Proudhon - A Biography

THE EXILE
had not ‘the resource o f ideas,’ and her discontent had reached
such grave proportions that he even thought o f re-estabJishing
his family in Paris, whence they might visit him occasionally.
The need for this drastic step seemed to be removed when, on
the 17th August, the Emperor signed the expected decree, grant­
ing an amnesty whose terms covered political offences committed
under the Press laws. Proudhon asked his friends to regain the
apartment in the Rue d’Enfer, and planned to send Euphrasie
there in September, and to follow her in October. A day after
making this decision he heard that his case was not covered by
the amnesty; the Minister o f the Interior had announced that it
referred to political offences only, and technically he had been
convicted on a charge o f outrage to public and religious morals.
oubtless, if the emperor had made an amnesty for authors of
obscene novels, I should be included,’ he commented bitterly.
But before a month had passed, his usual mental resilience had
given him a calmer view. ‘If it were not for my wife, a pure
Parisian whom exile does not suit, if it were not for my’ friends,
if it were not for the wine o f France which costs too much here*
I would not give a penny to live in Paris rather than in Brussels’
Cologne, Zurich, Geneva or Turin.’
But the wine, though dear, could still be bought, and with his
friends he kept in touch through his copious correspondence,
besides receiving occasional visits from one or other o f them as
they passed through Brussels. Euphrasie’s longings, on the other
hand, were not to be appeased by makeshifts, and it was arranged
that she should take the children to Paris for a holiday.
She left on the 29th September, and seems to have been so
delighted to rejoin her family that by the 5th October Proudhon
had not heard from her and took up the pen o f grievance. CI see, by
your silence, he grumbled, ‘that you think a wife can very well
receive news from her husband, but that she need not send him
any of her own.’ The tone o f this letter, with its irascible warn­
ings against extravagance, suggests throughout that Euphrasie’s
departure had taken place in an atmosphere o f complicated dis­
agreements, and towards the end there is a paragraph which hints
strongly that their marital relationship may have reached at least
a minor crisis. ‘On my side,’ Proudhon remarked, ‘I have nothing
to tell you. I work at my ease. The house seems much more
agreeable since I no longer hear shouts, weeping or grumbling.