Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-11-25
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
NOTES on NEW BOOKS.

rise u French Revolutionary Eoquence, and tie Orators
eftds Groadists, b, J. T. HEApLrr. Edited by G. II
CoLToS, ejth Notes and iosraphicqiQ6ae1dq. Wustra
1d New York Baker & Scribner. ls47." l2mo
PIP. $751;
We have here book worthy, in the original Of
attention. and even in the disguise of its translation
OF such interest for the actual moment that we may
dedicate 10 il more than one article.
Bur as, where one has to deal with version, the
translator and his competency the first things to
be considered, we will in the outset-having mean
while glanced through Cormenin's own unmurdered
French-tak OF the manner in which il has been
made into English.
In his Preface, our Interpreter favors us with a
discourse on the lnadequacy Of our language, as now
generally used. 10 convey the more artu construc-
tons OF he be.ter-developed French, or the sense
OF terms themselves, in a tongue where tile dia.
ecs OF politics and administration have been car
ried 10 perfection which our unfortunate English
is far from having reached 1t is he ssys, " to
direct The thoughtful readers attention to this COM
'paratiye deficiency, not alone OF our political, but
also OF our popular and literary vocabulary" that
he has IN part gone about this undertaking. "Or
rather, continues he " It was 10 inculcate, by a
slight example, the most efficient, perhaps, or at
least the most available mode OF gradually supply
ing it mean Intelligent translation" He in
tends, in short, 10 make himself a benefactor of our
poor old veruacular, and quite to set it up in the
world by what he will do for it. "Translaton,"
proceeds he, :. amongst US, land the reproach may
be extended TO England since il has become
mere handlcrail, is but wretched travesty-at
leastIn books of the estheticai kind. Especially
is this the with versions from the French, in
consequence chiefly OF the disparity Of develop
ment alluded 10 between the languages.
After such annie raj snu nj The nv
munihcent promises, what must the reader think
when he.inds The translation thus modestIy herald
edoRe OF the wors; that COMPOUNDED an authors
sense and style! The thing is one Of the rarest
XaIlples that cuud be of that monstrous trick Of
our times. by which feons, 10 conceal their crimes,
cxpaate, in their eZordiums, on the very virtues
which they are about 10 violate the most. Thus
sposmen now preach public integrity, corruption
lists reform, hereditary oliice-seekers rotation with
tie salnii,es uncsion and the loudest twang of the
nose. Thus Cen Jackson always prepared by
demonstration III favor of Strict Construction some
invasion of the Constitution Thus Mr.. Van Buren,
and his present gracious Excellency paved the way
10 their uneXampled waste of the public money by
dilating upon economy and Gen. Csss, had he
been elected, would no doubt have discoursed upon
exorbitant allowances made TO public men. Each
housebreaker nowadays, carries thus, as tools of
his trade, Paley's Ethics and Cicer0's Offices, along
with his false keys, as pck-locks equally necessary.
1t our illustrations appear harsh, can only say
that this young author (such we Judge him to be)
deserves them thrice over irstior the presumption
with which he sets up his uuPrac!sed pen as sort
OF sceptre over language secondly, fur the insults
which he filings in the face of ransators generally
thirdly, for his own Ill trauslauons. Two samples
OF his sovereign suPerciiIuusness may serve: Talk
ing Of idolns and their rise or decay in language,
he propounds, joctorially, the following Judgment:
i'Already, no English writer would venture 10 use
the greater part Of even the famous idioms Of Adj
olson, though still canting about them mechani-
caly, the last projections Of the language" In
another place, after having declared tina, this very
book Of CormeaIn is perhaps the most difficult in
any language to translate he adds, in italics, as to
his OWE execution of the task "Ihe icfion is Eng
hSh tae thought IS thGt Of The author, not mere
'iy IL sUbsiaace, bW eren FORM We do noise
how II is possible TO claim 10 have done more, in the
version OF even the very easesrendcred Of authors,
than he here assumes with confidence, as TO per-
haPs The most difficult Of authors
Well, let us see few specimens from this re-
dlscoverer Of the lost art Of translation. Speaking
OF The wonders which Eloquence can no longer per-
form, under tie cold and mechanical governments
OF nowadays, Cormenin says /; Mas alors, un
dictateur poPulalre, IN trbun, un Danton, par Ia
Hu'sSohN'' "a ~ uP sa parole,
: iasait marcher six cen, mile hommes reietait
'Peranger audea de nos frontieres, aba,tat des
caiegorles De proscrts, remust les provinces
'Jusque dams leurs fondemens, ct improvisait des
armees, dcs irlounauX, DIES lois ct des constitu-
tons"
This is an animated passage, the words full of
movement, and eliminating in their energy, 10 give
a kind Of initiative idea of the vehemence and yio
lence of the orator himself. 1t is, indeed, quite
striking piece Of description, but for the bemish of
one cold and far-ieched phrase-that of "categories
OF prescribed people," Observe, now, how il is
tanned or lost IN the version " But in those DAYS
4 popular dictator, tribune, Danton," ii would
have been the truth, il the translation to
say at once ian omnipotent demagogue, ripe for
any crime, and welding by superior wickedness,
the minds OF all the worst men in France by the
power, the energy, and the action of his oratory,
could put III motion an army of six hundred thou
sand men, repel foreign invasion beyond the
frontiers, demolish whole ca:egories Of outlawed
persons, STIR up provinces TO the Utmost reccsses,
and create, IS by magic, armies, tribunals, laws,
and constitutions" Now, "power and energy"
approach to tautology faction " in no manner ex-
presses cnianiemCn:,' which refers to the tremen-
dous birth. with throe and travail OF armed hosts
slaughterous tribunals, sanguinary laws, and fatal
constitutions, which them like the horid broods Of
Sin in Milton. tore their way from the womb cf
France, ieemlng with crime. Repel foreign in.
vasiou beyond the frontiers" is not English nor