New-York tribune., 1875-10-16
LIFE IN PARIS.
LETTER FROM ARsENE HOUssAYE.
THE STATUE OF CUATEAUBRIAND-TwO CONTRAST


IFRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.I
PARIS, Sept. 4.--They are at this moment raising
statue in bronze of Chateaubriand over his grave.
This great man, who was neither great writer nor
a great character, was nevertheless touched on the
forehead by genius and in the heart by grandeur OF
sonl. Beaten throughout his life by the hux and
reux of literature and politics, he desired that his
grave might be on the border of the sea, that his
memory might be beaten eternally by the waves.
Under Napoleon III. everybody tried TO do some
thing grand This expression was much ridicued at
the time by unbelievors but it nevertheless the
true expression Of great epoch. Grand things were
done up to the last day, for Sedan was grand DIS
aster. Well Cbateaubriands dreams were grand
lose. This little man. poor and solitary, assumed
conquering airs from his infancy. He proudly bore
his fine name, Chsteaubriand. He bore it in America
at the time when Lafayette bore his. lie felt
crowded in the old world He did not dream of uni
versal peace like the Abb6 de st. Pierre, but he
dreamed Of universal brotherhood He went to live
among savages saying that there he found his kin
dred. He was wild man himself from beginning
to end; a wild man among savages, wild man Ill
the army of the King, Louis XVI, when there was
no more king; wild man before Napoleon, at the
court of Louis XVIII in exile with Charles ", ana
a wild man at Madame Recamiers, where L knew
him, and in death.
He said. 81 was born in an eagles nest :" and he
wanted rock for his grave All his life was but an
uuoniet flight over events. He preserved his dom
mating look even in the presence of the tanner oi
kings, in the presence of that Napoleon, more ma
estic eagle who scared from the Island of Corsica to
aght on st. Helena
Before his work, now nearly destroyed, one asks
why Chateaubriand so long governed the spirit OF
his time to which he never really belonged, becaIc
Ill ri viii
poraries were building the future. 1t was because
his name was Chateaubriand, because the women
were for him. because he made his splendid style fash
ionable because lie was the first of the Romantics
He gayo once more to the French language the gilt
of metaphor and the love of symbols tins N0ltaIre
reversed. Voltairc was the genius of wit; Chateau
BRAND wanted to be the genius of sentiment vol
taire, marvellous genius of Paris, had burst INTO
laughter before the miracles of faith. Chateau
brand pilgrim of solitude, sang the miracles OF
Christianity. What is the mind of man Ebb ana
flow. To the flow Voltaire, succeeded the eDD
Chateaubriand. 1t was "A passion, for IN France
there is always passion for novelty. III there were
no night, it would be invented.
Chateaubriand was not so far from Voltairc as he
wanted to appear. He has something of Voltaire
the humanitarian, something Of Yoltairc the his
torian Do they not seem in fact, like two brothers
ia heir histories 1t is the same sarcastic plloso-
ply: only Voltaire in his rallery laughs, while
Chateaubriand shows n tear through his. Like
many men of Our time, Chaoaubriand has two faces
Nobcsse has its obligations. He took this phrase IN
its srictest sense noblcsse of race and not OF the
heart. He thought himself obliged TO defend hs
king and his caste, at some cost 10 ms heart.
The great cry of humanity bad its echo IN him, bat
he imagined himself forced to take up arms against
the revolution. He hated privilege aud yet fought
I'LL -. or.tt
end returned sword in baud against the world re-
newed.
Singular contradiction! He became a great char
acter by striving against his character He admired
Napoleon and no wrote against HIN. When be
served the absolute King as Minister and as Embas-
sador it was with the ideas of the revolution What
saved him i'm public opinion from the consequences
of all these vacillatons, was that in 1870 when
monarchy by right divine fell. to the ground, he
wanted TO fall with 1t. They gave him therefore the
credit of a gentleman who would not betray his
cause, even when he knew it was not the right
cause.
In France il is very hard to fell the forest ofpreju
dice We make facgots enough but only for the bon
fires Of St. john. For instance, if you compare Cha
teauliand and Lamartne, pnbllc opinion viii cry
ont. Chateaubriand the type of nobility and
honor y and Lamartne a dreamer, who has I'M
provised variations on every sort of political
ideas" Happily posterity will assign every
one his proper place. The statue of Chateau
BRAND will be salutcd with respect, but
his work will be left as solitary as his
tomb. That unquiet spirit will be condemned
for having never had the courage of his opinions;
while the figure of Lamarine will regain the great
auraolc. WHAT do care if. through sentiincnt cf
patriotism he sacrificed his gcntiiity as vain toy
He did not like Chateaubriand, turn backward when
be should have gone forward. He spent his genius
and his person. st. Simon said, " love truth even
against myself" This also the cry of Lamar
tine. as ii is today of Victor Hugo-whom Chateau
BRAND once christcned the sublime child"
Let us recognize however. before this statue,
which ought to have been cut in marble and not cast
in bronze, that if Chateaubrand had not faith III
humanity he brought us back TO the poetry OF falth
in God. Voltaire wishing TO simplify the altar
overturned it, Chatcaubriand pi0usly enshrlned the
spirit Of God within the tabernacle of our hearts
10 use his own style, every page of his work is
consolation to the restless soul One feels that life
is a tempest but that each gust of wind brings us
nearer the shore Volare brought too near to the
abyss Or rather when Chateaubriand bends over
the abyss he sees Heaven at the bottom.
The worst enemy of Chatcaubriand was his friend
Lamartne, because the latter was poet in verse
and prOse-writer in prose, while ChateanbIland
wrote only poetic prose. Lamartne will gain read
crs always whlo Chatcaubrianda will lose them.
The historian of the Girondns is a little out OF
fashion at present i'll this modish country, where
everything wears 10 rags so soon. But there will be
a return to that grand literary figure, all brilliant
with precious gems. In reading Lamartlne, you
meet so many diamonds you are ready to say they
are paste but you soon find they are diamonds.
He is like those women of the day who wear
so many that you cannot believe them genuine.
When the Marquise de Paiva appeared for the first
time in her box at the laliens with her two incom-