New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-19

when spesLipg Of himself There ID, however,
little Of this in the Are'h'sem<"s
According to II Theirs, the most desirable quail.
isy OF biptorisn 10 Intelligence. by which word
he seems to understand ssgacity, OF, perhaps PEI
ter sagacious perception. such o ncdsy "ihon
able BIN to give . clear narration CT things ana
events in their logical and chronOlOg cal order and
nre,erre their proportions Of relative importance.
The bishest form Of history 10 clear narrative, scru-
pulousIy faithful to reality. High art may-nay,
should enter into the work of the historan-but
il il the art Of the portrait painter; 1t is Tor the
poet 70 dirpuise real ugpess and invent ideal beau
". This thought is finely illustrated BY com,
parison between Rsphsel's portrait OF Leo and
Raphsels pictures of the Virgin regret that my
piGcLed space does not permit me to quote the en-
tire passage In these few lines, however, think
have reproduced with tOleraele hdeilty the iead
Ing ides Of Thiers's theOry-the realist theory OF
history. 1t is expanded with copious lllustra.
tioD elegantly sDd eloquently, over more than halt
of the es,ay Il is almost free from eg0tism aud
quite free from malice though it can hardly fail to
provoke con PARSONS anything but fattefing to the
careleu-it would hardly be too much to say rock
less-pen and poetic imagination Of Lamartne,
and to the lyric enthusiasm-not to add party zeal
of Michelet. Theirs would have history written
for hstorys sahe; thoughtful reader must learn
philosophy from its examples as he learns from
any event that occurs within the limits OF his clear
observation but he would net have Philosophy Sc.
lectiI and shaping the examples OF history as IL
Illustrations of its Lessons.
was recommending a fe sentences above, 9
foreetfunes. of 81. Theirs political life, SIS means
to fair Judgment of this " advertisement; yet
it should be recalled to lend significance to that
portion of it where be speaks of his views of Ma
poleon. He declares that they have remained I'M
affected by the victtitudes OF his career his per
.onal opinions appear in his book, but they will
be found 10 tie last what they were seen to be in
the first. lie has always been and still is an ar
dent admirer of Napoleon, but a more ardent
friend Of bis country. True greatness and true
liberty he has always loved He has not put OF
these sentiments as q preparation to writing the
history of Napoleon he does not think they have
bissed the rectitude Of his judgment regarding
that great man, but have rather helped to enightea
il. He says:
mo mortal in history seemed to ma to unite IN his
person more powerful and varied faculties than Napo'
leon; and having cow meitaed upon the close OF his
career my feeling rests unchanged. But thought
when commenced bis history, as now think IN TER
min ating IT, that the abuse of those wonderful faculties
buIr him 10 bis fall; aud thought then, as thi1k
TO- cay thst the in petuoity of his genius lacking the
rest1 ANT of curb was the cause of his msforunes
ard of ouIs. While admiriDg him profolndly-whs
e1ptrier chg powerful attraction toward his grand,
vigorous aIdeLt natur always mouae s an Eh inc
that wss left him of giving himsefu to it. precPiael
him into an abyss"
After an eloquent sketch of the SURPRISING
genius of Napoleon, which 10 one is more ready to
recognize, and, indeed, put beyond question, than
M There be persistently recurs 10 the idea that
the unre strained power Of following ones will is
the grsvest Of mi,fortunes:
"Tneee who see In Napoleon only man Of genius,
do moi see all that was in him. We must recognize in
&c fba int eXiatp1.
and yet he finally arrived ct the maddest OF policies
Despottm ust indeed exert q profound iuhuence,
since it could pervert the COED sense OF Nap ,eon
know all the dangers Of liberty and, vast y worse
they who have endtavOred to establish it and have
faieo But there is something still worse; it is the
upe.traintd liberty of action, permitted even to the
beet, even to the wisest of men, But tlls
liberty tn is to hold in check tae power of the uli-
vidual-who, IL turn, is to hold il Ia check un-
hesIetirgly answer: All. am well aware that ns-
ton may sometimes fall into error hsve seen IT. but
it errs less frequently, less completely than one man."
1t needs no wizard to make the application Of
these Wise saws to a modern instance. The allu-
sion-at least the allusyeDess-is rather bold; in
q ne wspsper it might be dangerous to the writer
even today-certainly would have been 40 years
ago. But the surveillance over the book press is
much less severe than over journals, and as great
liberty as this has been allowed (, Villemain
and Guzot in this writings published since the
Coup d'Etot think spoke, on occasion of the
appearance Of one Of Villemains, of the remark
able mental vigor and revived literary activity Of
there ex ministers of Louis Philippe. Their res.
toration to literature should be counted among
the good fruits of the much-calumDi.ted Revolu-
ton Of 164S To return for moment to the
Advertisement of NJ. Theirs, Who wheels off from
the position that vas growing critical with habit
ual ekill With the sentence last quoted para
graph closes abruptly. He begins the next one
with ibis: ~ zee that am forgetting myself,
" and / hasten to declare that l wish to persuade
mo one" Could there be anything more fine
than this characteristic trait Of the witty, shfty,
crafty old Parthiapl For the rest, Theirs has,
personally, small reason to complain Of the pres
emit Government. lie wss himself little better
than . conspiratOr against the Republic. Ex'
ceptiDg the transient imprisonment and exile, the
successful cons pirator, his rival, hiss treated him
well-permitting him the same free access to gov.
eminent archives a. did the preceding Govern
ueDts leaving him to the quiet pursuit of those
studies which, he says, are the caosen occupation
of bis life and when be broke his leg last Winter,
and again when bis wife was slar0IDgly i'll few
weeks since, courteous messages of inquiry and
coincidence were sen: from the Tuieries to st.
Georges Place.
Cisq Cent Mile Francs de R.nte Five Hundred
Thousand Year is the taking title of novel
now in press from the p n Of Dr. Louis VerOn,
the someub bat notorious author of that poor col
lection Of stale anecdotes and staler commonplace
reflections, the Memories dun Bourgeois de Paris.
Were the Doctor to be rechristened, he should be
named Boswell Barnum VerOn, after his love Of
eos.ipiDg, bis boundess self esteem, his utter lack
OF selfTespect, his good nature, and mis- misterly
and successful practice of the art Of humbug
The novel will sell well. 1t may even be quite
readable. 1t purporss to be, under the thin vail of
a fictitious form, the continuation OF the memoirs
aboundipg in just those iDdiscreet revelations the
hope OF finding which led us on to purchase volume
after volume Of that work, and for the withhold
ipg of which in the same the doctor took to him
.elf great credit II is 70 be especially indiscreet