1854.] Speech of M. de Montalembert. 287 worshippers of authority. I lament that with the new religion we have not new priests. Our public men would not be discredited by instantaneous apostasy from one political faith to another. I am grieved, gentlemen, if I offend you; though many of you are older in years than I am, not one probably is so old in public life. I may be addressing you for the last time, and I feel that my last words ought to contain all the warnings that I think will be useful to you. This assembly will soon end, as all its predecessors have ended. Its acts, its legislation, may perish with it, but its reputation, its fame, for good or for evil, will survive. Within a few minutes you will do an act by which that reputation will be seriously affected ; by which it may be raised, by which it may be deeply, perhaps irrevocably, sunk. Your vote to-night will show whether you possess freedom, and whether you deserve it. As for myself, I care but little. A few months, or even years, of imprisonment are among the risks which every public man who does his duty in revolutionary times must encounter, and which the first men of the country have incurred, soit en sortant des affaires, soit avant d'y entrer. But whatever may be the effect of your vote on my person, whatever it may be on your reputation, I trust that it is not in your power to inflict permanent injury on my country. Among you are some who lived through the Empire. They must remember that the soldiers of our glorious army cherished as fondly the recollection of its defeats as of its victories. They must see that the lessons which those defeats taught, and the feelings which they inspired, are now among the sources of our military strength. Your Emperor himself, in one of his earlier addresses, talked hopefully of the period when France would be capable of more liberty than he now thinks good for her, "Un jour," he exclaimed, "mon œuvre sera couronnée par la liberté." I join in that hope. I look sanguinely towards the time when she will be worthy of the English constitution, and she will obtain it. Vous tenez le corps de la France, mais vous ne tenez pas son âme. Cette âme, aujourd'hui effrayée, engourdie, endormie, cette âme c'est la liberté. Elle se réveillera un jour et vous échappera. La certitude de ce réveil suffit pour consoler et fortifier ses vieux et fidèles soldats à traverser la nuit de l'épreuve. Cette liberté honnête et modérée, sage et sainte, j'y ai toujours cru, et j'y crois encore. Je l'ai toujours servie, toujours aimée, toujours invoquée, tantôt pour la religion, tantôt pour le pays; hier contre le socialisme, aujourd'hui contre un commencement de despotisme; et, quelle que soit votre décision, je me féliciterai toujours d'avoir eu cette occasion solennelle de la confesser encore une fois devant vous, et, s'il le faut, de souffrir un peu pour elle.' These concluding words were drowned in universal murmurs. N. W. SENIOR. 65 CORNHILL: May 1872. LIST OF PUBLISHED BY HENRY S. KING & Co. FORTHCOMING WORKS. I SEPTIMIUS. A Romance. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. Author of 'The Scarlet Letter,' 'Transformation,' &c. A peculiar interest attaches to this work. It was the last thing the author ever wrote, and he may be said to have died as he finished it. II A NEW WORK FOR CHILDREN, [Immediately. THE LITTLE WONDER-HORN. A Second Series of 'Stories told to a Child.' III [Immediately. MEMOIRS OF MRS. LETITIA BOOTHBY. Written by herself in the year 1775, Edited by W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of 'The Book of Authors' &zo.. Crown 8vo. IV [In the press. STREAMS FROM HIDDEN SOURCES. By B. MONTGOMERIE RANKING. Crown 8vo. [Shortly. Syr Ure of Hangery, Fulgencius. 'Out of all old lore I have chosen seven books as setting forth seven following stages of time, and from each of these have taken what seemed to me the best thing, so that any man may judge, and, if it please him, trace it to its source.'Extract from Preface. 65 Cornhill, London. |