COMPARISON OF MEN.

455

her the whole nor the scope; he was a part of a man, and le parts of things. He is dead; did he ever live? Iis son is nothing more. His race having been profoundly cialised, for several generations, he works the better, as his sonality, denuded of the faculties useless to his trade, rcely ever intervenes, and hardly ever troubles him. It is s the bee constructs, and thus the hound hunts in a pack. Should any unexpected situation arise, any of those that uire that a man should be immediately man, should think, , form a decision, you will soon see the difference. The glishman will remain motionless; for how indeed should he t? That is not his business. All those who have seen their diers and ours at work, in battle, in camping, or foraging, n well judge of this. And yet theirs are special soldiers, rather, military workmen, dearly paid and fed, who, as orkmen in this kind, ought to be better trained to a soldier's ity than a soldier chosen among a whole people, like the rench soldier.

The mixture of two kinds of men, so dissimilar, in our public orks, is a great injustice, inasmuch as the excessive and onfined speciality of the Englishman (his inferiority as a man) ells in his favour as a superiority.

It is as absurd as cruel to place the Frenchman under the orders of a foreigner who knows but little or nothing of our anguage, and to whom he can neither explain himself nor complain.

It is immoral to place a sober man (at least relatively speaking) under the direction of a thing brutalised by gin: several of them are never free from intoxication.

But impious, thrice impious, is it to behold a Frenchman, in France, under the rod of an Englishman! The son of the Grand Army under a serf whose father made nothing but calico, or something still more trivial.

It is the most sacred duty of public authority to interfere in these indignities. Interest, the freedom of industry, and all such grand words, are of no use in this matter. What do we care for your rail-roads, if they be a means of rushing only into infamy? The foreigner, they reply, imports capital. . . But what, if he exports honour?

This is something of far more consequence than

any material

454

ENGLISHMAN AND FRENCHMAN.

Come and behold a sight that will convince you by ocular proof, a sight, alas! most cruelly instructive. Behold them both, the Englishman and the Frenchman, together at a task that least requires special men,-at the wretched labour of embankments to serve for the foundation of railroads.

The Englishman, better fed, more at home at his business, is able to forget everything else; he has but one idea at a time. At work, he works hard; at rest, he sleeps, never stirs. On Sunday, he is in a state of mere oblivion, absent from all his cares, buried in his gin. On holidays, you can hardly walk in the neighbourhood of the works, without treading on an Englishman.

The Frenchman, generally less paid, ill fed, and badly recruiting his strength, spends it moreover in talking, and in laughing occasionally; at the period of rest, he is still in motion, ever acting and playing. At work, he occasionally stops, reflects, and is absent-absent from this dust and absorbed by his own ideas.

Oh! he has reason to reflect ! He is moving the soil of France, which is stirring up history itself. That history is slumbering in the earth, but it is ever awake in his heart. How can this man help reflecting? He knows, too well, in handling the pickaxe, that his father handled the sword. More than one still preserves, among his wretched tattered clothes, as a paternal souvenir, the old woollen epaulets of Marengo or Austerlitz. He feels he is noble; you cannot alter him; in vain would you try to degrade him. The soul of the poor Frenchman, though fallen, still remains like a great deserted manor, haunted by two phantoms, the soul of the Revolution and the soul of the Grand-Army.

The other is not absent; that I allow; and he makes the better workman. What should he remember? His father worked hard; he made his rough campaigns at the cottonmanufactories of Manchester, or at the forges of Wolverhampton. But with all his work, with all his industrious, meritorious, and productive life, what has he left of himself to occupy the memory? No entire work ever left his hands bearing a lasting impress of its creator. He had been a mere wheel, a secondary spring of a production of which he knew

COMPARISON OF MEN.

455

neither the whole nor the scope; he was a part of a man, and made parts of things. He is dead; did he ever live?

His son is nothing more. His race having been profoundly specialised, for several generations, he works the better, as his personality, denuded of the faculties useless to his trade, scarcely ever intervenes, and hardly ever troubles him. It is thus the bee constructs, and thus the hound hunts in a pack.

Should any unexpected situation arise, any of those that require that a man should be immediately man, should think, act, form a decision, you will soon see the difference. The Englishman will remain motionless; for how indeed should he act? That is not his business. All those who have seen their soldiers and ours at work, in battle, in camping, or foraging, can well judge of this. And yet theirs are special soldiers, or rather, military workmen, dearly paid and fed, who, as workmen in this kind, ought to be better trained to a soldier's duty than a soldier chosen among a whole people, like the French soldier.

The mixture of two kinds of men, so dissimilar, in our public works, is a great injustice, inasmuch as the excessive and confined speciality of the Englishman (his inferiority as a man) tells in his favour as a superiority.

It is as absurd as cruel to place the Frenchman under the orders of a foreigner who knows but little or nothing of our language, and to whom he can neither explain himself nor complain.

It is immoral to place a sober man (at least relatively speaking) under the direction of a thing brutalised by gin: several of them are never free from intoxication.

But impious, thrice impious, is it to behold a Frenchman, in France, under the rod of an Englishman! The son of the Grand Army under a serf whose father made nothing but calico, or something still more trivial.

It is the most sacred duty of public authority to interfere in these indignities. Interest, the freedom of industry, and all such grand words, are of no use in this matter. What do we care for your rail-roads, if they be a means of rushing only into infamy? The foreigner, they reply, imports capital . . . But what, if he exports honour?

This is something of far more consequence than

any

material

56

THE TEMPTATION OF FRANCE.

loss; it is a lessening of the soul, a shrinking of the heart, an inward abasement which would gradually annihilate indignation and self-esteem; people would learn to admire none but others and to despise themselves. A heavy responsibility for those who would place us on that road! To surrender a fortress or a port, would be a great act of treason; what then is it to surrender the soul of France!

Who know the value of that soul? It is more than the soul of a nation. Among all our miseries, it is still, in the degeneracy of Europe, the vital flame that will rekindle all the rest.

The old South of Europe, powerless, is meditating a Catholic liberty. The soul of Germany had become enervated in generalisation; the soul of England shrunk into practical specification. The German seems a formula, the Englishman a tool. But we can say to the Frenchman: Thou art still a man!

CHAPTER IV.

MASSACRE AT NANCY (AUGUST 31, 1790).

The Priest and the Englishman have been the temptation of France.-Good understanding between the Royalists and Constitutionalists.-M. de Lafayette, the king of the citizen-class, an Anglo-American.-Agitated state of the army.-Irritation of the officers and soldiers.-Persecution of the Vaudois regiment at Châteauvieux.-Lafayette, sure of the Assembly and the Jacobins, agrees with Bouillé, and authorises him to strike a blow.The soldiers are provoked (August 26th, 1790).-Bouillé marches on Nancy, refuses every condition, and gives rise to a battle (August 31st).— Massacre of the abandoned Vaudois. The rest put to death, or sent to the galleys. The king and the Assembly return thanks to Bouillé.Loustalot dies of grief (September).

"AND even though they were a hundred thousand English (Goddems) more than they are, they should not gain the kingdom." This vigorous reply of the Maid of Orleans, was uttered from the heart of France. She has never varied as to the eternal enemy.

To which the France of the Revolution has very justly added The Priest.

THE PRIESTS AND THE ENGLISH.

457

Stop any man in the street, the most illiterate and ignorant, who knows little or nothing of the past, and ask him what at all times has caused the ruin of this country; he will answer in his rough earnest language: "The priests (Calotins) and the English (Goddems).

The great wits of this age, people far above the vulgar, will shrug up their shoulders and exclaim: prejudice, passion, old popular tradition !-Yes, old, but true, and it will be the new one; a little study drives one from it, but much study brings one back to it. All history is in its favour.

I was obliged to dwell long on this subject; but this prolixity will abridge my history. A thousand difficulties will now be explained to us beforehand. We will not extend our hatred to the innocent populations that our two enemies have excited against us.

The general obstacle in our Revolution, as in all others, was egotism and fear. But the special obstacle which historically characterises ours, is the persevering hatred with which it has been hunted throughout the earth by the priest and the Englishman. A hatred fatal in warfare, still more so in peace, and murderous in friendship. We feel it still.

They have been for us not only a persecution, but what is still more destructive, a temptation.

To the simple, credulous crowd, to woman and the peasant, the priest has given the opium of the middle ages, troubling the mind with wicked dreams. The citizen has drunk English opium, with all its ingredients of egotism, well-being, comfort, and liberty without sacrifice; a liberty that would result from a mechanical equilibrium, without the soul playing any part therein, the monarchy without virtue, as explained by Montesquieu; to guarantee without improving, to guarantee egotism especially.

Such was the temptation.

As for the persecution, it is this entire history which must relate it. It begins by a shower of pamphlets, on either side of the channel,-by printing falsehood. It will presently continue by a no less frightful emission of forgeries of another kind, base coin, counterfeit assignats. There was no mystery: the great manufactory was public at Birmingham.

These lies, calumnies, and absurd accusations, like a swarm