bution of eagles to the army in May 1852, have succeeded each other on the latter-revolutionary, conventional, republican, imperial, royal, imperial-restorational, again Bourbonian, Orleanistic, socialistic, and uncrowned-imperialist and imperial-yet centralism has worked its steady disindividualizing way through all.* There are sermons in stones," and sermons in places.

4 The following is taken from a late French paper. It is of sufficient symbolic interest to find a place in a note :

In 1790, on the 14th of July, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastile was celebrated by what was called the Féte of the Universal Federation of France. Delegations were sent to it by every department, city, town, and village in the country, all eager to manifest their enthusiasm for the revolution of 1789. Every hundred of the National Guards was represented by six members; and there were also six deputies from every regiment of infantry, and four for every regiment of cavalry. These "confederates," as they were styled, were all entertained by the inhabitants of Paris, who are said to have rivalled each other in hospitality. In order to afford facilities to the immense number of spectators who were expected on the Champ-deMars, over twelve thousand workmen were employed to surround it with embankments. Fears, however, being still entertained that the work would not be completed in time, all Paris turned out to assist. Men, women, and children, the National Guard, priests even, and sisters of charity, all took part in it. The Abbe Sieyes and Viscount Beauharnais were seen tugging together at the same wheelbarrow. At the entrance to the field was erected an immense triumphal arch; while in the centre was raised an altar, called the Altar of the Country, at which officiated Talleyrand, then Bishop of Autun. A bridge of boats was stretched across the Seine, near the Champ-de-Mars, where since has been erected the bridge of Jena.

In 1791, on the 18th of September, there was a splendid féte for the publication of the Constitution, and for receiving the oath of fidelity to it from Louis XVI.

In 1792, on the 15th of April, the Féte of Liberty was celebrated. The centre of attraction was an enormous car, in which was placed a statue of Liberty, holding a liberty-cap in one hand, and in the other a club. To such an extent was the principle of freedom carried on this occasion, that there was not a single policeman present to preserve order. The master of ceremonies was armed only with an ear of corn; nevertheless, there is said to have been no disorder.

In 1793, there was a fete in honour of the abolition of slavery. On the 10th of August of the same year, there was a fete for the acceptance of the Constitution of 1793. The President of the Convention received eightythree commissioners from the departments; after which the registers, upon which were inscribed the votes of the Primary Assemblies, were brought to him, and he deposited them upon the "Altar of the Country," amid the firing of cannon, and the rejoicing of the people, who swore to defend the

Constitution with their lives. On the 2d December following, the Féte of Victories took place, in celebration of the taking of Toulon. On this occasion the Altar of the Country was transformed, by the poet-painter David, into a temple of immortality.

In 1794, on the 21st of January, the anniversary of the death of Louis XVI. was celebrated by all the principal authorities going to the Altar of the Country, and renewing their oath of hatred to royalty. On the 9th of June of the same year, the Féte of the Supreme Being commenced at the Tuileries, and was terminated on the Champ-de-Mars. In the centre of the plain a Mountain was thrown up, surmounted by an oak. On the summit of the mountain were seated the representatives of the people; while near them were a number of young men, with drawn swords in their hands, in the act of striking a symbolical figure of the "monster fanaticism."

دو

In 1796, on the 21st January, the anniversary of the death of Louis XVI. was again celebrated. All the public functionaries renewed once more their oath of hatred to royalty; and the people spent the day singing the Marseilles Hymn, Ca ira, and various patriotic songs. On the 30th of March following, the Féte of Youth took place, on occasion of arming all the young men over sixteen years of age; and on the 30th of April, on the proposition of Carnot, the Féte of Victories was celebrated.

In 1798, on the 20th of March, was the Féte of the Sovereignty of the People. On the 10th Vendemaire, there was a funeral fete in memory of General Hoche. On the 10th Messidor, the Féte of Agriculture took place, with a great display of chariots, cattle, fruits, &c. During the five supplementary days of the revolutionary year, there was a series of fetes, with an exposition of all the products of French industry, on the Champ-deMars.

In 1801, there were fetes in memory of the foundation of the Republic, and in celebration of general peace, which were attended by the First Consul.

In 1804, on the 10th of November, Napoleon, then Emperor, repaired to the Champ-de-Mars, and there received the oath of fidelity and obedience from deputations representing all the corps of the army.

In 1814, on the 7th of September, the government of the Restoration distributed colours to the National Guard of Paris. The object of this distribution was to efface, if possible, even the memory of the eagles of the empire, and of the tri-coloured standard of the revolution. An altar glittering with gold and costly drapery was erected near the military school, and in front was placed the throne occupied by Louis XVIII., who was accompanied by the Count of Artois, the Duke of Angouleme, and the Duke of Berri. Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Paris, M. Talleyrand Perigord, uncle of the Bishop of Autun, who, as we have seen, officiated at the Fête of Federation in 1790. The National Guards defiled before the throne, while the band played Vive Henry IV! and Charmante Gabrielle.

In 1815, on the 1st of June, there was a fête in celebration of the return of the Emperor. Napoleon appeared on the throne with his three brothers. A mass was performed; the constitution was acclaimed with enthusiasm ; and the air was rent with cries of Vive Napoléon! The oath was taken with enthusiasm. Napoleon addressed the soldiers from the throne in the following words :

"Soldiers of the National Guard of Paris; soldiers of the Imperial Guard: I confide to you the imperial eagle, with the national standard. You swear to defend it with your lives, if need be, against the enemies of the country and this throne. You swear never to rally under any other banner."

During the restoration, the Champ-de-Mars was used chiefly for reviews of the National Guard; the most notable of which was the last one passed by Charles X., when the citizens manifested that hostility to the king which was a prelude to the revolution of 1830.

In 1837, there was a grand fête in honour of the marriage of the Duke of Orleans, on which occasion the crowd in the Champ-de-Mars was so great that twenty-four persons were suffocated or crushed to death. During most of the reign of Louis Philippe, however, the principal gatherings in the Champ-de-Mars were on occasion of military reviews and horse

races.

In 1848, on the 22d of May, the Féte of Concord was celebrated with great pomp. The Moniteur alluded to the occasion thus:

"This solemnity was celebrated with an eclat enhanced by the magnificent weather. Under so clear a sky, and surrounded by so many joyful countenances, how was it possible to experience any feelings but those of love, conciliation and harmony? What struck us, especially, was the attitude, so full of enthusiasm and confidence, of the vast concourse of people that crowded the Champ-de-Mars; cries, a thousand times repeated, of Vive la République! Vive la République Démocratique! Vive l'Assemblée Nationale! broke out, in formidable chorus, every instant, as if to proclaim the respect of the people for the institutions which they have adopted, and their invincible repugnance to every retrograde or reactionary idea.”

To this must be added the gigantic military féte on the 10th of May, 1852, called the Féte of Eagles, that is, the distribution of eagles to all the regiments of the army. A cock had been adopted as symbol of the first republic, owing either to misunderstanding the word Gallia, or intending to pun on it. The Emperor adopted the Roman eagle; the Bourbons brought back the three fleurs de lys; and in 1830 the cock was restored. Louis Napoleon when president for ten years, restored the imperial eagle. It must be owned the cock looked very much as our turkey would have looked, had we adopted Franklin's humorous proposition of selecting our native and respectable turkey, instead of our fine native eagle.

What feast will be celebrated on the same spot next? Whatever it will be, it will be again something intrinsically different from the last.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ADVANTAGES OF INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT, FARTHER CONSIDERED.

THERE are some additional observations suggested by the subject of institutional self-government, and by that of the institution in general, which have been deferred until now in order to avoid an interruption of the general argument, and to which it is necessary to turn now our attention.

It seems to me a symptomatic fact, that the term People has at no period, so far as I am acquainted with the inner history of England, become in politics a term of reproach, not even in her worst periods. On the contrary, the word People has always been surrounded with dignity, and when Chatham was called "The people's minister," it was intended by those who gave him this name as a great honour. It was far different on the Continent. In French, in German, and in all the continental languages with which I am acquainted, the corresponding words sank to actual terms of contempt. The word Peuple was used in France, before the first revolution, by the higher classes, in a disdainful and stigmatizing sense, and often as equivalent with canaille -that term which played so fearful a part in the sanguinary drama of the revolution, and which Napoleon purposely used, in order emphatically to express that he was or wished to be considered the man of the people,

when he said somewhat soldierly-Je suis moi-même sorti de la canaille.' In German, the words Volk and Nation came actually to be used as vilifying invectives, even by the lower classes themselves. These words never ceased indeed to be used in their legitimate sense, but they were vulgarly applied in the sense of which I have spoken. They acquired this ignominious sense, because the nobility, a very numerous class on the Continent, looked with arrogance upon the people, and the people, looking up to the nobility with stolid admiration, aped the pride of that class. It is a universal law of degradation, that it never consists simply of degradation and degradedness, but always of a chain of degraded, who at the same time are or try to be in turn degraders, as oppression begets the lust of oppressing in the oppressed.

On the other hand, the English word people has acquired, at no time, not even during her revolution, that import of political horror, which demos had in the times of Cleon for the reflecting Athenian, or Peuple in the first French revolution. What is the cause of these remarkable facts? I can see no other than that there has always existed a high degree of institutional selfgovernment in England-a very high degree, if we compare her to the Continent. The people never ceased to respect themselves; and others never ceased to feel their partial dependence upon them. England, a patrician body, far more continental nobility, still remained connected with the people, by the fact that only one of the patrician family can enjoy the peerage; this distinction does not, therefore, indicate a social status, inhering in the blood, for

The aristocracy of elevated than any

1 The dictionary of the Academy gives, as the last two meanings of the word peuple, unenlightened men, and men belonging to the lowest classes.