_Le Corsaire_ trial--The Duc d'Orléans as caricaturist--The _Tribune_
trial--The right of association established by jury--Statistics of the
political sentences under the Restoration_--Le Pré-aux-Clercs_
Let us return to the political trials which were a feature of the close
of the year 1832. Of course, at this period, a political trial was
thought more of than a literary one, and people were much more sure
of being acquitted if they had conspired against the Government than
if they had conspired against the Academy. The trial of the newspaper
_Le Corsaire_ followed that of _Le Roi s'amuse,_ or even, I believe,
preceded it. _Le Corsaire_ was then republican; it had given an account
of the 5th and 6th of June according to our point of view. It is an
odd thing: every newspaper which supported the revolution in politics,
supported the _statu quo_ in literature. I will relate, shortly,
my quarrel with Carrel. This is how the _Corsaire_ had expressed
itself. We quote only the passage which was impeached by the public
prosecutor:--
"... The National Guard of the suburbs had arrived, and it
was in the actual courtyard of the Tuileries itself that
cartridges and brandy were distributed. All at once, the
roar of firing was heard on the quai de la Mégisserie, in
the rue Saint-Martin, by the Saint-Méry convent and in the
rue Montmartre and Saint-Honoré. Soon, cannon intermingled
with it, and, during this time, a considerable number of
soldiers went to various quarters of the city; the drums
beat the invitation to the citizens, but the greater mass
of them listened unheeding and declined Civil War. One part
of the city was barricaded. A royal parade had taken place.
The King of the French and his son the Duc de Nemours,
accompanied by M. de Montalivet, sword in hand, and by M.
d'Argout, provided with the crutch he had not discarded
since his last illness, as the ministerial newspapers
grotesquely put it, had gone through the boulevards and
returned by the quays. More than fifteen hundred cavalry
escorted the king. Meantime, blood was shed in the quartier
Saint-Martin. The National Guard of the district showed
an excitement of which it was difficult thoroughly to
understand the cause; the firing did not cease; more than
forty thousand men were in action...."
This article was prosecuted for provoking to rebellion. As can be seen,
it was not amiably disposed to the July Government, and the question
ought, we think, to have been put in an entirely different way. Had
the attacked Government the right of defending itself? Without a doubt
it had. Had it the right to distribute brandy and cartridges in the
Tuileries courtyard? Certainly! Had we not indeed seen M. de Rumigny
distributing powder and shot and wine at the Palais-Royal on 31 July
and 1 August, on the morning of the parade of Rambouillet? Yes; but
then the action was sympathetic and approved, whilst, to-day, there
was immense opposition organised against Louis-Philippe, and all his
actions were blamed, even those of legitimate defence.... They attacked
the king, they attacked the princes, they attacked the ministers: this
had all been well done and well received.
Philippon, the witty editor of the _Journal four rire,_ had conceived
the idea of depicting Louis-Philippe in the shape of a _fear_: all the
walls of Paris were covered with this grotesque likeness. He published
the journal _La Caricature,_ to which Decamps contributed some of his
early drawings, and _La Caricature_ was a tremendous success. Everyone,
even the Duc d'Orléans, had a hand in it. We know that the prince could
draw cleverly and with originality and that he also engraved. I still
possess drawings and engravings by him. He was a pupil of Fielding,
and drew animals with great skill. One day, an idea for a caricature
came into his head, inspired by the daily quips which the Chamber made
at his father: it was to draw the king as Gulliver and the deputies as
Lilliputians. The king was laid full length asleep, bound and gagged,
with all the Lilliputian population about him, taking advantage of
his enforced immobility to feel him over and examine him. A host of
episodes each funnier than the others sprang out of the first idea.
M. Jacques Lefebvre, the banker, was rolling a 5-franc piece towards
the effigy of King Louis-Philippe with the same amount of exertion as
a wheelwright rolls a wheel. M. Humann, Minister of Finance--so far
as I can recollect--at that time, and consequently, supervisor of the
excise duties, was plunged up to the knees in the powder so strongly
appreciated by Sganarelle, and sneezing fit to shake his head off. M.
Ganneron, who had made his fortune in tallow, came forward candle in
hand towards the bridge made by Gulliver's half-open breeches, less
courageous than the Comte Max Edmond of the _Burgraves,_ and uncertain
whether he might venture into the darkness of the cavern. M. Thiers and
M. Guizot, who already disputed power between them, had each stretched
a rope from the fobs of the king's waistcoat, and advanced each with
scales in hand towards the two royal fobs which bore the titles of
_Ministère de l'intérieur_ and _Ministère des affaires Étrangères_; M.
Thiers's scales were labelled _Libéralisme_ and M. Guizot's _Réaction._
M. Mold and M. Dupin were playing on a see-saw. All these Lilliputians
were as lifelike as possible. We need not speak of the king, who was
eight to ten inches in length and a perfect portrait. But this is the
most curious part of the story.
The Duc d'Orléans had obtained his stones from the lithographic
office of Motte, father-in-law of our dear friend Achille Devéria.
They forgot to say that this piece of lithography, not being intended
for the public, did not need to be deposited with the Ministère de
l'intérieur: the head workman did the thing in all conscientiousness
and sent in a proof to the Ministère de l'intérieur; it was signed
F.O., the duke's usual signature, for Ferdinand d'Orléans. It need
hardly be said that the print was not only forbidden publication, but
taken to the king.
The king recognised his son's signature! We can comprehend the paternal
dressing-down His Royal Highness received. Honourable amends were made:
the lithographer scratched out the head, and, instead of that of the
Chief of the State, put the first head that came into his mind.
In 1834, the Duc d'Orléans gave me two copies of this caricature, one
_before the head was scratched out_ and one _after_; I was stupid
enough to let myself be robbed of both. If the Duc d'Orléans were still
living, I had only to ask him for others, and I did not then realise
the price they were worth. This digression is intended to convey an
idea of the sort of opposition that was raised at that period.
_Le Corsaire,_ then, was prosecuted for provoking to rebellion. The
jury retired to deliberate for form's sake, but soon came out and
pronounced the manager of the _Corsaire_ not guilty. The trial of _La
Tribune_ succeeded that of the _Corsaire._ M. Bascans was acquitted
as M. Viennot had been. Then came the affair of the _right of
association._ Nineteen members of the Society of Friends of the People
were summoned before the juries of the second court. They were accused
of having been leaders and administrators of a political meeting of
over twenty persons. This was quite a different matter from the two
preceding acquittals! After three quarters of an hour's deliberation,
M. Fenet, foreman of the jury, read this declaration--
"_Re the first question._--'Has there been an association
gathering on fixed days to discuss politics?'--'Yes,'
"_Re the second question_.--'Did those gatherings take place
without authorisation from the Government?'-'Yes.'
[After these two affirmations everybody believed of course
that the accused were certain to be found guilty.]
_"Re the third question_.--Are the accused guilty?'-'No.'"
The whole court broke into applause. Thus the _right of association_
was established by jury. People were beginning to grow sick of
political sentences. Statistics had just been published giving the
list of those sentenced during the Restoration: the Bourbons of the
Elder Branch had in fifteen years cut off _a hundred and eighteen
heads_ and sentenced fourteen _contumacious persons_; it had condemned
seventeen to penal servitude with hard labour, nineteen to a term
of penal servitude; seventy-two to transportation, eighteen to
imprisonment, thirty-five to temporary banishment. In conclusion, the
general total of sentences, whether heavy or light, from death penalty
to supervision, mounted to _two thousand four hundred and sixty-six_
I In the midst of all these events, on 12 December Hérold produced a
masterpiece: _Le Pré-aux-Clercs._
Art is a king which walks smilingly through revolutions, looking down
with contempt on all the upheavals it survives.