New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-05-28


81 better ininre for our cause, which VIII nov de
with Ms" There y tine ylgor n tbs hope'i',
thoughtful courage Of |p'uasenaran' ho" 'o'
throughout the book there is nothing Little OF uh,
manly: no violence toward enemies, no waste OF
argument merely TO put them 70 the wrong %
complaint over his fallen fortunes. There 10 harry
any display Of mere personal or party ieelns' nc
Occupie. himself with high, general truths.
Speaking of Able Montesquiop's expose Of the
condition IN which France was left by Napoleon,
although il was but faithful picture of the suffer
ings, of the unhesed moral and Iationa Wonh j.
inflicted on the country by immense and e)ntill'ons
Wars, he says: The Able ought to have SHOWN
" the glorious constructions OF the Consulate oy Tue
" side of the merited ruins of the Empire. Even tue
" impression intended 20 be produced by NE "orh
would have gained instead Of losing II; ont m;A
hardly consent 10 praisc thar eHem~s, tetH Jo' u'
g sake Of mjuring Mem.
The following can hardly he called portrait OF
Napoleon; il is without color, but the drawing OF
the grand traits is full of Vi gOr and knowledge oil
anatomy "A genius Dcomparably active ana
"puissant admirable for his horror of disorder, Tor
h.s profound instincts of government, and for his
energetic and efficient rapidly IN reconstructihc
" tie framework Of society. But genius without
" measure or restraint, who accepted no bound set
to BIS desires or his will, by God or men, and who
" therefore wss still revolutionst while combat
" ing the Revolution. OF superior intelligence as
" 10 the general laws Of society. but comprehend
=" inc only mperecty-I will say grossy-the
moral wants OF human hature-now satisfying
them with wonderful good sense, now mstaklnc
" hid insulting them with imperious arrogance. E.
His name will remain greater than his
work. ii which the most liant, his cOnqnests.
suddenly and entirely disappeared with him..
Some traits of Talleyrand are preiaced with this
remark: Il say only what | think, but do not
hold myself bound TO say all think of men whom
E" i have met in passing. Except IN a
great crsls or in a congress. he Iaeyrand wa
neither tkilliul nor powerful. man OF the
"court and diplomacy, not a statesman, and least
Of all of free state, he exceed in treating affairs
with single individuals, by conversation, by the
" charm and skillful use of social relatlons but
weight Of character, fertility of mind prompt
" tude of resolve, power of language, sympathetic
intelligence of general ideas and public passions
" all these great means Of acting on assemblies oil
{" men were absolutely wanting in him.
a." Ambitious and indolent, fattering and naughty,
=" he was a courtier consummate III the art OF pleas
"ng. and of serving without servity; ready tor
" anything, and capable Of every supple cOmpli-
" ance useful to his fortunes, yet preserving the MIR
/" and resumiDg on occasion the manners OF inde-
"pendence; q politician without scruples, ndlffer-
" ent as to means, and almost SO ms TO the end pro-
" vded they led to his personal success; bold, rather
~ than profound in his views; cOolly brave IN
" IeTil."
| pass BY with regret, what he says of Lafayette
and Bcranger and Chateaubriand to leave room for
one or two other extracts, which offer larger sam
pies Of NJ. GuizOts opinions. Treating OF laws on
the press, he writes: Under any form OF govern
" ment political life is combat and should feel no
pleasure. ! will say more, should feel some shame,
a. 10 see myself face to face with mute, chained adj
" versaries." Another general proposition follow.
ing close this is equally severe and susceptible of
fntrn nf
day. NJ. Guizot has no purpose of leaving himself
open to the just reproach he cast upon his fellow
Academicians the other day, Of not making the most
of such liberty is yet left to thinkers and writers.
Referring to the notion with which certain military
and civilian plotters 1attered themselves, that they
were for an important part i'll the causes OF Napo-
Icons return from Elba, he writes: 1.-The self
- conceit of consplratornODgers is infinite; and If
- the event to justify them, they attribute TO
l." Themselves what is the result of canses much
/" larger and more complex than their Vaccinations.
" Ii was Napoleon alone who overthrow the BOur-
- boDs in 1915, evOkng personally the fanatica de-
yOtion Of the army and the revolutionary instincts
" Of the popular masses. France, astonshed, let
:" the event occur, without resistance as without
" confidence. Napoleon, with great good sense,
" then judged OF it himself, renarkng to Count
4" MOlieu: They have let he come as they let
me 60
Of the retrograde party such az is now and in
France represented by the Unirers, and, to some
extent, by the regular organs of the Imperial regime,
he says: at is in our time one of the strongest
proofs Of blindness in this party not to see that
the conditions in which it acts and the means it
employs, are directly contrary to the end it pur
sues, and remove instead of conducting it to that
esd. Ii wants to repress liberty, subdue reason
and impose faith; and it talks, writes. and dis
'cusses if seeks and takes its aims in this system
q" of investigation and publicity which it curses"
On a quite different theme he speaks as follows:
Il know of no greater danger to free institutions
than the blind tyranny which the routine fanatl'
csm of the spirit of party, set or faction affects
to exercise in the name of liberal ideas
NJ. Guizot tells Us something of his literary life III
this volume, but much less than we will hope for in
its successors. What be tells of his historical Ia
bOrs thus far, his writings and his celebrated lee
lures at the SorbOnne, refers chiefly to their rca-
tons with the politics of the day. VI his methods
Of study and literary habits, he gives hardly word
of information 1t is curious to hear HIM cay IN the
first chapter, where he grants us page or two on
his early life: II read German philosophy and liter
AZURE, Kant and Klopstock Herder and Schiller,
much more than Condlac and Voltare.
- passonatey admired Chateaubriand his ideas
/" and his dctiOn." His first literary essay was
very Indifferent epstle il verse;" addressed to
Chateaubriand; and he shortly atterward undertook
the defense of Les Martyrs in the PuJitcia against
the attacks of hostile critics.
If the space given here 10 Guizot's MtmoinS re-
ouires any excuse, il may be- found in the influence
Of the general and unusual degree of interest its pub
LEGATION has excited here. 1t is the literary event Of
the season.
MI GuIzot has left me no space. rs indeed Gov
eminent had left Inc little ability, to speak of Proud
hons new work in three volumes, entitled DE
Ia .Justice dams la RtcoiutiOn ct dane FEgftsc.
After being displayed in the booksellers shops for
=, oil ttpo ,xeaLs aga. and