As the Charter Faction movement was fiercely undergoing its final "struggles," in the French Republic, separated from the Kingdom of Britain by a mere channel, preparations for impending upheaval were also underway.
The February Revolution ignited all of France and spread the flames of revolution through Lyon and Strasbourg to the Italian Region and the German Region. The Republic could not repeat the mistakes of 1793; the fervor of revolution had to be ended.
Everything was for France!
Stopping the revolution and preserving the fruits of the Republic became the foremost priority in Lamartine’s mind; he had always been striving for this goal.
[Lamartine, a Girondist politician in Marx’s words, became the interim head of government at the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Second Republic and simultaneously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from February 24 to May 11, 1848.]
However, the gap between ideals and reality is always present; once the Pandora’s box of revolution is opened, closing it again becomes exceedingly difficult.
Especially in such circumstances.
With the collapse of the July Monarchy, the previously "united" proletariat and industrial bourgeoisie quickly parted ways.
These originally secondary conflicting classes, united due to political imbalance under the July Monarchy, found their secondary conflict becoming primary with the disappearance of the primary contradiction.
With the intensifying class conflict, workers began to band together spontaneously to smash machines and strike. The capitalists who gained benefits from the revolution retaliated by organizing people to beat workers attempting to dismantle machines and rallied under the Order Party and Conservative Republican Party in the National Assembly, pushing for the dissolution of state factory legal provisions.
The conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie made the already unstable Paris all the more apprehensive, increasing the burden Lamartine felt on his shoulders.
Thinking of this, Lamartine, standing at the window of his apartment’s study on Saint Honoré Street, couldn’t help but frown.
A prideful nation could probably only be controlled by Emperor Napoleon!
Lamartine’s mind conjured up a "blasphemous" thought.
Realizing this, Lamartine shook his head and mocked, "So even I can entertain such thoughts!"
With that, he turned to sit back at his desk, reviewing newspapers like the National Newspaper, the Republican Newspaper, the Reform Daily, and several others.
Since the February Revolution lifted publishing censorship, newspapers in France, especially in the Seine Province (Paris), had proliferated like wild mushrooms after rain. There were papers from worker parties, Republican papers, and even those established by the Royalist Party, deeply influencing the entire Seine Province’s public opinion.
As the Republic’s temporary head, Lamartine had to review the newspaper contents one by one.
Understanding the public opinion trend across Paris through newspapers was Lamartine’s daily "compulsory course."
While browsing, Lamartine stumbled upon an interesting article in the Constitutionalist Newspaper.
[The "Constitutionalist Newspaper" is a newspaper of the French bourgeoisie, published daily in Paris from 1815 to 1870. In the 1840s, it was the organ of the moderate faction of the Orléans Faction, reflecting the counter-revolutionary bourgeois views headed by Thiers during the 1848–1849 revolutionary period. It became a Bonapartist paper after the coup of December 1851.]
"From Bonaparte to Bonaparte?" Lamartine read the article’s title aloud, the image of the man with an Italian accent, claiming to be Napoleon’s successor, once again surfacing in his mind.
After the February Revolution, he had met that guy once; he wondered how he was doing now in the United Kingdom.
["Met once" refers to post-February Revolution when Napoleon III entered Paris supporting the revolution and the Republic, but Lamartine’s government expelled him from the French Republic, citing him as a war criminal.]
Lamartine continued to read the following content, his expression growing more solemn.
The universal suffrage law, responsible government, and equality for all - each topic pricked at Lamartine’s nerves like a devil.
Although Lamartine, who retained romanticism, subconsciously agreed with some of the article’s points, he feared that the piece could plunge the already polarized France into a greater turmoil.
If possible, he truly wished to command the article’s complete ban.
Unfortunately, the hastily established Second Republic did not grant him such authority.
Lamartine continued perusing the content of the remaining newspapers, with about half of the dozen or so papers having reprinted the article.
Lamartine suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation; newspaper opinions could influence the direction of the people in Seine Province.
The article’s purpose probably wasn’t simple commendation. What exactly were the masterminds behind it aiming for?
"Knock, knock, knock."
A brief knocking sound pulled Lamartine from his consciousness realm back to reality.
Realizing this, Lamartine quickly said, "Come in!"
A slightly plump middle-aged man’s worried expression pushed open the door and entered. "Mr. Lamartine, on the street... on the street..."
The man’s anxious look made Lamartine’s heart skip a beat; he desperately hoped the news from Shangbo wasn’t bad: "Calm down and tell me what exactly is happening on the street! Shangbo."
The man named Shangbo, upon hearing Lamartine’s stern words, calmed down as if finding a backbone, "Sir, when passing through Concorde Square, I saw many protesters with banners!"
[Victor Champs de La Blaire became Lamartine’s secretary in 1833, accompanying him on his second Oriental trip, but died in Malt in 1850.]
"How many exactly!" Lamartine sternly asked his secretary before him.
"About close to a thousand! I’m not too sure of the exact number!" Shangbo responded to Lamartine.
"Only a thousand!" Lamartine mumbled softly, letting out a sigh of relief inwardly.
A demonstration of a thousand people was still within Lamartine’s control, as long as it was nothing like the February Revolution.
"What slogans are they marching under? Maintain state factories? Ensure workers’ wages?" Lamartine continued to inquire.
"No..." Shangbo shook his head in response: "Neither. Their slogans are ’Long live Napoleon!’ ’We want Bonaparte!’ and also..."
Looking at Lamartine, Shangbo hesitatingly said, "And overthrow the Republic!"
"These Bonapartist elements!" Lamartine gritted his teeth and uttered a phrase.
"Mr. Lamartine, I heard that not only the demonstrators but even the army is shouting ’Long live Napoleon’!" Shangbo then exploded another piece of news in Lamartine’s face.