The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

JUNE 27,1857. tains a judicial organisation emanating from the Executive Government, but independent of it, and completely separated from the legislative power. By the power of convocation, adjournment, prorogation, and dissolution, the Chief of the State dominates the Legislative Body. By the right of nomination the Chief of the State domi nates the Senate. Nevertheless, he dominates the Senate, which is a conservative and stable element, less than he dominates the Legislative Body, which is a popular and changeable element. The Ministers have not the right of entrance to the Legislative Body. They only depend on the Chief of the State, and are only responsible each for such acts of the Government as specially concern him. There is no mutual responsibility between them ; that is to say, they are only the first agents of the Government, not the Government itself. The Constitu tion leaves a large part to be played by the Council of State; in that body are absorbed and extinguished the most stormy part of parliamentary government. The Council of State, which enlightens the Government with out enchaining it, prepares and draws up bills and administrative regulations ; it supports in the name of the Government the discussion of bills before the Legislative Body and before the Senate. In the discussion the Councillors, designated by the Chief of the State, express the opinions of the Government, without representing, as the Ministers formerly did, the Administration itself. It evidently results from this mechanism that France now possesses, not a Government more or less despotic, as the old parties sometimes assert, but a veritable representative and constitutional Government—a Government of discus sion, of enlightenment and progress, founded on the prin ciples of 1789. In point of fact this Government guarantees all the conquests of 1789—civil and political equality, liberty of conscience and instruction, proportional equality in the payment of taxes, judges nominated for life, and responsi bility of the agents of Government. It recognises and consecrates the University, trial by jury, liberty of the press in a great measure, military recruiting from all classes without distinction, the institution of the national guard, the inviolability of private property and the public debt. But what distinguishes this constitutional Government from the parliamentary regime is that by its mechanism it closes the door against new revolutions. Thus all the laws are freely discussed—not a clause can be promulgated, not a centime can be levied, without the vote of the Legislative Body ; but, thanks to the proper limitation of the Parliamentary element, we no longer see the hypocrisy and violence of tribunes, the Ministerial oligarchies, the wars of portfolios, and the coalition of statesmen, which under the parliamentary monarchy enervated the Govern ment, misled public reason, roused passions, and prepared those sudden catastrophes in which we saw the Govern ment vanish all at once like the dust of a struggle, or the smoke of a conflagration! On the popular demonstrations which after the coup-d'etat led to the re-establishment of the Empire, our author dilates with real en thusiasm ; but on that great measure itself he is not so communicative as it seems to us he might have been. The book is studded in Macaulay fashion with portraits of the prin cipal personages who played a part in the events it relates, and they are hit off with really admirable skill, though without any thing like fairness ; but we have not room to dwell on them. We must also abstain from any examination of the first volume, which records the overthrow of King Louis Phillippe, and the troubled career of the Republic from its commencement to the election of Louis Napoleon. But we cannot refjain from quoting, because it will be new to many of our readers, the scene which occurred at the Tuileries when, on the memorable 23rd of February, 1848, the tumult which prevailed in Paris appeared to the Royal Family to render the resignation of the Guizot Ministry de sirable : Louis Philippe had never bad any taste for the policy of the Opposition. . . . He was, therefore, determined, from the commencement of difficulties, to maintain by all means the tranquillity of the country and the rights of his crown. This resolution, however, was not that of his Court, nor even of his family . . . . and they had succeeded during the last two days in creating trouble and distrust in the mind of the King, though not in convincing him. Thia new situation of mind was shown, though with hesitation, in the first words which the King addressed to M. Duchatel, Minister of the Interior. He expressed, as he had done before the hope of succeeding in re-establish ing order, hut he desired that his Minister should have a conversation with the Queen on this grave and difficult subject. Called immediately by the King, the Quecn entered the Cabinet. " If M. Guizot has the least sentiment of devotedness for the King and for France," said her Majesty, "he will not remain in power an instant longer. He is ruining the King !" " Madame," replied M, Duchatel, " M. Guizot is re solved, like all his colleagues, to defend to the last extre mity if necessary, the King and the monarchy; but he has not, any more than we have, the desire of imposing him self on the Crown." " Do not say such things, my dear," cried the King to the Queen. "If M. Guizot knew it !" " l do not wish for anything better than that he should know it," replied the Queen. " I would say the same thing to him personally—l esteem him enough to do so. lie is a man of honour, and would understand me." • • . THE PRESS. M. Duchatel observed that he could neither as a colleague nor a friend leave M. Guizot ignorant of the opinion of their Majesties. It was agreed that he should imme• diately seek the President of the Council. . . . The Duke de Montpensier, who was present, supported the opinion of the Queen by some sharp observations. . It was about two o'clock when M. Guizot and M. Duchatel arrived in the King's Cabinet. His Majesty was with the Queen, and with such of his sons as were in Paris. The King, without dissimulating the perils of the situation, insisted on the repugnance which the idea of separating from his Ministry caused him. He added, " I would sooner abdicate !" "You must not say so, my friend," replied the Queen. "You owe yourself to France—you do not belong to yourself." " True," answered the King ; " I am more unfortunate than my Ministers. I cannot give in my resignation." Then, turning to M. Gnizot, he said, " Do you think, my dear President, that the Cabinet is able to make head against the difficulties which exist, and to triumph over them ?" " Sire," replied M. Guizot, " when your Majesty puts such a question you solve it. The Cabinet might triumph out of doors, but it cannot vanquish at the same time the Royal Family and the Crown. To doubt of its force at the Tuileries is to destroy it in the exercise of power. The Cabinet cannot do otherwise than resign." The King consulted his Ministers on their successors, and named Count Mole. . . . . Then a separation took place, and it was touching. The King embraced his Ministers, and shed tears. " You will always be the friends of the King," said the Queen; "von will support him." Louis Philippe conducted M. Duchatel and M. Guizot to the door; and, pressing their hands once again, he cried, " How happy you are! You leave with honour, and I remain with shame." We must also quote an account of the remark ably pleasant situation of the Republican Minister of Finance, M. Goudchaux (the person who has just been elected by the Red faction at Paris), a few months after the estab lishment of the glorious Republic : On the llth July, 184 d (it is a representative of the people who speaks), I and M. de Courcelles, as members of the Special Committee of the Assembly charged to make a report on the new tax of one per cent. on mortgages, went to M. Goudchsnx, Minister of Finance, to confer with him on the subject. We found the Minister in his own room, leaning over his desk, with his head in his hands. As we approached he jumped up hastily, and, coming to me (we had previously transacted banking business together), grasped me by the hands with an expression of the most profound sorrow, and said, " I wish I were dead! If my religious sentiments did not prevent me from committing suicide, I would put an end to my life, in order to escape from the horrible situation in which I am placed !" Tears flowed down his cheeks. He showed me the balance•sheet of the public treasury. There were only 16,000,0)0 fr. in hand, and every day the expenses exceeded the receipts by 1,30(1,000 fr. We had, conse• quently, only twelve days to exist. On the expiration of that period were bankruptcy and an abyss! We recom mended M. Goudchaux not to allow the fatal secret to escape ; and we also recommended him, on account of his agitation, not to attend the sitting of the Assembly. And we went, Stc. - - We now leave M. de Cassagnac's book to the reader. As our copious extracts, though losing by translation, show, he will find in it a spirited record of one of the most stirring and important epochs of the agitated history of Fiance—revelations of the highest historical and political interest—passages written with really remarkable literary power and eloquence ; but he will not find, we must honestly tell him. that calm judgment upon events which the historian is expected to display. M. do Cas sagnac is coo evident a political partisan, and possesses too much of the vehemence of the journalist to be, or affect to be, strictly impar tial. His book is the authentic Bonapartean version of great events of recent occurrence. It is extremely interesting and of great value, and it is as such that it will be not only eagerly read by contemporaries, but consulted by posterity. The Judgment qt the Flood. By John A. Heraud. A New Edition, Revised and Rearranged. London : Bogue. THIS is another appeal made by Mr. Heraud for a reversal of the critical opinion generally held on his claims to the rank of a philosophi cal poet. The work as it now stands contains some new descriptions and episodes, and the poem is divided into four parts. " These " amendments," says the author, " include " the mythos of a political truth, which hitherto " has been corroborated by historical facts," and he has accordingly given fuller develop ment to the character of Samiasa. . Metaphysics of the cloudiest kind are often confounded with poetry, and tianseendentalists of all ranks rarely distinguish between the abstractions of pure philosophy and the idealisms of a poetical nature. To succeed as a philosophical poet, there is much more re quired than large views of man's destiny, and lofty aspirations. There must be exquisite choice of words and great rhythmical sweet ness in order to charm the reader and to entrance his mind. If Shelley had not pos sessed such power over cadence, and if his wealth of beautiful and expressive language had not been so great, he would have been only a philosopher, and not a poet. The school of writers to which Mr. Heraud belongs wants music, and its disciples misconceive in toto the nature of poetry. Aspiration is not invention ; ethical reflections arc not prophetic intimations of genius ; wordy sympathy with the welfare of society does not necessarily touch the heart. Hence they have never• be come popular, and their success is limited to the cliques of their admirers. Mr. Heraud is a gentleman of literary talents and knowledge, and in an unpoetical age it is no discredit to him that his harp does not attract a large audience. He cannot com plain that his works have not been made known to the literary public, as he has had considerable notice taken of him at various times. What the measure of his poetical faculty might have been if his mind had been trained on another• system, we cannot say ; but according to what he has written he must be judged, and we fear unfavourably. There is depressed feeling in the Palinode, at the conclusion of this new edition ; but the pathos of poetry does not inspire the compo sition, which is abrupt in its execution and incongruous in its illustrations: — Heart ; be not downcast : cheerly, cheerly. Some be there thou hast loved too dearly, Things that have won too much regard, Trials that have been overhard ; Shipwreck of hopes—thou Mariner In seas untried—thou trespasser On alien shores—thou sorely tempted : Thou dupe of Faith ; whiles, unexempted From chance, and change, who fondly trusted A world too old ; a weapon rusted ; An icy globe with snow o'er•crusted, That slips, and crunches as we roll it, Uphill and downhill, with our feet Taught, like a gymnast, to control it, Yet—or betrayed, or indiscreet — Still sliding from its surface found; Till, fallen from off the treacherous round, Sheer into space we gyrate ; while the skies Laugh all about us, with their starry eyes. The leading fault of the transcendental ver sifiers is their perpetually confounding the pleasures of discursive thinking with the poetical sublime. They write upon the general system of the world, and they fancy that popular readers are to take pleasure in obscure thoughts propounded in hard words and un musical verse. They have filled volumes with vague and unsatisfactory passages like the following:— My Spirit has experienced many phases, Since, the first time, I thought to tread the mazes Of this great theme. I am not what I was ; nay, I Have nothing of my own identity, Save in this dream : Yet difference, even here, I apprehend — And now her travail cometh to an end, I feel no triumph ; rather shame, and sorrow, Offspring of sin ; and Hope of Death tomorrow, Sa that the Waters o'er my soul may pass, And wash it—from the Ark shut out, alas, Entrance wherein I wished, but wanted strength Of Faith to reach. Well—Once set free, at length, The Ark of Hades waits; where even the Drowned Find refuge late, and are of Mercy found. It is not wonderful that such writing has failed to catch the popular ear ; and, on the other hand, the ambitious pretensions of this school, with its constant propensity to bathos, excite critical hostility. Titus; in the ode to the " Bird of Doubt," the last line is truly ridiculous, and mars the effect of the previous passage : Bird of Doubt, Let the stream run out ; Tha stream deep,and strong, Of the river of song, Whose spring is thy heart; That fountain divine, Whence with wildness, and art, It flows into mine. I hear it—l hear it — Moat beantiful Spirit, All the Night long, That stream deep, and strong, Of the river of song.-- Bird of Doubt, Ilow shall wo name thy sob, sud thy shout'? .11..ImmimmAIL