The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-01-10
ii. Dufaure:

MI! Dufaufes
The following excellent sketch Of tliis
| eminent man, who seems to be the lead
er of the combination which is giving
to President Theirs such effective sup
port, is condensed from Lrery Sdt,U-
day:
M. Dufaure belongs to a generation
than which his country has never seen a
better. Born after the collapse of an
cient France, the men belonging to it
grew up in the heroic age of modern
| France, and after witnessing the unriv-
| aled military tri1mphs of their country
as admiring and enthusiastic spectators,
| themselves were instrumental in proCur-
ing to it a more peaceful yet no less en-
viable glory-the glory of political elo-
quenoe and of literary and artistic af-
ter-seasoh by no means unworthy of the
France of Racine and POussin. Neither
| France herself, nor indeed any other
country in Europe, has, perhaps, expe-
rienced period of intellectual bloom
more abundant or more brilliant than
that which extended from 1929 to 1889,
when the sons of the men of 1889 were
in their prime. This was the time when
Lamartine and Beranger, Victor Hugo
and A. de Musset, Vigny and Barber,
delighted the whole world with their
verses; when Theirs and Mignet, Guizot
and Aug. Thierry, Michlet and Quinet,
set to work to renovate history, and pre-
sented the choicest specimens of the diff
fcult art of narration; while Villemain
and Sainte-Beuve created literary criti-
cism, till then unknown in France.
Merimee and Stendhal, G. Sand and
Balzac, wrote those charming novels
which will be admired as long as a sense
of what is true, delicate, and refined
exists; A. Dumas and Scribes plays
never been amused and interested be-
fore; Auber and Halevy showed them
selves no unworthy followers of Gretry
and Boieldieu, and Ingres and Della
croix became the .unrivaled masters of
modern painting they have remained,
their eminence not having been since at
tanned, still less surpassed, by any ar
fists in Europe.
He entered political life at the age of
"a, when he had already an experience
knowledge. NJ Dufaure never indulg
ed in the general defect of French ora
tors-that of discussing abstract princi-
eloquence and prolixity, when they do
not passionately appeal to passion. Be-
sides, from the very beginning of his
career, he never undertook a cause of
the Justice of which he was not satisfied,
and this conscientious feeling, added to
great ostensible piety and habits of ex-
treme order and rigid economy, consid-
ering his great wealth, soon gave him
fO, Oh 1,IC l.
though four times Minister under Louis
Philippe, Cavaignac, Louis Napoleon
and NJ. Theirs, yet he never incurred
those accusations of inconsistency and
apostacy which the French spend so law
ishly upon their men in Office. Instinc-
lively even his adversaries-and the
stern, unsympathetic man has more enc
mics than friends-felt that he was serv-
ing his country before all, and, if not
Indifferent to questions of form, at any
rate always placed the interests of
France above those of party.
NJ Dufaure is one of those men whom
one is astonished to meet with in France
and among Catholics. 1t seems so much
more natural that he should have been
born in England or Scotland and
brought up with puritanical Protestants.
Yet this type, though rare, is not entire
ly unknown to those who are familiar
with French history NJ. Dufaure is a
descendant of that nOblesse dc robe
which brought forth Pasquier and l.
Hopital three hundred years ago. With
a great contempt for appearances he
combines q strict observance of conven-
tional laws. Unamiable-nay, harsh in
his manners; as well versed in the law,
but more refined in his general culture
than M. Dupin was, he is no less shrewd,
under an outward appearance OF vlrtu-
Gus simplicity than the celebrated Pro-
cureur General beneath his uncouth
rustic exterior.
Even the outward appearance of the
man. low in stature, inelegant, and all
devoid of grace, has more i'll it
of an Independent preacher in a
Roundhead camp than of a modern poll
tician in French Parliamentary Assem-
bly,. His eloquence is of like charac-
ter. NJ. Dufaure uses no gestures. His
nasal mOnotOnous voice is as devoid OF
animation or emotion as his discourse is
of flowers of rhetoric or redundant am
plifcation; but SO great is his power of
augmentation, so complete his know
ledge of the matter he treats, so mani
fest his feeling of conviction-there is
such clearness of deduction, such COM
mand of law-that finally nobody can
doubt that justice is on his side; and,
as he was at the bar, SO he showed him.
self in the tribune. M. Dufaure always
belonged to the Left Center, where the
best men in the land-nay, the only
men who are above the questions of
form, party, and dynasty-are wont to
sit under all possible governments. New
er was he known to desert the cause of
hberty-of that liberty, at least, which
is not to be obtained by revolution.