THE CHANGES IN FRANCE. [From the Times, August 30.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 361, 17 January 1849, Page 4

THE CHANGES IN FRANCE. [From the Times, August 30.]

Louis Blanc is said to have landed yesterday at Dover, an exile from the country of his parentage. In other words, the constitutional monarchy of 1830 and the Provisional Government of 1848 have equally sought shelter on the English coast from the indignation or fickleness of a nation. Who that knew France, or Paris, but eighteen years ago, can forget the enthusiasm, excited by the daily progress of the Citizen King in the streets of j the French capital 1 Who that was aware of the disappointment of a nation, and of the real nature of the various elements of confusion existing in the bosom of constitutional and regenerated France, could wonder at the recent outbreaks and at the ready acceptance I of pretensions destined to be overthrown, even ! in their utterance ? The dynastic dream of i tbe Tuileries, and the still more feverish and transitory vision of the Luxembourg, have passed away. They belong to history, and to history merely contemporaneous and ephemeral. Neither one nor the other has risen above the character of makeshifts. They are an affair of yesterday — scarcely of to-day. To-morrow rises, and neither Louis Philippe nor Louis Blanc has furnished us with a solution of the enigma, nor with a key to the future. France remains as she was, a subject of speculation, — un grand peut'&tre. The Orleans dynasty is gone, the Provisional Government is gone, — General Cavaignac and military despotism exist. What next ? Is there anything peculiar to the French character in this abandonment of fallen fortunes ? We do not come forward as the apologists of Louis Philippe, and most certainly not as the defenders of the Provisional Government ; but is there anything in France of inert convictions, and of individual self-seek-ing, which may serve to explain these politi- I cal phenomena? It is, perhaps, unfair to institute a comparison between the fallen monarch ! whose prudence and circumspection went for much in maintaining the peace of Europe for neaily twenty years, and the heroes of six months ; but still the quick substitution in France of man for man, and principle for principle, is suggestive for the future. On looking back at past times we find that these causes were in turn taken up and abandoned ; despotism in the person of Louis XIV., of 1788, and constitutional monarchy in the person of Louis XVI., of 1792 ; republicanism under 'the Assembly ; military despotism under Bonaparte, in 1814, and in 1815 ; .chartered monarchy under Charles X., in 1830, democratic monarchy under Louis Philippe, in 1848 ; and republicanism according to the February model ; — all these forms of government Frenchmen have given up in turn, attributing to each blame, more or less deserved. What is most certainly true is this, that throughout the strange drama which has been passing under our eyes for the last sixty years in France, there has been less of truth, and of real sincerity of purpose, amongst the actors on the scene than at any other historical period in the legends of the world of similar duration. In Paris, at the present moment, a politi- I cal scene is passing, even in the assembly, worthy of the days of the Regent Orleans, or of the South Sea bubble in our own coun,try. Who shall be King, who shall be Reigent, who shall be President ? These are the questions which must be answered in subor- ! dination to the powers out of doors. M. Louis Blanc endeavoured to answer them, and he has fallen. The human race is not yet prepared for the new order of things in which hardworking A is to cast in his lot with idle B. Communism and Socialism are at a discount in France, and M. Louis Blanc is a guest at the Ship Inn at Dover. We would not, however, do injustice to the qualities of the fugitive. However unfitted to direct the destinies of men, M. Louis. Blanc has earned for himself a reputation in literature which no failure in politics can efface. The Histoire de Dix Ans will survive when the Provisional Government of four months is forgotten. The litterateur and the historian has Been placed in an unfortunate position, and one for which he was unfitted by the character of his mind ; and, now that he is removed from the scene where his presence was the fruitful cause of so much mischief, the world can afford to pass on M. Louis Blanc a more dispassionate judgment. As a ruler, as a governor of men, as a promulgator of insane theories upon the organization of labour, the historian of Ten Years sinks beneath contempt. He escapes the indignation which would otherwise be his portion, because the world give him something like credit for sincerity in his folly, and supposes that he may have been merely the dupe of more designing men. We would apportion to each man, if it might be so, his share in the drama of human life. The man of action and the man of thought are distinct characters. The historian and thp journalist, however competent to reord or point out -the fol- i

lies and mistakes of men, are in their own persons but little likely to order things for the better. They may act on others, but must not act directly themselves. The misfortunes of France in February of this year depended upon this fact. A board of historians, journalists, poets, barristers, and philosophers, was suddenly called upon to administer the affairs of one of the greatest nations in Europe, and miserably failed in the attempt. Such is the history of the Provisional Government of February, 1848, and of M. Louis Blanc. The natural good sense of mankind revolted against their hallucinations. The Provisional Government is now in the situation of its fallen master. There is no great difference between the situation of the exile of Claremont and of the more recent refugee of Dover. Much blood might have been spared bad he and his colleagues arrived sooner on our shores. We have no desire to exculpate M. Louis Blanc for his participation in the recent disturbances at Paris. By his acts let him be judged. We simply mark his arrival in England. His flight has probably spared the Executive Government at Paris and General Cavaignac an embarrassment. He is the representative of ideas destined to be effaced as soon as 'they are expressed. From France M. Louis Blanc has fled, and, as a statesman, is already forgotten.