By his order _le Moniteur_ published an article in praise of the 35th.
This was nothing: from the point of view of the Government the 35 th
had merely done its duty. But, simultaneously with these praises,
which had been allowed to pass, the article added that the military
had only resisted aggression: that many were already wounded when they
charged, whilst, on the contrary, the injuries of the agitators had
been exaggerated. These inaccuracies were common knowledge; but one
knows that the Government of King Louis-Philippe did not shrink from
that sort of thing. MM. Duboys-Aymé and Félix Réal, deputies of the
arrondissement of Grenoble, wrote to _le Moniteur_ to give the real
facts of the case. _Le Moniteur_ refused to put in their letters.
In the sitting of 20 March, M. Duboys-Aymé asked leave to speak,
mounted the rostrum and questioned the minister upon the subject of
the occurrences at Grenoble. Garnier-Pagès, an advanced leader of the
Republican party in the Chamber, supported him.
"How can the Government bestow blame or praise without previous
inquiry? How can it be satisfied from the préfet's report that the
préfet did right; from the report of the military commandant how
decide that the armed-force acted rightly; from the report of the
procureur-général how be satisfied to extol the procureur-général?"
"I," the orator said, "do not judge harshly like that. Although I may
say that the correspondence and the two newspapers of Grenoble--papers
of absolutely opposite opinions--relate the facts in the same way;
although we have a thousand proofs to one that the rioters were not
summoned to disperse by the town authorities, I should but speak
hypothetically, and I say: _If those orders were not carried out, still
the citizens were killed!"_
At these final words the Centres took up the dubious phrase and turned
it into the affirmative; they shouted loudly, so that the speaker could
not go on.
M. Dupin ascended the rostrum; the Centres quietened down. They knew
that, under any circumstances, M. Dupin was the King's advocate, both
in the law-courts and in the tribune.
Here is a specimen of the speech of the deputy for la Nièvre--
"How can you expect a government to progress," asked
M. Dupin, "when at the very heart of the national
representation itself--a microcosm of the population, among
the trustees of its power--the first movement is not in
favour of the authorities and the instruments of law, and
the first impulse is to put authority in the wrong and
reason to flight? It is said that the Riot Act was not read;
but when should it be read? When public gatherings become
disquieting by their outcries and by their presence, but
not when a violent aggression displays itself by methods of
action and open attacks."
At these words the president of the Council rose; though pale, he had
a fiery and energetic soul in his sickly, debilitated body, and he
exclaimed--
"That is the question; speak!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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