s the sub-stance of
political conversation[4350]. The chaplain of a regiment, a curate in
the vicinity, keeps fast hold of it; as to knowing what it means that
is another matter. It is impossible to find anything out through
explanations of it otherwise than "a theoretic perfection of government,
questionable in its origin, hazardous in its progress, and visionary in
its end." On the Englishman proposing to them the British constitution
as a model they "hold it cheap in respect of liberty" and greet it with
a smile; it is, especially, not in conformity with "the principles." And
observe that we are at the residence of a grand seignior, in a circle
of enlightened men. At Riom, at the election assemblies,[4351] Malouet
finds "persons of an ordinary stamp, practitioners, petty lawyers,
with no experience of public business, quoting the 'Contrat Social,'
vehemently declaiming against tyranny, and each proposing his own
constitution." Most of them are without any knowledge whatever, mere
traffickers in chicane; the best instructed entertain mere schoolboy
ideas of politics. In the colleges of the University no history is
taught[4352]. "The name of Henry IV., says Lavalette, was not once
uttered during my eight years of study, and, at seventeen years of age,
I was still ignorant of the epoch and the mode of the establishment
of the Bourbons on the throne." The stock they carry away with them
consists wholly, as with Camille Desmoulins, of scraps of Latin,
entering the world with brains stuffed with "republican maxims," excited
by souvenirs of Rome and Sparta, and "penetrated with profound contempt
for monarchical governments." Subsequently, at the law school, they
learn something about legal abstractions, or else learn nothing. In the
lecture-courses at Paris there are no students; the professor delivers
his lecture to copyists who sell their copy-books. If a pupil should
attend himself and take notes he would be regarded with suspicion; he
would be charged with trying to deprive the copyists of the means of
earning their living. A diploma, consequently, is worthless. At
Bourges one is obtainable in six months; if the young man succeeds in
comprehending the law it is through later practice and familiarity with
it.--Of foreign laws and institutions there is not the least knowledge,
scarcely even a vague or false notion of them. Malouet himself
entertains a meager idea of the English Parliament, while many,
with respect to cerem