The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE

WASHINGTON BY M. G UIZ OT.
Murray, London, 1840.
This essay on the life and character of Washington
was, it seems, prefixed by its author, M. Guizot—the
present French Ambassador—to the French translation
of the collected writings of the great American soldier
and statesman ; " but as it has not been separately
published," observes the English translator in his pre-
face, " and as the original cannot be procured, except
in connexion with the voluminous translation of a
book which is more likely to become familiar to
the English reader in the language of Washington
himself than in the French version, it has not been
thought a work of superfluous labour to clothe this in-
troductory notice in an English dress." M. Guizot's
essay richly deserves the honour of translation, for it is
acute, dispassionate, and analyses the character of
Washington, in his private, not less than in his public
capacity, with more minuteness and sagacity than has
yet been exhibited by any American writer, not except-
ing even Sparkes and Channing.
The greatness of the illustrious founder of American
independence was of the highest order of greatness.
He stands in the very front rank of those
pure and lofty spirits recorded in the imperishable
pages of history. As a soldier he was far surpassed by
apoleon, for though he had a strong predilection for
warlike pursuits, yet his military genius was neither
brilliant nor creative ; but in high moral qualities—in a
certain serene sublimity of mind, which impressed
all who knew him with reverence, and which
never forsook him, even in the period of his
deepest reverses—he was as superior to the French
Emperor, as " Hyperion to a Satyr." Under no other
leader could America possibly have worked out her sal-
vation ; for no other could so long have kept a
dispirited army together, roused the flagging energies
of the people, and infused vigour into the lethargic
proceedings of Congress, by a course of conduct
at once firm and conciliating, by a resolution that
no obstacles could daunt, a patience that no
provocations could weary out, and a cool collected-
ness of mind that no disasters could disturb. We
remember reading in Dr. Channing's character of
Napoleon a remark, to the effect that Washington was
supported in all his efforts by the generous enthusiasm
of the American people. This was not the case. He
had in a great degree to create the spirit, by which he
afterwards achieved his country's emancipation. At
the breaking out of hostilities, the rage for free institu-
tions was confined chiefly to the more enlightened
classes of American citizens. The majority of the lower
orders were lukewarm ; averse to changes, the nature
of which they could with difficulty be brought to com-
prehend ; and desirous of evading the toils and duties
of military and other services :required of them by the
exigencies of the times. Yet the master-mind of the
great patriot overcame all these disadvantages, and
eventually succeeded in obtaining a hold over the will
of the lower classes of his countrymen such as no man
before him ever possessed. What we chiefly admire
in Washington, is his nicely balanced intellect—the
compact and well-proportioned character of his great-
ness. He possessed no one excellence to the overshadow-
ing or detriment of another. His ardent love of enter-
prise did not mislead his judgment ; 11;s hatred
of oppression did not thwart or interfere with his sense
of justice; his innate modesty did not lower the tone
of his self-confidence ; he was great alike as a soldier
and a statesman ; and though his natural disposition
was clement and forbearing, yet, when duty required it,
he could be as stern and inexorable as Nemesis herself.
The Americans may well be proud of this illustrious
patriot, for he is the only character that Europe con-
descends to envy them. We subjoin M. Guizot's
graphic sketch of Washington :
" Washington was a planter, a man of family and of
taste, devoted to those interests, habits, and pursuits of
agricultural life which constituted the principal vigour of
American society. Fifty years later Jefferson said, in order
to justify his reliance on the entirely democratic organ],
zatlon of American society, Oar confident expectations
cannot deceive us as long as we remain virtuous, and vir-
tuous we shall remain as long as agriculture is our chief
concern.' From the age of 20 Washington considered
agriculture as his chief business, and thus his life was spent
in the closest sympathy with the prevailing propensities,
and the good sturdy habits of his country. Journies, field
sports, the exploring of remote hunting-grounds, and in-
tercourse, whether friendly or hostile, with the Indians of
the border, were the pleasures of his youth. He was of
that active and enterprising disposition which takes delight
in the perils and adventures to which man is exposed in
the vast wilds of an unexplored country ; he was en-
dowed with that strength of limb, that perseverance and
presence of mind, which makes a man triumph over such
obstacles. Indeed, the confidence he felt in these faculties
at the outset of life was somewhat presumptuous. For my
own part,' said he to Governor Dinwiddi, ' I can answer
that I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and
undet go the most severe trials, and I flatter myself resolu-
tion to face what any man dares, as shall be proved when it
comes to the test.' To such a character war was of
course more congenial than field sports or travel. At the
first opportunity which occurred, he marched to the field
with a degree of ardour, which in the earlier years of life
' is not always attended with equal aptitude and taste for
the service. In 1754 George H. was listening to a de.
spatch which the Governor of Virginia had forwarded to
London, and in which young Major Washington concluded
a narrative of his first skirmish in these words : I beard
the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something
charming in the sound,' On hearing this, the King said
—. He would not say so, if he had been used to hear many.'
Washington was of the King's opinion ; for when the Major
of the Virginian militia was become Commander-in. Chief
of the army of the United States, he replied to some one
who asked him whether he had ever made use of that ex-
pression—. If I said it, it' was when I was young.' But his
youthful ardour was at the same time serious and serene,
and it bore the authority of maturer years. From the first
what he loved in war, far above the heat of battle, was the
great effort of intellect and will, armed with power, to
achieve some grand design—the mighty mixture of human
agency and of fortune, which seizes and transports the
highest as well as the humblest minds. Born in the highest
of colonial society, brought up at a public school amongst
his fellow-countrymen, he naturally took his place at their
head, for he was at once their equal and their superior,
formed to the same habits, skilled in the same exercises, a
stranger like them to all elegant accomplishments and all
pretensions to learning, claiming nothing for himself, and
displaying exclusively for the public service that ascend-
ancy which a penetrating and sensible mind, a calm and
energetic character, will always secure when they are joined
:o disinterestedness."

CONTINUATION OF THE TRIAL

OF MADAME LAFFARGE.

CORRECTIONAL TRIBUNAL OF BRIVES,
SITTING OF JULY 15.
ROBBERY OF THE DIAMONDS.

After some additional evidence of slight importance—

The President delivered the judgment Of the Court
seriatim. After recapitulating with great minuteness all
the circumstances of the robbery, as given iu the evidence,
he proceeded to examine the nature of the defence, which
he divided into eight different points, and which he desig..
nated as improbable and absurd. He then delivered the
following judgment .
" The Tribunal, giving default against Marie Capelle,
widow Laffarge, declares her attaint and convicted of hav-
ing, in June, 1839, fraudulently abstracted a set of dia-
monds belonging to Madame de Leotaud :—ln reparation
of which, applying articles 401 of the Penal Code, and
194 of the Code of Criminal Instruction, the Court con-
demns her to two years' imprisonment, and in all the costs
and expenses of the prosecution."

INTEMPERANCE.--Out of 76prisoners brought
before Major Sirr, at the Head-office, on Sunday morning,
51 were charged with being drunk, and found tippling in un-
licensed cellars. They were all fined ss. each.—Dublin
Erening Packet.
TIIE LATE LORD DUDLEY.—Though an only
son, yet from infancy he never knew the happiness of domestic
life, having been, at the early age of six months, placed by his
rather whimsical parents in a separate house and establish-
ment, where they occasionally visited him ; but his education
was entirely superintended by a succession of nursery gover-
nesses and tutors, and he always declared that his only expe-
rience of a happy home was when placed at last under the roof
of Professor Dugald Stewart, at Edinburgh. His life of
early solitude engendered those peculiar habits which oc-
casionally clouded the lustre of his shining abilities,
and, among other strange customs, he acquired so un-
conquerable a habit of thinking aloud, that his inti-
mate friends used to say, in allusion to his two
titles, that "Dudley was speaking to Ward." The ludicrous
effect produced by these public meditations during his Majesty's
Cabinet Councils, became a principle cause of his retirement
from office. On one occasion, when a gentleman took him
home in his carriage, to avoid a shower of rain, he conversed
diligently with himself during their progress, saying, " I sup-
pose he will expect me to ask him to dinner ! I'm afraid it
must be done." His companion being fond of a jest, instantly
commenced an accompaniment, muttering to himself q?,
audibly, " If he asks me to dinner, I shall certainly not go !
Upon hearing this, Lord Dudley laughed heartily, made an
apology, and insisted on the invitation being both given and
accepted.—Shetland and Shetlanders.
" The will of Paganini has been opened at
Genoa," says a letter from that place in the Delrats, " and the
following account of its contents is given as authentic. The
greater part of the fortune consists in housesl
E
remainder is in the funds in France, ng and , and Naples.
and lands ; t
The total amount has been officially estimated at 1,700,000
francs, which is said to be rather an under than an over
estimate. Paganini has left to hiseldsest sister the life interest
do
vai
dceadp capital
aolfly7bseTvreenfrahencrTo his swhich, after her death, to be
sons and daughters.
young-
est sister he has left a life interest of 50,000 francs, on similar
conditions ; to a lady of Lucca, whore name the will declares
is not to be mentioned, he has left 6,000 francs a year for life,
and to the mother of his son 1,200 francs a year for life. Thi ;
lady is not a Jewess, as has been generally said, but a Roman
Catholic, and a distinguished singer, who travelled with Pa-
ganini from 1823 to 1828, and sang in nearly all the concerts
which he gave during that time. The bulk of the r
o p pertv,
afterwho s deductinghy
the
will,the
legacies,plaeed n under is
ebequeathed
guardianship
hisof
son property,
,
Mar-
quis Lorenzo Pareto of Genoa."
We are authorised by Mr. Tooke most distinctly
to disclaim on his part, all knowledge,
instruction, or
publicationri
Finsbury,"
shnr yvery
of r y a
extensively p lacar d
partici-
pation whatever, direct or indirect, aa regards the rir ting nd
containing
posted throughout the Nv o r words a
t" h
oTookeroogh
borough.-
r
WORCESTER, JULY 17.—The accounts from
the whole of our Hop plantations are this week more unfavour-
able ; the greater part of the leaves of the plant are now gone
dead and fallen from the bine, and the young shoots that have
made their appearance are so followed up with lice and vermin
1 that it will be almost impossible they can produce any crop (and
\if any) of the most unkindly description. Duty estimated at
2,0001. to 3,000/. Present prices, per cwt.:—low new, from
I 705. to 84s. i fine, 955. to 1055. 16.37'5) from 50s. to tks.