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Se pt. 6, 1851.] &#* &**»**» 853
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JULES JANIN IN LONDON. Le Mois de Mai a ...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. General History of t...
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Progress and its Conditions.—Progress ha...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Proudhon On Reaction And Revolution. Ide...
readV » f the power were given to him , to find work for everybody . The right to labour ! The Provisional Government will claim from posterity the glory of these fatidical words , which ratified the fall of the constitutional monarchy , sanctioned the Republic , and implicated the Revolution . " But promises are not sufficient : promises must be kept . . ,. , , ?• On looking closer it was Boon discovered that the right to labour was a more ticklish matter than had been anticipated . After many debates , the Government , which spent 1 , 500 , 000 , 000 francs yearly in keeping order , was constrained to confess that not a centime remained with which to assist the workmen ; that to occupy them , and consequently pay them ,
new taxes must be laid on , which would be revolving in a vicious circle , since these very taxes must be paid by those whom , they were intended to assist ; that , moreover , it was not the duty of the State to compete with private industry , which already wanted help , and solicited openings for itself ; that , finally , the works undertaken under the direction of public authority generally costing so much more than they were worth , the industrial initiative of the State , whatever it was , could only serve to aggravate the position of the workmen . Consequently , by these and other no less peremptory motives , the Government gave men to understand that there was nothing to be done but to be resigned , to maintain order , and to be patient and hopeful !
" The Government , it must be acknowledged , was right up to a certain point . To insure work to all , and consequently exchange , it was necessary , as we shall show , to change the direction , to modify the ceconomy of society : a serious matter , beyond the capacity of the Provisional Government , and upon which it was its duty first to consult the country . As to the plans which were thenceforth propounded , and the semi-official conferences with which the unoccupied time of the workmen was amused , they no more deserve the honours of history than of criticism . They were so many pretexts for the reaction which soon manifested itself , even in the midst of the Republican party .
" But where the mistakes of the men m power began , that which exasperated the proletaries , and from a simple question of labour , will , in lees than ten years perhaps , bring about the most integral of revolutions , was when the Government , instead of stimulating , like Louis XVI ., the researches of public writers , instead of attracting the attention of every citizen and soliciting the expression of their feelings on the great questions of labour and want , was seen keeping a hostile silence of four months ; when it was seen hesitating to acknowledge the natural rights of men and citizens ; distrusting liberty , especially that of the press , and of popular assemblies ; resisting the solicitations of patriots respecting
the law of security and the stamp duty ; keeping a watch over the clubs , instead of orgunizing and directing them ; creating a body of pretorians in the garde mobile , ready for any emergency ; cajoling the clergy ; summoning back the troops to Paris , witli the view of making them fraternize with the People ; giving anew the signal of hatred to Socialism , the new name assumed by the Revolution ; then either from carelessness or incapacity , either from misfortune , intrigue , or treachery , or from all these causes together , driving the unsalariod masses to a desperate struggle in Paris and in Rouen ; and finally , alter victory , the having but one thought , one idea , that of stilling j > er fas et ncj ' as the cry of the workmen , the protest of February . "
Thus Government , alarmed by the immensity of the spirit which had been evoked , seeing no definite issue from the di / liculty , and exasperated by the theories of certain Utopians - plus bruyants que redoutables — men who believed that life was to be played like a game of chess , who believed that Society could be modelled , forgetting that all organisms grow—exasperated , we way , by these writera who were supposed to have created the evil , to have evoked this . spirit , to have plunged society into the Labour diHieulty , Government net itself sternly against the question , gagged all mouths that dared to speak of it , and is now erect upon a volcano of accumulated wrath , disquiet , and , leaning for support upon a Musket , disease .
Once entered upon the path of reaction—once recurring to Form for salvation , the proclivity of Government was inevitable j we have seen how it has become more and more arbitrary . I'Vom tlio I ' rovisional Government to the lCxecutivc Commission , from the Dictatorship of Cavaignac to the Presidency of Louis Napoleon , we have had an ascending series ; and in one sense 1 ' rourihon thinks this a good ; for it has helped to define the evolution , as all ideas are defined by their contraries . Above all , as he admirably says : •¦ -- " Les s <> tUses de . s ( iouvernements font la science des r 6 nolutionnaires —the follies of Governments teaoh revolutionists their science . " Were it not for the reaction the revolution would not know ita own
wants and purposes . " That which I myself imperfectly conceived before the days of June , that which I have since only understood day by day beneath the fire of reaction , I now dare with certitude affirm : the Revolution is defined ; it knows itself , it exists . " In our next we shall pursue this analysis .
Se Pt. 6, 1851.] &#* &**»**» 853
Se pt . 6 , 1851 . ] & # * &**»**» 853
Jules Janin In London. Le Mois De Mai A ...
JULES JANIN IN LONDON . Le Mois de Mai a Londres et VExposition de 1851 . Par Jules Janin . Mitchell . The jovial and witty feuilletonist , Jules Janin , is incomparable when sitting in his own mansarde ( for he lives in one , though it is elegantly furnished ) , surrounded by the friends amidst whose clatter he throws off the twelve columns of most agreeable , though most wordy chat , upon the last new piece or the last new actor . But he should never quit Paris . He is lost in another city . Sitting
at home , amidst the birds that make a cage of his apartment and fly about in it , taking taking no more heed of Aristarchus than if he were Papageno or Mr . Gould—receiving the visit of some ^ ere de la debutante , or some young author with a piece just " come out /*—and promising , like a real bon enfant , to say something flattering of the debutante and to go and see the new piece—backing up the efforts of the young aspirants , and sharpening his arrows against established favourites—Janin in his fauteuil is the prince of feuilletonists , and deserves his reputation . But his prestige leaves him when he quits the drama . As a tourist he has no one
quality . He has tried his hand several times and always with admirable nonsuccess . What , then , will he do with London ? was a natural question . Such preliminary qualification as consists in having translated the Vicar of Waliefield , without knowing a word of English—and of having rewritten Clarissa Harlowe upon the same ample stockcoupled with the natural , national , congenital impossibility of a Frenchman-ever understanding anything English . —Janin undoubtedly had . Beyond this , and abundant enthusiasm , we know not that we ought to look ! Observation it was idle to expect . If England is to learn anything about herself , it will not be from the Gaul .
As no great expectation will be formed , Janin ' s book is likely to have great success . Jt is very slight , but very amusing : an omelette sovffiee of literature ! His sparkling style—at once verbose and animated ( paradoxical as the conjunction of those two epithets sounds !)—his unflagging enthusiasm , and the agreeable frivolity of his remarks , hurry you through the volume , which has all the air of an improvisation ; and is one , for the letters here reprinted in an elegant volume were originally sent off , almost before the ink was dry , to the Journal des Dcbats , where they first appeared . It is a book such as Hamlet read , " Words , words , words . " We doubt whether another man could have
written anything at once so unsubstantial and so readable . The forest is not simply hidden by the leaves , it is nothing but leaves ! If we endeavour to extricate from the mass of hyperbole what modicum of observation there may be , we shall find it reduces itself pretty nearly to his unbounded admiration for our loyalty—our belief in and affection for our sovereign , and , above all , our respect for le Policeman ! What a solemn
and majestic being is le Policeman to French observers ! Ah they regard the Lord Mayor to he the most august and magnificent personage in the three kingdoms , after her Majesty ; with like awe do they contemplate that august Individuality whom ribald costermongers name " Peeler " and " Crusher ! " To him he is—the Lord Mayor of the Streets ! Jacques Arago—the brother of the Astronomer—made a voyage round the world and studied London avec acharnement . To him the
most remarkable characteristic of le Policeman was suavity of language—la politesse du langttye . He assures us that the Policeman is a man delicately shaped , une nature svelte , with blue eyes , a limpid look , regard limpide , aristocratic hands , white and small 1 As for Jules Janin , on his fust arrival here , iu the early stillness ( jf morning lu : wanders forth iflto the . sleeping city and us much struck with the fact that "God onl y and a few Policemen watched over all . " There id no bullion in that sentence to him !
Uu reste , if Jules Janin haw not made much profitable use of his eyes during hia month in London , ho has at leuut had the tact not to let prejudice or ignoraiicu take the place of observation , lie speaks , indeed , in ono place , of two sonnets of Shakspeare being Hung aft « r dinner at a public meeting ; but with this exoeption , he has not treated u « to any of
those delicious blunders , those immense misconceptions , which enliven with Homeric laughter the otherwise worthless writings of his countrymen in general , when treating of England . He was feted and petted here , and being pleased , has nothing but pleasant things to say of us . The error , if error it be , is on the right side . A portrait is prefixed , which , however , gives a wrong impression of his fat , jovial , bourgeois face : there is less fun and more elegance than in the real physiognomy .
Books On Our Table. General History Of T...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . General History of the Christian Religion and Church . From the German of Dr . Augustus Neander . By Joseph Torrey . New edition , carefully revised . Vol . IV . ( Bonn ' s Standard Library . ) H . G . Bohn . This fourth volume is less interesting than the three preceding volumes , being occupied with the various heresies and differences in the interpretation of separate doctrines ; the most interesting being those of Arius , Athanasius , and the Nestorians . An excellent index to the third and fourth volumes is affixed . It is one of the great merits of Mr . Bonn's series that he is careful to accompany important works with indices . Erne 3 t Maltravers ; or , the Eleusinia . Part First . By Sir Edward Bulwer , Bart . Chapman and Hall .
A cheap edition of Bulwer's favourite work , corrected with that fastidiousness which he always exhibits respecting the verbal finish of his works , and some of the passages actually rewritten . Alice will form another volume . Outlines of the History of Ireland , for Families and Schools By the lteverend O . Cockayne , M . A . J . W . Parker One of the excellent series of school books issued by Parker , at a shilling each . It is a brief and impartial narrative of the leading incidents from early times down to 1851 . Exercises in Composition , on an improved plan . Seventh Edition , with extensive Additions . By Henry Hopkins , A . M . Exercises in Orthography . Twentieth Edition . Ibid . Teacher ' s Manual of Exercises in Mental Arithmetic . Pupil ' s Manual of ditto . Third edition . Ibid .
Rolfe and Fletcher . Success has consecrated these little works ; all we can say in addition is , that the juvenile Leaders had already learned from , them before the books came to our judicial couit . Official , Descriptive , and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations . Part III . Spicer , Brothers . We are more and more impressed with the surpassing value and interest of thi 9 Illustrated Catalogue , both as a work for the present time and as a magnificent record for the future . It is really like bringing the Crystal Palace home to our study , with all the
advantages of a lucid explanation from some competent authority standing at our elbow . To have once seen the Palace and enjoyed its coup d ' oeil , is enough to make this catalogue a living thing . In admirable engravings all the interesting novelties are reproduced , while an accompanying text answers succinctly all that curiosity should ask about them . Part the Third , now on our table , contains sections ^ i and 4 — manufactures and line arts ; together with a section of those miscellaneous objects in main avenues which are not specially classified . When we add that there are some nine hundred pages of double columns , it will be seen that the catalogue is on a , scale commensurate with that of the Great Exhibition it records .
Progress And Its Conditions.—Progress Ha...
Progress and its Conditions . —Progress ha 8 come to mean the aspiration of the young and the good , and the effort of the wise . Its interpretation and condiiions , therefore , need to be carefully discussed . The clouds of vagueness , with which , as anew truth , ir , has been surrounded , require to be cleared away . While our forefathers wore reared in a state of placid contentment with their lot , and taught to regurd all as their natural enemies who sought to improve it , no wonder that they formed mysterious notions of progress ; and when at last the spell was broken , uowondt r tlmt they became as impatient as before they were apathetic—and now apt to overlook the slowly formed conditions necessary to ( fleet progress , and that creatures of the past , as we all are , it is only a step in advance ; at a time that we sire . ible to make . Uut
though progress hath a tortoise-paee , wo Hhould be astonished at the distance we should travel in u lifetime did wo not , like the headstrong hare , Reek to accomplish with u bound that which naturo has prescribed to uh to accomplish only by measured degrees . We do not mean by this langusige to / sanction the dilatoriness of those reformers who move ho gradually that no man can sec them stir . We want not our words interpreted after the fashion of that man who ^ e sense of honour had become ho re / iiicd that he spent his time in absolute idleness lout Jio Hhould Like advantage of time . To pervent provoking mistakes of this specie ' s , we may tin well n /> et ! ify that by " measured degrees" wo mean poHiiml advancement us far , and n » promptly as the < : <> iivh : Iiouh <> t the majority now by reason will go with uh . Wo distinguish legislatorial from private advancement , ior private progrcnH i » only to b » UMjaaurud by an iudjviduul atundurd of right . —I ' eopto ' s Jtovioiv .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1851, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06091851/page/17/
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