New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-06-24

written BY himself All his works praise him. He
YVES born at Bois, May 20 1875. tie died ~
Paris, Nay 90, 1856.
IAMARTINE has communicated, in advance, to
the Sifoie newspaper come chapters OF one OF Ms
Entreti.ms L,nerairss for the year 1857, his "fa
"niliar Conversations' On Lord Byron, telling ms
what influence the brother poet had on himself,
what he thinks of his writings, how be came "
know them, and incidentally giving some striking
trstr of the intellectual condition OF France under
the fret Napoleon. / cannot refrain IRON quOtlng
| 4 massage or two from the historical part OF this
admirable essay:
"The ls of Brumaire, the work of soldiers, could
opl, p,ouj.e them O.ters serve sodatesque liter
AZURE, What place ras there for true poet during
| that period Of dictatorship and of the monopoly
which could tolerate no other enthusiasm than
that of military glory. Then was the reign OF poe'
lourtote it could Lot be the reign of true bsrds.
| Everything had to be measured by the master,
even we're; everything had to be disciplined
even genius. Accordingly poetic genius-whicn De-
void oil others has need OF freedom, because 1t ga
| dsin all the reign Of arms. -,
Napoleon had Ih,mers, but no poet His
Homer Was Luce de La1cival. 1as 9aty aver
| HI, fall has fzile and k.s tomb. thai h 6scdme
poetic The ,pirit Of oppo.ition to the Bouroons the
itary spirit dethroned the revolutionary spirit dis
spponieo the spirt of di.paraging the Restoration
the national spirit that feels the need OF vengeance
The spirit Of strvi,y that feels the need Of al roll
finally tie epic or lyric spirit that feels the need OF
the catasrophes of fortune gave 10 the epoch histo-
rsDs and true poets-Beranger, Segur, There, Hugo,
MsIzori-Byron himself. Some from admiransn,
cone from ms papimous pity raised literary monu-
| uents TO NapoleOn-but over bis grave hiie ne
| rsl.o he would hot huve permitted them to write;
| and they would not have sung him. moral opPre,-
sion weighed upon the human mind. Wnen book 10
an off,nse or a crime, how can We hope for mares-
| pieces Of literature"
.sucL then, was the condition of the public mind
| in Europe when the frst pages Of Byron fell from
heaven into my garret-ehan ber
"Urder the Empire, Macon [Lamartines birth
place, was depot for Spanish prisoners. young
English officer named Kearney, ade prisoner III Spain,
ftquenttd my father house. He had begun 10 teach
NJ. the Epglirh language. The high police, ia hut
polce/, which neglected noting, not even boy of
sixteen in a country town, informed, know not
bow that the Of family attached to the Bour-
boIs taking f. glish lessons from Spanish prison.
er OF war The Project, Al. de ROujoux formerly an
in the Assemblies, man full OF consideration
III tie az nnistraton Of bis desp0tsm, which was tenn
ptrtd by iLdulgent tolerate n, came To read TO my
ather the letter Of the Minister of Police who or Tered
him 10 carefully watch dangerous an abuse OF lnd-
,tudy of FL elisb Nv father having innocenty asked
what could be the motives of this prohibition, he was
harkly answered, that England being the enemy OF
En- pne, AID that the liberty of the press and o;
speech in England being vehicle OF ideas and OF
ire, ocm oppOs ed to the ab.olue regime the Emperor
woud be panied to see young persons oi fanny gii'ed
with ally literary faculty, entering INTO communication,
trcUp the English language with ideas ana ln-tltu-
toDs abt8e oDistic to bis Government.
This was the cOntne 81 blockade applied to the IN
telltct. Everything has its connection IN tbs world
Let Il word come Ill, and al idea comes M WIN the
ioea comes murn ur; the murmur 10 iolo~ed ny Il
lCyolI ton. Napoleon not only a great captain
be- was a great logcian If absoutsm. 1t astonlshes
Us that the liberals from 1878 TO 1880, historians, Jor'
palbts orators or poets, who have constructed the
.ophsin of Napoleon precursor of freedom, in order
to in,titule the ColatIy OF his name have not aotted
to Lin II il merit. 1t was better deserved than tina OF
liz pretended liberalism 10 every man his part. Inc
slme man cannot be Cesar and Cato.
And yet daring the tfteen years OF the Restoration,
palii,s coasc,d TO construct, at the common expense,
tits sopbism of Caesar liberals. And why should they
low fnd fault with the wind that NM the lower popI.
lar sails hose breath first sw,lled this wind 1t
was the false Histories ard their false Dithyram6u'
The people, capable of enthusiasm but Lot OF criticism,
to-, til, at their word. This is not the fault OF the
rople II the fault of historians and OF poets whose
otiCe It was ~ have had good sense for the people.
This it seems to me, is eminently the philosophy
Of the history OF NapoeOnism since the fall OF Ma
poleon Republicans, Or'eanists and Lrgttimst'
have in turn, for parry purposes, and as an nstru
ment of opposition, lauded NapOlconism and
clicked the liberal ideas of ~ and of succeeding
years under that title because of its lining Of ma
tionrl glory and so largely helped to prepare the
incoming of Napoleon ILL.,, for whom they had not
the slightest love or respect. With the poets
there was more generous spirit mingled with the
spirit of party opposition. How that generosity
Las been rewarded let Hugo in exile ana Beran
ger in mOurpiul silence, bear witness. F0rtu-
uately the present Napoleon does not count among
Lie acts or qualities-thOugb some of them are, |
hold, emineptly good in an administrative point
Of ,ew-aUy that can serve as themes pr0yoca-
tive Of poetry although for lamentable quantity
Vi heavy aid feeble verse, he is, as occasional
cause, answerable. Tout Sc tem dams te
monde" says Lamartirs. Good. In the very
NoIoIeOIic stanzas of Hugo and Beranger, in the
peril de OF Foy and Berger and Manuel, underlying
the NapoeOnic spirit which has worked its
WORK, is spirit of protest against oppression,
effectively spirit Of freedom still at work. In
their writings in the writings of the foremost his
toriaLs and philosophers and poets Of the day, the
great idea gets more and more developed that the
true grandeur lies in the people--that your great
neD (aLd let the great man have all due honor,
your greatest man, does but resume, does but put
into shape AID action, the mere or less articuate,
but clearly felt want and purpose of the people.
Some one nan, Louis Napoleon or other may re.
sumo much Of this want aud idea and realize it,
- TO satisfy the people for time-fOr his life
tine, il il be not too long, Meantime he is keep
ing Lack The realization the expression eyen of
other growing wants and IDEAS the resumption
and fulfliment Of hich is, thank Heaven, not in
heiiable. The grand march of improvement that
trsmlled down Louis Philippe, when be grew old
aud tiff, jont,d and would not keep up with it,
that broke into quiek-step in ie4'-thc grandest
movement since 1859 let Foolish, short.sighted
sItiDets say what they will of its being failure
lis still in motion. The people are resting now,
but they are keeping step, they are marking time:
when destiny, Providence gives the word, they
Will march sgaiD. Woe, then, TO lmoeclles;
woe TO the stf-necked in their pride of high
places; woest Napkins IN minority who think 10
stay their course
lUiybSis History of the Consulate nd the