The Deputy of Arcis

H >> Honore de Balzac >> The Deputy of Arcis


At this point M. de Rastignac's remarks were interrupted by a
commotion in the corridor to the right. Several deputies left
their seats; others jumped upon the benches, apparently
endeavoring to see something. The minister, after turning to the
president, from whom he seemed to be asking an explanation, went
back to the ministerial bench, where he was immediately surrounded
by a number of the deputies of the Centre, among whom, noticeable
for the vehemence of his gestures, was M. le procureur-general
Vinet. Groups formed in the audience chamber; the sitting was, in
fact, informally suspended.

After a few moments' delay M. le president rings his bell.

_The Ushers_.--Take your seats, gentlemen.

The deputies hasten on all sides to do so.

_The President_.--M. de Sallenauve has the floor.

M. de Sallenauve, who, during the few moments that the sitting was
interrupted by his entrance, has been talking with M. de Canalis
and M. d'Arthez, goes to the tribune. His manner is modest, but he
shows no sign of embarrassment. Every one is struck by his
resemblance to the portraits of one of the most fiery of the
revolutionary orators.

_A Voice_.--It is Danton--without the small-pox!

_M. de Sallenauve_.--[Profound silence.] Gentlemen, I do not
misjudge my parliamentary value; I know that the persecution
directed apparently against me personally is, in point of fact,
aimed at the political opinions I have the honor to represent.
But, however that may be, my election seems to have been viewed by
the ministry as a matter of some importance. In order to oppose
it, a special agent and special journalists were sent to Arcis;
and a humble employe under government, with a salary of fifteen
hundred francs, was dismissed, after twenty years of faithful and
honorable service, for having aided in my success. [Loud murmurs
from the Centre.] I thank my honorable interrupters, feeling sure
that their loud disapprobation is given to this strange dismissal,
which is not open to the slightest doubt. [Laughter on the Left.]
As for me, gentlemen, who could not be dismissed, I have been
attacked with another weapon,--sagacious calumny, combined with my
fortunate absence--

_The Minister of Public Works_.--Of course the government sent you
out of the country.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--No, Monsieur le ministre. I do not attribute
my absence to either your influence or your suggestions; it was
necessitated by imperious duty, and it had no other instigation or
motive. But, as to the part you have really taken in the
denunciation set on foot against me, I am about to tell the facts,
and the Chamber will consider them. [Close attention.] The law, in
order to protect the independence of the deputy, directs that no
criminal prosecution can be begun against a member of the national
representation without the preliminary consent of the Chamber;
this fact has been turned with great adroitness against me. If the
complaint had been laid before the magistrates, it could not have
been admitted even for an instant; it is simply a bare charge, not
supported by evidence of any kind; and I have never heard that the
public authorities are in the habit of prosecuting citizens on the
mere allegation of the first-comer. We must therefore admire the
subtlety of mind which instantly perceived that, by petitioning
you for leave to prosecute, all the benefits of the accusation,
politically speaking, would be obtained without encountering the
difficulty I have mentioned in the courts. [Excitement.] Now, to
what able parliamentary tactician must we ascribe the honor of
this invention? You know already, gentleman, that it is due
ostensibly to a woman, a peasant-woman, one who labors for her
living; hence the conclusion is that the peasant-women of
Champagne have an intellectual superiority of which, up to this
time, neither you nor I were at all aware. [Laughter.] It must be
said, however, that before coming to Paris to lodge her complaint,
this woman had an interview with the mayor of Arcis, my opponent
on the ministerial side in the late election. From this conference
she obtained certain lights. To which we must add that the mayor,
taking apparently much interest in the charge to be brought
against me, agreed to pay the costs, not only of the
peasant-woman's trip to Paris, but also those of the village
practitioner by whom she was accompanied. [Left: "Ha! ha!"] This
superior woman having arrived in Paris, with whom did she
immediately communicate? With the special agent sent down to Arcis
by the government to ensure the success of the ministerial
candidate. And who drew up the petition to this honorable Chamber
for the necessary authority to proceed to a criminal prosecution?
Not precisely the special ministerial agent himself, but a
barrister under his dictation, and after a breakfast to which the
peasant- woman and her adviser were invited in order to furnish the
necessary information. [Much excitement. "Hear! hear!"]

_The Minister of Public Works from his seat_.--Without discussing
the truth of these statements, as to which I have personally no
knowledge, I affirm upon my honor that the government is
completely ignorant of the proceedings now related, which it
blames and disavows in the most conclusive manner.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--After the formal declaration which I have had
the good fortune to evoke it would ill become me, gentlemen, to
insist on tracing the responsibility for this intrigue back to the
government. But what I have already said will seem to you natural
when you remember that, as I entered this hall, the minister of
Public Works was in the tribune, taking part, in a most unusual
manner, in a discussion on discipline wholly outside of his
department, and endeavoring to persuade you that I had conducted
myself towards this honorable body with a total want of reverence.

The minister of Public Works said a few words which did not reach
us. Great disturbance.

_M. Victorin Hulot_.--M. le president, have the goodness to
request the minister of Public Works not to interrupt the speaker.
He can answer.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--According to M. le comte de Rastignac, I
showed essential disrespect to the Chamber by asking, in a foreign
country, for leave of absence, which it was obvious I had already
taken before making my request. But, in his extreme desire to find
me to blame, the minister lost sight of the fact that at the time
I left France the Chamber had not met, no president existed, and
therefore in making my request at that time to the president of
this assembly I should simply have addressed a pure abstraction.
[Left: "True!"] As for the insufficiency of the motives with which
I supported my request, I regret to have to say to the Chamber
that I cannot be more explicit even now; because in revealing the
true cause of my absence I should betray the secret of an
honorable man, and not my own. I did not conceal from myself that
by this reticence I exposed my proceedings to mistaken
interpretations,--though I certainly did not expect it to give
rise to accusations as burlesque as they are odious. [Much
excitement.] In point of fact, I was so anxious not to neglect any
of the duties of my new position that I did precisely what the
minister of Public Works reproaches me for not doing. I selected a
man in a most honorable position, who was, like myself, a
repository of the secret I am unable to divulge, and I requested
him to make all necessary explanations to the president of this
Chamber. But, calumny having no doubt worked upon his mind, that
honorable person must have thought it compromising to his name and
dignity to do me this service. The danger to me being now over, I
shall not betray his prudent incognito. Though I was far indeed
from expecting this calculating selfishness, which has painfully
surprised and wounded me, I shall be careful to keep this betrayal
of friendship between myself and his own conscience, which alone
shall reproach him for the wrong he has done me.

At this moment a disturbance occurred in the peers' gallery; a
lady had fainted; and several deputies, among them a physician,
left the hall hastily. The sitting was momentarily suspended.

_The President_.--Ushers, open the ventilators. It is want of air
that has caused this unfortunate accident. M. de Sallenauve, be
good enough to resume your speech.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--Two words, gentleman, and I have finished. I
think the petition to authorize a criminal prosecution has already
lost something of its weight in the minds of my least cordial
colleagues. But I have here a letter from the Romilly
peasant-woman, my relation, duly signed and authenticated,
withdrawing her charge and confirming all the explanations I have
just had the honor to give you. I might read this letter aloud to
you, but I think it more becoming to place it in the hands of M. le
president. ["Very good! very good!"] As for my illegal absence, I
returned to Paris early this morning, and I could have been in my
seat at the opening of the Chamber; but, as M. de Canalis has told
you, I had it much at heart not to appear in this hall until I
could disperse the cloud which has so strangely appeared around my
reputation. It has taken me the whole morning to obtain these
papers. And now, gentlemen, you have to decide whether a few
hours' delay in taking his seat in this Chamber justifies you in
sending a colleague back to his electors. But after all, whatever
is done, whether some persist in thinking me a forger, or a
libertine, or merely a negligent deputy, I feel no anxiety about
the verdict of my electors. I can confidently assert that after a
delay of a few weeks I shall return to you.

_Cries on all sides_.--The vote! the vote!

On leaving the tribune M. de Sallenauve receives many
congratulations.

_The President_.--I put to vote the admission of M. de Sallenauve
as the deputy elected by the arrondissement of Arcis.

Nearly the whole Chamber rises and votes the admission; a few
deputies of the Centre alone abstain from taking part in the
demonstration.

M. de Sallenauve is admitted and takes the oath.

_The President_.--The order of the day calls for the reading of
the Address to the Throne, but the chairman of the committee
appointed to prepare it informs me that the document in question
cannot be communicated to the Chamber before to-morrow. Nothing
else being named in the order of the day, I declare this sitting
adjourned.

The Chamber rose at half-past four o'clock.




TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

Note.--"The Deputy of Arcis," of which Balzac wrote and published
the first part in 1847, was left unfinished at his death. He
designated M. Charles Rabou, editor of the "Revue de Paris," as
the person to take his notes and prepare the rest of the volume
for the press. It is instructive to a student of Balzac to see how
disconnected and out of proportion the story becomes in these
later parts,--showing plainly that the master's hand was in the
habit of pruning away half, if not more, of what it had written,
or--to change the metaphor and give the process in his own
language--that he put _les grands pots dans les petits pots_, the
quarts into the pint pots. "If a thing can be done in one line
instead of two," he says, "I try to do it."

Some parts of this conclusion are evidently added by M. Rabou, and
are not derived from Balzac at all,--especially the unnecessary
reincarnation of Vautrin. There is no trace of the master's hand
here. The character is made so silly and puerile, and is so out of
keeping with Balzac's strong portrait, which never weakens, that
the translator has thought best, in justice to Vautrin, to omit
all that is not absolutely necessary to connect the story.




ADDENDUM

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A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Secrets of a Princess

Beauvisage (tenant)
The Gondreville Mystery

Beauvisage, Phileas
Cousin Betty

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Firm of Nucingen
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
A Man of Business
Gaudissart II.
The Unconscious Humorists
Cousin Pons

Blondet, Virginie
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Secrets of a Princess
The Peasantry
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve

Brandon, Lady Marie Augusta
The Lily of the Valley
La Grenadiere

Bridau, Joseph
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
Pierre Grassou
Letters of Two Brides
Cousin Betty

Cadine, Jenny
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists

Camps, Octave de
Madame Firmiani

Camps, Madame Octave de
Madame Firmiani
The Government Clerks
A Woman of Thirty
A Daughter of Eve

Canalis, Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de
Letters of Two Brides
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
The Magic Skin
Another Study of Woman
A Start in Life
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists

Carigliano, Duchesse de
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
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Chargeboeuf, Melchior-Rene, Vicomte de
The Muse of the Department

Chocardelle, Mademoiselle
Beatrix
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Cousin Betty

Cinq-Cygne, Laurence, Comtesse (afterwards Marquise de)
The Gondreville Mystery
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The Seamy Side of History

Cointet, Boniface
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The Firm of Nucingen

Collin, Jacques
Father Goriot
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
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Dionis
Ursule Mirouet

Estorade, Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l'
Letters of Two Brides

Estorade, Madame de l'
Letters of Two Brides
Ursule Mirouet

Estorade, Armand de l'
Letters of Two Brides

Fontanon, Abbe
A Second Home
The Government Clerks
Honorine

Franchessini, Colonel
Father Goriot

Gaston, Marie
La Grenadiere
Letters of Two Brides

Giguet, Colonel
The Gondreville Mystery

Gobseck, Sarah Van
Gobseck
Cesar Birotteau
The Maranas
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Gondreville, Malin, Comte de
The Gondreville Mystery
A Start in Life
Domestic Peace

Gothard
The Gondreville Mystery

Goujet, Abbe
The Gondreville Mystery

Grevin
A Start in Life
The Gondreville Mystery

Hauteserre, D'
The Gondreville Mystery

Hortense
A Man of Business

Hulot, Victorin
Cousin Betty

Keller, Francois
Domestic Peace
Cesar Birotteau
Eugenie Grandet
The Government Clerks

Keller, Madame Francois
Domestic Peace
The Thirteen

La Bastie la Briere, Madame Ernest de
Modeste Mignon
Cousin Betty

Lanty, Comte de
Sarrasine

Lanty, Comtesse de
Sarrasine

Lanty, Marianina de
Sarrasine

Lanty, Filippo de
Sarrasine

La Roche-Hugon, Martial de
Domestic Peace
The Peasantry
A Daughter of Eve
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duc de
Letters of Two Brides
Cousin Betty

Marest, Frederic
A Start in Life
The Seamy Side of History

Marion (of Arcis)
The Gondreville Mystery

Marion (brother)
The Gondreville Mystery

Mary
Letters of Two Brides

Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
The Secrets of a Princess
Modeste Mignon
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Muse of the Department
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Letters of Two Brides
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery

Maufrigneuse, Georges de
The Secrets of a Princess
The Gondreville Mystery
Beatrix

Maufrigneuse, Berthe de
Beatrix
The Gondreville Mystery

Michu, Francois
The Gondreville Mystery
Jealousies of a Country Town

Michu, Madame Francois
The Gondreville Mystery

Montriveau, General Marquis Armand de
The Thirteen
Father Goriot
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
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Pierrette

Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de
Father Goriot
The Thirteen
Eugenie Grandet
Cesar Birotteau
Melmoth Reconciled
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Commission in Lunacy
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Modeste Mignon
The Firm of Nucingen
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve

Philippe
Letters of Two Brides

Rastignac, Eugene de
Father Goriot
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Ball at Sceaux
The Commission in Lunacy
A Study of Woman
Another Study of Woman
The Magic Skin
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
The Gondreville Mystery
The Firm of Nucingen
Cousin Betty
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Rastignac, Laure-Rose and Agathe de
Father Goriot
Lost Illusions

Restaud, Ernest de
Gobseck

Restaud, Madame Ernest de
Gobseck

Restaud, Felix-Georges de
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Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
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Albert Savarus

Ronquerolles, Marquis de
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The Peasantry
Ursule Mirouet
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Another Study of Woman
The Thirteen

Saint-Hereen, Comtesse Moina de
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Sallenauve, Comtesse de
Letters of Two Brides

Sarrasine, Ernest-Jean
Sarrasine

Stidmann
Modeste Mignon
Beatrix
Cousin Betty
Cousin Pons
The Unconscious Humorists

Suzon
A Man of Business

Tillet, Ferdinand du
Cesar Birotteau
The Firm of Nucingen
The Middle Classes
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierrette
Melmoth Reconciled
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists

Trailles, Comte Maxime de
Cesar Birotteau
Father Goriot
Gobseck
Ursule Mirouet
A Man of Business
The Secrets of a Princess
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists

Troubert, Abbe Hyacinthe
The Vicar of Tours

Varlet
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Vien, Joseph-Marie
Sarrasine

Vinet
Pierrette
The Middle Classes
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Vinet, Olivier
Cousin Pons
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Zambinella
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