Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-10-27
From The Albany Daily Adv.
ACTORSIN TEE SCENE.
No. VII.
BARON SEGvIER,
Late Chancellor of France.

|. We select among the late ministers of
Charles Nth, one who is a fair specimen
of the character Of the others. There
are exceptions, however Polignac,
who has exhibited equal want of discern
mcnt and discretion in his public career,
has at least the merit Of consistency. In
his private life he is said TO be an amiable
and agreeable man, and in future num-
bcr we will give a sketch of the Count
jules, with the hope that it may find the
favor with which our former sketches
have been received by the public.
The Baron Seguer, as far as we can
judge from the facts in our possession, is
the fit instrument Of tyrant.
'The faterer Of the festal hour,
The heartless parasite of present power
He is evidently disciple of the Tai
lcyrand school-one of those who "can
turn and turn and yet 90 on, and if for
tune sometimes deserts him, it is only the
just retributon of his nbject sycophancy.
He was born in 1863, and is the dcscen-
dant of an illusrous family.
His father, Anthony Louis, was the
advocate general of the parliament of
Paris. The predecessors of Anthony
were also distinguished alike for their ell
oquence and legal attainmcnts, and the
French biographer claims for them the
grateful admiration Of their country. A
sad contrast are we obliged to draw be-
tween the past and the present.
The subject of this sketch was from
hisy youth educated for the law and was as
cendng the ladder of promotion, as Dep
uty Attorney General, when the revolu-
tion drove him and his father cut of the
country. Under Napoleon's consular
government, many emigran!s were re-
stored to their native land, among them
was Seguier, who received an appoint
ment connected with his profession. In
1902 he was created President of the
Court of Appeal, and in 1910 President
ofthe Imperial Court. On this occasion
he was made a Baron, and member of
the Legion of Honor. In the days OF
promotion. he was the most servile of the
seryile. He addressed his master in
words like these on one occasion: "Na-
poleon is beyond history, he belongs to
the heroic ages! he is beyond admiration
there is nothing but love which can ele-
vate itself to the contemplation Of his
character!" This was said in 1907.
In 1914 the Baron began to talk of the
tyranny his benclactor, and went over
to the King He was made counsel
lor of state for this demonstration of 10y
atty. When the Emperor returned from
Elba, Seguier was expelled the country,
but on the re-establishment of the Bour-
bons, he resumed his place, and was made
Peer of France.
1t was during the same year that in his
address to the members of his court, he
proclaimed the following sentiments from
the bench: "All authority comes from
God, the people are not allowed to dis
pose oft! A monarch being the image
Of the divinity, no more represents the
people he governs than parent does his
own children. Our ancestors, who were
wiser than ourselves, admitted that Kings
rcigned, not by constitutional authority,
but the grace of God" Our readers
cannot wonder if the French nation has
grown weary of listening to such doc
trines. Yet these have been the incense
offered to Charles X by his besotted min
istry, and these have been the causes Of
the restlessness which that nation has
shown for the last ten years under their
application. An attentive observer will
long since have perceived that nothing
short of Il revolution could eflace the bad
effects of such wilful pervcrscness and
such astonishing misrue. Seguicr, De
Neuville, NilIele, and Corbiere all are Of
the same stamp-incapable of feeling
any of those impulses which warm the
bosom of the philanthropist insensble to
the degradation of human nature, when
it is the sport of tyranny.