Memoir of Armand Carrel. 1 39 



Carrel desired. He generously determined to take up the cause of 

 his feebler and oppressed brethren, and with this view he thus boldly 

 threw down the gauntlet to Casimir Perier, the head of the cabinet. 

 " The minister believes, that his illegal^ conduct is not dangerous, 

 because it oppresses only a small number of the citizens. He de- 

 ceives himself; and, despite his fierceness, he will find, that a single 

 man, convinced of his rights, and resolved to maintain them by all 

 the means which his courage may dictate, is not easily overcome. Is 

 there not one among those writers who have become the objects of 

 the hatred of t\\e juste milieu, that will stand up in defence of his 

 rights and oppose force by force, devoting himself to the chances of 

 the unequal combat? Be it so. There are men connected with the 

 press who cannot be provoked with impunity, and who will not be 

 carried alive to St. Pelagic, if they have vowed that the majesty of 

 the law shall not be violated in their persons with impunity. It is 

 easy to kill, by means of fifty men, one man who resists ; but does the 

 government believe, that this can happen twice without endangering 

 the existing order of things ? Does it believe that, if a writer, whose 

 only crime is, that he thinks differently from the ministry, and who 

 in every other respect is a commendable citizen, were assassinated 

 by day or by night in his own house while resisting an illegal arrest, 

 those who ordered the assassination would be safe long?" 



This powerful article was signed by Carrel's name ; and though he 

 thus hurled defiance so fiercely, and openly threatened to oppose 

 force to force, still the government did not venture to arrest him. 

 A prosecution was commenced, but was almost immediately aban- 

 doned, M. Perier declaring that it was done without his orders. 

 Carrel thus had obtained a complete triumph, and, what he valued 

 more, gained his point; for the writers in the journals were not 

 afterwards arrested, until they had been subjected to prosecution, 

 and found guilty. 



Carrel bore no resemblance to those cowardly miscreants some- 

 times found amongst journalists, who, skulking under the ob- 

 scurity of a mask and a native garret, will pander, by their base 

 falsehoods, to the depraved taste of the vulgar, and calumniate the 

 character of a man without having the courage to give him the 

 only redress that can be offered. No! Carrel, when he attacked, 

 boldly identified himself with his writings, and was equally ready to 

 maintain his position by his sword as by his pen. Though the vigour 

 of his style rendered it easily distinguishable from that of any other 

 man, yet often he considered even this slight veil too obscure, and, 

 throwing it aside, subscribed his articles with his name ; thus nobly 

 offering defiance to power, and, at the same time, the means of re- 

 paration to all who might conceive themselves personally injured by 

 his assault. 



This manly trait in his character brings us to the concluding scene 

 of his brief but glorious career. But we must first shortly allude to 

 one or two interesting events that occurred in the interval. In 1834 

 Carrel visited London and remained there for some time, collecting 

 information relative to the English revolutions, and other subjects 

 connected with the history of England, on which it was his intention 



