Correspondence & Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834 to 1859 Part 31

One day my father and I visited the little green churchyard on a cliff near the sea where Tocqueville is buried. The tomb is a plain grey stone slab--on it a cross is cut in bas-relief, with these words only:--

ICI REPOSE

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE.

Ne 24 FEVRIER 1805. MORT 16 AVRIL 1859.

My father laid a wreath of _immortelles_ on the tomb.--ED.]

APPENDIX.

MONTALEMBERT'S speech was afterwards published in the _Moniteur_ but with considerable alterations. In Mr. Senior's journal in 1854 (which has not been published), he says, under the date of April 26, I called on Montalembert and took him my report of his speech. He has promised to add to it any notes that it may require. "The printed report," he said, "is intentionally falsified. Before it was struck off I asked to see the proofs. I was told that, as such an application was new, the President of the Bureau would meet and decide on its admissibility. They decided that it could not be granted."'

[The following is Mr. Senior's report, with M. de Montalembert's own corrections and additions in French.--ED.]

At length Montalembert rose. He stood near the extreme right, with his side towards the tribune, and his face towards the centre gallery, in which I sat. His voice and delivery are so good, and the house was so silent, that I did not lose a word. I believe that the following report is a tolerably accurate abridgment of his speech.

'Gentlemen, I must begin by expressing to you my deep grat.i.tude for the attention which you have paid to this unhappy business. I am grieved at having occasioned the waste of so much public time. I am still more grieved at having been the occasion of division among my colleagues.'

[_Note by Montalember_.--'J'aurais voulu faire plus qu'exprimer le regret: j'aurais voulu me preter a tous les arrangements qui m'ont ete suggeres par des voix amies pour mettre un terme a cette discussion. Je n'aurais recule devant aucun sacrifice qui eut ete compatible avec l'honneur. Mais vous comprenez tous que sous le coup d'une poursuite, d'un danger, je ne puis rien desavouer, rien retracter, rien retirer de ce que j'ai ecrit, de ce que j'ai pense. Si j'agissais autrement il vous resterait un collegue absous, mais deshonore et dont vous ne sauriez que faire.']

'More than all I am grieved when I think of the time at which this has occurred. A time when we are engaged in an honourable and serious war--a war in which, with the great and faithful ally whom I have always desired, and the sympathy of all Europe, we are defending civilisation against an enemy, barbarous indeed, but so formidable as to require our undivided energy and our undivided attention.

But you must recollect _when_ that letter was written. It was in last September, in profound peace, when our whole thoughts were employed, and were properly employed, on our internal affairs.

'Aujourd'hui il en est autrement; l'etat de guerre impose a tous les citoyens des devoirs speciaux: il doit aussi imposer un certain frein a l'esprit de critique. Aucun Francais, quel que soit sa foi politique, ne peut vouloir discrediter le pouvoir des dissidents, des mecontents, mais il n'y a plus d'emigres, ni a l'interieur, ni a l'exterieur.'

[_Note by N.W. Senior._--This seems to be an allusion to a pa.s.sage in Thiers's celebrated speech of the 17th of February, 1851. 'I1 ne faut emigrer, ni au dehors, ni au dedans.']

['J'aurais su contenir les sentiments les plus pa.s.siones de mon ame, plutot que de paraitre affaiblir en quoi que ce soit la main qui porte l'epee et le drapeau de la France. Ce n'est pas toutefois que j'admette que toute liberte de parole ou de presse soit incompatible avec l'etat de guerre. L'Angleterre a conserve toutes ses libertes en faisant la guerre aux plus redoutables ennemis: aujourd'hui encore l'opposition, d'accord avec le gouvernement sur la question exterieure, maintient les resistances et les critiques a l'interieur. Et certes personne ne dira que l'Angleterre, pour avoir conserve la liberte de discussion la plus entiere, n'ait pas deploye pour le moins autant de prevoyance et d'energie que nous dans la conduite de la guerre ou nous entrons. Il n'y a que les nations ou la vie publique circule dans toutes les veines du corps social, qui sachent resister aux epreuves et aux chances d'une guerre prolongee. La liberte de la contradiction centuple le prix d'une libre adhesion; et a force de mettre une sourdine a toutes les emotions du pays, il faut prendre garde qu'on ne se trouve un jour dans l'impossibilite de faire vibrer les cordes les plus essentielles quand le moment des dangers et des sacrifices sera arrive.']

'I deeply regret the publication of that letter. But with that publication I repeat that I am utterly unconnected. I never sanctioned it, I never wished for it, I never even thought it possible. There are pa.s.sages in the letter itself which I might modify if I were to re-write it, but it would rather be by adding to them than by taking from them.

Two accusations have been directed against its substance. One that it is hostile to the Emperor; the other that it is hostile to this a.s.sembly. No one who knows my character, and knows my history, will believe that I can have intended to injure the Emperor. Our relations have been such as to make it impossible.

['J'ai eu l'occasion de defendre le chef actuel de l'etat dans des circonstances infiniment difficiles, et ou rien n'etait plus douteux que le succes. Je ne pretends pas l'avoir const.i.tue par cela mon debiteur, car en le defendant, je ne voulais servir, comme toujours, que la justice, l'interet du pays, la liberte moderee qui se personnifiaient en lui a mes yeux, mais enfin, aux yeux du public il est mon oblige, et je ne suis pas le sien. Si j'avais eu la pensee d'offenser publiquement l'Empereur, et si j'y avais cede, nous serions _quittes_. Or, je tiens beaucoup a ce que nous ne le soyons pas. Il n'y aurait pour moi ni honneur ni avantage a ce changement de position. Tous les hommes de bon gout, tous les coeurs delicats, me comprendront.']

'It is equally impossible that I should have wished to offend this a.s.sembly. It contains men by whose sides I have fought the great battles of property and law. I love many of its members. I respect almost all. If I have offended any, it was done unconsciously. Again, it is said that the tone of my letter is violent. Expressions may be called violent by some which would be only called _pa.s.sionnes_ by others. Now I admit that I am _pa.s.sionne_. It is in my nature. I owe to that quality much of my merit, whatever that merit may be. Were I not _pa.s.sionne_, I should not have been, during all my life, _la sentinelle perdue de la liberte_. I should not have thrown myself into every breach: sometimes braving the attacks of anarchy, sometimes heading the a.s.sault on tyranny, and sometimes fighting against the worst of all despotisms, the despotism that is based on democracy.'

['Allons plus au fond, et vous reconnaitrez que les opinions enoncees dans la lettre ne sont autres que celles toujours professees par moi.

Elles peuvent toutes se ramener a une seule, a mon eloignement pour le pouvoir absolu. Je ne l'aime pas: je ne l'ai jamais aime. Si j'ai tant combattu l'anarchie avant et apres 1848, si j'ai suscite contre moi dans le parti demagogique ces haines virulentes qui durent encore et qui ne perdent jamais une occasion d'eclater contre moi, c'est parce que j'ai compris de bonne heure les affinites naturelles du despotisme et de la democratie; c'est parce que j'ai prevu et predit que la democratie nous conduirait au pouvoir absolu. Oui, je crois, comme je l'ai dit, que le despotisme abaisse les caracteres, les intelligences, les consciences.

Oui, je deplore le systeme qui rend un seul homme tout-puissant et seul responsable des destinees d'une nation de 36 millions d'hommes; et trouve que cela ressemble trop au gouvernement russe, contre lequel nous allons en guerre, et trop peu au gouvernement anglais, dont nous prisons si haut l'alliance.']

'I am told again, and the accusation is sanctioned by the _requisitoire_ of the Procureur-General, that my letter is inconsistent with the fidelity which I have sworn to the Emperor and to the const.i.tution. When a man swears fidelity to a sovereign and to a const.i.tution, his oath engages him only as to matters within his own power. He swears not to conspire against them. He swears not to attempt to subvert them. He cannot swear to approve the acts of the sovereign, or the working of the const.i.tution, for he cannot foresee what either of them will be. I have kept, and I shall keep, my oath to the Emperor and my oath to the const.i.tution. I have not attempted, and I shall not attempt, to overthrow either of them. But my approbation of either of them does not depend on me. I accepted the _coup d'etat_, comme vous l'avez tous fait, comme notre seule chance de salut dans les circonstances d'alors. I expected a Government _honnete et modere_. I have been disappointed.'

Here a violent exclamation ran through the a.s.sembly. Baroche rose and cried out, 'You hear him, gentlemen. He says that he expected honesty and moderation from the Government, and that he has been disappointed. I appeal to you, Mr. President, to decide whether we are to sit and listen to such infamies.'

[Voix diverses:--'Expliquez vos paroles.' 'Retirez vos paroles.' M. de Montalembert.--'Je les maintiens et je les explique.']

'I expected _un gouvernement honnete et modere_. I have been disappointed. Its _honnete_ may be judged by the confiscation of the Orleans property.'

Here was another hubbub, and another protest of Baroche's.

'What is going on before you,' continued Montalembert, 'is a sample of its moderation. It is now attempting in my person to introduce into our criminal law a new _delit_, "communication." Until now it was supposed that nothing was criminal until it was published. It was believed that a man might write his opinions and his reflections, and might exchange them with his friends; that nothing was libellous that was confidential. _Now_ this Government holds a man responsible for every thought that an indiscreet or an incautious friend, or a concealed enemy, or a tool of power reveals. If it succeeds in this attempt, it will not rest satisfied with this victory over the remnant of our freedom. It is not in the nature of things that it should. A Government that will not tolerate censure must forbid discussion. You are now asked to put down writing.

When that has been done, conversation will be attacked. Paris will resemble Rome under the successors of Augustus. Already this prosecution has produced a _malaise_ which I never felt or observed before. What will be the feelings of the nation when all that is around it is concealed, when every avenue by which light could penetrate is stopped; when we are exposed to all the undefined terrors and exaggerated dangers that accompany utter darkness? The misfortune of France, a national defect which makes the happiness enjoyed by England unattainable by us, is, that she is always oscillating between extremes; that she is constantly swinging from universal conquest to _la paix a tout prix_, from the desire of nothing but glory to the desire of nothing but wealth, from the wildest democracy to the most abject servility. Every new Government starts with a new principle. Every Government in a few years perishes by carrying that principle to an extreme. The First Republic was destroyed by the intemperance with which it trampled on every sort of tradition and authority, the First Empire by its abuse of victory and war, the Restoration by its exaggerated belief in divine right and legitimacy, the Royalty of July by its exaggerated reliance on purchased voters and Parliamentary majorities, the Second Republic by the conduct of its own Republicans. The danger to the Second Empire--its only internal danger, but I fear a fatal one--is its abuse of authority. With every phase of our sixty years' long revolution, we have a new superst.i.tion, a new _culte_. We are now required to become the wors.h.i.+ppers of authority. I lament that with the new religion we have not new priests. Our public men would not be discredited by instantaneous apostasy from one political faith to another. I am grieved, gentlemen, if I offend you; though many of you are older in years than I am, not one probably is so old in public life. I may be addressing you for the last time, and I feel that my last words ought to contain all the warnings that I think will be useful to you. This a.s.sembly will soon end, as all its predecessors have ended. Its acts, its legislation, may perish with it, but its reputation, its fame, for good or for evil, will survive. Within a few minutes you will do an act by which that reputation will be seriously affected; by which it may be raised, by which it may be deeply, perhaps irrevocably, sunk. Your vote to-night will show whether you possess freedom, and whether you deserve it. As for myself, I care but little. A few months, or even years, of imprisonment are among the risks which every public man who does his duty in revolutionary times must encounter, and which the first men of the country have incurred, _soit en sortant des affaires, soit avant d'y entrer_. But whatever may be the effect of your vote on _my_ person, whatever it may be on _your_ reputation, I trust that it is not in your power to inflict permanent injury on my country. Among you are some who lived through the Empire. They must remember that the soldiers of our glorious army cherished as fondly the recollection of its defeats as of its victories. They must see that the lessons which those defeats taught, and the feelings which they inspired, are now among the sources of our military strength. Your Emperor himself, in one of his earlier addresses, talked hopefully of the period when France would be capable of more liberty than he now thinks good for her, "Un jour," he exclaimed, "mon oeuvre sera couronnee par la liberte." I join in that hope. I look sanguinely towards the time when she will be worthy of the English const.i.tution, and she will obtain it. Vous tenez le corps de la France, mais vous ne tenez pas son ame. Cette ame, aujourd'hui effrayee, engourdie, endormie, cette ame c'est la liberte. Elle se reveillera un jour et vous echappera. La cert.i.tude de ce reveil suffit pour consoler et fortifier ses vieux et fideles soldats a traverser la nuit de l'epreuve.

Cette liberte honnete et moderee, sage et sainte, j'y ai toujours cru, et j'y crois encore. Je l'ai toujours servie, toujours aimee, toujours invoquee, tantot pour la religion, tantot pour le pays; hier contre le socialisme, aujourd'hui contre un commencement de despotisme; et, quelle que soit votre decision, je me feliciterai toujours d'avoir eu cette occasion solennelle de la confesser encore une fois devant vous, et, s'il le faut, de souffrir un peu pour elle.'

These concluding words were drowned in universal murmurs.

N.W. SENIOR.