Part 14 (2/2)
”The true hour to strike!” was the firm answer.
”And that hour, when will it come?”
”It may come quickly, as it will come surely, soon or late! It cannot be that the Revolution of July should continue much longer to result in the solemn mockery it has. It cannot be that its friends should much longer be withheld from those by whom it was achieved, only to aggrandize one old man and his sons. It cannot be that the unmitigated and disgusting selfism of Louis Philippe, and his efforts to ally himself with every crowned head in Europe--not for the glory of France, but for his own--will much longer be overlooked or their perils masked. The appanages grasped by himself--the dotation and bridal outfit of the Duke of Orleans--the dotation sought for the Duke of Nemours, and his appointment as Regent during the minority of the Count of Paris--the Governors.h.i.+p of Algeria bestowed on the youthful and inexperienced Aumale, to the insult of so many brave and victorious generals--the naval supremacy, to which has been exalted the ambitious Joinville, and his union to the opulent Brazilian Princess--the effort to unite the young Montpensier with the Infanta of Spain--the environment of Paris with Bastilles, with the avowed purpose of fortifying order by turning the ordnance which should protect into enginery of destruction--an immense standing army--the notorious corruption of officials, and the audacious dabbling of Ministers in the stocks, if not the King himself, by means of information obtained by the Government telegraph, and withheld from the people, or of information manufactured by the telegraph designed to affect the Bourse--the unprecedented number of placemen occupying seats in the Chamber of Deputies, yet receiving exorbitant salaries as inc.u.mbents of civil offices, one man being often in receipt of the salaries of several offices, though performing the duties of none--the fact that Ministers have maintained majorities by unblus.h.i.+ng bribery in elections--that hardly one man in two hundred is an elector--the profligate arts of corruption by which every able man is bought by the Court--the disgraceful censors.h.i.+p of the press and the drama--the enormous appropriations for the civil list, wrung out by grinding taxes from the toil and sweat of millions--the absurd a.s.sumption, yet the monstrous power, over the press and its conductors, of that conclave of h.o.a.ry dotards called the Chamber of Peers--the utter and most impious disregard of the deprivation and misery of the operative and laborer, although arrayed side by side with the insolence and wealth pampered by the taxes torn from themselves--the total forgetfulness of the self-evident truth of the right of all men to labor, unrestricted by the baleful influences of the compet.i.tion of capitalists--these facts, properly urged and set forth by the press, from the tribune and in the clubs, in connection with due enlightenment of the ma.s.ses upon their rights as to labor and its reward and the duty of government thereupon could not fail to prepare the popular mind, all over France, and all over Europe, for reform--for revolution.”
”Unquestionably,” cried Louis Blanc, ”such would be the effect; and it would not only prepare the people for reform, and stimulate them to obtain it, but it would make them Republicans--true Republicans--American Republicans! The Americans do not plume themselves on the t.i.tle citizen, but they work; they dispute little about words, but clear their lands; they do not talk of exterminating anybody, but they cover the sea with their s.h.i.+ps, they construct immense ca.n.a.ls, roads and steamers without jabbering at every stroke of the spade about the rights of man. With them, labor, merit, talent and honest opulence are honored and rewarded aristocracies. Such Republicans would furnish France more Was.h.i.+ngtons, Jeffersons and Madisons, and fewer Robespierres, Dantons and Marats!”
”There can be no doubt,” remarked Flocon, ”that the paramount interest in a republic is that of those who work, that the labor question is of supreme importance, that the profound problem now submitted to the industrial nations of Christendom demands satisfactory solution, and that the long-enduring and most iniquitous miseries of those who toil must cease. Reform, revolution and government which achieve not these, achieve nothing! They would be worse than useless. The measures suggested by our distinguished friend seem to me eminently calculated to attain the consummation we desire.”
”A good government must and always will systematically uphold the poor, and ever interpose to protect the weak against the strong,” said Louis Blanc. ”The state should be tutelary for the ignorant, the poor and the suffering of every description. We must have a guardian government--a government that will accord the aid of that mighty engine, credit, not to the rich only, but also to the poor. It must interpose likewise in the matter of industry, and exclude that antagonistical principle of compet.i.tion--the poisoned fount of so much virulence, violence and ruin.
Our maxim is, brothers, and in this do we all concur, 'Human Solidarity,' and our motto, 'Unity, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.'
All men are of one family, and once thoroughly sensible of this kindred, discord, hate and selfism will no longer be possible.”
”The views advanced,” said Ledru Rollin, ”so far as they tend to the elevation of the ma.s.ses and to popular preparation for reform, Republicanism or revolution, have my most cordial approval; but I would beg to ask how long are the people to 'wait and hope?' When is to come the hour to strike?”
”Who can tell,” said M. Dantes, in his low, clear and musical tones, ”at what moment the breath will come which may hurl on its errand of devastation the avalanche which the snows and suns of centuries, perchance, have been preparing for its awful mission? In the stillness of the night-time, beneath the clear blue sky of summer, or amid the ravings of the midnight tempest, its dread march is ordered, and in resistless, crus.h.i.+ng sublimity it begins to move on to accomplish its terrible errand. Who may predict the precise moment when the earthquake shall rock, the tornado sweep, the red lightning scathe, or the lava flood desolate? And who shall tell the day or the hour when the people, in their majesty and might, shall rise to avenge their wrongs? The snow-flake falls fleecily on the mountain's top through many a long and silent night; a land green as Eden smiles over the volcano; through many a calm and sunny day the electric flame gathers in the firmament! At length, when least expected, the avalanche sweeps, the volcano bursts, the red bolt strikes. France is the victim of many wrongs. Which one of them shall prove the last drop in her cup of bitterness we know not.
France is divided into many political sects, and all but one aim at revolution. Which one of all shall it be to set the ball of revolution in motion? The Legitimists, who consider the Duke of Bordeaux the rightful heir, and Louis Philippe a usurper; the Bonapartists, who think they evoke the great shade of Napoleon in the person of his unworthy descendant; or the old Republicans? As for the Conservatives, let them with Guizot at their head, uphold themselves if they can, and let the dynasties under Barrot and Thiers overthrow and succeed their factional foes. Their petty quarrels we care not for. Nor shall we, the Communists, ever suffer ourselves to be deemed the revolutionary party; but the revolution once commenced, let us throw ourselves into its torrent, and with our thorough, perfect and secret organization, we cannot fail to shape it most successfully to our own, our righteous ends. The hour when revolution may commence we cannot predict, as it is not our policy to start or precipitate it; but that hour may come quickly. It must come on the demise of Louis Philippe, which event cannot be long delayed, and it may be precipitated before. Nor will France alone be convulsed. As the news of that old man's death, on the lightning's wing, spreads over Europe, the electric wire will prove but a train pa.s.sing through repeated mines, which, one after the other, will explode with awful devastation. Berlin, Vienna and St. Petersburg, the strongholds of despotism in Europe, each will totter--all but the last will fall. The press is powerless on the Russian serf. Russia will be the tyrant's last citadel. Italy will throw off the Austrian yoke and be free. Gregory XVIII. will shortly die. A wise, far-seeing and benevolent priest, named Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, born at Sinigaglia, and now a cardinal, with the t.i.tle of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, will succeed to the Papal See, and Italy will be a republic; Genoa, Venice, Naples, Lombardy, Piedmont and Sardinia will be sister yet sovereign states, forming one union--the constellation of freedom, the favorite scheme of Napoleon's better days at last achieving reality. Switzerland, with her green hills and her field Morgarten, her priestly despots expelled, shall also be free. But I weary you, Messieurs.”
”By no means,” cried Marrast, cordially clasping M. Dantes by the hand.
”I have listened in silence to your earnest exposition of the policy you suggest, and so truly do I subscribe to it that, henceforth, I am your disciple and adopt your motto, 'Wait and hope' for my own. But it is nearly two o'clock. In an hour the Chamber sits.”
”And, meanwhile, Messieurs,” interrupted M. Dantes, ”I know not that we can better employ ourselves, after so protracted a seance, than to repair to Vefour's. This talking is hungry work, and listening and thinking, which are by far more tedious, are still more so. So to Vefour's.”
”The seance 'National' is closed!” cried Ledru Rollin, laughing, as the whole company descended the gloomy stairs.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MYSTERIOUS PRIMA DONNA.
All fas.h.i.+onable Paris was excited over the announcement of a new prima donna, whose wonderful achievements in Italian opera had set even the exacting critics of Italy wild with enthusiasm and delight.
This great artiste was no other than the renowned Louise d'Armilly. She had never before sung in the presence of a Parisian audience, but her fame had preceded her, and it was accepted as certain that her triumph at the Academie Royale would be both instantaneous and overwhelming.
She was to a.s.sume the role of Lucrezia Borgia, in Donizetti's brilliant opera of that name, a role in which the enterprising director of the Academie Royale a.s.sured the expectant public that she possessed no equal.
For weeks every Parisian journal had been sounding her praises with unremitting zeal, and now her name was as familiar as a household word in all the high society salons, where the ladies and their gallants could talk of nothing but the approaching operatic event, while in the cafes and on the boulevards an equal degree of interest was exhibited.
Even the ma.s.ses, notwithstanding the political agitation in which they were involved, had caught the prevailing excitement, and the leaders of the contending parties themselves paused amid their heated discussions to talk of Louise d'Armilly.
The career of this young and beautiful artiste had been remarkable. Her debut had been made at Brussels, about two years before, in company with her brother, M. Leon d'Armilly, and there, as well as at all the theatres of Italy, La Scala, Argentina and Valle, they had roused a perfect storm of operatic enthusiasm.
The origin of this young artiste was veiled in the deepest mystery.
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