Page:A Scene from Contemporary History.djvu/4

Rh What! Because there has been a man who gained the battle of Marengo, and who has reigned,—you wish to reign, you who have not gained but the battle of Satory! (Laughter)

M Ferdinand Barrota—These three years be gains a battle, that of order against anarchy

M Victor Hugo—What! Because ten centuries ago, Charlemagne after forty years of glory, let fall upon the face of the globe a sceptre and a sword so huge that no body afterwards, has been able or has dared to touch them,—and yet there were in the interval men who were called Philippe-Augustus, Francis the first, Henry the Fourth, Louis the Fourteenth! What! Because a thousand years after,—for it requires not less than a thousand years of gestation to Humanity to produce similar men, because a thousand years after, another genius came, who picked up this sword and this sceptre, who stood straight up over the continent, who made history so gigantic and grand that it dazzles still, who enchained Revolution in France and unchained it in Europe, who has given to his name the brilliant synonyms of Rivoh, Jena, Essling, Friedland, Montmirail! What! Because after ten years of a glory immense, of a glory almost fabulous on acoount of its grandeur, he has, in his turn, let fall from exhaustion, this sceptre and this glaive that had accomplished so many colossal things, you come, you, you wish, you, to take them up after him, as he took them up, he, Napoleon, after Charlemagne, and grasp in your little hands this sceptre of Titans, this sword of giants! And why? (Long applause) What! After Augustus, Augustulus! What! Because we have had Napoleon the Great, we must have Napoleon the Little! (Applause on the left, cries and hisses on the right The sitting is interrupted for several minutes   Inexpressible tumult)

Voice from the left—M the President, we have heard M Berryer, the right must hear M Victor Hugo Silence the majority

M Savatier-Laroche—Respect is due to great orators (From the left,—Very good!)