h Voltaire and Robespierre, that, 'if there were
no Deity, it would be necessary to man to create one.' Bref, we could
not agree upon any plan for the new edifice, and therefore we refuse to
discuss one till the ploughshare has gone over the ruins of the old.
But I have another and more practical reason for keeping our council
distinct from all societies with professed objects beyond that of
demolition. We need a certain command of money. It is I who bring to you
that, and--how? Not from my own resources,--they but suffice to support
myself; not by contributions from ouvriers who, as you well know,
will subscribe only for their own ends in the victory of workmen over
masters. I bring money to you from the coffers of the rich malcontents.
Their politics are not those of most present; their politics are what
they term moderate. Some are indeed for a republic, but for a republic
strong in defence of order, in support of property; others--and they are
more numerous and the more rich--for a constitutional monarchy, and, if
possible, for the abridgment of universal suffrage, which in their eyes
tends only to anarchy in the towns and arbitrary rule under priestly
influence in the rural districts. They would not subscribe a sou if they
thought it went to further the designs whether of Ruvigny the atheist,
or of Monnier, who would enlist the Deity of Rousseau on the side of
the drapeau rouge; not a sou if they knew I had the honour to boast such
confreres as I see around me. They subscribe, as we concert, for the
fall of Bonaparte. The policy I adopt I borrow from the policy of the
English Liberals. In England, potent millionnaires, high-born dukes,
devoted Churchmen, belonging to the Liberal party, accept the services
of men who look forward to measures which would ruin capital, eradicate
aristocracy, and destroy the Church, provided these men combine with
them in some immediate step onward against the Tories. They have a
proverb which I thus adapt to French localities: if a train passes
Fontainebleau on its way to Marseilles, why should I not take it to
Fontainebleau because other passengers are going on to Marseilles?

"Confreres, it seems to me the moment has come when we may venture some
of the fund placed at my disposal to other purposes than those to which
it has been hitherto devoted. I propose, therefore, to set up a journal
under the auspices of Gustave Rameau as editor-in-chief,--a journal
which, if he listen to my adv