mist which
envelopes every combatant in party warfare, and which at a distance
changes or obscures the appearance of a man--Emile de Girardin is an
extraordinary thinker, an accurate writer, energetic, logical, skilful,
hearty; a journalist in whom, as in all great journalists, can be seen
the statesman. We owe to Emile de Girardin this great work of progress,
the cheap Press. Emile de Girardin has this great gift, a clearheaded
stubbornness. Emile de Girardin is a public watchman; his journal is his
sentry-box; he waits, he watches, he spies out, he enlightens, he lies
in wait, he cries "Who goes there?" at the slightest alarm, he fires
volleys with his pen. He is ready for every form of combat, a sentinel
to-day, a General to-morrow. Like all earnest minds he understands, he
sees, he recognizes, he handles, so to speak, the great and magnificent
identity embraced under these three words, "Revolution, Progress,
Liberty;" he wishes for the Revolution, but above all through Progress;
he wishes for progress, but solely through Liberty. One can, and
according to our opinion sometimes rightly, differ from him as to the
road to be taken, as to the attitude to be assumed, and the position to
be maintained, but no one can deny his courage, which he has proved in
every form, nor reject his object, which is the moral and physical
amelioration of the lot of all. Emile de Girardin is more Democratic
than Republican, more Socialist than Democratic; on the day when these
three ideas, Democracy, Republicanism, Socialism, that is to say, the
principle, the form, and the application, are balanced in his mind the
oscillations which still exist in him will cease. He has already Power,
he will have Stability.

In the course of this sitting, as we shall see, I did not always agree
with Emile de Girardin. All the more reason that I should record here
how greatly I appreciate the mind formed of light and of courage. Emile
de Girardin, whatever his failings may be, is one of those men who do
honor to the Press of to-day; he unites in the highest degree the
dexterity of the combatant with the serenity of the thinker.

I went up to him, and I asked him,--

"Have you any workmen of the _Presse_ still remaining?"

He answered me,--

"Our presses are under seal, and guarded by the _Gendarmerie Mobile_,
but I have five or six willing workmen, they can produce a few placards
with the brush."

"Well then," said I, "print our decrees and our Pr