Page:The Royal Family of France (Henry).djvu/96

 condition; when the army had learned loyalty and discipline; when the Provincial and Municipal Councils had been purged, and National Diplomacy restored France to the confidence of Europe; then, and only then, would M. Thiers have crowned his edifice. "All my life," the illustrious old man said, "I have reflected on the most desirable form of government for my country, and if I had had the power which no mortal ever has had, I would have given to it that which during forty years of my life I have striven unsuccessfully to obtain for it, the Constitutional Monarchy of England. I wish you to understand me thoroughly; I will not flatter any faction; I wish to speak the truth as I see it, as it has shown itself to me. Well then, gentlemen, I find men are free, nobly, grandly free at Washington, and that they accomplish great things; but I find men are equally free in London, and, if I may be allowed to say so, even freer, perhaps, than at Washington. At London the Government dwells apart equally from the passions of the mighty and of the people. Never in any country or in any age has a Government resided in an atmosphere where judgment was so all-powerful, where judgment was so untroubled. But, gentlemen, in my opinion, an opinion I have always maintained, Princes who hold the reins of government must accept the conditions of this form of government; if they assume the government, they must also assume its responsibilities, which in an age so restless as our own soon become a burden to the Throne. I do not wish to bring any accusation against Princes whom I have ever esteemed, some of whom have been beloved by me; but in my opinion they have not understood the conditions of this government. Forty years ago I said it, I say it now, and during the ten years of the Empire, and I will not cease to repeat it; it is a proverb now become famous, the maxim of my youth, and to which I have held faithfully all my life; Princes must admit that in its essence a Monarchy is a Republic, it has been defined as a country governed by itself, a Republic with an hereditary President. But, gentlemen, this truth has not been understood, and forty years ago, when still quite young, I wrote these words: If France will not cross the Channel with us, she will be forced to cross the Atlantic" (Thiers, June 8th, 1871).