_Paris, May_ 16.--M. de Tocqueville has scarcely been visible since my
return to Paris. Madame de Tocqueville has been absent. She returned
yesterday, and they spent this evening with us.
Tocqueville is full of his book, which is to appear in about a week. His
days and nights are devoted to correcting the press and to writing
notes--which he thought would be trifling, but which grow in length and
importance.
The object of the work is to account for the rapid progress of the
Revolution, to point out the principal causes which enabled a few
comparatively obscure men to overthrow in six weeks a Monarchy of many
centuries.
'I am inclined,' I said, 'to attribute the rapidity with which the old
institutions of France fell, to the fact that there was no _lex loci_ in
France. That the laws, or rather the customs, of the different provinces
were dissimilar, and that nothing was defined. That as soon as the
foundations or the limits of any power were examined, it crumbled to
pieces; so that the Assembly became omnipotent in the absence of any
authority with ascertained rights and jurisdiction.'
'There is much truth in that,' answered Tocqueville, 'but there is also
much truth in what looks like an opposite theory--namely, that the
Monarchy fell because its power was too extensive and too absolute.
Nothing is so favourable to revolution as centralisation, because whoever
can seize the central point is obeyed down to the extremities. Now the
centralisation of France under the old Monarchy, though not so complete
as its Democratic and Imperial tyrants afterwards made it, was great.
Power was concentrated in Paris and in the provincial capitals. The
smaller towns and the agricultural population were unorganised and
defenceless. The 14th of July revealed the terrible secret that the
Master of Paris is the Master of France.'
_Paris, May_ 18.--I spent the day at Athy, the country-seat of M.
Lafosse,[1] who had been my companion in our Egyptian journey.
'What do you hear,' I asked, 'of the Empress?'
'Nothing,' he answered, 'but what is favourable; all her instincts and
prejudices are good. Lesseps, who is nearly related to her, has many of
her letters, written during the courtship, in which she speaks of her
dear Louis with the utmost affection, and dwells on the hope that if ever
she should become his wife, she may be able to induce him to liberalise
his Government.'
'And now,' he said, 'tell me what you heard in England about our Canal?'
'I heard nothing,' I answered, 'except from Maclean. He told me that he
thought that the Maritime Canal, if supplied from the sea, would become
stagnant and unwholesome, and gradually fill. That that plan was formed
when the levels of the two seas were supposed to differ, so that there
would be a constant current.
'"Now that the equality of their levels has been ascertained," he said to
me, "the only mode of obtaining a current is to employ the Nile instead
of the sea." "But can the Nile spare the water?" I asked. "Certainly,"
he answered. "An hour a day of the water from the Nile, even when at its
lowest, would be ample." "And what do the other engineers say?" I asked.
"Randall," he replied, "agrees with me. The others are at present for the
salt water. But we are to meet in time and discuss it thoroughly."'
'It is not the opinion of the engineers,' answered Lafosse, 'that I want,
but that of the politicians.
'We are told that Lord Palmerston threatens to prevent it as long as he
is Minister. This makes us very angry. We think that we perceive in his
opposition his old hatred of France and of everything that France
supports or even favours--feelings which we hoped the Alliance had cured.
'The matter,' he continued, 'was to have been brought before the
Congress. Buol had promised to Nigrelli to do so, and Cavour to Lesseps
and Paleocapa. But after the occupation of Italy, and the Belgian press,
and the rights of Neutrals had been introduced, the Congress got
impatient, and it was thought inexpedient to ask them to attend to
another episodical matter. The Emperor, however, did something. He asked
Ali Pasha, the Turkish Minister, what were the Sultan's views. "They
will be governed," said Ali Pasha, "in a great measure by those of his
allies." "As one of them," said the Emperor, "I am most anxious for its
success." "In that case," replied Ali Pasha, "the Sultan can have no
objection to it in principle, though he may wish to annex to his firman
some conditions--for instance, as to the occupation of the forts at each
end by a mixed garrison of Turks and Egyptians." The Emperor then turned
to Lord Clarendon. "What are your views," he asked, "as to the Suez
Canal?" "It is a grave matter," answered Lord Clarendon, "and one on
which I have no instructions. But I believe it to be impracticable."
"Well," replied the Emperor, "but supposing for the sake of the argument,
that it is practicable, what are your intentions?" "I cannot but think,"
answered Lord Clarendon, "that any new channel of commerce must be
beneficial to England. The real difficulty is the influence which the
Canal may have in the relations of Egypt and Turkey." "If that be the
only obstacle," replied the Emperor, "there is not much in it, for Ali
Pasha has just told me that if _we_ make no objection the Sultan makes
none. We cannot be more Turkish than the Turk."'
'I am most anxious,' added Lafosse, 'that this stupid opposition of yours
should come to an end. Trifling as the matter may seem, it endangers the
cordiality of the Alliance. The people of England, who do not know how
jealous and _passionnés_ we are, cannot estimate the mistrust and the
irritation which it excites. That an enterprise on which the French,
wisely or foolishly, have set their hearts, should be stopped by the
caprice of a wrong-headed Englishman, hurts our vanity; and everything
that hurts our vanity offends us much more than what injures our serious
interests.
'If the engineers and the capitalists decide in favour of the scheme, you
will have to yield at last. You had much better do so now, when you can
do it with a good grace. Do not let your acquiescence be extorted.'
[Footnote 1: M. Lafosse died many years ago. He was a friend of M. de
Lesseps, by whom he and Mr. Senior were invited to join the expedition to
Egypt--ED.]
_Paris, May_ 19.--After breakfast I spent a couple of hours with Cousin.
'You have been in England,' he said, 'since you left Egypt. What is the
news as to our Canal? Will Palmerston let us have it? You must stay a few
weeks in Paris to estimate the effect of your opposition to it. We
consider Palmerston's conduct as a proof that his hatred of France is
unabated, and the acquiescence of the rest of your Cabinet as a proof
that, now we are no longer necessary to you, now that we have destroyed
for you the maritime power of Russia, you are indifferent to our
friendship.
'I know nothing myself as to the merits of the Canal. I distrust Lesseps
and everything that he undertakes. He has much talent and too much
activity, but they only lead him and his friends into scrapes. I daresay
that the Canal is one, and that it will ruin its shareholders; but as I
am anxious we should not quarrel with England, I am most anxious that
this silly subject of dispute should be removed.'
'Louis Napoleon,' he continued, 'professed to wish that you should allow
the Sultan to give his consent; but I doubt whether he is sincere. I am
not sure that he is not pleased at seeing the Parisians occupied by
something besides his own doings, especially as it promotes the national
dislike of England. Now that the war is over we want an object. He tries
to give us one by launching us into enormous speculations. He is trying
to make us English; to give us a taste for great and hazardous
undertakings, leading to great gains, great losses, profuse expenditure,
and sudden fortunes and failures. Such things suit _you_; they do not
suit _us_. Our habits are economical and prudent, perhaps timid. We like
the petty commerce of commission and detail, we prefer domestic
manufactures to factories, we like to grow moderately rich by small
profits, small expenditure, and constant accumulation. We hate the
_nouveaux riches_, and scarcely wish to be among them. The progress for
which we wish is political progress--not within, for there we are
satisfied to oscillate, and shall be most happy if in 1860 we find
ourselves where we were in 1820--but without. I believe that our master's
_sortie_ against Belgium was a pilot balloon. He wished to see what
amount of opposition he had to fear from you, and from Belgium, and how
far we should support him. He has found the two former greater than he
expected. I am not sure that he is dissatisfied with the last.'