Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/126

 1 10 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

reason for this change of front, which has likewise been made by a number of other papers, is the fact that public opinion is felt to be drifting away from royalism. Thus the paper has sacrificed the name of " Royalist " in order to go on defending conservative principles behind the screen of a " republican " label. The circula- tion of Le Moniteur is 20,000.

In short, the Royalist party is becoming weaker every day. It tends to disappear and give place to a great Catholic Conserva- tive party, which, though accepting the republic, wants it to be conservative. This is styled the " Liberal Republican " party.

The Imperialists and Bonapartists are also continually los- ing ground, though they are more active than the Royalists. Their candidate is Victor Napoleon a man about forty years of age and of moderate intelligence. He is living in Brussels, in modest surroundings. He is unmarried, although rumor has married him morganatically to a countess who has borne him several children. It has been said that his brother Louis, who is a general in the Russian army, is likewise a pretender. This may be true, although he has always denied it. In 1900 there was a Bonapartist plot. M. Demagny, the secretary of Waldeck- Rousseau, then minister of the interior, was bought. There was no attempt at a coup d'etat, perhaps because public opinion was warned by a few papers among them L'Humanite nouvelle, in an article which caused a great sensation. It is possible that the present disturbance, the object of which is to prevent the army and the civic functionaries from being republican, is the work of the Bonapartists, who are inviting a last assault.

There are in the demands of the Imperialists certain demo- cratic elements which would give this party a better chance than the Royalists have of getting the sympathy of the public. We must, however, distinguish between two tendencies among the Bonapartists. One is democratic, the other conservative. Those who are influenced by the latter tend toward royalism. They follow L'Autorite, the organ of Paul de Cassagnac, who died recently. Cassagnac was a journalist of great talent and an energetic polemic. He it was who, with his daily article, made L'Autorite an influential organ, its circulation reaching 40,000