Proudhon - A Biography

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
August he published an article defending his paper in general
and the suppressed items in particular; in answer, the government
finally suppressed Le Reprisentant du Peuple altogether. Proudhon
called personally on Cavaignac; the general accused him o f being
‘at odds with the country,’ and said that to maintain order was
impossible while papers like his existed. ‘I know you well,’ he
added. ‘From the point of view of principles, you are inflexible.
If I lifted the suspension, you would be worse than ever.’
According to his own lights, Cavaignac was correct.
Total suppression was an eventuality which Proudhon and
his friends had anticipated, and they immediately made plans to
start a new paper, Le Peuple. On the 2nd September Proudhon
told the Besan$on lawyer, Abram (an old school-friend),’ that
‘the best future is assured us,’ and suggested that a little outlay
on propaganda would result in a circulation o f 50,000. But,
although three isolated issues of Le Peuple appeared, undated so
as to avoid the laws relating to periodicals, there was a long delay
in collecting the bond now needed for regular publication.
Eventually, after Proudhon had put into the fund 3,000 francs
from the sale of his books, and a young Breton nobleman,
Baron Charles de Janze, had provided 6,000 francs out o f admira­
tion for Proudhon, the paper was able to appear in the middle
of November. By the time the bond was paid the coffers were
empty, for the 100,000 francs in capital which the editors had
hoped to attract was not forthcoming, and they started operations
with 35 francs towards production costs. But the public interest
in Proudhon and in his journalism was worth more than cash,
and the editors were reassured when the 40,000 copies printed of
the first issue sold out immediately. Meeting a friend, Proudhon
remarked in mock sadness: ‘My paper is now going to make
money... Remember that any paper worth a thousand francs is
lost to its party.’
8
One o f the more curious incidents in the latter part o f 1848,
and one of the most productive in calumny, was Proudhon’s
meeting with Louis Bonaparte. The story is told in a letter
written in July, 1849, to refute an accusation Emile de Girardin
had made in La Presse that Proudhon himself had sought to see
the future emperor.