History of the Origin of Representative Government in Europe, by M. Guizot [pp. 199-211]

ORIGIN OF REPRESENTrATIVE GOVERNMENT IN EIUROPE. 203
IIow shall I speak, at the present day, of bad fortune and
reverse, in reference to 1820? VWhat shall we say of the fate
that has recently overtaken our father-land, and of thlat which
is, perhaps, in store for us? It is a shame to make use of the
same words in respect to evils and dangers so prodigiously
unequal. In truth, the trials of 1820 were severe arid painful,
yet the state was not thrown into confusion by them, and they
were followed by ten years of regular and fi'ee government.
In T183'(), a still severei trial, the test of revolution, was applied
to our noble institutions atnd they did not succumb; they shook
off the revolutionary yokle, and g,ave us eighteen years more of
ord(ler and liberty. IFrom 1814 to 1848, notwithstanding( so
man- violent convulsions, constitutional monarchy remained
stanling, and events justified the obstinacy of our hopes. But
now the stormi has struck every institution, and still threatens
to dlestroy all that survive. Not merely kings and laws, but
the very root of government, of all government. What do I
say; The roots of society itself l-ave been reached, and are
let bare and almost torn up. Can we again seek safety at the
same source? Can we still believe and hope in representative
governmment and monar(chy?"
AW'e differ with Guizot as to representative government. We
don't think representative government is atn iEnglish discovery.
.We believe al! government is, or should be, representative.
We think the fathler ant' husband the only natural, proper and
reliable representative of his wife and children-ap)pointed by
nI-.ttLure, not elected by wife and children. We believe the master to be the natural, and only safe and reliable representative
of lhis slaves —thle lord or baron the representative of his serfs
and va-tssals-the Roman senaitor or patrician the representative
of his clients, freedmen aniid slaves —and the king or emperor
the representative of' ill his subjects. We believe that equals
never did, and never will, honestly and fairly represent their
equals; for equails are competitors, rivals and enemies, strugglilg to advance tlhemselves by injuring each other. The king,
the nobility anld cler,gy, honestly and fairly represent the interests if the laboring classes of Eingland; but the Hlouse of Commnons, emanating, from that class, is its dire enemy, anid only
represents the bankers, farmers's, landlords and other capitalists
of' the nation. The Ilouse of' Commons preceded by a century
pauperism in Eng(land. But for that house, there never would
lItve been paupl)erismn thlere-for king, lords tand clergymen
would have extended equal p)roteetion to all, and nevecr suiffered
a paricel of rogutislh commiiollers to have grown falt by despoiling
their equals, the latborinug class. The French Revolution of''93
brought about the same result there. The shopkeepers and
petty landhol(lders, bankers and other capitalists, were put in
powert. The bottirgeoise were substituted for king, bishops and
nobility-tithe wolves tor the lions-the natural fiiends, parents
VOL. VII-NOS. III & IV. 3