Star.
London, England, 1824-01-31 00:00:00

2.IIRABEAU'S PLAGIARISM.
The Count de Mirabeau was one of those extraordi-
nary and highly-gifted minds which broke to! th in
France in the early stage of her Revolution ; it is al-
most incredible that a genius of his cast, lei tile in elo-
quence as he was, and fill; of resources, should commit
a plagiarism so singular and so curious, as that ‘vhic.:
we are about to record, and that iron) so distingMslied
a public s Titer as Mr. Burke, whose works ale In the
lit rary of every scholar in Europe, and whose Pariia-
entar,y speeches, from their celebrity, would seem to
render detection unavoidable. Yet such is the extraor-
dinary fact. The Count de Mirabeau, in a pobiication
of the year 1788, Aux Balaves sur le Stathourlerat,
thus addresses the Republican party, wh•ise designs
had been overthrown by the Duke of B.unswick's
march into Holland :
" Q.ll si one lutniere prophetique 'eons eta revfile les evenemens
futurs, Its mans que vous avey soulferts, et ceuz que volts souffrez
encore, en cc c..s ineme vous aurlez du prendre la reso!ut" que
volts avez prise, pour pcu que vous eussicz respecte votre gloire, et
vos ancetrcs, et les jugeelicas de la posterite. 0 illustre disgrace !
0 victoricuse defaite! I'uisse cette memorable epoque etre gravie
dans les annales du monde en caracteres itictfac tbles, et st gloire
rzster totijours nouvelle pour vos derniers neveu ! Alf ! Soyez
jamais ignods de quicnnque tie saura pas qu' ayant a conibattre la
tyratiiiie au-detlaus, la force at. &hors, la legerete de vos voisitts,
vous avez succombe en attendant la cau.e tie l'honneur, la cause
d. la Patric, la cause tie l'espece humaine ! Peut-etrt Ia furtune
trioutpliera.t.elle de la renommee, comme elk a triomplie de la
4ertu. Alois votre conscience, du moil's, bravery SCS atteintes, et
le souvenir de cc que you, avez tente habitera sans cease au fond de
vos cceurs; it y reposers curium en on sauctuaire; it n'en aurora
qu'avee la vie."
The Reader will find on comparison that this beau-
tiful buist of oratory is an almost literal translation
into•Firench of the following passage in Mr. B,URK g'S
celebrated speech, made on the 28th of February,l7Bs,
(three years before) on the Nabob of Arcot's debts,
spoken in allusion to Mr. Fox's East India- Bill :
" It is not necessary that the Right Honourable Gentleman
should sarcastically call that time to our recollection. Well do I
remember every circumstance of that memorable period. Goo
forbid I should forget it. 0 illustrious disgrace ! 0 victorious de-
feat! May your memorial be fresh and new to the latest •,ellera-
lions! May the day of that generous conflict be stamped in cha-
racters never to be cancelled or worn out from the tecurtis of
time! Let no man hear of us, who shall not hear, that in a strug-
gle against the intrigues of Courts, and the perfidious levity of the
multitude, we fell in the cause of honour, in the cause of our
country, in the cause 'of human nature itself! But if fortune
should be as powerful over fame, as she has bhrn prevalent over
virtue, at least our conscience is beyond her jutisdiction. My poor
share in the ,support of that great measure no man shall ravish
from me. It shall be safely lodged in the sanctuary of my heart,
never, never, to be torn from thence, but with those holds that
grapple it to life."
Such an instance of plagiarism as this has no prece-
dent in the annals of literature.

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