ment;
the Right, and the Romantics."

"My reasons for the change are based on lofty grounds; the end will
justify the means," said Lucien.

"Perhaps you do not fully comprehend our position on the side of the
Government," said Leon Giraud. "The Government, the Court, the Bourbons,
the Absolutist Party, or to sum up in the general expression, the whole
system opposed to the constitutional system, may be divided upon the
question of the best means of extinguishing the Revolution, but is
unanimous as to the advisability of extinguishing the newspapers. The
_Reveil_, the _Foudre_, and the _Drapeau Blanc_ have all been founded
for the express purpose of replying to the slander, gibes, and railing
of the Liberal press. I cannot approve them, for it is precisely this
failure to recognize the grandeur of our priesthood that has led us to
bring out a serious and self-respecting paper; which perhaps," he added
parenthetically, "may exercise a worthy influence before very long, and
win respect, and carry weight; but this Royalist artillery is destined
for a first attempt at reprisals, the Liberals are to be paid back in
their own coin--shaft for shaft, wound for wound.

"What can come of it Lucien? The majority of newspaper readers incline
for the Left; and in the press, as in warfare, the victory is with the
big battalions. You will be blackguards, liars, enemies of the people;
the other side will be defenders of their country, martyrs, men to be
held in honor, though they may be even more hypocritical and slippery
than their opponents. In these ways the pernicious influence of the
press will be increased, while the most odious form of journalism will
receive sanction. Insult and personalities will become a recognized
privilege of the press; newspapers have taken this tone in the
subscribers' interests; and when both sides have recourse to the same
weapons, the standard is set and the general tone of journalism
taken for granted. When the evil is developed to its fullest extent,
restrictive laws will be followed by prohibitions; there will be a
return of the censorship of the press imposed after the assassination of
the Duc de Berri, and repealed since the opening of the Chambers. And do
you know what the nation will conclude from the debate? The people will
believe the insinuations of the Liberal press; they will think that
the Bourbons mean to attack the rights of property acquired by the
Revolution, and some fine day they w