to the cautious wisdom of the late constitutional assembly. The
Minister of War, St. Arnaud, answered him as Changarnier had answered
Marrast--and he did so amidst the plaudits of the Mountain.

Thus did the party of Order itself, when as yet it was not the National
Assembly, when as yet it was only a Ministry, brand the parliamentary
regime. And yet this party objects vociferously when the 2d of December,
1851, banishes that regime from France!

We wish it a happy journey.





III



On May 29, 1849, the legislative National Assembly convened. On
December 2, 1851, it was broken up. This period embraces the term of the
Constitutional or Parliamentary public.

In the first French revolution, upon the reign of the Constitutionalists
succeeds that of the Girondins; and upon the reign of the Girondins
follows that of the Jacobins. Each of these parties in succession rests
upon its more advanced element. So soon as it has carried the revolution
far enough not to be able to keep pace with, much less march ahead of
it, it is shoved aside by its more daring allies, who stand behind it,
and it is sent to the guillotine. Thus the revolution moves along an