marriage. He was now fifty-six, and appears for the firs time in his life to have experienced the tender passion for his laideron of a first wife, whatever her merits, ca hardly have inspired it. The second Duchess of Otrant was Mlle Gabrielle de Castellane, a daughter of one the most ancient and honourable houses of Provence She was young-twenty-six-beautiful and charmingh clever; and she fell under the spell which Fouché, no: withstanding his unprepossessing exterior, unquestionabi exercised over women.† She was for the rest of his life his faithful and devoted companion. The wedding wa celebrated with much pomp, the King himself-it wa held a great honour-signing the marriage contract.

This took place on August 1. Ten days afterward Fouché was elected to the new Chamber for three con stituencies. He was now at the apogee of his career And what a career, if we look back on it! A devou Oratorian, a violent apostle of Atheism, a bitter persecutor of those whose faith he had professed and shared, a profaner of churches, and steeped in all kinds of sacrilege a missionary of Communism, a murderer not only of his Sovereign but of thousands of guiltless people, a multimillionaire by means of secret speculations and scarcely avowable profits, the creature of Barras and Sieyes, one of whom he betrayed on the eve and the other on the morrow of Brumaire, a Napoleonic Minister and Duke and a traitor to the Emperor; and now Secretary of State to the Most Christian King, the hope, the great resource of capitalists, the friend of dignified ecclesiastics, the favoured guest at aristocratic houses, and the husband of a lady of great personal charms belonging to one of the noblest of them. Apostate, regicide, homicide, traitor, he might well have questioned the exist ence of justice in the world's affairs; he might well have regarded himself as an exception to the rule that retribu

Mlle de Castellane' (writes the Baron Despatys), 'l'avait séduit par sa grâce, son charme et sa distinction; elle était pauvre mais jolie, remplie d'esprit, d'une grande vertu, estimée et adulée de tous ceux qui l'approch aient' ('Un Ami de Fouché,' p. 426). And he observes, quite justly, regarding some malicious reports spread concerning her in 1818 (as to which see Madelin, ii, 519), ce ne furent là que des bruits sans fondement (ib. p. 12).

†M. Bardoux remarks ('Madame de Custine,' p. 255), Il était fort épris de sa beauté, et elle fort éprise de son esprit.'

tion, however halting her foot, does overtake crime. But at last the sword suspended for so long over his impious neck, and ever dreaded by him, was about to fall. The elections of August 1815, which had returned him for three constituencies, had returned also a vast majority of ultra-loyalists who were bent upon his overthrow. The Chamber was too violent in its hatred and its fanaticism to tolerate a regicide Minister; and two of Fouché's colleagues, Talleyrand and Pasquier, who, though not regicides, were regarded by the ultras as little less abominable, were only too glad to make him a scapegoat. He defended himself with his accustomed energy and astuteness, but without success. The Duke of Wellington† interposed in vain on his behalf with Louis XVIII. The most influential members of the Chamber protested against the presence on the ministerial bench of this wretch loaded with crime and shame.' A more powerful adversary still was Louis XVI's daughter, the Duchess of Angoulême-'the only man of her family,' Napoleon called her-who emphatically declared that she would not receive this murderer of her father, notwithstanding that he was a Minister of the King. Louis XVIII, in spite of vast obligations to Fouché, bowed before the storm. Talleyrand, the President of the Council, resolved on sacrificing him; and the rest of the Ministry cheerfully consented. On September 15, a Royal Ordinance was published appointing him ambassador at Dresden. It

6

* Curiously enough, this result was due to a want of prevision curious in so cautious a man. French elections were largely determined then, as they are now, by the wire-pulling of the party in power. It is not open to doubt that Fouché, if he had used the means at his command 'pour faire la Chambre,' as the phrase is, might have secured the return of a very different assembly. But he did not use them. Why? 'Cherchez-moi la femme.' He was enamoured of a singularly attractive young lady and was occupied with the arrangements for his approaching marriage with her. But Talleyrand, the head of the Ministry? He also left the elections uncontrolled, and for a similar reason. So Fouché transfers the blame to l'incurie nonchalante du président du conseil, qui se berçait d'illusions sensuelles' ('Mémoires,' ii, 383), the object of these amorous imaginings being his niece by marriage, the Duchesse de Dino, whose relations with him,' to use a French phrase, date from that time.

+ Fouché tells us in his 'Memoirs' that the origin of the Duke's interest in him was dans l'empressement que je mis, lors de mon second ministère, à faire cesser la captivité d'un membre de cette famille honorable détenu en France par suite des mesures rigoureuses qu'avait ordonnées Napoléon' (Memoirs,' ii, 324). But there can be no doubt that the Duke, apart from this, entertained the highest estimate of Fouché's political sagacity.

was an expatriation. The law of amnesty (oddly so called), passed shortly afterwards, changed it into exile Fouché ceased to be ambassador. He was civilly dead. The catastrophe was as sudden as it was complete. One thinks of the words of the Psalmist: 'I myself also have seen the ungodly in great power and flourishing like a green bay-tree: I went by, and lo, he was gone: I sough him, but his place could nowhere be found.'

No: his place could nowhere be found. For the remaining five years of his life, Fouché was a wandere: in the Austrian Empire, occupied in futile schemes for returning to France and to public life there. The devotion of his young and charming wife, his daily intercourse with his children, whom he tenderly loved -he was ever a man of strong family affections-the various resources which his immense fortune placed & his command, were unable adequately to console him He was tormented by what M. Madelin calls 'le prurit de pouvoir.' In 1820 he died at Trieste, where for some time he had resided, having received, it is said, the las sacraments of the Catholic Church.

And now, what is the key to his career? I think we may find it in Pope's doctrine of the Ruling Passion Fouché's Ruling Passion unquestionably was the lust of power. It was a passion which completely dominated him, altogether atrophying his moral sense. Not naturally cruel, this passion renders him quite callou to all considerations of humanity; men are 'impotent pieces in the game he plays.' Not naturally avaricious he heaps up riches by questionable means; for he wel knows that they are a mighty engine to serve this passion In comparison with it, truth, honour, loyalty are to him as the small dust of the balance. Unfettered by the sens of crime, to whom a conscience never wakes,' we mus say of this greatest Statesman of the Revolutionary epoch And, it may be added, we must say the same of Napoleor its greatest General.

W. S. LILLY.

Art. 12.—THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

ON November 5 the United States will see the end of one of the most remarkable political campaigns in its history. As the voters cast their ballots, they will decide a contest sensational in its incidents and its defiance of tradition, and spectacular in the personality and tactics of one of its central figures. But they will also pass judgment on far greater issues than the rivalry of parties or the aims of private ambition; they will determine questions that go to the very heart of the commonwealth and affect the future of democracy itself. For a new force has arisen in American public life, and a new determination to secure for the people at large the benefits promised to their forefathers as they went to that new land, which in some way or other have been slipping from their grasp; and the feeling is widespread that the government which should protect the ordinary citizen is used against him, and that his lot is becoming harder day by day. A new party has, consequently, appeared, which in desperation has trampled down the old political divisions, cast aside the corrupt party machinery and advocated the most radical remedies. It may not succeed, it is true; it may, indeed, as many judicious observers believe, be running after strange gods; but what it is doing now will leave an indelible mark on American history, and may, for good or evil, influence the course of popular government throughout the world.

The deep-seated sense of grievance has called into activity a class of men and women who for years have taken no prominent part in politics; and the zeal that is in these reformers may save the movement in the end, in spite of a multitude of errors. Even their choice of a leader may not altogether ruin their prospects, though many who have admired him in the past cannot reconcile his record or his temperament with the part he has now elected to play. Theodore Roosevelt, twice President of the United States, has availed himself of the feeling of unrest to run again for office, and has not hesitated to hold up to scorn his friend and successor, and every one of his old colleagues who has not been able to follow him.

He has seized upon the Progressive movement as giving wings to his ambition, and has used his marvellous popu larity and great political astuteness to further its aims: yet his sincerity is not above suspicion, and his identifica tion with Progressive ideals is not complete. For the moment, however, he has added greatly to the prospects of the new party. Had he been seeking re-election as an ordinary Republican, he would have encountered the crushing defeat always heretofore awaiting an aspirant for a third term at the White House; had the Progressive movement nominated a ticket under Senator La Follette or any other leader, it would have been as negligible a factor as any of the former third parties. It is the union of Mr Roosevelt's personality with the widespread feeling of discontent that has given the new venture its great significance. From this has resulted the unprecedented uprising that first showed its character at the National Convention of the Progressive party at Chicago, and that to-day makes political experts, though they cannot be lieve that the ex-President will attain his hopes, watch the progress of his campaign with the closest interest.

The Chicago gathering was a most remarkable one. Hardened political journalists, who came to scoff, remained to praise. They began by ridiculing the women and the ex-officials who formed so large a proportion of the delegates; but, as they followed their proceedings and watched their demeanour, as they heard them join in the Battle Hymn of the Republic and saw them parade to 'Onward, Christian Soldiers,' they recognised that a new force had manifested itself in political life, with which the old leaders would have to reckon. They doubted if Mr Roosevelt himself understood it or realised the crusading fervour he had aroused, but they felt that the delegates had accepted their leader's phrase in its full meaning and really believed they were marshalled at the battle of Armageddon and were fighting for the Lord With his knack of creating a happy phrase, Mr Roosevelt has summed up the issue that produced this burst of enthusiasm in the question, 'Shall the people rule?' To expand this phrase-Shall the average man regain such a control of the government that corrupt business men allied with corrupt bosses will no longer manipulate the legislation and the administration of the country, and