JB/081/020/001

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1829. Sept.
Collectanea for Petitions for Justice

Morn. Chron. Sept. 26, 1829.
Extract.

[From the Paris Globe of Wednesday.]

Must any one be astonished that from one end of
France to the other a legal resistance is being organised, that associations
are forming to render it stronger and more efficacious,
and that subscriptions are opened for those who may
suffer for their refusal to pay the taxes? Our Ministers have been
poor creatures if they have not foreseen this. We speak not of those
men possessed of energy and devotion – of those who have given
proofs of their sentiments, and to whom any submission, any
hesitation even, would have been impossible. The Ministry
would fain have seen the supporters of liberty upon the first
signal, prostrate themselves at the feet of absolute power.
The defenders of our constitutional guarantees consecrated by
their example the abandonment of the most precious securities,
the enemies of despotism paving the way for the supporters of it,
the champions of popular rights drawing back from the fear of
a fine and the danger of a few vexatious measures. But there
is another class especially devoted to peace, from character & from taste. To this class liberty is something,
but order is much more; and this even decides upon resistance;
and thinks of refusing the impost. This is what appears to astonish
M. de Polignac, and to disconcert M. de Chabrol; and yet, what is
more natural? Men of the Ministry, that class knows you as
well as we do, and fears you a hundred times more. It knows
what you wish to do, & what you will do; it knows
whether France is disposed to allow you to carry
your designs into execution, and it knows that a
legal resistance can alone prevent another species
of resistance.

Thus there is no illusion – if they remain in power they will
accomplish their law. Before the revolution France had only the right of liberty – now she possesses
it in reality; and
to attempt to rob her of
it is to bury her in ruins,
and inundate her with
blood. This is what the friends
of order discover, and what
they fear; it is what encouraged
them, and⊞ ⊞ forces them to resort to
strange and unusual measures.
It would give them
pain, perhaps, to refuse to
pay the taxes; and to
resuscitate the revolution
would be still
more painful to them.
For fear of revolution,
then, they will refuse
the impost. Refuse
the impost! – that
word, of such fearful
import formerly, is
now properly appreciated
by everybody.
Why do they talk of the
violation of public
faith, of disorganised
services, of the compromise
of the general
security, and of the
risk to national independence?
It is the meditated
usurpation which would cause
all these things to take place; and
not the associations which would
tend to prevent them. Besides,
neither petitions nor gendarmes
can hold out against the refusal of
the impost; all words are lost and every
arm is blunted. The danger too small for
the merit, to be great. Hampden was a hero,
but his imitators will be only good and honest citizens.

Another blow must be struck. It is not patriotism
alone which is in question, but foresight – not duty, but
interest – not liberty, but peace. By one moment of
strength, France may be saved from long convulsions –
by

Identifier: | JB/081/020/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 81.
Date_1	1829-09	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	081	Main Headings	petition for justice
Folio number	020	Info in main headings field	collectanea for petitions for justice
Image	001	Titles	morn. chron. sept. 26, 1829 / extract
Category	collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	e1
Penner		Watermarks	b&m 1828
Marginals		Paper Producer	arthur moore; richard doane
Corrections	jeremy bentham	Paper Produced in Year	1828
Notes public		ID Number	25807
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