Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1856-01-15
NlRARRAu..
He lived fory.two years, in which pe

NJ hved Iorty.two year, IN which Pc
Eiod he underwent every species Of pei
secution. was accused Of every sori o
crime, thrown into prison ssveniecI
times by virtue Of a. many lettrss.ds
csehst procured ehis6y by bic owr
father, tried. condemned, sxiled, exscu
ted in sffigy. He tasted tho sweetness
and the bitisfnsss Of every individusl
stream which flows from the fountain oil
humsn passion hs gave the immediate
imPulsion 10 mighty revolution; he
created and directed tho dominsnt opir.
ions Of twenty-five millions Of men fol
two years together, by the single magic
Of ellectudl superiority he was hated,
and feafed, and eouflcd BY sntsgonist
factionsj he triumphed ovsf every oh.
stacle, and avenged himself Of every on.
emy he died an exhausted debauchee,
a proiessed Atheist, amidst the tears and
groans Of thousands, in the bosom OF an
immense popularity and representative
France bore him the FIRST 10 his tomb
within that splendid monument, which
she had raised in gratitude 10 the lovers
Of their country!
France has not equalled England in
poetry. science. or philosophy; but ia
nothing has she come so lar short Of this
island as in political knowledge and
in political virtue. In contact with
Hampden and Lord Chatham, Mirabeau
is nothing; the moral grandeur Of their
characters is not even understood by
Frenchmen.
No man ever mastered the reason and
the passion Of all classes Of people with
such certainty and such steadiness as
Mirabeau: he led mob or an assembly
by different means, but with equal facil.
i.y; he welded the democracy with one
hand. and could, and would, il time had
been given him, have welded the aris.
tocracy with the other; he hit his coun.
trymen between wind and water; he was
Tor a season the intellectual dictator Of
France.
A man gifted with great natural tai.
ents, possessed practically Of almost ev.
cry kind Of knowledge, stimulated by
passionate temper and an ambitious
spirit. was, during the twenty years i'm.
mediately preceding the meeting Of the
States. General, driven, as il were, by
moral necessity to add himself to the
mighty and still increasing multitude Of
those who afterwards effected the Revo.
luton.
Mitabeau had lived in England. read
the English history. and studied the
English constitution he was ambitious
and coveted power; he was profuse and
wanted wealth he was vain and pant.
ed after renown. But Mirabeau had
also injuries to revenge; the most golden
years Of his life he had wasted awsy in
prisons, victim sometimes 10 his own
crimes. but more frequently to the un.
natural persecution Of a peevish father :|
he had meditated deeply on the iniquity
Of system which authorized such tyr.
amy, and he had inflicted two severe
blows upon it by the publication Of his
Essai sur le Despotisme, and his work
Sur les Leltres.de Cachet. He lived to
destroy both the one and the other. 1t
cannot be doubted bu, that much Of his
political conduct at the close of his ca.
reer was the result Of the indignant ami.
mostly, which the gloomy walls Of a
dungeon had cherished in his youthful
breast.-Knight's Quarterly Rsvissc.