The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27


his future daughter-in-law diamonds and
other presents to the value OF Il, 900 hvscs
and his brother. tho BaillI. provided thu
corvse. or wedding gifts. from the groom
to the bride.
M. De Lomenie, one Of the most dis
tinguished Of Mirabeau's b~lographers,
expresses the opinion that the young man
ut the time Of his marriage made hia
debut In life under the most auspicio'h
circumstances" The author OF this book
is unable to draw the same deduction
from the facts. Young Mirabeau, 20
be sure, had been commissioned O Cap
tain Of cavalry, but he did not hold ofioe
In any regiment and 40 q matter Of TACT
the commission had not been delivered.
Prof. Fling. therefore. Is unable to see
that any career was open to him In the
army or In the diplomatic service. On the
contrary. the peouniary condition Of the
young man at the time Of his marriage
and the action Of his father toward his
existing debt were such as to render finau-
cial disaster almost II not quite inevitable.
That the reoklessness Of Mirabeau after
marriage renders, the situation much
worse than 1t wa Is undeniable. 1t re-
mains for the present biographer to ira
verse the two years that were yet to
elapse before 1774. when Mirabeau would
attain his majority (the ago Of 49, and to
examine by what succession Of faults
and misfortunes this young man became
n Ikllooax T.. &LA k,n ~~-.n - kha xrnr1
disavowed by the society to which he
belonged. suspected by all. and con-
demnod In the great revolution that was
approaching to the role Of 'agitator.'
By November. 177s. the future orator,
who from the day OF his wedding had
led IN extravagant life at AK. was in
desperate financial straits. He might
have been relieved by the liquidation Of
his debts, but both his father and his
father-in-law declined to make any
settlement with his creditors. Tho Mar
duis de Mirabeau recognized. however,
that something must be done, and % he
would not or could not pay his sons
debts until at all events q careful exi
animation had been made Of them. most
Of them being usurious, and az his son
must not be allowed to fail into the hands
Of his creditors and thus disgrace the
family name. he, the father, decided to
appeal to the Government and gain time
by placing the young man under the
hand Of the King by means OF a lsttre
de cdchet. An Official order was duly
received exiting the young man to the
Chateau de Mirabeau, and some four
Lmonths later another place Of exile vas
designated-the secluded little city Of
Manosque.
This recourse to lcttres de coehet Offers
an excellent illustration Of the regime that
existed In France before 1859. It was
OF a member Of the Maupeou Ministry
that the Marquis dc Mirabeau asked the
favor Of IN order Of exile for his son., a
Ministry that had but recently destroyed
the Parliaments, the only bulwarks that
had existed against arbitrary govern
ment. While the King disposed arbi-
trarily Of the persons and property Of
his subjects, the Marquis disposed an
arbitrarily through the assistance Of the
Minister Of his married sod, protecting
the latter from the consequences OF his
extravagancies and saving himself. the
father, from tho opportunities Of the
creditors. 1t was o state Of things against
which all those who suffered protested,
yet not q few persons like the Marquis
de Mirabeau gladly availed themselves
In their private affairs Of the very instru-
ments Of arbitrary government that they
criticised in their public utteranoes. In
an age which vas In revolt against arbi-
trary methods Of administration Mira
beau was subjected TO the tyranny Of
paternal government until, to a nature
intolerant Of control, the hatred Of des-
potism became a passion.
We need not follow young Mirabeau
through the short period during which he
remained In Manosque, In the course Of
which he had two affairs Of honor and
gave his father so much trouble that the
latter obtained another letfre de cacha
RELOCATING the young man to close oonfne-
ment. In September, 1774. an order came
to arrest Mirabeau and take him to the
Chateau d'u. Up to that moment Mira
beau had suffered only from the arbi-
trary power placed in the hands Of a father
by the old family organization; he was
now Il feel the weight Of Governmental
oppression In the form OF actual i'm
prisonment, placed at the disposal Of his
father. Here were sufficient reasons TO
make OF him an opponent Of arbitrary
power, but his interest in the great
questions that were stirring France to
its depths was not due consciously to his
own suYerings. The interest that he
took In the quarrels between the Min
istry and the Parliaments had already
been shown In the winter Of ITS. When
the door OF his prison, the Chateau d'If.
closed upon him Mirabeau's first con-
tribution to the tremendous dehate that
was to terminate In q Constitution for
France, his 'EHsay on Despotism,' had
been written. M. w. H.
The Makers OF United Italy.
A clearer idea Of the causes Of the uni
icadon OF Italy than would be deivable
from many a pr~etentious work may be
obtained by the general reader from a little
book entitled Builders OF Modern Italy.
by RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND (Henry
Holt d co.,. The combined usefulness
and attraotiveness Of this volume 10 due
largely to the principle on which it is oom-
posed. The author began by recognising
that in the progress Of such q popular
movement as that which has resulted In