Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/378

 33G ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1S53 chap, a 'French Emperor/ The style that Prince Louis ' thought fit to take was this : — ' Napoleon the ' Third, by the Grace of God, and by the will of ' the people, Emperor of the French.' XXIII The inaction Of course, when any one thinks of the events numbers of of December 1851, the stress of his attention is Frenchmen at the time apt to be brought to bear upon those who were when their : ° l country was actors, and upon those who, desiring to act, were tailing. L _ ° % only hindered from doing so by falling into the pits which the trappers had dug for them ; but no one will fail to see that one of the main phe- nomena of the time was the wilful acquiescence of great numbers of men. It may seem strange that during a time of danger the sin of inaction should be found in a once free and always brave people. The cause of this was the hatred which ita cause men had of democracy. A sheer democracy, it would seem, is so unfriendly to personal liberty, and therefore so vexing or alarming, not only to its avowed political enemies, but to those also who in general are accustomed to stand aloof from public affairs, that it must needs close its frail existence as soon as there comes home a General renowned in arms who chooses to make himself King. This was always laid down as a guiding principle by those who professed to be able to draw lessons from history; but even they used to think that, until some sort of hero could be found, democratic institutions might last. Franca