The Portland daily press., 1874-09-02

of moderate counsels and his systematic pref
erence for heroic extremes. Democracy was
to him religion, and he preached il with all
the tervor OF fanaticism. He would hold no
communion with the accursed things called
royalty and aristocracy; he regarded them
with species of loathing; he would not as
socate with the degraded beings who sought
to revive those stigmas on the nobility OF
manhood. Democracy was to him an evan
gel for the healing of the nations. And
among so excitable speople as the French,
his enthusiasm was all the mere impressive,
because it was cold, austere, self-possessed.
and iron in its infexibilty. He seemed TO be
an English Puritan born two centuries out of
due time, and believing in the gospel of lib
er;y, equality and fraternity, instead of in the
half-Hebrew, halfChristisn tenets of the men
who conquered at Marston Moor and Nase-
by fight. Had he lived then he would have
been Fiflh-monarchy man, an enthusiastic
regicide, and he would have held Cromwell
to be backslider from the faith delivered to
the saints for refusing to let England be gov
erned by the saints alone. In the time of the
first French Revolution, he would have beeen
one OF the most uncompromsing leaders OF
the Mountain; pure in motive, certain that
he was right and free from any impulse Of
pity, when pity was implored by princes or
kings. The republic of 1S4S gave him some
oSOPO ioi uio duoleIc pulltduIStus Out tucu
came the coup d'etat and he was one of the
deputies whom Louis Napoleon threw into
prison in order to save society. NJ. Schoeleh-
er was too stern hater 10 live in a country
which allowed itself to be polluted by the
rule OF such man, and for twenty years he
made himself an exile, living all the time in
London, and taking care TO expose the crimes
of Louis Bonaparte in language of remarla-
BILE plainness. The fall of the empire drew
him back to France and to political life, but
he found the republic menaced again as it had
been in 1S4S. He found it menaced by the
very same breed of Royalists and the same
breed of Bonapartists. Again did he hear
cries for king and calls for savior Of socie-
ty. Again had he 10 live in daily fear of res
torations andacoups detat, to be effected by
duplicity, or by the honest ruffianism of grape
shot. Such circumstances are not calculated
to Soothe the feelings Of a Democratic and
fanatical Puritan; and in truth, NJ. Schoeleh-
er seems to be very angry indeed.
OF NJ. Galloni d. Islra, it is sufficient TO
say that he is not an able or skllful, but 4
raving Imperialist. Hatred of the republic
has in him the fitful strength of insanity.
Providence having denied him the gift OF
continuous speech, he does not often appear
in the tribune; but, with one exception, be is
the greatest master in the Assembly. His
function is to lie in wait for Republican ora
tors, and trip them up with explanatory in
suits. Thus, the report of Republican
speech is sometimes so broken by contradic-
tons, taunts, and shouts of contempt, that
M, Galloni dIstria and the orator seem to
have made pretty equal claims on the atten-
ton OF the Assembly. 1t was quite In ae-
cordance with his character to saw that the
republic of 1S4S s'fell beneath the contempt
and horror of all honest men," But the art
OF interruption has greater master even
than M. Galloni dIstria, and that is NJ. de
Gavardie. A fanatical Legitimist, he seemS
to live for no other purpose than to fling in
suits against the republic into the chinks Of
Republican speeches. Long and constant
practice has made him adroit in the use OF
his one device, and no distinctively Repubh-
can speech ever escapes from his attentions.
He is ever ready to shout an insult the mo-
ment that an orator stops to take breath.
The Interruptions are neither witty nor hu-
morous nor epigrammatic; they are such. in
fact, as halt-tpsy caDman might shout TO
rebeilious fare" on failing to secure an ex-
ira halfcrown. The real orators OF the Re
publican party, therefore, dosnot mind poor
M. de Gavardie's explanatory vituperation.
NJ. Thiers would not even hear it; NJ. Jules
Simon would greet it with cold stare of con-
tempt; and NJ. Gambetta might stop for a
moment to launch a coed retort,
which would turn the laugh of the Assembly
against the tormentor general. But NJ.
Schplcher is made of different stuff. The
democratic republic is so sacred to him, that
he feels personally wounded by the insults
which it receives even from Bonapartist bra.
woes and Legitimist buffoons. The republic
of 1S4S, in particular, is his republic; be can
not forget his twenty years of exile from a
country which he loves with passionate fer
vor; he cannot understand how the crime OF
,bor non ha oOpIOuo1 hv ms vrhfa
is not a rascal, or how any save rascal can
bear false witness against the government
that Louis Napoleon destroyed. So, on
Saturday last he went to the tribune preDar-
ed to bear his testimony in old Puritan
fashion. And the proceeding was made the
more impressive by his pale, emaciated face,
his keen, calm look, and the Quaker simplici-
ty of his dress. He went to the tribune re-
solved to call Galloni dIstria a liar in the
face of the whole Assembly, and he did it
with the placidity of zealot who feels that
he is performing his duty. M. de Gavardie
came in the way with declaration that he
entirely agreed with the Bonapartist respect
ing the infamy of the republic; and hence Nj.
de Gavardie was called liar too. Accus-
toned as the Assembly is to strong language,
it was astonished by these epithets, and the
tumult seems to have been indescribable. A
hundred members started to their feet, shook
their fists, brandished their paper knives,
shouted, screamed, or yelled. Some rushed
to the tribune 10 attack or reinforce Nj.
Scholcher, who seems TO have surveyed the
tunult with as much calmness as if he had
been mere law OF nature, and as if Royalists
and BoGapartists were fated to be its victims.
Meanwhile NJ. Buffet, the president, shout
ed angry calls to order, tugged at the handle
of his bell as strenuously and as unsuccess-
fully as ;f he had been obliged to pumpl up
silence from a bottomless well, and COM
manded M. Scht htecher to withdraw the obi
GUS eplthet. But II. Schelcher would
sooner have let himself b. dragged to satory
and shot. So, instead of apo o.'os.zlns, ne re-
peated that NJ. Galoni d'Istria H.. toid an
infamous fasehood. Thus the tumulI broke
out anew, with such fury that the preside" "
had to suspend the sitting by putting on this
hat. Fifteen minutes afterwards the work OF
the day was resumed, and tie members were
as calm as if nothing had happened.
To distribute blame all round among the
culprits were waste OF time, and the profit
able course is to try whether we can under
stand their motives. We can do that only by
looking at the characters of the men, and the
three heroes of the tur1ult happen to repre-
sent the kind of forces that often seem to
be on the point of tearing France to pieces.
Schecher, the fanatical Republican, eager
20 effect social, as well as political revo-
luton; Galloni d'Istria, the fanatical I'm
perialist, convinced that the only remedy
for the ills of France is the Cesarism OF
handouts and grapeshot; Gavardie, the fan
atcal Royalist, certain that the only way to
national peace and greatness lies through the
revival of the old alliance between a mon
archy based on divine right and a church
based on revelation from heaven,-such men
absolutely hate each other, and they would
never come an inch nearer TO each other even
if they were to debate until the Judgement
Day. Compromise is out OF the question
when the fight is waged at the dictate of be-
lefs which come from the depths of the soul,
and which are held to be vital. Compromise
is possible only when the fundamental prob
lens of craftsmanship have been solved, and
all that remains to be done is the settlement
of details. England has reached that happy
state, and hence she the paradise of practical
politicians. England is the place that good
Orleanists go to when they die. Their dis
embodied spirits hover over those debates ON
local rating which, to souls that were denied
the solace of facts and figures upon earth,
have the sweetness of arch-angelic sympho-
nies. In her Parliament men could not cal
| each other liars without raising an apprehen-
| sion that the world was coming to an end.
| But ENGLAND was not always thus free from