The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-06 00:00:00

M. JULES FAVRE

(Front the Paris Correspondent of the Times.)
M. Jules Favre, famous for his eloquence lu the
Legislative Chamber, and at the Bar, of which be Is
the pride and ornament, has just published in en°
volume his inaugural discourses as head of the Order
of Advocates (Batonnier), his memorablepleadhl
for Orsini, and four speeches which he pronounce'
in the Chamber last Session. He is one of the few.,
public speakers whose orations might be printed off
hand without altering a phrase, a word, or eve°
the punctuation. His diction is distinguished for
purity, propriety, and precision. He employs no
words but what belong to the idiom of the laii;
guage, and they are those which are appropriated
by usage to the ideas he has to express. Ile
takes his phraseology purely from the French lan-
guage, and his selection of words is the hapPiet
His style is elegant, flowing, and transparent. -1-u
would be impossible for the severest critic to Pat
any expression in place of the one which he
employs ; and his diction, even when extemPe;
rising, might be imitated by the most careful and
fastidious writer. Few exercise to a greater degree
of perfection the art which, when the speaker has to
express some particularly vigorous sentiment, gives
to impassioned language its more finished farm. gis
i
delivery is always slow, sometimes too much so, an',
his pauses have now and then the appearance of
being too studied. His intonation is soft and
silvery, even when uttering the most cutting sar-
casms, and it is never more musical than when "le
most tortures his victim. In what has been Well
called passionless invective he is a consuminate
master. Of his general powers as a speaker and °f
his peculiar style of oratory, well ags his speeches
read, no one who has not heard him can form an ado:
quate idea. The ear alone can enable one to feel
the effect produced by that gentle and flexible voice'
In his introductory remarks to the present voluele
M. Jules Favre expresses his regret that the speakers
in the Legislative Body, bound as they are by tue
rules of the House to the literal reproduction of their
speeches in the Jloniteur, cannot recast them as the
deputies and peers of other days could do, and Oil'
lop off what is redundant, corl-ect and polish what
is defective in style, and fit them for future times
;
How many of these discourses would, even in the'
most elaborate shape, go down to posterity, I e 311:
not say ; but of all men he is the one who lea."
needs such a process.
M. Jules Favre long ago pointed out, in his Platt
as deputy, what he considered to be the dangers 0:0t
would result to France from the policy of M.
Bisinark. The victory of Sadowa hasassuredll
modified his opinions. In the preface to his "Or,
he still expresses his uneasiness at the aggrandi'oeof
meat of Prussia, and he praises the perspicacity
the majority of the Chamber in having foreseen id
Nor is he partial to an alliance between France a.
Prussia. He says in his preface,—
" My opinion on the situation of France With rd'
spect to Germany is far from being so simple ; auh
I understand that, after the terrible events whic
have occurred, its expression may have lost its value'
Nevertheless, it will be au honour for the maj°l.l,ts
of the Chamber to have listened to the
which only acquired their full force when the pow",;
ful voice of my hon. colleague, M. Thiers, seconde;
mine, and to have adopted an amendment settil/„
before the Government the perils to which the gr°v,
ing ambition of Prussia exposed France and Ellr°P o
o
I was deeply engrossed with it during the preccdllo,
session, when I earnestly urged efficacious hip
matic interference in favour of our unhapPY ll Yof
Denmark, Who now thinks of that sad triumP".o
force over weakness and right ? Tho conIPl3l of
of betrayed States are stifled under the ruins
the Germanic Confederation, and of monarch'
overthrown or partitioned. The map of Cr.ccri:
many has been remodelled without our par ti
p,tj
pation and in spite of us. A formidable nati°a
and military unification menaces us. We are ,
dained until the time comes for us to be open
ly
fled. We have an answer to make to those prol
cations which prove how well founded were our ft`4lerre
It is, then, useful to repeat them such as they Weol,
uttered before the terrible lesson which Justifies ri,
in order that every man may meditate on the iraPeale
ous necessity imposed upon France by the suPr•
law of her own safety. And it is here that the d;
cussiou of our internal liberties, the demoustr3ticiS
of the narrow bond which unites them to the great-
nesso
and security of the country, appears to Me
especially opportune. Perhaps never was there its
more solemn occasion for a nation to reflect oil • .
•
situation, to invigorate itself, and to call to 11113 d
old manly virtues which it has too much forrttiell;
Trials and reverses have this compensator)" 3civ hich
tage that they force us back to the good froull:1;ay,
the dazzling splendour of success has led us a,
andTo be content with illusions would be crinalualore
foolish. Let us look stedfastly at the way webt let
passed over, on that which opens before us ; 37;0
us march unflinchingly to the point where yr
truth, justice, right, and liberty."
His account of the thoughts which agitated h. t..
when called upon to defend Orsini is worth quo

" This defence bears the trace of the strong fe,'
inns which agitated me when I was brought 13-j
contact with this man, who was legitimately desnee
to a supreme expiation, and to whom, in spite °f t3,lis
magnitude of his crime, one could not refuse
assist }lre
sympathy. When he called Upon me to
I was at first appalled, for well understood tua
struggle which two opposing feelings excited wit,llo
me. The assassin I looked upon with
patriot with admiration ; and I divined that
shadow of the scaffold must, as it came nearer',Cce
111 the 0
face the one to transform the other.
and painful struggle of my conscience I had
other design than to make allowance for this doutu. 0
horror, t!it,
situation, placing above that lamentable drama
aDa
superior interest of the twg nations to which it
pleased God to give this formidable lesson."

Lady Emily Peel arrived in town last evenia
from Genova, Ufr
on her way to Drayton noor, st ,Pl'
shire.