opinion that a republic is, either in the abstract the best
form of government, or is, under ordinary circumstances, the form of
government best suited to the French people. Our own opinion is, that
the best governments which have ever existed in the world have been
limited monarchies; and that France, in particular, has never enjoyed so
much prosperity and freedom as under a limited monarchy. Nevertheless,
we approve of the vote of the Convention which abolished kingly
government. The interference of foreign powers had brought on a crisis
which made extraordinary measures necessary. Hereditary monarchy may be,
and we believe that it is, a very useful institution in a country like
France. And masts are very useful parts of a ship. But, if the ship is
on her beam ends, it may be necessary to cut the masts away. When once
she has righted, she may come safe into port under jury rigging, and
there be completely repaired. But, in the meantime, she must be hacked
with unsparing hand, lest that which, under ordinary circumstances, is
an essential part of her fabric, should, in her extreme distress, sink
her to the bottom. Even so there are political emergencies in which it
is necessary that governments should be mutilated of their fair
proportions for a time, lest they be cast away forever; and with such an
emergency the Convention had to deal. The first object of a good
Frenchman should have been to save France from the fate of Poland. The
first requisite of a government was entire devotion to the national
cause. That requisite was wanting in Louis; and such a want, at such a
moment, could not be supplied by any public or private virtues. If the
King were set aside the abolition of kingship necessarily followed. In
the state in which the public mind then was, it would have been idle to
think of doing what our ancestors did in 1688, and what the French
Chamber of Deputies did in 1830. Such an attempt would have failed
amidst universal derision and execration. It would have disgusted all
zealous men of all opinions; and there were then few men who were not
zealous. Parties fatigued by long conflict, and instructed by the severe
discipline of that school in which alone mankind will learn, are
disposed to listen to the voice of a mediator. But when they are in
their first heady youth, devoid of experience, fresh for exertion,
flushed with hope, burning with animosity, they agree only in spurning
out of their way the daysman who st