The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-07 00:00:00

GENERAL FOY.

FUNERAL ORATION for the late General FOY, by
BENJAMIN CONSTANT, Member of the Chamber
of Deputies, &c. &c. &c.
PARIS, DEC. 2.
__

MY, FRIENDS,—The great assemblage of citizens of all
ages, ranks, and opinions—the profound sorrow manifest in
their countenance—the tears ready to gush form their eyes—so
much of generous and lively recollection as fills anti afflicts the
minds of you all, admonish me that words are almost super-
fluous on this sad and solemn occasion. You will pardon,
however, I trust, a colleague of the illustrious citizen whom we
deplore—one who has been a witness of his incessant efforts to
defend the liberties of the nation—and the ardent admirer of
his brilliant and manly eloquence, if he detains you yet awhile
on the brink of the grave, which is about to close prematurely
and swallow up so much courage, talent, and virtue. I shall
not attempt to retrace his, course of military achievements ; en-
grossed among the annals of the glory of France, they are id-
entified with every epoch when the soil trodden by Frenchmen
has been rescued from a foreign yoke ; it will be saying enough
on this head to remind you, that his illustrious career commenc-
ed at Genappe and terminated at Waterloo ! I shall only
observe, that as the ardent defender of the independence of his
country, and impassioned friend of its liberty, he always discri-
minated between that liberty and the excesses which sometimes
profane it ; that lie was no less intrepid before the Proconsul's
axe than he was at the mouth of the enemy's cannon ; and that
whilst Lafayette in the prison of Olmutz, endured the slow and
lengthened pangs of the most agonised sufferings, Foy, in the
dungeons of Valenciennes or Arras, awaited the more prompt
execution of the scaffold, destined him by the Decemviri. So
true is it, that tyranny, under whatever name she deports her-
self, always chooses her victims from among those who are the
ornaments of human nature. It is to the legislative labours of
the deceased that 1 shall at present call your attention. What
man among us did not figure to his mind his entry into
that elective- Chamber, which has been destined by the Char-
ter to receive..only such men as were invested with the free
suffrage of their constituents, and which ought to contain
the elite of the population in integrity and intelligence,
and thus become the bulwark of the liberties of France !
We beheld him take his seat among us, already covered
with glorious wounds, yet still in the vigour of life, bear.
ing on his brow that noble assurance which justified his
numerous exploits. We, however, expected only a celebrated
General; but after the first flow of his eloquence we recognised
in him the most eminent of our orators. Sometimes abound-
ing in facts and the result of indefatigable investigation, he pur.
sued his adversaries to the very bosom of power, with pressing
and irresistible arguments; again his thundering voice from
the summit of the tribune diffused a blight over and blasted the
rank weeds of despotism and corruption. The sound of that
voice conciliated the auditors to a participation of his pure and
noble sentiment—we became better men in proportion as we at-
tended to his words, and our bosoms for a long time oppressed
began to respire more freely. No Deputy better understood, or
better explained all the details of the Administration, at the
same time that no man developed more at large those Consti-
tutional maxims on which repose the entire principle of our Go-
vernment, and the political guarantees of France. When he
examined party questions, lie might be considered as a
Minister who had grown old in the career of accurately cal-
culating the result of facts—and possessing, by long routine
of business all the dates of a fluctuating and complex system.
When he grappled with the more comprehensive questions of
the representative system, we fancied we listened to one of those
orators enlightened by the traditional legislation of Parliaments
of one hundred and forty years experience, though in, more
rapid and attractive language, casting aside all species of so-
phism, unmasking equivoque, and shattering as a thunderbolt
the ingeniously connected mechanism of subtilty. But let me
here declare, as well for the purpose of defining the great grati-
tude we owe him, as for the information of those who may one
day enjoy the glorious mission to follow after his example, that
this universal knowledge—this aptitude on all subjects—that
brilliancy of light which he displayed on every question, were
not merely the effect of the endowments bestowed on him by
bountiful nature. They were the result of persevering study.
In the plenitude of his superiority, he never confided to his
genius to insure that success, which might be the triumph of
principle as much as of individual merit. His conscientious
zeal prompted him to study indefatigably all those sub-
jects on which lie communicated such clear informations
from the tribune. Whilst his days were consecrated to the
defence, even on occasions the most unexpected, of the rights
of every class of persons, the just complahats of all who were
oppressed, from the veteran soldier, who claimed his pay, to
the official functionary unfairly stripped of the high investiture
of office—his nights were spent in reading and investigating
the analysis of budgets, sometimes so confused ; of accounts
often mysterious; of military legislation still incomplete; and,
in a word, of that labyrinth of laws, which in their contra-
dictions and obscurity, are no less an arsenal than a bul-
wark. Such toilsome nights abridged the period of his valuable
existence. The great injustice, of which he would compel a
reparation—the long explanations which he has demanded, and
which, though sterile for the moment, will not fail to be fertile !
for the future, cost him all that lucubration and vigilance,
which was traceable in his countenance, anti exhausted his con-
stitution. Honour he unto his memory ! for during 20 years,
he ceased not to shed his precious blood for his country ; and
half as many more of a lamentably shortened life has he con-
secrated to her liberty. And yet to what nobler purposes could
he have devoted it ? Had he followed in the general track, he
might perchance have enjoyed for some years longer power,
wealth, and distinction, but soon or late he must have descend-
ed into the tomb. Could his death have been what it this day
is—a nation's mourning ? Would his name be universally re-
spected, while tears stream from every eye ? He has chosen
the better part of man's transitory course. He is gone, accom-
panied by regret, respect, and glory. His example will be of
service to that France which he so dearly loved—that grateful
country, which now encompasses his coffin with its sincere
affliction. The rising generation will not be insensible to the
instructions of a virtuous genius, which has become the victim
of virtue's self. As for his colleagues, whose small number
sees itself daily diminished—we, who lose by a fatality un-
foreseen the leader whom we respected, and the friend of whom
we were proud—we bind ourselves at his tomb, near which,
perhaps, our own will at no distant period be opened, by an
obligation to devote to our country the remainder of our days—
to be honest, independent, and" intrepid as lie was, and if we
equal not his talents, to equal at least his courage.

FORTUNE-TELLING.—A young woman residing
in Claypath, in this city, having a strong desire to know her
future destiny, applied on Saturday evening last to an old hag,
a stranger here, to have her fortune told. The antiquated
prognosticatress, like the spider which watches the entangle-
ment of the fly in the toils she has herself prepared, was quite
ready to seize her victim, though she proceeded rather more
cautiously with her work. She at first strove to increase the
credulity of the poor simple girl by the most artful means, and
having thus obtained full power over her, she next attempted,
and successfully too, to relieve her of a part of her money.—
Without a one pound note, she said, she would not be able to
accomplish her design, adding, " what lam now going to do is
the most important point in the business"—as no doubt it was.
The note was immediately placed in her hands, and she pre-
tended to tie it up in a handkerchief, which was rolled up into
a ball, and, after at suitable exhortation, was delivered to her,
together with a strict injunction that it should not be opened
out until Sunday evening. Before the appointed time, how-
ever, the girl became impatient, both as regarded the note and
the knowledge,of her future destiny, and with one rude effort
she tore open the handkerchief—when, alas ! instead of the one-
pound note, she found only a piece of blank paper, which, from
its size and smell, it was evident had been the envelope of half
an ounce of that vile herb, y'clept tobacco. Her fortune
was plainly told—she had become, the dupe of a base swind-
ler, who had taken good care to get out of the way before the
discovery was made. Exertions have been made to ascertain
the retreat of the fugitive, but hitherto without effect.—( Dur-
ham Advertiser.)
nINGULAIt FERIOCITY OF A FERRET.--A man
of the name of Iles, a bargeman, finding himself much in-
commoded by the repeated mischief dope in his barge by
rats, procured a ferret to destroy them : the ferret remain-
ing away a considerable time, he thought he was devouring
some rats that it.had killed, and he went to sleep, but was
awakened early next morning by the ferret, who was com-
mencing a regular attack upon him. The animal had seized
him near. his eyebrow, and the, man, after endeavouring in
vain to shake him off, severed the body from the head with a
knife, the latter still sticking so fast as to be with difficulty re-
moved.--(Bath Journal.)