of repression before which, when the moment arrives, the Government cannot draw back, but which are always a painful sacrifice for humanity and for the country. After the agitations which we have just gone through, and which have shaken society to its foundation, security is the paramount wish of all. It is necessary that calm should be restored to the public mind, that society should have confidence in the future, and that every one should think of the morrow. This confidence will increase labour, and with labour the real sources of riches will be reopened. Favourable symptoms assure us that our previsions on this subject are already more than vain hopes, and begin to be realized. Agriculture, industry, and commerce have severely suffered, and the fortune of the State has not received less serious attacks. In this universal crisis, the collective power, which alone remained standing, was compelled to come to the assistance of individual misfortune, and supply the vacancy left by want of labour. The force of circumstances has perhaps carried the State out of its natural part; and in all cases that intervention has already imposed the heaviest burdens on the Treasury.

The

public finances are at this time deeply engaged. The National Assembly has comprehended that it was time to return into the paths of enlightened foresight and strict economy. The Cabinet devotes itself to that great and difficult task, without exaggerated fears and without dangerous illusions. Assuredly we do not think that the hand of the State can be withdrawn from every point to which it has held out its assist ance; but we believe that it must

only undertake in proportion to its strength-that it must not do everything, and, for a stronger reason, not all at the same time. We call to our aid the spirit of association and individual strength. We think that the impulse of the State should, wherever it is possible, be substituted for direct execution by the State. Our society has contracted the deplorable habit of relying on the Government for the cures which, in other nations, proceed from individual activity. Hence that seeking after places and grants which corrupted and eventually ruined the Monarchy, and from which it is necessary to preserve the Government of the Republic, by simplifying the machinery of the administration, and by substituting rules for arbitrary acts in the disposal of places. We shall not forget, Citizen Representatives, that, to give precepts with any degree of authority, the Government must before all set good examples. As to the relations of France with Foreign Powers, we have no necessity to inform the Assembly what are its present complications. We find negotiations opened on all points. That state of things imposes on us a reserve which the Assembly will comprehend; for we are fully decided not to promise that which we believe we are not sure to be able to realize, and not lightly or rashly to engage the word of France. We shall seek, wherever they are possible, to obtain pacific solutions, because they are for the interest of France as well as for that of Europe; there is no necessity for us to say that the national honour will hold the first place in the attention of the Government. Citizen Representa

tives, we propose to ourselves above all to raise up and consolidate authority in France. But let it be well known that we do not intend to make the necessity of order an absolute obstacle against the tendencies of modern society. Order is not for us the end-it is only the means. We see in it the essential condition of all liberty and of all progress. The complete re-establishment of security can, we are deeply convinced, alone permit the Republic to give the rein to grand conceptions, to generous ideas, to the development of general prosperity and of political manners. We do not wish to fail in any one of these interests. The election of December the 10th has placed immense strength in the hands of the Government. Our task, Citizen Representatives, it is to prevent that strength from proving abortive, or from being led astray; and to accomplish it we rely on your patriotic cooperation."

Our next volume will contain an account of the mode in which the President and his Ministry acquitted themselves of the arduous task imposed upon them, and how far they succeeded in giving stability to the new institutions, and restoring confidence in France.

In concluding our narrative of the events in that country during the year now under review, it will be instructive to notice the rapid rise and equally rapid fall of popular favourites there. Since the revolution of February three names have stood prominently forward; but, in the case of two of them, "their sun has gone down while it was yet day," and they no longer occupy any important place in the public regard. Lamartine, Ca

vaignac, and Louis Napoleon have been the successive idols of the hour, and each has been borne aloft upon the waves of the "fierce democracy," which was by the revolution called into sudden and portentous existence. It is impossible to deny that Lamartine did the State good service during the first wild outburst of insurrection. He displayed admirable courage when, at the Hôtel de Ville, he refused, at the risk of his life, to recognise the symbol or adopt the watchword of the extreme democrats. To his commanding eloquence and unyielding firmness then, we think that his country is indebted for an escape from the worst horrors of revolution, and had he persevered in the same manly course there is no reason to doubt that he might have retained power for a much longer period. But he wanted confidence in the strength of his own principles, and mistook the real sentiments of his countrymen. fancied that it was necessary to conciliate the favour of the Red Republicans, and did not dare to come to a rupture with Ledru Rollin, who was one of the leaders of the extreme section of the revolutionists. He, therefore, vacillated in his policy, and at times seemed almost to identify himself with the opinions of his dangerous colleague. This caused, in the minds of all moderate men in France, the utmost alarm, and, after the events of May had thrown suspicion upon his motives and views, his influence rapidly sank. No party, in fact, could trust him. The nation recoiled from the abyss of Socialism, and sought safety in the sword of the republican soldier, Cavaignac. But, as the mass of the people became more and more conservative,

He

they felt that he was too sincerely a republican for them. They were almost weary of their great experiment before it had been fairly tried; and it may be truly said that the only offence of Cavaignac was that he was determined to give it a fair trial. He was, therefore, thrown aside as the champion

of a system already in disrepute, and the name of Napoleon, with its splendid traditions of empire and glory, acted like a talisman in favour of the pretensions of a man whose only claim upon the votes of his countrymen was, that he was the nephew of a military despot.

in the Diario Official de Avisos. It was as follows:

"On this day (the 28th of December), at half past 7 o'clock in the morning, in the year 1833, Donna Maria Christina de Bourbon was married to Don Fernando Munoz." The death of Ferdinand took place on the 29th of September that same year, so that, within three months from that date, the Royal widow consoled herself, according to her own statement, with a husband, although the public were kept in profound ignorance of the fact for upwards of fifteen years.

At the sitting of the Congress, on the 4th of January, the following charges against Señor Salamanca were brought forward by Seijas Lonzano: they were four in number:

First, that of having, under the pretext of encouraging public works, authorized the bank of San Fernando to advance money on the shares of the Aranjuez Railway, under a Government guarantee for the repayment in case of nonpayment by the shareholders, Salamanca himself being the principal shareholder; secondly, of having remitted to certain traders the penalties they had incurred by having taken contraband goods from the Custom-house at Alicante, and introduced them into Madrid by means of permits fraudulently obtained; thirdly, of having ordered an illegal conversion into Three per Cent. Stock of arrears due to the Royal household; fourthly, of having converted into the same stock certain claims of an individual named Buschental, no value having been given by Buschental, Salamanca knowing the fraudulent nature of the transaction. Lonzano stated that, in 1844, Buschental took a contract to furnish a loan for build

ing steam-vessels. He agreed to pay into the Treasury 10,000,000 reals in metal, 10,000,000 in uncapitalized coupons, and the rest in good bills and other negotiable paper. Instead of this, Buschental delivered a number of promissory notes (pagarés) at various dates, for which he "fraudulently" obtained a receipt declaring that he had paid the values agreed upon. The matter was investigated, and Buschental was called on to pay the cash and coupons according to the agreement. He persisted, however, in refusing to comply with the order. In 1845 he presented the bills for conversion; but the Government refused them then, and again when presented by other persons for the same purpose. A Junta appointed to inquire into the matter reported, that the values actually delivered by Buschental amounted to 11,656,000 reals, while he had received 17,890,000.

His

Señor Salamanca, in reply to the charges, said that they were brought from party motives, and that his enemies were bent on destroying him. When he entered office, he was rich; when he left it, poor; the charge of corruption would not therefore hold. sole object in the affair of the Aranjuez Railway was to benefit the country. The guarantee given by Government was merely nominal. There was no chance of default on the part of the shareholders; but, if they did not pay, the railroad became the property of the Government. He became a principal proprietor of shares through the exertions he made to expedite the work. Instead of meriting blame, the transaction redounded to his honour.. As to the Alicante affair, he had merely