FRANCE. 



323 



the national disasters, M. Thiers said France 

 owed this result to the maintenance of order. 

 He continued as follows : 



I shall not cease, gentlemen, to repeat that, if you 

 had not been in full possession of order, this war, 

 unequalled in reverses, this cruel dismemberment of 

 our territory, these frightful burdens which appeared 

 beyond our strength, a throne fallen under the 

 weight of its errors, an antique form of monarchy, 

 under which we had been accustomed to live, sud- 

 denly disappearing, and this new form of the repub- 

 lic which generally disquiets the public mind as 

 soon as it appears all this, bursting suddenly upon 

 our surprised and disheartened country, might have 

 become an irreparable disaster. I would say to those, 

 who for a long time past have placed their faith in a 

 republic, as their ideal of a government most con- 

 formable to their views, and most appropriate to the 

 progress of modern society I would say to them, 

 " You, above all, should passionately wish for order ; 

 for, if the republic, already twice tried without suc- 

 cess, can succeed this time, it will be to order that 

 you will owe the fact. Make this, therefore,^ your 

 task, your every-day solicitude. If the exercise of 

 certain rights which belong to a free people might 

 render the country uneasy, learn to renounce them 

 for the moment. Make for public security a sacri- 

 fice which will especially redound to the profit of the 

 republic. If it were possible to say that order has 

 not an equal interest for all, I should presume to 

 affirm that it has an essential interest for you, and 

 that, when we labor to maintain it, we labor for you 

 almost more than for ourselves. Events have jjiven 

 us the republic, and to go back to its causes, in or- 

 der to discuss and judge them, would be to-day an 

 enterprise as dangerous as it would be useless. The 

 republic exists ; it is the legal government of the 

 country. To wish for any thing different would be 

 to wish for a fresh revolution, and one more formi- 

 dable than all. Do not let us lose our time in pro- 

 claiming the republic, but let us employ it in im- 

 pressing upon this republic those features which are 

 desirable and necessary. A commission'appointed by 

 you a few months ago gave it the title of conserva- 

 tive republic. Let us take possession of this title, 

 and, especially, let us endeavor to make it deserved." 



M. Thiers continued, insisting upon the ne- 

 cessity for every government to be conserva- 

 tive: 



The republic must be conservative, or it cannot 

 exist. France cannot live in continuous alarms. She 

 has absolute need of repose, and will not long endure 

 any government which does not afford her this re- 

 pose. The republic of a party would only be a thing 

 of a day. The mass might live upon agitation for a 

 few days, but, after inspiring fear in others, it be- 

 comes afraid of itself, and throws itself into the arms 

 of an adventurer, thus paying for a few days of dis- 

 astrous license with twenty years of slavery, and this 

 it has frequently done, as you know. Do you believe 

 that it is not capable of doing it again ? It will re- 

 commence a hundred times this sad and humiliating 

 journey from anarchy to despotism, and despotism 

 to anarchy a path strewn with shame and calamity. 

 Let us break this fatal chain ; let us tranquillize, in- 

 stead of exciting. Let us make the necessary sacri- 

 fices for the general security, sacrifices that may 

 seem even excessive ; especially, let us not afford 

 the spectacle of the reign of a party ; for a republic is 

 but a contradiction, if, instead of being the govern- 

 ment of all, it be but the government of any single 

 party whatever. If, for example, we seek to repre- 

 sent it as the triumph of one class over another, we 

 drive from it a part of the nation a part first, and 

 then the whole. 



Alluding to the revolution of 1789, M. Thiers 

 observed : 



Its material works have perished, but its moral 

 works still live, and constitute the most solid glory 

 of France, much more than victories which, accord- 

 ing to the hazard of force, pass from one flag to an- 

 other. As to myself, I do not understand, I do not 

 admit, a republic, except by taking it as it ought to 

 be, namely, as the government of a nation which, 

 having for a long time, and in goqd faith, attempted 

 to leave to hereditary power the direction and distri- 

 bution of its destinies, but having failed therein, 

 through faults which it is impossible now to judge, 

 makes up its mind at last to regulate its affairs itseli 

 and alone by means of men freely and wisely chosen, 

 without exclusion of party, of class, or origin, seek- 

 ing them neither high nor low, neither to the right 

 nor to the left, but in the full light of public esteem. 

 Two years passed in almost complete calm may 

 afford us hope of founding this conservative repub- 

 lic ; but hope only let that not be forgotten. The 

 slightest mistake would suffice to make this hope 

 vanish in a disheartening reality. 



M. Thiers proceeded to say that the repub- 

 lic inspired not only France, but the whole 

 world, with confidence. Foreign governments 

 are now sufficiently enlightened to see, in 

 France, France alone. If she is orderly, she 

 will suit everybody ; if she is not only orderly 

 but strong, she will suit those who desire a 

 just equilibrium between the powers of the 

 universe : 



Therefore I presume to affirm that the efforts 

 which France has made during nearly two years have 

 earned for her an esteem of which she has already 

 received numerous proofs. I make this declaration 

 because I have, as in duty bound, my eyes^ unceas- 

 ingly fixed upon Europe. France is not isolated, 

 and it depends upon herself whether she shall be, 

 on the contrary, surrounded by trusting and useful 

 friends. If she is peaceful under a republic, she will 

 alienate no one : if she is agitated under a tottering 

 monarchy, she will see a void created around her. 



M. Thiers concluded by saying : 



We draw near, gentlemen, to a decisive moment. 

 The form of this republic has been only an inciden- 

 tal form, given by events, and reposing upon your 

 wisdom and your union with the power which you 

 have temporarily chosen. But the public mind is 

 awaiting your action. All are asking what day and 

 what form you will select in order to^give to^the re- 

 public that conservative strength with which she 

 cannot dispense. It is for you to choose both the 

 day and the form. The country, in delegating to 

 you its powers, has evidently laid upon you the task 

 of saving it by procuring for it, first, peace, after 

 peace, order, and, with order, the restoration of its 

 power ; and, lastly, a regular government. You 

 proclaimed this, and thenceforth it was for you to 

 fix the succession and the hour of these divers por- 

 tions of the work of salvation which is confided to 

 you. God preserve us from placing ourselves in 

 your place, but, at the time that you may deter- 

 mine, and when you have chosen some from among 

 you to meditate upon this, if you desire our opinion, 

 we will give it frankly and resolutely ! This is the 

 grand session which opens before you. Neither def- 

 erence nor cooperation, neither devotion nor resolu- 

 tion, shall be wanting on our part to insure the suc- 

 cess of your task. May God bless it, and render it 

 complete, and especially durable, a consummation 

 which has not yet been granted since the commence- 

 ment of the century ! 



The President's message was approved by 

 all the moderate republican and radical pa- 

 pers, while the conservative papers, though 

 recognizing the conservative tendency of the 



