The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 20, 1858.

opinion the orator had unjustly aspersed in the character
be had given in the course of the speech. Some men, it
seemed, said the Solicitor-General, wishing to be very
severe, were born for government, but Mr. Grenville had
been, from whet they had heard, particularly unfortunate.
Ills mind had been contracted by the two circumstances
et haying been bred to a profession, and after he bad
completed his studies, of having been immediately im-
mersed in the business of office. From the law he had
acquired some evil habits and prejudices unknown to
those who were happily ignorant under what form of go-
vernment they lived; and from his initiation into of he
had not had the advantages of entering into the fashionable
clubs, but had acquired an early intimacy with the first
men of the age. " Such, sir," said the Solicitor-General,
sneering, as he thought triumphantly, at Burke, " were the
disqualifications under which Mr. Grenville was called forth
to the first situations in Administration at a time when
ancient prejudices were still respected, and before it was
understood that parts were spoiled by application, that
ignorance was preferable to knowledge, and that any lively
man of imagination and fancy, without practice in office,
and without experience, might start up at once a self.
taught Minister, and undertake the management of a great
country in difficult times." This retort was considered
very clever and happy.
The reply undoubtedly was very happy If
nothing but Burke's parliamentary perfor-
mances had come down to wz, what would have
been his reputation—if there had been no
thoughts on the present discontent, no reflec-
tions on the French Revolution, no Bristol
Letter, no Literary Club to listen to his conver-
sation, no Johnson to attest his colloquial
eminence? Burke's nature, in fact, was a strange
medley of the practical and the impractical.
In conduct he was shrewd and business-like.
His efforts to keep his friends together Is ere
untiring, nor did he disdain any of those party
stratagems which the custom of statesmen
sanctions. But the moment he rose upon his
legs, his practical talent became a slave to his
buoyant intellect. The deep thinker could not
force himself to contemplate only the division
list. The political philosopher could not re-
sist generalisations. His genius burst from
its moorings, and, when he should have been
battering a mud-fort, carried hint half round
the world on a voyage of discovery. Some-
times au occasion presented itself when this
kind of oratory was suitable. Then the effect
he produced was prodigious. But in the
ordinary business of Parliament it was felt
that coarser instruments were wanted.

Burke's private character was irreproach-
able. He had some little faults of manner,
such as taking up a book and reading it out
aloud at a party if he did not like his com-
pany, and some little infirmities of temper,
such as throwing a Treasury account-book
at the Prime Minister's head. But these are
trifles in comparison with his singular benevo-
lence and charity, of which his conduct to the
poet Crabbe is a noble example. Nor should
we for a moment have alluded to the 30,0001.
which he received from Lord Rockingham,
had not Mr. Macknight been continually
prating of his disinterested poverty to the dis-
advantage of other men. Burke's services
were worth 30,0001, and he was right to take
it; but the fact somewhat diminishes the
alleged singularity of his conduct in steadily
adhering to his patron. If it be true, also, es
Mr. Macknight asserts, that he expected a
handsome legacy into the bargain, the wonder
is still more intelligible.
Mr. Burke was a man of high genius and
unimpeachable integrity. But he was neither
the infallible statesman, the omnipotent
orator, nor the superhuman purist which Mr.
Macknight represents him. He was some-
times misled by party spirit, he fought hard
for the ordinary object of English ambition,
and he scrupled not to accept the wages he
had honestly earned. We need not fear to
admit this much. For his character stands
on a pedestal from which not even the pon-
derous panegyric of his present biographer
will be able to drag him down.
We must now glance briefly at the literary
merits of these volumes If Lord Macaulay
had never written, we should have said that
Macknight's style was brilliant and
powerful. As it is, it is only a capital bur-
lesque. To do our author justice, he has
learned his tricks well. His short sentences
and sweeping assertions are nearly perfect.
He can hold us in suspense through a long
paragraph descriptive of somno unknown per-
sc!nage, and knock us down at the end of it
mull his name in full. He can treat rumours
its Certainties, and certainties as rumours,

quite as coolly as his original. The illusion
is well sustained, and deserves to rank with
the Shakespearian revivals of Mr. Charles
Kean.

In the second place wo have to note Mr.
Macknight's partiality for bathos. This pecu-
liarity early shows itself. At page Ihe says,
speaking of Ireland :

AS year succeeded year, every gleam of comfort grew
fainter; the shadows of night tell thickly around them;
and with the establishment of the Hanoverian dynasty on
the throne of the Three Kingdoms, for the Irish as a
nation there seemed to be no future, no freedom, no pro-
sperity. Y.A it was in the saddest epoch in those sad five
centuries of misgovernment and oppression, that a child,
destined to be the mighty instrument in the emancipation
of his country•, and a great instructor of the world in the
political philosophy of all ages, was born in the house of a
solicitor on Arran Quay, Dublin.

It is certainly an almost unheard-of thing
that when a country is badly governed it
should produce a man of genius :

Ou looking over Europe, the apostles of revolution might
be seen already qualifying themselves for their ministry.
The weapons of destruction were being sharpened; por-
tents of fearful augury were already in the heavens
Diderot anti D'Alembert were commencing their Ency-
clopedia. Rousseau was, in contending for a provincial
literary prize, to give indications both to the world and to
himself of his paradoxical spirit, and of the great powers
with which he had been endowed. Mirabeau was an in-
fant in short frocks; and some of the revolutionists, at
whose deeds Barite and all Europe were to stand aghast,
were already in long clothes.

This is a powerful passage. Observe the
impersonations and the proper names—all in
their right places—and the affecting touch of
infancy to conclude with.
But Mr. Macknight can he pious as well
as philosophic and pathetic. Of Peg Woffing-
ton he writes :
With the tomb in prospect, the evil which had been her
shame left her for ever, and she was to carry a contrite
heart to the great Tribunal before which even the actress
must at last appt•ar.

Even actresses ! Well, we suppose they must.
And even authors too, when let us trust
Mr. Macknight's folly in this world will not. be
brought up against him. _ . _

But Mr: Nicktiiglit's masterpiece is elicited
by the publication of the parliamentary de-
bates. He is here seized with a " mighty
madness," and bursts into song as follows :
The new House of Commons, though perhaps both the
most arbitrary and the most servile which had been chosen
since the Itevolution, was, by the exertions of Burke, de-
stined to be the last that could hide its proceedings from
the light of day ; and the foul spectre which dark-
ness had engendered, shrank away from that glorious
Lucifer, son of the morning, the reporter in the gallery.

Is there any allusion here to the Red Lion
and the small hours? Can "The Glorious
Lucifers " be the title of a convivial meeting,
composed of that respectable section of the
fourth estate which does most affect that
hostelry ? And is Mr. Macknight himself
" Perpetual Grand ?" We are aware that those
veritable sons of the morning—who, alas! on
quitting their establishment too often prove
fallen ones—are compelled by the exigencies
of their profession to see the sun rise oftener,
as they say, than they would otherwise desire.
But we were not aware of the existence of the
G.L's., and should feel much gratified for
more explicit information ou the subject
It is only one step from bathos to bombast,
and we now proceed to take it. Our space is
growing limited, and we must therefore content
ourselves with a couple of brief examples. To
poor Byng lie thus alludes :

Englishmen awoke and found that a nightmare had
oppressed them. In 1756 all was despair; in Inti all was
confideoce. The sacrament of blood which both mob and
Ministers had taken for their despondency and imbecility
after the loss of Minorca, had contributed to revive the
drooping spirit of England; and a patriotic and fierce
energy was kindled in the breasts of all who had partaken
of that terrible communion.

Mr. Macknight did not aspire to be bias
phemons, we are sure. Ho is far too (lull.
But we congratulate him on having achieved
the distinction unconsciously.
For " the King's friends" Mr. Macknight
has reserved a choice bit of rant :
We see their poisonous sting on the point of darting
forth, but now quite harmless : we wonder at the fascina-
tion of the evil eye which is now brit glass: through their
manifold contortions, now quite motionless, we trace their
grovelling propensities ; and on gazing attentively at the
hideous though lifeless objects betonp us, we almost fancy
that we can hear the malignant hiss, and shudder at the
deadly rattle.

- -
" Serpent, Sir ! I say, serpent !" said. the
outraged Mr. Pott to the astonished Winkle.

185

We, too, hear the malignant hiss, but it is
that of a less formidable creature; and though
the other noise is offensive and discordant, it
is not very deadly, and we do not shudder
at it.

We do not, for a moment imagine that any
remarks of ours will disturb the complacency
of Mr. Alacknight, or shake his faith in his
own transcendent powers. This is displayed
by his constant repetitions of himself. Three
times in the first volume dues ho give us a cut-
and-dry puff of his hero in almost'precisely
the same words. If our renders will refer to
pages 2,0, and 201, they will see that we have
not brought forward this charge without being
able to substantiate it as well as our former
ones. We have already alluded to his tauto-
logous panegyrics on Burke's oratory ; and
really if anything could set us against that
great man, if anything could make ua believe
him a prig and a pretender, it would be
the monotous solemnity of this gentleman's
raptures.
Impertinence is another conspicuous feature
of Mr. Macknight's lueubrations. His observa-
tions on Burke's ancestry are an instance of this.
" The or and ominous, the cross gales and
" lion rampant sable, of the noble family of
" De Burgh, had fur this Burke no attractions."
How does Mr. Macknight know? Does he re-
quire to be told that men who feel moat deeply on
these subjects say the least about them? and,
moreover, that it was a peculiar eighteenth-cen-
tury habit to affect an indifference to these
things? However, as he adds at p. 7 that " this
" account of Burke's ancestry on his father's side
" must be presented with diffidence, as it is
" only by comparing rumour with rumour, and
" rejecting misstatement after misstatement,
" that an intelligible idea on this subject can
" by any possibility be formed," he has de-
prived his former statement of all force, and
left nothing visible but his own want of logic.
Again, he tells us that of the " science of
government " Dr. Johnson knew " literally
nothing." Now, this is either a mere wanton
assertion, or else our author is confusing the
words art and science. Of the art of govern-
ment Johnson might know little, for he was
not a politician. But of the science of Go-
vernment, as he never wrote upon the subject,
it is idle to predicate his ignorance.
It would, however, be endless to follow him
through all his absurdities of this nature.
\Ve take our leave of these two volumes, which
bring us down to the conclusion of the Ameri-
can war, wi!li the most dismal apprehensions
of the volumes to come. What a field for Mr.
Macknight's peculiar powers in Warren Hast-
ings and the French Revolution ! The Glo-
rious Lucifers will be rampant. The sons of the
morning will increase and multiply. The
" malignant hiss " and the " deadly rattle "
will grow louder and louder. A dozen Neros
will fiddle while a dozen Homes are burning.
At! nd other familiar events of au awful character
will happen freely.

He looked, and saw a sable sorcerer rise,
Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies :
All sudden, gorgons hiss, and dragons glare,
And ten-horned fiends and giants rush to war.
Helliises, Heaven descent's, and dance on earth,
Gods, imps, and monster, music, rage and mirth,
A fire, a jig, a battle, and a ball.
Till one wile conflagration swallows all.

La Defection de Marmont en 1814. By M.
Rapetti. Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De
Broise.
THE posthumous memoirs of Marshal Mar-
mont, Duke de Raguse, which lately appeared
in Paris, and of which some notice was at the
time taken in this journal, have created quite
a commotion in France from the tinsel upu-
ions manner in which they depreciate or as-
perse the First Napoleon, his lieute,iants and
agents, or from the singular view they take of
the extraordinary events in which those per-
sonages played a part or were interested Of
all the events related or referred to by
the author, that which has excited the
greatest interest is naturally the famous de-
fection of 1814 which he accomplished, and of
which the consequence was to precipitate the
downfall of Napoleon. This defection has
always been regarded by the great majority
of the French as an act of the blackest tieason,
and has consequently caused Miainuut to bp

186

held by them in perfect execration. Of course
Marshal Marmont labours with all the talent
and ingenuity which he possessed in an emi-
nent degree to palliate, and even to explain
away altogether, this questionable act. But it
has been considered advisable by the French
Government that he should not be allowed to
succeed in his design—first, because to do so
would be to violate historical truth ; next
because if he were relieved from the obioquy,
of treason which attaches to his name, his
aspersions and slanders would obtain a cer-
tain degree of credit. Accordingly M. Rapetti,
a gentleman who for many years possessed the
proud distinction of being a Professor of the
College de France, who is now intrusted with
a leading share in the labours of the commis-
sion charged to publish the correspondence of
Napoleon T , and who withal is of considerable
literary repute, was charged to write in the
official Moniteur a series of articles demon-
strating Maimont's guilt. It is a reprint of
these articles, carefully revised, which consti-
tutes the volume before us.
We have seldom seen a demonstration more
complete than that which M. Rapetti makes.
From the testimony of numerous contempo-
raries, from the mouth of Napoleon himself,
from letters, proclamations, and despatches,
from newspapers, pamphlets, and books, from
the language and conduct of the allied sove-
reigns who were then in Paris, from the in-
trigues of the Bourbon party in that city, from
negotiations with the diplomatists and gene-
rals of the allies, from strategic movements,
from the vox populi, from songs and anecdotes,
and, lastly, from tile conduct of Marmont after
the downfall of the Empire, he shows that in
April, IMI4, Marmont was a traitor to Napo-
leon—his sovereign, his friend, his benefactor.
The following extracts from the preface will
show the spirit by which the author is ani-
mated :

What is Mannont ? A man who has caused an entire
generation of heroic soldiers to shed tears of blood. And
yet this man has threatened, by a book (his Memoirs) in
which he has deposited all the spite and vengeance of his
dual impenitence, to raise his head amongst ne, not as a
condemned, who demands a tomb, pardon, and forgetful.
ness, but as an accuser, as a jnilge of contemporary history.
He hoped that so strange and supreme a triumph of the
calpable passions and treasons of 1814 could be accom-
plished without obtaining any other reception amongst us
than the discreet murmur of approbation !

In the life of Mormont there are many incidents, uncer-
tain merits, misadventures and failings, bat there is only
one grave, decisive, important act. In Egypt, in Dal-
matia, in Germany after Wagram, in Spain, in the cam-
paign of France, under the Restoration, at Paris in -July
1410, he failed in various ways and in special circum-
stances in energy, ability, sagacity, or luck. But in all
these circumstances he only failed in displaying himself
to more or less advantage in positions subordinate to
general actions of which he had not the initiative. On
one single day it was given to him to exercise an Initiative
in events, and that was at Essonne in 1814. I have
thought it right not to occupy myself with secondary
finite, which, even if proved, do not suffice to condemn a
man, but to attach myself solely to the act which of rtself
makes of Marmont, not a general of intermittent ability,
an administrator of suspected probity, a politician whose
sigacity is questioned, an historian inspired by envy and
hatred, but a traitor—a man degraded by the most cub
nable defection at a moment of extreme peril for national
Independence.

Here, however, M. Rapetti does Marmont
some injustice. He displayed ability in the
field when opposed to Wellington. He was a
brave soldier, and the fact of his being
wounded early i❑ the day at Salamanca con-
ttibuted to the completeness of the English
victory.
In an appendix to his book, M. Rapetti
gives a great many very curious documents, of
which most have never before been published.
Amongst the latter arc letters of Napoleon to
or about Marshal Marmont, one of the present
Duke de Broglie to Marmont, details about
the events of lt!tl.t, the original text of the
abdication of Napoleon, and a letter in French
from the Duke of Wellington to Marmont. As
any unpublished document of Wellington can-
not fail to be interesting to English readers,
we translate the letter:—

Brussels, 4th Juno, Ikls.

M nm flattered by the confidence which you
repose in me by your letter of the Ist, to which I will
r. ply with an much frankness as you have displayed in
w. sting it..
'f he principle you adopt is, generally speaking, true and
go , I—an honest man cannot serve in the ranks of the
e-emies of his country. But Ido not believe that such
is the point in your case. For France has no enemies