The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-02 00:00:00

THE SOCIAL REMEDIES OF M. CONSIDERANT.

" He classifies the remedies proposed under two heads—that
of Communism, which he denounces as anti-social and illu-
sory; and that of Association, which he adopts as a pacificatory
principle. Capital, labour, and talent are, according to Const-
derant—borrowing from Fourier—the three elements of pro-
duction—the three sources of wealth, the wheels of industrial
mechanism, the great primitive means of social develop►nent.
If there were a fair division of profits, not in equal degree, but
according to a scale that would allow higher remuneration to
the higher qualities engaged—so much for capital, so much for
the talent, and so much for the labour,—why then, instead of
the few wealthy, and the many miserable, there would be gene-
ral comfort. That is undeniable. By raising the condition of
labourers, there would be immensely increased consumption at
home, and with consumption, more manufactures for the
home-market, and more to divide; with all the moral advan-
tages flowing from the substitution of comfort for want and
misery."

Our author states further that M. Considerant
" Is a Christian, a Constitutional Monarchy-man, a foe to
war; that he is against Propagandism, and interference with
other nations or their concerns; that he writes for Frenchmen,
and that instead of seeking to force an adoption of his system,
he is for a commencement by way of practical experiment, in
the hope that success in one instance may lead to adoption
and imitation. A reformer who presents himself in this way is
worthy of friendly attention."
_

All the revolutions which have occurred in France of
late years have originated with moderate men, who, not
sufficiently powerful to make themselves feared without
assistance from the masses ever ready to throw physical
force into the scale, have permitted the sans-culottes of
the past size and the red republicans of the present
to take part in movements which they were never in-
tended to appropriate to their own purposes. But
the wild spirit of Communism, in its worst and most un-
Christian sense, once evoked, the difficulty has ever been
to stay it in its frantic and desolating career. This brings
us to a sketch of
M. DITVERGIER DE HAITRANNE,
" Who came forward to combat against Socialism, and was
the real author of the reform banquets which terminated in the
fall of the Monarchy. In an evil hour M. Duchitel, Minister of
the Interior, affirmed that the country was indifferent on the
subject of reform—the taunt was taken as a challenge—de Hau-
ranne at once retorted that the minister should soon be awa-
kened from his delusion, and the reform banquets were orga-
nised. The more commanding position of Wilton Barrot. his
more impressive eloquence, gave him the conspicuous part in
the performances; hut the manager was the gentleman whom
we are now noticing. His is a singular physiognomy—a re-
markably fine head, long grave face, pale and thoughtful,. and
testi.ying his descent from the pure ascetic Jansenist, of whom
he hcars one of the historical names; yet his movementsbetray
a nervi ns excitability, a combative impatient sp rit, that mark
him our for what he is—a born Oppositionist. His writings
and his speeches divide his characteristics. The first, like his
fine head, are thoughtful, methodical, and cold—the latter brisk,
petulant, and spirifeel. His writings are all political, and turn
chiefly on English parliamentary history, or the conduct of
parties in the British legislature. Like his old muter,Guiwt,

whom he abandoned for Thiers, be regards our parliamentary
government as a beau ideal of its kind t and, in spite of his
own change of leaders, he remains a doctrinaire. He is not
only well vereed i❑ English history, and a close observer, even
a chronicler, as the Revue des Deux Mondes can testify, of the
daily struggles of English parties, but he is personally ac-
quainted with their most eminent politicians. The task which
Duvergier tie Hauranne imposed on himself was that of fami-
liarising his countrymen with English habits of meeting in
public. Nu spectacle appeared finer to him than the meeting
of representatives and constituents during the parliamentary
vacation, at town balls, or at the festive board, for sake-of ren-
de•ring an account of their stewardship, or of combining with
their friends some movement in which they were one and all
interested. It was this wholesome agitation, this diffusion of
political life, this unceasing acti%ity, that he saw with most
envy ; and it was with the hope of transplanting so excellent a
temper to the soul of the French popular mind that he planned
the banquets, which ended in a manner so deceptive to his
hopes."

In the revolution of 1789 the restoration of order was
found imprecticable for years; in that of 1830, Louis
Philippe, elected by the people in the hour of victory,
arrested the storm in its progress; but in 1848 the strug-
gle was again severe—Lamartine was unable- to stem the
torrent ; Cavaignac, after his brilliant services. retained
no abiding place in the affn:ctions of the majority ; and the
permanency of peace may date from the

DEBBY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

It was on the 25th of September that Louis Napoleon lsuo-
naparte took his seat in the National Assembly. He had been
elected by ;iris. and by the departments of the Charente and
Yonne, and such manifestations of popular enthusiasm had
everywhere appeared as to have strengthened the uneasiness
and deepened the distrust with which the heir of the Fmpetor
had been viewed by the Republican party. It was resolved,
however, to treat the Prince with perfect indifference, so far as
indifference can be put on by an assembly, for the nonce - sus-
tained indifference by a large popular body being out of the
questlon. %%lien Louis Napoleon entered the gale he w•is
greeted with'no friendly welo,me. Quietly, almost timidly, he
crept to the seat which was held vacant by his old tutor. M
Viellard, whose affectionate smile and pressure of the hand
were the only demonstrations of kindness that cheered this hi-
therto unfortunate exile. • _ _ _ _ - .

" As soon as the President proclaimed that the Citizen Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte was a representatative of the people, the
new representative said. Je denzande la parole.' Straight-
way he mounted the tribune without a mark of encouragement.
His sellpossession did not forsake him as he proceeded to
read from a written paper, which in concise and unaffected lan-
guage declared that he owed too deep a debt of gratitude to the
Republ:c, which bud given to him, after thirty years of pro-
scription and exile, a country and the rights of citizenship, not
to devote himself to its service.

" Simple and touching as was this appeal, it did not break
the icy reserve which had been adopted. The enemies of the
Prince were in one respect disappointed, and in another most
perversely gratified. It was expected and hoped that he would
have mitts his appearance in the midst of some c►aptrap or
Cusp de Madre. some miserable parody of his wonderful uncle's
manner, that wou'd have raised a laugh fatal to his prethge.
He did quite the reverse. The compensating gratification was
furnished by the discovery that the Prince had a German ac-
cent, and that he was very unlike a Parisian. It was perceived
that if he did not afford the handle of an absurd entree on the
political scene, his accent would furnish an exhaustless series
of little ridicules which would wear him down, amongst a peo-
ple who, with a readiness for great changes, are the greatest
conservatives of small habits, of routine, and petty proprieties,
of any nation, rather of any city, on the face of the globe.
There could be no salon courehance with a German brogue.
The Prince had only to open his mouth, to offend the delicacy
of ears not naturally very musical. The fact that the Prince
could not speak French was registered that evening by the
newspapers and repeated next morning with cordial satisfac-
tion. No event had caused so much pleasure since the limp of
the Due de Bordeaux. When it was discovered that the royal
Pretender halted. he was looked upon as civilly dead."

Neither so unsuccessful nor so maladroit as had been his
previous essays on the stage of public life, there was little
in this to elevate him in the estimation of his fellow-citi-
zens. But the heir of " the hero of Austerlitz" had sub-
stantial and enduring witnesses who appeared on his be-
half: the Are de Triomphe stood forth in bold relief,
the Place Vendome reared up a tower of strength, and
a grateful incense rose from the ashes at the Invalides.
His veriest foes found themselves smoking cut ~f pipes
with bowls fashioned after the well-known model of his
uncle's head, and using a little full-length bronze Napoleon
as a stopper. The tide set in, and as our author says, " a
devotion to the Prince's person blazed out of a sudden in
all parts of the land, east, west, north, and south, and with
an intensity recognised by all to he irresistible." He
was tound, moreover, to possess a clearness of intellect,
and a knowledge of the nature of political and social orga-
nisation, which entitled him to respect as a statesmen,
albeit his ooinions had been before the world nine or ten
yeass, and no one had been fortunate enough to make the
discovery before. Who could suppose the rash adven-
turer of Strasbourg and Boulogne capable of writing such
a passage as the following:—

LOUIE NAPOLEON ON CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.

‘;.;ilies.reign-Cif caste is finished ; there is no way of govern-
ing except through the masses : while government must
be according to their will, it becomes the more ne
cessary that they be so disciplined, that they may be directed
and enlightened as to their true interests. Governments can
no longer be carritd on forceand violence ; the people must be
led towards something better, through appeals to their reason
and their hearts. But as the masses require to be taught and
made moral, and as authority requires on its side to be kept
within hounds, and to be itself enlightened upon the interests
of the greatest number, two movements become, as of neces-
sity, of equal force : action of power on the mass, and the re-
action of the mass on power. But these two influences can
only act without clashing by means of intermediaries, which
possess at once the confidence of those whom they represent
and of those who govern. These intermediaries will have the
confidence of the former so soon as they shall he free y elected
by them, and of the latter when they shall lid an important
place in society; for it may be said with truth, in general, that
man is what the function which be fills obliges him to be."

THE I,IIERPOOL STANDARD.