died
was that a reason why all the effects, all the papers--note that,
Monsieur--all the papers of M. Richaud, the papers to prove that
corruption exists there in Tonkin, should be thrown overboard, all
thrown into the sea? Yes! and on what pretext? To save the rest of the
ship from the cholera! Is it transparent, that? No! we must have
Boulanger!'

'The light must be let in; we must have the light!'

'Were there many people of Figaro's mind in Laon and in the Department?'

'If there are many? You will see, Monsieur; here in the Aisne we shall
elect the greatest friend of General Boulanger. Monsieur does not know
him? M. Castelin--Andre Castelin. Ah! he is strong, Castelin! He was in
Africa with General Boulanger. He was there with the General when he put
his hand on that governor of Tunis, that Cambon, the brother, Monsieur
knows, of that Cambon who was a deputy? Castelin saw the General at work
in Tunis. He is with him, he will be with him in the new Chamber. We
shall elect Castelin, and then--you will see!'

My notes of Figaro's very clear and positive talk in the summer are not
without interest to me now when I revise them in the autumn. For Figaro
prophesied truly, and the Department of the Aisne certainly did elect
M. Andre Castelin to be one of its Deputies at Paris.

Another worthy citizen of Laon with whom I talked in his shop, a
shoemaker, while much less confident than Figaro as to the results of
the elections, was quite as positive in his hostility to the Government.
It is the tendency of shoemakers all over the world, within my
observations, to be extreme Radicals. The shoemakers of Lynn in
Massachusetts long ago were the advanced guard, I remember, of the
Abolitionists. They were the strength of the 'Old Org.--' the 'old
organisation'--enemies of slavery, as slavery, without compromise or
hesitation. Every man of them was as ready as the Simple Cobbler of
Agawam to tackle any problem, terrestrial or celestial, at a moment's
notice. It was idle to cite _ne sutor_ to them in matters of art or of
politics, of science or of theology. My shoemaker of Laon was less of a
fanatic, but not less of a philosopher, than his brethren of Lynn. He
was opposed to the Republic, but he was equally opposed to the monarchy.
He had his idea; it was that government must be abolished, and the
affairs of the country carried on by committees of experts. He liked the
law authorising professional syndicates; there he thought w