verse, established in 1650 by the poet | writer of family stories, which no family Loret, so called because his pages related could be without in those days, and which what occurred; doing so, however, in a no family would tolerate in the present, pleasant and agreeable style. On the La Harpe, Mallet du Pau, and, among principle of ex pede Herculem, we will many other literary heroes, the great give our readers a specimen brick or two Chateaubriand, who in those days, we as an example of the pleasant and agree- presume, was only dreaming of his future able style. For instance, he writes: possible successes, and still more impossible failures. "Sa plume eût été vite usée which means, being translated into common small-bill dunning phrase, had he not had at his back the bank-stock book of a young and lovely princess, Mademoiselle de Longueville, who generously discounted the rhymes of her pensionary. In fact, the most noteworthy point of his verses the most noteworthy point of his verses is, that for fifteen long years he contrived to address fire-new prefaces, fresh from the mint, to his princess. This newspaper was originally meant to be exclusive to a degree, but that unlucky habit of printing led to so much of the contrefaçon Belge, that the author was compelled to take refuge in the press, his lucubrations having been hitherto written by hand, and distributed among the select circle to whom Mademoiselle de Longueville dispensed her literary favors. The success of the Gazette Burlesque was rapid and great, for we are assured: "Qu'elle avait passé le Bosphore, Et qu'on lui faisait de l'honneur A la porte du Grand Seigneur." In 1672 a new journal made its appearance, which was destined to have a great amount of popularity and a long life. It was called the Mercure Galant. This was a monthly periodical of three or four hundred pages, sold at three livres. From the first editor it passed into the hands of Lefèvre de Fontenay, who altered its title, and called it the Mercure de France, and it lived, after undergoing the most unexampled vicissitudes, which can only find their parallel in the history of our own penny press, until it attained its 667th number, in 1815. During the Revolution it had acquired a certain degree of importance, which it owed to its political editorialism. Among the contributors we may quote Marmontel, that celebrated VOL. XL.-NO. I. The first daily paper in Paris appeared only a few years prior to the Revolution, and was called the Journal de Paris. When, during the first pangs of revolution, heads were cut off with the celerity which at present typifies the clearance of an asparagus bed, newspapers, like mushrooms, grew up apace from the same congenial filth. The best which our French author gives is positively tedious, and we do not know where to begin or where to end. The gradual progress of revolutionary ideas is, however, gloriously typified in this Copia Gazettarum. At the outset, everybody is amical: we have friends of red; journals exemplifying every color of every possible shade excepting the bloodthe rainbow, and conducted by men of the same political chameleon hue; in fact, everything was in confusion, because nobody knew what they wanted, and it was not till the king had proved his weakness that the people found their courage. cenaries; he would not take warning by Louis Seize spared the blood of his merthe menacing aspects that surrounded him, and so paid the penalty. Le Deux Décembre had not, at that benighted period, been enrolled in the calendar of saints' days. Had it been so, the French press might have been in almost the same condition as it is now. What an apotheosis of intellectualism! As, however, Louis Seize possessed no phlegma, and was constitutionally weak, the opposition press soon gained a head; the illustrious Mirabeau the Elder set the ball a-rolling with his "Lettres à ses Commettants," which was the prolegomena of the Courrier de Provence. He was followed by a countless swarm, among others by the Révolu tions de Paris, with its motto, as bold as it became famous, "Les grands ne nous paraissent grands que parce que nous sommes à genoux. Levons-nous!" Liberty was speedily followed by libertinism, and hence arose the countless throng of papers, which began by disgusting Europe and ended by revolutionizing France. It is hardly possible to believe 5 the statements of our author, did we not know they are based on facts, when he described the frenzied throes which the French press experienced during the revolutionary era. Anybody who feels a morbid desire to be disgusted with the products of a revolution, would do well to study the French press as it appeared between the period of the royal murder and the appointment of the consuls. No better light could possibly be thrown on this period than can be found in the volumes of the daily and weekly papers appearing at that time. The language employed is only worthy of a revolutionary epoch in no other would it be tolerated; in fact, the press of the Revolution furnishes the sharpest weapons against its morality. Such an abnormal condition of things could only exist when a King Mob, far below the animal creation, was at the head of affairs, and the natural venom found an outlet in a variation between cutting off heads and sacking royalist houses. It is not surprising, however, that the press should have assumed such a tone as characterizes the papers of the Revolution; the faith in everything was done away with by the will of the sovereign people, and when the brute dominates, the press must unfortunately obey the impulse. The French Revolution, in truth, is condemned by the sins it has left behind it; and the accusations which the papers of that day bring up against the leaders of the popular movement, are sufficient evidence that France was, at the period to which we refer, suffering from an over-excitation of the nerves, which was nearly akin to lunacy. Still we may be allowed to quote, as an example not to be followed, the titles of a few of the multitudinous papers appearing in Paris at that stormy and nefast period. The Friends naturally come in for a large share of popular favor. Everybody appears to be the friend of everybody-republican, social, democratic, patriotic; in short, just imagine Proudhon ruling the roast in Paris, and you will have them, if you add that celebrated friend of universality, Cabet of Icaria, who wants to establish a Mormonism without the plurality of wives, and other luxuries of the same nature. The Enemies, however, come in for an equal share: we find the enemy of prejudices, aristocrats, conspirators, oppressors, tyrants-the anti-fanatic, the anti-terrorist, the anti-federalist, and many others-quæ nunc describere longum est, to use the old schoolboy quotation. But the greatest implement of the revolutionary party was the Père Duchéne, whose name has become proverbial with his grandes joies, and his grandes colères, his bons avis, and his grandes motions. Callot d'Herbois was the originator of this magnificent paper, and sold within six months a million of his sermons patriotiques at two sous, and realized more than 50,000 livres of profit. One of the most amusing papers which appeared during the revolutionary times was the Actes des Apôtres, the grandfather of that joyous family which gave the world Figaro, and which was followed by Le Corsaire, and Le Charivari. This paper, which was intended to ridicule the Revolution and its apostles, was tremendously successful. This may be easily imagined, if we call to mind the period when it was published, and that its principal writers were Peltier, Rivarol, Mirabeau, Champcenetz, Bergasse, &c., all famous fellows at working the pen, and full of good humor, slightly tempered by malice. Under the consuls, the French press soon underwent a revolution. The notion that Elat c'est moi was very speedily knocked out of them, and they were led to believe that the man and the hour had at length arrived. The first act of the Directory was to suppress a parcel of useless journals, which were doing no good either for themselves or the public. And yet, strange to say, it was under these ill auspices that the brothers Bertin attempted to start the Journal des Débats; and, what is still more wonderful, succeeded. In 1799, M. Bertin had purchased the title of the paper for the sum of 20,000 francs, and as soon as he had completed the bargain found himself done to a very considerable extent. He had merely a choice between impotence and impudence. He tried the latter, and succeeded. state of the newspaper press was very curious at the time when Bertin de Vaux interposed. Republicanism was impossible, and speaking what the Moniteur called truth, was equally absurd. He tried to steer a middle course, and the result was the Journal des Débats, such as it was under the Empire. This It was not by an exclusive attachment to politics, in the strict sense of the term, that Bertin succeeded; he devoted a portion of his paper to literature, and in that department managed to direct some very severe blows against the government of the sword. Geoffroy was the inventor of the feuilleton, and it was to his coädjutorship that the Débats owed the high intellectual influence it established at the outset, and has maintained until the present day. However, the Emperor and the editor soon came to loggerheads, and a compromise was eventually effected, by which the paper was re-christened the Journal de Empire, and had a very severe censorship exercised over it. A curious anecdote may be here quoted about Etienne, who was appointed censor: "Although Etienne was a very devoted partisan of the Empire, he would not sacrifice his convictions to it, and at times would even dare to resist his master. One day, Napoleon, in one of his excited moments against Austria, wrote an article qui cassait les vitres, and sent it to Etienne, with orders to have it inserted immediately in the Journal de l'Empire. Alarmed at the nature of the article, he rushed to the Duke de Bassano, who replied to his protesta tions with 'L'Empereur le veut.' The article was sent to press, but on reading the proof Etienne hesitated more than ever, and determined on deferring the publication. The next day the Emperor looked in vain for his article. The storm burst on the devoted head of Bassano, who in his turn rushed to the censor, and held him responsible for the consequences if the article did not appear the following day. Many other people would have yielded; but, courageous to the last, and considering the article unworthy of the hand that penned it, Etienne braved the Imperial wrath; and the article was withdrawn. The next day, the Duke of Bassano, after reading the Journal de Empire, approached Napoleon, trembling with fear. And my article? 'Sire, it has not appeared.' Who dares, then, to disobey my orders?" 'It is M. Etienne: he asserts that the article is not worthy of you, and refuses to print it." 'Ah! M. Etienne has dared- -! Then, after a moment of reflection, 'Well, he was quite right."" On the 1st of April, 1814, the Journal de l'Empire resumed its old name, which it threw off again in 1815, and finally restored at the second appearance of Louis XVIII. Then it turned most furiously against the Ogre de Corse, and against the men and acts of the Empire. It remained a steady supporter of monarchy until the day when M. Chateaubriand carried it over with him to the Opposition. It was one of the most determined assailants of the Polignac Ministry, and at last gave the first signal of revolt by its world famed cry, "Malheureux roi, malheureuse France !" The revolution of July only added to the power of the journal, and it received a semi-official character through the communications made exclusively to it by government. It is needless to pursue its history further; at present it is contained among the list of subsidized pers permitted to exist by the grace of the Emperor, and, we believe, affects an opposition character to order, to prove before the world that the liberty of the press still exists in France. It is a curious fact that the numerous family of canards owe their origin to a royal personage. The Souvenirs d'un Sexagénaire, written by the Academician Arnault, for many years secretary of the cabinet to Louis XVIII., tells us that the king amused himself by inventing fabulous stories, which he used to send to the Gazette de France. After his return from exile he became a very regular contributor to the Yellow Dwarf. M. Merle, the first editor of that paper, gives the following account in his "Trente Ans de Souvenirs Historiques," &c. "The idea of the Yellow Dwarf," he writes, "was to jeer at the ridiculous points in all parties, to brand all cowardice and desertion, to raise the glory of France in the presence of foreign bayonets, and laugh at the expense of exaggerated pretensions. these attacks we had for our ally Louis XVIII., who was one of our first subscribers, and soon sent us articles full of talent and malice, written in his own hand. These articles reached us by the 'iron mouth,' a box we had put up at our publisher's door; and by this route we received a quantity of very remarkable articles, which gave the Yellow Dwarf a great reputation for talent and malice, and rendered our part of the work very light and easy." We are glad to find that Louis XVIII. was of some use after all: we only regret that he did not confine his literary efforts to inventing canards, and had not tried his hand at the Charter. In Another paper also profited largely by the revolution of July: this was the Constitutionnel, which had at that period 23,000 subscribers at 80 francs. But this was too good to last. The ungrateful bourgeoisie deserted it, the cheap press hurt it, and it had sunk to 3000 subscribers when Dr. Véron, the père aux écus, undertook its cure. The Débats had just finished publishing the "Mystèries de C'est un peu fort. M. Troupenas was a very clever man, but after studying in vain how to make these lines stretch out into two each, he went to Hyères to recover his health, and died there without having been able to solve the problem. Various journals were established in Paris during the reign of Louis Philippe, on the same principle, but, unfortunately, they could not get subscribers. The reading population of France was divided among the already existing papers, and would not listen to the voice of the Paris;" two newspapers were contending for the purchase of Sue's new story, when Dr. Véron stopped it, and settled the bargain by giving 100,000 francs for the "Wandering Jew." By this clever scheme the Constitutionnel soon regained its old position, and its fourth advertising page was leased to a company at 300,000 francs a year. The Constitutionnel was always noted for its fidelity to Napoleon, and hence it was concluded that the election of the Prince President would add greatly to its prestige. But "varium et mutabile semper" is the motto of princes, and so the great Véron retired in disgust, and the Constitutionnel knew him no more. With the revolution of July a great charmer, charmed he never so sweetly. revolution took place in the newspaper Among these, the most pretentious was press of Paris; for in 1836 the Presse was the Epoque, which was intended to conestablished by Emile de Girardin, at 40 sist of ten single newspapers rolled into francs a year, and his example was imme- one. But an event was about shortly to diately followed by the Siècle. Their sucoccur which, brought about for the most cess was enormous; within three months part by the papers, has led to their presthe Presse had upwards of 10,000 subscrib-ent abject state. Ils sont punis par où ers, and soon reached 20,000. The Siècle was still more lucky, as it was favored by the attacks made on Girardin about the Carrel affair. Within a few years it attained the fabulous amount of 38,000 subscribers. The undoubted cause of this success was the publication of romances in the feuilleton. A very short story by Dumas, "Le Capitaine Paul," gained the Siècle 5000 subscribers in three months. But this success cost its weight in gold: the shortest feuilleton cost the Presse 300 francs. Dumas made a bargain with MM. de Girardon et Véron, which assured him 64,000 francs a year. He engaged to supply the Siècle with 100,000 lines a year, at the rate of one franc fifty centimes per line! Not satisfied with this, he sold the reprint to M. Troupenas, who calculated on making his money by cutting each line in two. But Dumas was too wide awake, and by the invention of Grimaud, the taciturn servant, he produced a species of dialogue whose conciseness Tacitus would have envied. Here is a specimen : "Eh bien? Rien. Rien ? Rien. Comment ? Rien, vous dis-je. ils avaient péché. The Republic was established, and the state of things it produced will be best seen from the following squib: "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE. "DÉCRET. "Au nom du Peuple Français: "Art. 1. Il n'y a plus rien. "Art. 2. Tout le monde est chargé de l'exécution du présent décret. "Fait sur les barricades, le 24 Février, 1848." It was a glorious time for every man who felt an inspiration to save his country by printing his views of social government. The revolution of February was wrong in principle at starting; it tried to ape the blessed institutions of the First Revolu tion, and hence the swarm of newspapers which were produced had not even the charm of novelty to make up for their want of sense. The first of the revolutionary organs was the République, founded on the 24th of February. At first devoted to the Provisional Government, it afterwards became the most ardent defender of Socialistic doctrines. It contrived to live until 1851, in spite of the numerous fines which it was compelled to pay. The ladies, too, stepped into the literary arena, and expressed their views in La République des Femmes. The Peuple Constituant was founded at the commencement of the Revolution, by the Abbé Lamennais. It endured till the 11th of July, when the caution imposed on the papers brought it to a sudden end. L'Ami du Peuple was established by F. V. Raspail, and lasted till the 15th of May, when the patriot was obliged to bid adieu to his country, and meditate on the results of revolution in a very uncomfortable cachot. The Représentant du Peuple in reality represented the peculiar views of the citizen Proudhon; that is to say, briefly, the destruction of property, the ruin of family life, and the negation of Divinity: "La propriété c'est le vol-Dieu c'est le mal-Travailler c'est produire de rien." The Représentant was suppressed in August, but reappeared in November, under the amended title of Le Peuple. The Peuple gave its last groan in La Voix du Peuple, which appeared from October 1, 1849, until March 16, 1850, when it succumbed to the pressure of fines. The first number contained a letter from Proudhon to his old collaborateurs, dated Sainte Pélagie, September 30, terminating as follows: "I will speak to you like the general to his soldiers,' If I advance follow me; if I retreat, kill me; if I die, avenge me!'" The Assemblee Nationale, founded on the 28th of February, by M. Adrien de Lavalette, was the first cry of protest against the revolution. Its success was rapid and great; suspended in the days of June, it reappeared on the 7th of August; but its fair days were passed; we might almost imagine that its mission was fulfilled. In 1851, it became the property of a committee, composed of the principal men who had held office under the late monarchy. It is impossible to do more than mention the names of the more important papers which enjoyed a temporary popularity; among them, the Opinion Publique, which lived till June, 1850; the Bien Public, started by Lamartine, at Maçon; the Pére Duchêne; La Montagne, L'Organisation du Travail; the Aimable Faubourien, owing its name to an expression made use of by Louis Philippe: "It is necessary to find a victorious resource to maintain in duty and submission the very turbulent population of Paris and its AIMABLES FAUBOURGS;" the Liberté, journal of ideas and facts, which was started in March. Among the liberties to be attained, the Liberté demands entire and complete liberty of thought, oral, manuscript, printed, or designed-no more duty on paper or tobacco-justice rendered by judges elected by the people-application of the jury to the police court-the whole National Guard can be chosen as jurymen suppression of taxation on articles of food, and its establishment on luxury-free and gratuitious instruction-the notaries named by the electors of their arrondissement, or canton, &c. The Liberté was very successful, and soon sold 100,000 copies a day. The invincible Dumas soon made his triumphal entry into its pages, announcing his adhesion in the following terms: "There are some people," he says, "who can only make their profession of faith for the future; I am happy in being able to make mine in the past." These two professions of faith, past and future, occupying two numbers, may be thus summed up; "Ego sum qui sum: I made the revolution of July; I made the revolution of February; I have written four hundred volumes; I will make all the revolutions that may be asked of me; I will write all the volumes desired: for I am who I am." The specimen of Dumas' political style, which our author maliciously quotes, is superb. Imagine Porthos giving his views of political economy, and they would correspond to Dumas' fanfarronades. On leaving La Liberté, which did not suffice for Dumas' ardent patriotism and ardent mind, he founded La France Nouvelle, then worked on the Patrie, and at length started Le Mousquetaire, edited by father and son. The Evénement was edited by Victor Hugo, and written by his family; the only événement it was intended to produce was that of Hugo's candidature for the presidency. However, as the fiasco would have been too certain, he was compelled to sustain the cause of Louis Napoleon, with a great deal of warmth if with little judg ment. Unfortunately, the Evénement was not appreciated by the many-headed, and it was on the point of dissolution, when Girardin gave it a helping hand. It changed its color and its form a third time, and became an evening journal, and rather Socialist. It found success in this direction, when, unfortunately, it was suspended for a month by the Court of Assizes. The next day it reäppeared under the title of L'Avénement du Peuple. All its policy was contained in a single letter. It lived on a precarious existence until the 2d of December. The history of the French press since |