Rougon continued. 'To-day,' he said, 'the hour for which we were all so impatiently waiting has at length struck. There is no longer any danger in making prosperous France free France also. The anarchical passions are dead. The energy of the Sovereign and the solemn determination of the people have for ever annihilated all abominable epochs of public perversity. Liberty became possible on the day when the faction which had so obstinately ignored the fundamental bases of sound government was defeated; and for this reason the Emperor has deemed fit to lay aside the stern strong hand, to decline excessive prerogatives as a useless burden, rightly considering his rule to be so unassailable that discussion may be freely allowed. And he has not shunned promises for the future, he will carry out his task of enfranchisement to the end, giving back one liberty after another at such times as shall seem fitting to his wisdom. Henceforth it is a programme of continual progress that it will be our duty to support in this assembly.'
'You, yourself, were the minister of the fiercest oppression!' interrupted one of the five deputies on the left, indignantly rising from his seat. And another passionately added: 'The purveyors for Cayenne and Lambessa have no right to speak in the name of liberty!'
An outburst of murmurs followed. Several deputies, who did not quite catch what was said, bent forward and questioned their neighbours. M. de Marsy pretended not to have heard, and contented himself with threatening to call all interrupters to order.
'I have just been reproached——' Rougon resumed; but shouts now rose from the right and prevented him from continuing.
'No, no! Don't reply!'
'Such insults are unworthy of your notice!'
Rougon pacified the Chamber by a gesture, and with his big fists resting on the edge of the tribune, he turned to the left with the expression of a wild boar at bay. 'I will not reply,' he calmly said.
What had gone before was merely the exordium of his speech. Although he had stated that he did not intend to refute the assertions of the deputy of the left, he now entered upon a minute discussion. He began by clearly stating the whole of his opponent's arguments; enumerating them with an air of fairness and candour which had an immense effect; for it was as though he disdained these arguments and could destroy them by a breath. However, as he went on, he appeared to forget them entirely, and, without replying to any of them, he attacked the weakest with indescribable violence and quite overwhelmed it beneath a flood of words. Applause burst forth, he triumphed. His huge body seemed to fill the tribune; his shoulders swayed in rhythm with his periods. His oratory was of a mediocre, inartistic order, bristling with legal points and trite commonplaces, which he bellowed forth in thundering tones. He shouted and brandished trivialities; and his only real oratorical gift was his immense, inexhaustible fund of breath, which enabled him to pour forth magniloquent sentences for hours together, careless of what they might contain.
After he had spoken for an hour without a break, he gulped down a mouthful of water, and panted a little while rearranging his notes in front of him.