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property, are allowed to be a republican, reformer, phalansterian, any
thing you wish; I, on the contrary, demanding distinctly enough a slight
reform in public economy, am foreordained a conservative, and likewise
a friend of the dynasty. I cannot explain myself more clearly. So firm
a believer am I in the philosophy of accomplished facts and the _statu
quo_ of governmental forms that, instead of destroying that which
exists and beginning over again the past, I prefer to render every thing
legitimate by correcting it. It is true that the corrections which I
propose, though respecting the form, tend to finally change the nature
of the things corrected. Who denies it? But it is precisely that which
constitutes my system of _statu quo_. I make no war upon symbols,
figures, or phantoms. I respect scarecrows, and bow before bugbears. I
ask, on the one hand, that property be left as it is, but that interest
on all kinds of capital be gradually lowered and finally abolished; on
the other hand, that the charter be maintained in its present shape, but
that method be introduced into administration and politics. That is all.
Nevertheless, submitting to all that is, though not satisfied with it, I
endeavor to conform to the established order, and to render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar's. Is it thought, for instance, that I love
property?... Very well; I am myself a proprietor and do homage to the
right of increase, as is proved by the fact that I have creditors to
whom I faithfully pay, every year, a large amount of interest. The same
with politics. Since we are a monarchy, I would cry, "LONG LIVE THE
KING," rather than suffer death; which does not prevent me, however,
from demanding that the irremovable, inviolable, and hereditary
representative of the nation shall act with the proletaires against the
privileged classes; in a word, that the king shall become the leader of
the radical party. Thereby we proletaires would gain every thing; and I
am sure that, at this price, Louis Philippe might secure to his family
the perpetual presidency of the republic. And this is why I think so.

If there existed in France but one great functional inequality, the duty
of the functionary being, from one end of the year to the other, to hold
full court of savants, artists, soldiers, deputies, inspectors, &c.,
it is evident that the expenses of the presidency then would be the
national expenses; and that, through the reversion of the ci