and his strength for labour
diminished.

Literature, a rich marriage, a successful play, or a political career,
were all incidentally to make his fortune; though it must be said, in
justice, that this motive, though it entwines itself with everything
in Balzac's life, was not his only, or even his principal incentive to
action.

In his desire to become a deputy, for instance, the longing to serve
his country and to have a voice in her Councils, which he would use
boldly, conscientiously, without fear or favour, to further her true
interests, was ever present with him. As early as 1819, he had begun
to take the keenest interest in the elections, telling M. Dablin, from
whom he wanted a visit, that he dreamed of nothing but him and the
deputies, and begging him for a complete list of those chosen in each
department, with a short notice of his opinion on each.

By the law of election of 1830, any Frenchman who was thirty years of
age, and contributed 500 francs a year directly, in taxes, was
eligible as a deputy. When the law was made Balzac was thirty-one, and
paid the requisite amount; he therefore determined, in spite of his
enormous output of literary work at this time, to add the career of a
deputy to his labours; and in April, 1831, he wrote to ask for the
assistance of the General Baron de Pommereul, with whom he had been
staying at Fougeres, collecting material for "Les Chouans," while at
the same time he worked up the country politically. His manifesto, at
this period, is found in the "Enquete sur la Politique des Deux
Ministeres,"[*] in which he calls the Government a "monarchie tempere
par les emeutes," objects to the "juste milieu" observed by the
Ministers; and while bringing forward, with apparent impartiality, the
advantages of the two courses of peace and war, very evidently longs
for France to take the battlefield again, to obtain what he considers
her natural frontier, that of the Rhine. He also enters _con amore_
into the details of raising a Napoleonic army, and of establishing the
system of the Landwehr in France. A very remarkable passage in this
manifesto is that on the Press; by which, he says, the Government is
terrorised. With extraordinary penetration, he advises that the
strength of journalism shall be broken by the sacrifice of the three
or four millions gained by the "timbre," and the liberation of the
newspapers, which are stronger than the seven ministers--for they
upset the Government,