Sentimental Education

  Martinon tried to reassure him. The Conservative party, in a little while, would certainly be able to take its revenge. In several cities the commissioners of the provisional government had been driven away; the elections were not to occur till the twenty-third of April; there was plenty of time. In short, it was necessary for M. Dambreuse to present himself personally in the Aube; and from that time forth, Martinon no longer left his side, became his secretary, and was as attentive to him as any son could be.

  Frederick arrived at Rosanette's house in a very self-complacent mood. Delmar happened to be there, and told him of his intention to stand as a candidate at the Seine elections. In a placard addressed to the people, in which he addressed them in the familiar manner which one adopts towards an individual, the actor boasted of being able to understand them, and of having, in order to save them, got himself "crucified for the sake of art," so that he was the incarnation, the ideal of the popular spirit, believing that he had, in fact, such enormous power over the masses[134] that he proposed by-and-by, when he occupied a ministerial office, to quell any outbreak by himself alone; and, with regard to the means he would employ, he gave this answer: "Never fear! I'll show them my head!"

  Frederick, in order to mortify him, gave him to understand that he was himself a candidate. The mummer, from the moment that his future colleague aspired to represent the province, declared himself his servant, and offered to be his guide to the various clubs.

  They visited them, or nearly all, the red and the blue, the furious and the tranquil, the puritanical and the licentious, the mystical and the intemperate, those that had voted for the death of kings, and those in which the frauds in the grocery trade had been denounced; and everywhere the tenants cursed the landlords; the blouse was full of spite against broadcloth; and the rich conspired against the poor. Many wanted indemnities on the ground that they had formerly been martyrs of the police; others appealed for money in order to carry out certain inventions, or else there were plans of phalansteria, projects for cantonal bazaars, systems of public felicity; then, here and there a flash of genius amid these clouds of folly, sudden as splashes, the law formulated by an oath, and flowers of eloquence on the lips of some soldier-boy, with a shoulder-belt strapped over his bare, shirtless chest. Sometimes, too, a gentleman made his appearance—an aristocrat of humble demeanour, talking in a plebeian strain, and with his hands unwashed, so as to make them look hard. A patriot recognised him; the most virtuous mobbed him; and he went off with rage in his soul. On the[135] pretext of good sense, it was desirable to be always disparaging the advocates, and to make use as often as possible of these expressions: "To carry his stone to the building," "social problem," "workshop."

  Delmar did not miss the opportunities afforded him for getting in a word; and when he no longer found anything to say, his device was to plant himself in some conspicuous position with one of his arms akimbo and the other in his waistcoat, turning himself round abruptly in profile, so as to give a good view of his head. Then there were outbursts of applause, which came from Mademoiselle Vatnaz at the lower end of the hall.

  Frederick, in spite of the weakness of orators, did not dare to try the experiment of speaking. All those people seemed to him too unpolished or too hostile.

  But Dussardier made enquiries, and informed him that there existed in the Rue Saint-Jacques a club which bore the name of the "Club of Intellect." Such a name gave good reason for hope. Besides, he would bring some friends there.

  He brought those whom he had invited to take punch with him—the bookkeeper, the traveller in wines, and the architect; even Pellerin had offered to come, and Hussonnet would probably form one of the party, and on the footpath before the door stood Regimbart, with two individuals, the first of whom was his faithful Compain, a rather thick-set man marked with small-pox and with bloodshot eyes; and the second, an ape-like negro, exceedingly hairy, and whom he knew only in the character of "a patriot from Barcelona."

  They passed though a passage, and were then introduced into a large room, no doubt used by a[136] joiner, and with walls still fresh and smelling of plaster. Four argand lamps were hanging parallel to each other, and shed an unpleasant light. On a platform, at the end of the room, there was a desk with a bell; underneath it a table, representing the rostrum, and on each side two others, somewhat lower, for the secretaries. The audience that adorned the benches consisted of old painters of daubs, ushers, and literary men who could not get their works published.

  In the midst of those lines of paletots with greasy collars could be seen here and there a woman's cap or a workman's linen smock. The bottom of the apartment was even full of workmen, who had in all likelihood come there to pass away an idle hour, and who had been introduced by some speakers in order that they might applaud.

  Frederick took care to place himself between Dussardier and Regimbart, who was scarcely seated when he leaned both hands on his walking-stick and his chin on his hands and shut his eyes, whilst at the other end of the room Delmar stood looking down at the assembly. Sénécal appeared at the president's desk.

  The worthy bookkeeper thought Frederick would be pleased at this unexpected discovery. It only annoyed him.

  The meeting exhibited great respect for the president. He was one who, on the twenty-fifth of February, had desired an immediate organisation of labour. On the following day, at the Prado, he had declared himself in favour attacking the Hôtel de Ville; and, as every person at that period took some model for imitation, one copied Saint-Just, another Danton, another Marat; as for him, he tried to be like Blanqui,[137] who imitated Robespierre. His black gloves, and his hair brushed back, gave him a rigid aspect exceedingly becoming.

  He opened the proceedings with the declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen—a customary act of faith. Then, a vigorous voice struck up Béranger's "Souvenirs du Peuple."

  Other voices were raised:

  "No! no! not that!"

  "'La Casquette!'" the patriots at the bottom of the apartment began to howl.

  And they sang in chorus the favourite lines of the period:

  "Doff your hat before my cap—

  Kneel before the working-man!"

  At a word from the president the audience became silent.

  One of the secretaries proceeded to inspect the letters.

  Some young men announced that they burned a number of the Assemblée Nationale every evening in front of the Panthéon, and they urged on all patriots to follow their example.

  "Bravo! adopted!" responded the audience.

  The Citizen Jean Jacques Langreneux, a printer in the Rue Dauphin, would like to have a monument raised to the memory of the martyrs of Thermidor.

  Michel Evariste Népomucène, ex-professor, gave expression to the wish that the European democracy should adopt unity of language. A dead language might be used for that purpose—as, for example, improved Latin.

  "No; no Latin!" exclaimed the architect.[138]

  "Why?" said the college-usher.

  And these two gentlemen engaged in a discussion, in which the others also took part, each putting in a word of his own for effect; and the conversation on this topic soon became so tedious that many went away. But a little old man, who wore at the top of his prodigiously high forehead a pair of green spectacles, asked permission to speak in order to make an important communication.

  It was a memorandum on the assessment of taxes. The figures flowed on in a continuous stream, as if they were never going to end. The impatience of the audience found vent at first in murmurs, in whispered talk. He allowed nothing to put him out. Then they began hissing; they catcalled him. Sénécal called the persons who were interrupting to order. The orator went on like a machine. It was necessary to catch him by the shoulder in order to stop him. The old fellow looked as if he were waking out of a dream, and, placidly lifting his spectacles, said:

  "Pardon me, citizens! pardon me! I am going—a thousand excuses!"

  Frederick was disconcerted with
the failure of the old man's attempts to read this written statement. He had his own address in his pocket, but an extemporaneous speech would have been preferable.

  Finally the president announced that they were about to pass on to the important matter, the electoral question. They would not discuss the big Republican lists. However, the "Club of Intellect" had every right, like every other, to form one, "with all respect for the pachas of the Hôtel de Ville," and the citizens who solicited the popular mandate might set forth their claims.[139]

  "Go on, now!" said Dussardier.

  A man in a cassock, with woolly hair and a petulant expression on his face, had already raised his hand. He said, with a stutter, that his name was Ducretot, priest and agriculturist, and that he was the author of a work entitled "Manures." He was told to send it to a horticultural club.

  Then a patriot in a blouse climbed up into the rostrum. He was a plebeian, with broad shoulders, a big face, very mild-looking, with long black hair. He cast on the assembly an almost voluptuous glance, flung back his head, and, finally, spreading out his arms:

  "You have repelled Ducretot, O my brothers! and you have done right; but it was not through irreligion, for we are all religious."

  Many of those present listened open-mouthed, with the air of catechumens and in ecstatic attitudes.

  "It is not either because he is a priest, for we, too, are priests! The workman is a priest, just as the founder of Socialism was—the Master of us all, Jesus Christ!"

  The time had arrived to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. The Gospel led directly to '89. After the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the proletariat. They had had the age of hate—the age of love was about to begin.

  "Christianity is the keystone and the foundation of the new edifice——"

  "You are making game of us?" exclaimed the traveller in wines. "Who has given me such a priest's cap?"

  This interruption gave great offence. Nearly all the audience got on benches, and, shaking their fists,[140] shouted: "Atheist! aristocrat! low rascal!" whilst the president's bell kept ringing continuously, and the cries of "Order! order!" redoubled. But, aimless, and, moreover, fortified by three cups of coffee which he had swallowed before coming to the meeting, he struggled in the midst of the others:

  "What? I an aristocrat? Come, now!"

  When, at length, he was permitted to give an explanation, he declared that he would never be at peace with the priests; and, since something had just been said about economical measures, it would be a splendid one to put an end to the churches, the sacred pyxes, and finally all creeds.

  Somebody raised the objection that he was going very far.

  "Yes! I am going very far! But, when a vessel is caught suddenly in a storm——"

  Without waiting for the conclusion of this simile, another made a reply to his observation:

  "Granted! But this is to demolish at a single stroke, like a mason devoid of judgment——"

  "You are insulting the masons!" yelled a citizen covered with plaster. And persisting in the belief that provocation had been offered to him, he vomited forth insults, and wished to fight, clinging tightly to the bench whereon he sat. It took no less than three men to put him out.

  Meanwhile the workman still remained on the rostrum. The two secretaries gave him an intimation that he should come down. He protested against the injustice done to him.

  "You shall not prevent me from crying out, 'Eternal love to our dear France! eternal love all to the Republic!'"[141]

  "Citizens!" said Compain, after this—"Citizens!"

  And, by dint of repeating "Citizens," having obtained a little silence, he leaned on the rostrum with his two red hands, which looked like stumps, bent forward his body, and blinking his eyes:

  "I believe that it would be necessary to give a larger extension to the calf's head."

  All who heard him kept silent, fancying that they had misunderstood his words.

  "Yes! the calf's head!"

  Three hundred laughs burst forth at the same time. The ceiling shook.

  At the sight of all these faces convulsed with mirth, Compain shrank back. He continued in an angry tone:

  "What! you don't know what the calf's head is!"

  It was a paroxysm, a delirium. They held their sides. Some of them even tumbled off the benches to the ground with convulsions of laughter. Compain, not being able to stand it any longer, took refuge beside Regimbart, and wanted to drag him away.

  "No! I am remaining till 'tis all over!" said the Citizen.

  This reply caused Frederick to make up his mind; and, as he looked about to the right and the left to see whether his friends were prepared to support him, he saw Pellerin on the rostrum in front of him.

  The artist assumed a haughty tone in addressing the meeting.

  "I would like to get some notion as to who is the candidate amongst all these that represents art. For my part, I have painted a picture."

  "We have nothing to do with painting pictures!" was the churlish remark of a thin man with red spots on his cheek-bones.[142]

  Pellerin protested against this interruption.

  But the other, in a tragic tone:

  "Ought not the Government to make an ordinance abolishing prostitution and want?"

  And this phrase having at once won to his side the popular favour, he thundered against the corruption of great cities.

  "Shame and infamy! We ought to catch hold of wealthy citizens on their way out of the Maison d'Or and spit in their faces—unless it be that the Government countenances debauchery! But the collectors of the city dues exhibit towards our daughters and our sisters an amount of indecency——"

  A voice exclaimed, some distance away:

  "This is blackguard language! Turn him out!"

  "They extract taxes from us to pay for licentiousness! Thus, the high salaries paid to actors——"

  "Help!" cried Pellerin.

  He leaped from the rostrum, pushed everybody aside, and declaring that he regarded such stupid accusations with disgust, expatiated on the civilising mission of the player. Inasmuch as the theatre was the focus of national education, he would record his vote for the reform of the theatre; and to begin with, no more managements, no more privileges!

  "Yes; of any sort!"

  The actor's performance excited the audience, and people moved backwards and forwards knocking each other down.

  "No more academies! No more institutes!"

  "No missions!"

  "No more bachelorships! Down with University degrees!"

  "Let us preserve them," said Sénécal; "but let[143] them be conferred by universal suffrage, by the people, the only true judge!"

  Besides, these things were not the most useful. It was necessary to take a level which would be above the heads of the wealthy. And he represented them as gorging themselves with crimes under their gilded ceilings; while the poor, writhing in their garrets with famine, cultivated every virtue. The applause became so vehement that he interrupted his discourse. For several minutes he remained with his eyes closed, his head thrown back, and, as it were, lulling himself to sleep over the fury which he had aroused.

  Then he began to talk in a dogmatic fashion, in phrases as imperious as laws. The State should take possession of the banks and of the insurance offices. Inheritances should be abolished. A social fund should be established for the workers. Many other measures were desirable in the future. For the time being, these would suffice, and, returning to the question of the elections: "We want pure citizens, men entirely fresh. Let some one offer himself."

  Frederick arose. There was a buzz of approval made by his friends. But Sénécal, assuming the attitude of a Fouquier-Tinville, began to ask questions as to his Christian name and surname, his antecedents, life, and morals.

  Frederick answered succinctly, and bit his lips. Sénécal asked whether anyone saw any impediment to this candidature.

  "No! no!"

  But, for his part, he saw some. All around him be
nt forward and strained their ears to listen. The citizen who was seeking for their support had not delivered a certain sum promised by him for the foun[144]dation of a democratic journal. Moreover, on the twenty-second of February, though he had had sufficient notice on the subject, he had failed to be at the meeting-place in the Place de Panthéon.

  "I swear that he was at the Tuileries!" exclaimed Dussardier.

  "Can you swear to having seen him at the Panthéon?"

  Dussardier hung down his head. Frederick was silent. His friends, scandalised, regarded him with disquietude.

  "In any case," Sénécal went on, "do you know a patriot who will answer to us for your principles?"

  "I will!" said Dussardier.

  "Oh! this is not enough; another!"

  Frederick turned round to Pellerin. The artist replied to him with a great number of gestures, which meant:

  "Ah! my dear boy, they have rejected myself! The deuce! What would you have?"

  Thereupon Frederick gave Regimbart a nudge.

  "Yes, that's true; 'tis time! I'm going."

  And Regimbart stepped upon the platform; then, pointing towards the Spaniard, who had followed him:

  "Allow me, citizens, to present to you a patriot from Barcelona!"

  The patriot made a low bow, rolled his gleaming eyes about, and with his hand on his heart:

  "Ciudadanos! mucho aprecio el honor that you have bestowed on me! however great may be vuestra bondad, mayor vuestra atención!"

  "I claim the right to speak!" cried Frederick.

  "Desde que se proclamo la constitutión de Cadiz, ese pacto fundamental of las libertades Españolas,[145] hasta la ultima revolución, nuestra patria cuenta numerosos y heroicos mártires."

  Frederick once more made an effort to obtain a hearing:

  "But, citizens!—--"

  The Spaniard went on: "El martes proximo tendra lugar en la iglesia de la Magdelena un servicio fúnebre."

  "In fact, this is ridiculous! Nobody understands him!"

  This observation exasperated the audience.