After two days of needful rest Jasmin set out for Bordeaux,the city whose inhabitants had first encouraged him by their applause,and for which he continued to entertain a cordial feeling to the last days of his life.His mission on this occasion was to assist in the inauguration of a creche,founded and supported by the charitable contributions of the friends of poor children.It is not necessary to mention the enthusiasm with which he was received.
The further progress of the poet and the priest,in search of contributions for rebuilding the church,was rudely interrupted by the Revolution which broke out at Paris in 1848.His Majesty Louis Philippe abdicated the throne of France on the 24th of February,rather than come into armed collision with his subjects;and,two days after,the Republic was officially proclaimed at the Hotel de Ville.Louis Philippe and his family took refuge in England--the usual retreat of persecuted Frenchmen;and nine months later,Louis Napoleon Buonaparte,who had also been a refugee in England,returned to France,and on the 20th of December was proclaimed President of the French Republic.
Jasmin and Masson accordingly suspended their tour.No one would listen to poetical recitations in the midst of political revolutions.Freedom and tranquillity were necessary for the contemplation of ideas very different from local and national squabbles.The poet and priest accordingly bade adieu to each other;and it was not until two years later that they were able to recommence their united journeys through the South of France.
The proclamation of the Republic,and the forth coming elections,brought many new men to the front.Even poets made their appearance.Lamartine,who had been a deputy,was a leader in the Revolution,and for a time was minister for foreign affairs.
Victor Hugo,a still greater poet,took a special interest in the politics of the time,though he was fined and imprisoned for condemning capital punishment.Even Reboul,the poet-baker of Nimes,deserted his muse and his kneading trough to solicit the suffrages of his fellow-citizens.Jasmin was wiser.
He was more popular in his neighbourhood than Reboul,though he cared little about politics.He would neither be a deputy,nor a municipal councillor,nor an agent for elections.
He preferred to influence his country by spreading the seeds of domestic and social virtues;and he was satisfied with his position in Agen as poet and hair-dresser.
Nevertheless a deputation of his townsmen waited upon Jasmin to request him to allow his name to appear as a candidate for their suffrages.The delegates did not find him at his shop.
He was at his vineyard;and there the deputation found him tranquilly seated under a cherry-tree shelling peas!He listened to them with his usual courtesy,and when one of the committee pressed him for an answer,and wished to know if he was not a good Republican,he said,"Really,I care nothing for the Republic.I am one of those who would have saved the constitutional monarchy by enabling it to carry out further reforms.But,"he continued,"look to the past;was it not a loss to destroy the constitutional monarchy?But now we must march forward,that we may all be united again under the same flag.The welfare of France should reign in all our thoughts and evoke our most ardent sympathy.Choose among our citizens a strong and wise man.If the Republic is to live in France,it must be great,strong,and good for all classes of the people.
Maintaining the predominance of the law will be its security;and in preserving law it will strengthen our liberties.'"In conclusion,Jasmin cordially thanked his fellow-citizens for the honour they proposed to confer upon him,although he could not accept it.The affairs of the State,he said,were in a very confused condition,and he could not pretend to unravel them.
He then took leave of the deputation,and quietly proceeded to complete his task--the shelling of his peas!
Footnotes for Chapter XVI.
[1]The whole of the interview between the Archbishop of Rheims and Jasmin is given by Sainte-Beuve in 'Causeries du Lundi,'iv.250.