I could not give it. "It does not much
signify," he answered, "for as I see M. de Tocqueville every day, I will
talk to him about it myself." At that very time, the _ordonnance_
dismissing M. de Tocqueville had been signed, and Louis Napoleon knew
that he would probably never see him again.'
'I do not,' said Ampere, 'give up the chance of a republic. I do not wish
for one. It must be a very bad constitutional monarchy which I should not
prefer to the best republic. My democratic illusions are gone. France and
America have dispelled them: but it must be a very bad republic which I
should not prefer to the best despotism. A republic is like a fever,
violent and frightful, but not necessarily productive of organic
mischief. A despotism is a consumption: it degrades and weakens, and
perverts all the vital functions.
'What is there now in France worth living for? I find people proud of our
Italian campaign. Why should the French be proud that their master's
soldiers have been successful in a war as to which they were not
consulted; which, in fact, they disapproved, which was not made for their
benefit, which was the most glaring proof of their servility and
degradation? We knew before that our troops were better than the
Austrians.
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