TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE COMTE DE CHAMBORD'S MANIFESTO.
THERE is something very odd, quite separate and peculiar, about these utterances of the Comte de Chambord. Perhaps no such moral pressure ever was brought to bear upon a human being as has been brought to bear upon him. He has lived his life of fifty-three years, believing himself the representative of a principle which his country would one day acknowledge to be needful ; and now that his country is beginning, as he thinks, to acknowledge his rights, he is beginning to display a sort of fatherly regard for his erring children, mixed with an obstinate resistance to pressure which is very nearly incredible. He does not agree with his subjects in many matters, and on some does not hint at concession, but still he has learned to like them well enough to try to remove their prejudices. He hears strange ideas attributed to him, and these he, of course, repudiates first, though he thinks the repudiation quite an unnecessary bore. He writes to the Vicomte de Rodez-Benavent —" To be reduced in 1873 to evoking the phantom of the dirne, of feudal rights, of religious intolerance, of persecution against brothers separated from us in creed—the phantom (what more need I say ?) of a war madly undertaken under impossible conditions, of a govern- ment of priests, of the ascendancy of privileged classes ! You will admit that things so little serious cannot be seriously answered." In other words, we suppose ho means to give up the feudal rights, to refuse to banish the Huguenots, who are three millions strong, to avoid a government of priests or to give " ascendancy " to the privileged classes ; and these would be all excellent promises, were it not that he had just before promised to re-establish the Charter of 1814, which gives privileged classes an ascendancy in both Houses, and deprives the Jews of their Civil Rights—and will therefore make of the Rothschilds, &c., deadly foes—and that he leaves it open to himself to declare a war on Italy in a sensible way. Still he calls all these rumours "fooleries," and assures everybody that he is not a party, and will not reign by means of a party. "I need the co-operation of all, and all have need of me." You are all my children, he means, I want you all, and you all want me ; so come back and be good. That is all you have to do. I have no favourites, I love you all alike, and you love me all alike. Only trust me, and get prejudices entirely out of your head, and we shall get delightfully along together. There is not a trace of proscription, not a remembrance of injury, not a phrase of bitterness against the rebellious but now repentant section of his House, which, after all, hunted his mother down, and intended to destroy her reputation. He is paternal through- out, and it is difficult to conceive that his expression of feeling is not genuine, that be does not consider himself essential to France, which for forty years did, or fancied she did, so exceedingly well without him. If not, he would have taken the • throne to which the majority invite him, sure that with that majority he could establish anything. Still, be it observed, he remains father of the household, not a mere member of it,—does not promise a Constituton, and says nothing of surrendering his own pet prejudice,—the colour of his flag. If his children will come to him, well and good, they will see what they will see ; but though he will remove their prejudices, they must submit before he gives up his own. There is something fine in that quiescent but immovable attitude, maintained by a man who must know quite well taat fatherly government is not welcome to France, that he must give up his flag, and must accept conditions, to be received as King at all. It is reported that all this reluctance is assumed, that the moment the Assembly is ready, the Constitution and the Flag will both be surrendered ; but an intrigue of that kind would be wholly inconsistent with the Count's character, and seems to be attributed to him by men who cannot conceive that in this century a man may hold on to a symbol with utterly tenacious grasp. Would they expect the Pope to lay aside the Keys, or have they for- gotten that Victor Emanuel flatly refused to accept the Crown of Italy if he were to be called in the plebiscite King of the Italians?
We cannot perceive that this manifesto will help the Count on one whit. It does not remove the danger of war with Italy, for it only pledges him not to plunge into a mad war the sanity of which he is to determine ; it does not pledge Wm to respect equality, for he only promises not to 'revive the ascendancy of the privileged ; it does not remove the danger of priestly government, for with no bishops around him, he may be swayed by his confessor. We see no proof that he has acquired what he must acquire,—a majority in the Chamber, for with the Bonapartes exactly annulled, as the best accounts represent them to be, by a division in their own ranks, and the Left Centre swerving at the idea of Monarchy by right divine, it will be next to impossible to- secure the few wanting votes ; though we admit if it comes to bribery, a King can outbid a Republic. Bat we note that the Comte is said to be approaching the frontier, and that there is distinct agitation in the Repub- lican ranks. M. Gambetta has had to point out once more that the Republic would have saved France if Bazaine had not surrendered, which is not true, for it was his Dic- tatorship which gave France a chance, and not the Republic at all. M. Thiers has been obliged to return to Paris to see what everybody is at, and exert his well-known influence over the Left Centre. M. Louis Blanc has published a pamphlet on the horrors of the old Monarchy, which after all only comes to this,—that all Kings must be bad on sexual matters,. whereas Louis XVI., who lost the monarchy, was an anchorite ; and a strict order has been issued constituting M. Thiers, in spite of the suppression of the Commune, full leader of all sections of the Left. They can stand him, as against the Bourbons, for he has not a clerical fibre in him. This agitation is noteworthy, and arises, we fear, from a dread either that the Comte de Chambord may yield, or that he may be summoned to France without yielding, and abdicate in favour of the next heir. We should have thought neither event a serious object of dread, but as Gambetta is seriously uneasy, and as a coup (Mat is out of the question,. the Radical fears must bear some relation to the vote. For- tunately there is a month still to elapse,—plenty of time to. make blunders in, and M. Beale is just the man to make them.. Fancy a Minister who wants his King back, and wants to represent him as Liberal and devoted to France, suspending the Mayor of Perigueux for allowing M. Gambetta to speak his very cautious mind! Insults of that kind to the man who, an every Frenchman knows, gave France her last chance of victory,. are not hidden in a corner, or forgotten by the Army, which has been to its villages and learned the tradition of the war.. The situation is clearly getting strained ; but we have great confidence in M. Beule's genius for the malkpropos, much faith in M. de Chambord's obstinacy, and some faint belief still in 750 Frenchmen not laying France, tied and bound, at the feet of a family thrice expelled.
We must mention, though we do not quite like to bring that matter into the calculation, that we are not yet quite clear upon. some points connected with the situation of that family. First,. why does its ablest member stand aloof in that clear-cut,. monumental way ? The Due d'Aumale is the brain of the House of Orleans, and he has not been to Frohsdorf, has not even followed the second emigration thither, and puts forward an excuse, his preoccupation with the trial of Marshal Bazaine, which looks very diplomatic. Is he, perchance, to be Presi- dent, failing the vote for a King ; or is 'he to play the. part of Lieutenant-General, if M. de Paris does not wish to occupy that station, for him so nearly im- possible ? Or is the representative of the Condes standing aloof to be to the Bourbons what the House of Orleans once was, the popular and able, but cadet branch ? He is first soldier of the family, a keen politician, and a most ambitious man, and may not in his heart of hearts approve of being merely a Prince of a House which in many ways owes all in all to him. If he leads the discontented, that vote which is to give the Legitimists the Millennium, and to the Clericals the world, may yet require careful counting up.
Previous page
