Juliette and her friends at Mme. Fauvety’s were all ardent _abstentionistes_. They were disgusted when, in June 1857, the first so-called republican, Émile Ollivier, took the oath, on his election to the Corps Legislatif. Ollivier’s betrayal of the republican cause, they regarded as all the more inexcusable because his father, one of the stalwarts of 1848, was then in exile through his loyalty to the principles his son had sacrificed. But Ollivier and many others, who speedily followed his example, had on their side no less a democrat than Proudhon. That unflinching advocate of the people’s cause maintained that to take the oath to the Emperor was merely to recognise the people’s sovereignty embodied in the chief of the State. Such an argument did not raise Proudhon in the esteem of so uncompromising a person as Juliette. FOOTNOTES: [26] Léon Daudet, _L’Entre-Deux-Guerres_, 235 (1915). [27] _Souvenirs_, I. 353. [28] _Souvenirs_, II. 13. [29] _Souvenirs_, I. 214. [30] _Ibid._, 16. [31] _Souvenirs_, II. 25. [32] _Souvenirs_, II. 26. [33] _Souvenirs_, II. 30. [34] Taine, born in 1828, was then twenty-nine. [35] _Souvenirs_, II. 39. CHAPTER V HER FIRST BOOK 1858 “_L’œuvre de Mme. Juliette Lambert n’est que l’hymne triomphante des sentiments humains les plus nobles et les plus joyeux._”—Jules Lemaître. Born and bred in an atmosphere of controversy, inheriting from her grandmother and father an argumentative disposition, it is not surprising that in the field of polemics Juliette won her first literary laurels. Neither was it inconsistent with her ambitious nature that she should have chosen for adversary the most distinguished controversialist of the day. The socialist Proudhon was regarded not only as an eminent economist but as a master of dialectics. Proudhon’s masterpiece appeared on the 22nd of April, 1858. It was a work in three volumes, entitled _La Justice dans la Révolution et dans l’Eglise_. Announced in 1854, this book had been eagerly awaited by philosophic readers, among whom was Juliette’s father. Dr. Lambert wrote to his daughter that she must buy _La Justice_ at once, and that, as she finished each volume, she must send it down to him at Chauny. It was well that Juliette carried out her father’s recommendation, for in a few days the book was suppressed[36] and its author, who had fled to Belgium, condemned to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 4000 francs.