“The minister for foreign affairs has opened his career under the most critical circumstances; his official duties will be dictated by the loyalty of his personal character. The great political question is now, to decide whether this government will continue to follow the track of old diplomatic traditions, or whether, divested of all foreign influence and reminiscence, it will boldly assume the rank it behooves us to take at the head of European civilization; a post which, in my opinion, has always remained vacant, notwithstanding appearances contradicted by facts; a stand to which no foreign power any longer dares lay any claim. From that exalted station, France may and ought to resist coalitions in which none of her interests are involved. For my own part, I should have expected more satisfactory explanations and details before giving my assent to the late loan of eighty millions, but none would more readily consent to the measures necessary for the liberty and independence of Greece; to enable her by assistance to defend herself; to erect a barrier against the ambition of other powers; to abolish the ignominious sale of fellow-beings, and rescue from slavery all those wretched victims of whom our interference has hitherto been inadequate to their deliverance; and in this I should foresee the advantage of our commercial relations, which, in spite of narrow prejudices, will always find a benefit in extending to other people the blessings and comforts of education and liberty.
“France, so long accustomed to triumph over the most formidable coalitions, wonders at finding herself encumbered under petty manœuvres, the mysteries of which she cannot unravel.
“I will not mention our unfortunate and criminal expedition into Spain, nor the cruel lessons given to despotism, oppression, and aristocracy in the peninsula, the various and beautiful provinces of which are, I hope, destined to a better fate. But I must beg leave to call your attention to our enormous and foolish error with regard to the new American states.... What blindness, gentlemen, what complacency, can induce us obstinately to withhold our assent to the recognition of the South American republics, in return for insult, ingratitude, and bankruptcy? The British government itself, it is true, although under the direction of an illustrious minister, hesitated a while before adopting that step; but it no sooner saw the immense advantages accruing to the United States, from the priority of that recognition, and a timely official declaration of protection and sympathy, than it hastened to associate itself in the honor and profit of their new relations. After long expectations, gentlemen, France is still reduced to those half-way measures that create mistrust and discontent, whilst it is a well-known fact that French productions and manufactures find a better market in that extensive territory than those of all other nations.
“Whilst the freedom of worship is guaranteed by the charter, and its equality sanctioned by our new morals and habits, it is unnecessary to remark that, even under the ancient régime, Catholic affairs never formed a special branch of the ministry. Amidst the attacks of the pretended supporters of the altar, I will also deprecate that cold fanaticism which endeavors to represent Christianity, an institution originally founded on social equality, as hostile to the rights and opinions of the people thus calling, as it were, for a sort of retaliating animadversion against opinions and practices that are totally distinct from worldly ambition. I will seek for the solution of that inextricable dilemma of the duty of the priest, considered both as speaking in the name of Heaven, and as a pay officer of state; but where shall I find it but in that country where religious freedom is more generally prevalent than in France, where the ministers of religion are more respected, and sectarians live in peace; in that government where no rights and regulations can give umbrage, but where, being altogether foreign to and distinct from all civil institutions and form of government, religious societies are formed without restraint and choose their own ministers.
“The separation of the ecclesiastical department from the ministry of public instruction, I consider as much an act of piety as of sound judgment. But too much has yet been left to the infringements of the Catholic clergy. It is not only a religion of the state, but also a very prevailing one still to be found in those ordinances which ought to have secluded its special dogmas within the walls of the church, and confined its distinction of creeds to the circle of private families.
“National instruction, gentlemen, and especially elementary education, that main-spring of public reason, of practical morality, of public peace and comfort, is at present the first want of the French population, as it is the first duty of government. You all know, gentlemen, how this duty is to be discharged. Methods of instruction have heretofore been protected in an inverse ratio to their being perfect and easy. Neither your paltry vote of 50,000 francs, nor 500,000 francs, can be adequate to the redemption of that most important of all social obligations. Under a competent and legal system of public instruction, I would consider five millions as the most desirable appropriation of a budget.
“Many statesmen appear to have forgotten,—some perhaps have never been aware,—that by the law of the 3d Brumaire, year IV., France was provided with the best system of instruction that ever existed in any country. It could not be consistent with that power which severed from the institute the class of moral and political sciences. Napoleon created the university, the monopoly and exigencies of which wounded the feelings of private families and displeased the true friends of liberty, but which was afterwards indebted to the invasion of Jesuitism, a privilege of another kind, for the credit of being looked upon as a liberal institution. In order to satisfy all parties it would be necessary, at the next session, to offer a plan for the organization of public instruction, wherein all the national duties of teaching should be strictly laid down, and all individual liberties respected; but every plan of education, particularly in its elementary bearings, would require the co-operation of true civil administrations.
“Why is it, gentlemen, that in utter contempt of the most solemn pledges, we have preserved for fourteen years the whole imperial structure of the internal administration in France? those factitious municipalities, those unsettled councils, those despotic and turbulent prefectures and sub-prefectures, which have never been amended except for successively adding to their inconveniences, attributions, and appointments? When shall we see every section manage its own concerns,[concerns,] provide for all its own exigencies, and retain within its territory that portion of the taxes that we are afterwards compelled to send back to it? Is this idea unknown in France? But the constituent assembly, whatever has been said to the contrary at this tribune, had not only proclaimed useful and true doctrines; it had also organized a system of administration elected by the citizens, and was abolished only by the consulate and by the empire. Is it replete with such great difficulties? But when in 1815, Napoleon, in a fit of liberalism, restored the municipalities in accordance with the law of ’91, elections were made with remarkable celerity and moderation. The only embarrassment that could arise would be in the government, if instead of abiding by the dictates of eternal truth and of contemporary reason, it found it necessary to combine principle with exception, right with privilege, thereby perplexing and deluding the purest intentions.
“I will follow the report of the committee in the examination of the war department, merely with the view to support the proposition of placing in the civil list the payment of the king’s military household. You have also heard on this subject the excellent discourse, to which my honorable friend, General Gerard, has given all the weight of his experience and of his glory. The minister of war, in offering observations that will be made the subject of future deliberations, has just expressed his desire of completing our system of defence. Here, gentlemen, we naturally bring back to our memory the urgent call recently made by the ministry upon our patriotism to obtain the means necessary to a preserving policy, a respectable military strength, a guarantee of public tranquillity, a national dignity; and to an union of the people with the government. The minister had before represented the nation rising in a body at the voice of their king. I will not attempt, gentlemen, the solution of the problem; the knot has been untied by a celebrated writer whose authority is daily referred to.
“The stationary National Guard, says an ordinance of the king, dated March, 1815, comprising a mass of three millions of landed and industrious proprietors, constitutes a local force extended on every point....