France and the Republic A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces During the 'Centennial' Year 1889   By: William Henry Hurlbert (1827-1895)

A RECORD OF THINGS SEEN AND LEARNED IN THE FRENCH PROVINCES DURING THE 'CENTENNIAL' YEAR 1889

BY WILLIAM HENRY HURLBERT AUTHOR OF 'IRELAND UNDER COERCION'

WITH A MAP

LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET

1890

All rights reserved

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW STREET SQUARE LONDON

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890 by William Henry Hurlbert in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION PAGE

I. Scope of the book French Republicanism condemned by Swiss and American experience Its relations to the French people xxiii

II. M. Gambetta's Parliamentary revolution What Germany owes to the French Republicans Legislative usurpation in France and the United States xxvi

III. The Executive in France, England, and America Liberty and the hereditary principle General Grant on the English Monarchy Washington's place in American history xxxvii

IV. The legend of the First Republic A carnival of incapacity ending in an orgie of crime The French people never Republican Paris and the provinces The Third Republic surrendered to the Jacobins, and committed to persecution and corruption Estimated excess of expenditure over income from 1879 to 1889, 7,000,000,000 francs or 280,000,000 l. li

V. Danton's maxim, 'To the victors belong the spoils' Comparative cost of the French and the British Executive machinery The Republican war against religion. The present situation as illustrated by past events lxviii

VI. Foreign misconceptions of the French people An English statesman's notion that there are 'five millions of Atheists' in France Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone the last English public men who will 'cite the Christian Scriptures as an authority' Signor Crispi on modern constitutional government and the French 'principles of 1789' Napoleon the only 'Titan of the Revolution' The debt of France for her modern liberty to America and to England lxxvi VII. The Exposition of 1889 an electoral device Panic of the Government caused by Parisian support of General Boulanger Futile attempt of M. Jules Ferry to win back Conservatives to the Republic Narrow escape of the Republic at the elections of 1889 Steady increase of monarchical party since 1885 Weakness of the Republic as compared with the Second Empire lxxxix

VIII. How the Republic maintains itself A million of people dependent on public employment M. Constans 'opens Paradise' to 13,000 Mayors Public servants as political agents Open pressure on the voters Growing strength of the provinces. The hereditary principle alone can now restore the independence of the French Executive Diplomatic dangers of actual situation Socialism or a Constitutional Monarchy the only alternatives xcvi

CHAPTER I

IN THE PAS DE CALAIS

Calais Natural and artificial France The provinces and the departments The practical joke of the First Consulate The Counts of Charlemagne and the Prefects of Napoleon President Carnot at Calais Politics and Socialism in Calais Immense outlay on the port, but works yet unfinished Indifference of the people A president with a grandfather The 'Great Carnot' and Napoleon The party of the 'Sick at heart' The Louis XVI. of the Republic Léon Say and the 'White Mouse' Gambetta's victory in 1877 Political log rolling, French and American Republican extravagance and the 'Woollen Stocking' Boulanger and his legend Wanted a 'Great Frenchman' The Duc d'Aumale and the Comte de Paris The Republican law of exile The French people not Republican The Legitimists and the farmers A French journalist explains the Presidential progress Why decorations are given 1 22

CHAPTER II

IN THE PAS DE CALAIS ( continued )