ould, at the
same time, be kept under a most powerful yoke, so that its individuals
may find light, help, and protection, and that no idea, no statute, no
transaction, may make them turbulent.

"The greatest possible liberty should be allowed to the leisured
classes, for they possess something to keep, they have everything to
lose, they can never be dissolute.

"As much power as possible should be granted to the Government. Thus
the Government, the rich people, and the bourgeoisie have interest in
keeping the lowest class happy, and in increasing the number of the
middle class, which is the true strength of the state.

"If rich people, the hereditary possessors of fortune in the highest
Chamber, are corrupt in their manners, and start abuses, these are
inseparable from the existence of all society; they must be accepted,
to balance the advantages given."

This extract is taken from a letter which is, Balzac tells his
correspondent, strictly private; but, with his usual independence and
fearlessness, he did not hesitate to enunciate his opinions in public,
and invariably refused to stoop to compromise or to disguise.
Consequently, we cannot wonder that he never attained his ambition;
particularly as he lacked the aid of money, and had no support, except
the politically doubtful one of a literary reputation. His penetration
and power of prescience were remarkable, and it is startling to find
that he foretells the fall of the Monarchy of July, and the Revolution
of 1848.[*] "I do not think," he says, "that in ten years from now the
actual form of government will subsist--August, 1830, has forgotten
the part played by youth and intelligence. Youth compressed will burst
like the boiler of a steam engine." In "Les Paysans," one of his most
wonderful novels, he gives a vivid picture of the constant struggle
going on under the surface between the peasants and the bourgeoisie,
and shows that the triumph of the former class must be the inevitable
result.

[*] "Revue Parisienne," p. 26

His was essentially a loyal, reverential nature, with the soldierly
respect for constituted authority which is often the characteristic of
strong natures; and he was absolutely unswerving in his principles
--the courage and tenacity which distinguished him through life, never
deserting him in political emergencies. He was patriotic and
high-minded; absolutely immovable in all that concerned his duty. On
one occasion, when it was proposed at