New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-06

despOtc, shows that the people themselves ye,,
incapable Of framing their own laws Ws,.
the instinct for symmetry as keen anon,
Frenchmen in political As In aesthetic matter,
they would employ II with positive effect,
through their parliamentary channels, but n,
Bodley points out that this instinct has been
employed almost exclusively az preseryatiyv
in the history OF French Jurisprudence durinf
this century, a new government having been M,
In charge Of the old Napoleonc machine every
little while, somewhat a new Oyerseer pus !,
in charge OF a restless mill-owners plant al n
recklessly short intervals. for nothing more than
the sake of a superficial change. The essentish
Of the government have remained unchanged +
It is the fashion among Frenchmen to protest
that every upheaval that occurs in the country
is above all things the fruit and symbol OF an
idea Thus the French Revolution seemed Il
Lamartine. in the sentimental years Of his ma.
turity IAN emanation Of the idea Of Christian.
ity applied to politics." and the history Of Eng.
lish a. well as of French letters Is dotted with
the manifestoes Of writer's who have been In.
cIned to read the History OF the Grondns'
as an "emanation" itself. But Mr. Bodley can
turn a deaf ear not only to the enthusiast
OF French prose. but to those OF English verse.
and holds tenaciously to the hypothesis that the
great catastrophe which marked the close Of the
last century was brought on by the entirely
prosac fact Of a fiscal burden too arbitrarily
distributed. The expansion Of ideas which dates
from the Revolution may not be directly trace.
able to the incidence Of taxation but the link Is
there in this sense that not one clause In the
Declaration OF the Rights OF Man would have
got itself composed. in all probability. II the
revolt Of a tortured pcaSantry had not broken
the crust Of monarchical regime and liberated
more things than were confined in the souls Of
the people at large. This may be regarded. per.
ha Is. as a reactOnary view. and will admit.
that Mr.. Bodley goes too far in a passage like
this: The best that can be said Of the French
Revolution is that just when civilization was
on the point Of making history colorless it burst
forth and produced for the student and the
artist collection OF pictures and documents
thrilling and pathetic. grandiose and revolving
such as no epoch Of antiquity Of modern
times has supplied" This we fear is TO lose
sight Of what might be called the unintentiona
gifts of the Revolution to France those things
which burst through the crust. We have said
simultaneously with other things more directly
responsible for the upheaval The Revolution
was not An idea made manifest. that much may
be granted: but in bringing forth Napoleon Il
accomplished almost much for the good Of
France as though it had poured all the spiritual
inspiration upon the land which its Apologies
say that it did
Napoleon is the incarnation OF the Revolution
only in that he is its most conspicuous figure.
The idea which he stands for was not the idea
of the convention nor OF any OF the regicide
patriots" He is the incarnation. We may even
he that princiDc of cpDtrallza-
ton which exists to-day the cornerstone d
French life, and if the reader wishes 20 how
much the nominal principles of the Revolution
are at variance. with that cornerstone let him
follow Mr.. Bodey through his study of the three
elements which have fetichistica place in the
history and literature of the RevolutIOn-Lib
erty. Equality and Fraternity. 1t is in mis- expo
sition OF the peculiar meanings which these
words have in the French vocabulary that Mr.
Bodley is perhaps most interesting. He does not
gloss over the hardships attendant upon the
procedure Of French cOurts-hardships which
at this very moment have become better adver'
tised to the world than beforehand he
paints with due appreciation Of its annoying ele-
ments the domicilary visitation which Is Sun
an important member of the body of French
law: but he rightly insists that the reader shau
not fall into the usual error Of the foreigner ana
assume that the Frenchman feels these abuses
as severely as he the alien. would feel them
Any one who has come in contact with the
French bourgeois will recognize the truth OK
such a passage the following. which MI.
Bodley supports. in fact. by data so ample as 20
make personal experience unnecessary: The
| submission OF the French nation. a century after
the Revolution. to limitations on private liberty