide-
de-camp in July, 1830, but presently turned against the
monarchy, about which he wrote several books. He opposed
the cautionnement in the Assembly and usually voted with
the left.
A. M. J. Senard was made procureur-general by the re-
public. His repression of the election riots at Rouen was
not received with favor by the radicals. Elected for the
department of Seine-Inferieure, he became president of the
1 There was another Rolland, representing the department of Lot,
whose politics are unclassifiable ; he voted for the Grevy and Goudchaux
projects, against those of Glais-Bizoin, Leblond and Deville, and was
absent at the vote on the Duvergier de Hauranne amendment. He was
a farmer, a member of the committees on agriculture and on the
Credit fonder. One of these two men alluded to the American example
in a speech on May 30th, as reporter of the special commission on in-
compatibilities. The report was discussed at intervals until June 14,
when it was adopted, but from first to last the reporter is alluded to
only as " the citizen Rolland." It was probably, however, the Rolland
mentioned in the text, as Rolland of Lot had other committee designa-
tions for which he was peculiarly fitted, and is said to have taken little
interest in general politics. The latter's vote on the Grevy amendment
shows that he must have had liberal tendencies, though he was ob-
viously not an extremist, and the general classification would be un-
affected whichever man is taken.
205] ^^^ REPRESENTATIVES 127
Assembly. After June, he grew somewhat more conserva-
tive. As minister of the interior, he proposed the decree
estabHshing a cautionnement or bond, required of all news-
papers.
Antony Thouret (incorrectly spelled Tour ret in the Moni-
teur) voted with the Cavaignac group.
L. F. Wolowski was a Polish revolutionist who had be-
come a naturalized French citizen in 1834. He practised
law, founded the Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence
and finally specialized in economics. He was professor at
the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers; in his writings he
opposed Louis Blanc's scheme for organizing labor, but in a
somewhat less conservative vein than Chevalier. Under the
Provisional Government, he was a member of the Luxem-
bourg Commission and sat in the Assembly for Seine. Here
he attached himself to Cavaignac and as member of the
committee on labor tried to improve factory conditions for
women and children.
Eight others may be classified as radical republicans.
H. G. Didier sat for Algeria in the Assembly, and was
member of the committee on the colonies.
Hippolyte Detours, originally a legitimist, became an ex-
treme radical. In the Assembly, he represented Tarn-et-
Garonne, sitting on the extreme left, and showed his radical-
ism by his votes against the cautionnement, the interdiction
of the clubs, the prosecution of Louis Blanc and Caussidiere,
the death penalty, imprisonment for debt, and so on. A letter
from him to the Moniteur, October 10, throws light on the
negative vote which some radicals cast on the Leblond
amendment the greater number voting in favor of it as the
next best thing to the defeated Grevy amendment and from a
notion, based on the experience of 1793, that it would be
easier to control a Paris Assembly than the country at large.
Detours, however, preferred the principle of universal suf-
128 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 '^^q^
frage. He said, " I had supported the Grevy amendment;
I did not want a president of the repubHc. Reduced by the
vote of the majority to deciding between choice by the As-
sembly and choice by the people, I rejected on Saturday the
first of these two modes of election [the Leblond amend-
ment] and without opposing the second to-day [Article 43,
adopted 627-130], I thought I ought to abstain from voting,
in order to remain a complete stranger to the establishment
of a dangerous and anti-republican magistracy."
Deville became somewhat conspicuous by applauding the
rioters who invaded the Assembly on May 15. He sat on
the extreme left and was the author of the Deville amend-
ment, forbidding the hiring of paid substitutes for military
service. He wished to declare members of former reign-
ing families and generals ineligible to the presidency and
was interested in other radical measures.
Ferdinand Flocon, born at Paris in 1800, began life as a
teacher, but learned telegraphy and shorthand; his skill
gave him an opening as stenographer for the Parisian press.
His pamphlets against the Jesuits started a career of jour-
nalism in service of the opposition. He became editor of
the Courrier frangais and affiliated with the secret societies.
The year 1848 found him at the head of the Re forme, the
organ of Ledru-Rollin's group. He was a member of the
Provisional Government and when it yielded to the Execu-
tive Commission, became minister of agriculture. As such,
he presented a plan for the organization of the prud'hommes.
The creation of agricultural colonies in France was one of
his pet ideas. He was, however, not a socialist, and exerted
rather a restraining than an exciting influence on his friend,
Ledru-Rollin.
A. A. Ledru-Rollin, another of the important men of the
early republic, was born at Paris in 1807. He was a lawyer
of distinction, wrote works of jurisprudence and became
I
307] THE REPRESENTATIVES 1 29
deputy from Mans in 1841. His declaration of principles was
so sensational that he was put under sentence of imprison-
ment for four months, though he escaped on technical
grounds. He took part in the Lille banquet, where the
toast to the king was excluded. The republic made him
member of the Provisional Government and minister of the
interior, in which capacity he sent out the commissioners,
who so frightened conservative folk. He served on the
Executive Commission and as representative for the depart-
ment of the Seine. Always on the suspect-list as a danger-
ous revolutionist, he respected property and preferred its
extensive subdivision to its abolition. In this vital point,
he spoke for the petty bourgeoisie rather than the proletariat.
He was a remarkable speaker and would trace his political
ancestry back to Robespierre minus the bloodshed, rather
than to Babeuf.
A. Martin-Bernard, a famous republican conspirator
under the monarchy, became one of Ledru-Rollin's commis-
sioners ; his votes were consistently radical.
Felix Pyat, a lawyer, spent most of his days in militant
journalism and was the author of several social dramas.
Having inherited a million francs, he invested part in the
Revue britannique, of which he was editor for a while.
With Hugo, Balzac, Georges Sand and others, he founded
the Societe des gens de lettres. Like Barbes, he was one of
those rich declasses, whose interest in humanity outweighed
personal selfishness. As time went on, he became more and
more alienated from his own class, was known as a leading
socialist after 1849, spent the last part of his life between
prison and exile and in 1871 was an officer of the Commune.
Saint-Gaudens had refused a judgeship in 1832, because
of his unwillingness to take the necessary oath of allegiance
to the king.
Only two out-and-out socialists are to be included in the
list.
130 ^^£ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^og
Philippe Mathieu, always called Mathieu de la Drome^
from the department he represented in the Assembly, fav-
ored state ownership of railroads, and said of socialism that
" far from being an enemy, it must purify the sources of
property." He opposed the cautionnement, imprisonment
for debt, and the prosecutions of Blanc and Caussidiere.
The other socialist, Pierre Leroux, was a more conspicu-
ous character, though less interested in constitutional ques-
tions than Mathieu. He was a workingman turned philo-
sopher. In 1839 he wrote his chief work, UHumanite,
whose thesis was the negation of human personality in favor
of the absorption of the individual in the whole. This
notion of absolute equality was the essence of his socialism,
of which he was regarded as the prof oundest thinker. His
erudition was great, but he had no system, properly speak-
ing; his ideas were large, vague and not well developed.
Other more practical spirits borrowed from him, and his
authority among radicals was very great, but he accom-
plished little positive work himself. Alhoy says that he
passed his whole life in unfinished undertakings. In the
Assembly he contended for the freedom of the press and
the perpetuation of the ten-hour law, which was, however,
by reactionary legislation, extended to twelve.
The conservative group, most' of whom had taken active
part in Orleanist parliaments and would have been contented
enough with a mere change of ministry in February, num-
bered 23 members who alluded to American example.
Alcock, a judge and member of the old Chamber, went
over to the moderate opposition with Dupont de I'Eure. In
the Assembly he usually voted with the right.
J. M. Ambert was a soldier and military journalist;
UAheille de la Nouvelle-Orleans published articles by him
on American politics, which he studied on the ground. In
the Assembly, he reported the decree creating the garde
309] THE REPRESENTATIVES 131
mobile, which did most effective work in helping to repress
the June insurrection. His votes were usually with the right,
against the banishment of the Orleans family, for the
cautionnement, and for the interdiction of the clubs/
R. A. Aylies, counsel at the royal court, was elected to
the Chamber in 1842, where he ranked in the opposition as
a constitutionnel. In the Assembly, he sat on the right.
Odilon Barrot, one of the chief men in this party, was
born at Villefort in 179 1. As a lawyer, he always pre-
ferred the more abstract, theoretical elements of his pro-
fession. In 18 1 5, he was among the young volunteers who
accompanied Louis XVIII to Ghent on his second brief
exile. The White Terror alienated him, however, and in
1830, representing the new monarchy, he conducted Charles
X to Cherbourg ; on his return he was made prefect of the
Seine. He sat in the Chamber from 1830 to 1848 and,
while a faithful Orleanist, presently found himself on the
left as leader of the dynastic opposition. He later allied
himself with Thiers, but was one of the prime movers of
the banquet campaign. When the Guizot ministry fell, he
was named with Thiers to form a new cabinet, but it was
already too late. His efforts to establish the Duchess of
Orleans as regent failed. In the Assembly he sat for Aisne
among the conservatives.
A. A. Billault was an opposition deputy in 1837, but was
given charge of the legal affairs of the due d'Aumale, being
important enough to be worth corrupting. In the Assembly,
he was a conservative.
Count Louis Combarel de Leyval was a rich land-owner,
sitting on the left center during the monarchy, a man of the
Barrot sort politically. Notre Hist one's assertion that
nothing but scandals, civil, political and judiciary have been
1 Cf. supra, V. 47 et seq.
.132 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^jq
connected with him, coupled with Lesaulnier's condemna-
tion, shows how^ much offence he seems to have given to the
advanced groups.
F. Dabeaux fought the project to increase the severity
of existing laws against meetings, but was considered a con-
servative and is said to have grown increasingly so, despite
his earlier liberal views.
Edmond Drouyn de Luys (or Lhuys) was one of the
younger diplomats of the July Monarchy. Elected deputy
in 1842, he went over to the dynastic opposition, being
classed as a conservative in the Assembly. He was presi-
dent of the committee of foreign affairs and, as such, re-
ported the message of thanks to the American Congress,
though Alhoy remarks that this was a strange choice on the
Assembly's part, the member *' being still somewhat too
saturated with monarchical opinions."
J. A. Dufaure was a seasoned parliamentary veteran,
having been a deputy for fourteen years when the Assembly
began. He was usually considered a member of the liberal
constitutional or third party and was twice vice-president of
the Chamber. He was minister of public works under Soult
and was regarded as a good administrator. His experience
and his compact logic always gave him a hearing. Being
very conservative, he opposed the banquets. In the As-
sembly, he sat for Charente and became Cavaignac's min-
ister of the interior after October 13, 1848. His election
to the French Academy under the Empire was considered
an Orleanist protest against the imperialists.
Pierre Charles Frangois, Baron Dupin (usually called
Charles Dupin) was a mathematician and naval engineer.
Deputy from 1827 to 1837, he grew increasingly conserva-
tive, defended the clergy, opposed free trade and in 1837
was raised to a peerage. In the upper house, he continued
his industrious support of the government. Elected to the
3 1 1 ] THE REPRESENT A TIVES 133
Assembly in June, 1848, he sat there (for Seine-In ferieure)
as an extreme conservative.
Prosper- Leon Duvergier de Hauranne was born at Rouen
in 1798, of Jansenist stock. A doctrinnaire, he was one of
the editors of the Globe and as deputy (1831-48) lent his
support to Casimir-Perier's repressive measures, to Thiers'
September laws, to the coalition against the Mole cabinet
(believing in pure parliamentary government on the Eng-
lish model) . With Guizot and Rossi, he published the Revtce
frangaise, but broke with Guizot after 1840, becoming a fol-
lower of Thiers. He was a leader in the banquet campaign.
In the Assembly, as a member for Cher, he sat on the right.
His parliamentary strategy and finesse were famous. He
supported the monarchist majority of the Assembly against'
Louis Napoleon, and spent the period of the Empire in
writing a ten-volume history of parliamentary government
in France. He is not to be confounded with J. B. Duver-
gier, who made the Collection complete des lots. Corkran
speaks of him as not only well versed in English history,
but a close observer of English politics and a personal ac-
quaintance of the leading English statesmen.
Leon Faucher, early on the staff of such conservative
papers as the Temps, the Constitutionnel and the Courrier
frangais, later turned to economics, producing in 1845 his
Etudes sur VAngleterre. He was a free-trader and an ad-
mirer of the English constitution. As deputy from 1846 to
'48, he sat with the left center, opposing Guizot, but concern-"
ing himself chiefly with fiscal problems. He took part in the
banquets and was elected to the Assembly from the Marne.'
A bitter opponent of socialism, he sat on the right and be-
longed to the group of the rue de Poitiers. He reported
the famous law of May 31, 1850, limiting the suffrage.
A. Jobez, a wealthy factory owner, belonged to the liberal
opposition under the monarchy ; in the Assembly he usually
134 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 \^^^2
voted with the right. He wrote studies of social economy,
such as a Preface au Socialisme in 1848 and La Democratie,
c'est rinconnu in 1849.
Bertrand Theobald Joseph, baron de Lacrosse, sat in the
dynastic opposition under the July Monarchy, from 1836
to 1848. His political views were those of Barrot and
Thiers, his interest principally in naval matters and in the
slavery question. He represented Finistere in the Assembly,
became a secretary, then vice-president, and regularly voted
with the right, thus favoring the cautionnement, imprison-
ment for debt, the death penalty, and the prosecution of
Louis Blanc.
Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, a count, and his cousin Jules de
Lasteyrie, who bore the title of marquis, had sat with the
Barrot party in the dynastic opposition and voted as con-
servatives in the Assembly.
N. H. Levet belonged to a rich, influential family. He
was affiliated with the rue de Poitiers group, and his con-
servatism is further guaranteed by Alhoy's assertion that
he " has voted for all rigorous measures " and that " the
imfortunate debtor can hope for nothing from him."
A. J. Lherbette was a deputy from 1831 to 1848, sitting
in the dynastic opposition, like so many other future con-
servative members of the Assembly of 1848.
Frangois Marrast did not speak on the American ex-
ample; his vote will, therefore, not here be counted, as we
have definitely confined ourselves to those who did. His
attitude was so well-known and striking, however, that he
deserves mention. He was born at Bayonne in 1799, be-
ing no relation to his more conspicuous namesake. He was
in Napoleon's army, on whose defeat he went to aid the
South Americans in their struggle for independence. He
spent ten years traveling in the western hemisphere. Alhoy's
account is worth quoting textually in this connection.
^13] THE REPRESENTATIVES 135
He saw several republics of South America establish them-
selves, but the anarchy, the disorder, which violent situations
and civil wars always necessarily produce, made him prefer
sojourning in North America. He established himself in the
United States, whose constitution he studied assiduously
[fortement] . The benefits which it procures to those it rules,
and which he enjoyed a long time himself, filled him with ad-
miration and gratitude for the work of Washington and of
Franklin. So when, several years later, he returned to his
natal land, he called himself openly a republican of the Ameri-
can school.^
Marrast was elected to the Assembly from Landes and
placed on the committee of the interior. He voted with
the right, for the cautionnement, imprisonment for debt, and
the death penalty. Alhoy in an instructive passage confirms
Marrast's conservatism and his Americanism and at the
same time shows what the more radical minds of the time
thought about the American system.
He has shown a poor understanding of the French spirit, the
popular spirit, in wishing to cut our laws and decrees according
to the pattern of the American spirit. Thus he voted for the
decree against mob gatherings, without thinking that violence
will never be able to accomplish anything against ideas, and
that hence if there is a cause impelling men to assemble, if one
wants to prevent the meeting, one should remedy the cause
and not disperse the meeting by force.
E. F. Morin, baron de Malsabrier, usually voted con-
servatively.
Auguste Joseph Christoph Jules, marquis de Momay was
captain of the royal guard under the Restoration. He
served as aide to Soult, his father-in-law. Deputy from
1 Alhoy, op. cit., s. v. Marrast. Similar testimony is borne by Le-
saulnier.
136 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^j^
1830 to 1848, he voted with the opposition, but in the As-
sembly (member for Oise), sided usually with the right.
Felix-Esquirou de Parieu voted for the cautionnement ,
the death-penalty, suppression of the clubs, etc. Finance
was his specialty; his works on that subject procured him
entrance to the Institute.
Saint-Priest, bom 1801, a Toulouse lawyer, was a dynas-
tic opposition deputy from 1842 to 1846. Pie sat for Lot
in the Assembly, on the conservative benches. He was a
member of the committee of finances, and belonged to the
rue de Poitiers group. He had no connection with the
legitimist family of the same name.
Alexis de Tocqueville was born at Verneuil in 1805.
Gaining his licence in law in 1826, he travelled in Italy and
Sicily. As juge audit eur at Versailles he made his life-long
friendship with Gustave de Beaumont. He opposed the
Polignac ministry, but was not sympathetic with the July
regime. His travels in America, in the interest of prison
reform, and the literary fruits of this journey have been
previously considered. He was deputy from 1839 to '48, in
the opposition ; on January 27, in a speech in the Chamber,
he predicted the revolution. Alhoy remarks uneasily,
" Despite the just consideration which M. de Tocqueville
enjoys, the reproach is made that he has not sufficiently
studied American institutions, that he has seen them in a
false light and that, in wishing to import them among us,
he has not sufficiently considered the difference in manners."
He represented Manche in the Assembly, and voted with the
right, for the cautionnement, imprisonment for debt, and
other conservative measures.
Four others may be counted as legitimists.
The abbe Edmond de Cazales was superior of the Mon-
tauban seminary. A royalist, he sat on the right, but was
well thought of by his opponents.
315] THE REPRESENTATIVES 137
Pierre Jouin, born at Rennes in 1818, was a lawyer at
the local court of appeals. He is said by the Dictionnaire
des parlementaires frangais to have become one of the
chiefs of the Rennes democrats, to have been of mod-
erate opinions, very religious, and to have gone toward
the left on the election of Louis Napoleon. Lesaulnier
says he is a liberal spirit, who has not always believed
in a republic, but is no less disposed to do everything to
put it on a solid and durable basis, a regular phrase for
the republicains du lendemain. Notre Hist aire informs us
that it is said this young man has more merit than his ex-
terior indicates ; he was elected by the legitimists, but there
is hope for better things. Alhoy declares it to be uncertain
if his tendency is toward democratic constitutions. There is
thus some doubt as to Jouin's proper classification, but as all
his votes in the Assembly were conservative, it is at least
certain that he belongs on the right; his classification as a
legitimist or a conservative republican does not affect our
conclusions.
Audren de Kerdrel was editor of a legitimist paper at
Rennes and sat with that party in the Assembly, represent-
ing Ille-et-Vilaine. He belonged to the rue de Poitiers
group. He is described as tall, thin and dry like Don
Quixote, and as having wealth and ability.
Charles-Forbes, comte de Montalembert, was born at
Stanmore, England, in 1810, the son of a French legitimist
emigre peer of the old noblesse and of a rigid Scotch Pres-
byterian. Under the influence of Lamennais and Lacor-
daire, he went into the liberal Catholic movement and co-
operated with them in the publication of UAvenir. When
the Pope condemned the movement, the men separated,
Lamennais preferring to follow his vision of truth, Mon-
talembert and Lacordaire unwilling to leave their Church.
Montalembert now devoted himself to a study of the Middle
138 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
Ages, and wrote a pious, but unhistorical life of St. Eliza-
beth of Hungary. He sat in the opposition in the House of
Peers from 1835 to 1848, and was said to be the greatest
orator of that body. His chief interest was to break down
the University monopoly over education in the interest of
religious instruction; to accomplish this, he even opened
schools himself in defiance of law. In the Assembly, Mon-
talembert sat for Doubs, on the extreme right. He was
really more Catholic than legitimist, was member of the
committee of cults, and was willing enough to support the
republic, if it was sufficiently conservative and better suited
to the interests of the Church. In this attitude, Lacordaire
sympathized, during the latter's short membership in the
Assembly, and in the conduct of his paper, UEre nouvelle.
It was a minority's brave effort to free the Church from
past entangling alliances and to set its face toward the
future, but it was not wholly successful.
Two men remain unclassifiable.
Amable Dubois, a land-owner, sat in the dynastic oppo-
sition during the monarchy, and was much interested in the
efforts to do away with child-labor. In the Assembly, he
sat on the moderate left (according to the Dictionnaire des
parlementaires frangais) as member for Somme. Here he
was appointed to the committee of labor. His votes seem
to have been conservative, and in 1849 ^^ was counted with
the monarchist majority against Louis Napoleon. Dubois
seems to have occupied as nearly a central position as pos-
sible and it would be unfair to base any conclusions on his
political action.
Lubbert was born at Hamburg, Germany, in 1803. He
was a sailor from youth. He represented Gironde in the
Assembly. His votes were mainly conservative, but the
Dictionnaire des parlementaires frangais says that he had
liberal opinions, somewhat exalted, and very independent.
317] THE REPRESENTATIVES 139
Such were the members of the Assembly, who alluded to
America in their speeches. Considerations of space forbid
extending the list, though the votes of a few leaders, not
here included, will be found appended in the table on page
144 et seq.
It now becomes necessary to review the eighteen mem-
bers of the constitutional commission. A. Marrast, Toc-
queville, Thouret, Dufaure and Barrot have been already
treated as members of the Assembly. The others must now
be briefly considered.
L. M. de Lahage, vicomte de Cormenin, was the first
president of the commission. He was born at Paris in 1788
of an excellent " family of the robe," held office both under
the first Empire and the Restoration and wrote various
works on administrative law. He was deputy from 1828
to 1848, sitting on the left. His pamphlets, signed Timon,
directed against the extravagance of the civil list, were in-
cisive and powerful. In 1848 he sat for Seine in the As-
sembly, and is to be ranked with the liberals, voting among
other things for the abolition of the death penalty, for the
banishment of the Orleans family and against the prosecu-
tion of Louis Blanc and Caussidiere. He was forced to
resign from the commission, having caricatured it in a
pamphlet.
G. de Beaumont, born in the department of Sarthe, 1802,
was a magistrate under the Restoration, journeyed with
Tocqueville to America, writing a novel on the slavery ques-
tion upon his return. From 1839 to 1848 he was a deputy
sitting in the dynastic opposition. In 1848 he was elected
for Somme and, like Tocqueville, ranks as a conservative.
He voted for the cautionnement, but was absent from all of
our test votes, representing France at London and Vienna.
Victor Considerant was bom in the Jura, 1808, graduated
from the Ex:ole Polytechnique and became captain of engi-
I40 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^jg
neers in the army. From 183 1 he devoted himself exclu-
sively to the Fourierist propaganda, edited successively the
Phalange and the Democratic paciiique, and was elected as
a leading socialist to the Assembly from Loiret. He later
attempted a Fourierist colony in Texas, without great
success.
A. L. Coquerel, born at Paris in 1795, became a leading
Protestant minister in that city. His tendency was more
liberal than that of the rest of the consistory, of which he
was a member from 1833. He was a moderate republican
and sat in the center. His votes were usually conservative,
but he is reckoned by some with the liberals of the National
stripe. It would be difficult to classify him, since he tried
not to classify himself.
C. A. Corbon, bom at Arbigny in 1808, came from a
family of working-people, and as a child worked for a
weaver. In Paris he learned wood-carving and became a
compositor. In 1848 he founded U Atelier, a liberal Cath-
olic paper conducted by and for workingmen. The policy
of the paper and its editor was liberal republicanism. Cor-
bon was elected to the Assembly from Seine.
A. Domes, born at Lyons, 1799, son of a general, was an
intimate friend of A. Marrast and became one of the prin-
cipal editors of the National. He represented Moselle in
the Assembly, where he made the motion that created the ex-
ecutive commission. He died in July, 1848, of wounds re-
ceived in the June insurrection.
Andre Marie Dupin, called, to distinguish him from
Charles Dupin, his younger brother, Dupin aine, was bom
at Varzy in Nievre, 1783. He was a lawyer of great dis-
tinction, and had an extremely long parliamentary career,
being deputy from 1827 to 1848, representative (for
Nievre) in 1848 and 1849, and afterward senator of the
Second Empire. Having been a bonapartist in the last days
319] THE REPRESENTATIVES 141
of the first Napoleon, he was known as a moderate liberal
during the Restoration. He became an extremely ardent
and very conservative Orleanist and was regarded as the
essence and mouthpiece of the bourgeois regime. His sar-
castic, powerful language made him one of the efficient sup-
porters of the government, always called on in times of
stress. His epigram, ^^Clmcun chez soij chacun son droit,*'
was held to sum up the spirit of the existing system. He
was one of Louis Philippe's most trusted personal counsel-
lors and retained confidential professional relations with
the Orleans family even after its fall, with the knowledge
and consent of the republic, which he continued to serve as
procureur-general of the Cour de Cassation. He was eight
times president of the old Chamber of Deputies, became
one of its famous presiding officers. He was, of course,
an extreme conservative during the republic. He was a
member both of the French Academy and of the
Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Charles Dupin
followed almost exactly the same political evolution in his
long parliamentary career as his more famous brother.
F. R. de Lamennais, born at St. Malo, 1782, had already
written against the supremacy of the civil over the relig-
ious power, when he took orders in 181 6. His Essai sur
rindiiference made him immensely popular with Rome,
where he was offered the cardinal's hat, but declined. His
struggle against Gallicanism, however, made him impopular
with the French episcopate, which began to undermine his
influence. He founded UAvenir to preach his gospel of
religious republicanism and demanded separation of Church
and State, administrative decentralization, extension of elec-
toral rights, freedom of association and of the press.
His enemies brought about a papal condemnation of his
theories in 1832, but while submitting in form, he reaffirmed
his principles in the famous Paroles d'un croyant (1834).
142 ^HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^30
This brought about his rupture with the Church. He be-
came greatly interested in the working-classes, and in 1837
wrote Le Livre du peuple. At the beginning of the republic
he founded Le Peuple constituant, which endured till the
cautionnement law compelled its suspension in July. In the
Assembly, sitting for Seine, Lamennais worked with the
radicals, voting against the cautionnement and imprison-
ment for debt, the prosecution of L. Blanc and Caussidiere,
the death-penalty, and other conservative measures.
Edouard Martin, known as Martin de Strasbourg, born
at Mulhouse in 1801, established himself as a lawyer at
Strasburg. He was deputy from 1837 to 1842, sitting
with Arago, Dupont de I'Eure and others on the extreme
left. After the revolution, he presided over the commission
which reorganized the judiciary and was sent to the As-
sembly from Bas-Rhin; in this body he voted with the lib-
erals, favoring the abolition of the death-penalty, and op-
posing the interdiction of the clubs, but also opposing the
progressive tax and the Grevy amendment. He moved the
resolution conferring the executive power on Cavaignac in
June, and constantly opposed Louis Napoleon.
^ean-Pierre Pages, called Pages de I'Ariege, was born in
1784 at Seix and became a lawyer in Toulouse. Like so
many others, he was much in journalism and always a vio-
lent opponent of the Restoration government. As deputy
from 1 83 1 to 1842 and from 1847 to 1848, he sat on the
left, and, elected for Haute-Garonne to the Assembly, voted
with the liberals.
A. Tenaille de Vaulabelle, bom in 1799 in the department
of Yonne, began as a journalist, working on the National
for a while, and then became an historian. His Histoire
des deux Restorations ( 1844) was long the standard author-
ity. In 1848 Lamartine offered him the embassies of Lon-
don and Berlin, but he refused both. In the Assembly,
32 1 ] THE REPRESENT A TIVES 1 43
sitting for Yonne, he voted generally with the liberal re-
publicans. He became minister of public instruction, but
only served a short time.
A. F. A. Vivien, born at Paris, 1799, was a lawyer at the
Amiens bar. In 1831 he became prefect of police in Paris,
served as deputy from 1833 to 1848 and in the council of
state, where his administrative abilities were of great value.
He sat for the most part in the dynastic opposition, but in
the Assembly, a member for Aisne, he voted always with
the conservatives. From October to December he was
Cavaignac's minister of public works.
Woirhaye was born at Metz in 1798. He practised law
in that city, defending the accused in several political trials,
and was elected to the Assembly from Moselle. He was a
liberal republican, a partisan of Cavaignac.
Having thus sketched the lives and general political atti-
tude of the representatives who alluded to America and of
the members of the constitutional commission, it is neces-
sary to show the position taken by these men toward the
test-questions selected. As has been explained above, these
test-questions serve only as a rough index of general polit-
ical disposition and must be taken in connection with the
biographies of the members to gain a correct view of a
member's position.
To aid in understanding the political significance of the
various votes, we have added those cast by a few typical
leaders of each party. F. Arago, Dupont de TEure, A. P.
Marie, L. E. Cavaignac and Georges Lafayette (son of
Washington's friend) are typical liberals; David d' Angers,
the sculptor, A. O. Glais-Bizoin, C. Pelletier and Edgar
Quinet will rank as radicals ; J. L. Greppo and P. J. Proud-
hon as socialists; Adolphe Thiers and Charles Francois,
comte de Remusat, as conservatives; A. P. Berryer and H.
A. G. Duverger, marquis de la Roche jacquelein, as legiti-
144 ^-^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["222
mists. Perfect unanimity even among the leaders is not
attainable.
Libtrals Du. de Hau. Grivy L*h. Goud. Dtv. Glats-Biz. Const.
F. Arago N Y Y Ab Ab Ab Y
Barthe N N N Y N N Y
Brunet Y N N Y Ab N Y
Cavaignac N Ab Y Y Ab Ab Y
Corbon N N N Y Y N Y
Cordier Y N N Ab N N Ab
Cormenin N Ab N Ab Y Y Y
Cremieux N N N Y N Y Y
Dupont (de I'Eure) N N N Ab Y N Y
Gerdy Y N N Y N Ab Y
Grevy N Y Y Y Ab Ab Y
G. Lafayette N N N Y N N Y
Lamartine Ab N N Y Ab Ab Ab
Lavallee N N N N Y N Y
Marie N N Y Y N Ab Y
A. Marrast N Y Y Y N N Y
Martin
(de Strasbourg) N N Y Y N N Y
Pages ( del' Ariege) Ab N N Ab Ab Ab Ab
Payer N N N Y N N Y
C.Rolland N N ,N Y N Y Ab
Sarrans N Y Y Ab N Ab Y
Senard N N Y Ab Ab N Y
Thouret N N Y Y N N Y
Vaulabelle N N Y Y N N Y
Woirhaye N N N Y N N Y
Wolowski Y N N Y N N Y
Radicals
David (d' Angers). N Y Y Ab Y Y Y
Detours N Y N Ab Y Y Ab
Deville N Y N N Y Y N
Didier N Y Y N Y Ab Y
Flocon N N Y Y Y Y Ab
Glais-Bizoin N Y Y Y N Y Y
Lamennais N Y N N Y Y Ab
Ledru-Rollin N Y N N Y Y Ab
Martin-Bernard .. N Y N N Y Y Ab
Pelletier N Y .N N Y Ab N
Pyat N Y N N Y Y N
Quinet N Y Y Y Y Y Y
Saint-Gaudens .... N N N Y Y Y Y
I
323] THE REPRESENTATIVES 145
Sactalists
Greppo N Y Ab N Y Y N
Leroux Ab Ab Ab Not given Y Not given N
Mathieu
(de la Drome) .. N Y N N Ab Y Ab
Proudhon N Y Y N Y Y N
Conservatives
Alcock Y N N Y N N Y
Ambert Y N N Y N N Y
Aylies Y N N Y N N Y
Barrot Y N N Y N N Ab
Billault N Ab Ab Y Ab Ab Y
CombareldeLeyval Y N N Y N N Y
Dabeaux N N N Y N N Y
Drouyin de Lhuys. Y N N Y N N Y
Dufaure N N N Y N N Y
Dupin aine N N N Ab N N Y
Ch. Dupin Y N N Y N N Y
Duvergier
de Hauranne . . . Y N N Y N N Ab
Faucher Y N N Y N N Y
Jobez Y N N Y N N Y
Lacrosse N N N Y N N Y
F. de Lasteyrie . . . . Y N N Y Y N Y
J. de Lasteyrie . . . . Y N Ab Y N N Y
Levet Y N N Y N N Y
Lherbette Y N N Y N N Y
F. Marrast Y N N Y N N Y
Morin Y Ab N Y N N Ab
Mornay Y N N Y N N Y
Parieu N N Y Y N N Y
Remusat Y N N Ab N N Y
Saint Priest Y N N Y N N Y
Thiers Y N N Y N N Y
Tocqueville Y N N Ab N N Y
Vivien Y N N Y N N Y
Ltgitimists
Berryer Ab N N Ab N N N
Cazales Not given N N Y N N Y
Jouin Y N N Y N N Y
Kerdrel Y N N Y N N Y
Montalembert Y N N Ab N N N
de la
Rochejacquelein . Y Y N Y N N N
1^6 '^HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 v^2^
Vnclassifiable
Coquerel N N N Y N N Y
Dubois Ab N N Ab N Not given Ab
Lubbert Ab N N Ab N Ab N
When it comes to re-classifying these men according to
their attitude on the American example, two tests are avail-
able, speeches and votes. The latter is the more important
test; a man may praise or blame some point of American
practice in the only speech in which he happens to allude to
the United States, while adopting a directly contrary atti-
tude on the two constitutional issues, in connection with
which American example was most strongly urged.
Taking the less accurate test first, however, we find allu-
sions of greater or less length favorable to American ex-
ample made in the Assembly (the debates in the constitu-
tional commission are not included) by seven liberals, Bru-
net, Cordier, Gerdy, Lamartine, Lavallee, Sarrans and
Senard; five radical republicans, Didier, Flocon, Ledru-
Rollin, Pyat and Saint-Gaudens ; two socialists, Leroux and
Mathieu (de la Drome) ; twenty conservatives, Alcock, Am-
bert, Aylies, Barrot, Combarel de Leyval, Dabeaux, Drouyin
de Lhuys, Ch. Dupin, Dufaure, Duvergier de Hauranne,
Jobez, Lacrosse, F. de Lasteyrie, J. de Lasteyrie, Levet,
Lherbette, Morin, Parieu, Saint-Priest, Tocqueville; four
legitimists, Cazales, Jouin, Kerdrel, Montalembert ; one un-
classifiable, Lubbert.
Speeches or allusions hostile to the example were made
by nine liberals, Barthe, Cremieux, Grevy, Lamartine, A.
Marrast, Payer, C. Rolland, Thouret, Wolowski; five rad-
icals. Detours, Deville, Flocon, Martin-Bernard, Pyat; one
socialist, Mathieu (de la Drome) ; four conservatives, Bill-
ault, Faucher, Jobez, Momay; no legitimists; one unclassi-
fiable, Dubois. Eliminating the five men who spoke on both
sides at different times and the two unclassifiables, and
^25] T^i-^^ REPRESENTATIVES 147
grouping together the Hberals, radicals and socialists as
parties of the Left, and the conservatives and legitimists as
parties of the Right, we find the example of the United States
favored by 10 members of the Left and 23 of the Right;
opposed by 11 of the Left and 3 of the Right. At least
32 other references to American example are not included
in the above, as being either not on a constitutional subject
or merely descriptive, according neither praise nor blame.
Proceeding now to the other test, it is convenient and
fair to use for this purpose the votes on the Duvergier de
Hauranne, Grevy, and Leblond amendments. While Amer-
ican example was urged on other clauses of the constitution,
as we shall see, it was nowhere more earnestly discussed
than in the debates on the legislative and executive branches
of the government. The American two-chamber system
was cited with great frequency in support of the Duvergier
de Hauranne amendment; the American president, chosen
as a separate branch of government rather than elected by
and subordinate to Congress, was praised by those who op-
posed the Grevy and Leblond amendments. As the vote of
each member on these measures has already been given, it
is only needful to point out here that of those who favored
American example in their speeches, Sarrans, Senard,
Didier, Ledru-Rollin and Parieu voted against it, some on
two out of the three votes, some on, all. To this list are to
be added Flocon, Mathieu (de la Drome) and Pyat, who
spoke on both sides, but voted against the example. Of
those who opposed American practice in their speeches on
the other hand, Barthe, Cremieux, C. Rolland, Payer,
Wolowski, Faucher, Mornay, and Dubois voted for it. To
them should be added Lamartine and Jobez, who spoke on
both sides but voted for the example. (Lamartine was an
admirer of the American spirit, but in most of his speeches
opposed the American system, as applicable only to a fed-
148 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^26
eral constitution.) Thus modified, the record of those who
voted for the American example (using only the members
who also spoke on the example as described above) becomes
10 members of the Left and 25 of the Right; those who
voted against, 13 of the Left and 2 of the Right. Leroux
was absent at the two test votes and cannot be counted.
The two unclassifiables voted for the American example.
The complete vote on these two questions has been given
on pp. 1 19-12 1. It is obvious that the American example
triumphed in the votes on the executive and failed in the
vote on the legislative. It would be impossible to attempt
an analysis of the total vote according to parties, on account
of the great size of the Assembly. The statistics here given,
however, suffice to show that in general the Left rejected
and the Right favored the American example. The liberals,
it is true, were nearly evenly divided on the subject, but the
more advanced groups tended to oppose American practice
decidedly. This will become apparent when the discussion
is taken up in detail. To that task it is now time to turn,
and a beginning will be made with the discussion in the
constitutional commission.
CHAPTER V
The Constitutional Commission
The account of the proceedings of the commission is to
be found in the unpublished proces-verhal, preserved in the
archives of the Chamber of Deputies. It is in two small
volumes, the first of 183 folio pages, containing a report of
the sessions from May 19 to June 17 inclusive, and the first
draft of the constitution, the second of 75 pages covering
the sessions from July 24 to August 17 inclusive/ Subse-
quent meetings are unreported. The reports are all signed
by Woirhaye as secretary, though most of them are not in
his handwriting; corrections and erasures, however, show
that he carefully revised his under-secretary's version.
There is no attempt at a stenographic record of the speeches;
the most important are given with considerable fullness, the
rest briefly summarized. The first volume is much more
satisfactory in this respect. The lack of a more detailed
report is unfortunate for our purpose; allusions to Amer-
ican example may very easily have gone unnoticed by the
secretary. The fact that the summarized report contains as
many as it does is perhaps significant.
At the first meeting, May 19, Cormenin, the president,
was requested by resolution to draw up a subject plan to
guide the commission's work. It is, therefore, not quite
fair to say, as some accounts have done, that Cormenin
" assumed " the task of drawing up the original draft of
the constitution, though he doubtless did interpret his in-
1 Cf. chronological table at end of chap. ii.
Z27] 149
I^O THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^-^2'^
structions somewhat liberally, by submitting detailed arti-
cles on the chief points as they came under discussion. But
some one had to take the lead, as there was no further effort
at organization. At the first meeting, Domes had suggested
that the commission divide itself into sub-commissions,
each of which should make a preliminary study of some
part of the field, but this idea was not adopted. While
Barrot, Marrast, Vivien, Dupin, Dufaure and others
took an active part in shaping the constitution, the general
form, because of his initiative, remains Cormenin's.
The subject-plan brought in by the president on May 22
in response to the resolution divided the work into five parts,
declaration of rights, executive, legislative, judiciary and
revision. Except that the legislative was taken up before
the executive, this general order was maintained. The
original discussion, lasting from one to four days, on each
subject, the general review of the whole, the conferences
with the delegates of the bureaux and the revision by the
commission bring up each of these heads four times, though
the later debates are extremely summary. Of the final re-
vision (Oct. 23-31) there is no record.
The earliest allusion to American example occurs in the
debate on the legislative.^ Barrot introduced the subject
with a speech in defense of the two-chamber system. The
dangers of excessive centralization and of the lively French
temperament seemed to call for a balance-wheel, only to bs
found in a second chamber. He referred his colleagues to
historical precedents. The Convention was the only ex-
ample of a single chamber ^ and its experience was such that
the constitution of the year III provided for two.
1 Proces-verhal, session of May 24.
2 The text reads, " // n'y a point d' autre que la Convention." The
sentence is not given in full, however, which may explain Barrot's ap-
parent omission of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies.
329] ^^^ CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 151
America, which was favorably circumstanced to make a
good constitution, rejected a single assembly [un pouvoir
unique^ and yet there are many differences between America
and us.^ America had before it an entire world, a new world
in which it could diffuse its activities. With us, there is hardly
any activity except government; by our habits, and education,
the government is the center of general activity.
There is here the germ of a grave difficulty, for if the
government of a single assembly is not accepted, there will
be conflict and then civil war.^
The American republic found happy predispositions in its
very situation. On the one hand, the supreme power was
decentralized and on the other, it found in its English origin
traditional habits of respect for law which led it to resist
the government.^ Notwithstanding these checks, which were
so many obstacles to the impulse of a single assembly, the
legislative authority was divided into two branches which
balanced one another.
In France, neither of the natural checks existing, a double
chamber was even more imperative. A choice must be
made between the system of equilibrium and the system of
logical unity.
This was the only speech on the legislative question that
day. The following afternoon, the subject was resumed by
Marrast.* Public opinion and logic alike condemned the
two-chamber system. The notion of balance was illusory.
In England there are supposed to be three forces, but in
reality the aristocracy has absorbed the other two, com-
pelling royalty to do its will and giving only a semblance of
1 The argument a fortiori.
2 The speaker does not refer to disturbances arising from disappoint-
ment at the choice of a dual system, but to the lack of adequate oppor-
tunity for legal opposition to the will of a single assembly.
3 /. e., when embarked on an unlawful course.
* Proces-verhal, session of May 25.
1^2 I^HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^^q
power to the people. " In America it is the democracy
which is everything." In a monarchy, the king may term-
inate controversies between the two chambers, but who
could do it in a republic? These necessary checks to im-
pulsive action must be sought within the single assembly,
whether by the English system, of several readings or by a
council of state to prepare the way for the assembly's de-
bates by a public, preliminary discussion of proposed meas-
ures. The single chamber is necessary to maintain na-
tional unity.
After a question by Vivien, Tocqueville - was recognized.
He admitted that the bicameral cause was lost, but felt that
the republic must come to it in the end, if it would endure.
We should not insist too much on historical examples, since
we ought to try something original, appropriate to our
particular situation.
Besides, only one democratic republic has existed in the
world; it is that of the United States; it has two chambers.
I do not support myself by the constitution of the United
States, a veritable work of art, of which we can hardly borrow
anything; but by its side, there are in North America 30 re-
publics which are in a position similar to ours, all have two
chambers, there is not a single American to whom it ever oc-
curs that one could do otherwise.
Let it not be said that that two-chamber establishment is
an English tradition, for the Union commenced by having
only one chamber, then a return was made to two.
In Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, a single chamber was
at first established; after 13 years of experiment and a
thorough discussion, public judgment returned to the need of
two chambers; this example is striking.
There was a mistaken notion in France that the bicameral
1 Spelled " Toqueville " in the Proccs-verhal.
33 1 ] THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 153
system was aristocratic; in our democratic society a single
element of aristocracy would mean ruin. " The two cham-
bers must represent, as in America, the same interests and
the same classes of the people, in the same manner, by sim-
ilar means."
The value of a second chamber in a non-aristocratic gov-
ernment is three-fold. It may serve to control the execu-
tive in important nominations, treaties of alliance, and so
forth, a small body taken from its ranks being chosen for
this purpose as an executive council; secondly, it will pre-
vent the dangerous rivalry between the executive and a
single chamber ; thirdly, it will prevent legislative intemper-
ance and tyranny. The remainder of the speech develops the
last thought ; several readings for each bill, before the same
men, would be of no more value than an appeal argued be-
fore the court which pronounced the original judgment.
Coquerel thought the two-chamber system preferable, but
impossible for the present because of public opinion. Martin
held that public opinion was on the right side, two chambers
being a compromise between aristocracy and democracy,
containing the danger of revolution. France wants unity.
Vivien renewed the argument of checks and balances and
did not believe the question prejudged by public opinion,
except in the clubs. Martin again insisted that the two-
chamber system was unrepublican, supported by those who
before February did not want a republic. Considerant, the
Fourierist, felt that a second chamber had never been re-
spected in France, because not in harmony with the spirit of
the people. A council of state to revise laws (Cormenin
interrupted, " No, to prepare laws ") would be necessary as
a check to the assembly.
Dufaure admitted that he might be still under the sway
of old parliamentary prejudices brought over from the con-
stitutional monarchy, as Martin had charged. He rec-
1^4 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^2
ognized the sovereignty of the people as uUimate in human
legislation. That sovereignty is exercised by delegation,
however; whether it is better to delegate it to one chamber
or two is not a question of logic, but of prudence. The
authority conferred upon the executive would influence his
decision, but for the present, he must make a choice. He
observed that, in the past, public opinion had been so little
attached to a second chamber, that the latter was almost
useless, a danger rather than an advantage. There was no
reason to suppose that it would be more serviceable in future.
The example taken from America is important, but I think
that between that people and ours, differences exist which
diminish considerably the value of this precedent. Among
us, public opinion, the real queen, must needs concentrate on
a single point, in the past on the royal power, later on a man.
Napoleon, then on a single chamber; I fear that a second
chamber may weaken the first and prevent it from, resisting
the executive power, for I think that this latter will have more
authority than we suppose, being the representative of all
France and unexposed to the ennuis and dangers excited by
monarchies with their long reigns, their regencies, etc.
The check argument seemed to him illusory, as the first
chamber will always dominate the second.
Tocqueville, who followed, " re-established the authority
of the precedent which may be found in America ; there is
doubtless a host of institutions there which could not be
transported to France, but as for the two chambers, the ar-
guments are the same in the two countries."
Dupin, in a long, and not very cogent speech, reviewed
the constitutional history of France since 1791, concluding
for a single chamber as simpler and more logical.
Pages believed the real danger of tyranny to lie in the
executive, as shown by the Committee of Public Safety and
333] ^^^ CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 155
by Bonaparte; he wished a strong single chamber to resist
the executive. " America has sometimes had one chamber,
sometimes two, according to its necessities; we too, must
act according to the times and the age; I do not know what
we shall do in ten years, but meanwhile we can today think
only of establishing a single chamber."
Beaumont ^ wanted a strong executive and believed in the
double-chamber system but yielded to public opinion.
Barrot said a last word for his cause, after which the vote
was taken, the single chamber winning, fourteen to three.
The roll-call of the votes in the commission is never given.
It is to be noted that of the fourteen speeches, six referred
to the American precedent. Of these Barrot and Tocque-
ville (speaking twice) favored American example, Marrast
and Dufaure opposed it. Pages, while not unfriendly in
his allusion, was against the bicameral system.
Referring to the classification previously given,^ it will
be seen that Barrot, Tocqueville and Dufaure were conserv-
atives, Marrast and Pages liberals. The American example
was, therefore, favored by two conservatives, opposed by
one conservative and two liberals.
When the subject is reached in the review of the whole
constitution, (June 12-17), the proces-verhal dismisses it
with the laconic note " Articles 15, 16 adopted." ^
The matter came up again, when the delegates of the
Assembly's fifteen bureaux met with the commission
to report their criticisms.* A number of these were
prominent men, notably Thiers who represented the
1 Spelled " de Baumont " in the proces-verhal.
2 Vide supra, p. 144 et seq.
3 Ihid., June 13. Art. 15 of the first draft reads : " The French people
delegates the legislative power to a single assembly." Ibid., " Projet de
constitution."
* For the discussion in the bureaux, vide infra, p. 247 et seq.
1^5 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [334
3rd, Parrieu the 9th, Cremieux the loth, Duvergier de
Hauranne the 14th, and Berryer the 15th. They wanted to
have the constitution thrown open to general discussion,
leaving the decision on each point to the commission. Cor-
menin, however, supported by the commission, insisted that
the strict terms of the assembly's resolution be followed,
according to which each delegate was limited to a presenta-
tion of the opinion of his bureau and must not enter into
discussion w4th the commission. This procedure prevailed
and the opinion of the bureaux was asked in turn on each
article of the constitution. It is plain, however, that in
most cases the stronger delegates had been able to swing
their bureaux into line with their own views and, where this
was not the case, they usually devoted more time to ex-
pounding their minority opinion than that of the bureau.
Three of the delegates are reported in the proces-verbal ^
as alluding to American example on the two-chamber ques-
tion.
Girerd, representing the ist bureau, which voted for the
single chamber 22 to 15, said, "The example of America
proves nothing because that people differs from us in cus-
toms and in laws."
Chauffour, of the 5th bureau, expounded " a philosophical
argument, an historical argument and a mechanical argu-
ment " for the single chamber. His historical argument
was drawn entirely from French precedents, but, at the end
of his remarks, he said : " In speaking of the past, I omitted
to say that in the United States, there was at first in the
period of the republic's formation, only a single chamber.
We can do as America did ; if experience proves the necessity
of two chambers, we can return to it."
Parrieu reporting the 9th bureau's vote for the single
chamber, held that the opposite system merely represented
1 Proces-verhal, July 24.
335] ^^^ CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 157
old divisions, specifically the aristocratic and the democratic
interest. " The republic of America also commenced by
one assembly [une diete] and the establishment of two
chambers was the result of a compromise between parties." ^
The subject appears for the last time, when the commis-
sion revised the constitution in the light of the bureaux'
criticisms. The proces-verbars account is brief. " Art.
20. This is former article 15. A member observes that
this article was adopted by a large majority in all the bur-
eaux except one, and that it is therefore useless to return to
the grave question which it decides. Adopted." ^
Allusions in the debate on the executive are less numer-
ous, but cover a wider range. This is perhaps because there
was even greater unanimity of opinion on the main issue.
On the latter, Cormenin opened the subject by saying that
there are three possible systems, (i) the assembly itself
exercising the executive power by delegates, (2) three to
five consuls or directors, (3) a president or consul. " The
commission decides unanimously and without discussion
that unity is necessary and indispensable and that the ex-
ecutive power should be entrusted to a single person." *
The discussion, therefore, centers on the choice, qualifica-
tions and powers of the president.
In a previous consideration of possible checks to the
power of the assembly, that same day, Beaumont had sug-
gested that '' as in America, we might accord the executive
power, not a right of veto, but permission to suspend the
promulgation and execution of the law for a certain length
of time, to give the chamber time for reflection."
The matter was not acted on at that time, but was later
brought up in exactly the same form and, with no recorded
^ Proch-verbaly July 27.
2 Ibid., Aug. 8.
3 Ibid., May 27. But cf. p. 186, note.
1^8 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [3^5
Speeches, '^ it was recognized that in every case there should
be, not a veto, but a right of observation and of recourse to
the chamber better informed." ^ The brevity of the account
here, as elsewhere, leaves much to be desired.
In the discussion of the presidential term of office,^ three
questions were united, length of term, re-election and
whether or not the assembly's term should have identical
limits. Cormenin proposed a three-year term for the pres-
ident and a right to one re-election. Beaumont opposed
re-election, on the ground of its evil influence on the pres-
ident's first term. Woirhaye thought it unwise to deprive
the nation of a good man's services.
Dufaure brought up the third point : " In America, the
legislative and the executive power are generally elected
and renewed at the same time. This rule seems to me very
wise; it avoids conflicts which might break out, if the two
powers do not have a contemporary origin, if they owe their
election to currents of opinion, contrary to one another."
Marrast sustained the opposite opinion, fearing that the
complete renewal of all oflices at once would throw the gov-
ernment into disorder.
TocqueAalle held that this problem and that of re-election
aggravated one another. He did not believe in immediate
re-election ; Beaumont's point that the president will govern
in the interest of a party, was justified.
That inconvenience makes itself felt to a lively degree in
America and it is constantly increasing and appearing more
mischievous. But in France, the evil will be greater still. For
in America, the president has little power, he only nominates
to an inconsiderable number of oflices, but in France, where
the executive power will dispose of a great many places and
will be able to make many creatures, the excessive influence
of the president will be an immense danger.
1 Proces-verbal, June i.
2 Ibid., May 27.
237] THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 159
On the other hand, a non-reeHgible president, being unable
to prolong his term and carry out his great designs, might
in '' the ambition of despair " be inspired with the idea of
destroying the constitution. He preferred to run this acci-
dental passing danger, rather than subject society to the
perpetually corrupting influence of a president, employing
his power with a view to its prolongation. He wanted a
three-year term for the legislature and four or five for the
executive. Vaulabelle suggested identical terms of two
years, Dupin proposed three, Marrast returned to his pre-
vious objection.
The commission then voted, twelve to two against imme-
diate re-eligibility. It is interesting to observe that Tocque-
ville's rejection of American example in the speech that
seemed to sway the vote, if any one speech did, put into the
constitution the clause that destroyed the republic. Terms
of three, four and five years being proposed, the commis-
sion decided, eight to six, in favor of a four-year term.^
The question of an identical legislative term was dropped.
The previous decision that the assembly's term should be for
three years, ^ remaining in force, automatically defeated the
idea.
In the discussions held " on ministers of state (whether
or not to be necessarily members of the assembly) and on
the vice-president (who was to be chosen by the assembly
on nomination of the president, for four years, and to act as
president of the council of state) no reference to American
example can be found; a somewhat remarkable circum-
1 " The President is to be elected every four years . . . that is to say,
the very worst element of mischief in the American Constitution is to
be borrowed, without the advantages it carries of a strong Executive."
London Times, Nov. 7, 1848.
^ Proces-verbal, May 26.
3 Ibid., May 30.
l6o '^HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
stance, especially in view of the striking parallel in the vice-
presidential office/ It was proposed by an unnamed mem-
ber that the vice-president be chosen by the nation, together
with the president, but Cormenin thought this would detract
from *' the majestic unity " of the latter's election and
Vivien added that the vice-president might have more votes
than the president, which would be an evil and a cause of
enfeeblement for the latter. Was he thinking of Aaron
Burr? However tempting speculation is here, there is no
direct evidence of American influence.
In the first general review of the whole constitution,
several members tried to have the president's election by
universal suffrage reconsidered.^ Considerant proposed
that he be chosen by the assembly. Tocqueville wanted the
electoral college. He brought out the possible danger of a
president chosen by the minority and the inadequacy of the
candidature system {i. e. nomination by the assembly of
several candidates for popular election) as a remedy.
I propose to leave the people the right of election, but to re-
quire a majority for election and if there is no majority for one
or the other of the candidates to leave the assembly the right to
choose among them. Further, as it is desirable that a majority
be obtained by one of the candidates and as it is easier to get
a majority in proportion as the nominating assembly is less
numerous and more intelligent, I would like something an-
alogous to what takes place in America.
There every state names a certain number of delegates, who,
1 But cf. Clarigny's article in the Constitutionnel for Oct. ii: "We
see in the vice-president no other office than that of presiding over the
council of state: the importance of these functions is far from being
in accord with his title : we think that the constitutional commission has
here an unhappy fancy for imitation: of the American constitution, it
has kept only the names and the external forms, it has carefully re-
jected the spirit."
-Ibid., June 15.
339] THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION i6i
to avoid intrigues, plots and violence, do not meet together.
There are as many electoral colleges as states. Each of these
states meets the same day to name the President.
In France it would not be necessary to have as many elec-
toral colleges as there are departments, that would be too
many ; we might take the districts of the courts of appeal.
Marrast and Coquerel returned to the assembly-election
plan, Dupin opposed it. Domes seconded Tocqueville's ma-
jority requirement, with assembly-choice if no majority, but
opposed the electoral college, Barrot indicated assembly-
election as his first choice, the electoral college as his second,
Martin spoke for universal suffrage, Beaumont agreed with
Domes, Vivien wanted a two-thirds majority, Marrast
thought that practically difficult, Dufaure assented to
Domes' proposition.
The votes followed. Election by the assembly received
only two votes, the candidature system four, the electoral
college four; the majority requirement as proposed by
Tocqueville and Domes passed by a large vote.
The final reference to American example on the executive
was made during the conferences with the bureaux' dele-
gates by Thiers, representing the 3rd bureau. He wanted
the president elected for three years and reeligible once.
" In free states like America and England, it is not a man
who prevails, it is an idea represented by a few men, that
idea must be given the time necessary to become known and
its policy tested." Pitt stood for opposition to the French
Revolution, Peel was also " the expression of an arrested
thought," that is why they were kept in power.
In the succeeding revision, however, the old article was
maintained without discussion.
Omitting the last-mentioned, Thiers not being a member
of the commission, four references to United States practice
are f oimd in the commission's debates on the executive. All
l62 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^q
of these are favorable. Those who made them, Beaumont,
Dufaure, Tocqueville (twice) were all conservatives.
A few scattering allusions are to be found in the debates
on the judiciary.
Barrot brought out the dilemma in the matter of appoint-
ment : either the people elect the judges, in which case their
ignorance and passions may lead to bad selections, or the
executive power names them, which gives him a dangerous
authority. His solution was a strict separation between
those who decide the facts (the jury) and those who apply
the law to the facts (the judge), in civil as well as in crim-
inal jurisprudence. (The original plan had been to confine
the jury to the latter field) . " The tardiness of English and
American procedure may be avoided and most of the diffi-
culties which judicial organization offers solved, by the
introduction of the jury into civil matters." ^
It was decided, after further discussion, that the extension
of the jury to civil matters should be left to legislation.
The next question was the choice of judges of the peace,
whether by election or appointment, on which there was
some controversy. Coquerel, the pastor of the Oratoire,
opposed election. " He cites as analogy what takes place in
Switzerland and in America where pastors are elected ; the
choices are generally bad and those elected do not have the
authority necessary for the proper exercise of their min-
istry." ^ The question was, however, decided against him.
When the Court of Cassation, the highest regular court,
was reached, the question lay between election by the as-
sembly and appointment by the president.
Beaumont spoke for the latter. " In America, it is the
president or the governor who nominates, after having con-
1 Proces-verbal, June 5.
2 Ibid., June 6.
341] THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 163
suited the senate, this example should be followed." ^ The
majority, however, thought otherwise.
In this debate, Barrot spoke of the power of the court
mentioned, "the power to pronounce in an abstract and dog-
matic manner on the meaning of the law, which approaches
the legislative power especially." During the very last
session of the commission, this matter was brought up again
by an unnamed member, who said that " Experience has
proved that considerable embarrassments often arise from
the fact that the courts, considering a law as contrary to the
constitution, do not know whether they ought to apply it.
It would be proper to foresee this case and to say how the
difficulty may be regulated." ^ A discussion arose, in which
Dufaure and Tocqueville took part. The commission de-
cided that it would be very difficult to establish proper rules
for this case and that it would be best for the constitution
to be silent on the subject. One would give a good deal to
know what Dufaure and Tocqueville said ( the proces-verhal
is mute on this point) and whether the practice of the Amer-
ican Supreme Court was mentioned.
Cormenin's two remaining heads, the preamble with its
declaration of rights and the matter of revision, brought
forth no remarks on America, so far as the source indicates.
Enough material is thus extant to justify the conclusion
that on several important subjects, American example was
brought to the attention of the constitutional commission,
usually by the more conservative of its members. A more
satisfactory, because a more complete view of the extent of
American influence is afforded by the debates in the As-
sembly.
1 Proces-verhal, June 6.
^ Ibid., Aug. 17.
CHAPTER VI
The Assembly Debates
It will be remembered that the constitution did not come
fairly before the Assembly for discussion until after it was
reported from the commission on August 30. Prior to that
time, American example was mentioned in the Assembly on
various questions of general legislation, but only twice on a
constitutional point. May 11,^ Senard proposed the separ-
ate and prior settlement of the executive branch by the
commission about to be appointed, that this section of the
constitution, being decided as soon as possible, the govern-
ment might receive a strong, permanent head at once.
In his speech, he remarked, " In all the constitutions without
exception, in that of '91, in that of '93, in our constitutions
or rather in our charters of 1814 and of 1830, in the con-
stitution of the United States of America, the executive
power is considered separately;" the proposition was op-
posed, on the ground that it would be unwise to put part of
the new scheme into operation without the counterpoised
balances, and was defeated. May 30, Rolland, reporting
from committee a bill on the vexed question of incompati-
bility between the functions of representative and of other
public office, denied the applicability of constitutional pre-
cedents drawn from aristocratic England or federated
America.
Aside from these two cases, there are no other instances
1 The reports of these debates are to be found in the Compte-rendu
of the Assembly or in the succeeding issues of the Moniteur.
164 [342
243] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 165
until the debates on the constitution began, September 4.
The chapters which suggested the greatest amount of in-
terest in America were those on the preamble, the legislative
and the executive branches and these must be considered in
order.
Before the constitution was taken up seriously and fought
out article by article, opportunity was given for a general
discussion on the whole project before the Assembly. On
the first day of this discussion, Sept. 4, Jobez objected to
the preamble.
Why this declaration? Is it not an anachronism, a plagi-
arism from another epoch? When the Americans wrote their
famous manifesto, they were separating from their mother-
country, and appealing to the judgment of the world. When
our fathers in 1789 proclaimed the rights of men, they did it
in face of the chains they had broken ; at sight of that Bastille,
which they had conquered, they turned their backs on the past
and marched toward the future. But we, what need have we
to repeat these principles incarnated in our i.ature ?
The general discussion was ended September 5 and de-
tailed consideration began, the preamble coming first. This
part of the constitution was especially dear to the advanced
men and odious to the conservatives. It was too reminis-
cent of the great Revolution and held too many dangerous
possibilities. Radical ideas could slip in more easily
tmder the guise of " rights of man " than of cold constitu-
tional provisions, but, once in, might furnish the occasion of
annoying demands for their conversion into undesirable
legislation. It was a delicate task to oppose the preamble,
however, without appearing to break completely with the
rosy illusions of February, which the conservatives were
not yet quite ready openly to do. A good example of nice
balance along this line is shown in Levefs speech on Sep-
1 66 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
tember 6. He holds that the essential features of the pre-
amble have been incorporated into Chapter II of the con-
stitution. As for the remainder, they are brilliant, but not
always possible of realization. The droit au travail for
instance, even as modified by the commission, can amount
to little unless the resources of the state are immensely in-
creased, perhaps by a progressive tax or some other anti-
property, communistic legislation. Better be less dogmatic
and promise no more than one can realize.
It is very wrong, according to me, to justify the necessity
of absolute principles and of declarations of rights adopted
in a constitution by the example of our preceding constitu-
tions, for, and that has already been told you, it is too true
that the brilliant preambles, those pompous theories which
decorate the frontispiece of our constitutions, have not pre-
vented them from having only an ephemeral duration, while
we see the constitution of the United States, which, whatever
has been said of it, contains nothing similar, nothing which
resembles these general and dogmatic principles, shining in all
its vigor, although its existence goes back several years before
our first revolution. Those who made that constitution, the
Franklins and the Washingtons, knew as well as French legis-
lators, that principles of universal morality must dominate
all positive laws. But they understood the danger that there
was in copying such principles into a constitution, which must
be, before all, a practical work, and which, so to speak, is only
the putting into action of results attained by experience and
theory. Thus, the sole concession made to the ardent and
systematic spirits who expected to see a declaration of rights
and duties in the constitution, the sole concession is the amend-
ments which you may see at the end of the constitution of the
United States, amendments in which you remark nothing that
resembles the dogmatic and absolute principles which figure
m the frontispiece of our constitutions; amendments which
contain only purely legislative dispositions on the liberty of
245] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES iSy
the press and individual liberty ; amendments in a word, which
present nothing similar to what you are desired to adopt.
An important speech by Cremieux favoring a preamble,
was next opposed by Cazales, on the ground that it was
more prudent to confine the work of the Assembly to laws
than to venture into philosophy. He would call their at-
tention to the lessons of history, pointing out to those who
say, " We are not English, we are not Americans," the fact
that there are certain general rules which have proved their
universal validity. He then shows briefly that the English
have always opposed general maxims in favor of immediate,
definite, clearly applicable truths.
I arrive at an example more important for us, it is that of
the Americans. Here there are more points of contact, more
analogies. The constitution of the Americans is more modern ;
it is perfectly republican, no one will deny that. Assuredly if
there is a country where there is liberty, that individual liberty
which was just being discussed, it is certainly America. I
appeal to all those who have visited that country or who know
it by the writings to which it has given occasion. HI look
at the American constitution, what do I see there? No dec-
laration, no aphorisms, no political maxims, simply rules;
declarations, without doubt, but declarations of positive things.
I do not wish to fatigue the attention of the Assembly by
historical details; yet this is a considerable example — a re-
publican constitution, perfectly republican, made by a people
which has very republican manners, which has lasted for sixty
years, and which has to its account a long duration, and a
very great prosperity. Now I come to the French constitutions,
A moment later he remarked, "A republican constitution,
the example of America proves it to us, may exist without
a declaration of rights," to which response was made by
one of his own party, " a voice at the right," evidently re-
1 68 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^5
calling the amendments, '' That is a mistake. There are
twelve preambles ! "
Lamartine then delivered one of his brilHant speeches
which swept the auditors off their feet by stately rhetoric
rather than by close logic. He defended the preamble on
the ground that if it were not inserted, a future generation
might pervert the constitution to false interpretations for
lack of knowledge as to just what the ideals of 1848 really
were. He felt that it was not enough to cite the bare letter
of the American constitution. " Did the American Con-
gress of which mention was also made, without recalling that
admirable germ of declarations and rights which Franklin
wrote at the very side of the code of its constitutions,
hesitate?" ^
The following day. Detours offered an amendment de^
signed to separate the " anterior and superior rights " from
the constitution, that they might not be subject to revision,
holding that their insertion in that document did not guar-
antee their inviolability. M. Cazales might feel that the
English and American constitutions could guarantee all
rights sufficiently without a preliminary declaration. Their
case was different.
Gentlemen, the English constitution is a compromise between
three equal, sovereign and independent powers, each treating
for itself. ... It is the same in the United States, where
the thirteen states which negotiated, treated one with another,
in such fashion that nothing can be changed in the constitu-
tion, without unanimous consent of all the states, outside of
the cases stipulated for the majority.^
^Referring perhaps to the Declaration of Independence, translated
into French by Franklin's efforts. Cf. H. E. Bourne, "Am. Const.
Precedents in the National Assembly," Am. Hist. Review, vol. 8, p. 467.
2 The speaker is apparently confusing the rule of the Articles of
Confederation with that of the constitution.
347] ^^-S ASSEMBLY DEBATES 169
Detours' amendment was lost, but the preamble passed with
modifications.
The curious elasticity of American example in this mat-
ter of the preamble is striking. Friends and foes of the
scheme used it with equal fluency in support of their case,
the former by enlarging their view to include the amend-
ments or the Declaration of Independence, the latter by
confining themselves strictly to the body of the constitution
itself.
The first reference to the United States in the discussion
on the legislative branch of the government, was made in
A. Marrast's report, presented together with the text of
the constitution after revision, August 30.^ The report
concludes for a single chamber. If two chambers are
created, either they will agree, in which case the double vote
is superfluous, or they will disagree, which will bring strife
and anarchy into the system of government. Each cham-
ber may attract partisans to its point of view, and thus the
contest spreads discord throughout the state. Two cham-
bers furthermore enfeeble the legislature's power of resist-
ance against executive usurpations ; " When one has the
Ancients on his side, he makes the Five Hundred jump
out the windows." What arguments are there to support
the other opinion?
We are given only two motives : one is serious, the other is
not. The latter is the example of England and of the United
States. We might easily show that two chambers in England
represent two different interests, sometimes contrary, which
exist in the parliament, because they exist in the country. We
might show that in the United States, sovereignty divides and
subdivides itself, that it is partial, local, formed of indepen-
dent groups, and that it reproduces itself in the government
1 Moniteur, Aug. 31.
I^o THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^g
as it is in its origin. We will make a single reply which will
dispense with every other. We are in France, we constitute
the French republic, we are acting in a country, which has its
own manners, its personal character ; we do not have to clothe
it either a, V americaine or d I'anglmse. Full of respect for
other nationalities; full of admiration for the great and lasting
things they have done, we would abdicate, if we copied them.
A reason, emigrating from London or from Washington, is
bad by the very fact that it comes from there. To transplant
a political organization to a foreign soil, is to will that it shall
develop no roots. The foreign argument would prove, then,
rather against than for ; let us be moderate, it proves nothing.
The other, more serious counter-argument, is the pos-
sibility that a single chamber may be swept off its feet and
act prematurely. This he thinks sufficiently guarded against
by the provision requiring three readings of every measure
at ten-day intervals, by a council of state, to prepare and
develop proposed measures and by the executive's right to
require a new discussion of any ill-advised legislation.
The matter next came up on September 4, when Jobez
defended the bicameral system in the same speech in which
he referred to the preamble. He held that a possible con-
test between the two chambers would be no more of a danger
than the tyranny of a single popular chamber, and that
those who continually asserted the unity of the nation forgot
that this unity veiled two interests, inherent in human nature,
the interest of continuity and the interest of progress. Ex-
perience pronounces for two chambers. " Pennsylvania,
after having decreed a single chamber, returned to the
creation of a senate."
The following day, Alcock made a very long speech, in
the course of which he accepted the single chamber, but to
guard against the dangers of its tyranny, proposed a strong
executive, elected by universal vote. This power he would
349] T^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 171
further buttress by giving it the function of appointing
all public officials, even members of the Court of Cassation
(the highest court in the land) and of the council of state.
" Instead of trying to diminish the old prerogatives of gov-
ernmental power, we should try to extend them. The
Americans have strongly felt that necessity, the Romans
thought like them; with them, the power of their magis-
trates was of short duration, but it was almost absolute."
The executive should not vote in the legislature, but he
should have the right to demand a new deliberation. " The
United States, with the eminently practical sense which dis-
tinguishes them, although they have two chambers, require,
in case of conflict with the president, a majority of two-
thirds of the votes in favor of the law which he rejects."
The serious discussion of the matter did not commence,
however, until September 25, when article 20 of the project
("the French people delegates the legislative power to a
single assembly") came up in the detailed discussion.
Duvergier de Hauranne now offered his two-chamber
amendment. He opened his extremely long speech against
the single chamber by a preliminary remark that prior to
February, the bicameral system seemed to be a definitely
accepted principle of political science. He spoke not only
of constitutional monarchists, but also of republicans.
They had said to him that he must not think them so in-
fantile as to forget the lessons of experience and to recom-
mence the errors of the past. They recognized that abso-
lute unity of the directing power was incompatible with
liberty. " What we want is not the republic of the Con-
vention, it is an American republic, with an elective presi-
dent in place of an hereditary king, with a House of Repre-
sentatives and a Senate which mutually limit one another."
This system, they added, has all the advantages without any
of the inconveniences of the constitutional monarchy. Such
Yy2 ^-^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^qo
was their language. It seemed to him a most astonishing
thing that suddenly, these universally admitted ideas seemed
to the commission outworn prejudices, unworthy serious
consideration. He recognized two sources only, whence a
just determination could be derived, experience and logic.
Not so, the commission. " In the eyes of the former presi-
dent of the commission, *the supporters of two chambers
have, to demonstrate these two sources, exhausted history,
dogmatics, aesthetics and pathetics. They have crossed the
seas; they have rummaged the parchments of Albion and
dissected the Americas.' " The speaker then quoted Mar-
rast's phrase that a reason from London or Washington, is
bad from the mere fact that it comes from there.
Thus to reasoning, they oppose the instinct of the masses,
and nationality to experience ; that, it must be confessed, is to
disembarrass oneself easily, quickly of all serious discussion.
... I understand, further, the rejection of England's example ;
it would be easy to demonstrate that the origin of the division
of legislative power in England is not what is supposed and
that the rats on d'etre of the two chambers is not because they
correspond to different interests. But, finally, England is a
monarchical country, an aristocratic country; it is rejected,
nothing simpler. But, I ask you, is it not strange that the
example of the American republic, that example so often
cited by republicans, should become today, because it bothers
them, the object of their sarcasms and their disdain? (Cries
of " Good! "). Is it not strange that we are hardly permitted
to recall modestly that in America, not only the federal re-
public, the great republic, but each of the little republics of
which the Union is composed has thought it necessary, indis-
pensable, to divide the legislative power? Is it not strange
that the authority of the only great modern state which has
flourished, increased, prospered under the republican form,
should be thus brushed aside or despised? As for me, with
due respect to the former president of the commission and
35i] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 173
to its honorable reporter, I think that this authority is very
considerable, and I take the liberty to avail myself of it before
the National Assembly. It is furthermore totally false that
it was a pure imitation of England which drew America after
it; on the contrary, at the start, the federal constitution was
unitary, several of the local constitutions were unitary; it is
experience which brought all the good minds in that country
to the duality with which we are concerned. So much for
England and America.
The remainder of his argument was taken up with political
reasoning, the necessity of checks and balances to protect
the minority rights, the dangers of too great simplicity, noth-
ing being simpler than despotism, the danger of conflict be-
tween an all-powerful chamber and an equally powerful
executive (either have no president, or else divide your
legislature) , and the necessity to provide for a more mature
deliberation, the various provisions in the bill to that
end seeming to him insufficient. To the dilemma, either
two chambers are useless (being in accord) or breed anarchy
(being in disaccord) he opposed the alternative : if the cham-
bers are in accord, the law, having passed a double test,
will have greater authority; if in disaccord, that is in itself
proof that the national will is not yet clear, and that the
question requires further discussion. The council of state
seemed to him absurd, a mere permanent commission of the
Assembly, which would be free to follow or reject its advice
at will. He then put forward his counter-plan, two cham-
bers, distinguished by age, number and length of term,
but to avoid any suspicion of aristocracy, both elected by
universal suffrage (though personally he would have pre-
ferred a difference here as well). The two chambers were
to sit and vote together if at loggerheads on any subject.
He concluded his long, but very clear speech by an admission
that he had neither desired nor foreseen a republic, but
174 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^2
now that it had come, the important thing was to found it
soHdly, setting up bulwarks of order and moderation.
The next speaker, Thouret, less able and less distin-
guished, was, however, a member of the commission, and,
as such, defended its plan. This speaker regarded the single
chamber as the best feasible substitute for direct popular
government, the whole people meeting in one body, which
would be the ideal exercise of sovereignty. The remainder
of his speech was a repetition of Marrast's points and an
endeavor to refute Duvergier de Hauranne's arguments.
Is it necessary to stop at another series of reasonings which
I will call the sophistry of comparisons ; for God knows what
degree of intensity the malady of comparison has reached
among our modern publicists ! Formerly they used to compare
France to all monarchical countries to prove that it ought not
to have a republic; today they compare it to all republican
countries to prove that it ought to construct a bad one.
If I wished, I might reply by a final refusal to accept it,
and say that no comparison is possible here below, because
in nature as in languages there are no synonyms. Comparison
has always seemed to me the ambush laid for good sense by
paradox. However, it is in such good company, in such good
taste, at the present time, to speak of America a propos of
liberty and of England a propos of everything, that one must
make a little concession to the taste of the period, but I do not
guarantee the correctness of my pronunciation!
After showing (humorously) why he would not borrow
from woman-ruled England, he continued.
But America! Oh, America, I more than esteem her, I love
her, because that sublime slave, having become mistress, pro-
duced two great men, of whom one would like to possess
something more than a shadow; two great men who live in
the heart of the two republics, separated by the ocean, reunited
353] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 175
by history ! But though France and America are united in
their love of popular sovereignty, must they be united in the
exercise of that sovereignty, composed of interests, always
different and sometimes opposed? America is too much
studied in perspective, on maps and in magazines. The maga-
zine increases objects, the map diminishes them, and neither
of the two glasses of this double historic telescope, at the
service of our sedentary publicists, succeeds in showing them
the truth in its just proportions.
Believe me, learned travellers in Bibliotheques Nationales,
leave America her instincts — what shall I say? — her neces-
sity of federalism, which lay upon her a law to unite, on the
most diverse points, interests as varied and as numerous as
her once primitive lakes, her once virgin forests, and her half-
conquered rivers where crocodiles are pursued by steamboats.
Let us leave America the unity of her patriotism struggling
against the division of her soil, and let us give France the
right she has conquered to express directly that will which has
overturned three great dynasties, which has made three great
revolutions, and which will not content itself with three great
words.
Lherbette next took up the cudgels in favor of two cham-
bers. He considered this the most important point of the
constitution. He regarded it as false reasoning to hold that
because popular opinion favored a single chamber, the As-
sembly must so enact. Furthermore, the best minds fav-
ored a dual system, nor was the opinion of the masses un-
shakable. " The two-chamber system is adopted in Eng-
land and in the United States ; it was recently still existing
in France." Marrast's point, that a precedent from London
or Washington should be ipso facto rejected, he considered
not well taken. There was no reason why another coun-
try's institutions should not be adopted, if desirable.
They add that this English and American institution of two
iy(y THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^-^
chambers should be rejected because of differences in the situ-
ations; for it has for origin in England, it is pretended, the
aristocratic principle; in the United States, servile imitation
of the mother-country and federalism ; in France, the constitu-
tional monarchy and the same spirit of imitation. In these
assertions, there is no exactitude. No, in England, it is not
only the aristocratic principle which established the two cham-
bers. No, that guarantee was not in the United States and
in France the fruit of servile imitation ; for the United States
and France commenced by putting in practice the opposite
system. It was after fifteen years' experience in the United
States, after several years' in France, that the system of a
single chamber was abandoned and so completely abandoned
in America, in the several states as in the Union, that the op-
posite system, that of the duality of chambers, has there passed
into an axiom not even discussed any longer. No, it is not
the principle of constitutional monarchy nor that of aristoc-
racy which serves for base of the double chamber; for it
exists in the United States, where neither constitutional
monarchy nor aristocracy have been met with. Neither is it
federalism; for the two chambers exist in England and have
existed in France, where there has never been federalism.
What has caused its admission, is the wish to give the different
real forces of the country a real representation, to organize a
better mode of deliberations and to safeguard the independ-
ence and the existence of the different powers.
Unity of sovereignty does not involve a single chamber; if
division of delegated authority were inconsistent with that
of unity, all power would have logically to be entrusted to
a single individual. Three vital principles must be re-
spected in all free governments : political rights for the peo-
ple (else no guarantee of liberty), the influence of intellec-
tual superiority and experience in public councils (else no
guarantee of wisdom), an executive of force and inde-
pendence (else no guarantee of tranquillity). Of these
352] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 177
three, the commission omits the two latter. A single cham-
ber will of necessity be large, but it is a well-known fact that
the larger a chamber is, the more it is swayed by passion
and the less by reason. The commission's various readings
will constitute no barrier to hasty legislation, because a
majority, under the empire of passion, may sweep them
away by declaring the proposed law " urgent." Under the
monarchy, complicated legislation, such as the civil code and
the military code, were always referred to the Chamber of
Peers, because its membership, hereditary or appointed by
government, had special qualifications for such work; a
Chamber of Representatives can never be more than a poli-
tical chamber. Aristocratic governments have always had
more continuity in policy ; England owes it to its House of
Lords, Austria to its Aulic Council, Russia to its Councils.
Rome owed its perseverance to the senate. A second cham-
ber with a longer term and only renewed partially is needed
for this purpose ; it is required also to guard minority rights
and to prevent a struggle between the sole chamber and the
executive. " Some one asks who will decide between them,
if they are divided ? A method is adopted in several coun-
tries, in the state of New York, for example, and I think
that it is proposed to you in several amendments; it is a
joint vote in grave and exceptional cases of dissidence."
The commission's council of state is an admission of all
these arguments; named by the Assembly itself and with
meager prerogatives, it will be no real check. This revolu-
tion differed from that of 1789 by being directed against a
man who had played false, while its predecessor was in-
tended to overturn a whole governmental system. In view
of this, let us preserve the best features of the past. Let us
reverse the mistake which in a former day concentrated the
legislature into one body and divided the executive ; by such
reversal, we shall have wisdom in the laws, forceful rapidity
in their execution.
1^8 Tfi^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
These were the main Hnes of Lherbette's careful argu-
ment. It is impossible to give an outHne of all the speeches
here, but these will show the general trend of the argument
on the question.
Marcel Barthe, the next speaker, favoring a single cham-
ber, made a passing reference to American federalism.
France, in the time of which M. Lherbette spoke, was
divided into a multitude of little provinces, each with its
own laws and customs; " France was then, to some extent,
like the United States, composed of adjoining states,'* now,
however, the country is completely unified. Later, he re-
verted to the possible collision between two chambers, both
the offspring of universal suffrage, to which he thought
Duvergier de Hauranne's proposed remedy inadequate. " In
America, in a calm country of easy manners, in a city but
little agitated, such disagreement might have no conse-
quences; but in France, at Paris, in the midst of an intelli-
gent, passionate, mobile population, such antagonism would
be very dangerous, as is well understood."
Another speech was made the same day by Charles Dupin,
upholding the bicameral scheme in the interest of the de-
fence of the present social order. The objection had been
raised that one of the two chambers might favor commun-
ism, while a single chamber would always have a majority
against it. Such, however, had not been the case with refer-
ence to the theories of Babeuf and Saint Simon.
If socialism, if communism could root themselves anywhere,
would it not be in America, in the absolutely levelling republics
founded by the William Penns? Would it not be there that
antagonism between the two legislative chambers would have
to be born? If antagonism were possible on such a subject,
would it not have taken rise at least in one of these twenty-
seven republics, from New Orleans to New York, and from
Pennsylvania to the Rocky Mountains ? Well, never for three-
357] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 179
quarters of a century, never in the twenty- three states has
there appeared the insensate antagonism with which people
wished to frighten us, to turn our eyes from the real danger,
internal peace compromised and soon disappearing in the ab-
sence of a counter- weight, the incessant revolution returned
to the order of the day and France forever deprived of that
security so necessary if a revived agriculture, industry and
commerce are to lift themselves from the ruins which they
owe to only six months of a state of revolution, and which
are already immense.
On the 27th, the discussion was concluded. Two import-
ant speeches were made on that day, one for the single
chamber system by Lamartine, the other by Odilon Barrot
for the two chambers. Lamartine admitted that his de-
cision was purely opportunistic; were the republic firmly
established, he would perhaps favor the dual system. Noth-
ing is absolute in politics. England's dual system was due
to aristocracy, America's to federalism. The latter point
he developed at some length. America's bicameral legis-
lature, thus considered, represents a defect in democratic
unity, a sort of anarchy from which the nation has not yet
evolved.
And if, turning your attention now from a nation which has
so few essential points of contact, so little analogy, so little
conformity of origin and of nature with the French nation,
to your own situation . . . you ask yourselves, do you demand
that a French chamber should imitate that constitution,,
adapted to another people? Should it represent federal ele-
ments which no longer exist among us? You will answer, a
thousand times no! You would be imitating a defect! You
would be copying a vice ! You would be introducing a federal
imperfection in France's unity of representation.
The new democracy would view with alarm the restoration
l8o THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^58
of an aristocratic institution. The safety of the repubUc
against plots from left or right demanded the concentration
of its strength in one chamber. Folly, to amuse ourselves
with historic, theoretic, geographic considerations, variable
with periods and people, while reahties confront us. Russia
would be at the Rhine, Italy devoured from the north, anti-
social factions twenty times on the barricades, attacking the
very roots of society, the family, property, the state, while
your laboriously balanced legislative bodies tried to agree on
a plan to save the fatherland, society and civilization. The
bicameral system was justified in the past, because there was
a strong sovereign ruler in the center. To-day the As-
sembly is sovereign. No president will be strong enough to
settle a conflict between two chambers, unless he has the
right to dissolve the Assembly. Again, how shall the elec-
tors determine who should sit in the upper, who in the
lower chamber ? Wealth, profession, chance, age are equally
unsatisfactory. The lower house would lose all authority
and majesty, if because of their superior age, *' you should
say to Franklin, to Royer-Collard, * Get you gone into the
other chamber, I exile you to the Luxembourg.' " In so
critical a time, when the political horizon of Europe is
covered with clouds, a national dictatorship is necessary. If
you do not confide that dictatorship to a single assembly, it
must needs be confided to a man. But there are two names
in history, which should forever prevent a French assembly
from confiding the dictatorship of its republic, its revolution,
to a man. These names are the name of Monk in England,
and in France, the name of Bonaparte.
Odilon Barrot followed Lamartine, as the last speaker
for the dual system. The field was now cleared for the
leaders, and in Barrot, the chief man of the conservatives
answers the chief man of the liberals. Barrot's speech was
somewhat less rhetorical than Lamartine's. The latter was
359] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES jgi
a remarkable extemporiser ; he closed his speech with the
statement that he had mounted the tribune almost undecided
as to his vote, or at least as to the analysis of the reasons
for his choice, and that he had been questioning himself
aloud rather than communicating fixed convictions, but
that as he descended, he hesitated no more to vote for a
single assembly. Odilon Barrot, learned in constitutional
law, was much more ponderous than Lamartine ; as Corkran
says, " not a man of ready judgment." ^ He was, however,
quick enough to see and to seize the opening given him by
Lamartine in that speaker's figure of a dictatorship. It is
well, said Barrot, that the veil has at last been pulled aside.
The question could not have been better stated ; it is whether
you prefer to continue a dictatorship under constitutional
forms, thus continuing the revolution, or to found a normal,
permanent government. The single chamber necessarily
involves a subordinate executive; it will be all-powerful.
There is no real danger confronting France, either extern-
ally or internally; the organization of a dictatorship would
rather tend to provoke trouble, being a notice to the coun-
try that the revolution has not yet given way to a settled
state of peace. It is natural for a democracy sprung from
revolution to want to concentrate its power. But unless
it provides a counter-weight, by dividing its power, facts
will reassert their empire over theories and bring intestine
convulsions to pass, which will force the division, or destroy
the state.
We are told that it is obsolete, it is a reminiscence of aris-
tocratic power, or it is borrowed or rather plagiarized at the
expense of England and of America; you are not in the same
circumstances: there aristocracy, here a federal power. You
are right, circumstances are not the same; you will not divide
1 Op, cit., p. 6s.
l82 1'HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 184S [^50
your legislative power on the same conditions as England or
the federal power of the United States of America. It is
true; your second chamber or your moderating power will
have another principle of authority than the high chamber in
England or the senate in America. The upper chamber in
England, in its wealth, in its origin, in its traditions, in its
real pride and in its patriotism; the United States in the
federal principle, these, it is true, are the forces which come
to the assistance of the moderating power, which aid it to
function efficiently ; you have not those forces ; I will not ask
you to create them. Does it result that, because your moder-
ating authority will not find that force which it finds accident-
ally either in America, or in England, that no moderating
authority is needed ? But I will draw an opposite conclusion.
Democracy, thus left more powerful than elsewhere, is in
even greater need of balancing, moderating agencies. The
presidency and the council of state are both inadequate in
this respect. Construct a constitution according to the
laws of experience and society, and do not prepare for your-
selves eternal regrets.
Dupin ami, as representing the majority of the com-
mission, made a final argument in favor of its conclusions.
While repudiating Lamartine's notion of a dictatorship (the
division of powers was sufficient to obviate that) yet they
considered it necessary to have one chamber in view of the
danger still to be apprehended from the reds.
The vote, being taken after this speech, resulted in the
defeat of the amendment.
When the vote on the constitution took place, November
4, one of the negative votes was cast by A. Lubbert. He
explained his vote in a letter to the Moniteury dated Paris,
November 4, and published the next day, in which he said :
** I voted against the adoption of the new constitution. I
think the stability, the prosperity of the republic dependent
36l] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 183
Upon the establishment of two chambers, on the pattern of
the United States." He thought also that in case of dissi-
dence, the president should have the right to consult the
country, and the Assembly to recall the president. Stability
seemed to him to require subordination of authority.
Several other references to American example in relation
to various legislative problems, outside of the two-chamber
question, were also made. On September 28, Art. 21 was
before the Assembly, fixing the membership of the forth-
coming single legislative chamber at 750, including repre-
sentatives from Algeria and the colonies. An amendment
was offered by Point, proposing a sliding scale, giving one
member for every 6o,ock) of population ; each fraction above
30,000 to have one representative, any fraction below not
to count; Algeria and the colonies to be regulated by a
special law. This would, for the present, give an Assembly
of 586, which would be more efficient than a larger number.
The article Avas further inconsistent with Art. 23, providing
that the election shall be based on population.
The amendment was opposed by Duf aure, in the name of
the commission, who showed that 750 had been taken as a
fair number, by comparison with the 745 fixed by the
National Assembly of 1791 when the nation had 25,000,000
population (in 1848 it had 35,400,000), and with the 668
of the English House of Commons, representing a popula-
tion of 26,000,000. He recalled the old Chamber of
Deputies with its 450 members and maintained that the
disorder was quite as great as in the present Assembly. The
article was not inconsistent with Art. 23, whose object was
merely to fix population as the base instead of territory or
property. Furthermore, the number 750 was in fact based
on population.
What we did there was done in all the constitutions of the
ig^ THE' FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1S48 ^^^^
United States of America. A beginning was made by fixing
the number of representatives on the basis of the population^
which was feeble. It was found that in many states the popu-
lation gave one representative for 30,000 souls. The popula-
tion has increased there in the proportions which you know,
which have been considerable for several states, to such an
extent that there are states where now, the number of repre-
sentatives remaining fixed, one representative is named by
123,000 souls where in the beginning it was by 30,000. I dcK
not conclude from that that the number will always be fixed;
when the constitution is revised, the increase which has taken
place in the population will be seen.
The constant tinkering of the number each year would be
attended with much confusion.
Neither speaker took note of the decennial revision re-
quired by the American constitution, which Point might
have used as sanctioning his principle of a sliding scale and
Dufaure in opposition to an annual revision. The amend-
ment was defeated and the commission's article passed.
By October 4, Art. 36 had been reached, providing that
each representative should receive a salary, which he may not
renounce. Morin (de la Drome) opposed the article in
these terms.
I encounter this provision in the general constitution of
the United States; I encounter it in the constitutions of the
several states of the American Union. I confess that I should
be strongly surprised to find it one day written in that of the
nation which was once and which will be always, I hope, the
chivalrous nation.
He continued that either Art. 36 provided for poor men, un-
usually numerous at that time, who could not otherwise af-
ford to hold office (in which case it was allowable, but
should be a matter of law, not constitution), or it was in-
363] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 185
tended to proclaim a great democratic principle, (which
it failed to do). "If you want to inscribe a great demo-
cratic principle, follow the example of America. In
America, in the United States, not only legislative, but
municipal functions are paid. If you want to set forth the
principle, proclaim it loudly ; . . . say that all offices will be
salaried, those of mayor, of adjunct, of municipal councils,
of general councils; without that, gentlemen, you are in-
consistent.'*
Dufaure, the commission's usual spokesman, defended the
article. It was not a temporary expedient, but a constitu-
tional principle necessary to prevent the eligibility of all the
citizens, already recognized, from being a farce.
And the honorable M. Morin was wrong again when he
said, that after searching well he had been able to find a
salary given to legislators only in the American constitutions.
If he had sought a little better, he would have found that the
members of the Constituent Assembly had a salary ; that those
of the Legislative Assembly had one and that the principle of
salary, as we write it, is written in plain words in the constitu-
tion of the year III. It is not only then in the American con-
stitutions, but among us that this has been written.
The article was then adopted.
A few moments later. Art. 39 came up, providing for
three readings of every bill with ten-day intervals between.
To this, Saint-Priest objected that this delay of a month,
designed to prevent undue haste, would have a contrary ef-
fect, by increasing " votes of urgency," the special danger
of one-chamber assemblies. " In the United States, and
permit me to cite the American republic, this delay is only
three days. The Constituent Assembly established a delay
of eight days." Even that proved too long and almost all
laws were declared urgent. He considered five days long
l86 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^^^
enough between each of the three readings. This change
was accepted by the commission, and with this modification
the article was passed.
The debate on the executive was somewhat more varied.
The appeal to or from American example was made not only
on the advisability of having a president, (which was never
very seriously opposed) , but even more on the method of his
election and the extent of his power. It is a little curious
that there should be so much more talk about the excellences
of the American senate than those of the American presi-
dent, though the adoption of the presidency by France is
usually accredited to American example^ and the former
was not imitated. It will be seen that the English example,
almost constantly coupled with the American in the discus-
sion on the legislature, now drops out of sight.
The first mention of the American executive was made
by Mathieu (de la Drome) as early as September ii, in the
development of his droit au travail amendment to Article
VIII of the preamble. He accused the statesmen of the
past of showing interest in the manufacturers only and
neglecting agricultural interests, because the manufacturers
sat in the Chamber of Deputies and their votes were needed.
He proposed a system of land credits to repopulate the
country districts.
There would be another thing to do, but I am convinced
that you would not accept it, and yet I am convinced that this
thing would be one of the best articles of your constitution:
it would be to write in your constitution that the chief of the
^ Cf. Ch. Seignobos, Histoire Politique de t Eur ope Contemporaine, p.
151 "...the executive [delegated] to a citizen named president of the
republic, for four years, probably in imitation of the United States,
with the right to choose his ministers. ... It was the American mechan-
ism transported from a federal government without army and without
bureaucracy (fonctionnaires) into a centralized government providc<l
with an irresistible army and a bureaucracy accustomed to dominate."
^65] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES jgy
•executive power could never choose a minister on these
benches. That is what takes place in America. You know
that in the United States, the president cannot take a minister
from the parliament ; if it is not so with us, France will con-
tinue to assist at these oratorical struggles, at these word-
tournies which intoxicate the people, instead of giving them
bread.
The question of the executive was brought definitely be-
fore the Assembly on October 5, when Chapter VIII of the
constitution was reached. Articles 41-45 inclusive were at
first thrown open for general discussion. Felix Pyat started
the debate by declaring that he opposed having a president
at all. In his view, the political system of the country
should follow man's physical constitution; a single legisla-
tive chamber, corresponding to man's brain, a subordinate
executive to carry out its will, corresponding to man's arm.
Absolute monarchies have one sovereign, the king ; constitu-
tional monarchies two, the king and the people ; the republic
one, the people. It must be represented by one dominant
legislative chamber. A president, elected by universal vote,
would be a great peril; he might easily claim to represent
the people more truly than the whole legislature, composed
of members elected by relative majorities, while he was
chosen by an absolute majority. The responsibility of the
president is badly defined ; the whole office is a mistake.
The partisans of presidents quote to us, like the partisans
of two chambers, the example of the United States. Citizens,
that example again turns against them. What is the republic
of the United States? The word indicates it: a federal re-
public, girondine (excuse the word), an aggregation of dif-
ferent states or bodies, a nation of alluvial accretions (d' allu-
vions et d' atterissement) , composed successively of heterogen-
eous parts, without solidarity with one another. A hoop was
necessary to hold together all these staves, ready to disjoin
l88 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^(^^
and separate. A single executive power was necessary, pre-
cisely because the legislative power was divided, because there
were two great national chambers and as many little chambers
as states. The danger for America is dissolution; the federal
republic has felt the need of unity.
France, however, is the nation of unity par excellence; a
president would over-emphasize that tendency, so that the
republic would be subject to the danger of becoming a mon-
archy. " The danger in France is in the opposite direction
from that in the United States. In the United States, it is
in the dispersion of the provinces, and a president was
necessary; in France, it is in concentration; only an As-
sembly is necessary." Pyat concluded by expressing his
desire for a simple president of council, the object of the
subsequent Grevy amendment.
Tocqueville next addressed the Assembly. He held that
the principle of division of powers, already accepted by that
body, would be destroyed if the executive were practically
absorbed by the legislative. He further felt that the dan-
gers of executive power had been grossly exaggerated ; with-
out popular election, they would be nothing.
" In the legislative sphere, the president, as the constitu-
tional project establishes him, can do nothing; he has neither
the absolute veto of the constitutional king nor the suspensive
veto of the president of the United States." The council of
state, so far from limiting the Assembly's power, furnishes
it (being named by the Assembly) an opening to share in
the execution of laws, the naming of public officials, the
judgment of accused statesmen. Even more, the council
of ministers gives the Assembly a chance to control the
executive. There are two constitutional systems in this
matter ; one makes the executive irresponsible, but as in fact
he can do nothing without his ministers, who are chosea
^ey] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 189
from the Assembly, the latter' s influence on the govern-
ment remains very great ; that is the system of constitutional
monarchy. There is a second system ; in this the executive
is directly responsible, but at the same time has no need of
the assistance of any of his ministers in order to act; his
ministers are chosen by him outside the Assembly.
That is the system, which has been practised up to the pres-
ent in all the republics, which have not confounded the powers ;
it is to be found not only in the United States, but in France,
in the constitution of the year III. The chiefs of the executive
power were indeed responsible, but they could act freely; the
United States constitution presents the same character.
By the new constitution, however, an unheard-of hybrid
scheme has been created; the president is declared respon-
sible, yet at his side is placed an equally responsible council
of ministers, without which he can do nothing and which
may reduce him to powerlessness ; thus the National As-
sembly remains the supreme power despite M. Pyat's fears.
Were it not for the election of the president by universal
vote, it would be as absolute as the Convention. It will not
mean the Terror, but it will mean tyranny and corruption.
This Assembly has no right to name the president, nor has
any Assembly whose duration will not be equal to his own,
i. e. four years. Through the bureaux you have already
pronounced for universal suffrage; that in fact is the cen-
tral feature of the republic; you cannot defraud France of
it now, just because certain members now fear that a name
hostile to the republic may be the choice of the people.
The Assembly is the sole force that has worked for stability
in these late troubled times ; the reason is, that its strength
is drawn from universal suffrage. The danger of France's
throwing itself into the arms of the first phantom whose
name is a guarantee of strength, is due to the fear of social
igo THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [268
revolution; the remedy for that real danger is, however, not
legislative tyranny, but such complete reprobation of that
type of revolution, that you will stand at the head of the
orderly majority. Then when confidence is restored, you
have nothing to fear from a popular presidential election.
Parieu, the following speaker, opposed universal suffrage,
but from another point of view than Pyat. Though a con-
servative, Parieu too feared the possibilities of too strong an
executive. Conservative and radical alike drew back at the
menace of Bonapartism, which had already begun to cast
its shadow over the land. It is curious to see him support-
ing the American example in a cause directly opposite from
Tocqueville's ; the latter admired its executive's independ-
ence of the legislative; the former praised its system of in-
direct election as opposed to a direct, universal vote. Where
Pyat favored the Grevy plan, Parieu supported in this speech
the system proposed in the Leblond amendment. "There
was much talk of history in the two-chamber question, and
especially about America," he said.
Indeed, the republic was such a sudden thing with us, to
employ the expression of the minister of finance, so little ex-
pected, that it was natural that France and those who repre-
sented her should cast their eyes over the widest possible
horizon, that they should question the history of all the re-
publics, and that with some timidity perhaps, some humility
for the lessons of experience, they should question all the
republics, all the great republics, for the lessons of their past
and of history. America was much, even exclusively talked
about {on a beaucoup parle, uniquement meme parle de
I'Amerique), a propos of the two chambers. Permit me to
cite her a propos of the question we are discussing here, not
especially from the point of view of the president's nomina-
tion by the legislative body, but from the point of view of a
question which is at the bottom of the other, that of the direct
or indirect election of the president.
369] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 191
America was in a very different situation from ours, it was
completely republican; it had not the least reminiscence of
monarchy, not the least discord on the subject of the form of
its government. The monarchy ! It could only recall for her
the enemy, whom she had driven away after such long com-
bats. America was republican, entirely republican, and
further, there could not be for the election of its first presi-
dent, of him who should be the founder of that republic, an
instant of indecision and hesitation; it had a man who had
conducted it at once to liberty and to victory, a man of whom
one said in 1787 at the moment of his election, what one said
at his death, those three words which were his funeral oration,
the most beautiful which can be pronounced over a citizen's
tomb, to wit : that he was first in peace, first in war and first
in the hearts of his countrymen. Those words, which were
pronounced at his tomb, were in every mouth in 1787, and
thus the president of the American republic was named, so
to speak, the day when the republic was founded. However
the Americans did not think that it was direct universal suf-
frage which should normally preside at the nomination of the
republic's president; they looked further, and it was by in-
direct election, summoning men placed at high points of view,
discerning the political necessities of the country, necessities
often so delicate, — it was by indirect election that they organ-
ized the naming of the republic's president.
There, gentlemen, is what we are taught by the past of the
only republic whose history it has been thought proper to in-
terrogate in this gathering. Were it necessary to search else-
where, I would ask of you, (but they would be examples too
restricted to be compared with the one I have just cited and
even to be compared with our situation), I would ask of you
permission to invoke the example of the littlje modern Euro-
pean republics.
He then quoted Switzerland, whose executive power is
chosen by the legislative, and Holland where the States
ig2 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^^
General more than once chose the stathouder. Turning
from history to logic, he criticized that feature of the con-
stitution, which in case of no absolute majority, provided
a reballot by the Assembly, among the five leading candi-
dates; the Assembly might elect the last of the five and
that by a slight majority.
I think the idea was to imitate America, for I find all there
repeated. It is the same number; it is also among the five
candidates who have obtained the most votes, that in America
the legislative bodies of Congress may choose in default of
absolute majority. But there is an immense difference. In
America, the electors charged with choosing the president are
the same in point of numbers as the members of the repre-
sentation [in Congress]. Then I understand it, when there is
no majority among the electors, that another assembly equal
in numbers should proceed to an election and settle the first
one; here are scores of votes compensated by scores of votes.
But to settle millions of votes perhaps with a few votes of
the National Assembly when one has commenced by denying
the National Assembly the right of choosing the president of
the republic, this is to do an inconsequential thing, something
which can never be sustained.
This plan seemed to him to combine the evils of the two
systems, popular and Assembly election. " Gentlemen, I per-
mitted myself to say a word concerning the situation of the
country, and I made a comparison just now without wishing
it in speaking of America. Well, is our position the same
as that of America ?" He proceeded to show that America
of the past century was very differently situated from
France, a people of royalist traditions, where royalist sym-
pathies in some parts still exist. An appeal to the suf-
frages of a divided nation was full of danger.
What is the executive power which it is sought to make for
371 ] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 193
us? Is it a kind of constitutional king, having a veto, having
his part in the legislative branch, able like the American presi-
dent, to say to the legislative body : You are the majority, but
that is not enough ; you must deliberate anew, and make your
decision by a two-thirds majority ; that is to say, that my voice
alone is worth a sixth of the national representation ?
No, the proposed executive had only the right to ask the
Assembly to vote once more. " Well, he who has only the
right to say that, who must execute the law, and perhaps
obey a thought contrary to his own conviction, he is not a
semi-constitutional-king-president, like the one in America.
No, he is a first magistrate of a democracy, a chief who
executes and does not deliberate." And it is to such an
officer that you would give an independent source! For a
president of the American type who has to be strong enough
to balance a majority of Congress and compel its submission
to his veto, such a popular backing might be important,
but it is folly here. He would go so far as to say that if
the president is to be elected by universal vote, his powers
should be increased; to refuse him the power which is the
natural consequence of what he represents is to threaten
disaster. If, however, the executive is made too strong,
his responsibility becomes a myth. An antagonism without
issue arises between executive and legislative. In the old
days, the dissolution of the chamber provided a way out.
Now, that is forbidden. Nor can the president resign and
contest the matter at the polls, for he cannot again be a
candidate. The only sensible way is to have the president
chosen by the Assembly. There is no foundation for the
idea that this violates the principle of division of powers.
That division is one of functions, not of the nomination of
individuals. There must always be links between the
powers. The naming of the supreme court by the As-
194 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^y^
sembly does not violate the principle, for the latter never
expects to interfere with its decisions. So here, Tocque-
ville's objection of corruption (that the president will seek
to influence the Assembly which elects him) will only hold
under the system of re-elections, which has been banished
from your constitution. " But re-election by the country
entails also all those evils which M. de Tocqueville has so
well described in America, where the president, as he ad-
mits I think, has in view, in all his acts, in his whole ad-
ministration, only the goal of his re-election." The ob-
jection that election of the executive by the Assembly is to
reproduce the Convention is an error; the Convention did
not create a definite executive with a fixed term; it kept all
the authority to itself. It is well to have a strong executive,
but if you make him too strong, it will be impossible to
limit his term of office ; he will dominate the legislative and
arrange the question of re-eligibility to suit himself. The
remainder of this long, but important speech was taken up
with a demonstration of the dangers of a too strong execu-
tive, the impossibility of fettering him by rules, as the coup
d'etat against the constitution of the year III proved, and
with a defence of his system against the charge of legis-
lative usurpation. He closed with a clever adaptation of
Tocqueville's statement that the Assembly had recently been
the one stable thing in France ; as such, he said, dare to think
and plan wisely for France, do not abdicate your powers in
a sort of scepticism, saying that the country will do what
it pleases. A curious echo of that very scepticism was
found in Lamartine's famous speech the next day, which
turned the scale against M. Parieu's system.
The next important discussion of the subject was by
Jules Grevy, offering his amendment,^ at the following ses-
^ Vide supra, p. 119 et seq.
373] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES I95
sion, October 6. The point of difference between his system
and legislative choice of a president, as desired by Parieu,
was that Grevy merely wished to make the present Cavaignac
regime permanent. Instead of having a president elected
irrevocably for a fixed term, he would have the choice made
for an indefinite period, always subject to recall. After
refuting the objections that the Assembly had no authority
to deprive the people of the right of directly choosing the
president, and that the principle of separation of powers was
endangered (to which two points, he replied much as his
predecessors had done), he turned to criticism of the com-
mission's plan. The proposed president, having the dis-
posal of the army, the nomination to civil and military posi-
tions and the tremendous force of a popular election, will be
really more powerful than the late king. Bonaparte based
his throne on the elections of the year X. And you say
you are founding a democratic republic! How else would
you go about restoring a monarchy? The temporary term
of ofifice is no barrier ; an ambitious man will brush it aside.
Suppose this ambitious man has known how to make him-
self popular, suppose him a victorious general or a scion of
one of the families who have ruled France and has not
expressly renounced his pretended rights, suppose an econ-
omic crisis, can you answer for it that this ambitious man
will not overturn the republic? Despotism has destroyed
every republic of the past, yet you take no steps to avert
that danger. The Assembly's choice among the first five,
if there is no absolute popular majority, is a delusion;
either it will always choose the candidate with the highest
popular vote, in which case it is a formality, or it will choose
another and thus a less popular man, entailing probable civil
discords or even strife. What has led the commission to
its ill-starred conception? Historical precedents? No
196 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
French constitution has provided for direct, popular elec-
tion. The examples of neighboring republics?
There is not one of them, not a single one in which the exe-
cutive power is delegated directly by the people. In the United
States, which is incessantly proposed to us as a model, the
president of the republic is not named directly by the people ;
he is named by an indirect method, by a delegation, more or
less complicated according to circumstances. Thus this pre-
tended principle of direct election would be a novelty in history,
a novelty in the world.
Constitutional principles? Not the doctrine of popular
sovereignty, for the judicial power is a constant example of
indirect delegation and this Assembly of divided delegation ;
direct, undivided delegation is therefore not necessary. The
system of checks and balances, perhaps. He would boldly
assert his belief that in that doctrine the publicists of the
eighteenth century and their modern successors made the
greatest political error of the times. They found in Eng-
land a state in process of transition, no longer an absolute
monarchy and not yet a republic ; they found a royalty, aris-
tocracy and democracy dividing the sovereignty and hence
the government; their error was to suppose that an equili-
brium was thus formed, guaranteeing a stable government ;
omitting the past and the future, they failed to see that the
popular element was established only at the expense of the
two others, that it was slowly, but unceasingly pushing its
conquest and that an obscure struggle was going on, which
would inevitably result in the triumph of the democratic
element over the two others. The same struggle in France
was shorter and more terrible, because here it was between
the people and royalty over the corpse of aristocracy. Aris-
tocracy perished here in 1789 and every subsequent effort
to galvanize it and build a second chamber out of it, has
375] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 197
been a failure. Instead of equilibrium, history shows on
every page the antagonisms and conflicts organized under
that lying name, the inevitable result of the juxtaposition
of independent powers. The so-called system of balance is
correct for a period of transition ; all one can do is to give
each of the contending forces a part of the ground. But
when monarchy and aristocracy, defeated, leave democracy
mistress of the battle-field, it is an absurd anachronism to
divide the field according to the old forms, thus splitting
democratic unity and recurring to inevitable antagonisms.
You felt this when you decided for a single chamber, thus
setting aside the upper house, which represents aristocracy,
an element now dead in France. Why then should you
maintain the other power, the royal power, when there is no
longer royalty? You had to choose between two systems,
that of the past which divides sovereignty into three
branches and that of the future, which unifies it. You have
already pronounced against the first, by cutting out one of
the branches; to hesitate now, and retain the two others^
would be to establish a mutilated, bastard government, ag-
gravating the dangers of the old system by increasing the
antagonism and giving it no issue. To be consistent, you
must go on to the acceptance of my amendment. Election
of a president for a fixed term by the Assembly, though
much less dangerous than choosing him by popular vote,
is to be rejected as still creating two antagonistic powers.
The only forceful government is one in which Assembly and
president are united; June proves that. Parieu has suc-
cessfully dispelled the fear of a dictatorship by a Convention.
You have been happy enough to find the best government,
be wise enough to keep it.
This beautiful example of French logic in its most un-
compromising clarity, was followed by Jules de Lasteyrie's
defence of the older theory of government. Division of
ipg THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^y^
powers alone confers responsibility, without which despot-
ism is inevitable. It is more than bold to treat these great
constitutional truths held by all humanity with such supreme
disdain. It is an error to identify the separation of govern-
mental powers with the elements of society, represented by
democracy, aristocracy and royalty. The distinction be-
tween the various systems calling for election of the execu-
tive by the legislative is over-subtle; one and all they vio-
late the foundation-rule of sound government and decree
a permanent revolution. You are planning to give the As-
sembly the naming of the council of state, the court of
cassation and the president; what a chance for corruption!
The reason why there is now such opposition to popular
election of the president, is because the state of the coun-
try has changed in the last few months ; it is feared that the
country will not choose rightly. But if you do not trust
the country, you are not republicans; that is the very spirit
of monarchy. If you engage the Assembly in a struggle
against the country's will, then indeed comes disaster. It is
then desirable to have the country elect the president. But
to avoid the objections to that system, the backing of the
successful candidate by millions of votes and the difficulty
of the masses' distinguishing between good and poor candi-
dates, why not let the country elect indirectly ? " There is
an argument for this opinion, mon Dieu, I know it ! " To
which " a voice " replied, "An American argument." The
speaker resuming,
You have said it. Truly, I do not understand why this should
not be an excellent argument. This system has been practised
for exactly sixty years in America, and by a singular abuse
of argumentative subtleties, the honorable M. Parieu yester-
day even supported himself by the example of the United
States. In that country where, however, there is no adminis-
377] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES jgg,
trative centralization, where the president disposes of so few
positions, there is such a fear of corruption, which as Monsieur
the Federalist Hamilton says, is the vice destructive of free
governments, — the corruption which the executive power might
exercise is so much feared, that all the representatives, all the
public functionaries, all the persons having political or admin-
istrative relations with the president, are excluded from the
right to belong to the nominating electors! And it is thus
that for sixty years, the United States have progressed, in-
creased, prospered.
Thus the conservatives made clever use of the republican
example, even posing as the supporters of republicanism
against tyranny, and as more democratic than the professed
democrats. Neither side was perfectly sincere in its argu-
ments, though the real truth was more than once hinted at.
The fact was that the men of the Left opposed election by
universal suffrage, because they were convinced that the
country at large did not have sufficiently republican senti-
ments; the men of the Right favored it for precisely the
same reason. They were willing enough to adopt a demo-
cratic method to produce an anti-democratic result, thus
hoisting the enemy with his own petard. Both sides were
ready to sacrifice consistency of principle to secure a polit-
ical victory. Perhaps they were right, for at this critical
juncture, the very constitutional framework of the country
depended on holding the reins of political power, as events
soon showed. The election of Louis Napoleon carried with
it the inevitability of Empire.
Leblond now offered his amendment, designed as a middle-
ground, he said, between the Grevy scheme, which would
make the president a puppet at the Assembly's mercy, in-
triguing constantly to keep his place, and the popular suf-
frage scheme, creating a popular king, as dangerously strong
as the other would be dangerously weak.
200 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^^g
He was succeeded by Lamartine, whose speech was one
of the most famous he ever made and carried the day for
the commission's plan. The speaker first discussed briefly
the question of whether a president should be chosen at all
and summarized the alternate tyranny and feebleness of
the committee-executive, whose irresponsibility is its un-
doing. Incidentally he rejected the phrase "division of
powers," inapplicable to unitary France with its unitary As-
sembly expressing the national sovereignty; in its place he
would prefer to say " distinction of functions." He now
took up the question of how the president should be elected.
He had heard, with the liveliest interest, M. Parieu going
over, page by page, the lessons of history and politics on this
matter. These considerations were not new to him. He,
too, had studied the systems of the United States, the Ameri-
can republics, Venice, Genoa, even the conclaves of the
Catholic republic and the French constitutions of the past.
He had tried to understand the motives of all these com-
binations. He declared frankly that he found nothing ap-
plicable to the present French situation in any of them.
M. Parieu cited yesterday the examples of the United States,
Switzerland and Holland in favor of indirect election, but
these are inapplicable.
The United States name at two degrees, [i. e. by indirect
election] Holland named at two degrees, Switzerland named
at two degrees, why? Because these three countries are
federated states; because before the federal unit, which is
the only one represented in the nomination of the supreme
ix>wer which corresponds to the entire federation, before these
federal unities cast their vote to consecrate the presidential
right of the chief of the republic, they must come to an un-
derstanding with themselves; because in a word, they do not
represent an individual will, but the will of each member of
the federation. Here is the secret of these three methods;.
379] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 201
these republics have or had peculiarly powerful natures; the
United States had made alliance with the ocean, Switzerland
with the mountains, Holland with the marshes ; a strong power
was less necessary to them. But, gentlemen, it does not es-
cape you that France has nothing, has had nothing, will have
nothing comparable, in its social and national constitution, to
these federations which are without end cited to us as ex-
amples, without having understood their nature and their
necessity.
Leaving these secondary, scientific considerations to plunge
into the merits of the controversy, one thing is certain;
power, in republics, lies in popularity. At present it is in
this Assembly. But should it gradually leave the Assembly
and the executive whom it has chosen, the power of the gov-
ernment would crumble in all its parts. Opposition to the
system of popular election finds one of its motives in the
fear that the fallen dynasties will seek to return to power by
means of the popular vote. For the two royalist families,
this is a foolish fear; it would be beneath their dignity to
make such an effort. As for the third dynasty, which per-
haps you have in your mind, the representatives of France
have already decided to respect the avowals of that family
and to restore them their rights of citizenship. The fear
which preoccupies the Assembly's thought, that a posthum-
ous fanaticism will lead a great military nation to confer
dangerous honors on the heirs of a great name, he neither
confessed nor denied to be well-founded. He could not
read the future, but he did respect the honesty of the repub-
lican avowals made here by that family. And as for the
factions of that party, they would be foiled in their hopes;
" to arrive at an eighteenth brumaire in our time, two things
are necessary; long years of terror behind and Marengos,
victories before ! " The dangers of a counter-system pre-
sented as an ideal come after years of political discontent;:
202 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^go
the present peril is rather that of a certain lukewarmness,
a loss of the initial February enthusiasm, due to misrepre-
sentation of the republic on the part of its enemies and ex-
cessive radicalism on the part of its friends. In such a
situation, to take away the people's share in its own sover-
eignty, to restore its old exile, endured for thirty-six years
under past constitutional governments, is surely a poor
way to restore enthusiasm for the republic. Rather let the
people choose its own head, its personification and its chief.
The Assembly remains the supreme and indivisible repre-
sentative of sovereignty; the president has no share in its
power, he is only a function of government. The deliberate
vote of each citizen is the very sacrament of authority.
The right of primogeniture is only the right of the first
comer, the right of conquest defiles the people with its brutal
violence; divine right is but the priest's blessing on royal
races; the sacred right of popular vote is the stripping off
of the people's sovereignty by its own volition to clothe a
government, if possible more collective, universal and popu-
lar than itself. Election by the few votes an Assembly has
to cast suggests always the possibility of favoritism and sel-
fish purpose, not to use the word, corruption. '' One poisons
a glass of water, not a river ; an Assembly is suspect, a nation
is incorruptible as the ocean." The objection that the exe-
cutive would be too strong, if popularly elected, is absurd;
" would to God the infant republic were born with all its
energy, like the god in the ancient fable which strangled
the serpents in his cradle; " the executive's strength would
be merely that of the country itself. To put the vote in
the hands of each citizen is to give him the right and duty
of defending the republic against whomsoever might at-
tack it.
The great orator concluded his speech with that famous
fatalistic peroration, which swept the Assembly off its feet.
381] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 203
I know well that there are grave dangers in both systems;
that there are moments of aberration in multitudes ; that there
are names which draw the crowd as the mirage draws herds
of cattle, as the red rag attracts unreasoning animals. I know
it, I dread it more than anyone, for perhaps no citizen has
put more of his soul, his life, his sweat, his responsibility
and his memory in the republic's success! Should it become
established, I have won my human gage against destiny!
Should it fail, either in anarchy or in a reminiscence of des-
potism, my name, my responsibility, my memory fail with it
and are forever repudiated by my contemporaries! Well,
despite that redoubtable personal responsibility in the dangers
our problematic institutions may run, although the republic's
dangers are my dangers, and its loss my ostracism and my
eternal grief, should I survive, I do not hesitate to pronounce
in favor of what seems to you most dangerous, the election
of the president by the people. Yes, even though the people
should choose him whom my perhaps badly enlightened fore-
sight dreads to see it choose, no matter: the die is cast! Let
God and the people pronounce! Something must be left to
Providence! He is the light of those who, like us, cannot
read the shadows of the future! Let us invoke Him, let us
pray Him to enlighten the people and let us submit ourselves
to His decree. Perhaps we may perish at the task? No,
surely, and yet it would be beautiful to die initiating one's
country into liberty.
Well, if the people deceives itself, if it allows itself to be
blinded by the dazzling reflection of its own past glory; if it
withdraws from its own sovereignty after the first step, as
though frightened by the grandeur of the edifice we have
opened to it in its republic, and by the difficulties of its institu-
tions; if it wants to abdicate its safety, its dignity, its liberty
into the hands of an imperial memory; if it says, take me
back to the paths of the old monarchy; if it disavows us and
disavows itself, well, so much the worse for the people! It
will not be we, but they who shall have lacked perseverance
and courage ! I repeat it, we may perish at the task by their
204 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^g^
fault, but the ruin of the republic will not be imputed to us 1
Yes, whatever happens, it will be beautiful through history
to have attempted the republic ! The republic as we have pro-
claimed, conceived, outlined it for four months, the republic
of enthusiasm, of moderation, of fraternity, of peace, of pro-
tection to society, to property, to religion, to the family, the
republic of Washington!
A dream, if you will! But it will have been a beautiful
dream for France and for the human race! But that dream,
let us not forget, was the act of the people of February during
its first months ! We will restore it ! But, finally, should this
people abandon itself; should it gamble with the fruit of its
own blood, spent so generously for the republic in February
and in June ; should it say that fatal word, should it wish to
desert the victorious cause of liberty and human progress to
run after some meteor that would burn its hands — let it so
speak ! But we, citizens, let us at least not speak for it in ad-
vance! Should that misfortune arrive; let us rather speak
the word of the vanquished at Pharsala; the victorious cause
pleased the gods, but the lost cause pleased Cato! And let
this protest against the error or the feebleness of this people
be its accusation before itself, and our absolution before
posterity !
After that extraordinary speech, in which one is uncertain
whether to marvel most at the eloquence, the clairvoyance,
the frankness or the obstinacy, nothing remained to be said.
Two insignificant speeches were made the following day,
and then the Assembly, with eyes that had been opened to the
danger ahead, but with the exalted fanaticism, which a poet
had kindled in its heart, deliberately took the step which
was to destroy it.
The next allusion to the American executive was made
in the short debate on the Leblond amendment which took
place before the vote on that plan, but after the Grevy
amendment had been defeated.
383] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 205
Flocon, speaking for the amendment, disclaimed Lamar-
tine's pessimism, but disclaimed also his fatalistic willing-
ness to stake all on chance; a danger should be guarded
against. He would have the president's role less splendid,
more useful than his opponent. He did not comprehend
Lamartine's statement that the Assembly alone would re-
main sovereign; if named by the people, surely the president
would have equal claim to sovereignty. An Assembly suffi-
ciently republican to vote one chamber, must now carry out
the consequences of that vote.
M. de Lasteyrie spoke to you yesterday, and if I am not
mistaken, he will make of it the object of a proposition, the
president's election at two degrees, in the American fashion. I
ask of M. de Lasteyrie, if he will find here in France the
elements of that election. Is it a question, in America, of mak-
ing the people vote, gathered in its electoral assemblies, or on
the public square, to make it vote for a candidate who will
have more or less votes, through these united electors? Not
at all. The Americans have taken more precautions ; and they
have made skillful use of what you, happily for yourselves,
do not possess, I mean the federation. In the American elec-
tion, each state names two candidates ; it takes one from itself
and one from outside. Do you not admire the mechanism
which brings it about that, outside of personal relations or local
influences, must of necessity emerge the name which best sums
up the general opinion ? But what have you like that here
and can you think of it for an instant ? Have you not decided
that the republic was one and indivisible ? . . . You see in what
complete anarchy of ideas you are going to cast yourself if
you would apply to our country institutions that are not made
for it.
This speech is typical of the inaccurate knowledge of the
American system revealed by the radical wing, no account
being taken of its modification in practice by party de-
velopment.
2o6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^84.
Martin (de Strasbourg) then defended the same cause
in the name of the minority of the commission. As " a
republican by birth " he opposed the " English school "
which for the past eighteen years had stood in France for
the principle of checks and balances. No legislator, no
writer, however, had even dared suggest that the executive
should be chosen as was the legislative and with the same
authority. " You have no example of it, either in America,
in our constitution of the year III, or in that of 1791."
He was followed by Dufaure, representing the majority
of the commission. He showed that a consistent desire for
absolute unity would have entailed a vote for the Grevy
plan; there was just as much duality in character and attri-
butes of office in the Leblond plan as in that of the com-
mission. " So, do not reproach us, when you are really
establishing a power which has the same character as ours,,
do not reproach us with belonging to some English or
American school ; I do not know that the system which we
propose to adopt has ever been put into practice either in
England or in America."
Shortly after, the vote was taken on the Leblond amend-
ment, which was defeated.
On the 9th, another amendment was proposed, which
had for its object the adoption of indirect election and was
confessedly influenced by the American system. It was
offered in the names of Mortimer Ternaux (an ultra-con-
servative historian) and Lacrosse and read as follows :
The president is elected by secret ballot, by electoral assemblies
gathered at the chief towns of the departments and composed
of cantonal delegates, in the proportion of one delegate to
2000 inhabitants. The cantonal delegates are named in the
form determined by art. 30 of the present constitution. They
shall receive no imperative mandate. They shall receive the
same pay as jurors.
385] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 207
Lacrosse in developing his plan asserted his belief in uni-
versal suffrage as the base of presidential power, but felt
that a more deliberate, careful choice would be made by
the indirect system.
Let us only search the example and experience of free
states, if there may not exist wise precautions which, intro-
duced into our constitution, would give it a new force by
setting aside candidates and names too little known, and names
perhaps too dazzling.
While the average man can choose an acceptable repre-
sentative from his neighbors of distinction, it is a much more
difficult task to pick out one of presidential calibre.
I permit myself to call " a prejudice " that antipathy which
is manifested against a system to which the United States of
America owe for sixty years so magnificent a development.
It is in vain that in the solemn discussions which have filled
the last week, an effort has been made to repel in advance all
assimilation between the executive power of our republic and
the power which presides over the action of the American
government. The internal administration of the states of the
Union is doubtless outside the attributions of the president
of the United States. But the federal system changes in no
way the essence of the executive power. Each of the separate
states possesses its constitution, its legislature and its admin-
istrative personnel independently of the centrar government ;
that is known and did not perhaps require the developments
which we have heard. They have not been exempt from mis-
takes; further, it has not been denied that the action of the
executive power sitting at Washington is superior to all local
authorities. The executive power encounters certain obstacles
born of that organization of a great federal state. In our re-
public, which we have wished one and indivisible, the action
of the executive power will have analogies, even an identity,
which can escape none of you; the identity exists at least in
:2o8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
the resistance to its action. The president of the United States
disposes alone of the land and naval forces. In concert with a
senate composed of about fifty members, he treats with foreign
powers, but it is by means of an indirect system that America
has acquired these illustrious chiefs of executive power, who
by their disinterestedness, by their personal abnegation, have
given the world the most majestic example of public virtues;
it is also to this mode of indirect election that are due other
magistrates who have great pages in the history of their
country. When the flag of the United States saw itself out-
raged by jealous England to assure its own maritime omnipo-
tence, it was then that the United States had to commence the
struggle, gloriously sustained and ended by them in 1814.
Those negotiations which have extended the arms of America
to the Pacific Ocean, the diplomatic conquest of Oregon, were
made thanks to the skill of a president, chosen by indirect
election. The conquest of Mexico, these extensions of terri-
tory subject to the arms of the Union, probable seed of en-
feeblement, but at present a subject of enthusiasm in the
United States, these sucesses are due also to a magistrate
chosen by indirect election. And this indirect election is con-
densed further than what has been proposed to you; the
number of electors hardly equals that of the members of our
future legislative assemblies. So restricted a number is far
from giving the authority which the president of the French
republic would receive here from indirect election. The
second degree electors are six or seven hundred : we shall pro-
pose to you eighteen thousand.
Payer next took the floor to oppose the amendment, on the
ground that it merely repeated the notion of choice by the
Assembly, already discarded. He thought also that minor-
ity rights were less secure, being less able to register them-
selves in a vote; the electors, named by a majority, would
merely represent that majority. He rather adroitly turned
Lacrosse's presidential calibre argument against him by de-
387] 1'^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 209
daring that a man not well-known to all France was cer-
tainly not big enough to be president.
The honorable M. Lacrosse said to you : What we propose
is practised in America: the president is named by indirect
vote. Yes, assuredly; but the representatives are also named
by indirect vote; all the citizens are not electors; a property
qualification is exacted and if one once admits the rule of ex-
ceptions, it makes small difference, according to my opinion,
whether one extends it more or less. Besides, has this system
produced in the United States the excellent results just enum-
erated? Either I am much mistaken, or it seems to me that
often in the history of the republic, I have read that the best
candidate has not always been named. The country, divided
into two camps, rejected the man who would enter neither
one nor the other, whatever his other merits. To obtain that
sovereign magistracy, the presidency, it was necessary to join
a party, and in consequence to have for himself, at least in re-
lation to his chiefs, less independence when he was raised to
power.
Temaux had a final word, recalling Pyat's original fear
of too strong an executive, which he had shared.
The amendment thereupon came to a vote and was de-
feated. Valette had offered a similar one, which he now
withdrew. It is curious that in the whole debate on the
executive and particularly in this final phase, no one seems
to have recognized the complete nullification of the electoral
college idea in American constitutional practice. Payer's
speech comes nearest to an appreciation of it, but does not
really grasp the situation. One would have supposed that
some supporter of universal suffrage would have made tell-
ing use of the American example as it worked itself out in
this regard. If this indicates anything beyond carelessness,
it would point toward a better knowledge of the written
American constitution than of living American constitu-
210 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^gg
tional history. Other amendments were proposed, one call-
ing for election by the Assembly from a list of ten candi-
dates chosen by universal suffrage, another for a universal
vote, but requiring a two- thirds majority in order to elect,
another requiring an absolute majority of all registered citi-
zens (not merely of votes cast), but all were defeated with-
out general discussion, and Art. 43 of the commission plan
then adopted.
After Art. 44 had been disposed of, return was made to
Art. 42, which had been temporarily passed over. An
amendment was proposed by Deville, " the presidency shall
never be conferred upon any general officer," which was
received with much hilarity and general disorder. Deville,
with some difficulty, essayed to explain his idea. He held it
to be one of the principal lessons of history, written on each
of its pages. (Several members) "And Washington!"
The speaker ignored this interruption. He recalled the
history of England, France, Sardinia, Naples, Spain, the
southern part of North America and all South America to
support his thesis of the danger of military ambition, and
then passed to a defence of the republique rouge against
what he called the republique blanche. The amendment was
then voted on and defeated. A long debate on the proposed
ineligibility of members of families which had reigned in
France was followed by the adoption of Art. 42 and a dis-
cussion of Art. 45, fixing the term of office at four years.
This, Kerdrel would amend to provide for a right to re-
election at the expiration of the president's term, a second
re-election to be permitted only after four years had elapsed.
He began his exposition by an admission that all present
knew the republic theoretically.
We have all without exception, lessons to take, instruction
to demand from those who have practised the republic with
389] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 211
success and with glory. Let your eyes turn toward America,
toward the United States. There the republic is not a simple
thought, a pure theory; it is a glorious practical reality; it
is a fact. Well, in the United States you know the president
is re-eligible. In law, he is so indefinitely; in fact, he is so
once after the expiration of his functions.
This " anomaly which has its sublimity " he explained as
a result of practical experience, left to usage rather than
law to avoid the danger of writing into the constitution any
limitation of " their most sacred political right, the liberty
of suffrage.''
We had thought at first, the honorable M. de Montalembert
and I, that we could imitate the United States so completely
that we could pass in complete silence the right of re-election.
Others have thought otherwise; . . . have seen behind our
amendment a sort of cloud, all charged with monarchy.
The objections to immediate re-eligibility are all set forth,
he continued, in the very remarkable book of M. de Tocque-
ville. They are, the president's governing with an eye to
his re-election rather than for the good of the country, the
greater danger of corruption, the growth of his office into
a disguised constitutional kingship. The true remedy to
the corruption-danger, which is not denied, is a system of
decentralization. But aside from that, a president who
could not be re-elected at all until four years passed, would
be even more likely to use corruption ; knowing that his time
was short, he would try to leave memories of his adminis-
tration in the minds of those whom he could corrupt and
would try to be popular at all costs and to make his suc-
cessor unpopular. The Assembly, which had been grow-
ing restless, began to clamor for the vote, to the speaker's
despair. ^' What, you are between an article of the com-
mission and an article of the American constitution and you
do not reflect! Construct a democracy like that of the
212 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^QO
United States, and then you can say that you are satisfied."
The speaker next took up the objection of a disguised king-
ship; his eight-year maximum Hmit to re-elections, he de-
clared, would remove that peril. But he foresaw a very real
danger if no re-election were permitted and an ambitious
president in control of the army found it impossible to pro-
long his term by legal means. The Assembly was unwill-
ing to listen further to this Cassandra prophecy, and after
cutting the speech short, defeated the amendment, then
passing Art. 45.
On the 1 2th, Mathieu (de la Drome) presented an addi-
tional article, calling for the suspension of the president by
a two-thirds vote of the Assembly. This was, however, op-
posed by the commission on the ground that it was the
Grevy amendment in disguise, and defeated.
Art. 46 was then passed (" He watches over and assures
the execution of the laws"). The presiding officer then
read an amendment by Saint-Priest, offered in connection
with Art. 49 (" He presents every year, by message, an ex-
pose of the general state of the republic's affairs"), but
which he thought more appropriate at this point. The
amendment read, " He presents bills to the National As-
sembly through his ministers, who explain the reasons for
them and defend them in discussion." Saint-Priest's de-
fence of his plan opened with the statement, " This Art.
49 is taken from the American constitutions, but those con-
stitutions preserve the strictest silence regarding the presi-
dent's initiative and this silence is the denial of the right."
In republics, he continued, the president does not have the
initiative, which belongs exclusively to members of parlia-
ment, and if ministers exercise it, it is not as such, but as
members of parliament. He did not argue against this con-
ception and in favor of the executive's right to initiate legis-
lation in his own name, as to which he assumed all present
39 1 ] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 213
were agreed. His point was that for the sake of clarity, the
right should be inserted in the constitution and not left to
assumption. " Further, please notice that the government's
article would apply as well in the American republic, and
even in the English government, as in your republic."
Vivien in the name of the commission, suggested that
Art. y2 contained the necessary authorization, but was
willing to allow the eld Art. 46 to become the second para-
graph of a nev/ Art. 46, the first paragraph to read " He has
the right to present bills to the National Assembly through
his ministers;" that portion of Saint-Priest's amendment
which referred to the exposition and defence of these gov-
ernment measures by the ministers on the floor of the As-
sembly, he rejected. Saint-Priest agreed to the change and
the amendment, thus modified, was adopted.
Arts. 47-51 inclusive were voted at once, with slight
verbal changes. A discussion arose over Art. 52, on the
president's right of pardon, the chief point being whether
or not the council of state should first give its opinion, as
the commission required. This was opposed both by the
conservative Dabeaux and the liberal Cremieux, but was
maintained.
When Art. 59 was reached Dabeaux proposed that the
salary, fixed by the commission at 600,000 francs a year,
be left undetermined, except that it must be settled before
the president's election and the figure mentioned be made a
minimum. '' What I propose exists in the United States "
he said, meaning as he later showed, that " in the United
States, the salary, by a wise provision, is not fixed in the
constitution, the legislative chambers must determine its
amount at each nomination of the president." ^ He quoted
'^Vtre nouvelle of Oct. 13, quoting this speech, which it wrongly
ascribes to Saint-Priest, remarked : " The United States have the privi-
lege of furnishing examples to all, both for and against."
214 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [202
Hayti and Santo Domingo as instances of the meagreness
of the proposed salary. The amendment was not seconded
and finally the commission's text was adopted.
The remainder of the debate on the executive presents
small interest. There was at least one other allusion to
the relations between the executive and legislative branches
in America, before November 4.
On October 18, Art. 100 was imder discussion, providing
that the Assembly should have the option of sending an
accused minister before the high court of justice, the ordin-
ary civil tribunals or the council of state. Combarel de
Leyval vigorously opposed mention of the council of state,
which he considered a mere tool of the Assembly and a
clever way for that body to rid itself of its political enemies.
There is in America, whence this institution has been im-
ported, something which is not similar, but analogous: it is
sufficient to remark the difference which separates us from
the customs of Oregon and the laws of that country, for you
to judge the proposed innovation. What happens in America?
The House of Representatives may send before the Senate,
by virtue of an old English or rather Saxon law, all the public
functionaries and ministers. But who names the Senate? Is
it the House of Representatives? Is the Senate the emanation
of the House of Representatives? No, it has been brought
out in this discussion, the Senate is made by a special mode
of election. Then it is understandable that the Senate may
have the character of judges, since it is completely independ-
ent, both by origin, by sentiment and by absence of passion,
from the House of Representatives, which accuses. Here on
the contrary what do you do? You send before the council
of state whidh you have named, the ministers who have dis-
pleased you. Did one ever see such a judicial enormity?
Notice especially this capital difference. You have created
in the constitution the council of ministers; in consequence,
you have created a struggle in the Assembly ; you have created,
393 ] ^^^ ASSEMBL Y DEB A TBS 2 1 5
if not parties, at least groups, fractions which dispute the
power. In creating these elements of strife, you have created
adversaries to the ruling opinion. Do things happen so in
America ? In the United States, no member of the legislature
is admitted to form part of the executive power. It is evident
that the House of Representatives has no interest in accusing,
nor the Senate in condemning. Here, on the contrary, there
is an enormous interest in ridding oneself of an ancient ad-
versary; there is motive for a party to rid itself from public
life for five years, of a man who may have superiority of tal-
ent or have won a distinguished popularity or a personal in-
fluence in the National Assembly.
This opinion prevailed and the offending words were re-
moved from the constitution.
Aside from these three constitutional questions of first
importance, the question of a preamble, of the legislative
and the executive (the American doctrine of the authority
of the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of
legislation does not seem to have been discussed at all),
there were two other debates in which appeal was made
several times to our example. Though not on strictly con-
stitutional issues, they are included for the sake of
completeness.
The first of these was on government purchase of rail-
roads. On the 17th of May, Duclerc, then minister of
finance, presented a government bill, having as object, the
authorization of the state to purchase the railroads. The
bill was preceded by an interesting and very modem report,^
which called attention to the growth of fluid capital dur-
ing the Restoration and its increasing political power, the
government having corrupted its supporters by the organi-
zation of financial companies, the danger of tying up gov-
'^Moniteur, May 19. >
2i6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^94
ernment money in private enterprises, the danger of private
railroads with their foreign employes in time of war, the
power of railroads over commercial enterprise through mani-
pulation of freight charges, which the most ingenious rate
regulation cannot correct, the danger of these great powers
becoming stronger than the state, the bad financial condi-
tion and unpopularity of the railroads. The report then
points out the advantages of government ownership engag-
ing the state in a great enterprise, which will show its
strength by reviving industry and thus settling the danger-
ous labor-problem, by reducing rates to the general advant-
age of the public and by checking the excesses of speculation.
It shows that no attack is made on the principle of property,
the roads being paid for at full value and that both public
and commercial credit will be improved by the transaction.
It mentions the railroads which should be acquired, and
others whose purchase should be optional, and then goes
into a long discussion of the proper basis of valuation,
finally deciding that the original cost, the present value and
probable expectation of the roads should all be taken into
account and that the fairest measure for all three was the
average market value of the stock on the Paris Bourse for
the six months which preceded the February Revolution.
The financial crisis had been so acute and all values had so
shrunk since that time, that it would not be fair to the roads
to take a later date. The value thus fixed (which would
amount to 518,052,690 fr.), he would proceed to exchange
railroad stock for five per cent government rentes^ using
the same six months' average to determine their market
value. The rolling stock would not be an extra charge, its
value being included in that of the shares ; the financial obli-
gations of the roads would, however, have to be taken over
by the government. These amounted to 90,698,750 f r. In
buying the roads, the state assumes the obligation of putting
395 ] THE ASSEMBL Y DEB A TES 2 1 7
them all in complete operation (many were still unfinished).
But the state was already heavily obligated in the matter, to
the amount of about one-third the total necessary expendi-
ture; if it assumed the rest, the total would amount to
955,000,000 francs, spread out over a series of years. To
the report was appended a bill, authorizing the various pro-
jects above recommended.
The bill was referred to the committee of finance, which
rendered its report through Bineau, June 6.^ The report
decided that the state had no right to purchase the roads,
according to previous agreements with them, until 1852.
The undoubted right of expropriation could only be exer-
cised under imperious necessity, which did not exist, the
companies protested that the suggested scheme of purchase
was unjust and finally the state of the treasury did not
warrant the operation.
The matter came up before the Assembly, June 22. The
first speaker was Morin, who opposed the purchase. He re-
called the fact that in 1838, the monarchy had requested of
the legislature, funds wherewith to endow France with this
new mode of communication; it was the chambers which
refused. " But England, North America were already
honey-combed with lines of iron; Belgium, Germany even
distanced us in the accomplishment of that vast enterprise.
Was it necessary, in such a race, to let oneself be distanced
by European civilization? No. It was then that appeal
was made to the great financial companies."
Cordier, another speaker in the same debate, took a simi-
lar stand. Pointing to the huge public debt which would
be loaded on the country, he showed that England, though
heavily indebted, has an enormous commerce and the labor
of 150,000,000 subjects, counting the colonies, while hap-
pier still,
^Moniteur, June 9.
2i8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^^
the United States have no debts, the rural districts are free
from taxes and prosperity is so rapid, that in a short period,
they are destined to succeed England.
It would be highly imprudent to bring the Bank of France
into the financial operations of the proposed purchase.
" Let us recall that it required all the heroic energy of
President Jackson to deliver the republic from the fatal
domination of the principal bank of the United States."
He would permit those who developed industry to profit
by it to the utmost.
It is to such perpetual corporations (associations a perpet-
uite) freed from governmental arbitrariness that England
owes, in the mother-country and in the colonies, enterprises
without number, a complete network of railroads and canals,
looo steamboats and the conquest of the Indies. It is by such
perpetual corporations that North America, born in our time,
having at the commencement of the century, neither engineers,
nor capital, nor factories, nor extended territory, has built
canals, railroads, telegraphs 5000 leagues long, and has con-
quered a surface as large as Europe ; yet its annual budget is
only 125 millions a year, or 6 fr. per inhabitant.
Instead of this whole scheme, he recommends other meas-
ures to restore prosperity, after which the workers will re-
ceive " no longer 8 f r. a week as an alms in the national
workshops, but from 4 fr. to 10 fr. a day as in the United
States and in England."
Mathieu (de la Drome) next spoke for government pur-
chase. He brought out the corruption that grew up in con-
nection with the railroads under the old regime, when the
130 to 150 stockholders who sat in the Chamber of Deputies
placed the interest of the companies above that of the state,
secured state loans whose interest was not payable until
after the stockholders received a four per cent dividend and
397] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 219
passed other astonishing legislation. He then defended
the right and utility of the proposed transaction.
Monsieur the minister of finances had said: the existence
of great financial companies is incompatible with our repub-
lican institutions. And everybody has hastened to oppose to
this assertion, the example of the United States. That is what
the honorable M. Cordier did, an instant ago. There is here a
preliminary remark to be made : the United States form a fed-
erated republic, while we intend to form a military republic.
If some of the states of the Union were in a position to build
railroads on their own territory, most of the states would not
have been capable of satisfying the necessary expenditure.
Hence the necessity was felt, the absolute necessity, of con-
ceding these enterprises to companies. But in all the con-
tracts, great care was taken to embody the right of purchase
in favor of the states. From another point of view, there
would also be several observations to make on the pretended
comparison which it is attempted to establish between France
and the United States. The United States have not, like us,
an immense stretch of frontiers to guard: they are not ex-
posed to sudden invasions, which, with the railroads that cover
Germany today, miglit be quick as lightning against us. Add
that the United States have fertile lands, a virgin soil which
provides abundantly for all their needs, while we are too often
obliged to look for a portion of our subsistence in foreign lands.
The speaker held that it was ridiculous to invoke the prin-
ciple of association,^ in which he firmly believed, in the in-
1 This very just criticism should be constantly kept in mind in con-
nection with the ambiguous use of the word " association." It is used
for anything from Louis Blanc's syndicalist cooperative unions to th€
most ultra-capitalistic combination. Great confusion of thought arose
and both individualists and socialists are found praising " the principle
of association" and meaning entirely different things by it. It seems
best, therefore, to translate the word uniformly by its English equiva-
lent and thus make more comprehensible the resulting misunderstand-
ings.
220 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^^g
terest of the workers, but which should consist in a union of
labor and capital, having properly nothing in common with
the creation of great combinations of capitalists. His chief
reasons for desiring government ownership were the greater
facility of provisioning France in case of famine and the
transportation of troops in time of war. He concluded with
a technical analysis of the financial elements in the situation.
Montalembert opposed the plan, confining himself to the
political and social side of the question. From his eco-
nomic standpoint of laissez-faire individualism, he held the
" spirit of association " to be the fittest formula of the
liberal spirit and showed how in 1838, the chief republicans
had so regarded it. To the minister's thesis that great cor-
porations (associations) and even the spirit of association
could only exist with monarchical and aristocratic institu-
tions, he opposed the example of Russia, which was apply-
ing to its public works the principle supported by the min-
ister in the name of democracy.
But it [the minister's thesis] is refuted especially by that ex-
ample which the honorable and eloquent gentleman who has
just spoken seemed to make of so little account, the example
of the United States. He has told you that that country had
no frontiers to defend. It has, however, and immense ones,
both on the side of the north against England, and on the side
of the south. But, before all, permit me to cite it to you as
the model of republics, as the sole republic which has yet suc-
ceeded in the modern world, in being at once solid, durable
and flourishing. Well, in that country you know, everything
is given up to association, everything flourishes, everything is
made fertile by association; not only public works, but also
instruction, charitable establishments, establishments of public
aid, all the branches of political and civil fruitfulness in the
country.
Association, which has made America one of the greatest
399] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 221
powers of the world, is neither an English nor an American,
but a liberal principle.
Let us learn to recognize it, the struggle is not between aris-
tocracy or royalty on one side and democracy on the other;
the struggle is between the spirit of monopoly and the spirit
of liberty, between exaggerated centralization and the free
development of individual forces, the free development of the
spirit of association.
He proceeded to develop the advantages of individualism in
the best vein of the Manchester school. The state should
not interfere, where individuals can act as well or better;
it is the protector, not the perpetual tutor ; the state should,
where possible, make those who profit by public works, pay
for them ; it should not enter into competition with citizens
and crush them by superior force or arbitrarily suppress
their enterprises ; it should not extend the monopolies it pos-
sesses by confiscating an industry as soon as it proves profit-
able; its operation is costlier than that of private citizens;
the ultimate goal of this plan is to make the state the en-
trepreneur of every industry and thus to destroy the liberty
of capital and of labor ; an insupportable weight of industrial
centralization would be added to the burden of administra-
tive centralization, now resting on the shoulders of the state;
this would be a retrograde step, going back to the time when
labor was a royal right, which had to be held from the state,
the time when there were great alienations of the public
domain. Politically, there are two sorts of progress, one
towards what is called unity, but which is really towards
despotism, where the state does everything, and of which
Egypt is a type; the other towards liberty, where the state
is as restrained in its action as possible, where the citizens
do everything for themselves that they can ; that is the true
progress, the kind which exists in the United States. Of
222 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-^qo
these two, the system toward which this law tends is not that
of the United States. And yet for him, the system of the
latter represented real emancipation, the coming of a people
out of tutelage into its self -directing manhood. A citizen's
dignity is greatest when the number of public officials is
as small as possible. Private interest is the greatest motive
of human effort. Great republics have risen in history from
commercial association ; Holland, Venice, the United States,
the English East India Company are examples. The spirit
of association is the greatest barrier to political despotism;
the principle of unity leads, on the contrary, directly to it.
You must hold to your contract with the roads or violate
property rights ; you have surrendered the right of purchase
for the present, and there is no necessity to expropriate.
The proposed bargain is unfair. The only real danger
which the republic has to fear, is the terror it inspires among
property-holders. The peasant esteems political theories
highly, but even dearer to him is his little patrimony, the
free possession of the field he received from his fathers
and wants to leave to his children. Beware lest the Revolu-
tion of 1848 become linked in his mind with its destruction.
The discussion was resumed on the 23rd, but the great
June insurrection had now begun and it was very difficult
for the Assembly to consider calmly anything else. A
short speech by Guerin in favor of the purchase was fol-
lowed by a longer one by Jobez, who declared himself in
favor of the execution of public works by the state, but
opposed to the present plan before the Assembly. The
general question has nothing to do with monarchy or repub-
licanism ; " it is the state, in fact, which executes all the
great public works in Belgium or in Russia; it is, on the
contrary, the companies which have honeycombed republi-
can America with canals and railroads." In his mind, the
real motive behind the present plan, however, was the gov-
401 ] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 223
emment's need of money and its consequent desire to get
it from the roads, in spite of all previous engagements with
the companies.
The next speaker, Laurent (de I'Ardeche) was in the
midst of his remarks in favor of the purchase, when he was
interrupted by the entrance of General Cavaignac with news
of the battle. That ended all thought of the railroads for
the day. The subject was not resumed until July 3, when
the new cabinet withdrew it from further consideration as
a practical project, without, however, condemning the
principle.
A lesser discussion took place on the acquisition by the
state of the railroad from Paris to Lyons, which was further
complicated by the need of urgent relief-works for the un-
employed. In this debate on August 16, Wolowski, who
opposed the larger plan, expressed himself in favor of the
smaller, as an interesting experiment in government own-
ership, and as devoid of some of the previously raised
objections, this being a purchase, freely agreed to, and in
no sense an expropriation. Behind this particular road lay
the colony of Africa, whose immense destiny was still ob-
scure, " and which is perhaps for France what the vast
possessions of the west are for the United States, the means
of solving peacefully most of the great problems which
torment our epoch." After complicated financial safe-
guards had been added in the interest of the stockholders,
the bill was passed.
Another subject on which American example was quoted
a number of times was the liberty of the press. The ques-
tion was on a government bill of July 11, proposing a bond
of 24,000 f r. to be deposited in cash at the treasury by the
owners of every metropolitan journal appearing more than
twice a week, 18,000 fr. for a semi-weekly issue, 12,000 fr.
for a weekly, 6000 for a monthly ; dailies published in other
224 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^q2
departments than Seine, Seine-et-Oise and Seine-et-Marne
in towns of 50,000 inhabitants and upwards, to pay 6000 fr.,
3600 in smaller towns and half of these respective sums for
papers appearing less frequently. The bill was presented
by Senard as minister of the interior and was defended by
him as far milder than the law under the late monarchy,
whose maximum was 100,000 fr. The bill was the result
of the alarm occasioned by the June insurrection and was
part of the restrictive measures taken in consequence. The
matter came before the Assembly, August 7.
Sarrans, the fifth who spoke to the measure, admitting
that certain papers had exceeded their privileges and should
be repressed, opposed the general scheme of the government,
as a falling away from the principles of February and an
instrument of prevention rather than (as was claimed) one
of repression. Without attempting to summarize his speech
attention must be called to a passage in which he declared,
Mon Dieul England was mentioned to you a short time ago,^
the United States should have been brought up as well: an
authority on these grave press-questions exists which you all
know and respect: it is the treatise of M. Chassani, published
in 1837. Its influence too was cast in favor of fiscal hindrances
to be opposed to the press; but do you know what argument
it used ? It said : " In the United States, in a country where
democracy is said to reign, no bond is necessary, no fiscal
hindrances, no prevention of any sort : but they are still neces-
sary in a monarchical country like France, where equality is
daily obliged to bow before political necessities." That is what a
monarchical writer said in 1837; but today in 1848, are you
still at such a pass, I ask, that equality must give way before
the necessities of royalist politics ? I do not think so.
1 By Thouret, pointing out that though giving no bond, English papers
were under an equivalent repression through fines, damage suits and
the like.
^03] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 225
Sarrans was succeeded by Felix Pyat, who of course, also
opposed the cautionnement. *' In 1848," he cried, "the
French republic, the democratic republic as it is called, would
be less free, I do not say than the federal republic of
America, but than the old English monarchy or the humble
Belgian royalty ! "
August 8, Laurent (de'Ardeche), speaking against the
measure, drew a distinction between " journalists of the
school of Franklin " and " those of the school of Marat and
Pere Duchesne.^'
The general discussion was then closed and the project
taken up by articles. To Art. i, which asserted the prin-
ciple and fixed the various amounts payable, a counter-pro-
ject was presented by the minority of the commission as
an amendment. It provided for registration of the name,
profession and address of the editor-in-chief prior to the
publication of any journal, signature of articles by the au-
thor responsible, retention of manuscripts by the printer for
a fixed period and their surrender to the courts by him on
demand, prosecution of the editor for anonymous articles,
deprivation of his civic rights for five years of any author
hiding under the name of another, suppression of any jour-
nal condemned three times for omission of signature, and
several minor regulations. If conforming to these require-
ments every Frenchman had the right to publish his opin-
ions freely in the press.
Duprat began the defence of the amendment, Berville, the
reporter of the original decree, assailed it. Ledru-Rollin
then spoke for the amendment.
The 24,000 fr. of the decree was not enough to deter the
rich, but too much to expect of the poor, he said. The
signature provision was not only feasible, but would be a
real safeguard; men thought twice of what they wrote, if
they had to sign it. The chief objection seems to be its
226 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^q^
novelty. But everything is new here, including the present
government. Switzerland has no caufionnement, but its
laws are so strict that calumnies there are few.
Have you then never read the history of America ? You speak
to me of England ! What have I to do with England ? She is
aristocratic. As for England, you mistake, you said that there
was no cautionnement, there is one; the laws of 1819, of 1832
require a bond of i200 sterling. . . . Further, England is aris-
tocratic. I speak to you of America; she apparently has her
growth {sa grandeur), and I think that we can consult her.
In America, the bond is unknown. There, liberty is absolute
and yet authority is also great. Means have been found to
conciliate the two principles and no recourse has been had to
the bond, and from the start, there has been no trifling with
words as here; no one has said: Let us make a temporary
law, in imitation of England, with which we have just broken.
Let us commence the republic by an act which leaves out the
sacred principle of liberty. No, no, that was not said in
America; on the morrow of the rupture with England, and
when a law of cautionnement and a stamp act were agitated, it
was declared that even at the cost of a break with the mother-
country {pour rompre avec la metropole), there should be
neither bond nor stamp, and that it was not with old expedients
(avec du vieux), in enlightened America, {au grand soleil de
VAmerique) that a young, vigorous and invincible republic
could be founded. In America then, in that great country
which surely has its value as an example, no stamp, no-
cautionnement, absolute liberty. • . . Yes, yes, you wished to
give us a lesson ; we want no cautionnement, hence we are men
of disorder and of anarchy. Well, let me in my turn present
to you the precepts of America's great statesmen, who under-
stand their republic {se connaissent en republique). Do you
know what they want for the press? The opposite of
what is asked of you. And I address this to those among
you who, like me, find that the press is too great a power when
the republic exists. Do you know what they do? They multi-
405] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 227
ply newspapers; and the secret of their statesmen, of a presi-
dent from whose mouth I had the honor to hear it, is to de-
centralize the press, instead of centralizing, fortifying it; it
is that the press should not be a collective power, a crenellated
citadel from which one may fire mysteriously, but that it
should be, on the contrary, an individual protest. Those are
the maxims of a veritable statesman; that man was no agi-
tator; for, it must be said, he had governed his country with
glory, and all those who in that country attain public
office {aux affaires), have the same idea. Let journals be
published and multiplied, that they may neutralize one another,
and that in the middle of that ocean of indecisive, tumultuous,
but floating polemic, something stable, immovable, should
rise : the love of order, love of liberty, love of country. Well,
in acting thus, the statesmen of Switzerland, the statesmen
of America, are consistent with the principles of liberty and
at the same time they are skilful. Skill and logic are almost
always the same thing. Thus they conciliate the great princi-
ples : respect for liberty, safeguard for authority.
Ledru-Rollin spoke for the liberty of the press, though it
had called him a thief and a libertine. " I could not reply
to these attacks ; but with Franklin, the master of them all,
I said to myself : * If these are vices with which they re-
proach me, their censure will correct me; if they are slan-
ders, perhaps one day history, in its turn, will correct them."
Senard, as minister of the interior, then returned to the
defence of the government project.
Just now, gentlemen, citation was made to you of the words
of statesmen before whom I bow, and the example of
Switzerland and of America was set forth at length; but
it was forgotten, and that is perhaps the key to the enigma
which holds us in suspense, that the freedom of the press is
without danger, when the press only is and only wants to be
a simple instrument of discussion, in the midst of a free
country; then indeed, every fear is vain, every precaution,
every repression even, useless.
228 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 T^oS
The discussion was resumed on the 9th by Leon Faucher,
who now made a second speech for the bill. In the course
of it, he said :
Gentlemen, we are not desired to explain the example of
England, for it was not we who cited it, and there is an effort
to make use of the example of the United States. Permit me
a few words in this connection. The republic, gentlemen, has
its doctrinaires, like the monarchy. The monarchy had recom-
mended to the faithful, the imitation of England ; it sought to
construct among us, what cannot be constructed, an aristoc-
racy ; it was mistaken, in time and in place. The doctrinaires
of the republic commit a mistake of the same nature; they
recommend to us the imitation of the United States. They
forget that the United States are a federation, they forget that
if there is a country where the federal government cannot
establish itself, that if there is a country where the government
is strongly centralized, that if there is a country whose work
for centuries has been the tendency toward unity, that country
is France. I say, gentlemen, that if one wishes to take ac-
count of the difference in places and nations, the example of
the United States will prove nothing for us. A few words
on what happens in the United States. Yes, in the American
Union, the press enjoys a liberty without limits, a liberty
which is for me no liberty; for I know no serious liberty,
which does not have its limits, and what has none is license,
in my eyes.
The United States, then, enjoy that liberty which is recom-
mended to us. What is the result? In the first place, the
press in the United States is not a political press ; it is a local
press, a press of advertisements, it is a press which discusses
affairs but little, preferring to attack persons; it is a press
which, too often, uses and abuses defamation. Do you know
what is the counter-balance of that limitless influence? I
will tell you. The counter-balance is in the customs. It hap-
pens that if by chance a paper, this time doing a praiseworthy
act, wishes to preach the abolition of slavery, the enraged
407] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 229
mob demolishes the presses ; it happens that a polemic between
papers ends too often, in what? In a rifle duel. It happens
that a person attacked in a paper executes justice himself, and
in what manner, gentlemen ? By a knife-thrust or by a pistol-
shot. In a word, gentlemen, the counter-balance of that
boundless liberty is, in the Western states, principally what is
called lynch law, that is to say, the custom of doing justice
oneself, that is to say the absence of all law, that is to say the
return to a savage state. This is what I am not ambitious to
bring to my country.
This vicious attack on American journalism in the '40s
seems to have put a quietus on any possible inclination to
quote it as an example, for throughout the remainder of the
rather long debate, it was never referred to again. Five
other speeches were heard, most of them briefly, before the
minority amendment was defeated ; the government measure
was then passed, substantially in its original form.
The United States was also quoted a number of times in
connection with the encouragement of agriculture. Toupet
des Vignes, Sept. 19, set forth the failure of communistic
colonies in America as an argument against giving state aid
to similar enterprises in Algeria. Amable Dubois, Sept. 23,
opposed an elaborate scheme for agricultural instruction,
reviewing the situation in Belgium, England, Normandy,
Switzerland, Germany and America, in some of which
countries there were no such schools and in others they
were of doubtful value. In America there were private
schools ; " the state does not mix in the matter at all," but
American agriculture owed more to the lessons of Belgium
and England. De Tillancourt interrupted with the asser-
tion that America had five state schools for agriculture, but
his correction was unheeded. Flocon thought that the
Swiss, American and German schools had been of such
230 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^qS
service that it was only a question of transporting their
lessons into France. The project was carried, Oct. 2, 3.^
A few speeches might be classified as remarks on the
American spirit of individualism.
Thus, on Aug. i, Cordier, speaking against a financial
measure of the government (adversely reported by the
committee of finance), which proposed a tax on mortgage-
secured loans and which was feared by the conservatives as
a start toward an income-tax, ridiculed its supposed neces-
sity, the Assembly having in the space of a month authorized
an issue of rentes and two loans from the Banque de France,
amounting in all to 950 million francs, " A sum equal to
eight times the annual budget of the republic of the United
States, which has an area six times greater than France
and a prosperity ten times more rapid, because of its free-
dom from all taxes on agricultural properties." By a close
vote, the principle of the project was carried the following
day, but on the 4th an amendment being made which dis-
pleased the finance minister, he withdrew the whole propo-
sition.
On Sept. 12, Mathieu de la Drome's proposal to insert
the droit au travail in Art. VIII of the preamble was under
discussion; Tocqueville, opposing the amendment, made a
vigorous attack on socialism. Its adherents, he said, pre-
tend it to be the legitimate development of democracy. For
himself, he refused to traverse the garden of Greek roots,
searching for the true etymology of the word "democracy,"
as was done by certain colleagues yesterday.
I shall seek democracy where I have seen it, living, active,
1 Cf. also the annex to the original government report of July 17,
which dealt with agricultural instruction in several countries, a number
of American private schools being described, with emphasis on their
practical, individualistic character. This annex is not printed in con-
nection with the rest of the report in the Moniteur of July 22; it is,
however, to be found in the Compte-rendu, vol. 3, p. 322 et seq.
409] ^^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 23 1
triumphant, in the only country in the world where it exists,
where it has been able to found, up to the present in the
modern world, something great and durable, in America.
There you will see a people, where all conditions are more
equal than they are even among you, where the social state,
the manners, the laws, everything is democratic, where every-
thing comes from and returns to the people, and where, how-
ever, every individual enjoys an independence more entire, a
liberty greater than at any other time or in any other country
of the earth, a land essentially democratic, I repeat, the only
democracy which exists today in the world, the only truly
democratic republics which are known in history are in [sic]
these republics. Not only have the theories of socialists not
gained control of the public mind, but they have played so
small a role in the discussions and in the affairs of that great
nation, that they have not even had the right to say that they
were feared there. Democratic America is today that country
in all the world where democracy is practised most completely
(le plus souverainement) y and it is also the one where the
socialist doctrines which you pretend accord so well with
democracy, have the least circulation, the country in the whole
universe where the men who support these doctrines would
certainly have the least advantage in presenting themselves.
For my part, I confess I should not see a very great inconven-
ience in their going to America; but in their own interest, I
do not advise them to do it.
It was no doubt with a clear perception of this very fact
that, on the 14th, Martin-Bernard, speaking for the amend-
ment and principally for the idea of " association," and ex-
horting his hearers not to attempt to put society back in the
old rut by juggling with words whose sense disappeared
with 200-f ranc electors, continued :
Nor speak to us further about America. That country, as
everybody knows, is in political, philosophical and territorial
conditions, which compel it to be what it is. We are France,
22^2, THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^iq
oldest daughter of civilization, who will know well how to
accomplish her task. Especially make us no tirades for effect,
about liberty, when we demand bread, an honorable bread for
the people, for we might prove to you that we more than you
are men of the ideal; we might tell you that we have spent
long years in dungeons, with one sole sentiment in our hearts,
our faith, our spiritual faith in the triumph of human liberty.
Two men alluded to American financial difficulties (to
say nothing of Cordier's speech, referred to on p. 230.
Leon Faucher in a report of the finance committee, Aug.
29,^ on a paper-money project, adverted to troubles pro-
duced by that agency in Russia and Austria. " It was the
same in the United States, in 1837, before the suspension
of specie payments. The banks of the Union, by disorgan-
ized issues, had made the exchange of their notes for specie,
the redemption on presentation, so difficult, that these notes,
in certain states, lost up to 50% of their value." ^
Thiers, the same day, remarked that the most honorable
men sometimes commit execrable errors. Paper may legiti-
mately serve for money, when it is bank-paper; it does so
in France, England and America. It may be very gradually
introduced as legal tender, where there is no silver, as in
Russia and several northern countries. But suddenly to
create two or three billions of paper in a time of financial
stress is an execrable error. Even bank-notes are danger-
ous; England and America are the proof. In England
they had risen to several billions; Peel, in reducing this
bank-paper (which is not true paper money) to 900 mil-
lions, rendered a great service to his country. " In Amer-
ica they did not have this prudence, and America has been
subject to terrifying crises, solely because the bank-note had
been abused, which, however, is always placed under the
1 Moniteur, Sept. 2.
2 Faucher made a similar reference to American paper-money, Oct. 11.
41 1 ] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 233
guarantee of conversion into gold or silver." Thiers later
alluded also to the " numerous examples of accidental in-
sufficiency of specie" in England and America, as the result
of a too great issue of bank-notes.
There were a number of miscellaneous allusions to
America, which should also be mentioned.
June 15, Pierre Leroux, speaking on the plan of a union
between France and Algeria, which he favored, held that
the subject had been treated too much from the military
point of view, rather than from the present advanced state
of civilization in France, which should be extended to the
colony. One of the preceding speakers had been too much
occupied with admiration of the ancient Romans.
Yet there are modern colonies which he should have examined,
for great colonies have been founded since the Romans. I
see the whole of America arising from the revolution against
England, and I do not at all know that there was not given to
Penn, bearing civilization to the United States and founding
the Union, and to his descendants, the right of being at the
most advanced point of civilization at that epoch.
In any case, France should extend the widest liberties to the
new colony, not place it imder outworn institutions. To
M. Dupin, who praised Roman colonization, he would op-
pose " the manner in which the English, bearing Protes-
tantism to America, colonized the United States. I see that
it is religion which colonized that great new world called
the Union; it is religion which founded it. And for colo-
nization, you would bring us worn-out ideas, from one of
the oldest and remotest periods of inequality!"
Later, referring to the troubles of the Lyons silkworks,
dependent on America, England, Germany and France,
especially on the two former, he said : " America, every
time it has placed considerable orders, has failed [a fait
faillite]. Several times fifty millions have been lost on
234 1'^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^2
American orders by the Lyons works, with the result that
the Lyons works have no faith in America."
On the 17th, the same speaker used the United States
and Prussia as illustrations of the principle of Malthus,
according to which, he said, the population doubles every
twenty-five years. The misery produced by social condi-
tions prevents it in France.
July 12, Drouyn de Lhuys, in the name of the committee
on foreign affairs made a report on the situation on the
Rio de la Plata, in course of which he referred to the
American protest against the Anglo-French blockade of
Buenos Ayres.
July 28, Emile Leroux in the name of the committee of
justice ^ reported on a government project revising the
jury-system. Having shown that jurors must be free from
government influence, he pointed out that they should also
be selected with some reference to ability and character, de-
scribing the English law to that end and continuing : " In
the United States, where the democratic principle dominates
legislation, the jury law also requires conditions of prop-
erty and capacity, and the jury is chosen by the special
council of the town." He therefore would modify the gov-
ernment plan, which provided no property qualification, and
thus " has not followed the example of England and the
United States," by adding a special list annually selected,
from which panel the jury should be drawn by lot. This
arrangement was carried.
July 29, Ambert reported adversely from his committee
a government bill appropriating 9,6oo,ocx) fr. for the Paris
garde mobile; the committee would reduce this figure to
5,500,000, by decreasing the number of men in each com-
pany, and leaving out a whole battalion. The core of his
1 Moniteur, Aug. i.
413] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 235
argument was that the closer a people approaches democ-
racy, the simpler should be its military organization.
Look at the two extremes in the scale, Russia and the United
States. In Russia, you have extremely complicated corps:
the imperial guard, the regular Cossacks, the irregular Cos-
sacks : it is an offensive army in the hands of the authorities.
In the United States, you have an extremely simple army:
you have only the militia and a small army. The army is
always employed against foreign enemies, in Florida, in Texas,
against the Mexicans, but, in the interior, you have only the
militia. And what is the militia? It is the shield on the
people's heart ; it is the people's guarantee against the authori-
ties [le pouvoir]. I do not wish to tell you, however, to imi-
tate the United States completely, to suppress the standing
army in order to make a militia. But I ask you to accept the
principle, the principle which brings it about that the Ameri-
cans have been willing to put arms in the hands of their
brothers, of their friends and not to leave to the authorities
the choice of their army.
The plan of the committee was adopted.
August 17, Saint Priest made a report^ on the subject
of postal reform, in which he mentioned that England,
Austria, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain and the United States
had all lowered their postal rates.
On the 24th, Bastiat, speaking of this measure, told of
reforms in England and Austria and of how " in the
United States the government is expending enormous sums
to save money to those who want to correspond."
August 25, Ledru-Rollin, defending himself against the
accusations of the committee of inquiry concerning the
events of May and June, said :
We respect property, but on the condition that ... it be-
comes multiplied to infinity and in so saying, we represent the
Moniteur, Aug. 19.
236 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^j^
great thought of the Convention. You know perfectly well
that it wanted the dissemination of property; it was right,
for every republic (and I reply here to certain socialist ideas),
whether in antiquity, or in the Middle Ages, has perished by
concentration of property. At the present moment, that mag-
nificent, that gigantic country, America, is decidedly alarmed
by the concentration of property. (Expressions of dissent).
It would be hard for me, you understand, to reply to inter-
ruptions which I do not comprehend; I have said and I re-
peat, and I cannot be denied by those who are well-informed,
that at the present moment, in North America, property is
suffering from its own concentration, and that they are asking,
not the agrarian law, but the distribution of lands belonging
to the state ; they are crying from one pole to the other of that
country : " Land is liberty."
August 1 6, a report ^ was made by the committee on
legislation, through its chairman, Hippolyte Durand, call-
ing for the restoration of imprisonment for debt. In it the
sentence occurs : " In Switzerland, in the United States,
imprisonment for debt is authorized."
Sept. I, Wolowski started the debate against the proposed
decree.
It is in vain that the report invokes the memory of Athens
and of Rome, and even of the republic of the United States.
... In the French republic, there will be no recognition of
slavery. ... As for the United States, we know it only too
well, they still maintain in a part of their territory, the slavery
of a part of the inhabitants ; that is an example which we must
repudiate. Let us then also repudiate imprisonment for
debt, which is only maintained in certain states of the American
Union.
The decree was, however, passed.
Sept. 18, the discussion being on Art. 7 of the constitu-
tion, Lavallee proposed an amendment, thus conceived :
^Moniteur, Aug. 20.
415] THE ASSEMBLY DEBATES 237
No one may be forced to contribute to the expenses of any cult.
The republic gives financial support to none.
He said in part, speaking for his amendment :
The American republic has not supported any cult ; are churches
then less prosperous than with us? Has religion disappeared
in the United States? Quite the reverse. Every religion
finds in voluntary gifts large supplies for the expense of the
cult. There, each builds his church, his seminary and the
religious establishments, already numerous, increase daily.
A state salary is therefore not essential to the existence of
religion. On the contrary, as I have already said, it can only
compromise its dignity and independence, without which it
has only a quite precarious moral existence.
Sept. 20, Pierre Leroux spoke to his amendment, " the
printing-press [imprimerie] shall be subject to no monop-
oly." He declared that no monopoly of the sort existed in
any free country, neither in England, Switzerland, Belgium
nor the United States.
Oct. 19, chapter VII of the constitution, which dealt with
internal administration, was the subject of debate. Jouin
was given the floor to defend an amendment by Bechard,
in the interest of administrative decentralization and local
self-government. Duprat, the preceding speaker, had
quoted Tocqueville. Jouin did likewise, to this effect :
'* If it should ever come to founding a democratic republic,
like that of the United States, in a country where the power
of one person had already established administrative central-
ization and caused it to pass into the customs as into the laws,
I do not fear to say it, in such a republic, despotism would
become more intolerable than in any of the absolute monar-
chies of Europe; one would have to go to Asia to find
anything to compare with it." This is how M. de Tocqueville
expresses himself in his magnificent work on " Democracy
in ^\merica." He has studied democracy in the country where
238 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^j_^
it reigns, in the country where Hberty is best understood,
where one sees in some sort, liberty and nothing but liberty.
Well, in studying the manners and politics of America, he had
his eye also on France.
The speaker went on to say that Tocqueville foresaw the
February Revolution and dreaded the tyrannical adminis-
trative centralization that would be likely to follow. Cor-
menin, a friend of centralization, had announced that its
force was such that the artisan class, whenever it wanted to
unite, could impose any form of government it pleased on
France, even though the agricultural class was five or six
times more numerous. The testimony of these two eminent
men on centralization terrified him. Later he pointed out
how foolish were the fears of some, that with local self-
government, the roads, the churches, the town halls would
all go to rack and ruin.
I beg, gentlemen, those among you who are frightened at the
idea of that administrative decentralization, to which we are
unfortunately so unaccustomed since the empire, I beg them
to cast their eyes on what is going on in the country where
liberty reigns, in America. There, gentlemen, the community
life is as free as possible; let those among you who do not
know the mechanism of those institutions read the remarkable
pages which M, de Tocqueville has written, pages from which
were extracted the lines that the honorable M. Pascal Duprat
read to you just now from the tribune; let them read what M.
de Tocqueville has written on town liberties {les libertes
communales) in the state {sic) of New England; let them
examine town liberty in the state of Massachusetts, in that
state where since 1774, since {sic) a republican such as the
world rarely sees, Samuel Adams, founded the principles of
a truly liberal constitution, a constitution which has not ceased
to rule since 1774. Well, since 1774, there too reigns perfect
town liberty. In almost all these states, I think one might say
in all the states of the two Americas, reigns the most entire,
417] ^-^^ ASSEMBLY DEBATES 239
most complete, most absolute town liberty. Has that liberty
compromised the general interests of the Union? Have the
great or local roads suffered from it? Have communications
become impossible? Has nothing more great and fine been
done in that country ? Are there then no railroads in America,
are there then no long-distance roads (voies de grande com-
munication) ? Then villages have not been seen there be-
coming in a short time cities of the first rank? Then they
are not advancing there in the ways of progress and civiliza-
tion? What! In that country where liberty is so great,
where one enjoys so many liberties, the general interests are
sacrificed? No, gentlemen, you know perfectly that if liberty
rules in that great and glorious republic, order rules there as
well, and that general interests are carefully conserved there.
With this speech, the record of allusions to America
prior to the adoption of the constitution on Nov. 4, comes
to an end. Were the limit of the inquiry prolonged after
the constitution-making period to the final adjournment of
the Assembly, May 26, 1849, the list would be considerably
increased. At least thirty further references were made,
the majority of no great value, to be sure, but some show-
ing continued interest in the American constitution, notably
a debate on Feb. 28, 1849, ^^ the principle of representa-
tion, when the American compromise on three-fifths of non-
citizens was food for argument and Algeria was compared
to a territory of the United States.
The focal points of American influence and the party
alignment on them have, however, been sufficiently illus-
trated by the foregoing complete account of the period up
to Nov. 4. Before commenting on the facts thus presented,
it is important to study the trend of public opinion outside
the Assembly. This is most easily done through the news-
papers and reviews, and will be the task of the following
chapter.
CHAPTER VII
Contemporary Comment
The periodical literature of 1848 is useful to our study
in two ways. It reflects what the popular mind was think-
ing about, and the trend of its opinions ; secondly, it shows
what influences were at work on the mind of the Assembly.
The press in those days was a great political power. In the
period before 1848 journals w^ere comparatively few and
were usually published by some prominent political leader
or in the interest of some political group. In the absence
of opportunity for wide self-expression at the polls or in
parliament, due to the restricted franchise, party organs
came to have undue importance in public life.
It has been shown how the provisional government was the
result of deliberations in the back-rooms of two newspapers.
In spite of the institution of universal suffrage and a free
press in February, with the resulting flood of cheap, ephe-
meral papers, the tradition persisted to some degree, partic-
ularly when, after June, police laws again fettered the lib-
erty of publication and the weaker papers were eliminated.
Granted the great political influence of the press, its effect on
the mind of the Assembly becomes significant, when it is ob-
served that not only did a number of papers publish special
articles on American constitutional practice, but that these
articles were in some cases apparently timed to coincide
with the Assembly's discussion of a particular point.
For an intelligent appreciation of the meaning of this
240 [418
419] ' CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 241
press comment, a preliminary classificati(^ of the news-
papers is necessary.^
Beginning at the extreme right, five papers represented
the legitimist party in 1848. The Gazette de France,
founded in the 17th century, was the old organ of the ultras
during the Restoration. In 1848 it advocated a hereditary
president, but the spirit and real purpose remained royalist.
The paper was suspended Aug. 24, but its policy was con-
tinued under the name of L^ Peuple frangais and later
UEtoile de la France until the Gazette resumed publication,
Oct. 25. U Union monarchique started in 1847 ^-s a fusion
of the famous Quotidienne with two other royalist organs.
UAssemhlee nationale was published from March i to June
25, when it was suspended, reappearing Aug. 7. UAssem-
blee constituante was founded by a group of seceders from
UAssemhlee nationale with similar political views; it was
short-lived and unimportant. UOpinion publique was a
boldly legitimist paper, started in May, 1848.
Five papers represented conservative republicanism, four
of which at least were ex-Orleanist and retained a large
measure of sympathy for the fallen cause. The Journal des
debats had been the semi-official organ of the late monarchy.
It was a dignified paper of the highest type, and of great
prestige. Lamartine says it supported every government in
turn as the necessary expression of the most essential and
permanent interests of society and that the fullness and
impartiality of its parliamentary debates, its foreign cor-
respondence, its accurate and complete news service made it
the manual of every court and diplomatic office in Europe."
1 Cf. E. Hatin, Bibl hist, et crit. de la presse period, frang.; the same
author's Hist, polit. et lit. de la presse en France, vol. 8; H. Izambard,
La Presse parisienne. Most of the information here given is, however,
derived from a study of the newspaper files themselves.
2 Lamartine, Hist, of the Revol. of 1848, bk. i, sees, xi, xii.
242 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["420
Always solidly conservative, it had supported Guizot to the
end. The C onstitutionnel had been the great royalist op-
position organ during the Restoration; under the July
monarchy and in 1848, it represented the opinions of Thiers.
It had at one time an immense circulation among the bour-
geois class, but had somewhat lost in influence since the
height of its power in 1830. The Siecle, which appealed
to the rural working-class, is said to have occupied a posi-
tion in the July monarchy, analogous to that of the Con-
stitutionnel under the Restoration,^ with the difference that
the former was friendly to the ruling dynasty of its day,
which the latter had not been. Both were thus Orleanist
papers, the Siecle representing the constitutional opposition
opinions of Odilon Barrot. The Courrier frangais/ like the
C onstitutionnel, was a Thiers paper. The Patrie was less
important, but was likewise of conservative tendencies.
Of the moderate republican stripe, that of the dominant
party in the government, which we have called the liberal
party, three papers may be cited. Most important was the
National, the semi-official mouthpiece of the government,
supporter of General Cavaignac. There was also the Bien
public,^ representing the Lamartine interest and the Journal
(July 28-Nov. i), a less important Cavaignac paper.
Three may be classed as radical, the Reforme, organ of
Ledru-Rollin and Flocon, the Peuple constituent, Lamen-
nais* paper, which was forced to suspend in July for lack
of money wherewith to pay the required bond, and the
comic Charivari, which finally supported Cavaignac.
Eight belong to the extreme left wing, seven of them
definitely socialist. The Representant du peuple, Proud-
1 Hatin, Hist. . . . de la presse, vol. 8, p. 590.
2 No file preserved in Bibl. Nat., Paris.
8 File in Bibl. Nat. begins May 24.
42 1 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 243
hon's organ, lasted from April i to August 24 with inter-
missions; it was succeeded by the Peuple, which ran from
Sept. I to June 13, 1849. Its standpoint was anarchist.
The Ami du peuple was RaspaiFs bi-weekly, published from
Feb. 27 to May 14. The Vraie republiqiie (Mar. 26- June
24, Aug. 8-21) was edited by Thore with the collaboration
of Pierre Leroux, George Sand, Barbes and others; it be-
lieved in state socialism. The Democratic paciftquc repre-
sented the Fourierist views of Victor Considerant. The
Populairc was the organ of Cabet's communism. The Re-
puhlique represented Blanqui's interests ; it occupied a mod-
erate socialist position. The Atelier, a workman's paper of
the Christian socialist type, edited by Corbon, preached
voluntary association. Pere Duchene, a violent, coarse
sheet with very large circulation, was said to have been one
of the prime agents of the June insurrection. It repre-
sented the club interests rather than any reasoned theory of
socialism. Its career was run from April to August, but it
was suspended at the end of June and published only five
numbers in August.
These were the chief socialist organs. Two other work-
ing-class papers were published in the Bonapartist interest :
Napoleon republicain (only six issues, all during June)
and Le Petit caporal (June-Dec., with a suspension during
July).
Of much greater importance and stability were three per-
sonal organs, whose politics are hard to classify: fimile
Girardin's Presse, a brilliant eclectic paper, usually friendly
to the Mole right-center position in the July monarchy, but
really a clever free lance at all times ; Victor Hugo's Evene-
mentj begun Aug. i with the motto " Vigorous hatred for
anarchy, tender and profound love of the people;" A.
Dumas' Liherte (Mar. i-June 26, Aug. 7-Sept. 2, Nov. 8-
Dec. 31). The Presse and the Liherte were on the whole
244 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^22
of conservative republican politics; the Evenement had no
party interests, but grew friendlier to the socialists in time.
Two others were devoted to the interests of the Roman
Catholic Church : the Univers, edited by Louis Veuillot, of
moderate republican tendency (in the next decade becom-
ing ultramontane) , and the Ere nouvelle, Lacordaire's more
liberal enterprise, endeavoring to show a community of in-
terest between the Church and the republic.
The official mouthpiece of the government was, as always,
the Moniteur universe!, colorless and heavy but (theoreti-
cally, at least) accurate.
A few reviews may be mentioned, the important bi-weekly
Revue des deux mondes (of Guizot sympathies under the
monarchy, afterward conservative republican), the quar-
terly Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence, also conserv-
ative republican, the bi-monthly Revue britanniqice, Dumas'
Mois, and the weekly Revue nationale of the Atelier nuance.
The foregoing list makes no pretence of being exhaustive,
but it contains all the important papers and is believed to be
representative of all schools of political thought.
References to America made in the press fall naturally
into three categories: news reports, editorials and special
articles. It will be convenient to add to these an account
of the book and pamphlet literature dealing with the sub-
ject, so far as this has not been already treated.
It is best to take the news reports first. A significant
light is cast on the Orleanist attitude toward America by
contrasting two articles in the Chronique de la quinsaine of
the Revue des deux mondes, just before and just after the
February revolution.
In the former occurs the passage :
There are instructive lessons in the latest news received from
the United States. The government of the Union is often
presented to us as the type of free and constitutional govern-
423] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 245
ments ; it is well to see which of the two systems, that of the
monarchy or that of the republic, offers in fact the most
guarantees.^
The article reports a vote by the Senate to the effect that the
President had begun the Mexican war needlessly and un-
constitutionally. In England or France such a vote would
entail either an appeal to the country or a change of min-
istry; the royal power being irresponsible, no collision was
possible between it and the elective power. The President
of the United States was really an unremovable prime min-
ister, who could continue a war opposed by the legislature,
with volunteers if necessary.
In the very next Chronique, the work of republican organ-
ization in France is discussed; the national representation
must be organized on large bases, making it the real ex-
pression of all interests and rights, industry as well as prop-
erty, capital as well as labor. " For that necessary work,
neither the studies and attempts of our fathers, nor the
great experiment, of which we have had the spectacle in
another hemisphere for more than half a century, will be
lost." ^ Within a fortnight America had ceased to be a
menace to monarchy and had become a bulwark against
socialism. This number contains also an account of Mr.
Rush's recognition of the new republic, with the statement
that these are not new sympathies and that while the min-
ister recognized the republic without instructions, he found
them " in the traditions and memories left by the most illus-
trious citizens of America." ^
Early references in radical papers were equally friendly.*
1 Revue des deux mondes, Feb. 14.
a Ibid., Feb. 29.
* Cf. ch. iii for other newspaper accounts of American recognition.
* Vide supra, pp. 80, n., no.
246 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^24
Another note was, however, increasingly sounded. Proud-
hon's paper, Le Reprisentant du peuple, describing the pre-
sentation of the American minister's credentials and Lamar-
tine's speech in reply, commented :
That is as vague as possible. M. Lamartine, further, is not
ignorant that the republic of the United States is a federal
government, containing two chambers, and accommodating
itself to slavery. Assuredly, what we want is not [to be
found] there. For the rest, all the political systems in the
world are powerless to solve the questions raised by the Feb-
ruary Revolution. Let us more than ever keep from imitating
the old errors of the past. The social edifice cracks in every
part. If we do not want to be crushed — instead of white-
washing it, let us busy ourselves in constructing it.^
Despatches from Germany indicate interest in America
on the part of republicans there. A despatch from Hesse-
Darmstadt gives the substance of a manifesto by the repub-
licans of Germany to the new parliament, supporting their
governmental theory by the example of the American re-
public, " which has remained calm in the midst of the great-
est commotions.'' ^ The United States federal system
should be established, with a national assembly and a re-
sponsible governing committee, according to the views of
the radical democratic party at Frankfort.^ A despatch
from Cologne tells of riots at Berlin and comments : '*Cer-
tain individuals still want a United States republic, but they
forget the recent events which drenched Paris in blood." *
The London letter of the Revue britannique, speaking of
the opening of the London season, reminded the writer that
^ Le Reprisentant du peuple, Apr. 29.
^Le Peuple constituant, Mar. 28.
3 L'kre nouvelle, June 9.
* L' Union, July 4. '
425] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 247
he was addressing republican readers, who no longer had
king, queen, court or nobility, but were enjoying at the cost
of some disorder *' all the pleasures of the classic republics
and those of the republic of the United States." ^
Of much greater importance is the report of the bureaux'
discussions of the first draft of the constitution, which fills
a lacuna left by official records. The Journal des debats
gave a good summary of the speeches, day by day. In its
first article it stated that discussions had begun in the 4th,
5th and 6th bureaux. The first chapter, on popular sover-
eignty, was approved almost without opposition, especially
the article on the separation of powers. The section con-
cerning the legislature, on the contrary, was long discussed.
" Many members, notably MM. Ch. Dupin, Belhard, Bon-
jean, Laussedat,^ Roux-Lavergne, spoke in favor of the
bicameral system, supporting themselves by the examples
of the United States, England and of France itself." Pages
de TAriege and Edgar Quinet opposed them. " M. de Mon-
talembert, who belongs to the 4th bureau, gave a remark-
able opinion on the necessity of having two chambers." M.
de Montalembert said that no republic had ever amounted
to anything, had even survived, without a second chamber.
In this connection, the example of the United States is of
incomparable authority. At first governed by a single as-
sembly, that great republic promptly recognized that its dura-
tion and its prosperity required the creation of two legisla-
tive bodies. One sees there not only the Senate of the United
States, which may be regarded as the fruit of the federal
principle that does not exist in France; but also and more
particularly the Senators of the thirty republics which com-
pose the federation. These thirty states, all unitary like
1 Letter dated May 23. Revue hritannique, vol. 15, p. 208.
2 Error corrected in next issue; this deputy favored' one chamber;
Laussat defended the dual system.
248 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^5
France, all democratic, and where the slightest germ of a polit-
ical patriciate has never appeared, diifer among themselves in
their various constitutions, but all these constitutions, without
a single exception, proclaim the necessity of two assemblies.
France could not, without inexcusable temerity, quit the path
where all these glorious and upright [honnete] republics have
preceded her, and into which all truly politic minds have striven
to make her enter.^
Three days later, the story is resumed.
One of the gravest questions raised in the Assembly bureaux
concerning the projected constitution is to know whether there
should be one or two chambers. The defenders of the two-
chamber system appealed especially to the example of the
United States, which commenced by forming a single assembly,
and did not delay recognizing the necessity of a second
chamber.
A single chamber would be tyrannical or servile, it was felt.
Those who defended the dual system were Victor Hugo,
Isambert, Jules de Lasteyrie, Raimbault, Demesanges,
Pigeon, Oscar Lafayette, Abraham Dubois and Etienne.
The partisans of a single assembly tried to repel the example
drawn from the United States, because those states form a
federal republic. The principle of the French republic, they
said, being unity, the two chambers would be in constant con-
flict and would offer a usurper the double means of oppressing
one by the other. In this sense spoke MM. Marrast, Cre-
mieux, Babaud-Laribiere, Havier, Donatien Marquis, Regnard.
Gaudin, Barthe, G. Sarrat, Fleury, Conti, Grevy, Brunet and
others. M. Thiers spoke in favor of two chambers.
Cormenin, in contrast to his political friends, General Lafa-
yette and Armand Carrel, had defended the single chamber
1 Journal des debats, July 4.
427] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 249
in 1830 and continued this policy with vigor. A resume of
his opinion and those of Thiers and Tocqueville was then
given.
Thiers said among other things :
You see how many services the Senate renders in the United
States, and how it is esteemed for its reputation of wisdom.
What faults it has anticipated! What imprudent decisions it
has delayed or prevented! For example, the danger of the
United States is in the spirit of enterprise, for they are large
enough to have no need of making conquests, and a conquer-
ing general might make a rude assault on their constitution.
What restrains that spirit ? It is the Senate, the Senate alone.
Later he came to the question of its election. Fortune, cir-
cumstances, political relationships carry men to different
destinies in every republic, even in the United States, " in
the midst of the most democratic society on earth." The
electors will naturally decide whether a candidate is fitter
for the Assembly or for the Senate, the men of action or
the men of counsel. There are so many ways to makei a
difference in the method of election, that the difficulty is
purely imaginary.
What! In that country of the whole universe where the
greatest, the most extraordinary equality reigns, in the United
States, a way has been found to elect a Senate of remarkable
wisdom, and it could not be done in France, where the level
of equality has exerted far less pressure [a beaucoup moins
broye] on every existence! It is an objection with no founda-
tion. Ah! I wish that the North Americans could hear us
and reply to us from the other side of the Atlantic. I have
the honor to count several friends among the eminent citizens
of the United States. All those who are at this moment in
Europe have strongly advised me to tell you and to tell you
with the greatest warmth, that in adopting the unicameral
system, you would be committing the gravest of faults. They
250 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^2^
express ardent hopes for the success in France of those re-
publican institutions which they have had the honor of inau-
gurating on a large scale in modern times. In the ardor of
their good wishes for us, they earnestly desire you to adopt
that bicameral system, to which they returned after hard
experiences.
Cormenin in the course of his remarks expressed the view,
that it is unnecessary to quote eternally the example of the
United States of America, an English colony which repro-
duced quasi-mechanically the usages and forms of the mother-
country; that America is essentially federal, while we are
essentially unitary; that to distinguish the Senate from the
House of Representatives it was necessary to attribute to the
American Senate governmental functions which we would not
tolerate in France.
Tocqueville asked if the bicameral system did in fact of
necessity lead to aristocracy. Nothing was easier to dis-
prove.
If there is a country in the world exempt from aristocracy,
it is assuredly North America. There aristocracy has not
been destroyed, it has never existed. The manners, ideas, laws,
spirit, heart, all are democratic. Yet the Americans have es-
tablished two chambers in the midst of each of their thirty
republics. Have they made of one an aristocratic body and
of the other the representative of democracy? No, without
doubt. In most of these republics, the two chambers differ
only in the number of the members who compose them ; they
are elected in the same manner, composed of those equally
eligible, named for the same time. Might the American
democracies have been led, unknown to themselves, toward
that system by imitation of aristocratic England, their mother-
country? Another error, for several of them began by having
a single assembly; the experiment ended in making them
renounce it.^
1 Journal des dehats, July 7.
429] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 25 1
The Constitutionnel also published an analysis of Thiers*
speech, commending its wisdom and patriotism and noting
the deep impression it made on the bureau. " The experi-
ence of all history and the contemporary experience of the
United States added to the authority of M. Thiers' coun-
sels." ^
Three days later it reproduced Cormenin's arguments,
refuting them point by point, (a) That two chambers with
the same origin, electors, authority and subjects of discus-
sion were incomprehensible. But special attributes might
be given to one of the chambers, as in the United States;
special conditions of origin and eligibility required, and in
any case a double discussion would be useful, (b) That a
second chamber is purely aristocratic, of English origin.
But while the House of Lords has in fact served that pur-
pose in England, a second chamber may represent something
quite different ; " there is no aristocracy in the United
States, and a second chamber exists not only in the repre-
sentation of the Union, but in the representations of the
individual states." (c) That second chambers are repug-
nant to the genius of equality, to direct and universal suf-
frage, and to the French spirit of imity, which recognizes
two chambers in parliament no more than it would two
nations in France. " The example of the United States is
there to reply. There are two chambers, which does not
prevent the existence of complete equality, and it is a fact
that two nations do not exist there within the nation." (d)
That the example of the United States should not be eter-
nally quoted, an English colony, reproducing quasi-mechan-
ically the forms of the mother country. " The United
States have to so slight an extent mechanically reproduced
the example of England, that they commenced by estab-
lishing a single chamber and that experience alone brought
1 Constitutionnel, July 7.
252 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^^O
them later to the two-chamber system." (e) That America
is essentially federal, while we are essentially unitary. "The
individual states of the Union are unitary, and they almost
all have two chambers." (f) That to distinguish the two
houses, the American Senate was given governmental func-
tions, intolerable in France. But he does not say why they
would not be tolerated here, (g) That one need not be a
great prophet to foretell that the Assembly will defeat the
two-chamber system by a large majority, for these reasons
and for still better ones. But if the chamber does so, it will
be for other reasons than those of M. de Cormenin.^
The Union likewise gave long accounts of Thiers' and
Cormenin's speeches, with the comment :
The partisans of the two-chamber system, the bicamerists, did
not fail to cite the example of the United States, but it seems
to us that they did not draw all the advantage that they should
from the attributes of the American Senate. These govern-
mental functions of which M. Cormenin spoke too disdain-
fully in our opinion, are, however, exercised with immense
usefulness for the regularity of action of the central power
in foreign affairs and for the good of the general policy of
the Union. That is a side of the question which remains
almost untouched and to which it will be necessary to call
public attention.-
The Siecle reported Odilon Barrot's opinion, expressed in
the 9th bureau. He thought that the commission would
have decided for the dual system, had it not been for pres-
ent circumstances. Since the experience of France, the
United States, England and even Switzerland had all
proved favorable to the dual system, care was necessary to
foresee the difficulties which might hamper the future prog-
less of the republic*
1 Constitutionnel, July 10. 2 Union, July 8.
3 Siecle, July 8.
43 1 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 253
The deliberations of the 14th bureau also received com-
ment by the press. In this bureau the two-chamber system
won, 26-10. The Journal des dehats gives the speeches of
Victor Hugo, de Remusat and Leon Faucher. M. de Re-
musat said that he had lived with members of the original
Constituent Assembly, who felt that the single chamber was
one of its greatest errors, and if he might quote the expla-
nation of an authority particularly precious to him, General
Lafayette attributed the pernicious mistake (as he also re-
garded it) to the influence on the one hand of Rousseau's
doctrines in the Social Contract, and on the other hand of
the school of Turgot, who had borrowed the idea from
Franklin, at first followed in this respect by America, then
abandoned by her. Later the Convention, after its terrible
experience, put two chambers in the constitution of the
year IIL Ever since, this idea, professed by Daunou and
his friends, had been sustained by the chiefs of the liberal
school.
The most striking example in the direction of two chambers
is that of the United States. How refrain from citing it?
It is the glorious and unique example of the existence of a
republic in a great country. But it is replied in objection that
the United States are a federation. The argument might be
employed on the opposite side. The federal government, hav-
ing few attributes, not having to legislate on those internal
questions which are especially exciting to opinion, might more
than another dispense with those guarantees, those disposi-
tions, necessary to shield the government from hasty impulses.
Nothing of the sort, however. Everyone knows how great a
role the Senate plays in the federal power, and every state
reproduces faithfully the duality of the center in each local
legislature. Shall one say, again, that the two chambers are
an aristocratic affair? But there is not an atom of aristocracy
in the American constitution; it is pure democracy, it is at
once the ideal and the reality of democracy.
254 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
M. Leon Faucher arose to confute the idea that to estab-
lish a dual system involved a necessary antagonism between
the chambers. There is only one element to be represented
in every country. In England the government is aristo-
cratic and the two chambers represent only aristocracy.
" In the United States, democracy is equally alive in the
two assemblies which form the American Congress." In
France there is no thought of having one democratic and
one aristocratic chamber. " It is the Senate which has
made the force of the United States, which has given them
a policy, which has made them rivals of England and of
Russia." '
It is to be observed that the reports come solely from con-
servative papers, and that the only defender of the single
chamber quoted is Cormenin, though his opinion was that
of a very large majority in the bureaux.
The discussion concerning the executive power received
scant record in the press. The only account of the use of
American example is in a speech by Leon Faucher. Thiers,
Berryer, de Remusat are mentioned as having spoken for
the direct, universal method of election, as did the majority
in the bureaux. Faucher defended election by the Assem-
bly, though he was a conservative and later voted against
the Grevy and Leblond amendments. He said that the
other method would be safe only if the two-chamber system
had been adopted. Again, it should be remarked that in the
United States, notwithstanding the existence of the two
chambers of Congress, the naming of the first magistrate,
being left to electors, springs from indirect suffrage. Yet
even that modified system of popular choice would be dan-
gerous in France.
^ Journal des dehats, July 9. These two speeches also reported in
Le Steele, July 10.
433] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 255
Let us not seek to imitate the United States completely; we
are in a different situation. The American Union was founded
by descendants of Penn. Even before having conquered their
independence, the Americans had the habit of governing them-
selves ; the exercise of the suffrage was popular among them ;
they applied it to everything, to the government, to interests,
to beliefs. That people, truly republican, might elect its chief ;
yet it does so only in an indirect way. But with us, the rep-
resentative system has not thrust its roots so deeply. The
French people has hardly left the mould of monarchy. . . .
If you summon the whole people to choose the president of
the republic, it will choose under the name of president the
equivalent of a king ; it will perhaps found a new dynasty. It
will allow itself to be seduced by the power of the sword or
by the eclat of an historic name. It will do what it did under
the Consulate and the Empire; it will choose, not among
illustrious legislators, but among the pretenders.^
It is a curious fact that Faucher became one of Louis Napo-
leon's ministers.
The only other report of the bureaux* proceedings in
which allusion was made to America has no connection with
the constitutional plan. After the June riots, a bill was
brought in to regulate the clubs very strictly, and was duly
referred to the bureaux. In the ist bureau's discussion, F.
de Corcelles said that he discovered and considered it a mis-
fortune that French clubs were not organized as in Amer-
ica, where a club is an association for some special object,
as the abolition of slavery ; the members are agreed on the
purpose and can attain it with greater ease. In France,,
where affairs in general are discussed, passions are more
easily aroused. He proposed assigning each club a special
object.
To this Xavier Durrieu replied that the preceding speaker
1 Journal des debats, July 16.
256 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [424
confused liberty of association with liberty of discussion;
the latter alone concerned them. The fact that American
clubs were only associations proved merely that American
society was not in a state to practise publicly liberty of dis-
cussion. It was well known that when different opinions
arose in an American club, the discussion degenerated into
a violent quarrel, ending in a fight. Not the laws, but the
manners, forbid clubs there. Thank Heaven, France had
not reached that point ! ^
When the constitution was read to the Assembly for the
second time, the Univers published an editorial criticism, in
which it was noted that the new president was to have
600,000 francs, though in America the salary was only
125,000. " Every constitution has, so to speak, left its
mark on the present plan; the United States have lent us
their president ; it is the only combination that we have not
yet tried." Local self-government and indirect election
limited the executive's power in America, however, while
the new French constitution made him a sort of king.^
In September the Bien public published a eulogy of La-
martine, delivered by Mr. Winthrop, Speaker of the House,
at the dedication of the Washington Monument.^
The report that the " intelligent American democracy "
had appointed an ambassador to the Holy See was greeted
by the Univers as a " great and solemn spectacle," and com-
ment made on Catholic liberty in America as contrasted
with the tactlessness and bad faith of England."*
The report of the customs administration for the fiscal
1 Opinion puhlique, July 16.
' Univers, Aug. 30. Same ideas repeated, Oct. 6. " If authority were
centralized' in the United States as in France, that country would still
be in search of order and liberty."
3 Bien public, Sept. 6.
* Univers, Sept. 6.
435] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 257
year of 1847-8 received this comment : " The United States
continue to occupy the first place in the order of our com-
mercial relations. Between them and us, the worth of 222,-
000,000 was exchanged in 1847. England comes next with
189,000,000." The figures include imports and exports
combined. In imports, the United States led with 110,000,-
000, Belgium being second; in exports, the United States
were first with 112,000,000, England second.^
Finally, President Polk's last message was published in
full by the same paper, occupying a page and a half of its
issue, with the comment : " Since a government has been
cut for us on the model of the United States, and we too
are destined to have our annual message, we engage our
president and his ministers to read attentively what we pub-
lish today." Then follows a eulogy of Polk, who, though
unknown when chance bore him to the head of affairs, had
conducted the most complicated matters with extraordinary
tact, energy and success.
Those men are not rare in the United States, which proves
why each administration marks its passage through the con-
duct of affairs by new progress. One would seek vainly in
that country where facts and good sense occupy the place
which we give here to phrases and discussions, a government
which has not added something to the glory, the power and
the well-being of the Union. Which proves, be it said in pass-
ing, that the republicans who have governed us since Feb-
ruary 24, were not raised in the same school.
The message impressed the writer by the brevity of its gen-
eralities as compared v/ith the fullness of the portion de-
voted to business and also the emphasis on non-intervention
in the domestic affairs of other nations.
1 Presse, Oct. 5.
258 1'HE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^^G
What touches us closest perhaps in the message of Mr. Polk,
is the comparison which he makes between Europe shaken
by revolutions and whose credit, industry and commerce are
killed by civil war, and the Uni'^ed States where public and
private credit make new progress. The situation was so pros-
perous and the interests of the country so well guarded, that
to continue the war against Mexico, the Minister of Finance
{sic) negotiated a loan above par and thus realized a large
premium in favor of the Treasury; since that time he had re-
deemed consolidated bonds to the amount of half a million
dollars, reducing the public debt by so much, and Mr. Polk
announces that the receipts will cover the expenses.^
The article indicates that to the conservative Presse the
contrast between prosperous America and revolutionary
Europe was food for envy rather than contempt."
Passing from news reports to editorials, the wealth of
material is such here that only excerpts can be given, to
show the trend of comment. A considerable number deal
with the general value of the American example for France.
The showing of the pro-American papers is slight here,
their heaviest guns being reserved for special articles.
A conservative paper points out quite early that when it
comes to settling the constitutional basis of the republic,
there will be those who will say that it is impossible to
accept popular government " in the large measure fixed by
America." But it is an error to suppose American success
along this line determined by her vast territories. That
success is even more visible in crowded states like New York
than in Texas. '^ France is republican, she has taught
democracy to the whole world; America has practised be-
fore us the philosophic theories with which we have covered
1 Presse, Dec. 22,.
2 For comment on the Mexican War and the American political sit-
uation, cf. supra, ch. iii.
437] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 259
society ; the time has come to make an application of them
to our profit." Liberty of opinion, of conscience, of the
press, of association and speech, reduction of governmental
functions as far as possible, credit and public works left to
individual control, liberty of instruction, free economic
competition, a reduced tax-budget make up the program
suggested by the paper/
The Journal des debats found that " the Constitution of
the United States of America is good because under that
Constitution America has grown immeasurably in wealth,
in power, in consideration in the world." England is also
eulogized, " in spite of the vices which theory and even ex-
perience easily discover there." ^
Similarly fimile de Girardin, editor of the Presse, an-
nounced his candidacy for the Assembly in these terms :
It is by exaggeration, terror, war, bankruptcy and misery that
the republic has already perished once in France ; it is by good
sense, liberty, peace, credit and wealth that the republic was
founded in the United States, where it grows each year in
power. I understand the republic like Francklin (sic), I do not
understand it without Washington. If I am wrong not to
understand it with citizen Robespierre and like citizen Ledru-
Rollin, let me not be nominated and let me be left to the labors
of the journals which I direct.^
He was taken at his word and was left to his editorial pur-
suits.
English and American prudence and political firmness
were commended by the ConstittUionnel* which further re-
1 Courrier frangais, quoted in La Riforme, Mar. 3. At that early-
date the radical organ was not as afraid of American example as later,
especially as the Courrier cleverly asserted that opposition to American
methods would be used by the reaction to destroy the fruits of the
revolution. And again. La Reforme was never socialistic.
2 Journal des debats. Mar. 7.
3 Presse, May 20. * Constituiionnel, April 29.
26o THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-^^g
marked on Marrast's disdain of foreign example, as ex-
pressed in his report of the constitution, " we had thought
that history was the lesson of kings and nations." ^
A large proportion of the anti-American articles are to
be found in the legitimist papers, notably in the Gazette de
France. Legitimate royalty is, for it, the true, because the
ancient, French system. " Let us not lower to the level of
imitators the people which is made to serve as model. Let
us seek in France and not in America or in England the
future of France." ^ Nothing in the past fifty years is
worth copying. " As for the future, we have a choice be-
tween the English constitution, the American constitution,
the nameless constitution, and perhaps the phalansterian
constitution of Fourier. One will permit us to stick to the
French constitution." ^
Two journalists of the English school, Messrs. Thiers and
Guizot, in power after the July Revolution, tried to establish
the parliamentary government of which they had dreamed
under the Restoration, in the Globe and the Gonstitutionnel.
Two journalists of the American or republican school are
directing the march of the new government.
We shall see if they will be able to establish their theories
or if we shall be forced to return to ours, those of the French
school, so well characterized by those words of M. Lamartine :
Republic at the base, heredity at the summit.*
The American republic is not to be imitated, because there
" slavery necessitates the federal system." ^
1 Constitutionnel, Sept. i.
2 Gazette de France, Mar. 6.
3 Ihid., Mar. 20. * Ihid., Mar. 22,.
5 Ihid., Apr. 15. In the issue of Mar. 30, however, American federal-
ism is cited as suggesting a way by which " the duchy of Savoy, the
duchy of the Rhine and Belgium " may be united to France through a
system of autonomy.
439] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 261
The Gazette's views were given their fullest expression
in a long article, headed " The American System."
After having been constituted a T anglais e by M. Guizot,
we are to be, it seems, constituted a Vamericaine by M. de
Cormenin. There is question of giving us a single chamber of
representatives, with a council of government or senate, and
an elective president for three years. . . . The American
fashion is still more remote from our nature and our tempera-
ment than the English fashion. The right of participating in
our own affairs existed among us many centuries before there
was any question of the United States. Political liberty is
essentially French. In that respect we owe nothing to any
one. But what is foreign to us, what we cannot be made to
accept without effort and violence are forms of government
. . . contrary to our customs ... to our situation ... to
our traditions, finally to our social constitution.
Were France composed of twenty-six states, independent
of one another, except for a few common interests; if she
had a vast territory, capable of holding four times the popu-
lation; if there were no taxes, no fear of continental war
and of neighbors with military organization; if everyone
could get land for five francs an acre; if the standing army
had only 12,500 men; if there were citizens rich, devoted
and moderate enough to govern and represent France for
125,000 francs a year, to be ministers for 30,000 and
"presidents of states" for 15,000; if we could be feeble
and divided, with impunity; if without danger we might
exist under the form of a multitude of special associations,
independent of each other and of the central government, if
our provinces and communes were left to themselves for
internal administration, except for a few points of general
interest, such as public instruction, navy and great public
works; if justice were almost nil; if administration, prop-
erly so-called, had neither cohesion nor imity, " we should
262 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^Q
then say : let us constitute ourselves a Vamericaine, with an
elective president for three years or even for one year; let
us form a federal congress with a council of government
called senate, and let us so live until time brings other
needs." But we have French customs, habits, organiza-
tions, interests, etc.
We cannot become Americans then, without peril and without
damage. If the English system could not last, if it succumbed
to the effort of public spirit, the United States regime would
last still less. In mercy, messieurs constituants, let us remain
French if it is possible ; experiments with foreign constitutions
cost too dearly,^
A still more bitter arraignment appeared two months
later. " Our pretended ^ republicans de la veille give us to-
day as model of government the United States, and they call
the cruellest and most abominable despotism, democracy."
Then follow statistics of the number of slaves (over two
million) and Indians (over three hundred thousand) over
whom an oligarchy of whites exercises the most execrable
tyranny, having torn the negroes from their homes and
their homes from the Indians. " And that is the people
which it is wished to give as example to the land of the
Franks, which it sufficed to touch in order to be free !" The
barons of the Middle Ages were equally free, and if the
millions of serfs were uncounted, feudal democracy might
be as favorably discussed. " O democratic charlatans, the
Satyre Menippee has depicted you !" "
Other legitimist papers expressed similar views, though
less persistently.
1 Gazette de France, June i.
2 The adjective is well-advised. The real repuhlicains de la veille
rarely did so.
" Ibid., Aug. 2.
441 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 263
" No one wants for France the Greek or Roman repub-
lics, not even that of the United States, which contains
slaves, nor that of Switzerland, more backward in some
cantons than certain European monarchies." ^
" The example of the United States is often quoted to us,
but without taking the trouble to reflect on the enormous
difference which exists between the situation of the United
States and that of France." The former is federated, the
latter centralized. The former has a positive, prosaic spirit,
no poetical imagination, disdain of glory and honor, an ex-
clusive cult of matter, a passion for money; in the latter,
ambition for honor and power predominates; everyone
dreams of decorations, epaulets and titles. The immense
plains of the former contrast with the crowded ranks of the
latter; every place taken, every land occupied by property-
right. Twenty other differences might be named between
the totally dissimilar situations of France and the United
States." ^
An ironical review of an article in L'Ere nouvelle quotes
that paper as saying that France awaits the hand which
makes moral and political liberty flourish in the United
States ; ^ elsewhere doubt is expressed that the leaders of
the republic can measure up to the standard of Washington
and Franklin, and the work of the local " political alchem-
ists " is contrasted with the picture of young America
" committing to the wisest and most illustrious of her citi-
zens the task of drawing up her constitution." * Though
expressing such divergent feelings regarding America, the
legitimist journals were agreed in their rejection of the
American example as a general model.
1 Assemblee nationale. Mar. i.
"^ hide pendant de I'Ouest (legitimist), quoted in the National, May 4.
3 Union, July 14.
* Opinion puhlique, June 21.
264 ^^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^^^
Dumas' organ published an article "Concerning the
French republic and its comparison with republics which
have existed or which still exist." From antiquity, the only
thing worth taking was love of country ; from the medieval
republics, love of art.
As for the republic of the United States, where our law-
makers are eternally seeking their inspirations, our Utopians
their models ; as for the republic of the United States, we say,
with its federal constitution, its senate and its chamber, its
Quakers and its slaves; as for the republic of the United
States finally, placed between two immensities, the immensity
of the sea which it ploughs with its vessels, the immensity of
the desert which it furrows with its colonists, it has surely
little to offer us, unless it be its example, its perseverance and
its union. ^
The rest of the article was a long, rhetorical disquisition on
the vastness of America as compared with France.
The papers of the left wing had little to say on America
in general. Thore was the chief spokesman.
Shall the French republic be the sister of the American re-
public, as M. Lamartine said to the minister plenipotentiary
of the United States? Shall we have a president with the
attributes of a king, and will this president govern France?
Shall we have a non-permanent assembly, to leave the full
power to the president-king, in the interval between the ses-
sions ? ... If this system has the majority, we are falling back
into monarchy. We have already tried, with Philippe, the
best of republics. Shall we allow ourselves to make another
essay of a false republic ? Let us at least have the form pure ;
the essence will perhaps be found in the flagon, and we shall
be there to fill it.^
A somewhat ominous conclusion.
1 Liberie, May 12.
2 Vraie republique, April 30.
443] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 265
Lamennais' constitutional project combined with the de-
cree of Mar. 5, calling for election of the Assembly by de-
partments, seemed to form " a federal establishment very
similar to that of the United States of America " and de-
structive of French unity/ So, too, the divisions in the
ranks of the Assembly seemed to make it hopeless that the
commission would report anything better than " a program
of representative or federalist monarchy, after the fashion
of England or the United States." ^
Proudhon published the most philosophic systematized
exposition of the radical view under the title, " France has
nothing to imitate." There are those, he said, who seem
unable to reason except by perpetual comparisons and more
or less exact analogies; instead of studying the conditions
of their own country, they quote the customs of another,
which has purely external likenesses with their own. Such
has been the fate of France.
England in particular has been for more than two centuries
the political mirage of almost all our publicists, we dare not
say our thinkers. . . . Now that France has emerged from the
paths of constitutionalism, the publicists have felt the conve-
nience of abandoning or rather changing their warhorse, they
have perceived that the republic has buried anglomania. But
in so doing, they have made no pretense of despoiling them-
selves completely of their rage for imitation; they have thus
had to offer another type, appropriate to the new state of
things, and it is America which has offered them this new
theme for hyperboles and commonplaces. America, then, is
destined, in the mind of our comparative legislators, to play
the same role in regard to republican France as England in
regard to constitutional France. It is from this new arsenal
that innumerable arguments are to be drawn in favor of all the
1 Vraie republique. May 6.
^Ibid., May 21.
266 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^
superfluities, useless at least, which it is desired to introduce
into the constitution of our young republic. Partisans of in-
direct election, partisans of two chambers, partisans of the
independence of the executive and the legislative power, par-
tisans of the presidency, all these adepts of a modified republic
are going to throw the American republic at our heads, as the
liberals ^ used to overwhelm us with their Britannic constitu-
tionalism.
The American example proved nothing for France. The
American presidency was a needed symbol of unity because
of the federal system, but the centralization of France was
so complete that she needed the opposite treatment, a demo-
cratic organization to preserve her from despotism. Consti-
tutional monarchy and a presidency were thus alike imprac-
ticable in France as half -measures; an absolute system was
inevitable because of the concentration of political forces,
anything else was a fiction and a cheat. As constitutional
monarchy in a centralized country must turn into an abso-
lute monarchy, so presidency would become dictatorship.
Of the two only possible alternatives, absolute democracy
must be the choice to save the country from absolute despot-
ism. The United States presidency would be a sword of
Damocles, suspended over the republic's head.
The United States have desired the symbol of unity, not being
able to have the thing itself; France must reject the personi-
fication of this unity because she possesses the unity in fact,
and because she must take care lest this great principle be ex-
ploited to the profit of a more or less disguised tyranny.
Hence all imitation should be avoided; France, having to
take the initiative, has need of all its originality.^
1 The liberal party of Orleanist times, not the government party of
1848, to which the name was not applied contemporaneously.
2 Representant du pen pie. May i.
445] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 267
Pere Duchene described the newly-reported constitution
as " this America-Anglo-French piece of work," and took
especial umbrage at the creation of a president, instead of
confiding the executive as well as the legislative power to
the Assembly.^
Charivari declared that of the three former presiding
officers of the Assembly, M. Buchez had presided like a
school-master, M. Senard like a police-court judge, M.
Marie like a master of ceremonies, and now came M. Mar-
rast, the first gentleman who had sat in the chair, always a
republican of distinction, who presented himself today like
a president of the United States. " One would have taken
him for the veritable M. Polk. The Americans of Paris
might be deceived." As for the " rights of capacity " of
which he made mention in his speech, the writer was in
accord with the speaker " provided he meant to speak of
honest folk without intrigue and not to make an advance to
M. Thiers, who visibly took the matter for himself, as if we
were already at New York." ^
The Bonapartist paper, with its ultra-radical interpreta-
tion of the Napoleonic legend, quoted Thiers' famous say-
ing of 1830,'^ with the comment, " You are neither Amer-
icans nor English. Stay at home. Do not question M.
Thiers, abortive missionary of a narrow, bourgeois doctrine.
You need a constitution of your own make, Avhich smacks
of the Terror, which is the chaste fruit of your own en-
trails." *
When it came to the economic aspect of the American
system, the conservative papers praised American individ-
ualism, the radicals were silent. Gamier-Pages' report of
1 Pere Duchene, June 22.
- Charivari, July 25.
3 Vide supra, p. 107.
* Napoleon republicain, June 16.
268 TH^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 v^^^
certain plans of the executive commission, which involved
government loans to voluntary associations of workmen,
called forth an editorial contrasting those nations in which
the government reserved to itself the direction of industry
with those in which it abstained altogether from such enter-
prises. The former were undeveloped or servile nations,
the latter those invested with the fullness of the rights of
man. On the one hand were Mehemet-Ali's fellahin, gov-
erned like cattle, and the Jesuit-controlled Indians of Para-
guay ; on the other the English in Europe, the United States
in America. In those enlightened free nations the govern-
ment abstained from all manufacture, even that of muni-
tions of war. Any individual could order cannons at Pitts-
burg or in Scotland. The largest American powder factory
was founded by a Frenchman, M. Dupont, in whose family
it remained. A Frenchman who felt a particular drawing
to that business had to exile himself to the banks of the
Brandyw^ine. Thus the monopoly system exercised the
same effect on national prosperity and the development of
the arts as the Edict of Nantes. Only the postal service
was in government hands there and in America, contrary to
the English and French theories which considered it as a
source of revenue, the principle ruled that the receipts should
merely cover expenses.^
In a similar spirit, the failures of communistic colonies in
America were cited as justifying the refusal of a later
French administration to recognize certain associations in
their corporate capacity.^ Dumas reminded the working-
classes that the word " equality " must not be taken too
literally. Equality before the law and before God were
praiseworthy, but inequality must continue in expenditure.
" The workmen of New York are busy only because the
1 Journal des debats, May 20.
2 Ibid., Oct. 9.
447] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 269
rich are free and tranquil/' Those who dream of the hap-
piness of the poor without the liberty of the rich are mad.
The rich must continue to give good dinners and beautiful
balls in all joy, quiet and liberty for the welfare of the
poor. '' No liberty without order, no wealth without order
and without liberty ; those are the key-words of the problem
of civilization." ^
As a set-off to this crass individualism, however, occurs
the sentence : " In comparing the history of the republic of
the United States with ours, it is impossible not to recognize
that if our materials are less republican, our ideas are more
democratic." ^
The same cleavage was maintained in the discussion of
the various parts of the political system. Turning from
general comment on America as a model to the discussion
that arose over her specific institutions, one notes that the
same singular silence, previously mentioned, regarding the
advantages of the American presidency, continued. Minor
points were, however, commended.
The modest establishment of the American executive " in
a little, unfrequented city" was praised. The American
government does nothing either to encourage or restrain
luxury; it limits itself to the proper task of a democratic
government, the due administration of the country with
conscientiousness, order, simplicity, vigilance and economy.^
The American system of pardons, whereby the President
or the Governor submitted them to the Senate of the Union
or state was noted. It was believed that the executive in
France should also have the preliminary advice of a council.*
Somewhat grudging use was made of American example
1 Liberie, Mar. 22.
^Ibid., May i.
^Presse, Oct. 26.
"^ kre nouvelle, June 5.
2^0 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r . .g
in connection with the electoral college by a paper that ordi-
narily found little value in American methods. It was
pointed out that the House elected the President only in ex-
ceptional cases. Further, no one holding a place of profit in
government service could be an elector.^ This was used in
an editorial against Assembly election of the executive.
It was admitted that the United States proved that prop-
erty could be safe in a republic, but it was felt that popular
sovereignty was a less secure guardian of its safety than the
principle of heredity.^
Another legitimist paper commented on the new consti-
tution :
Numerous loans from the American constitution were ex-
pected, tested as it is by a happy experience of more than
sixty years. We have sought in vain for a single point of
contact. The essential differences between a federal and a
unitary republic have without doubt caused the rejection of
any sort of assimilation in the least details.^
But, curiously enough, the next editorial on the same
page contradicts this view : " The new constitution organ-
izes the democratic republic with a president like the United
States. We ask, where is Washington?"^
The socialist papers left no doubt as to their position.
The presidential system was branded as a dangerous heresy.
Ministers named by the Assembly should control the exec-
utive power, for action follows will, and the arm is agent
of the head.
But we are admitting a president, elected by the people, in the
fashion of the President of the United States. This, it is said,
^ Assemblee nafionale, Sept. 25.
2 Opinion publique, Oct. 22.
3 Union, June 20.
* Ibid., June 20.
449] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 271
is the doctrine of the Nationaly of the ministry of public in-
struction and its adherents and of various republicans, versed
in political science. Carrel/ as will be recalled, strongly sus-
tained the two-chamber theory, having studied the American
constitution without sufficiently considering the French spirit.
This president or king, if not in accord with the Assembly,
will engage in struggle with it, and you have revolution in
permanence or at least in expectation.^
Proudhon had another word on the office of president :
It is the idea of M. de Lamennais, supported by the opinion
of M. de Lamartine. The decisive argument is the example
of the Americans. We have received feudalism from the
barbarians, constitutional monarchy from the English ; now we
are to take presidential democracy from America. Would that
we could do something French ! ^
As in the commission and the Assembly, the legislative
problem called forth a much greater discussion of American
precedent. All conservative papers, legitimist, Orleanist,
conservative republican alike, supported the bicameral sys-
tem.
One, commonly anti-American, said : " We likewise
think that the national congress should be composed of two
elective assemblies like the Congress of the United States
and not of two assemblies formed by monopoly and privi-
lege as in England.*
And again, when published imder another name : " We
have, further, the example of two great peoples, whom we
consider as our elders in liberty, England and the United
States." '
1. Republican leader under the monarchy; killed in duel, 1836.
2 Vraie republique, Apr, 4.
^ Representant du peiiple. May 11.
* Gazette de France, Apr. 18.
5 £toile de la France, Sept. 26.
272 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r . -q
The Union made a serious study of the value of the Sen-
ate as a check on the executive. " In practice, the bicamer-
ists alone can quote examples which have real authority;
and the most powerful of all, the example of the United
States." No politician of any reputation from the St. Law-
rence River to the Gulf of Mexico felt that the republic
could have survived without the dual system. But to un-
derstand the full value of its meaning, it must be recalled
that the Senate has governmental as well as legislative func-
tions. It controls and regulates the central executive. The
president can conclude treaties only with its advice and con-
sent; it confirms his nominations of federal officials, is the
depository of national traditions, guards the principles of
foreign policy which have made the prosperity and power of
the United States. Further, it is renewed by thirds, so that
if its spirit is modified by the progress of ideas, it is at least
never wiped out. In a way, it is the sole permanent power,
organized by the American constitution. Without it, every
presidential election might be a revolutionary break of con-
tinuity. Nor should the Senate's meaning be sought in the
federal system. It has the same functions in every state.
Everywhere it controls the executive and is the guardian of
permanent traditions. Reduced as the executive's powers
are, the Americans realized that to leave all important nomi-
nations to him alone would be a danger for public liberty.
At the same time, they felt that control of the executive
could be lodged only in a chamber at once elective and per-
manent, since all authority proceeds from election and con-
tinuity must be safeguarded. The two-chamber question
concerns the executive even more than the legislative. So
considered, " it borrows from the United States' example
an argument whose power is increased by all the interest
which attaches to guarantees of liberty." The value of a
double deliberation might be contested, but not so necessary
a means of defence against executive usurpation.^
1 Union, July 10.
45 1 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 273
A certain M. Fabas, spoken of as a repuhlicain de la veille
and mmtre des requites of the council of state, proposed a
system which would obviate the dangers of tyranny in case
a single chamber were adopted and of conflict between the
two chambers of a dual system. ** The solution which M.
Fabas proposes, a solution which should prevent a struggle
between two legislative assemblies, is borrowed from the
United States of America." In the State of New York,
when the Senate and Assembly do not agree, they unite for
a joint vote, the majority of the total vote being decisive.
The plan of M. Fabas called for a democratic assembly,
elected without eligibility restrictions, a senate of a third or
a quarter of the assembly's numbers, a joint vote in case of
disagreement, regular and constant intervention of the sen-
ate in the exercises of the executive power. ^
The same paper in a later article dwelt on the capital im-
portance of this legislative question, as indicated by the fact
that the United States placed it in the first article of their
constitution. Pennsylvania, the only state which had a single
chamber at first, soon changed to the dual system. Opposed
to the American example stand the unfortunate memories
of the senate of the empire and the peers of the recent mon-
archy. But the correct deduction is "that it is important to
make our senate after the pattern of republican senates and
not after the pattern of monarchical senates." For nomi-
nations by the head of the government, substitute popular
elections ; for eligibility conditions of birth and wealth, sub-
stitute experience. It would be puerile to condemn a good
institution out of hatred of a bad one with the same name."
When the cause was all but lost, direct appeal was made
to the Assembly.
1 Siecle, Aug. i.
-Ibid., Sept. 4.
274 ^^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r . ^2
It is for you to choose. You may treat history and experience
loftily today, you may mock England and its hundred and
fifty years of prosperity, despise even the example of the
greatest republic in the world, of the American republic! Be
tranquil, in their turn history and experience will have their
revenge and you will no more change the necessary laws of
politics than the laws of the stars. ^
La Patrie testily declared that if it should show that the
dual system had been unanimously adopted by all the demo-
cratic peoples of antiquity, and that the United States had
been forced to it after an unhappy experiment with the
single chamber, the Bien public would say as it did of
Thiers : " You emerge all dusty from the depths of his-
tory." Better so than fresh from one's own notions. It
remains for the Bien public to prove that the French are in-
fiinitely better poised, calmer and wiser than the Americans,
and that safeguards necessary to other nations are perfectly
useless here, due to the infinite superiority of our modera-
tion, patience and respect for the law.^
Commenting on the Duvergier de Hauranne amendment,
it pointed out that the bicameral system had behind it the
authority of the best publicists of the last fifty years, the
witness of the Constituante and the Convention itself, " fin-
ally the experience of the most flourishing republic that has
ever existed, the United States." Whether the arguments
for it would outweigh the parti-pris, the native love of sim-
plicity and adventure, the desire not to be taken for a re-
publicain du lendemain, " the fear of resembling America
in something," and a false notion of what the republican
form required, remained to be seen. It was a doubtful
conversion. But the conviction remained that in the end
1 Journal des dehats, Sept. 26.
^Patrie, July 10.
423] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 275
reason and experience would get their rights " and that if
France commences Hke the United States with a single
chamber as more popular, it will finish like them by adopt-
ing duality as more in conformity with the laws of poli-
tics." ^
Lamartine's rejection of American example as based on
federalism was given the usual answer that the states also
had the dual system ; the point was further made that there
are institutions common to all free countries. Dupin pro-
posed the dictatorship, unity and sovereignty of the Assem-
bly, as the base of the republic. " Was it so that the re-
public of the United States was founded ?" ^
This paper chronicled the adoption of an integral re-
election of the Assembly every three years, with the com-
ment : " In the United States, the election of representatives
takes place every two years. France is not America, and
the wisdom of M. Marrast is not that of Washington." "
If all the conservative papers united in favor of the dual
system, there was a similar coalition of government and
radical papers against it.
It was asserted that,
just as England was quoted to us when it was desirable to
prove the excellence of the constitutional monarchy, now the
United States are cited, where in some respects the spirit of
the mother-country lives again in republican institutions and
where the two-chamber system is in vogue. Does it not seem
that one would thus indirectly renew imitation of the English,
proscribed by the February revolution, by placing that imi-
tation under the authority of the name and the example of
the American republic ?
1 Patrie, Sept. 27.
^ Univers, Sept. 28.
' Ibid., Sept. 30.
2^6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^.^
The English heritage and the federal system, requiring
equal representation of each of the states in at least one
chamber, explained the dual system in America; its exist-
ence in state legislatures was due to historic tradition and
the example of the central government. The system might
suit America without being in the least fitting for France.^
. The federal explanation was also given by the Journal,
in an article headed " The two chambers in the United
States," prefaced by the statement that " in the bureaux, at
the tribune of the National Assembly, the adversaries of the
constitution's article relative to the creation of a single
chamber, to defend their opinion and to demand the estab-
lishment of two chambers, are continually supporting them-
selves by the example of the United States.'' -
The Lamartine organ was annoyed because Le Steele ob-
jected to its citation of Prussia in support of the single
chamber and opposed to it the example of America. The
latter was a worse choice. " Is it not indeed a strange
thing to want to copy our own new republican constitution
from the constitution of the United States, under the pre-
text that the United States are a republic?" The republic,
like the monarchy, is a form of government with infinite
combinations. Venice, Sparta, Athens and Rome were re-
publics, but who thinks of taking them for models? The
Prussian example is worth while, because it is an affair of
today and close at hand. The American constitution goes
back more than sixty years, and was made under totally
different conditions.^
To the radicals, the English and American examples were
inconclusive, the former because of aristocracy, the latter
because of federalism, freedom from armed neighbors, lack
1 National, July lo.
- Journal, Sept. 28.
^ Bien public, July 14.
455] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 277
of pretenders supported by rich clienteles, and because his-
torically '' the American institution was the product of the
old world and bears in itself the social vices of its mother,
the monarchy." To give such a constitution to the demo-
cratic republic would be an act of folly, if not treason/
A socialist paper wrote :
The partisans of the Britannic tradition of two chambers
make, to the profit of their argument, such an abuse of the ex-
ample of the United States, that it is important to place before
the eyes of our fellow-citizens an expose of the motives which
caused the institution of a senate to be adopted by the repub-
licans of the New World.
The federal argument was then employed, after which came
a two-column quotation from an essay by M. L. P. Conseil
on the Memoirs of Jefferson, quoting his Augean-stable
letter of 1794 to Madison and asserting that the real pur-
pose of a second chamber in France was to protect the in-
terests of the great proprietors, which meant the perpetua-
tion of privilege, avarice and ambition.-
Dumas' opinions were alike inaccurate, eccentric and con-
tradictory. He wrote : '' The law of the United States
gives the direct vote to but two chambers, of which one
names the other. We behold its effects. Who would desire
them for France?" ®
This remarkable piece of information was followed by an
equally unusual suggestion. Starting with the customary
statement that " the partisans of two chambers support
themselves on the example of the United States, whose
prosperity is notorious," he held that social conditions were
^ Re forme, Sept. 27.
2 Democratie paciUque, July 17.
8 Liberie, Mar. 2.
278 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^(y
entirely different in the two countries, and then proposed a
double executive, copying the consuls of Rome/
A month later he made a complete volte- face, condemn-
ing Cormenin for rejecting the bicameral system ; " in
order not to appear an adept of the English school, he re-
jects one of the essential elements of the constitution of the
United States." So enlightened a man as he must be aware
that an omnipotent assembly without counter-weight might
go to any extreme of anger or passion.^
On the judiciary clause, this paper commented at length,
praising the American jury system, urging its application to
civil cases, and quoting from Tocqueville, vol. II, ch. VIII,
on the point.^
In a directly opposite interest, it was urged that Supreme
Court judges in America were appointed by the President
with the advice and consent of the Senate, permanency of
judicial tenure being recognized by the American republic*
The preamble to the American constitution was strongly
commended to the Assembly as preferable to the long, con-
troversial declaration adopted by the commission. " It is
simple, but it is clear, plain, precise. There is no intellect
so dense that it cannot comprehend it ; and there is no imag-
ination so perverse that it can logically draw from it dan-
gerous deductions." Good political philosophy consisted in
precise demarcation of the goal and in eliminating meta-
physical formulas.^
If space permitted, a mass of references to American ex-
ample on other than strictly constitutional questions might
be added. They can be only summarized.
1 Liherte, Mar. 5.
^ Ibid., Apr. 14.
^ Ibid., Apr. 12.
^Sidcle, May 11.
5 Union, Sept. 7.
457] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 279
It was recognized that an intelligent use of the suffrage
required a great extension of elementary education, that the
intellectual average might be brought up to the high level it
had long held in America ; ^ printed ballots on the American
model were commended.^ The division of the population
into equal election districts, practised in America, sprang
from a state of society which had only towns and planta-
tions, no rural communes. The latter furnished the true
political unit for France. Municipal spirit was the germ of
public spirit.' This occurred in an article favoring indirect
election to the Assembly. But further, local self-govern-
ment found advocates for its own sake. The American and
English type of municipal organization was commended.*
Lamennais* scheme, based on the communal unit, was
praised, publicists having '' long recognized that the demo-
cratic liberty of the United States was founded on the
organization of the commune." ^ A week later, however,
this paper changed its tone and Lamennais' prohibition of
central interference in departmental affairs was condemned
as an institution of Swiss cantons or American states.^
The reading of the first draft of the constitution disap-
pointed many of both wings; in fact, only the government
party (whom we have called liberals) professed satisfaction.
One conservative paper declared that a far more rigid mon-
archy had really been established than under Louis XIV or
Napoleon. Liberty of instruction and of conscience had
ceased to exist. Other liberties were no better treated.
" The citizen of the United States is free, because the
1 National, Mar. 13.
2 Gazette de France, Mar. 9.
3 Ihid., Mar. i.
^ Revue britanniquc, vol. 14, p. 393; vol. 16, p. 238.
5 National, May 5.
6 Ibid., May 12.
28o 'THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-^^g
whole power of the state can do nothing against his right.
. . . CentraHzation and Hberty are mutually exclusive." In
the new plan, the provinces were under the complete control
of Paris. The strong executive will almost certainly revive
the empire. This would be impossible in the United States,
where the force of the central power is nothing in compar-
ison with that of the thirty states. Mr. Polk has no more
idea of crowning himself than would a simple citizen under
our late dynasty.^
The American railroad policy, by which great lines had
been built by private capital and the management left in the
hands of private corporations, was defended against govern-
ment construction.^ A strict limitation of governmental
functions in the interest of individual liberty was repeatedly
urged. On the other hand, government-ownership advo-
cates found that American example was not wholly against
them. It will be said that
the United States, that classic land of liberty, that refuge if
it is not the cradle of all democracy, the United States have
comprehended that it was necessary to favor, to second great
enterprises; America is furrowed with railroads, not one of
them belongs to that republic. All belong to companies which
have obtained the exploitation of them in perpetuity. This is
true only within certain limits, for the politicians of the United
States have imposed on the companies the privilege of repur-
chase.^
Ledru-Rollin, opposing the system of a bond required
from each newspaper as a guarantee of good behavior,
praised the American free press, where the very number of
1 Univers, June 20.
"^Journal des dehats, May 22; Constitutionnel, Univers, May 22; ibid.,
June 9 ; Opinion publique, June 22.
^National, May 30.
459] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 281
conflicting newspapers and the excesses to which they were
permitted to run annulled all their power for evil. His view
was regarded as ill-founded, because France's centralization
would greatly increase the possibility of their harmful influ-
ence/ The excesses of the American press were reprinted
from Capt. Marryatt's diary, in the interest of the financial
bond plan.^ The free-press party drew a very different pic-
ture of the American situation from A. Murat's Esquisses
morales et politiques des Etats-Unis de VAmeriqiie, Tocque-
ville's Democratie, and Chassan's Traites des delits et con-
traventions de la parole, de Fecriture et de la presse.^
The Journal des dehats published an article against the
clubs which called forth from the government organ in reply
an unusually clear statement of the liberal feeling toward
the conservatives.
There is much talk there about America, about England, about
Washington, about Quincy Adams, and in fact it is France,
it is the February revolution, it is the sacred right of meeting,
of association, of political discussion, which there has been
very evident desire to place in question. Tomorrow, with
the same arms, with the same sophistries, the same skill in
misrepresenting facts, either the freedom of the press will be
attacked or some other element of republican organization,
and we shall be altogether astonished, thinking to model our-
selves on America, to find ourselves again under the empire
of those laws so well exploited by the former patrons of the
journal to which we refer.
The statement had been made that no clubs existed in
America, that in England they meant something quite dif-
ferent and that no free government could co-exist with them.
1 Univers, Aug. 9.
2 Revue britannique, vol. 16, p. 408.
3 Repuhlique, Aug 9.
282 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^q
The doctrine is certainly not novel. It is the same which
Messrs. Guizot and Duchatel professed when before the
Chamber of 1848, they attacked the reformist banquets with
which the left menaced them. Only it presents itself better
disguised than it was then, with a republican apparatus and
under the unexpected patronage of Washington.
Then followed a long discussion of the freedom of assembly
allowed in the American constitution, of Washington's
treatment of his political enemies, by appeal to American
good sense rather than by force, of the ease with which a
newspaper advertisement could call a public meeting, of the
party organization and political conventions which took the
place of the clubs. The Whigs, Loco-focos, Barnburners
and Hunkers were to the Paris clubs as the giant to the
dwarf, the block of granite to the dust of the streets.^
To which the sharp retort was made :
W^e published yesterday {sic) an article on the role that the
clubs played in America, and how they no longer play it,
thanks to Gbd and thanks to the good sense of the country.
The National would see in that article a disguised attack on
the absolute liberty of the clubs in France. The National is
deceived in only one point: our attack is not disguised. We
did not cite America to conceal our thought; we cited it as
an example in support of what we think.^
The American system of taxation was expounded with
approval.^
American religious liberty was loudly praised by the
Catholic papers.
Decimated by Muscovite despotism, vilified by Austrian des-
potism, oppressed by the false liberalism of the so-called con-
1 National, July 5.
2 Journal des debats, July 6.
3 Ibid., July 9.
46l] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 283
stitutional princes of Germany, she (the Church) hardly
breathed in France and in England where it was sought to
make of her an instrument of government. She is entirely
free only in the great and glorious republic of the United
States.^
Catholic success in the United States was considered strik-
ing; ^ it was due to the separation of Church and State. '^
It remained for the radical Charivari to fling a gibe at the
Puritanical American Sunday, and to sound the warning:
" Let us beware of making our republic as boresome as the
republic of the United States." *
In addition to editorial references, special articles were
published on America, usually but not always in a favorable
sense.
The text of the United States constitution was printed in
various newspapers. The Presse devoted a page and a third
to it, prefacing its article with the significant note : "At the
moment when the National Assembly is about to meet, we
have thought that the following document, translated by
two Americans, would be read with interest, in spite of its
length." Then followed a history of the formation and
ratification of the constitution, concluding with the state-
ment :
The United States alone present the example of republican,
democratic institutions applied with success on a large scale:
they alone have put beyond controversy the fact, continually
denied, that a nation placed politically and commercially in
the first rank among the powers of the world, with a large
population, a great area, including a great variety of climates,
1 Univers, Feb. 27. Cf. ibid., May 7, May 29; tre nouvelle, Pros-
pectus, July 29.
^ Ere nouvelle, Sept. 14.
^Liberie, June 14.
* Charivari, May 7.
284 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r .53
of products and local interests, may be frankly, truly repub-
lican, democratic; they alone have proved that a great people
may govern itself ! ... At this moment, when France is in
agitation, when thrones are falling, when all Europe is in re-
bellion, and when old populations are preparing to adopt new
and better forms of government, it may be useful to know
the political and civil institutions which the republic of the
United States possesses.
This was signed " W. W. M." Then came a brief account
of the nature of the federal government, and finally the con-
stitution in full, with short, explanatory notes. ^
The Siecle printed a history and analysis of the constitu-
tion, without comment.^
Three months later another summary of the provisions
of the federal constitution was given as the first of three
articles entitled '' Etats-Unis d'Amerique. — Constitutions
Americaines." A prefatory note described the great growth
of the country. The four states, whose constitutions would
be omitted in these articles, Florida, Arkansas, Michigan
and Texas, seemed to have copied Missouri.^ Three of the
four retained the plague of slavery. In all the state consti-
tutions the system of checks and balances was maintained,
the executive confided to an elective, temporary ofiicer, the
bicameral system universal except in Vermont, judges of
high rank irremovable, justices of the peace chosen for only
a few years.* In the second article, the constitutions of
Maine and New Hampshire were summarized ; ^ in the third,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and
1 Presse, May i.
^Siecle, May 15.
3 This statement indicates an original intention to publish a greater
number of articles.
* Siecle, Aug. 28.
^ Ibid., Sept. II-
463] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 285
New York.^ This third article commenced : *' A vast re-
public, which for sixty years has given the world a brilliant
proof of the energy and value of democratic institutions, is
the most useful subject of study which one could offer at
this moment to the statesmen of France." The source of
its information was given as an Essai statistique et politiqice
published by A. de Morineau.
A summary of the federal constitution was published as
a quotation from the journal Droits without comment.^
Another summary, though incomplete, was printed in
La Liherte, which announced its intention of publishing the
three French republican constitutions and that of the United
States, believing that the Assembly would find *' precious
materials " in them. To this was appended an historical
and an analytical comment. The latter emphasized federal-
ism as the dominant principle, dwelt on the dual legislative
system, the mode of election and triple function of the Sen-
ate (legislative, judicial in connection with impeachment,
administrative in its surveillance of treaties and nomina-
tions) , the mode of election and purely legislative function
of the House, the prohibition of members holding other re-
munerative public offices, the duties and powers of the exec-
utive. In conclusion it was said : " There may be excellent
things to take from that constitution, but it should be said
that in great part it would not be appropriate to a unitary
republic, as the French republic must be." ^
x\ history and analysis of the American constitution ap-
peared as the fourth of a group of articles, " Des constitu-
tions de la France depuis 1791 et de quelques constitutions
etrangeres." *
1 Siccle, Sept. 17.
~ Gaz-ctte de France, Mar. 26,
^Liberie, May 3.
4 Constitutionnel, Apr. 29.
286 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r .5.
But in addition to these reprints of the constitution, with
or without comment, some of the papers published special
series of articles on a much more elaborate scale.
The most important of these were the studies united
under the title " Etudes sur la Constitution des Etats-Unis "
by Michel Chevalier ^ in the Journal des dehats. They ap-
peared on May 25, June 6, 15, 22, July 4, 11, 22, Oct. 9, 20,
Dec. 7, 12, occupying ordinarily about four columns on the
front page.
Chevalier's eulogy of America was quite unbounded, re-
markable even in that day of extravagant expressions. In
his introductory article, he said :
At this moment when France ... is occupied in making a
republican constitution, all eyes turn toward the United States.
This association of flourishing and already populous republics,
important for the space they occupy on the map, remarkable
for the diffusion they have given to knowledge among them,
for the extent of their commerce, the advance of all their
industries, the abundance of their capital, is indeed a natural
example {point de mire) for a great people which is under-
taking to constitute itself as a republic.
Its similar civilization, lively sympathy, admirable solution
of the problem of welfare, civil and political equality, were
all powerful claims to their attention and respect. Its future
greatness and importance were incalculable. His most
ardent wish for France was that her people might rapidly
cover the really great distance between their manner of ex-
istence and that of the Americans. " The political mechan-
ism of North America is, of its kind, the most reasonable
that men have conceived and applied up to this day. ... It
is, then, not I who will dissuade my compatriots from select-
ing the United States as model." He only wished to point
1 Cf. supra, p. loi.
465] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 287
out how much they would have to do for themselves before
" the magnificent instrument of the constitution of the
American Union " or one of the states could be really of
service to them. They must study how far a constitution
a Vamericaine was permitted to them, " whatever desire we
may have to possess one in such conformity with pure
reason." ^
Similar expressions can be found on almost any page of
Chevalier's articles. " In regard to law, up to the present
we have had a very different attitude from that of the
Americans. There is, however, no middle ground: either
we must renounce ours to take theirs, or we shall have to
renounce liberty." ^ " The struggle now in France is be-
tween those who want a republic on the model of the United
States, except for the differences which the diversity of
national genius requires, and those who consider the terror-
ist policy of the Convention as the expression of the most
elevated, noblest and purest republican policy." If history
was to show that this French republic justified what wise
men expected of her, she must have abjured the traditions
of 1793 and '* demanded her inspiration, not from that un-
happy epoch, but from the glorious republic which is grow-
ing every day on the other shore of the Atlantic ; . . . the
only patrons in the skies for a modern republic are the
Washingtons, the Franklins and the patriotic phalanx who
surrounded them." *
These are only typical utterances.
Chevalier's interest was social, as well as constitutional,
as the following outline of his articles shows.
1 Journal des dehats, May 25.
^Ihid., June 6.
^Ihid., Oct. 10.
288 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 |-^^55
I
1. Introduction: America as model.
2. Difference of religion in America and France.
a. The fact : former Protestant, latter Catholic.
b. The results : ( i ) Protestantism conduces to self-
government; Catholicism, monarchical and central-
izing. (2) Americans more zealous in religion.
(3) Resultant purer morals. (4) Good morals
produce strong political convictions, e. g., Amer-
ican confidence in republicanism and Anglo-Saxon
supremacy. ( 5 ) Legal oath religiously binding.
3. Religion superior to philosophy as creative force.
4. Relative decline of Catholic powers.
5. Will 1848 prove a Catholic renaissance?
II
RESPECT FOR LAW
1. An Anglo-Saxon trait.
2. Exceptions: (a) Western America; (b) Aaron Burr;
(c) lynch law; (d) waves of crime in cities; (e) polit-
ical demagogues. But general rule holds.
3. Law-abiding character of pre-revolutionary protests to
George III.
4. Resultant respect for new constitution.
5. Careful provisions for amendment.
6. Difference between " the people " and " the mob."
7. Federal power aids states, but respects their liberty.
8. Supreme Court as guardian of constitution.
9. Dorr rebellion sole example of violence against a con-
stitution.
10. Absence of armed force.
1 1 . How Americans would have handled French crises of
1814, 1830 and 1848.
467] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 289
III
Washington's attitude toward the law
1. Need of just, strong men to preserve respect for law.
2. Washington's life as a continual homage to law.
3. As commander, sustained unpopular laws of Congress.
4. His action at time of Lancaster troops' mutiny.
5. His action in whiskey rebellion.
6. His action in Andre question.
7. Contrast with men of 1848.
IV
RESPECT FOR CONTRACTS
1. Plan of French government to purchase railroads.
2. American constitution's prohibition of state laws impair-
ing obligation of contracts.
3. Violation of contracts under Confederation; attitude of
Federalist.
4. Power of Supreme Court to compel observance of con-
stitution.
5. Development of principle (cases cited from Kent and
Story) :
(a) Fletcher vs. Peck, 1795. (b) Delaware Indian
reservation's sale by New Jersey, 1804. (c) Dart-
mouth College case.
6. How America would deal with French railroad situation.
7. Repudiation of interest on debts by certain states in 1837
an exception.
8. America moves toward individual prosperity more hon-
orably and surely than does communism.
290 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r .53
V
THE CLUBS
1. Right of free speech and press guaranteed in constitu-
tion ; right to bear arms in additional articles.
2. Temperate use of these privileges.
3. Political meetings and banquets; no permanent clubs;
possible exception of Tammany Hall.
4. Former menace of political societies :
(a) Introduced by Genet after Jacobin model, (b)
Genet's dismissal, but spread of societies, (c) Wash-
ington's struggle against them, (d) Adams' Alien
and Sedition laws, (e) Died out under Jefferson,
from public disapproval rather than legal pressure, (f )
No political clubs on French model in England, (g)
Self-restraint of Americans, (h) Danger of clubs for
France.
VI
TWO CHAMBERS IN CONGRESS
1. The American regime:
(a) Adams' refutation, (b) Action of Convention of
1787. (c) Adoption of dual system by states, (d)
Axiomatic in America today.
2. Prestige of single chamber :
(a) Turgot; (b) Pennsylvania; (c) fear of EngHsh
example; (d) dual system adopted in spite of, not be-
cause of English example; (e) loose federal authority
later changed, on proof of inadequacy.
3. Fact that France is not federal, really an argument for
dual system, because of greater mass of legislation re-
quired.
4. Equal representation of states, not original cause for
dual system in America.
469] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 29I
5. Authorities for dual system:
(a) Adams; (b) Memoirs of members of Convention
(esp. Madison) ; (c) Federalist,
6. Arguments of Federalist:
(a) Eminence of Senate guaranteed by (i) smaller
number, (2) longer tenure, (3) mode of election ; (b)
increased security against plots; (c) passions calmed;
(d) deeper knowledge of politics; (e) greater stability
and sense of responsibility.
7. Method of electing Senate.
8. Bicameral system in larger cities for municipal govern-
ment.
9. Corner-stone of American system; England; constitu-
tion of year III.
VII
HOW THIS CONSTITUTION WAS MADE
1. Differences among colonies.
2. Union against France and later against England.
3. Loose character of Confederation due to dread of tyr-
anny.
4. Financial failure of Confederation after war.
5. Constitution estabHshed.
(a) Its work: it made a nation, though still federal.
(b) Its success : due to the character of the people.
VIII
paper-money; financial system of FRENCH CONVENTION
1 . Prohibition by Congress of emission of paper by states ;
joy of Madison expressed in Federalist.
2. Depreciation of Continental paper-money during war.
3. Further emission of paper after war; its depreciation.
4. Supreme Court holds Missouri certificates unconstitu-
tional.
292 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 v.y^
5. Opposition to paper-money extends even to banknotes,
though these are not real paper-money, being (a) im-
mediately redeemable, (b) taken at will.
6. Jackson tried to establish metal money alone.
7. Bank-notes (a) useful in advancing civilization, (b)
failing to provide due guarantees for specie redemption
became true paper-money, causing crisis of 1837.
8. Paper-money proposed in France now, but system of
assignats and maximum, tried under Revolution, failed.
9. Men of Terror idealized today; in reality, scoundrels.
10. Cambon did not invent assignats, merely used them less
disastrously than others ; real basis of paper-money the
Mens nationally, acquired by laws of death and confis-
cation.
11. Misery under tyranny of Convention.
12. True model not Convention, but American republic;
secret of its success, " Love of labor and respect for
the laws."
IX
HOW LIBERTY IS UNDERSTOOD AND PRACTISED IN THE
UNITED STATES
1. Perverted notions of liberty elsewhere.
2. American freedom of person by habeas-corpus :
(a) English foundation of principle; (b) general
statement in constitution; (c) development in state
laws; (d) truth of facts examined, statement of de-
taining authority not accepted at face-value; (e) par-
allelism between English and American legislation;
(f) partial lack of these guarantees in France, total
lack in Turkey; (g) possible suspension of writ in case
of public need, so far unused; cases of Burr and
J Jackson.
47 1 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 293
3. American customs laws do not permit visites a corps
[personal examination of suspected smugglers].
4. Imprisonment for debt abolished, even in refusal to
honor commercial paper ; such refusal would ruin a busi-
ness man.
5. No domiciliary visits permitted except with much for-
mality.
6. No lodging of troops among citizens required.
X
ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT
1. Multiple head under Confederation; Congress while in
session, committee at other times.
2. President adopted under constitution; fitness of Wash-
ington for this post.
3. Constitutional provisions as to President's function.
4. Votes in convention which framed constitution :
(a) defeat of president's council and of life tenure;
(b) adoption of seven-year term, election by Congress,
no re-eligibility; (c) revision adopts electoral college,
chosen by legislatures; (d) election restored to Con-
gress; (e) present system adopted.
5. Modifying considerations and subsequent developments :
(a) four-year term thought too short, re-election ex-
pected to be the rule; illusion; (b) election by Con-
gress thought to open way for intrigue and executive
dependence on legislature; (c) despite quiet and small
size of towns, popular suffrage not considered; man-
ner of choosing electors left to each state; (d) South
Carolina only state in which people do not now choose
electors ; some states elect by districts, giving minority
representation ; usually local pride forces general vote,
to make state vote a vinit; (e) electors expected to be
294 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-4^2
calmly independent ; now mere party machines ; people
really decide; (f) inclusion of Senators in estimate of
due number of electors, and vote by states when House
must decide, concessions to small states.
6. House has decided election twice.
7. Vice-President's function: (a) his deciding vote a con-
cession to states' jealousy of one another; (b) change in
election since 1804.
8. Inferior foresight, but superior stability of Americans
in constitutional matters.
XI
ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT. PREPARATORY DISCUSSIONS.
CONVENTIONS. FAVOR ENJOYED BY MILITARY CAN-
DIDATES. SINCERITY OF ELECTIONS
1 . Change of electoral college in practice.
2. Designation of candidates :
(a) by caucus, (b) by convention.
3. The convention :
(a) rapidity of its action and lack of acquaintance of
members a guarantee against cabals; (b) party dis-
cipline accepts choice; (c) contrasting party disorgan-
ization in France; (d) general excellence of conven-
tion's choice.
4. The mihtary presidents :
(a) due to unequal education in different states and
dazzling nature of militarism for uneducated; (b) due
to jealousy and calumny of real leaders {e. g. Clay).
5. Electoral frauds:
(a) growth of cities; (b) immigration of inferior for-
eign stocks; (c) allegations of fraud in Clay- Polk
election; (d) inadequate safeguards of purity of bal-
lot; (e) a real danger for America and even more for
473] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 295
European imitators, Europe's vices being more deeply
rooted.
This series of articles by Chevalier attracted wide atten-
tion. Its progress was noted and discussed. One paper
presented an analysis of the article on the bicameral system.^
Another remarked :
The Journal des dehats is still at its studies on the constitu-
tion of the United States. Revolutions do not change it, street-
battles do not make it interrupt an article once commenced.
What we read in its columns in the month of May, we find
there at the end of July. M. Michel Chevalier is informing
us today how the Yankee constitution was made. The article
has four full columns."
A satirical article appeared, entitled Le Sabbat du Frere
Michel, ridiculing Chevalier's philosophizing on religious
conditions, and concluding :
You should not have condemned the constitutional monarchy
after only thirty years of experiment. That " only " is ador-
able! That "only" betrays you, brother Michel; believe, us,
leave your homilies about Sunday and cease disguising your-
self as an Anglo-Saxon to preach in the Journal des debats.
You are not and you never will be anything but a constitu-
tional royalist, brother Michel Chevalier.^
The same paper published a burlesque Chevalier article
with the same title as the original, in which the cup-and-
saucer story was given as the real origin of the bicameral
system and a political evolution represented as taking place
in the northern and western states
1 Siecle, July 17.
2 tre nouvelle, July 2^.
3 Charivari, May 26.
296 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r^^.^
toward the ideas of order and conservatism represented by
the monarchical formula. ... It is useless to dissimulate^
the Americans have long understood the inconveniences of
democracy. Quite a powerful party has even been formed at
New Yorck {sic) to offer the crown to Prince Louis Napoleon.
By a lingering amour-propre the Yankees do not yet dare to
raise openly the standard of constitutional monarchy, but the
moment is not distant when these last scruples will disappear.
Et nunc intelligife, you who would found a republic in France.^
Chevalier's chair in the College de France was suppressed
(though before the articles began), and the antipathy of
the radicals was so well known that their chief organ felt it
necessary to deny as an unworthy calumny the rumors that
his dismissal was the reply of Louis Blanc to Chevalier's
attacks on his doctrines.^
Another series of articles was that by Clarigny in the
Constitutionnel of June 5, 10, 24, July 3, Sept. 5, 11, Oct.
1 1, under the title " Des Institutions republicaines en France
et aux Etats-Unis."
His general point of view is made sufficiently clear by an
extract from his first article in which he expresses his wish
to discuss how far this American constitution,
one of the least imperfect works that has proceeded from
human hands, is applicable to our state of society with our
political customs. . . . What pleases us especially in the con-
stitution of the United States is the minute care, the scrupu-
lous attention that American legislators have employed not
to touch human liberty needlessly and to respect as far as pos-
sible the fullness of the rights of the citizen. This is the
example which our legislators should have perpetually before
their eyes. Without speaking indeed of communism and of
socialism, which, leading to absolute centralization, are the
^ Charivari, July 12.
^Reforme, Apr. 16.
475] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 297
very negation of liberty, one cannot disguise the fact that
ideas of an exaggerated centralization prevail among the men
in power today, and are the dearest dreams of the school
which pretends to govern.^
The first of the articles was " On the rights of the state."
It discussed from the standpoint of political theory the true
function of the state, the two opposite dangers, excess of
liberty and excess of centralization, the American emphasis
on the former, the French on the latter.
The second article, " On the division of powers," ex-
pounded autocracy and demagogy (direct popular govern-
ment) as alike failures, being hostile to the true principle of
delegated authority; the centralist school secures equality,
but not liberty ; power must be divided as well as delegated,
the judiciary being co-ordinate with the other two branches ;
exaggeration of executive power, as in Lamennais' scheme,
easily leads to the tyranny of a Jackson, pretending to rep-
resent the people against the bourgeoisie, with possible power
greater than a king; if the legislative elects the executive, it
in turn becomes too powerful ; the American constitution is a
good example of Montesquieu's sound philosophy ; the state
constitutions also illustrate it, as Maryland, the Carolinas,
Georgia, Virginia, Massachusetts; thus American practice
supports the contention of the liberal school.
The third article, " On the legislative power," expounded
the advantages of the dual system in preventing the tyranny
of a single assembly, delaying hasty legislation, preventing
plots and providing stability, closing with Washington's
position on the matter.
The fourth article, also " On the legislative power," re-
futed objections to the dual system (that it had no meaning
except in a federal system, being a mere reunion of ambas-
1 Constitutionnel, June 5.
298 I'^E, FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^y^
sadors, and that if the two chambers are composed of the
same elements, one will be useless, if of different elements,
one will be aristocratic), replying to the former that the
Senate has power of initiating legislation, to the latter, that
the dilemma is purely theoretical. The remainder of the
article described the organization of American Senates and
suggested a possible French arrangement along similar lines
(the department being the unit and election made by muni-
cipal councils or by representatives of manufacture, agri-
culture and commerce) ; the dual system retained eminent
men in public life and was well adapted to try impeach-
ments ; the council of state was no proper substitute.
The fifth article, " On the executive power," pointed out
that the executive must be strong enough to maintain order,
yet powerless against liberty, which made its proper organ-
ization the greatest difficulty in a constitution; that in
Athens the executive perished under demagogy, in Rome
it became all-powerful ; that the Consulate and the Directory
proved the necessity of unity ; that an executive council has
all the faults of a multiple executive and was eliminated by
New York at its first revision; that the American solution
of the appointment problem, whereby the President chooses
his ministers and personal agents freely, while the Senate
confirms judges, diplomats and others having more personal
initiative, is a happy one; that a single chamber is not
adapted for such confirmation.
The sixth article, continuing the same subject, held that,
as in America, the President should command the army and
navy, prohibition of such command being no safeguard
against usurpation ; that except in amnesties he should have
power of pardon without intervention of minister of jus-
tice or council of state, which brought the case into politics ;
should have right of receiving ambassadors and negotiating
treaties with aid of Senate, right of promulgating laws and
477] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 299
of suspensive veto ; should be empowered to summon extra-
ordinary sessions of the legislature, rather than leaving it
in the hands of a committee of the latter, as in the French
project.
The seventh article, concluding the study of this office
and ending the series, praised the American executive as an
independent, effective power, having unity of person, direct
and universal election, a four-year term with indefinite pos-
sibility of re-election and a veto against all legislation passed
by a bare majority; considered the new French office indefi-
nite, despite universal election and the four-year term, his
only clear function being promulgation of laws, with a
futile right of demanding a new deliberation ; held that the
very vagueness of his functions added to the single chamber
and centralization might easily lead to usurpation; hence
came demand for his election by the Assembly; the argu-
ments in support were the agitation of popular elections,
evil effects of party spirit, possible opposition between inde-
pendent President and Assembly or his tyranny over latter ;
arguments against were destruction of executive power,
separation of powers ignored, inevitable legislative tyranny,
these being conclusive; that the four-year interval before
re-election in the new project was bad, for mobility of
events would preclude re-elections and it was not fitting that
the President hold minor offices in the interim; the Amer-
ican four-year term was a mean between that of the House,
whose entire renewal gave chance for protest, and that of
the Senate, whose permanence meant stability; that re-elec-
tion was a stimulus to excellence and reward of merit, the
tendency of democracies being to shorten terms; repeated
arguments against election by the Assembly, pointing out
the nominal character of the American electoral college;
and ended by showing the importance of the Vice-President
in America and his futility under the French project, which
debarred him from succession.
300 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 j-^^g
Regis de Trobriand had a short series in the Presse,
called " Etude sur la constitution generale des Etats-Unis
d'Amerique," appearing May 12, 13.
The first study was on the legislative power, the second
on the executive, both being resumes of the American sys-
tem rather than elaborate discussions of the Chevalier and
Clarigny type.
Trobriand was also an enthusiast and commenced his
article thus :
All that concerns the United States is today of high interest.
. . . The United States of America are without contradiction
the glorious, pure cradle of modern democracy. . . . What
is the secret of this unexampled progress? ... It is the con-
stitution of the state, a magnificent work which has developed
all instincts, encouraged all enterprises, safeguarded all rights
and given scope to genius of every sort.
Study of this great nation, known here so little because of
English jealousy, is of peculiar value at the present; Toc-
queville and Chevalier have written on it. The federal sys-
tem forbids complete application of its constitution here;
we shall study only institutions capable of adaptation to
our purpose.^
A series appeared in Ui:re nouvelle, July 17, 23, 30, 31,
Sept. 5,^ under the caption, " Etudes sur la constitution. —
Pouvoir executif et legislatif." While a study of the
French constitution, references to the American document
are numerous and the second article is practically a com-
parison of the two. This article contained the interesting
passage :
We are hardly out of monarchy; and as if we were slaves,
1 Presse, May 12.
2 This was the sixth article ; the fifth is missing.
479] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 301
freshly emancipated, we pretend that there is not on the earth
a people which can equal us in popular doctrines and institu-
tions. Up to the present, the example of North America re-
mained for the boldest thinkers, a sort of ideal beyond which
vague dreams of our liberty hardly strayed. The success of
the United States and their growing prosperity since the war
of independence, were the favorite argument and privileged
example, which the greatest liberals of Europe placed com-
placently before the adoration of their thinking. One could
not even make them concede what seemed evident to sensible
minds, that the republican forms of the Union, because of
profound differences of history, customs, territory and national
temperament, might be beyond the strength and needs of
France. But on the 23rd of February, 1848, all the least
anticipated desires of our republicans de la veille would have
certainly been contented, by permitting them to apply the
political forms of North America immediately on French
ground. Today their improvised application seems no longer
to content anyone among us. What still suffices for the growth
and liberty of the United States, long since republican, already
suffices no longer for the destinies of France, recently mon-
archical, which has not yet written the first formula of its
new republicanism.
Examples follow at considerable length, the American sys-
tem of indirect presidential election being contrasted with
the new French essay at universal suffrage, " under the
radical inspiration of M. Louis Blanc," the age-limit, resi-
dence qualification, suspensive veto, constitutional amend-
ment clauses, executive command of army and navy, and
two-chamber provisions of the American document com-
pared to their advantage with the corresponding arrange-
ments of the proposed French constitution. " What we
have just said suffices to show with what systematic and
quite French preoccupation our legislators have determined
to differentiate themselves from America." ^
1 tre nouvelle, July 23.
302 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^gQ
In addition to studies already mentioned/ the Siecle
printed an " Essai sur les principes democratiques qui peu-
vent regir la France republicaine " by Major Poussin. The
burden of this essay, as may be supposed, was :
Adopt first the great principles of the American constitution ;
they have been tested for more than three quarters of a
century, in the midst of the most critical as well the most
varied circumstances, through which that great nation has
been called to pass : they have perfectly responded to the exi-
gencies of war and of peace, to grave party differences, to
commercial crises, to territorial jealousies, finally to the radical
division of opinion which separates free from slave labor.
These and other considerations commended the adoption of
the great American principles, which he proceeded to enu-
merate as follows: equal rights of all to liberty, security,
property, education; popular sovereignty; universal, direct
suffrage; the right of bearing arms; universal eligibility to
office; incompatibility of legislative and other office; liberty
of conscience, separation of Church and State; liberty of
teaching ; free instruction in all grades ; liberty of press and
of public meeting ; local self-government, the central author-
ity providing for all national services; gradual reduction
of the army, but increase of the navy; encouragement of
art, industry, agriculture and commerce by periodical re-
ports and national aid; the executive, legislative and judicial
departments as provided for in the constitution; trial by
jury; no council of state; taxation on uniform, not progres-
sive basis. Then followed a discussion of how far these
principles are adaptable to French conditions, in the course
of which he refuted the aristocracy argument against the
Senate; showed the similarity of customs and character in
the two countries, from their common base of popular sov-
1 Supra, p. 284 et seq.
48i] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 303
ereignty assured by universal suffrage, their common con-
trol of public force through the militia idea and their com-
mon social equality, based on testamentary laws; indicated
that the inferior condition of French labor might be im-
proved by reducing taxes on food-stuffs; suggested that
African conquests may be to France what Texas is to
America, by giving room for expansion and furnishing new
products ; insisted that popular education in France must be
brought up to the American standard ; and concluded : " I
maintain that France may receive a democratic organiza-
tion almost similar to that of the United States, while pre-
serving for the republic the unitary character which consti-
tutes the glory, the power, the prosperity of our country and
the fairest title of our nationality !" ^
Three papers appeared in the Journal for Aug. 14, 17, 27,
entitled " Les Etats-Unis et la France democratique," bear-
ing the signature, L. Xavier Eyma. The first two were
social rather than constitutional. The opening article stated
as a general premise that " at this moment many people in
France are turning their attention to the New World/'
some hoping to borrow illumination from the hearth of
liberty, others wondering in terror if a republic is a safe
form of government. '' I do not wish to say that human
perfection has sought refuge in the United States, concen-
trating there on a few million individuals, to the detriment
of the rest of the universe." But it cannot be denied that
calmness of reason, love of material and mental order, a
patriotism which sacrifices personal to general interests and
an ardent national amour-propre are characteristic of Amer-
icans and form part of the secret of their national greatness,
which deserves careful scrutiny by French students. With
this introduction, he discussed the facts of American pros-
1 Steele, May 26.
304 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^g2
perity, its immense energy, the happy relations of social
classes, and adduced as cause the immense opportunity for
labor and the high esteem in which it was held.
The second paper was a glowing description of elections
in the United States, their calmness, lack of serious party
conflict, acceptance of the verdict, etc.
The third discussed presidential elections, the electoral
college and its evolution into a machine for registering the
popular will, re-elections, requirements for office and the
convention system, ending with the statement that the in-
terest of the masses was more attached to the state, its con-
stitution being more democratic than that of the Union,
which came into little contact with daily life; the educated
classes and the press were more interested in federal
matters.
Several months later an unsigned article, but apparently
by the same author, called " Les Etats-Unis et la France
democratique ; Quelques lignes d'histoire'* came out, en-
couraging France by an account of the severe trials through
which America passed, her troubles with the Tories and
with her first inadequate form of government, before she
received " that great and fair constitution which today
protects the American Union," and how Washington and
Congress never lost hope in Providence or in republican
principles.^
A study " Du Pouvoir Executif " was made by G. Du-
four, " Avocat au Conseil d'Etat'' in a legal review, in
which much use was made of Tocqueville's Democratie.'
Not all of the series of articles so published were friendly
to America, however. The most conspicuously hostile was
that written by Felix de Courmont, called " Esquisse d'une
1 Journal, Oct. 23.
^ Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence, Nouv. Serie, vol, 10, pp.
141, 142, 330; vol. II, pp. 40, 41, 59, 60 n.
483] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 305
republique," in U Opinion piiblique for July 3, 9/ 12, 29,
Aug. 5, 10. If certain writers were prejudiced in favor of
America, Courmont was no less extravagant in his opposi-
tion. He was not only bitterly hostile, but his statements
were often absurdly inaccurate, or grossly exaggerated. He
mistranslated his English quotations, whether by accident
or wilfully. So a passage from Marshall's " Life of Wash-
ington," asserting that the constitution was ratified largely
on the character of its makers, he twisted to mean by dint
of personal pressure. A sentence from Harriet Martineau,
reading, " My book comes to an end, but I offer no conclu-
sion of my subject; American society itself constitutes but
the first pages of a great book of events, into whose progress
we can see but a little way, and that but dimly," he trans-
lated, " Mon oeuvre touche a sa fin, mais je ne pretendrai
aucune conclusion; la societe americaine forme les pre-
mieres pages d'un livre gros d'evenemens, ces pages sont
obscures et je n'y vois qu'une faible trace destinee au
pr ogres." ^
There is no special sequence of thought in his rambling
articles, which deal with social even more than constitu-
tional conditions.
In the first article, Courmont stated his problem as a
study of the question: Is the United States a model of
social progress ? Its answer required an examination of the
purity of its political customs and of its family life. Toc-
queville gives a false picture, fitting facts to his theories.
Government spies abound in ordinary life, there is the
utmost ease of arrest.
The article of July 9 portrayed the disillusionment of
immigrants, their plunder by swindlers, corruption of magis-
1 Numbered iii in the Opinion puhlique; the issues for July S, 6, 8
are missing from the file in the Bibl. Nat., Paris.
2 Opinion puhlique, July 29.
3o6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^^^
trates, horrors of prisons, legislation favoring the rich, pity
and justice being nothing against gold, and the contrasting
splendor of Nature.
The next article dealt with the lack of artistic apprecia-
tion, the amount of suffering in the United States, Con-
gress' denunciation of the Mexican War, an alleged re-
quirement of American laws that children be sent from
home at the age of nine to make their fortunes,^ asserted
that moral conditions were equal to the most dissolute
epochs of antiquity, that debts were commonly repudiated
(citing the case of Mississippi and the general bankruptcy
law of 1841), that Mexico was invaded from greed, that
the financial situation was perilous and electoral conditions
corrupt.
The letter of July 29 reviewed the evil social conditions
thus presented, and questioned whether the form of gov-
ernment could be as perfect as supposed ; the root difficulty
was a conflict between the aristocratic and democratic ele-
ments ; a good spirit existed at the time of the Declaration
of Independence, but Americans could not get rid of the
English taint ; the revolution was political not social ; liberty
insulted by continuance of slavery ; the constitution adopted
by frauds, the debts of the Confederation so great that tea
was taxed and discontent universal until Washington, a
pure and great man, presided over the " congres de Cin-
cinnatus," which adopted the constitution; after his death,
the banks became headquarters for intrigues of privilege,
then came bankruptcy and political corruption ; uneven rep-
resentation in the House shows an inequality, which makes
1 " Les lois de rOhio font un devoir aux peres de f amille de renvoyer
de chez eux leurs en f ants quand ils ont atteint I'age de neuf ans, a
moins qu'ils n'aient une fortune a leur donner. L'etat de TOhio n'est
pas le seul ou cette loi existe." This extraordinary statement was re-
peated in the Aug. 10 article.
485] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 307
impossible the fraternal spirit and other conditions named
by Washington as necessary to the country's existence; the
Senate is useless; the dual system came from England,
where it arose as a conflict between Saxons and Normans.
On Aug. 5, Courmont depicted the conflict between the
ideas of Washington and Adams, representing the English
system of money aristocracy; Adams' "Defence" held it
a vain idea to base liberty on virtue ; " who then can be
astonished that in the United States the poor is an object of
contempt, virtue a proof of feebleness, and Christian moral-
ity the dream of a sick imagination;" America is perhaps
good for the Irish, who thus escape the severer English
yoke, but ridiculous as a model for France; Aristotle's
middle class and the necessary belief in human perfectibility
are not found in the United States; there is no universal
suffrage; the Senate, chosen by indirect election, does not
represent the people; the two chambers were in Adams'
view a palliative to liberal ideas, till the time when nomina-
tions to the principal posts should be for life and finally
hereditary.
The concluding article renewed the discussion of political
corruption, supported here as elsewhere by concrete illus-
trations; stated that the egoist Adams by his maxim that
love of democracy and frugality were non-existent in a re-
public had sown on American soil cupidity, hypocrisy and
sacrilegious forgetfulness of family bonds; charged that
family affections were replaced by coldness and avarice,
that America was a land of perjury and that the jury in
civil matters was a farce.
A series of three letters by Aug. Billiard, addressed "Aux
auteurs du projet de constitution," was published in the
Reforme, in which various uncomplimentary references to
America were made. "The first condition of making a re-
publican constitution, is to be oneself republican." Is there
3o8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^g5
anything truly republican in the American system, which
unites a people's force and intelligence for one or two ob-
jects and divides them for the rest, a system productive of
egoism rather than fraternity and recalling the " chacun
chez soi et pour soi " of a so-called republican member of
the commission ? ^
In the third letter, he made the statement : " The delega-
tion of its powers which it [Congress] makes to the Presi-
dent, while it is not in session, is one of the capital vices of
the American constitution." ^
Two letters signed Duverne, avocat, appeared in the Bien
public for July 15 and Aug. 8, directed against the Amer-
ican bicameral system. The first explained it as an imita-
tion of English colonial charters and as due to the jealousy
of the small states; the second quoted Jefferson's Augean-
stable letter and refuted the arguments for the dual system,
much as had been done elsewhere.
The Constitutionnel, despite its strongly pro-x\merican
position, printed a series of six articles entitled " Les Re-
publicaines " by Alexandre Weill, in which he visited re-
publics, ancient and modern, with unsparing condemnation.
In the last of the series he admitted that " the American
republic, founded to safeguard national independence, is the
only one which, the day after its victory, thanks to Wash-
ington, gave thought to liberty." Its conservative admin-
istrative system and its great territories have preserved it
so far, but democratic elements are entering and trouble is
at hand.*
In the AssemhUe nationale appeared an " Examination
of the constitutional project," opposing the presidential sys-
1 Refornte, Sept. 22.
2 Ibid., Oct. 10.
^ Constitutionnel, Aug. 6.
487] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 309
tern as dangerous in view of the absence of checks and bal-
ances.
The watchword had been given after Feb. 24th by the friends
of the men who dreamed of presidency and dictatorship, per-
haps; this watchword was imitation of the United States re-
pubHc ; but in the United States (besides historical, geographic,
social differences, which make any comparison with France so
impossible), there is a president confronting two chambers,
that is to say there is that trinity of guarantees, which assures
a true, useful, pacific discussion. Have you transported these
guarantees into your constitutional project? Not in the least.
A single assembly, a useless council of state, mean a duel to
the death and the despotism of legislative or executive.
The comparison between the French republic and that of the
United States is then as false as was that of the representative
monarchy of the Bourbons of the older or younger branch
with the constitutional aristocracy of Great Britain. The
Bourbons of the two branches were lost by a false imitation
of English institutions, inapplicable to French civil society,
as the present republic would compromise itself by the copy
of American institutions, which do not agree with the national
character. So much the more, if in copying them, one should
leave out the few guarantees they would build up against the
excesses of French democracy. . . . Imitations make revolu-
tions. True institutions must be indigenous.^
Besides these series of articles, there were many single
letters on various phases of the American system.
Lamennais praised the presidential system. For sixty
years there had been no attempt at usurpation in America,
whose democracy had developed strength daily. " It seems
to us that this example has some weight." ^
1 Assemble e nationale, June 21.
^ Peuple constituant, May 24.
3IO THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^gg
The '' Comite Central du Droit National," representing
legitimist interests, proposed that the nation be polled on
the two-chamber and the executive questions, the latter
being phrased thus : " Is it desirable that the president of
the republic be named like the President of the United
States by the totality of Frenchmen, who should declare in
their vote, if it should be for a term, for life or by
heredity?"^
F. Saint-Priest, member of the Assembly, defended the
validity of American example on the bicameral question,
showing that the states and cities employed it as well as the
federal government, and quoting from "Adam" and "Lev-
ington " {sic) as typical American publicists.^
Universal suffrage in America was said by one Ferrari
to *' lay hold of the boldest projects, to realize them with
the suddenness of thought." ^
A long report on the American public school system by
Xavier E3^ma was reprinted in the Atelier of Apr. 12.
A " former magistrate," writing on the judiciary, called
attention " in the interest of liberty " to the fact that " in
Turkey the judges are removable; in the United States
they are not." *
The history of American land speculation was given at
considerable length by the Liberie of Aug. 27.
American prosperity w^as traced in part to the non-inter-
ference of the state in individual matters and in the un-
trammelled liberty to work, by Wolowski,^ J. Magne,® and
1 Gazette de France, Apr. 5.
2 Union, Sept. 25.
3 Peuple constituant, Mar. i.
* Univers, July 10.
^Steele, Mar. 20.
^ Revue britannique, vol. 16, p. 131.
489] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 311
Chevalier/ The latter also showed how the United States,
free from the demon of militarism, was able to devote vast
sums to material development," while the statistical account
of this progress was depicted by Cordier, member of the
Assembly, in glowing terms; " already the American Union
may be proclaimed heir presumptive of Britannic power." ^
" An American," in a four-column letter, dated New
York, Apr. 29, entitled " La liberte en Amerique," laid
great stress on local self-government and the development
of business corporations, commending also French interest
in the American constitution.*
Leon Faucher criticized unfavorably the absence of direct
legislative initiative on the part of the American adminis-
tration.^
The religious liberty prevalent in America was praised by
Cardinal Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons, in a pastoral cir-
cular to the clergy of his diocese,^ and by Montalembert,^
while Chevalier's first article in the Journal des dehats
started a controversy between the Protestant Semeiir, claim-
ing American success as the fruit of Protestant tolerance,
and the Catholic Ere nouvelle, which in two four-column
articles contrasted Bancroft's account of the intolerance of
colonial Virginia, Massachusetts and New York ^ with the
religious freedom of Catholic Maryland, ascribing the pres-
ent-day liberty of worship throughout the country to the
isolation of the original colonies, the influx of settlers from
1 Journal des dehats, June 2.
^ Revue des deux mondes, vol. 21, pp. 1083, 1085.
3 Gazette de France, Feb. 29.
* Univers, June 10.
5 Siecle, Oct. 9.
^ Univers, Mar. 4.
Uhid., Feb. 28.
s kre nouvelle, Oct. 23.
312 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^qq
all parts of Europe, the necessity of common defense against
the French and Indians and later against the English.^
Such were the chief special articles in the Paris press on
American example. Mention might also be made of a pos-
ter, placed on the walls by the "Association pour la liberte
des echanges," with the heading " Subsistances publiques.
La vie a bon marche," in which it was stated that the aver-
age ration of an Englishman was double that of a French-
man, and that of " a free citizen of the United States "
double that of an Englishman ; that the governments which
love their people have abolished all food taxes and that the
hand of a United States legislator would wither before it
would sign a law which would increase the price of meat or
bread.^ The identity of the last clause with language used
by Chevalier ^ suggests that the affiche was from his pen.
And at the other end of the scale, the members of the
Institute listened to Tocqueville reading a paper on a book
about Swiss democracy, in which his mode of treatment
was to compare the American and Swiss constitutions, to
the detriment of the latter.*
The most important books on America have already been
mentioned.^ A complete list will be found in the bibliog-
raphy. But some reference should be made here to the
motives inspiring the publication of a part of this literature
and to any fresh contribution of theory it may have made
to the subject.
At least a dozen pamphlets were published during 1848
containing the text of the United States constitution, either
"^ kre nouvelle, Oct, 30.
^ Murailles revolutionnaires, vol. i, p. 352.
^ Revue des deux mondes, vol. 21, p. 1085.
^Moniteur, Apr. 14, 18.
'^ Supra, ch. iii.
49 1 ] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 313
alone or bound with past French constitutions or, very
rarely, with those of other countries. The spirit of auch
publications may be gauged by reference to the preface of
several of these collections.
France is about to be called to give itself a republican con-
stitution. It is by study and meditation that preparation
should be made for so great and useful a work. . . . Under
these circumstances, I have thought it fitting to reunite in
one volume all the constitutions which have ruled France since
1789; the declaration of the rights and duties of man and the
citizen; the ordinances, decrees, proclamations of the pro-
visional government of 1848 and the constitution of the United
States of America. By means of the comparison of their
articles, it will be seen what are the great principles which
have successively passed through all our constitutions.^
But I perceive that I have implicitly settled an important
question, that of the adoption by France and its representatives,
of the United States form of government; as to that, I have
a complete, well settled conviction that we shall be forever
happy from such a decision. Therefore I humbly, but with
firmness, supplicate my fellow-citizens to make the candidates
for the deputation or the national representation explain them-
selves clearly, and to find out from them if they have fixed
ideas on the subject of the constitution to adopt, and of the
legislative and executive government which must be founded.^
The republic alone is henceforth possible. It exists, it is
accepted. It needs only to be founded on rational and durable
bases, a great and laborious task which demands experience
and foresight, knowledge of ancient and contemporary insti-
tutions, especially of national customs and tendencies.^
Sometimes the motive was more special, as in the case of
^ Louis Tripier, Les Constitutions frangaises, pref.
^Fabius Jalaber, Constitution des Etats-Unis d'Am^ique, p. 24,
3 J. B. J. Pailliet, Constitutions americaines e.t frangaises, p. xxxix.
314 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [^q^
the anonymous individual who produced his version of the
American constitution for twenty-five centimes, with the
declaration :
In publishing this translation, which the moderation of its
price places within the reach of all readers, our object has been
to show that American society, the most democratic of all
societies which have ever existed, has recognized the necessity
of two chambers : a Senate and a House of Representatives.^
Another anonymous translator, in publishing " the im-
mortal work of the Franklins, the Adamses, the Washing-
tons, which for sixty years has assured the prosperity and
well-being of an immense country," notes that "what domi-
nates in this constitution is the existence of three powers,
which sustain and fortify one another, but cannot act sep-
arately." ^ • ' ::^:|;
Occasionally the motive was less friendly.
We have joined to this constitution [of 1848] those which
have preceded it, and under the rule of which we have already
lived, God knows how, and that of the United States of
America, which has long been given us as the ne plus ultra
of this species. It goes without saying that we do not intend
to judge the merit of the work of the legislators who produced
them.^
"If we have added to the collection of French constitu-
tions the constitution of the United States, it is to diminish,
so far as possible, the number of those who talk on every
occasion of institutions about which they know nothing." *
Other pamphlets made use of American example, with-
1 Const, des Etats-Unis d'Amerique, p. ii.
2 La Republique des Etats-Unis, p. 3.
*G. de Champeaux, Constitution repuhlicaine de 1848, p. ii.
* M., Constitutions de la republique frangaise, p. iii.
493] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 315
out reprinting the entire text, in support of some constitu-
tional point or some ideal reconstruction, borrowing from
it as they saw fit.
So Pitray thought it the part of wisdom to take America
as model in three matters : the organization of the legisla-
tive and executive power, their election by the people, the
short duration of their term of office.^
Magne laid stress on the threefold division of powers
and would have a senate of 240 members elected indirectly
by departments for a six-year term, one-third renewed every
two years ; a house of 480 elected directly every two years
by small districts ; a president elected directly for five years ;
a judiciary for life; proper provision for amendments.^
Gamier criticized the American Senate's mode of elec-
tion and mobility as deficient in guarantees of capacity and
continuous policy; the lack of legislative membership for
ministers of state; the inversion of the initiative and veto,
the first of which should belong to the government ordinar-
ily, the second to the assembly. He applauded, however,
the single executive, the bicameral system, legislators' in-
eligibility to other office, removal of the judiciary from
politics by releasing it from all penalty except dismissal and
by the principle of permanency of tenure, which should be
extended by the formation of a real Civil Service.^
Chambrun wanted the president to be a neutral power,
above parties, holding the balance between the chambers;
in this respect the iVmerican system was faulty.*
America's financial system seemed to one writer to have
been conclusive for France.
1 Pitray, Que preferer, p. 7.
2 J. Magne, "lEsquisse d'une constitution" in Revue hritannique, vol.
15 (6th series), p. 153; published also separately.
3 A. Gamier, De V organization du pouvoir, p. 19.
* A. de Chambrun, La republique reformiste, p. 16, note.
3i6 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 r .g.
The English race presents the world the striking example of
two nations, equally prosperous and powerful, under two
totally opposite regimes. ... In one, in fact, no common debt,
and in consequence, absolute liberty and independence of the
citizen with respect to the authorities. In the other, a crush-
ing debt which rallies around the throne all the interests and
vital forces of the country. ... Of these two examples,
France has chosen that of the young American republic.^
More often the interest was purely constitutional.
The single executive and dual legislature as known in
America appealed to many.^ One enthusiast insisted : "The
senate of the French republic must be the reproduction of
the American Senate. Like the latter, it must participate
at once in the legislative, the executive and the judicial
power." ^
By others, the American practice in these matters was
condemned.* A peculiarly bitter attack on America, chiefly
from the social viewpoint, was made by an unreconstructed
legitimist, who borrowed the style and even the stories of
Felix de Courmont, not always giving due credit to his
source. The republic as a form of government was a retro-
grade step; "'But that of the United States,' some one
will say, ' has been maintained and strengthened ?' That is
true up to now. * It is a model government,' is added.
That is much more contestable." The constitution was
established by parliamentary trickery; it would never have
been sanctioned by the people, for it hurt too many inter-
1 F. A. Fournier Saint- Auge, Du rachat de la dette consolide par
30
I'impot foncier. Archives Nationales, BB 320
B.
2£. g., H. Colombel, Quelques reflexions, pp. 7, 11 ; Ate Nougarede de
Fayet, De la constitution republicaine, pp. 5, 9.
3 P. M. Le Mesl. Considerations, p. 8.
^E. g., L. Cormenin, Petit Pamphlet, pp. 15, 30; F. Berrlat Saint-
Prix, Plan de constitution, p. 19.
495] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 317
ests. Federalism, inequality, worship of the golden calf,
corruption, lack of art, absence of liberty were among
American characteristics.
And one would counsel us to implant the American republic
on the soil of the French monarchy? But it would first be
necessary to transform French character entirely, to extin-
guish its spirit, chill its imagination and break its memories.
That would be to forbid its glory. Could you grow an
Egyptian palm on the coasts of Norway? Could you make
a Spanish gipsy out of an English Methodist? Could you
build the famous ice palace from the banks of the Neva on
the border of the Hellespont? No. All these ideas are
absurd, all these chimeras are mad; and we shall be no more
American citizens than we could become Persian dervishes.^
Courmont, besides the series of newspaper articles, had
already written a book in 1847, savagely denouncing Amer-
ica, " that young graybeard which the worm of demagogy
is devouring under its purple mantle," yet which was un-
happily placed by certain people " not only on an equality
with France, but even above our beautiful country." ^ It is
interesting that these two unusually vicious attacks came
from the extreme right wing rather than the left.
Mention might also be made of one or two other books,
written before the February Revolution. One published in
1842 has the double interest of showing that America was
even then suggested as an object of study and that the Or-
leanists felt very differently about its validity, so long as
their own system was in operation.^ The author wished to
prove " that France is at least the equal of nations which
are proposed to it as models by publicists more skillful in
the art of speech than in knowledge of facts," nations built
1 vte D'Arlincourt, Dieu le veut, pp. 47-53.
2 Courmont, Des Etats-Unis, de la guerre de Mexique, p. 29 et seq.
3 On this point, cf. supra, p. 244.
3i8 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ^^g^
on crushing aristocracy or vulgar democracy, and that " to
judge by the avidity with which eulogy of the English par-
liamentary government or the American popular govern-
ment are received, one would think a great contempt existed
for our own institutions; but it is more reasonable to be-
lieve in a great ignorance of those same institutions." ^
On the other hand, in 1832, Murat had already written
that practical liberty was obtainable only in the United
States. " It is not the constitution and the laws of the
United States that I admire and love so much, as the reason
that brings it about that the United States have this consti-
ution and these laws. . . . This principle ... is that which
they call in America self-government.''' The July revolu-
tion had made only a small advance. Lafayette understood
republican institutions as he did, a Vamericaine. To Murat
these institutions meant destruction of political police, free
movement on the part of any citizen, election of represen-
tatives by the people, not by a bourgeois aristocracy, an elec-
tive senate in place of the Chamber of Peers, initiative of
legislators the ordinary method of presenting laws, a real
right of petition, responsibility of ministers and inferior
employes established, plural office-holding forbidden, com-
merce freed by abolition of monopolies and octrois, a system
of customs duties, protecting industry without forcing it in
unnatural routes, a detailed budget, abolition of sinecures
and useless expense, cessation of efforts to influence the
courts in political cases, something analogous to habeas
corpus, mandamus and quo warranto for the protection of
liberty, assurance of execution of laws and prevention of
usurpation, decentralization of communes, cities and even
departments, giving them the right to elect magistrates, dis-
pose revenues, and tax themselves if not interfering with
interior commerce, the replacing of the pleasure of gover-
1 Charles Farcy, Etudes politiques, ^. 11 et seq.
497] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 319
nors by the will of the governed, the adoption of a foreign
policy worthy of France, not meddling in the plots of kings,
not tying its hands with dogmas of intervention or the
opposite, but following its own interests and glory. These
hopes were all deceived. " But at present it is the American
Union which gives us the best model of government." ^
This lengthy bill of particulars is interesting as showing
that the republicans of Orleanist days gave other reasons
for admiring America than those put forth by the repuhli-
cains du lendemain in 1848.
The economic individualism of America and the political
self-sufficiency of local communities had always found ad-
mirers among French disciples of the Manchester school,
however, and were frequently stressed in the later period.
So Laboulaye wrote :
In that country where liberty has given such fine fruits, they
are far from charging the government with acting, foreseeing
and almost thinking for the citizens; on the contrary, it is to
the individual, to the family, to corporations, to communities,
to free association that the state commits the greatest part of
the social movement, remaining for its part in the higher
sphere of general interests, and never descending into those
of private interests. Help yourself, such is the political and
social device of the American. Liberty suffices for everything
in that state, where the national workshop, the association sub-
sidized by the government, monopolies, the progressive tax,
war on capital, have not yet been invented and where not-
withstanding, work is more abundant and the workman better
paid, better instructed, more influential than anywhere else;
an example doubtless of small value, since socialism has not
yet crossed the Atlantic to regenerate the New World on the
pattern of ours, and to pour there the torrents of prosperity,
with which we are inundated — in the future; but, an example
good for meditation nevertheless, by all those alchemists who
1 A. Murat, Esquisse morale et politique des Etats-Unis, pp. vi-xi, xxv.
320 'THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^gg
think to regenerate France, by exhausting for the last four
months, the generous blood from her veins, substituting for
it the clear water of their theories.^
Such was also the whole burden of Dunoyer's treatment ;
France placed betw^een two republics, toward one or the
other of which she must move,
the American republic, and that which February socialism
dreamed in France; a republic supremely liberal and another
to which liberty is fundamentally repugnant ; a republic where
everyone is fully his own master and another where the indi-
vidual is essentially dependent on the community; a republic
which leaves as much as possible to private zeal for the initia-
tive in ever3rthing and another which affects to leave it the
initiative in nothing; etc.^
Several collections of letters and memoirs of a later date
are also of interest.
The Baron de Barante, Orleanist diplomat and historian,
writing to his eldest son, Prosper de Barante, then traveling
in America, under date of Paris, July 17, 1848, said:
" Work, liberty, prosperity, that is what you see in America,
and that is what our revolutionists have destroyed in France.
The conditions of a good republic are, morally speaking, the
same as those of a constitutional monarchy. The English
race has these conditions, we perhaps not." ^
Another Orleanist statesman and historian, deputy in
1848, the Comte de Remusat, felt that all liberal statecraft
must pattern after American and English example, prefer-
ably the latter. " ' No America,' a crowd, which bordered
the hedge in front of the grille of the legislative body, cried
to us, I remember, one day when we were going into the
1 Laboulaye, Considerations, pp. 43, 44.
2 B. Dunoyer, La revolution du 24 fevrier, p. 226.
^' " Apres la revolution de fevrier " in Revue de Paris, vol. iii, p. 544.
499] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 321
Constituent Assembly of 1848. That was to cry : * Long
live the unknown !' " ^
A conversation between provincials of Nantes, whether
an individual or a typical occurrence it is hard to tell from
the author's account, opened by the assertion of one that
everybody is becoming a republican. " Isn't France as
capable of governing itself as America?" To which came
the reply, " Indeed, we must not be more stupid than the
Americans, who have no king and conduct so large a
trade." ^
Quentin-Bauchart, a conservative and later an eminent
imperialist, declared that there was no pretence of making
the republic of 1848 after the pattern of the United States.
There the ministers are the exclusive servants of the Presi-
dent. Not only do they form no part of the assemblies,
they do not have the entree even. The Americans, an emi-
nently practical race, have a system of parliamentary gov-
ernment inconsistent with real republican principles; their
government communicates with Congress only by messages,
the executive power being completely independent of the
other, within its sphere. In 1848 there was nothing of this
sort in France.^
True as that was of the government party's attitude in
1848, it was not without important exceptions. Louis Blanc,
who certainly should have known the real feeling of the
Assembly, tells how he suggested abolishing the presidency,
which would have cut short all Bonapartist pretensions.
This idea met with small favor in the Assembly,
many of whose members regarded the presidency as a bridge
thrown over between the republic and royalty. Shall I say
it? Even among those who did not have that arriere-pensee,
1 Charles de Remusat, Politique Uherale, p. 305.
2 Ch. L. Chassin, Felicien, p. 46.
3 Quentin-Bauchart, Etudes et Souvenirs, p. 217.
322 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 Vr-^Q
the majority found difficulty in conceiving a republic without
a president! So much did the example of the United States
of America blind them! So little did they comprehend the
necessity of entirely subordinating the executive to the legis-
lative power, everywhere that an immense standing army
exists.^
To conclude this account of the impression made by
America on the French mind of 1848, as revealed in litera-
ture, it is impossible not to cite the preface to Laboulaye's
later history of the United States, largely the reproduction
of his lectures of 1849-50 at the College de France. In
Tocqueville, Chevalier and Laboulaye, more perhaps than
in any other three intellectual leaders, enthusiasm for Amer-
ica became an absorbing passion.
As for me, in 1848, it was from the history of the United
States that I had sought instruction. What had led me to that
study was what I knew in general of the American constitu-
tion, and of the difficulties which liberty had had to conquer
in the New World before performing its miracles there; and
the more closely I viewed that great spectacle, the more I was
struck by it as by a revelation. These were our faults and
our sufferings, but with what courage and what wisdom the
Americans had extricated themselves from the peril, and what
a difference in their fashion of understanding and establish-
ing liberty ! One would have said that in the French constitu-
tional project, our modern Lycurguses had expressly taken
the opposite of American ideas and that their work was a
denial of Washington's wisdom, a defiance hurled at the ex-
perience of ages. It was then that in a profound disquietude
and sadness, I wrote, in July, 1848, the Considerations sur la
Constitution, and that the feeling of danger drove me to join
1 L. Blanc, Hist, de la rev. de 1848, vol. 2, p. 124. Cf. p. 326 et seq.
for further remarks on the American executive, which he expected to
make the substance of a speech during the constitutional debate, had he
not been earlier proscribed.
501] CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 323
to that publication the following letter, addressed to General
Cavaignac by a man unfortunately too little known for him
to listen to me in the midst of party cries and fury. . . .
Named professor/ my duty was marked out [ccrit]. It was
to make America known to France, and to demand of it ex-
amples and assistance for the approaching storm. I began
that study, therefore, with ardor and I neglected nothing to
make a complete expose of the events which had so direct an
interest for us. Bancroft gave me the history of the colonies,
which is the subject of this first volume; Story gave me the
history of the constitution, but to these two authors, my con-
stant guides, to whom I owe whatever value there is in this
work, I added everything I could find from original docu-
ments and biographies. ... As for me, I attached myself to
it with passion and I do not know which instructed me more,
the history of the colonies or that of the Revolution or the
fasliion in which that admirable constitution was made, that
has given the United States an unexampled prosperity, and
which after sixty years is younger and more popular than
ever. . . . Such was the object of my course; such was the
picture that I tried to fill in. More than once it seemed to
me that the audience shared my ideas ; but as for me, I lived
in them, and it seemed to me that no publication could be
more useful than a book in which America should speak to
France, and communicate to it its own experience. Of small
import was the author's merit, provided his work contained
the substance of American ideas, and on this point which re-
quired only labor, I thought myself in position to satisfy the
reader.^
1 Of Comparative Legislation at the College de France, 1849.
2 E. Laboulaye, Histoire politique des Etats-Unis, vol. i, pp. iii-vi,
xvii. The book was about to be published early in 185 1, when the ques-
tion of constitutional revision came up and the author wrote his Re-
vision de la constitution, proposing a solution borrowed from the Amer-
ican system. The ensuing political upheavals postponed the larger
work until 1855, when it was published without change from the orig-
inal version.
CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSIONS
It remains to sum up briefly the extent and trend of the
influence exerted by American precedent on the French As-
sembly of 1848. In general, it is clear that the influence on
the government party, the liberal republicans who controlled
the Assembly, was slight. It was accordingly slight on the
constitution which they framed.
A comparison of the two documents suggests analogies
between the French Articles 26, 28, 36, 43, 44, 45, 48, 50,
52, 53y 54. 55» 58. 60, 64, y2, 87, 109, in whole or in part,
and corresponding provisions in the American constitution.
But in many cases this resemblance is no doubt accidental.
Unless there is direct evidence in the arguments used in the
commission or on the floor of the Assembly, influence can-
not safel}^ be predicated.
The incomplete record of the commission's discussions
shows American example to have been urged on the sus-
pensive veto ^ and the executive's appointment of the high-
est judicial court.^ Of these, the first was modified, the
second rejected. On the latter point, however, the Assem-
bly reversed the commission's decision. Negatively, the
alleged failure of the American system of immediate re-
eligibility to the presidential oflice seems to have been de-
cisive in causing the defeat of that plan in the commission.'
"^ Supra, p. 157.
^ Supra, p. 162.
3 Supra, p. 158.
324 [S02
^03] CONCLUSIONS 325
In the Assembly, it was asserted by a member of the
commission that American precedent had been considered in
fixing the basis of legislative representation.' A belief that
such had been the case in regard to the Assembly's duty to
choose among the five highest candidates for president, in
case of no popular choice," and in regard to the president's
message,^ was also asserted without contradiction.
It may almost certainly be added that the presidential
office and the four-year term were due to American example.
For this there is the evidence of the debate in the Assembly ^
and of contemporary discussion outside.
Beyond this, little can be said with assurance. American
precedent may have been a factor in determining other
issues, but there is no direct evidence that such was the case.
This meager result by no means indicates the amount of
reference to American example, however, as is abundantly
evident from the foregoing study. Without attempting to
enumerate all the points on which that example was vainly
urged, it is plain that the bicameral legislative system called
forth by far the greatest number of references. The chief
arguments against its use in this connection were the fed-
eral system and the assertion that it was itself an imitation
of the aristocratic English model. The favorite reply to
the former was that each American state used the dual sys-
tem and that Pennsylvania had adopted it on discovering its
necessity, while the greater volume of business and the
greater need of checks and balances made it even more
essential in a centralized government; to the latter, that
America adopted it in spite of, rather than because of Eng-
land, and that it could be so organized as to eliminate the
'^ Supra, p. 183.
^ Supra, p. 192.
^ Supra, p. 212.
"^ Supra, pp. 187 et seq.
326 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 Vcq^.
danger of aristocracy. Indirect election, as illustrated in
the American electoral college, was one of the alternatives
suggested to a direct popular choice of the executive. This
received less attention than the other alternative, election by
the Assembly.
The absence of a bill of rights in the preamble to the
American constitution was regarded with favor by a minor-
ity, though a counter-argument was found in the amend-
ments by those who favored such a declaration. The ex-
ample thus neutralized itself.^
The nature of the features most admired in the American
system, the arguments used in their support and, above all,
the known political attitude of those most interested in
their adoption show unmistakably the character of the in-
fluence. With hardly any exception, it was conservative in
politics, individualistic in economics. The liberals were
cold, the radical republicans and socialists actively hostile.
The former derived their strength from their majority in
the Assembly and were anxious to maintain its power un-
impaired by the addition of a second chamber; their great
inconsistency was their defeat of the Grevy and Leblond
amendments and their fatuous confidence that they would
dominate future Assemblies, both errors arising from a
mistaken judgment of the political temper of France at
large. Whatever misgivings they had on this point found
utterance in Lamartine's fatalistic Alea jacta est. Their
adoption of the American executive sprang from the neces-
sities of their position midway between monarchists and
radicals. To avoid a reaction, they must not stir up un-
happy memories of Convention and Directory; to avoid
dominance by the Paris mob, they must establish universal
suffrage. As republicans de la veille, who had come into
1 Supra, pp. 165 et seq.
505] CONCLUSIONS 327
power through popular disgust at the restricted franchise,
the doctrine of universal suffrage appealed to them for its
own sake as a symbol of pure republican theory. Whether
or not they felt assured that their confidence in the people
would be practically justified, political conditions required
them to make the venture.
The radical republicans opposed the American executive
as well as the legislative example, because their political
model was Jacobinism and their strength lay among the
small shopkeepers of Paris. Ledru-Rollin's despatch of
commissioners into the provinces in a hopeless endeavor to
educate the peasantry in republican principles is evidence of
his perfectly correct judgment of the situation. As matters
stood, the provinces would never support Paris radicalism;
the only chance for radical success lay in an all-powerful
Assembly on the model of the Convention.
The socialists, desiring a complete reconstruction of soci-
ety, could have no interest in a political system, which his-
tory had linked so closely with economic individualism.
But whatever slight hope of success the radical elements
might have had was destroyed by the June insurrection.
Just as Shays' rebellion in Massachusetts, embodying the
vague discontent of the debtor class, helped to convert the
stabler interests to the necessity of a strong national con-
stitution, so this last upheaval of February idealism, im-
practical but dangerous, immeasurably strengthened the
forces of conservatism. The full extent of the reaction was
destined to destroy the republic; it was only partially em-
bodied in the constitution of 1848. The short life
of this unhappy document was due in part to its
compromise character; it was not the product of a strong,
consistent policy ; the rival impulses of February and June,
struggling for the mastery, each left their mark upon it.
The drift after June was steadily conservative; the only
328 THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 ["^06
question was how far it would go before the constitution
received its final form. Not that new elections had returned
the conservatives to power. The liberals were still in con-
trol, but they were under the shadow of a great fear. It
may be fairly said that the constitution was framed by
timidity. Fear of a possible Bonaparte despotism bore its
part in the creation of a single chamber ; fear of a socialist
Convention brought forth a powerful executive in counter-
poise. Thus two strong powers were placed vis-a-vis, but
both annoyingly robbed of free action. The chamber had
no control over the army nor the civil service ; the president
was not immediately re-eligible. The juxtaposition of two
strong, dissatisfied powers produced an unstable equilib-
rium; the attempted checks (a council of state in one case,,
impeachment in the other) were illusory. Revolution be-
came probable from whichever side happened to develop a
strong, unscrupulous leader; it chanced that a Bonaparte
appeared rather than a Robespierre. Had the president
been given the right of re-election or had the chamber been
given control of the army (in other words, had timidity
not tried unduly to shackle strong men with petty bonds
which they could and would break), the republic might
have lived.
It is clear, then, that the constitution, like most political
documents, was the product of circumstances rather than of
dispassionate reflection, and that the liberals, even had they
been more inclined to the American system than they were,
would have felt themselves practically estopped from intro-
ducing it. Its friends, then, must come from the conserva-
tives, who had no interest in the favor of Paris and no fear
of a strong executive.
An interesting cleavage among the conservatives is, how-
ever, apparent. The legitimists were almost as opposed to
American example as their opponents of the Left. Their
507] CONCLUSIONS 329
royalist principles were too deeply rooted to allow any re-
publican admirations, though they might and did make use
of republican institutions, once founded, for their own ad-
vantage. Since their dynasty had not been in power imme-
diately before the February Revolution, they escaped some
of the odium attaching to the unfortunate Orleanists and
could seek popularity by joining in the reprobation of the
fallen system without discarding their own tenets. Realiz-
ing the conservative temper of the provinces, they could
hope for an eventual restoration without adopting more
than the thinnest republican disguise, when, indeed, they
were willing to do even that. Their attachment to the Cath-
olic establishment caused them to detest the American free
church system, despite Lacordaire's propaganda.
The foregoing analysis leaves the ex-Orleanists as the
pro-American party par excellence. Voltairean in religion,
the absence of a state Church harmonized with their philo-
sophic convictions. Having no loyalty to Henri V, and no
hope of immediately restoring their own line, they were
willing to try republicanism. The Orleanist dynasty had
had too accidental a beginning and too brief a career to in-
spire sentimental affections, nor was its history adapted to
develop them. The constitutional monarchy had been itself
the adaptation of an alien form of government, as the legiti-
mists never tired of pointing out, and could readily yield to
a similar experiment. Anglo-Saxon models had always ap-
pealed to this party ; they might hope to preserve the essen-
tials of their system, by merely exchanging an English king
for an American president. The bicameral system, indirect
election, the suspensive veto were all part and parcel of the
system of checks and balances to which they were deeply
committed. Equally hostile to an absolute king and an
absolute democracy, they sought support for their pluto-
cratic interests in an upper chamber, of non-hereditary
330 ^^^ FRENCH ASSEMBLY OF 1848 [-^08
character. Their strength lay in the upper middle class,
the great financial interests which had dominated the late
regime; they had prospered by economic individualism and
were willing to show enthusiasm for any political system
that would protect and leave them alone. Such a system
they believed'they had found in America. Its strength, too,
lay in the free, vigorous development of material resources ;
its government fostered the growth of industry and com-
merce. The Orleanists had two ideals of statecraft, order
and liberty. Since their wealth lay in fluid capital, rather
than in land as did that of the legitimists, public security
and confidence were of even greater importance for them;
their paper fortunes might be shattered by a turn of the
Bourse. Liberty to carry on their undertakings without
being hampered by government interference was only less
essential. They, therefore, desired a strong government,
but not too strong in any part ; a system able to protect the
country's peace from external and internal foes, but so ad-
justed by checks and balances that neither despot nor demo-
crat could use it as an instrument of oppression. Jefferson-
ianism, as time had developed it, was a system made to
their hand. From interest and conviction, the former sup-
porters of the Orleanist monarchy welcomed American con-
stitutional example; its theory and observed practice
accorded so well with their views that they urged it un-
ceasingly as a model for France. They failed because the
February wave had not yet spent itself. If they had suc-
ceeded, there would have been no Second Empire.
APPENDIX
CONSTITUTION OF 1848
Preambule
En Presence de Dieu et au Nom du Peuple Fran^ais
L'ASSEMBLEE NaTIONALE PrOCLAME!
I. La France s'est constituee en Republique. En adoptant
cette forme definitive de gouvernement, elle s'est propose pour
but de marcher plus librement dans la voie du progres et de
la civilisation, d'assurer une repartition de plus en plus equit-
able des charges et des avantages de la societe, d'augmenter
Taisance de chacun par la reduction graduee des depenses
publiques et des impots, et de f aire parvenir tous les citoyens,
sans nouvelle commotion, par Taction successive et constante
des institutions et des lois, a un degre toujours plus eleve de
moralite, de lumieres et de bien-etre.
II. La Republique frauQaise est democratique, une et
indivisible.
III. Elle reconnait des droits et des devoirs anterieurs et
superieurs aux lois positives.
IV. Elle a pour principe la liberte, I'egalite et la f rater -
nite. Elle a pour base la f amille, le travail, la propriete, Tordre
public.
V. Elle respecte les nationalites etrangeres, comme elle
entend faire respecter la sienne, n'entreprend aucune guerre
dans des vues de conquete, et n'emploie jamais ses forces contre
la liberte d'aucun peuple.
VI. Des devoirs reciproques obligent les citoyens envers la
Republique et la Republique envers les citoyens.
VII. Les citoyens doivent aimer la patrie, servir la Repub-
lique, la defendre au prix de leur vie, participer aux charges
509] 331
332 APPENDIX [510
de r£tat en proportion de leur fortune; ils doivent s'assurer^
par le travail, des moyens d'existence, et, par la prevoyance,
des ressources pour I'avenir; ils doivent concourir au bien-
etre commun en s'entr'aidant fraternellement les uns les
autres, et a I'ordre general en observant les lois morales et les
lois ecrites qui regissent la societe, la f amille et I'individu.
VIII. La Republique doit proteger le citoyen dans sa per-
sonne, sa famille, sa religion, sa propriete, son travail, et
mettre a la portee de chacun I'instruction indispensable a tous
les hommes; elle doit, par une assistance fraternelle, assurer
I'existence des citoyens necessiteux, soit en leur procurant du
travail dans les limites de ses ressources, soit en donnant, a
defaut de la famille, des secours a ceux qui sont hors d'etat
de travailler.
En vue de I'accomplissement de tous ces devoirs, et pour
la garantie de tous ces droits, I'Assemblee nationale, fidele
aux traditions des grandes assemblees qui ont inaugure la
Revolution franqaise, decrete, ainsi qu'il suit, la Constitution
de la Republique.
CONSTITUTION
Chapitre Premier
de la souverainete
Article premier. La souverainete reside dans I'universalite
des citoyens frangais.
Elle est inalienable et imprescriptible.
Aucun individu, aucune fraction du peuple ne pent s'en
attribuer I'exercice.
Chapitre II
DROITS DES CITOYENS GARANTIS PAR LA CONSTITUTION
2. Nul ne pent etre arrete ou detenu que suivant les pre-
scriptions de la loi.
3. La demeure de toute personne habitant le territoire
franqais est inviolable; il n'est permis d'y penetrer que selon
les formes et dans les cas prevus par la loi.
511] APPENDIX 333
4. Nul ne sera distrait de ses juges naturels. — II ne pourra
etre cree de commissions ni de tribunaux extraordinaires, a
quelque titre et sous quelque denomination que ce soit.
5. La peine de mort est abolie en matiere politique.
6. L'esclavage ne pent exister sur aucune terre frangaise.
7. Chacun professe librement sa religion, et regoit de I'fitat,
pour rexer(;ice de son culte, une egale protection. Les min-
istres, soit des cultes actuellement reconnus par la loi, soit
de ceux qui seraient reconnus a Tavenir, ont le droit de re9evoir
un traitement de I'fitat.
8. Les citoyens ont le droit de s'associer, de s'assembler
paisiblement et sans armes, de petitionner, de manifester leurs
pensees par la voie de la presse ou autrement. — L'exercice de
ces droits n'a pour limites que les droits ou la liberte d'autrui
et la securite publique. — La presse ne pent, dans aucun cas,
etre soumise a la censure.
9. L'enseignement est libre. — La liberte d'enseignement
s'exerce selon les conditions de capacite et de moralite deter-
minees par les lois, et sous la surveillance de I'Etat. — Cette
surveillance s'etend a tous les etablissements d'education et
d'enseignement, sans aucune exception.
10. Tous les citoyens sont egalement admissibles a tous les
emplois publics, sans autre motif de preference que leur
merite, et suivant les conditions qui seront fixees par les lois.
Sont abolis a toujours tout titre nobiliaire, toute distinction
de naissance, de classe ou de caste.
11. Toutes les proprietes sont inviolables. Neanmoins I'Etat
pent exiger le sacrifice d'une propriete pour cause d'utilite
publique legalement constatee, et moyennant une juste et pre-
alable indemnite.
12. La confiscation des biens ne pourra jamais etre retablie.
13. La Constitution garantit aux citoyens la liberte du
travail et de I'industrie.
La societe favorise et encourage le developpement du travail
par l'enseignement primaire gratuit, I'education professionnelle.
I'egalite de rapports entre le patron et I'ouvrier, les institu-
tions de prevoyance et de credit, les institutions agricoles, les
k
334 APPENDIX f5i2.
associations volontaires, et retablissement, par I'Etat, les de-
partements et les communes, de travaux publics propres a em-
ployer les bras inoccupes ; elle f ournit I'assistance aux enf ants
abandonnes, aux infirmes et aux vieillards sans ressources, et
que leurs families ne peuvent secourir.
14. La dette publique est garantie. — Toute espece d' engage-
ment pris par I'Etat avec ses creanciers est inviolable.
15. Tout impot est etabli pour I'utilite commune. — Chacun
y contribue en proportion de ses f acultes et de sa fortune.
16. Aucun impot ne pent etre etabli ni perqu qu'en vertu
de la loi.
17. L'impot direct n'est consenti que pour un an. — Les im-
positions indirectes peuvent etre consenties pour plusieurs
annees.
Chapitre III
DES POUVOIRS PUBLICS
18. Tous les pouvoirs publics, quels qu'ils soient, emanent
du peuple. lis ne peuvent etre delegues hereditairement.
19. La separation des pouvoirs est la premiere condition
d'un gouvernement libre.
Chapitre IV
DU POUVOIR LEGISLATIF
20. Le peuple franqais delegue le pouvoir legislatif a une
Assemblee unique.
21. Le nombre total des representants du peuple sera de sept
cent cinquante, y compris les representants de I'Algerie et des
colonies frangaises.
22. Ce nombre s'elevera a neuf cents pour les assemblies
qui seront appelees a reviser la Constitution.
23. L' election a pour base la population.
24. Le suffrage est direct et universel. Le scrutin est secret.
25. Sont electeurs, sans condition de cens, tous les Fran^ais
513] APPENDIX 335
ages de vingt et un aiis, et jouissant de leurs droits civils et
politiques.
26. Sont eligibles, sans condition de domicile, tous les
electeurs ages de vingt-cinq ans.
27. La loi electorale determinera les causes qui peuvent
priver un citoyen fran^ais du droit d'elire et d'etre elu. — EUe
designera les citoyens qui, exerQant ou ayant exerce des fonc-
tions dans un departement ou un ressort territorial, ne
pourront y etre elus.
2%. Toute fonction publique retribuee est incompatible avec
le mandat de representant du peuple. Aucun membre de
I'Assemblee nationale ne peut, pendant la duree de la legisla-
ture, etre nomme ou promu a des fonctions publiques salar-
iees dont les titulaires sont choisis a volonte par le pouvoir
executif. — Les exceptions aux deux paragraphes precedents
seront determinees par la loi electorale organique.
29. Les dispositions de I'article precedent ne sont pas ap-
pliquables aux assemblees elues pour la revision de la Consti-
tution.
30. L'election des representants se fera par departement,.
et au scrutin de liste. — Les electeurs voteront au chef-lieu de
canton; neanmoins, en raison des circonstances locales, le
canton pourra etre divise en plusieurs circonscriptions, dans
la forme et aux conditions qui seront determinees par la loi
electorale.
31. L'Assemblee nationale est elue pour trois ans, et se
renouvelle integralement. — Quarante-cinq jours au plus tard
avant la fin de la legislature, une loi determine I'epoque des
nouvelles elections. Si aucune loi n'est intervenue dans le
delai fixe par le paragraphe precedent, les electeurs se reunis-
sent de plein droit le trentieme jour qui precede la fin de la
legislature.
La nouvelle Assemblee est convoquee de plein droit pour le
lendemain du jour ou finit le mandat de TAssemblee precedente.
32. EUe est permanente. Neanmoins, elle peut s'ajoumer
a un terme qu'elle fixe.
Pendant la duree de la prorogation, une commission, com-
336 APPENDIX [^I^
posee des membres du bureau et de vingt-cinq representants
nommes par I'Assemblee au scrutin secret et a la majorite
absolue, a le droit de la convoquer en cas d'urgence.
Le President de la Republique a aussi le droit de convoquer
TAssemblee. L'Assemblee nationale determine le lieu de ses
seances. Elle fixe Timportance des forces militaires etablies
pour sa surete, et elle en dispose.
33. Les representants sont toujours reeligibles.
34. Les membres de I'Assemblee nationale sont les repre-
sentants, non du departement qui les nomme, mais de la
France entiere.
35. lis ne peuvent regevoir de mandat imperatif.
36. Les representants du peuple sont inviolables. — lis ne
pourront etre recherches, accuses, ni juges, en aucun temps,
pour les opinions qu'ils auront emises dans le sein de I'As-
semblee nationale.
37. lis ne peuvent etre arretes en matiere criminelle, sauf
le cas de flagrant delit, ni poursuivis qu'apres que I'Assemblee
a permis la poursuite. — En cas d'arrestation pour flagrant
delit, il en sera immediatement refere a I'Assemblee, qui
autorisera ou refusera la continuation des poursuites. Cette
disposition s'applique au cas ou un citoyen detenu est nomme
representant.
38. Chaque representant du peuple re(;oit une indemnite a
laquelle il ne pent renoncer.
39. Les seances de I'Assemblee sont publiques. — Neanmoins
I'Assemblee pent se former en comite secret, sur la demande
du nombre de representants fixe par le reglement. — Chaque
representant a le droit d'initiative parlementaire ; il I'exercera
selon les formes determinees par le reglement.
40. La presence de la moitie plus un des membres de TAs-
semblee est necessaire pour la validite du vote des lois.
41. Aucun projet de loi, sauf les cas d'urgence, ne sera vote
definitivement qu'apres trois deliberations, a des intervalles
qui ne peuvent pas etre moindres de cinq jours.
42. Toute proposition ayant pour objet de declarer I'urgence
est precedee d'un expose des motifs. — Si I'Assemblee est
515] APPENDIX 337
d'avis de donner suite a la proposition d'urgence, elle en or-
donne le renvoi dans les bureaux et fixe le moment ou le rap-
port sur Turgence lui sera presente. — Sur le rapport, si I'As-
semblee reconnait I'urgence, elle le declare et fixe le moment
de la discussion. — Si elle decide qu'il n'y a pas urgence, le
ptioiet suit le cours des propositions ordinaires.
Chapitre V
DU POUVOIR EXECUTIF
43. Le peuple fran^ais delegue le pouvoir executif a un
citoyen qui re<;oit le titre de President de la Republique.
44. Le President doit etre ne Fran^ais, age de trente ans
au moins, et n'avoir jamais perdu la qualite de Fran^ais.
45. Le President de la Republique est elu pour quatre ans,
et n'est reeligible qu'apres un intervalle de quatre annees.
Ne peuvent, non plus, etre elus apres lui, dans le meme in-
tervalle, ni le vice-president, ni aucun des parents ou allies du
President jusqu'au sixieme degre inclusivement.
46. L'election a lieu de plein droit le deuxieme dimanche du
mois de mai. — Dans le cas ou, par suite de deces, de demission
ou de toute autre cause, le President serait elu a une autre
epoque, ses pouvoirs expireront le deuxieme dimanche du mois
de mai de la quatrieme annee qui suivra son election.
Le President est nomme au scrutin secret et a la majorite
absolue des votants, par le suffrage direct de tous les electeurs
des departements f ranqais et de I'Algerie.
47. Les proces-verbaux des operations electorales sont
transmis immediatement a TAssemblee nationale, qui statue
sans delai sur la validite de Telection et proclame le President
de la Republique.
Si aucun candidat n'a obtenu plus de la moitie des suffrages
exprimes, et au moins deux millions de voix, ou si les condi-
tions exigees par I'article 44 ne sont pas remplies, I'Assemblee
nationale elit le President de la Republique, a la majorite abso-
lue et au scrutin secret, parmi les cinq candidats eligibles qui
ont obtenu le plus de voix.
338 APPENDIX [516
48. Avant d'entrer en fonctions, le President de la Repub-
lique prete au sein de I'x^ssemblee nationale le serment dont
la teneur suit :
En presence de Dieu et devant le peuple franfais, representc
par VAssemhlee nationale, je jure de rester fidele a la Repub-
lique democratique, une et indivisible, et de remplir tous les
devoirs que m'impose la Constitution.
49. II a le droit de faire presenter des projets de loi a I'As-
semblee nationale par les ministres. — II surveille et assure
Texecution des lois.
50. II dispose de la force armee, sans pouvoir jamais la com-
mander en personne.
51. II ne pent ceder aucune portion du territoire, ni dis-
soudre, ni proroger TAssemblee nationale, ni suspendre en
aucune maniere I'empire de la Constitution et des lois.
52. II presente chaque annee, par un message, a I'Assemblee
nationale I'expose de I'etat general des affaires de la Republique.
53. II negocie et ratifie les traites. — Aucun traite n'est de-
finitif qu'apres avoir ete approuvee par I'Assemblee nationale.
54. II veille a la defense de I'fitat, mais il ne peut entre-
prendre aucune guerre sans le consentement de TAssemblee
nationale.
55. II a le droit de faire grace, mais il ne peut exercer ce droit
qu'apres avoir pris I'avis du Conseil d':6tat. — Les amnisties ne
peuvent etre accordees que par une loi. Le President de la
Republique, les ministres, ainsi que toutes autres personnes
condamnees par la Haute Cour de justice, ne peuvent etre
graciees que par I'Assemblee nationale.
56. Le President de la Republique promulgue les lois au nom
du peuple frangais.
57. Les lois d'urgence sont promulguees dans le delai de
trois jours, et les autres lois dans le delai d'un mois, a partir
du jour ou elles auront ete adoptees par I'Assemblee nationale.
58. Dans le delai fixe pour la promulgation, le President de
la Republique peut, par un message motive, demander une
nouvelle deliberation.
517] APPENDIX 339
L'Assemblee delibere : sa resolution devient definitive ; elle est
transmise au President de la Republique.
En ce cas, la promulgation a lieu dans le delai fixe pour les
lois d'urgence.
59. A defaut de promulgation par le President de la Re-
publique, dans les delais determines par les articles preced-
ents, il y serait pourvu par le president de I'Assemblee
nationale.
60. Les envoyes et les ambassadeurs des puissances etran-
geres sont accredites aupres du President de la Republique.
61. II preside aux solennites nationales.
62. II est loge aux frais de la Republique, et re^oit un
traitement de six cent mille francs par an.
63. II reside au lieu ou siege I'Assemblee nationale, et ne
peut sortir du territoire continental de la Republique sans y
etre autorise par une loi.
64. Le President de la Republique nomme et revoque les
ministres.
II nomme et revoque, en conseil des ministres, les agents
diplomatiques, les commandants en chef des armees de terre
et de mer, les prefets, le commandant superieur des gardes
nationales de la Seine, les gouvemeurs de I'Algerie et des
colonies, les procureurs generaux et autres fonctionnaires
d'un ordre superieur.
II nomme et revoque, sur la proposition du ministre com-
petent, dans les conditions reglementaires determinees par la
loi, les agents secondaires du gouvernment.
65. II a le droit de suspendre, pour un terme qui ne pourra
exceder trois mois, les agents du pouvoir executif elus par les
citoyens. ' -
II ne peut les revoquer que de Tavis du Conseil d'Etat.
La loi determine les cas ou les agents revoques peuvent etre
declares ineligibles aux memes fonctions.
Cette declaration d'ineligibilite ne pourra etre prononcee
que par un jugement.
66. Le nombre des ministres et leurs attributions sont fixes
par le pouvoir legislatif.
340 APPENDIX [^jg
67. Les actes du President de la Republique, autres que
ceux par lesquels il nomme et revoque les ministres, n'ont
d'effet que s'ils sont contresignes par un ministre.
68. Le President de la Republique, les ministres, les agents
et depositaires de I'autorite publique, sont responsables, chacun
en ce qui le concerne, de tous les actes du gouvernement et de
Tadministration. Toute mesure par laquelle le President de
la Republique dissout I'Assemblee nationale, la proroge ou
met obstacle a Texercice de son mandat, est un crime de haute-
trahison. — Par ce seul fait, le President est dechu de ses fonc-
tions; les citoyens sont tenus de lui refuser obeissance; le
pouvoir executif passe de plein droit a TAssemblee nationale.
Les juges de la Haute Cour de justice se reunissent immediate-
ment, a peine de forfaiture; ils convoquent les jures dans le
lieu qu'ils designent, pour proceder au jugement du President
et de ses complices; ils nomment eux-memes les magistrats
charges de remplir les fonctions du ministere public. — Une loi
determinera les autres cas de responsabilite, ainsi que les
formes et les conditions de la poursuite.
69. Les ministres ont entree dans le sein de I'Assemblee
nationale ; ils sont entendus toutes les fois qu'ils le demandent,
et peuvent se faire assister par des commissaires nommes par
un decret du President de la Republique.
70. II y a un vice-president de la Republique nomme par
I'Assemblee nationale, sur la presentation de trois candidats
faite par le President dans le mois qui suit son election. — Le
vice-president prete le meme serment que le president. — Le
vice-president ne pourra etre choisi parmi les parents et allies
du president jusqu'au sixieme degre inclusivement. — En cas
d'empechement du president, le vice-president le remplace. —
Si la presidence devient vacante par deces, demission du presi-
dent, ou autrement, il est procede dans le mois a I'election d'un
president.
519]. APPENDIX 341
Chapitre VI
DU CONSEIL d'etat
71. II y aura un Conseil d'etat, dont le vice-president de
la Republique sera de droit president.
72. Les membres de ce Conseil sont nommes pour six ans
par TAssemblee nationale. lis sont renouveles par moitie, dans
les deux premiers mois de chaque legislature, au scrutin secret
et a la majorite absolue. — lis sont indefiniment reeligibles.
73. Ceux des membres du Conseil d'fitat qui auront ete
pris dans le sein de I'Assemblee nationale seront immediate-
ment remplaces comme representants du peuple.
74. Les membres du Conseil d'etat ne peuvent etre revoques
que par I'Assemblee, et sur la proposition du president de la
Republique.
75. Le Conseil d'etat est consulte sur les projets de loi du
gouvernement qui, d'apres la loi, devront etre soumis a son ex-
amen prealable, et sur les projets d'initiative parlementaire que
I'Assemblee lui aura renvoyes. — II prepare les reglements d'ad-
ministration publique: il fait seul ceux de ces reglements a
regard desquels I'Assemblee nationale lui a donne une delega-
tion speciale. — II exerce, a I'egard des administrations publiques,
tous les pouvoirs de controle et de surveillance qui lui sont
deferes par la loi.
La loi reglera ses autres attributions.
Chapitre VII
DE l" ADMINISTRATION INTERIEURE
'j6. La division du territoire en departements, arrondisse-
ments, cantons et communes est maintenue. Les circonscrip-
tions actuelles ne pourront etre changees que par une loi.
yy. II y a: i° dans chaque departement, une administration
composee d'un prefet, d'un conseil general, d'un conseil de
prefecture ;
2° Dans chaque arrondissement, un sous-prefet;
3° Dans chaque canton, un conseil cantonal; neanmoins, un
342 APPENDIX [520
seul conseil cantonal sera etabli dans les villes divisees en
plusieurs cantons ;
4° Dans chaque commune, une administration composee
d'un maire, d'adjoints et d'un conseil municipal.
78. Une loi determinera la composition et les attributions
des conseils generaux, des conseils cantonaux, des conseils
municipaux et le mode de nomination des maires et des adjoints.
79. Les conseils generaux et les conseils municipaux sont
elus par le suffrage direct de tous les citoyens domicilies dans
le departement ou dans la commune. Chaque canton el it un
membre du conseil general. — Une loi speciale reglera le mode
d'election dans le departement de la Seine, dans la ville de
Paris et dans les villes de plus de vingt mille ames.
80. Les conseils generaux, les conseils cantonaux et les
conseils municipaux peuvent etre dissous par le president de la
Republique, de I'avis du Conseil d'Etat. La loi fixera le delai
dans lequel il sera procede a la reelection.
Chapitre VIII
DU POUVOIR JUDICIAIRE
81. La justice est rendue gratuitement au nom du peuple
fraiigais.
Les debats sont publics, a moins que la publicite ne soit
dangereuse pour I'ordre ou les moeurs; et, dans ce cas, le
tribunal le declare par un jugement.
82. Le jury continuera d'etre applique en matiere criminelle.
83. La connaissance de tous les del its politiques et de tous
les delits commis par la voie de la presse appartient exclusive-
ment au jury. — Les lois organiques determineront la compe-
tence en matiere de delits d' injures et de diffamation contre
les particuliers.
84. Le jury statue seul sur les dommages-interets reclames
pour faits ou delits de presse.
85. Les juges de paix et leurs suppleants, les juges de pre-
miere instance et d'appel, les membres de la Cour de Cassation
et de la Cour des Comptes, sont nommes par le president de la
I
521] APPENDIX 343
Republique, d'apres un ordre de candidature ou d'apres les
conditions qui seront reglees par les lois organiques.
86. Les magistrats du ministere public sont nommes par le
president de la Republique.
d>y, Les juges de premiere instance et d'appel, les membres
de la Cour de Cassation et de la Cour des Comptes, sont
nommes a vie. — ^Ils ne peuvent etre revoques ou suspendus que
par un jugement, ni mis a la retraite que pour les causes et
dans les formes determinees par les lois.
88. Les conseils de guerre et de revision des armees de
terre et de mer, les tribunaux maritimes, les tribunaux de com-
merce, les prud'hommes et autres tribunaux speciaux, con-
servent leur organisation et leurs attributions actuelles jusqu'a
ce qu'il y ait ete deroge par une loi.
89. Les conflits d'attribution entre I'autorite administrative
et Tautorite judiciaire seront regies par un tribunal special de
membres de la Cour de Cassation et de conseillers d'etat,
designes tous les trois ans en nombre egal par leurs corps
respectif . — Ce tribunal sera preside par le ministre de la justice.
90. Les recours pour incompetence et exces de pouvoirs
contre les arrets de la Cour des Comptes seront portes devant
la juridiction des conflits.
91. Une Haute Cour de justice juge, sans appel ni recours
en cassation, les accusations portees par TAssemblee nationale
contre le president de la Republique ou les ministres.
Elle juge egalement toutes personnes prevenues de crimes,
attentats ou complots contre la surete interieure ou exterieure
de I'lfetat, que I'Assemblee nationale aura renvoyees devant
elle. — Sauf le cas prevu par Farticle 68, elle ne pent etre saisie
qu'en vertu d'un decret de I'Assemblee nationale, qui designe
la ville oil la Cour tiendra ses seances.
92. La Haute Cour est composee de cinq juges et de trente-
six jures. — Chaque annee, dans les quinze premiers jours du
mois de novembre, la Cour de Cassation nomme, parmi ses
membres, au scrutin secret et a la majorite absolue, les' juges
de la Haute Cour, au nombre de cinq, et deux suppleants. Les
cinq juges appeles a sieger feront choix de leur president.
344 APPENDIX [^22
Les magistrats remplissant les fonctions du ministere public
sent designes par le president de la Republique, et, en cas d'ac-
cusation du president ou des ministres, par rAssemblee
nationale.
Les jures, au nombre de trente-six, et quatre jures supple-
ants, sont pris parmi les membres des conseils generaux des
departements.
Les representants du peuple n'en peuvent f aire partie.
93. Lorsqu'un decret de I'Assemblee nationale a ordonne
la formation de la Haute Cour de justice, et, dans le cas prevu
par Tarticle 68, sur la requisition du president ou de I'un des
juges, le president de la Cour d'Appel, et, a defaut de Cour
d'Appel, le president du tribunal de premiere instance du chef
lieu judiciare du departement, tire au sort, en audience pub-
lique, le nom d'un membre du conseil general.
94. Au jour indique pour le jugement, s'il y a moins de
soixante jures presents, ce nombre sera complete par des jures
supplementaires tires au sort, par le president de la Haute
Cour, parmi les membres du conseil general du departement
ou siegera la Cour.
95. Les jures qui n'auront pas produit d'excuse valable
seront condamnes a une amende de mille a dix mille francs,
et a la privation des droits politiques pendant cinq ans au plus.
96. L'accuse et le ministere public exercent le droit de
recusation comme en matiere ordinaire.
97. La declaration du jury portant que I'accuse est coupable
ne pent etre rendue qu'a la majorite des deux tiers des voix.
98. Dans tons les cas de responsabilite des ministres, I'As-
semblee nationale pent, selon les circonstances, renvoyer le
ministre inculpe, soit devant la Haute Cour de justice, soit
devant les tribunaux ordinaires, pour les reparations civiles.
99. L'Assemblee nationale et le president de la Republique
peuvent, dans tons les cas, deferer Texamen des actes de tout
fonctionnaire, autre que le president de la Republique, au
Conseil d'etat, dont le rapport est rendu public.
100. Le president de la Republique n'est justiciable que de
la Haute Cour de justice. — II ne pent, a I'exception du cas
523] APPENDIX 34J
prevu par Tarticle 68, etre poursuivi que sur racciisation portee
par TAssemblee nationale, et pour crimes et delits qui seront
determines par la loi.
Chapitre IX
DE LA FORCE PUBLIQUE
Id. La force publique est instituee pour defendre I'^tat
contre les ennemis du dehors, et pour assurer au dedans le main-
tien de I'ordre et I'execution des lois. — Elle se compose de la
garde nationale et de I'armee de terre et de mer.
102. Tout Fran^ais, sauf les exceptions fixees par la loi,
doit le service militaire et celui de la garde nationale. — La
faculte pour chaque citoyen de se liberer du service militaire
personnel sera reglee par la loi du recrutement.
103. L'organisation de la garde nationale et la constitution,
de Tarmee seront reglees par la loi.
104. La force publique est essentiellement obeissante. Nul
corps arme ne peut deliberer.
105. La force publique, employee pour maintenir Tordre a
rinterieure n'agit que sur la requisition des autorites consti-
tuees, suivant les regies determinees par le pouvoir legislatif .
106. Une loi determinera les cas dans lesquels Tetat de siege
pourra etre declare, et reglera les formes et les effets de cette
mesure.
107. Aucune troupe etrangere ne peut etre introduite sur le
territoire franqais sans le consentement prealable de I'As-
semblee nationale.
Chapitre X
DISPOSITIONS PARTICULIERES
108. La Legion d'honneur est maintenue; ses statuts seront
revises et mis en harmonic avec la Constitution.
109. Le territoire de I'Algerie et des colonies est declare
territoire frangais, et sera regi par des lois particulieres jusqu'a
ce qu'une loi speciale les place sous le regime de la presente
Constitution.
no. L'Assemblee nationale confie le depot de la presente
346 APPENDIX [-^24
Constitution et des droits qu'elle consacre, a la garde et an
patriotisme de tous les Frangais.
Chapitre XI
DE LA REVISION DE LA CONSTITUTION
111. Lorsque, dans la derniere annee d'une legislature, TAs-
semblee nationale aura emis le voeu que la Constitution soit
modifiee en tout ou en partie, il sera procede a cette revision
de la maniere suivante.
Le voeu exprime par TAssemblee ne sera converti en resolu-
tion definitive qu'apres trois deliberations consecutives, prises
chacune a un mois d'intervalle et aux trois quarts des suffrages
exprimes. Le nombre des votants devra etre de cinq cents
au moins.
L'Assemblee de revision ne sera nommee que pour trois mois.
EUe ne devra s'occuper que de la revision pour laquelle
elle aura ete convoquee.
Neanmoins, elle pourra, en cas d'urgence, pourvoir aux
necessites legislatives.
Chapitre XII
DISPOSITIONS TRANSITOIRES
112. Les dispositions des Codes, lois et reglements existants,
qui ne sont pas contraires a la presente Constitution restent
en vigueur jusqu'a ce qu'il y soit legalement deroge.
113. Toutes les autorites constitutes par les lois actuelles
demeurent en exercice jusqu'a la promulgation des lois organi-
ques qui les concernent.
114. La loi d'organisation judiciare determinera le mode
special de nomination pour la premiere composition des nouve-
aux tribunaux.
115. Apres le vote de la Constitution, il sera procede, par
I'Assemblee nationale constituante, a la redaction des lois
organiques dont Tenumeration sera determinee par une loi
speciale.
116. II sera procede a la premiere election du president de
la Republique conformement a la loi speciale rendue par TAs-
semblee nationale le 28 octobre 1848.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. — Contemporary Works
1. Reports of debates
a. Constitutional Commission:
Proces-verhal. Ms. in archives of Chamber of Deputies, Paris.
2 vols.
b. Assembly:
Compte-rendu des seances de I'Assemblee Nationale. Paris,
1849. 10 vols, in 4°.
Table analytique du compte rendu. Paris, 1850.
Le Moniteur universel. May-Nov., 1848.
c U. S. Congress :
Congressional Globe, vol. 17 (ist session, 30th Congress).
2. Newspapers
a. Legitimist:
L'Assemblee nationale. Mar. i-June25 (suspended) ; Aug. 7-Dec.
La Gazette de Fratice. Suspended Aug. 24; issued as Le Peuplc
frangais, Aug. 30-Sept. 6; as L'Etoile de la France, Sept. 14-
Oct. 24; reappears in original form, Oct. 25.
L'Opinion publique. May-Dec.
L' Union monarchique.^
b. Conservative republican :
Le Constitutionnel.
Le Journal des debats.
La Patrie.
c. Liberal republican:
Le Bien public. May 24-Dec.
Le Journal. July 28-Nov. i.
Le National.
^Unless otherwise indicated, file in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris,
runs unbroken throughout the year. In other cases, months here given
refer to 1848 only. Cf. ch. vii for further details.
525] 347
348 BIBLIOGRAPHY |^226
d. Radical republican:
Le Charivari.
Le Peuple constituant. Feb.- July ii.
La Reforme.
e. Socialist:
L'Ami du peuple. Feb. 27-May 14.
U Atelier. Published irregularly; sometimes weekly, usually
monthly.
La Democratie paciHque.
Le Pere Duchene. April- June; suspended June 25; resumed for
five numbers in August.
Le Populaire.
Le Representant du peuple. Apr. i-Aug. 24 with occasional in-
termissions ; continued from Sept. i as Le Peuple.
La Republique.
La Vraie republique. Mar. 26- June 24; Aug. 8-21.
f. Bonapartist:
Le Napoleon repuhlicain. June 11-25.
Le Petit Caporal. June-Dec. ; suspended during July. This and
preceding, radical in sentiment.
g. Catholic:
L'i:re nouvelle. April-Dec.
L'Univers.
h. Personal organs:
UEvenement. Aug.-Dec.
La Liberie. Mar. i-June 26; Aug. 7-Sept. 2; Nov. 8-Dec. 31-
La Presse. Suspended from June 25 to Aug. 7.
i. Reviews :
Le Mois. March-Dec.
Revue britannique. Feb. number contains an article from the
Edinburgh Review, " Des progres de la civilisation commer-
ciale en Amerique depuis la decouverte de Ch. Colomb jusqu'en
1846," treating largely of the tariff, agriculture and immigra-
tion, eulogistic of American liberty. July number has article,
"Des causes de la prosperite des Etats-Unis d* Amerique" by
J. Magne (for his sketch of constitution, see below). Other
articles on advantages of a transcontinental railroad over a
Panama canal, on life in the Far West, negro slavery, Emer-
son, a pacifist book by Charles Sumner, etc.
Revue des deux mondes. Articles on America are chiefly liter-
ary criticisms.
527] BIBLIOGRAPHY ^^g
Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence, Laboulaye's Consider-
ations first published in Aug. number.
Revue nationale. .Suspended in July for lack of bond. Several
uncomplimentary allusions to American slavery.
j. Foreign publications:
London Times.
New York Evening Post.
Phila. Public Ledger.
Washington Daily National Intelligencer.
Niks' Register, vol. Ixxiv.
.3. Collections of constitutions
Anonymous. Constitution des Etats-Unis d'Amerique. i6mo. Imp.
de Crapelet. Paris, 1848. The preface praises the bicameral
system, indirect election to the senate, the president with his
four year term, suspensive veto, executive nomination rather
than election to posts in the civil service, the system of checks
and balances, the property quahfication for suffrage in most
American States ; in lieu of the latter, however, it demands only
an ability to read' and write.
Anonymous. Repuhlique des Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Sa constitu-
tion avec les divers amendments depuis son origine. 8vo. Paris,
April, 1848. Incomplete paraphrase chiefly of legislative sections.
Balbo, I. P. Constitutions republicaines du globe. Contains those
of France, United States, Delaware, St. Domingo, Italy, Venice,
Genoa, San Marino, Germany, Bavaria, Switzerland, canton of
Vaud. Paris, 1848.
Champeaux, G. de. Constitution republicaine de 1848 precedes des
Constitutions frangaises . . . et suivie de la constitution ameri-
caine. Paris, 1848.
Jalaber, Fabius. Constitution des Etats-Unis d'Amerique, traduite
sur I'ouvrage original et suivie d' observations tirees en majeure
partie de I'ouvrage de M. Destutt de Tracy. Nantes, 1848.
Tracy was a friend of Jefferson ; the work referred to is a com-
mentary on Montesquieu, which he wrote in 1807 in the United
States and published there in 181 1.
M. . Constitutions de la republique frangaise annotees et
suivies de la constitution des Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Paris, 1848.
Pailliet, J. B. J. Constitutions americaines et frangaises. Paris, 1848.
Tripi^r, Louis. Les Constitutions frangaises depuis 1789 et y com-
pris les decrets du gouvernement provisoire de 1848, suivies de
la constitution des Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Paris, 1848.
Dupin, Andre Marie J. J. (Dupin aine). Constitution de la repub-
lique frangaise arcompagnee de notes sommaires. Paris, Jan. 1849
350 BIBLIOGRAPHY ^^28.
Author a member of the constitutional commission. He com-
ments favorably on the American presidential message and the
permanent tenure of the judiciary.
Teulet, A. F. Recueil de constitutions frangaises depuis 1791, et
constitutions des Etats-Unis d'Amerique avec table methodique.
Paris, 185 1.
Apparently reprint of an' earlier edition. Table of contents men-
tions federal constitution and state constitutions of Mass., Penn.,
Del., Md., Vt, and S. C.
Pages allotted to state constitutions are taken up in tliis edition
by const, of 1848.
4. Political books and pamphlets
Anonymous. Catechisme republicain par le Pere Andre, suivi des
conseils pour faire fortune et de la science du Bonhomme Richard
par Franklin. 4th edition, 91st thousand. Paris, 1833-48.
In French Revolutionary Pamphlets, vol. 2, Columbia Univ. Lib.
Republican pamphlet; alludes to American example.
Anonymous. Projet d'une constitution de la republique, en sept
articles, par un citoyen qui s'est donne la peine de lire et de
comparer toutes les constitutions de la France et des pays etrangers
depuis 1/88. Paris, 1848.
Calls for a lower house elected by general vote for three years
on basis of population, a senate chosen from a Hst of notabilities
by general vote for nine years, renewed by thirds, a president for
three years popularly elected, a council of ministers named and
revocable by the president, a council of state named and revocable
by him acting in conjunction with the ministers.
d'Arlincourt, Vte. Dieu le veut. Paris, 1848.
Legitimist plea for Henry V; went to 64 editions by 1850; bitterly
hostile to U. S.
Barthelemy, A. M. A M. J. K. Polk, president des £tats-Unis
d'Amerique. Paris, 1848.
Berriat Saint-Prix, F. Plan de constitution, a-jec indication des
sources et des motifs. Paris, 1848.
Democratic standpoint; U. S. example rejected because of feder-
ahsm and bicameral system.
Bonis, Amed. Les Queues de chevaux ou lettre de la jcune
Amerique a la France republicaine. Paris, 1848.
Trivial eulogy of republicanism.
Brougham, Lord. Letter to the Marquess of Lansdowne on the
late revolution in France. London, 1848.
Argues for two chambers, alluding to American and English
example.
529] BIBLIOGRAPHY 3^
Chambrun, Adelbert de. La Repuhlique reformiste et la repub-
lique revolutionnaire. Paris, 1848.
Ex-monarchist, who hopes that American- and English experi-
ence will not be unheeded by France.
Colombel, H. Quelques reiiexions concernant la constitution.
Nantes, 185 1.
Appeared first in the Courrier de Nantes, May 14, 1848. Quotes
American example four times in an essay of 16 pages ; no other
country quoted.
Cormenin, L. M. Petit pamphlet sur le projet de constitution, par
Timon. Paris, 1848.
Emar, Louis. La Constitution comme je la voudrais avec des
debats imaginaires. Paris, 1848.
Praise of the high standard of American diplomats.
Garnier, Adolphe. De I' organisation du pouvoir. Paris, 1848.
Appeared first in La Liberte du penser, June 15, 1848. To be
found in French PoHtical Pamphlets, Zi, Columbia Univ. Library.
Author a professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne; ch. iii, De la
constitution americaine, examines American methods from a con-
servative, generally favorable standpoint ; no other foreign system
studied.
Laboulaye, E. Considerations sur la constitution. Paris, 1848.
Appeared first as article in Revue de legislation et de juris-
prudence, Aug. 1848.
Lamartine. Trots mois au pouvoir. Paris, 1848.
Le Mesl, P. M. Considerations sur la partie du projet de con-
stitution qui concerne V organisation du pouvoir executif et du
pouvoir legislatif. Paris, 1848.
Asserts that there are only two parties, that of order and
stability, that of disorder and anarchy; France must study the
example of the United States.
Magne, J. Esquisse d'une constitution. Ce que la France repub-
licaine pourrait, avec avantage, emprunter aux institutions des
£tats-Unis. Paris, 1848.
Appeared first in La Revue britannique, May, 1848.
Morton, Georges. Lettre d'un citoyen des £tats-Unis d'Amerique
sur la presidence de la republique frangaise. Paris, Nov. 1848.
In Cavaignac interest.
Nougarede de Fayet, Ate. De la constitution republicaine a donner
d la France et du danger d'une assemblee unique. Paris, 1848.
Pitray. Que preferer? une assemblee unique omnipotente ou une
legislature composee d'une chambre des representants, d'un sJnat
et d'un president F Bordeaux, 1848.
Author a refugee from St. Domingo to tlie U. S.; citizen there
352 BIBLIOGRAPHY ^^^,0
for 22 years ; French citizen again for 28 years. Adds as appendix
Washington's opinion, found in his letter as Pres. of the Const.
Convention to the Pres. of Congress, Sept. 17, 1787.
■Regnon, H. d€. A M. de Cormenin, pres. de la commission de la
constitution. Nantes, 1848.
Open letter, in Catholic interest, advocating " la liberte d'une re-
publique plutot federative qu'unitaire, comme celle des Etats-
Unis."
Saint-Auge, F. A. Fournier. Du rachat de la dette £onsolide par
I'impot fancier. Paris, 1848.
Pamphlet in Archives Nationales.
Saint-John, P. B. French Revolution in 184S. New York, 1848.
Sympathy with republic, but dislike of socialism.
5aint-Priest, F. Question des deux cJiambres. Paris, 1848.
Author a member of Assembly. American example invoked in
favor of bicameral system.
Stern, Daniel. Lettres repuhlicaines. Paris, 1848.
Constitutionnelisky, C. S. Considerations . . . sur la mesure de
liberte . . . que nous devons au . . . siecle des cofistitutions {^48-52).
Montauban, 1854.
Dunoyer, Barthelemy C. P. Jos. La Revolution du 24 fevrier.
Paris, 1849.
Guizot. De la democratic efi France. Paris, 1849.
Laboulaye, E. De la constitution americaine et de Vutilite de son
etude. Discours prononce le 4 dec. 1849, a Vouverture du cours
de legislation comparee.
Appeared first in Revue de legislation et de jurisprudence, Dec.
1849.
'Rendu, A. Les Deux republiques ou Btats-Unis et France.
Paris, 1850.
Shows continuance of interest in American example after con-
stitution-making period.
5. Works on the United States
Beaumont, G. de and Tocqueville, A. de. Systeme penitentiare aux
£tats-Unis et de son application en France. Paris, 1831; 3rd
ed. 1845.
Chevalier, Michel. Lettres sur I'Amerique du Nord. Paris, 1836;
2ndi ed. 1837.
Histoire et description des voies de commmiication aux £tats-
Unis. Paris, 1840-41. 2 vols.
Courmont, F. de. Des £tats-Unis, de la guerre du Mexique et de
Vile de Cube. Paris, 1847.
Farcy, Charles. Etudes politiques. De I'aristocratie anglaise, de
531 ] BIBLIOGRAPHY 353
la democratie americaine, et de la liheralite des institutions
franqaises. Paris, 1842.
Violent disapproval from standpoint of Guizot Orleanist before
the revolution.
Guizot. Washington, Etude historique. Paris, 1839.
Murat, Achille. Esquisses morales et politiques des £tats-Unis
de VAmerique du Nord. Paris, 1832.
Poussin, G. T. Considerations sur le principe democratique qui
regit I' union americaine. Paris, 1841.
De la puissance americaine. 3rd ed., enlarged. Paris, 1848.
Travaux d' ameliorations interieures, projetes . . . par le gouverne-
ment general des &tats-Unis d'Amerique de 1824 a 183 1. Paris,
1834.
Tocqueville, A. de. La Democratie en Amerique. Paris, 1835,
3 vols.
A tenth edition published in 1848.
6. Collections of documents
Archives Nationales. Cartons 6620299-320 contain a mass of
printed and unprinted matter relative to 1848, including reports,
petitions, addresses, letters, etc., mostly of little value.
Anonymous. Les Affiches rouges. Paris, 1851.
Les Murailles revolutionnaires de 1848. Paris, 1867.
Two collections of revolutionary posters.
7. Miscellaneous
Jefferson, Thomas. Writings. (Ford ed.) New York, 1892-99.
10 vols.
Lowell, J. R. Biglow Papers, First Series. Many editions.
Moses, Myer. Full Annals of the Revolution in France, 1830. To
which is added, A Full Account of the Celebration of said Revo-
lution in the City of New York, on the 25th November, 1830;
Being the Forty-seventh Anniversary of an event that restored
our citisens to their homes, and to the enjoyment of their rights
and liberties. New York, 1830.
Thomas, Emile. Histoire des ateliers nationaux. Paris, 1848.
(Marriot ed. Oxford, 1913).
Tocqueville, A. de. Correspondance. Vols. 5-7 of Oeuvres com'
pletes. Paris, 1866.
B. — Secondary Works
I. Memoirs and histories by contemporaries
Babaud-Laribiere, L. Histoire de VAssemblee nationale consti-
tuante. Paris, 1850. 2 vols.
354 BIBLIOGRAPHY [^22
Barante, Baron de. "Apres la revolution de fevrier." In La Revue
de Paris, vol. iii, pp. 30^335, 539-568. Paris, 1899.
Barrot, Odilon. Mimoires posthu'mes. Paris, 1875. 4 vols.
Beaumont-Vassy, Vicomte de. Histoire de mon temps, 1830-51.
1st series, vol. 4. Paris, 1858.
Blanc, Louis. Histoire de la revolution de 1848. Paris, 1870.
2 vols.
Carnot, Hippolyte. Memorial d\ Bibliothdque de la society
d'histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. viii.
Castille, H. Histoire de la seconde republique frangaise. Paris,
1855. 4 vols.
Chase, Lucien B. History of the Polk Administration. New-
York, 1850.
Chassin, Ch, L. Felicien. Souvenirs d'un etudiant de '48. Paris,
1904.
Corkran, J. F. History of the National Constituent Assembly.
New York, 1849.
Gamier-Pages. Histoire de la revolution de 1848. Paris, 1866.
8 vols.
Guizot. Memoires pour servir d I'histoire de mon temps. Paris,
1875. 9 vols.
Laboulaye, E. Histoire politique des £tats-Unis (1620- 1789).
Paris, 1855-66. 3 vols.
Lamartine. Histoire de la revolution de 1848. Brussels, 1849.
2 vols.
Marx, Karl. Der Achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Bonaparte.
Hamburg, 1869.
Published originally in Die Revolution, a New York monthly,
in 1852.
The history of the second republic, viewed as a contest of classes.
Mitchell, Donald G. The Battle Summer. New York, 1850.
Normanby, Marquis of. A Year of Revolution; from a journal
kept in Paris in 1848. London, 1857. 2 vols.
Quentin-Bauchart. Etudes et souvenirs sur la deuxihne republique
et le second empire. Paris, 1901.
Remusat, Charles de. Politique liberale. Paris, i860.
Rush, iRichard. Occasional Productions, Political, Diplomatic and
Miscellaneous. Including among others, a glance at the court
and government of Louis Philippe and the French Revolution
of 1848. Philadelphia, i860.
Stein, Lorenz. Geschichte der sozialen Bewegung in Frankreich.
Leipzig, 1850. 3 vols.
Stern, Daniel. Histoire de la revolution de 1848. Paris, 1878.
2 vols.
Tocqueville, A. de. Souvenirs. Paris, 1893.
5-33] BIBLIOGRAPHY 355
2. Later works
Berton, H. ''La constitution de 1848" in Annales de fecole libre
des sciences politiques, vol. 12, pp. 673-712; vol. 13, pp. 343-374.
Bourne, H. E. "American constitutional precedents in the French
National Assembly" in American Historical Review, vol. 8,
pp. 466-486.
Chaboseau, A. *' Les constituants de 1848 " in La Revolution de
1848, vol. 7, pp. 287-305, 413-425 ; vol. 8, pp. 67-80.
I>odd, W. E. Expansion and Conflict (Riverside Hist, of U. S.,
vol. 3). Boston, 1915.
Dolleans, E. Robert Owen. Paris, 1907.
d'Eichthal, Eugene. Alexis de Tocqueville, et la democratie liberale.
Etude siiivi de fragments dcs entretiens de Tocqueville avec
Nassau William Senior (1848- 1858). Paris, 1897.
Foville, A. de. La Transformation des moyens de transport.
Paris, 1880.
Ham el, E. Histoire de France depuis la revolution jusqu' a la
chute du Second Empire. Paris, 1883-93. 10 vols.
Helie, F. A. Les Constitutions de la France. Paris, 1875.
La Gorce, P. de. Histoire de la seconde republique fran^aise.
Paris, 1898. 2 vols.
Levasseur, E. Histoire des classes ouvrieres et de findustrie en
France de 1789 a i860 (ist ed. 1867). Paris, 1903. 2 vols.
McMaster, J. B. History of the People of the United States from
the Revolution to the Civil War. New York, 1885- 1913. 8 vols.
Marcel, R. P. Essai politique sur Alexis de Tocqueville. Paris, 1910.
Michel, H. "Note sur la constitution de 1848" in La Revolution
de 1848, vol. I, pp. 41-56.
Miiller, Wilhelm. Political History of Recent Times. New York, 1882.
Translation of Politische GescJiichte der neuesten Zeit.
Pierre, V. Histoire de la republique de 1848. Paris, 1873-1878.
2 vols.
Rammelkamp, C. H. " The French Constitution of 1791 and the
United States Constitution; a Comparison" in South Atlantic
Quarterly. Vol. 2, p. 56, et seq.
Renard, Georges. La Republique de 1848. Paris, 1906.
Vol. ix of L'Histoire socialiste, Jean Jaures ed.
Rhodes, J. F. History of the United States from the compromise
of 1850 to the fttml restoration of home rule at the South in
1877. New York, 1893- 1906. 7 vols.
Richardson, James D. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers
of the Presidents. Washington, 1897. 10 vols.
Rittiez, F. Histoire du gouvernement provisoire de 1848. Paris,
1866. 2 vols.
356 BIBLIOGRAPHY [c^.
Rosenthal, Lewis. America and France: influence of the United
States on France in the i8th century. New York, 1882.
Seignobos, Ch. " Histoire politique de la France contemporainc
depuis 1848" in Revue des cours et conferences, Nov. 1907-
July, 1908.
Histoire politique de I'Europe contemporaine. Paris, 1897.
iSpuller, E. Histoire parlementaire de la second e republique.
Paris, 1891.
Tchernoff, J. Le parti republicain sous la monarchie de juillet.
Paris, 1901.
Von Hoist, H. John C. Calhoun. Boston, 1884.
Wassermann, Suzanne. Les Clubs de Barbes et de Blanqui en 1848.
{Bibliotheque d'histoire moderne, fascicule jrn). Paris, 1913.
Weill, G. Histoire du parti republicain en France de 1814 a 18/0.
Paris, 1900.
C. — Bibliographies and Works of Reference
I. Bibliographies
Bibliographie de la France; journal general de Vimprimerie et de
la librairie: ist series, 1811-1856; 2nd series, 1857-present.
Briere et Caron. Repertoire de I'histoire moderne de la France.
Paris, 1898- 1903 incl.
Hiatus till 1910, being covered by two volumes in preparation.
Continued by Caron et Burnand, Repertoire, 1910-1912. For
subsequently published works, cf. Revue d'histoire moderne, and
its annual Repertoire methodique. Cf. also La Revolution de
1848, published every two months since 1904 by the Societe de
la Revolution de 1848, under editorship of G. Renard.
Caron, P. Bibliographie des travaux publics de 1866 d, i8gy sur
I'histoire de la France depuis 1789. Paris, 19 12.
Caron, P. " Les sources manuscrites parisiennes de I'histoire de
la revolution de 1848 et de la deuxieme republique" in Revue
d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, vol. 6, pp. 85-119.
Catalogue de I'histoire de France. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Vols. 4, 7 and 11 (suppl.).
Larned, J. N. The Literature of American History (Am. Lib.
Assoc. Annotated Lists). Boston, 1902.
Le Soudier. Bibliographie fran^aise. ist series, catalogues of
French pubhshers to 1900; 2nd series, 1900-1909.
Lorenz, O. Catalogue general de la librarie frangaise, esp. vol. 7.
1840-1912; monthly supplements, 1912-1915.
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, esp. vol. i.
535] BIBLIOGRAPHY 357
2. Lists of newspapers
Hatin, E. Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse
periodique frangaise. Paris, 1866,
Histoire politique et litteraire de la presse en France. 8 vols.
Paris, 1859- 1861.
Izambard, H. La presse parisienne. Paris, 1853,
3. Biographies of representatives
Alhoy, M. Biographic parlementaire des representants du peuple
a I'assemhlee nationale constituante de 1848. Paris, 1848.
Dictionnaire des partem entaires frangais, comprenant tous les
membres des assemhlees frangaises et tous les ministres frangais
depuis le i^^ mai lySg jusqu'au i^ mai 1889.
Adolphe 'Robert, Edgar Bourloton, Gaston Cougny, editors.
Paris, 1891. 5 vols.
Lesaulnier, C. M. Biographie des 900 deputes a I'assemhlee na-
tionale par ordre alphabetique de dipartements. Paris, 1848.
Biographie des representants du peuple a I'assemhlee nationale con-
stituante, avec un tableau des deputations par dipartements. Par
les redacteurs de Notre Histoire. Paris, 1848.
4. Miscellaneous.
Almanach nationale. Paris, 1848.
Assemblee nationale constituante. Impressions. Projets de lots,
propositions, rapports, etc. Paris, 1849. 16 vols, in 8vo, and
5 vols, in 4°.
Carrey, E. Recueil des actes du gouvernement provisoire de 1848.
Paris, 1848.
La Grande Encyclopedic. Paris, 1886-1903. 31 vols.
VITA
Eugene Newton Curtis was born at White Plains,
New York, June 23, 1880. He graduated at Phillips Acad-
emy, Andover, in 1897, and received the degrees of B.A. at
Yale in 1901, M.A. at Harvard 1904, and B.D. at the Epis-
copal Theological School, Cambridge, in the same year.
From the fall of 191 2 to the spring of 19 14 he studied at
the Sorbonne, and from April to July, 1914, at the Uuni-
versity of Munich. During 1914-15 he studied at Columbia,
attending the lectures of Professors Robinson, Shotwell,
Beard and Seager and the seminar of Professor Shotwell.
He was Instructor in History at the University of Wis-
consin, 191 5-1 7. He is now Assistant Professor of History
at Goucher College.
359
JN Curtis, Eugene Newton
2539 The French Assembly of
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