Washington telegraph., 1853-06-15
Speech OF Victor Hugo.
A RUMPET-C GALL TO FRANCE

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VICToE HUGO had been requested to pro-
hounce, in the name of all, the last farewell.
His discourse was as follows:
CITIZENS The man to whom we have
come to say the last farewell, jean Bosuuet,
of Tarn ct Garonne, was a noble soldier of
democracy We have seen him an inhexi-
bic exile, waste away sorrowfully among US.
A yearning for home was gnawing at his
heart; he felt that the recollection Of all he
had left behind him was slowly poisoning
him he mi ight have seen again his absent
friends, the beloved places-his native city,
his house he had but to say word. The
execrable humiliation which NJ. Bonaparte
calls amnesty, or pardon was offered to him;
he honestly rejected it, and he is dead. He
was only thirty-four yeaIs Of age, and now,
there he lies.
viii not add praises to this simple life,
to this grand death. Let him repose in
peace in this obscure grave. where the earth
will soon cover him, and whence his soul
has gone to seek the eternal hopes of the
tomb.
Let him sleep here, this republican and
let the people know that there are still proud
and pure hearts devoted 70 its Gauss. Let
the republic know that men will perish ra-
ther than forsake her. Let France know
that men die because they can see her no
more.
Let him sleep, this patriot, in the land Of
the stranger, And we, his companions in
conflict and in adversely, we who closed bis
eyes; if his native city, his family, his
friends, ask US: Where is he ?'' we viii
answer, Dead in exile ~ as the soldiery,
when the name of Latour d'Auycrgne was
called, answered, Dead on the field of hon
or ~
Citizens: To-day, in France, apostacy is
joyous. The old land of the 18th Of July
and 10th of August, assists at the hideous
spread of treason, and at the triumphal march
Of traitors. Not one unworthy action which
is not Immediately rewarded. A mayor
breaks the law-he is made prefect; SOL
der dishonors his fag-he is made gener-
al; priest sells his religion--he is made
bishop; Judge prostitutes iust;ce-he is
made senator a prince, an advcnturer,
commits every crime, from the base trick
which would shame pickpocket to the cru.
city which would make an assassin shudder
and he becomes an emperor. Around
and about these men are the sounds of tri-
umphal music, banquets, and dancing, ad-
dresses, applause, and genufexions. !Servil-
ity comes to congratulate ignominy.
Citizens. These men have their festi-
walls; well-we, too, have ours. When one
Of the companions of our banisbment, vast
ed by inconsistencies, exhausted by the slow
favor of old habits broken up, and affections
lacerated. gives way at last, and dies after
having drunk to the dregs all the agonies of
prescription, we follow his bier covered with
black cloth we come to the side of his
grave; we, too kneel not to success, but
to the tomb; bend over our buried brother,
and we say to him Friend we congratu-
late thee because thou hast been valiant:
we congratulate thee because thou hast been
generous and intrepid we congratulate thee
because thou hast been faithful we congrat-
ulate thee because thou hast offered up to
thy republican faith the last breath of thy
body, the last pulsation of thy heart we
congratulate thee because thou hast suffer-
ed; we congratulate thee that thou art deadn'
Then we raise our heads again, and we
move away, our hearts full of a sombreloy
Such are the festivals of exiles This is
the austere and serene thought which is
at the bottom Of our souls; and in the pres
ence of this sepulchre, of this grief which
seems to swallow up a man, the presence Of
this appearance of annihilation, we feel
ourselves strengthened in our principles and
in our convictions. The man whose mind
is made up, never treads more firmly than en-
the shifting soil Of the tomb. And our eyes
fixed upon this dead body, upon this being
who has faded away, upon this shadow
which has vanished, we unshaken believers,
gloryify that which is immortal, and that
which is eternal Liberty and God. Yes
God. Never should tomb be closed,
until this great, this living word has fallen
into it, The dead claim it, and we are not
the men to refuse it. Let the free and reli-
gious people among whom we live under
stand well, that the men of progress, the
men of democracy, the men of revolution,
know that the destiny of the soul is two fold;
and that abnegation they show in this life
proves how profoundly they rely upon one
another
Their faith in this grand and mysterious
future resists even the repulsive spectacle
which the enslaved Catholic clergy has pre-
sented since the second of December. At
this moment. Roman papism startles the hui
man conscience. Yes, l say it, and my
heart is full of bitterness when think of
so much abjectness and shame; those priests
who, for money, for places, for crosses and
mitres for the love of temporal goods, bless
and glorify perjury, murder and treason !;
these churches, where Te Deunzs are sung
in honor of crowned crime; yes, these church
es and these priests would be enough to
shake the strongest convictions in the firm