The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-03-07

not a man, they solemnly conclude, to cope
with the difficulties of the new situation and
consolidate the results of revolution in per-
manent institutions, being too theoretical, too
visionary, too much given to surveying public
affairs from elevated points. In a word &C
cording to these sages. he thought too much
and tried to see things too broadly and TOO
truly, and was, hence, disqualified for becom-
ing q successful man of action. Egregious
and insufferable nonsensel The world has
been too long imposed upon by this preten-
tious stupidity which presumes greatness in
thought to portend failure in action, and
steadiastS narrowness of mind to be indispeu-
sable to practical success. If NJ de Lamar
tine failed-and, judged by the common
criterion, he did stupendously fail-it was
not from excess, but from imperfection
OF thought, not from taking too wide, but from
taking too limited view of things. The
fault of his craftsmanship was the limitary
nature Of its subjectivity. He too much looked
into his own heart as the faithful mirror of
| the outward world. But unsuccessful as he
was, he will not suffer by comparison with
some Of the most practical politicians, and
some of the most notable men of faction, of his
own or of previous epochs. Cavaignac, who
succeeded him at the head of the late French
republic, was no theorist, no doctrinaire, but
plain soldier-statesman; complete failure
nevertheless. And consider that most pro-
digious man of action whom France has pro-
duced. To what did he come One year
he is in Moscow with five hundred thousand
men at his back, threatening the humiliation
of the most powerful of his enemies, the
Muscovite empire; the next year he is with
out army, without crown, and his country
shakes from border to capital under the trium-
plant tread of his Muscovite pursuers. There
was no failure in the observation-disclosures
career comparable in disaster aid wofulness
to this. His victories were all bloodless. and
his defeats entailed no horror and humiliation
upon his country. But suppose that they are
compared with reference to the vitality of
the political systems of which they dreamt
Here again the result is against the prodigy of
action. Napoleon's system rested fundamen-
tally upon arbitrary force. NJ. de Lamartine
aimed to construct a system which should
rest fundamentally On the laws of thought
and on the abiding principles Of social evolu-
ton. 1t is needless to say which is the truer
foundation. Thought ultimately governs |
the world society is a predestinate growth. |
Napoleon was unquestionably great thinker: |
he could not otherwise have become SO great
in action. But we suspect that history will at |
last coneede that NJ. de Lamartine was a
greater thinker, and in his sphere even greater
IN action. 1t was not simply his dazzling ap-
pearance in French literature that brought
him into the political prominence which
marked him for the leading spirit in the
third French revolution. It was partly the
political sagacity which the French public
believed they discerned in his splendid work,
the history of the Girondins, and partly the
aptitude for meeting practical questions
which he seemed to manifest in the
French Assembly. With all his infirmities of
temper, and they were Ioften pitiful enough,
he was, while as bright and as eloquent as
Chateaubriand, a sounder thinker upon
some matters Of practical statesmanhsip
and, altogether, one ofthe most extraordinary
men whom France has produced in the pres
ent century. Yet this man has, while still liv-
ing, twice died so to speak, to his own fame and
popularity He is not a solitary Instance.
The annals OF literature and Of politics TEEN
with similar instances. How then, are we to
estimate the justice or the longevity of con-
temporary fame? The wisest man will regard
it simply as a phenomenal fact and will at
tach to 1t no decisive and final significance
The celebrated and popular man of to-day
may be justly infamous tomorrow. On the
other hand, the fame that is darkened today
may at some future time shine out before the
admiration Of the world like the classic origin
Al of palimpsest which is at length brought
70 light again by the placement of the bar
oarous legends with which it was OVERLAND.
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