the social movement, so far from losing ground by its political
defeat, had, on the contrary, gained in energy and expansion. I
based my opinion upon the experience I had had during my last
visit to Paris, when I had attended, among other things, a
political meeting of the so-called social democratic party. Their
general behaviour made a great impression upon me; the meeting
took place in a temporary hall called Salle de la Fraternite in
the Faubourg St. Denis; six thousand men were present, and their
conduct, far from being noisy and tumultuous, filled me with a
sense of the concentrated energy and hope of this new party. The
speeches of the principal orators of the extreme left of the
Assemblee Nationale astonished me by their oratorical flights as
well as by their evident confidence in the future. As this
extreme party was gradually strengthening itself against
everything that was being done by the reactionary party then in
power, and all the old liberals had joined these social democrats
publicly and had adopted their electioneering programme, it was
easy to see that in Paris, at all events, they would have a
decided majority at the impending elections for the year 1852,
and especially in the nomination of the President of the
Republic. My own opinions about this were shared by the whole of
France, and it seemed that the year 1852 was destined to witness
a very important reaction which was naturally dreaded by the
other party, who looked forward with great apprehension to the
approaching catastrophe. The condition of the other European
states, who suppressed every laudable impulse with brutal
stupidity, convinced me that elsewhere too this state of affairs
would not continue long, and every one seemed to look forward
with great expectations to the decision of the following year.