"But do you not see that the absolutist courts are provoked at our fortifications?--a proof that they do not think as you do."You believe that; and, for my part, I believe that in reality they are quite at ease about the matter; and, if they appear to tease our ministers, they do so only to give the latter an opportunity to decline.The absolutist courts are always on better terms with our constitutional monarchy, than our monarchy with us.Does not M.Guizot say that France needs to be defended within as well as without? Within! against whom? Against France.O Parisians! it is but six months since you demanded war, and now you want only barricades.Why should the allies fear your doctrines, when you cannot even control yourselves?...How could you sustain a siege, when you weep over the absence of an actress?
"But, finally, do you not understand that, by the rules of modern warfare, the capital of a country is always the objective point of its assailants? Suppose our army defeated on the Rhine, France invaded, and defenceless Paris falling into the hands of the enemy.It would be the death of the administrative power;without a head it could not live.The capital taken, the nation must submit.What do you say to that?"The reply is very simple.Why is society constituted in such a way that the destiny of the country depends upon the safety of the capital? Why, in case our territory be invaded and Paris besieged, cannot the legislative, executive, and military powers act outside of Paris? Why this localization of all the vital forces of France?...Do not cry out upon decentralization.
This hackneyed reproach would discredit only your own intelligence and sincerity.It is not a question of decentralization; it is your political fetichism which I attack.
Why should the national unity be attached to a certain place, to certain functionaries, to certain bayonets? Why should the Place Maubert and the Palace of the Tuileries be the palladium of France?
Now let me make an hypothesis.
Suppose it were written in the charter, "In case the country be again invaded, and Paris forced to surrender, the government being annihilated and the national assembly dissolved, the electoral colleges shall reassemble spontaneously and without other official notice, for the purpose of appointing new deputies, who shall organize a provisional government at Orleans.
If Orleans succumbs, the government shall reconstruct itself in the same way at Lyons; then at Bordeaux, then at Bayonne, until all France be captured or the enemy driven from the land.For the government may perish, but the nation never dies.The king, the peers, and the deputies massacred, VIVE LA FRANCE!"Do you not think that such an addition to the charter would be a better safeguard for the liberty and integrity of the country than walls and bastions around Paris? Well, then! do henceforth for administration, industry, science, literature, and art that which the charter ought to prescribe for the central government and common defence.Instead of endeavoring to render Paris impregnable, try rather to render the loss of Paris an insignificant matter.Instead of accumulating about one point academies, faculties, schools, and political, administrative, and judicial centres; instead of arresting intellectual development and weakening public spirit in the provinces by this fatal agglomeration,--can you not, without destroying unity, distribute social functions among places as well as among persons?
Such a system--in allowing each province to participate in political power and action, and in balancing industry, intelligence, and strength in all parts of the country--would equally secure, against enemies at home and enemies abroad, the liberty of the people and the stability of the government.
Discriminate, then, between the centralization of functions and the concentration of organs; between political unity and its material symbol.
"Oh! that is plausible; but it is impossible!"--which means that the city of Paris does not intend to surrender its privileges, and that there it is still a question of property.
Idle talk! The country, in a state of panic which has been cleverly worked upon, has asked for fortifications.I dare to affirm that it has abdicated its sovereignty.All parties are to blame for this suicide,--the conservatives, by their acquiescence in the plans of the government; the friends of the dynasty, because they wish no opposition to that which pleases them, and because a popular revolution would annihilate them; the democrats, because they hope to rule in their turn.That which all rejoice at having obtained is a means of future repression.As for the defence of the country, they are not troubled about that.The idea of tyranny dwells in the minds of all, and brings together into one conspiracy all forms of selfishness.We wish the regeneration of society, but we subordinate this desire to our ideas and convenience.That our approaching marriage may take place, that our business may succeed, that our opinions may triumph, we postpone reform.
Intolerance and selfishness lead us to put fetters upon liberty;and, because we cannot wish all that God wishes, we would, if it rested with us, stay the course of destiny rather than sacrifice our own interests and self-love.Is not this an instance where the words of Solomon apply,--"_L'iniquite a menti a elle-meme_"?
