The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-07 00:00:00

MONSIEUR DE LAMARTINE.

The following is the reply of M. de Lamartine to some re-
marks upon the subscription recently made in this country
to relieve him from his pecuniary embarrassments :
" Sir,—l read your article in the French paper Univers.
It is difficult to have to reason with an echo, for echoes can-
not be held responsible for what they repeat ; you have
been made yourself involuntarily the echo of the animosity
of my enemies in France. Your article may be summed up
thus : _

" 1. A national subscription is a dishonourable contribu-
tion imposed upon a nation in favour of one of her citizens.
" 2. M. de Lamartine is unworthy of such interest, be-
cause he was the author of the Revolution of 1815.
" 3. Lastly, it is useless to subscribe, either in France or
in England, for a squanderer of fabulous fortunes inherited
from his ancestors or acquired by the sale of his works, and
thus to throw into the sieve of the Danaides what the unli-
mited extravagance of M. Lamartine demands.'
"Although you be but an echo, yet I consent to reason
with you. What is a national subscription in reality ? It
is, you well know, neither alms nor a contribution. It is not
alms, for a great honour is attached to it. It is not a contri-
bution, because the gift is optional. It is a free, spontane-
ous testimonial of interest which a nation bestows on one of
her sons, whose undeserved reverses of fortune excite her
sympathy, whose talents honour her, or whose devotedness
appear worthy of remembrance.
It is but a mite, yen may say ; yes, but that mite be-
comes a medal, when it falls from a nation's hands.
" When a nation is called upon to come forward, as on
this occasion, if it does not subscribe fir the living, it sub-
scribes for a tomb, for a widow, for a child, for a funeral.
The tardy subscription is then a token of self-reproach, of
remorse—an act of reparation for its insensibility or its in-
gratitude. It subscribes to avoid being accused by posterity
of killing her great men, like Jerusalem, and then simula-
ting piety and tears on their ashes.
" These are the characteristics of a national subscription ;
it has never been repted disgraceful but in my case. And
why ? Because people change the meaning of words as they
happen to be applied to men whom they wish to lower or to
exalt, according to their love or .to their hatred. Yet if this
matter is disgraceful to me, how can you explain it being
glorious to others? For instance, how could a man who not
only was patriotism personified, but was disinterestedness
itself—Dupont de l'Eure—how could he accept the sub-
scription of his department to endow him with the estate of
Rouge Perrier? How could M. Lafitte have accepted, be-
sides the royal acquisition of the Foret de Bretuil at the
price of 6,000,000 f., the popular subscription of 1,000,000 f.
to preserve for him his hotel in Paris ? How could the
family of the illustrious General Foy accept 1,000,000 f.,
penny by penny, from the people ? Finally, how could the
Comte Chambord himself have accepted from the French
nation the subscription destined to present him with the
estate and castle of Chambord ? He who was then the pre-
sumptive heir of the Tuileries, of Versailles, of Fontaine-
bleau, of a civil list of 30,000,000 f., and of a throne! Su .h
names and such honourable examples should undeceive you
as to the pretended ignominy of a national co-operation to
liberate or to endow a citizen—or even a King!
"Shall I saps/that is ignominious in this affair? It is to
be discussed; well, that disgrace I accept—l drink it like
water. And why ? because its bitterness is for me alone, it
will be sweet to others. When sorrow is a sacrifice, it brings
its own rewards.

" M. de Lamertine is un-v-irilly of an honorary sub-
scription, unworthy, as thc ancients used to say, of water
and salt, because he rna4e the revolution of 1848 ?' Do you
know who are the people who say that ? The authors of the
Revolution of 1830. I should like to know why those who
made the Revolution of 1830 should reproach me with
having destroyed their revolutionary work by making ano-
ther revolution. But I do not accept unmerited honour;
no, I did not plot, nor make, nor desire to make a revolu-
tion in 1848. What brought on the Revolution of 1848
was the Parliamentary coalition of 1840, the banquet agita-
tion of 1847, and the accusation of the Ministry. I combated
the coalition; I refused to take part in the banquets; I turned
away with disgust from the proposal of accusing the Minis-
try. No; history will say, and the Moniteur will prove,
that I did not make the revolution. When the revolution
was accomplished I made the Republic. The Republic re-
strained, legitimated, moderated the revolution. This 13
the truth, and it is the glory of the Republic. It would be
dastardly in me not to acknowledge it, now that the
Republic is in the dust, insulted by those whom she then
shielded with her name and her protection.
"Did I then, in common with others, render services In
preserving order, public and private property, society,
peace, and the security of citizens and nations? It is not
for me to answer. All I can vouch for is, that I had the
desire of serving all classes without exception by reconciling
them to each oiler. I was not sparing of the sweat of my
brow, nor my responsibility, nor my blood, for those who
now haggle over their hateful centimes.
"Lastly, there are enemies who, under a hypocritical mask,
and with the honeyed language of false friendship, go
spreading about from house to house, from one newspaper
to another, from Paris to Lodon, the most effective calum-
nies against my real friends at Marian, in Paris, and in
London ; they whisper literally what you repeat in your
double-faced manifesto—' You are Larnartine's friends, so
are we; and precisely because we are his friends we recom-
mend you to elwe your band, your ears, and your heart to
the appeal of his friends in France and in England. This
man has squandered sums inherited from his ancestors or
acquired by his labour. Do not throw into the sieve of the
Danaides the sums which his unlimited extravagance de-
mands ! What has not Fiance given him 9 fie% hAF
not Nut:mat:sre.! 9 j tag
mire_ prodigality.t ftrecd !,.-jets,hhirrs
epsetraitsch;
hl ms
in
et sell aorttha
ranch more than his debts, but which will be thus reduced
to little or nothing; let his honour, his creditors, his tenants,
his family perish with him. Drown him in 1858, in order to
rescue him in 1860. That is real kindness, that is the real
subscription ; it c,sts you nothing, and gives to indifference
the appearance of friendship.'
" You may think that I invent this language. No, sir, I
do not invent—l repeat. A certain number of persons who
are deceived, and many deceivers, spread these insinuations
as avowed truths.' You, yourself, sir, credit them, since you
repeat theta in:your article. You even add that M. de Chateau-
briand—a man of fir greater genius, and who was at least a
man of honour (which implies that I am not)—M. de Cha-
teaubriand would have preferred submitting to the severest
privations, rather than have debased himself to mendicancy;
this implies that I am a mendicant, with Foy, Lafitte,
Dupont de l'Eure, and others, and with Chateaubriand

" I suppose you are ignorant of the fact that M. de
Chateautirtand opened a subscription in 1818 to sell at a
fancy, price by a lottery his estate and residence in the
Val ee aux Loops. Of this lottery only three tickets were
taken, and, be it said to the honour of that day, by three
political enemies. You have perhaps forgotten that the
Restoration paid his debts twice, and that I have never
allowed any Government to pay mine; you also forget that
M. de Chateaubriand was four times Ambassador and once
Minister, with salaries amounting to 300,0001. per annum in
his principal embassies, besides expense, paid at each mission
to the amount of half as much again. You also forget that
M. de Chateaubriand was named Peer of France by the Re-
storation, and that with that title he received the pension of
a Peer, which is an income in itself. Finally, you omit that
Ciiateaubi iand opened, very honourably, a subscription for
the purchase of his pastliwrions memoirs, at the price of
500,000 E, to pay his last debts, and make him an annuity of
20,000 E, of which 1:2,000f. were to revert to his widow.
Thus his country, by the hands of Royalty or of friendship,
amply rewarded the great writer for his services, and the
great man did not blush to receive that reward. You must
give up the ill-chosen example of M. de Chat( aubriand if you
hope to crush me by the comparison with his stoicism.
" From modesty I repel all comp bison with his genius,
and from pride I can accept none with the rigourism of his
poverty. Neither the Restoration, nor the Government of
July, nor the Republic have paid my debts or cast their
millions iiito my fortune, and there are statesmen living who
can testify that I have refused offers made to me. Leave me
my debts, but leave me my character. I have Ervcd with-
out hire. _ _ _

" As to the pretended dilapidation of my supposed 'fabulous
fortune, inherited from my fa'hers or acquired by my intel-
lectual labours'—and as ti the unlimited extravagance' of
my private life, I have only one word to say—come and see
my home. When one has painfully consented to have one's
life discussed publicly even as to its most domestic details,
one must throw open the doors which are usually closed
on private life. I inhabit in Paris a small retired house
in a court in an obscure quarter of the town, a house
which one of those who censure me would think too
humble for his steward or his porter. I lead there the life
of a lai»urer of the brain, who lives by his earnings, between
his family and his trade. I there receive some few friends,
the constant and faithful attendants on bad fortune. I
shorten the evening. conversation to lengthen the morrow.
I gain upon sleep a few hours of study ; I have given
up from economy my horses, which I loved as companions
of my youth and of my travels; I have kept a few dogs,
who repay by love a morsel of bread, and whose tender
fidelity seems as a protest against the faithlessness of men.
Such has been my life for these last ten years. Send spies
to examine my extravagant awl unlimited prodigality.'
Aly
thet same
explorers of my luxury.
same life in a more roomy
hlnom ueie willco ungtirvye theilelaied to
house; a man of study by night, by day a peasant; well-to-
do, or, if you will, opulent patriarch, surrounded by a
numerous class of honest labourers, who are as a second
family, the care of whose comfort is confided to me—rich
when I am rich, in years of abundance ; poor from my
poverty, when crops fail in bad seasons. Add to this a few
faithful servants, born, bred, and now growing old in my
house, serving even without wages when necessary—another
which I can never discard until the roof
yell falls on them and me. This is my luxury
of the heart ; is it for the people to condemn
m—wa dieloti?pc
ihtsi vsaeh
lieulfxtacumrrsisl
" Whence, then, may you say, can these enormous debts
have arisen, tlee amount of which startles and confounds
even the all-powerful affection of a nation ?
" In the first place, sir, these debts are not so enormous
by a million at least as they are represented to be, in order to
increase my guilt by increasing my distress. In the second,
e
they are not the result cf dilapidation nor of unlimited
from two causes—the first is, that the family
estates which I inherited were burdened with legacies, to
dxebtr!asysapgrainngce,of which you have seen the inanity. These
pay which I was obliged to mortgage the estates to the same
large amount. I have not added a farthing to their burden.
Filiall con fpeisestythmatislledomuge. I was wrong in the eyes of goodht then to have sold my property.
calculators in retaining, ameliorating, and adding to the
lands, the fields, the vineyards of my fathers.
"As for the second cause, it is not for me to speak of it.
When, after my death, my administration may he examined,
I maybe blamed with reason for having been led away by
feeling, but my memory will not be insulted. Is there not a
madness which has been called holy ; this folly of the heart,
I own, would be culpable if it endangered the interests of
my creditors, honest and lawful every one of them. But I
have always been careful to keep, in land or its literary pro-
perty, a pledge which, well sold, would be far more than
equivalent to my debts; no tisk is incurred by any one but
myself. The only thing necessary is to find with time fair
purchasers for my eata'es, to prevent them being cut up
and sold for Lo ping to a set of dealers in furrows, who,
like vultures, scent a corpse beforehand in the midst of
the ruins of a fortune.
"If the subscription opened by my generoes Mends at
NIFcIP, in Paris, and in London is filled up, even slowly
and imperfectly, and if my literary labours continue to
second their efforts, all may yet be well.
"If the subscription should fail, thanks to indifference
and calumny, and if my friends reap only a harvest of in-
sult for 1110 in tt land where they hoped to gather an offer-