DEMOCRACY : THE BEAR’s IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 193 
he has recourse to the ant, which produces on his stomach the ef- 
fect of a violent emetic. 
The bear naturally inhabits the same countries as the chamois 
and the isard, those where human liberty has found its last shelter, 
as we have already mentioned : in Europe, the Pyrenees, the 
Alps of Helvetia and of Norway, the Apennines, the Carpathian 
Mountains, the Hermus ; and the dark forests of Poland, of Fin- 
land, and of Tartary. It is in the heart of the highest chain of the 
Helvetian Alps and of the country best defended against oppression, 
that the beast has founded the city which still bears its name 
(Berne), and which has always had the good taste not to deny its 
origin. 
It is possible that the principles of the government of the rich 
city may have sometimes deviated since its foundation, from the 
principle of pure Democracy, which is the beau ideal of govern- 
ment for the bears ; but such as it is — such, especially, as it has 
shown itself in recent circumstances, the government of Berne is 
calculated to inspire envy and revolutionary attempts in most of 
the neighboring peoples who groan under tyranny. The bear of 
Berne has known fine days ; he had his treasure before the French 
Revolution, which ruined so many fortunes. This treasure amount- 
ed to the sum of 60,000 francs at the epoch when a victorious 
French army entered this city and captured it. The Bear Martin, 
first of the name, was one of the glories of this city. 
When the richest spoils of Venice and of Rome were carried off 
to the Louvre, it was natural that the bear Martin should also fol- 
low the fortunes of his country and assist in the triumph of the con- 
querors of Helvetia. It is this bear who was the principal actor in a 
sanguinary drama. One fine moonlight night, toward the last days 
of the empire, a veteran kept guard alone and silently near the ken- 
nel of the bear Martin. By this deceptive light the old warrior 
thought he saw at the bottom of the fosse a six livre piece : it 
was only a button, a vile and contemptible button ! . . But the 
demon of gold, who never lets slip his prey, urged the unhappy 
man to violate his countersign : he went to seek a ladder, and de- 
scended to the spot. Alas ! he had reckoned without his host. 
Suddenly awaked, and at this undue hour, by a strange individual 
17 
