J 832.] The Parisian Newspaper Press. 169 



tion of Polignac ; its editor was tried and condemned, and, it must be 

 said, the prophecy which it contained with regard to the eldest branch 

 of Bourbon, was fully accomplished by the ordinances of Charles X., 

 and by the late revolution, during which the National gave proofs of 

 courage and character. But on the 29th of July, while all the walls of 

 Paris were covered with placards "No more Bourbons," M. Thiers, 

 who had had an interview with the Duke of Orleans and with M. Lafitte, 

 published a small paper in favour of the present King of France, repre- 

 senting him as a revolutionary general, and as a great friend of the nar 

 tional independence and of the freedom of the French nation. Thousands 

 of these papers were given in the Faubourgs, and thus the multitude 

 began to think and speak of the Duke of Orleans, and then the members 

 of the Provisional Government prevailed on Lafayette, and Louis Phi- 

 lippe was proclaimed " The Provisional Lieutenant-General of France !" 

 About this important affair strange rumours were spread ; some said 

 that M. Thiers received for this service a very great sum of money ; 

 others insisted that he did it only because the Duke of Orleans had been 

 generous to him during the restoration ; certain it is, that as soon as 

 Louis Philippe was elected King of the French, this journalist became 

 a counsellor of state, had all the places he demanded, and is now consi- 

 dered as the favourite of the reigning dynasty ; and what is truly extra- 

 ordinary, since M. Lafitte has lost his influence at court, M. Thiers, 

 who owes all he possesses to the ex-banker's generosity and friendship, 

 Jias forgotten the past, and is become one of his opponents. For what 

 regards the National, the ancient colleagues of Thiers would not change 

 their principles, and are still working hard in opposition to the system of 

 the administration of Perier ; but their opposition is often too virulent, 

 and their attacks are sometimes very unconstitutional. Nevertheless, 

 the National is a well-conducted paper, its principles are truly based on 

 the honour, independence, and freedom of France, and its influence is 

 very great with the enlightened portion of the nation, and particularly 

 with all classes of students in France. 



The Temps is a journal of the fashionable world, and consequently 

 has no fixed principles of its own. It was established about three years 

 ago, under the auspices, and with the funds of seventy-one opposition 

 members of the Chamber of the Deputies, of whom several filled its 

 columns with their articles. The editor is well known all over France 

 for his cunning and abilities in similar enterprises, and is a man per- 

 fectly fit to direct the material part of a journal. His private character 

 is not highly honourable, and his conduct in former political and com- 

 mercial transactions has incurred the just reproaches of all those who 

 know him. For under the administration of M. de Villele, being the 

 editor of the Tablettes Universelles, without the permission of the pro- 

 prietors, he sold them to government, and left Paris in a great hurry, to 

 escape from the prosecution of those who had been defrauded by such a 

 scandalous transaction. However, with regard to the present publica- 

 tion, he seems to meet with the approbation of his constituents, and the 

 circulation of the Temps increases. At the epoch of the late French 

 revolution, the editor of this paper gave undeniable proofs of his per- 

 sonal courage, opposed himself most bravely to the brutal force of the 

 gendarmes, who went, by the order of Mangin, to seize and destroy his 

 printing-office. He succeeded in concealing some presses, and during 

 the three glorious days was very active in publishing, and circulating 



