, named
Minister of Foreign Affairs in the ending of 1848, or the beginning of
1849. M. Bastide, then a _marchand de bois_, divided his editorial
empire with M. Armand Marrast, who had been a political prisoner and a
refugee in England, and who returned to France on the amnesty granted on
the marriage of the Duke of Orleans. M. Marrast, though a disagreeable,
self-sufficient, and underbred person, was unquestionably a writer of
point, brilliancy, and vigor. From 1837 to the Revolution of 1848 he was
connected with the _National_, and was the author of a series of
articles which have not been equalled since. Like all low, vulgar-bred,
and reptile-minded persons, Marrast forgot himself completely when
raised to the position of President of the Chamber of Deputies. In this
position he made irreconcileable enemies of all his old colleagues, and
of most persons who came into contact with him. The fact is, that your
schoolmaster and pedagogue can rarely become a gentleman, or any thing
like a gentleman. The writers in the _National_ at the present moment
are, M. Leopold Duras, M. Alexandre Rey, Caylus, Cochut, Forques,
Littre, Paul de Musset, Colonel Charras, and several others whose names
it is not necessary to mention here.

THE SIECLE.

We come now to the _Siecle_, a journal which, though only established in
1836, has, we believe, a greater sale than any journal in Paris--at
least, had a greater sale previous to the Revolution of February 1848.
The _Siecle_ was the first journal that started at the low price of 40
francs a-year, when almost every other newspaper was purchased at a cost
of 70 or 80 francs. It should also be recollected, that it was published
under the auspices of the deputies of the constitutional opposition. The
_Siecle_ was said, in 1846, to have had 42,000 subscribers. Its then
editor was M. Chambolle, who abandoned the concern in February or March
1849, not being able to agree with M. Louis Perree, the _directeur_ of
the journal. Since Chambolle left a journal which he had conducted for
thirteen years, M. Perree has died in the flower of his age, mourned by
those connected with the paper, and regretted by the public at large.
Previous to the Revolution of 1848, Odillon Barrot and Gustave de
Beaumont took great interest and an active part in the management of the
_Siecle_. That positive, dogmatical, self-opinioned, and indifferent
newspaper writer, Leon Faucher, was then one of the principal
contribu