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diff --git a/10640.txt b/10640.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e087037 --- /dev/null +++ b/10640.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7881 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beacon Lights of History, Volume IX, by John +Lord + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + + + + +Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume IX + +Author: John Lord + +Release Date: January 8, 2004 [eBook #10640] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +IX*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +LORD'S LECTURES + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME IX + +EUROPEAN STATESMEN. + +BY JOHN LORD, LL.D., + +AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE," +ETC., ETC. + + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +MIRABEAU. + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + +First act of the Revolution +Remote causes +Louis XVI +Derangement of finances +Assembly of notables +Mirabeau; his writings and extraordinary eloquence +Assembly of States-General +Usurpation of the Third Estate +Mirabeau's ascendency +Paralysis of government +General disturbances; fall of the Bastille +Extraordinary reforms by the National Assembly +Mirabeau's conservatism +Talleyrand, and confiscation of Church property +Death of Mirabeau; his characteristics +Revolutionary violence; the clubs +The Jacobin orators +The King arrested +The King tried, condemned, and executed +The Reign of Terror +Robespierre, Marat, Danton +Reaction +The Directory +Napoleon +What the Revolution accomplished +What might have been done without it +Carlyle +True principles of reform +The guide of nations + + +EDMUND BURKE. + +POLITICAL MORALITY. + +Early life and education of Burke +Studies law +Essay on "The Sublime and Beautiful" +First political step +Enters Parliament +Debates on American difficulties +Burke opposes the government +His remarkable eloquence and wisdom +Resignation of the ministry +Burke appointed Paymaster of the Forces +Leader of his party in the House of Commons +Debates on India +Impeachment of Warren Hastings +Defence of the Irish Catholics +Speeches in reference to the French Revolution +Denounces the radical reformers of France +His one-sided but extraordinary eloquence +His "Reflections on the French Revolution" +Mistake in opposing the Revolution with bayonets +His lofty character +The legacy of Burke to his nation + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. + +THE FRENCH EMPIRE. + +Unanimity of mankind respecting the genius of Napoleon +General opinion of his character +The greatness of his services +Napoleon at Toulon +His whiff of grapeshot +His defence of the Directory +Appointed to the army of Italy +His rapid and brilliant victories +Delivers France +Campaign in Egypt +Renewed disasters during his absence +Made First Consul +His beneficent rule as First Consul +Internal improvements +Restoration of law +Vast popularity of Napoleon +His ambitious designs +Made Emperor +Coalition against him +Renewed war +Victories of Napoleon +Peace of Tilsit +Despair of Europe +Napoleon dazzled by his own greatness +Blunders +Invasion of Spain and Russia +Conflagration of Moscow and retreat of Napoleon +The nations arm and attack him +Humiliation of Napoleon +Elba and St. Helena +William the Silent, Washington, and Napoleon +Lessons of Napoleon's fall +Napoleonic ideas +Imperialism hostile to civilization + + +PRINCE METTERNICH. + +CONSERVATISM. + +Europe in the Napoleonic Era +Birth and family of Metternich +University Life +Metternich in England +Marriage of Metternich +Ambassador at Dresden +Ambassador at Berlin +Austrian aristocracy +Metternich at Paris +Metternich on Napoleon +Metternich, Chancellor and Prime Minister +Designs of Napoleon +Napoleon marries Marie Louise +Hostility of Metternich +Frederick William III +Coalition of Great Powers +Congress of Vienna +Subdivision of Napoleon conquests +Holy Alliance +Burdens of Metternich +His political aims +His hatred of liberty +Assassination of von Kotzebue +Insurrection of Naples +Insurrection of Piedmont +Spanish Revolution +Death of Emperor Francis +Tyranny of Metternich +His character +His services + + +CHATEAUBRIAND. + +THE RESTORATION AND FALL OF THE BOURBONS. + +Restoration of the Bourbons +Louis XVIII +Peculiarities of his reign +Talleyrand +His brilliant career +Chateaubriand +Genie du Christianisme +Reaction against Republicanism +Difficulties and embarrassments of the king +Chateaubriand at Vienna +His conservatism +Minister of Foreign Affairs +His eloquence +Spanish war +Septennial Bill +Fall of Chateaubriand +His latter days +Death of Louis XVIII +His character +Accession of Charles X +His tyrannical government +Villele +Laws against the press +Unpopularity of the king +His political blindness +Popular tumults +Deposition of Charles X +Rise of great men +The _salons_ of great ladies +Kings and queens of society +Their prodigious influence + + +GEORGE IV. + +TORYISM. + +Condition of England in 1815 +The aristocracy +The House of Commons +The clergy +The courts of law +The middle classes +The working classes +Ministry of Lord Liverpool +Lord Castlereagh +George Canning +Mr. Perceval +Regency of the Prince of Wales +His scandalous private life +Caroline of Brunswick +Death of George III +Canning, Prime Minister +His great services +His death +His character +Popular agitations +Catholic association +Great political leaders +O'Connell +Duke of Wellington +Catholic emancipation +Latter days of George IV +His death +Brilliant constellation of great men + + +THE GREEK REVOLUTION. + +Universal weariness of war on the fall of Napoleon +Peace broken by the revolt of the Spanish colonies +Agitation of political ideas +Causes of the Greek Revolution +Apathy of the Great Powers +State of Greece on the outbreak of the revolution +Character of the Greeks +Ypsilanti +His successes +Atrocities of the Turks +Universal rising of the Greeks +Siege of Tripolitza +Reverses of the Greeks +Prince Mavrokordatos +Ali Pasha +The massacres at Chios +Admiral Miaulis +Marco Bozzaris +Chourchid Pasha +Deliverance of the Mona +Greeks take Napoli di Romania +Great losses of the Greeks +Renewed efforts of the Sultan +Dissensions of the Greek leaders +Arrival of Lord Byron +Interest kindled for the Greek cause in England +London loans +Siege and fall of Missolonghi +Interference of Great Powers +Ibraham Pasha +Battle of Navarino +Greek independence +Capo d'Istrias +Otho, King of Greece +Results of the Greek Revolution + + +LOUIS PHILIPPE. + +THE CITIZEN KING. +Elevation of Louis Philippe +His character +Lafayette +Lafitte +Casimir Perier +Disordered state of France +Suppression of disorders +Consolidation of royal power +Marshal Soult +Fortification of Paris +Siege of Antwerp +Public improvements +First ministry of Thiers +First ministry of Count Mole +Abd-el-Kader +Storming of Constantine +Railway mania +Death of Talleyrand +Villemain +Russian and Turkish wars +Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi +Lamartine +Second administration of Thiers +Removal of Napoleon's remains +Guizot, Prime Minister +Guizot as historian +Conquest of Algeria +Death of the Due d'Orleans +The Spanish marriages +Progress of corruption +General discontents +Dethronement of Louis Philippe +His inglorious flight + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME IX. + +Napoleon Insists that Pope Pius VII. Shall Crown Him +_After the painting by Jean Paul Laurens_. + +Louis XVI. +_After the painting by P. Dumenil, Gallery of Versailles_. + +Murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday +_After the painting by J. Weerts_. + +Edmund Burke +_After the painting by J. Barry, Dublin National Gallery_. + +Napoleon +_After the painting by Paul Delaroche_. + +"1807," Napoleon at Friedland +_After the painting by E. Meissonier_. + +Napoleon Informs Empress Josephine of His Intention to +Divorce Her +_After the painting by Eleuterio Pagliano_. + +George IV. of England +_After the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Rome_. + +The Congress of Vienna +_After the drawing by Jean Baptiste Isabey_. + +Daniel O'Connell +_After the painting by Doyle, National Gallery, Dublin_. + +Marco Bozzaris +_After the painting by J.L. Gerome_. + + + + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY. + + +MIRABEAU. + + +A.D. 1749-1791. + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + + +Three events of pre-eminent importance have occurred in our modern +times; these are the Protestant Reformation, the American War of +Independence, and the French Revolution. + +The most complicated and varied of these great movements is the French +Revolution, on which thousands of volumes have been written, so that it +is impossible even to classify the leading events and the ever-changing +features of that rapid and exciting movement. The first act of that +great drama was the attempt of reformers and patriots to destroy +feudalism,--with its privileges and distinctions and injustices,--by +unscrupulous and wild legislation, and to give a new constitution to +the State. + +The best representative of this movement was Mirabeau, and I accordingly +select him as the subject of this lecture. I cannot describe the +violence and anarchy which succeeded the Reign of Terror, ending in a +Directory, and the usurpation of Napoleon. The subject is so vast that I +must confine myself to a single point, in which, however, I would unfold +the principles of the reformers and the logical results to which their +principles led. + +The remote causes of the French Revolution I have already glanced at, in +a previous lecture. The most obvious of these, doubtless, was the +misgovernment which began with Louis XIV. and continued so disgracefully +under Louis XV.; which destroyed all reverence for the throne, even +loyalty itself, the chief support of the monarchy. The next most +powerful influence that created revolution was feudalism, which ground +down the people by unequal laws, and irritated them by the haughtiness, +insolence, and heartlessness of the aristocracy, and thus destroyed all +respect for them, ending in bitter animosities. Closely connected with +these two gigantic evils was the excessive taxation, which oppressed the +nation and made it discontented and rebellious. The fourth most +prominent cause of agitation was the writings of infidel philosophers +and economists, whose unsound and sophistical theories held out +fallacious hopes, and undermined those sentiments by which all +governments and institutions are preserved. These will be incidentally +presented, as thereby we shall be able to trace the career of the +remarkable man who controlled the National Assembly, and who applied +the torch to the edifice whose horrid and fearful fires he would +afterwards have suppressed. It is easy to destroy; it is difficult to +reconstruct. Nor is there any human force which can arrest a national +conflagration when once it is kindled: only on its ashes can a new +structure arise, and this only after long and laborious efforts and +humiliating disappointments. + +It might have been possible for the Government to contend successfully +with the various elements of discontent among the people, intoxicated +with those abstract theories of rights which Rousseau had so eloquently +defended, if it had possessed a strong head and the sinews of war. But +Louis XVI., a modest, timid, temperate, moral young man of twenty-three, +by the death of his father and elder brothers had succeeded to the +throne of his dissolute grandfather at just the wrong time. He was a +gentleman, but no ruler. He had no personal power, and the powers of his +kingdom had been dissipated by his reckless predecessors. Not only was +the army demoralized, and inclined to fraternize with the people, but +there was no money to pay the troops or provide for the ordinary +expenses of the Court. There was an alarming annual deficit, and the +finances were utterly disordered. Successive ministers had exhausted all +ordinary resources and the most ingenious forms of taxation. They made +promises, and resorted to every kind of expediency, which had only a +temporary effect. The primal evils remained. The national treasury was +empty. Calonne and Necker pursued each a different policy, and with the +same results. The extravagance of the one and the economy of the other +were alike fatal. Nobody would make sacrifices in a great national +exigency. The nobles and the clergy adhered tenaciously to their +privileges, and the Court would curtail none of its unnecessary +expenses. Things went on from bad to worse, and the financiers were +filled with alarm. National bankruptcy stared everybody in the face. + +If the King had been a Richelieu, he would have dealt summarily with the +nobles and rebellious mobs. He would have called to his aid the talents +of the nation, appealed to its patriotism, compelled the Court to make +sacrifices, and prevented the printing and circulation of seditious +pamphlets. The Government should have allied itself with the people, +granted their requests, and marched to victory under the name of +patriotism. But Louis XVI. was weak, irresolute, vacillating, and +uncertain. He was a worthy sort of man, with good intentions, and +without the vices of his predecessors. But he was surrounded with +incompetent ministers and bad advisers, who distrusted the people and +had no sympathy with their wrongs. He would have made concessions, if +his ministers had advised him. He was not ambitious, nor unpatriotic; +he simply did not know what to do. + +In his perplexity, he called together the principal heads of the +nobility,--some hundred and twenty great seigneurs, called the Notables; +but this assembly was dissolved without accomplishing anything. It was +full of jealousies, and evinced no patriotism. It would not part with +its privileges or usurpations. + +It was at this crisis that Mirabeau first appeared upon the stage, as a +pamphleteer, writing bitter and envenomed attacks on the government, and +exposing with scorching and unsparing sarcasms the evils of the day, +especially in the department of finance. He laid bare to the eyes of the +nation the sores of the body politic,--the accumulated evils of +centuries. He exposed all the shams and lies to which ministers had +resorted. He was terrible in the fierceness and eloquence of his +assaults, and in the lucidity of his statements. Without being learned, +he contrived to make use of the learning of others, and made it burn +with the brilliancy of his powerful and original genius. Everybody read +his various essays and tracts, and was filled with admiration. But his +moral character was bad,--Was even execrable, and notoriously +outrageous. He was kind-hearted and generous, made friends and used +them. No woman, it is said, could resist his marvellous +fascination,--all the more remarkable since his face was as ugly as +that of Wilkes, and was marked by the small-pox. The excesses of his +private life, and his ungovernable passions, made him distrusted by the +Court and the Government. He was both hated and admired. + +Mirabeau belonged to a noble family of very high rank in Provence, of +Italian descent. His father, Marquis Mirabeau, was a man of liberal +sentiments,--not unknown to literary fame by his treatises on political +economy,'--but was eccentric and violent. Although his oldest son, Count +Mirabeau, the subject of this lecture, was precocious intellectually, +and very bright, so that the father was proud of him, he was yet so +ungovernable and violent in his temper, and got into so many disgraceful +scrapes, that the Marquis was compelled to discipline him severely,--all +to no purpose, inasmuch as he was injudicious in his treatment, and +ultimately cruel. He procured _lettres de cachet_ from the King, and +shut up his disobedient and debauched son in various state-prisons. But +the Count generally contrived to escape, only to get into fresh +difficulties; so that he became a wanderer and an exile, compelled to +support himself by his pen. + +Mirabeau was in Berlin, in a sort of semi-diplomatic position, when the +Assembly of Notables was convened. His keen prescience and profound +sagacity induced him to return to his distracted country, where he knew +his services would soon be required. Though debauched, extravagant, and +unscrupulous, he was not unpatriotic. He had an intense hatred of +feudalism, and saw in its varied inequalities the chief source of the +national calamities. His detestation of feudal injustices was +intensified by his personal sufferings in the various castles where he +had been confined by arbitrary power. At this period, the whole tendency +of his writings was towards the destruction of the _ancien regime_, He +breathed defiance, scorn, and hatred against the very class to which he +belonged. He was a Catiline,--an aristocratic demagogue, revolutionary +in his spirit and aims; so that he was mistrusted, feared, and detested +by the ruling powers, and by the aristocracy generally, while he was +admired and flattered by the people, who were tolerant of his vices and +imperious temper. + +On the wretched failure of the Assembly of the Notables, the prime +minister, Necker, advised the King to assemble the States-General,--the +three orders of the State: the nobles, the clergy, and a representation +of the people. It seemed to the Government impossible to proceed longer, +amid universal distress and hopeless financial embarrassment, without +the aid and advice of this body, which had not been summoned for one +hundred and fifty years. + +It became, of course, an object of ambition to Count Mirabeau to have a +seat in this illustrious assembly. To secure this, he renounced his +rank, became a plebeian, solicited the votes of the people, and was +elected a deputy both from Marseilles and Aix. He chose Aix, and his +great career began with the meeting of the States-General at Versailles, +the 5th of May, 1789. It was composed of three hundred nobles, three +hundred priests, and six hundred deputies of the third estate,--twelve +hundred in all. It is generally conceded that these representatives of +the three orders were on the whole a very respectable body of men, +patriotic and incorruptible, but utterly deficient in political +experience and in powers of debate. The deputies were largely composed +of country lawyers, honest, but as conceited as they were inexperienced. +The vanity of Frenchmen is so inordinate that nearly every man in the +assembly felt quite competent to govern the nation or frame a +constitution. Enthusiasm and hope animated the whole assembly, and +everybody saw in this States-General the inauguration of a +glorious future. + +One of the most brilliant and impressive chapters in Carlyle's "French +Revolution"--that great prose poem--is devoted to the procession of the +three orders from the church of St. Louis to the church of Notre Dame, +to celebrate the Mass, parts of which I quote. + +"Shouts rend the air; one shout, at which Grecian birds might drop +dead. It is indeed a stately, solemn sight. The Elected of France and +then the Court of France; they are marshalled, and march there, all in +prescribed place and costume. Our Commons in plain black mantle and +white cravat; Noblesse in gold-worked, bright-dyed cloaks of velvet, +resplendent, rustling with laces, waving with plumes; the Clergy in +rochet, alb, and other clerical insignia; lastly the King himself and +household, in their brightest blaze of pomp,--their brightest and final +one. Which of the six hundred individuals in plain white cravats that +have come up to regenerate France might one guess would become their +king? For a king or a leader they, as all bodies of men, must have. He +with the thick locks, will it be? Through whose shaggy beetle-brows, and +rough-hewn, seamed, carbuncled face, there look natural ugliness, +small-pox, incontinence, bankruptcy,--and burning fire of genius? It is +Gabriel Honore Riquetti de Mirabeau; man-ruling deputy of Aix! Yes, that +is the Type-Frenchman of this epoch; as Voltaire was of the last. He is +French in his aspirations, acquisitions, in his virtues and vices. Mark +him well. The National Assembly were all different without that one; +nay, he might say with old Despot,--The National Assembly? I am that. + +"Now, if Mirabeau is the greatest of these six hundred, who may be the +meanest? Shall we say that anxious, slight, ineffectual-looking man, +under thirty, in spectacles, his eyes troubled, careful; with upturned +face, snuffing dimly the uncertain future time; complexion of a +multiplex atrabilious color, the final shade of which may be pale +sea-green? That greenish-colored individual is an advocate of Arras; his +name is Maximilien Robespierre. + +"Between which extremes of grandest and meanest, so many grand and mean, +roll on towards their several destinies in that procession. There is +experienced Mounier, whose presidential parliamentary experience the +stream of things shall soon leave stranded. A Petion has left his gown +and briefs at Chartres for a stormier sort of pleading. A +Protestant-clerical St. Etienne, a slender young eloquent and vehement +Barnave, will help to regenerate France, + +"And then there is worthy Doctor Guillotin, Bailly likewise, +time-honored historian of astronomy, and the Abbe Sieyes, cold, but +elastic, wiry, instinct with the pride of logic, passionless, or with +but one passion, that of self-conceit. This is the Sieyes who shall be +system-builder, constitutional-builder-general, and build constitutions +which shall unfortunately fall before we get the scaffolding away. + +"Among the nobles are Liancourt, and La Rochefoucauld, and pious Lally, +and Lafayette, whom Mirabeau calls Grandison Cromwell, and the Viscount +Mirabeau, called Barrel Mirabeau, on account of his rotundity, and the +quantity of strong liquor he contains. Among the clergy is the Abbe +Maury, who does not want for audacity, and the Cure Gregoire who shall +be a bishop, and Talleyrand-Pericord, his reverence of Autun, with +sardonic grimness, a man living in falsehood, and on falsehood, yet not +wholly a false man. + +"So, in stately procession, the elected of France pass on, some to +honor, others to dishonor; not a few towards massacre, confusion, +emigration, desperation." + +For several weeks this famous States-General remain inactive, unable to +agree whether they shall deliberate in a single hall or in three +separate chambers. The deputies, of course, wish to deliberate in a +single chamber, since they equal in number both the clergy and nobles, +and some few nobles had joined them, and more than a hundred of the +clergy. But a large majority of both the clergy and the noblesse insist +with pertinacity on the three separate chambers, since, united, they +would neutralize the third estate. If the deputies prevailed, they would +inaugurate reforms to which the other orders would never consent. + +Long did these different bodies of the States-General deliberate, and +stormy were the debates. The nobles showed themselves haughty and +dogmatical; the deputies showed themselves aggressive and revolutionary. +The King and the ministers looked on with impatience and disgust, but +were irresolute. Had the King been a Cromwell, or a Napoleon, he would +have dissolved the assemblies; but he was timid and hesitating. Necker, +the prime minister, was for compromise; he would accept reforms, but +only in a constitutional way. + +The knot was at last cut by the Abbe Sieyes, a political priest, and one +of the deputies for Paris,--the finest intellect in the body, next to +Mirabeau, and at first more influential than he, since the Count was +generally distrusted on account of his vices. Nor had he as yet +exhibited his great powers. Sieyes said, for the Deputies alone, "We +represent ninety-six per cent of the whole nation. The people is +sovereign; we, therefore, as its representatives, constitute ourselves a +national assembly." His motion was passed by acclamation, on June 17, +and the Third Estate assumed the right to act for France. + +In a legal and constitutional point of view, this was a usurpation, if +ever there was one. "It was," says Von Sybel, the able German historian +of the French Revolution, "a declaration of open war between arbitrary +principles and existing rights." It was as if the House of +Representatives in the United States, or the House of Commons in +England, should declare themselves the representatives of the nation, +ignoring the Senate or the House of Lords. Its logical sequence was +revolution. + +The prodigious importance of this step cannot be overrated. It +transferred the powers of the monarchy to the Third Estate. It would +logically lead to other usurpations, the subversion of the throne, and +the utter destruction of feudalism,--for this last was the aim of the +reformers. Mirabeau himself at first shrank from this violent measure, +but finally adopted it. He detested feudalism and the privileges of the +clergy. He wanted radical reforms, but would have preferred to gain +them in a constitutional way, like Pym, in the English Revolution. But +if reforms could not be gained constitutionally, then he would accept +revolution, as the lesser evil. Constitutionally, radical reforms were +hopeless. The ministers and the King, doubtless, would have made some +concessions, but not enough to satisfy the deputies. So these same +deputies took the entire work of legislation into their own hands. They +constituted themselves the sole representatives of the nation. The +nobles and the clergy might indeed deliberate with them; they were not +altogether ignored, but their interests and rights were to be +disregarded. In that state of ferment and discontent which existed when +the States-General was convened, the nobles and the clergy probably knew +the spirit of the deputies, and therefore refused to sit with them. They +knew, from the innumerable pamphlets and tracts which were issued from +the press, that radical changes were desired, to which they themselves +were opposed; and they had the moral support of the Government on +their side. + +The deputies of the Third Estate were bent on the destruction of +feudalism, as the only way to remedy the national evils, which were so +glaring and overwhelming. They probably knew that their proceedings were +unconstitutional and illegal, but thought that their acts would be +sanctioned by their patriotic intentions. They were resolved to secure +what seemed to them rights, and thought little of duties. If these +inestimable and vital rights should be granted without usurpation, they +would be satisfied; if not, then they would resort to usurpation. To +them their course seemed to be dictated by the "higher law." What to +them were legalities that perpetuated wrongs? The constitution was made +for man, not man for the constitution. + +Had the three orders deliberated together in one hall, although against +precedent and legality, the course of revolution might have been +directed into a different channel; or if an able and resolute king had +been on the throne, he might have united with the people against the +nobles, and secured all the reforms that were imperative, without +invoking revolution; or he might have dispersed the deputies at the +point of the bayonet, and raised taxes by arbitrary imposition, as able +despots have ever done. We cannot penetrate the secrets of Providence. +It may have been ordered in divine justice and wisdom that the French +people should work out their own deliverance in their own way, in +mistakes, in suffering, and in violence, and point the eternal moral +that inexperience, vanity, and ignorance are fatal to sound legislation, +and sure to lead to errors which prove disastrous; that national +progress is incompatible with crime; that evils can only gradually be +removed; that wickedness ends in violence. + +A majority of the deputies meant well. They were earnest, patriotic, and +enthusiastic. But they knew nothing of the science of government or of +constitution-making, which demand the highest maturity of experience and +wisdom. As I have said, nearly four hundred of them were country +lawyers, as conceited as they were inexperienced. Both Mirabeau and +Sieyes had a supreme contempt for them as a whole. They wanted what they +called rights, and were determined to get them any way they could, +disregarding obstacles, disregarding forms and precedents. And they were +backed up and urged forward by ignorant mobs, and wicked demagogues who +hated the throne, the clergy, and the nobles. Hence the deputies made +mistakes. They could see nothing better than unscrupulous destruction. +And they did not know how to reconstruct. They were bewildered and +embarrassed, and listened to the orators of the Palais Royal. + +The first thing of note which occurred when they resolved to call +themselves the National Assembly and not the Third Estate, which they +were only, was done by Mirabeau. He ascended the tribune, when Breze, +the master of ceremonies, came with a message from the King for them to +join the other orders, and said in his voice of melodious thunder, "We +are here by the command of the people, and will only disperse by the +force of bayonets." From that moment, till his death, he ruled the +Assembly. The disconcerted messenger returned to his sovereign. What did +the King say at this defiance of royal authority? Did he rise in wrath +and indignation, and order his guards to disperse the rebels? No; the +amiable King said meekly, "Well, let them remain there." What a king for +such stormy times! O shade of Richelieu, thy work has perished! +Rousseau, a greater genius than thou wert, hath undermined the +institutions and the despotism of two hundred years. + +Only two courses were now open to the King,--this weak and kind-hearted +Louis XVI., heir of a hundred years' misrule,--if he would maintain his +power. One was to join the reformers and co-operate in patriotic work, +assisted by progressive ministers, whatever opposition might be raised +by nobles and priests; and the second was to arm himself and put down +the deputies. But how could this weak-minded sovereign co-operate with +plebeians against the orders which sustained his throne? And if he used +violence, he inaugurated civil war, which would destroy thousands where +revolution destroyed hundreds. Moreover, the example of Charles I. was +before him. He dared not run the risk. In such a torrent of +revolutionary forces, when even regular troops fraternized with +citizens, that experiment was dangerous. And then he was +tender-hearted, and shrank from shedding innocent blood. His queen, +Marie Antoinette, the intrepid daughter of Maria Theresa, with her +Austrian proclivities, would have kept him firm and sustained him by her +courageous counsels; but her influence was neutralized by popular +ministers. Necker, the prosperous banker, the fortunate financier, +advised half measures. Had he conciliated Mirabeau, who led the +Assembly, then even the throne might have been saved. But he detested +and mistrusted the mighty tribune of the people,--the aristocratic +demagogue, who, in spite of his political rancor and incendiary tracts, +was the only great statesman of the day. He refused the aid of the only +man who could have staved off the violence of factions, and brought +reason and talent to the support of reform and law. + +At this period, after the triumph of the Third Estate,--now called the +National Assembly,--and the paralysis of the Court, perplexed and +uncertain whether or not to employ violence and disband the assembly by +royal decree, a great agitation began among the people, not merely in +Paris, but over the whole kingdom. There were meetings to promote +insurrection, paid declaimers of human rights, speeches without end in +the gardens of the Palais Royal, where Marat, Camille Desmoulins, and +other popular orators harangued the excited crowds. There were +insurrections at Versailles, which was filled with foreign soldiers. +The French guards fraternized with the people whom they were to subdue. +Necker in despair resigned, or was dismissed. None of the authorities +could command obedience. The people were starving, and the bakers' shops +were pillaged. The crowds broke open the prisons, and released many who +had been summarily confined. Troops were poured into Paris, and the old +Duke of Broglie, one of the heroes of the Seven Years' War, now +war-minister, sought to overawe the city. The gun-shops were plundered, +and the rabble armed themselves with whatever weapons they could lay +their hands upon. The National Assembly decreed the formation of a +national guard to quell disturbances, and placed Lafayette at the head +of it. Besenval, who commanded the royal troops, was forced to withdraw +from the capital. The city was completely in the hands of the +insurgents, who were driven hither and thither by every passion which +can sway the human soul. Patriotic zeal blended with envy, hatred, +malice, revenge, and avarice. The mob at last attacked the Bastille, a +formidable fortress where state-prisoners were arbitrarily confined. In +spite of moats and walls and guns, this gloomy monument of royal tyranny +was easily taken, for it was manned by only about one hundred and forty +men, and had as provisions only two sacks of flour. No aid could +possibly come to the rescue. Resistance was impossible, in its +unprepared state for defence, although its guns, if properly manned, +might have demolished the whole Faubourg Saint-Antoine. + +The news of the fall of this fortress came like a thunder-clap over +Europe. It announced the reign of anarchy in France, and the +helplessness of the King. On hearing of the fall of the Bastille, the +King is said to have exclaimed to his courtiers, "It is a revolt, then." +"Nay, sire," said the Duke of Liancourt, "it is a revolution." It was +evident that even then the King did not comprehend the situation. But +how few could comprehend it! Only one man saw the full tendency of +things, and shuddered at the consequences,--and this man was Mirabeau. + +The King, at last aroused, appeared in person in the National Assembly, +and announced the withdrawal of the troops from Paris and the recall of +Necker. But general mistrust was alive in every bosom, and disorders +still continued to a frightful extent, even in the provinces. "In +Brittany the towns appointed new municipalities, and armed a civic guard +from the royal magazines. In Caen the people stormed the citadel and +killed the officers of the salt-tax. Nowhere were royal intendants seen. +The custom-houses, at the gates of the provincial cities, were +demolished. In Franche-Comte a noble castle was burned every day. All +kinds of property were exposed to the most shameful robbery." + +Then took place the emigration of the nobles, among whom were Conde, +Polignac, Broglie, to organize resistance to the revolution which had +already conquered the King. + +Meanwhile, the triumphant Assembly, largely recruited by the liberal +nobles and the clergy, continued its sessions, decreed its sittings +permanent and its members inviolable. The sittings were stormy; for +everybody made speeches, written or oral, yet few had any power of +debate. Even Mirabeau himself, before whom all succumbed, was deficient +in this talent. He could thunder; he could arouse or allay passions; he +seemed able to grasp every subject, for he used other people's brains; +he was an incarnation of eloquence,--but he could not reply to opponents +with much effect, like Pitt, Webster, and Gladstone. He was still the +leading man in the kingdom; all eyes were directed towards him; and no +one could compete with him, not even Sieyes. The Assembly wasted days in +foolish debates. It had begun its proceedings with the famous +declaration of the rights of man,--an abstract question, first mooted by +Rousseau, and re-echoed by Jefferson. Mirabeau was appointed with a +committee of five to draft the declaration,--in one sense, a puerile +fiction, since men are not "born free," but in a state of dependence and +weakness; nor "equal," either in regard to fortune, or talents, or +virtue, or rank: but in another sense a great truth, so far as men are +entitled by nature to equal privileges, and freedom of the person, and +unrestricted liberty to get a living according to their choice. + +The Assembly at last set itself in earnest to the work of legislation. +In one night, the ever memorable 4th of August, it decreed the total +abolition of feudalism. In one night it abolished tithes to the church, +provincial privileges, feudal rights, serfdom, the law of primogeniture, +seigniorial dues, and the _gabelle_, or tax on salt. Mirabeau was not +present, being absent on his pleasures. These, however, seldom +interfered with his labors, which were herculean, from seven in the +morning till eleven at night. He had two sides to his character,--one +exciting abhorrence and disgust, for his pleasures were miscellaneous +and coarse; a man truly abandoned to the most violent passions: the +other side pleasing, exciting admiration; a man with an enormous power +of work, affable, dignified, with courtly manners, and enchanting +conversation, making friends with everybody, out of real kindness of +heart, because he really loved the people, and sought their highest +good; a truly patriotic man, and as wise as he was enthusiastic. This +great orator and statesman was outraged and alarmed at the indecent +haste of the Assembly, and stigmatized its proceedings as "nocturnal +orgies." The Assembly on that memorable night swept away the whole +feudal edifice, and in less time than the English Parliament would take +to decide upon the first reading of any bill of importance. + +The following day brought reflection and discontent. "That is just the +character of our Frenchmen," exclaimed Mirabeau; "they are three months +disputing about syllables, and in a single night they overturn the whole +venerable edifice of the monarchy." Sieyes was equally disgusted, and +made a speech of great force to show that to abolish tithes without an +indemnity was spoliating the clergy to enrich the land-owners. He +concluded, "You know how to be free; you do not know how to be just." +But he was regarded as an ecclesiastic, unable to forego his personal +interests. He gave vent to his irritated feelings in a conversation with +Mirabeau, when the latter said, "My dear Abbe, you have let loose the +bull, and you now complain that he gores you." It was this political +priest who had made the first assault on the constitution, when he urged +the Third Estate to decree itself the nation. + +The National Assembly had destroyed feudal institutions; but it had not +yet made a constitution, or restored order. Violence and anarchy still +reigned. Then the clubs began to make themselves a power. "Come," said +the lawyer Danton to a friend, in the district of the Cordeliers, "come +and howl with us; you will earn much money, and you can still choose +your party afterwards." But it was in the garden of the Palais Royal, +and in the old church of the Jacobins that the most violent attacks were +made on all existing institutions. "A Fourth Estate (of able editors) +also springs up, increases, multiplies; irrepressible, incalculable." +Then from the lowest quarters of Paris surge up an insurrection of +women, who march to Versailles in disorder, penetrate the Assembly, and +invade the palace. On the 5th of October a mob joins them, of the lowest +rabble, and succeed in forcing their way into the precincts of the +palace. "The King to Paris!" was now the general cry, and Louis XVI. +appears upon the balcony and announces by gestures his subjection to +their will. A few hours after, the King is on his way to Paris, under +the protection of the National Guard, really a prisoner in the hands of +the people. In fourteen days the National Assembly also follows, to be +now dictated to by the clubs. + +In this state of anarchy and incipient violence, Mirabeau, whose power +in the Assembly was still unimpaired, wished to halt. He foresaw the +future. No man in France had such clear insight and sagacity as he. He +saw the State drifting into dissolution, and put forth his hand and +raised his voice to arrest the catastrophe which he lamented. "The mob +of Paris," said he, "will scourge the corpses of the King and Queen." It +was then that he gave but feeble support to the "Rights of Man," and +contended for the unlimited veto of the King on the proceedings of the +Assembly. He also brought forward a motion to allow the King's ministers +to take part in the debates. "On the 7th of October he exhorted the +Count de Marck to tell the King that his throne and kingdom were lost, +if he did not immediately quit Paris." And he did all he could to induce +him, through the voice of his friends, to identify himself with the +cause of reform, as the only means for the salvation of the throne. He +warned him against fleeing to the frontier to join the emigrants, as the +prelude of civil war. He advocated a new ministry, of more vigor and +breadth. He wanted a government both popular and strong. He wished to +retain the monarchy, but desired a constitutional monarchy like that of +England. His hostility to all feudal institutions was intense, and he +did not seek to have any of them restored. It was the abolition of +feudal privileges which was really the permanent bequest of the French +Revolution. They have never been revived. No succeeding government has +even attempted to revive them. + +On the removal of the National Assembly to Paris, Mirabeau took a large +house and lived ostentatiously and at great expense until he died, from +which it is supposed that he received pensions from England, Spain, and +even the French Court. This is intimated by Dumont; and I think it +probable. It will in part account for the conservative course he +adopted to check the excesses of that revolution which he, more than any +other man, invoked. He was doubtless patriotic, and uttered his warning +protests with sincerity. Still it is easy to believe that so corrupt and +extravagant a man in his private life was accessible to bribery. Such a +man must have money, and he was willing to get it from any quarter. It +is certain that he was regarded by the royal family, towards the close +of his career, very differently from what they regarded him when the +States-General was assembled. But if he was paid by different courts, it +is true that he then gave his support to the cause of law and +constitutional liberty, and doubtless loathed the excesses which took +place in the name of liberty. He was the only man who could have saved +the monarchy, if it were possible to save it; but no human force could +probably have arrested the waves of revolutionary frenzy at this time. + +On the removal of the Assembly to Paris, the all-absorbing questions +related to finance. The State was bankrupt. It was difficult to raise +money for the most pressing exigencies. Money must be had, or there +would be universal anarchy and despair. How could it be raised? The +credit of the country was gone, and all means of taxation were +exhausted. No man in France had such a horror of bankruptcy as Mirabeau, +and his eloquence was never more convincing and commanding than in his +finance speeches. Nobody could reply to him. The Assembly was completely +subjugated by his commanding talents. Nor was his influence ever greater +than when he supported Necker's proposal for a patriotic loan, a sort of +income-tax, in a masterly speech which excited universal admiration. +"Ah, Monsieur le Comte," said a great actor to him on that occasion, +"what a speech: and with what an accent did you deliver it! You have +surely missed your vocation." + +But the finances were in a hopeless state. With credit gone, taxation +exhausted, and a continually increasing floating debt, the situation was +truly appalling to any statesman. It was at this juncture that +Talleyrand, a priest of noble birth, as able as he was unscrupulous, +brought forth his famous measure for the spoliation of the Church, to +which body he belonged, and to which he was a disgrace. Talleyrand, as +Bishop of Autun, had been one of the original representatives of the +clergy on the first convocation of the States-General; he had advocated +combining with the Third Estate when they pronounced themselves the +National Assembly, had himself joined the Assembly, attracted notice by +his speeches, been appointed to draw up a constitution, taken active +part in the declaration of Rights, and made himself generally +conspicuous and efficient. At the present apparently hopeless financial +crisis, Talleyrand uncovered a new source of revenue, claimed that the +property of the Church belonged to the nation, and that as the nation +was on the brink of financial ruin, this confiscation was a supreme +necessity. The Church lands represented a value of two thousand millions +of francs,--an immense sum, which, if sold, would relieve, it was +supposed, the necessities of the State. Mirabeau, although he was no +friend of the clergy, shrank from such a monstrous injustice, and said +that such a wound as this would prove the most poisonous which the +country had received. But such was the urgent need of money, that the +Assembly on the 2d of November, 1789, decreed that the property of the +Church should be put at the disposal of the State. On the 19th of +December it was decreed that these lands should be sold. The clergy +raised the most piteous cries of grief and indignation. Vainly did the +bishops offer four hundred millions as a gift to the nation. It was like +the offer of Darius to Alexander, of one hundred thousand talents. "Your +whole property is mine," said the conqueror; "your kingdom is mine." + +So the offer of the bishops was rejected, and their whole property was +taken. And it was taken under the sophistical plea that it belonged to +the nation. It was really the gift of various benefactors in different +ages to the Church, for pious purposes, and had been universally +recognized as sacred. It was as sacred as any other rights of property. +The spoliation was infinitely worse than the suppression of the +monasteries by Henry VIII. He had some excuse, since they had become a +scandal, had misused their wealth, and diverted it from the purposes +originally intended. The only wholesale attack on property by the State +which can be compared with it, was the abolition of slavery by a stroke +of the pen in the American Rebellion. But this was a war measure, when +the country was in most imminent peril; and it was also a moral measure +in behalf of philanthropy. The spoliation of the clergy by the National +Assembly was a great injustice, since it was not urged that the clergy +had misused their wealth, or were neglectful of their duties, as the +English monks were in the time of Henry VIII. This Church property had +been held so sacred, that Louis XIV. in his greatest necessities never +presumed to appropriate any part of it. The sophistry that it belonged +to the nation, and therefore that the representatives of the nation had +a right to take it, probably deceived nobody. It was necessary to give +some excuse or reason for such a wholesale robbery, and this was the +best which could be invented. The simple truth was that money at this +juncture was a supreme necessity to the State, and this spoliation +seemed the easiest way to meet the public wants. Like most of the +legislation of the Assembly, it was defended on the Jesuit plea of +expediency,--that the end justifies the means; the plea of unscrupulous +and wicked politicians in all countries. + +And this expediency, doubtless, relieved the government for a time, for +the government was in the hands of the Assembly. Royal authority was a +mere shadow. In reality, the King was a prisoner, guarded by Lafayette, +in the palace of the Tuileries. And the Assembly itself was now in fear +of the people as represented by the clubs. There were two hundred +Jacobin clubs in Paris and other cities at this time, howling their +vituperations not only on royalty but also on everything else which was +not already destroyed. + +The Assembly having provided for the wants of the government by the +confiscation of two thousand millions,--which, however, when sold, did +not realize half that sum,--issued their _assignats_, or bonds +representing parcels of land assigned to redeem them. These were mostly +100-franc notes, though there were also issues of ten and even five +francs. The national credit was thus patched up by legislators who took +a constitution in hand,--to quote Burke--"as savages would a +looking-glass." Then they proceeded to other reforms, and abolished the +parliaments, and instituted the election of judges by the people, thus +stripping the King of his few remaining powers. + +In the mean time Mirabeau died, worn out with labors and passions, and +some say by poison. Even this Hercules could not resist the +consequences of violated natural law. The Assembly decreed a magnificent +public funeral, and buried him with great pomp. He was the first to be +interred in the Pantheon. For nearly two years he was the leading man in +France, and he retained his influence in the Assembly to the end. Nor +did he lose his popularity with the people. It is not probable that his +intrigues to save the monarchy were known, except to a few confidential +friends. He died at the right time for his fame, in April, 1791. Had he +lived, he could not have arrested the tide of revolutionary excesses and +the reign of demagogues, and probably would have been one of the victims +of the guillotine. + +As an author Mirabeau does not rank high. His fame rests on his +speeches. His eloquence was transcendent, so far as it was rendered +vivid by passion. He knew how to move men; he understood human nature. +No orator ever did so much by a single word, by felicitous expressions. +In the tribune he was immovable. His self-possession never left him in +the greatest disorders. He was always master of himself. His voice was +full, manly, and sonorous, and pleased the ear; always powerful, yet +flexible, it could be as distinctly heard when he lowered it as when he +raised it. His knowledge was not remarkable, but he had an almost +miraculous faculty of appropriating whatever he heard. He paid the +greatest attention to his dress, and wore an enormous quantity of hair +dressed in the fashion of the day. "When I shake my terrible locks," +said he, "no one dares interrupt me." Though he received pensions, he +was too proud to be dishonest, in the ordinary sense. He received large +sums, but died insolvent. He had, like most Frenchmen, an inordinate +vanity, and loved incense from all ranks and conditions. Although he was +the first to support the Assembly against the King, he was essentially +in favor of monarchy, and maintained the necessity of the absolute veto. +He would have given a constitution to his country as nearly resembling +that of England as local circumstances would permit. Had he lived, the +destinies of France might have been different. + +But his death gave courage to all the factions, and violence and crime +were consummated by the Reign of Terror. With the death of Mirabeau, +closed the first epoch of the Revolution. Thus far it had been earnest, +but unscrupulous in the violation of rights and in the destruction of +ancient abuses. Yet if inexperienced and rash, it was not marked by +deeds of blood. In this first form it was marked by enthusiasm and hope +and patriotic zeal; not, as afterwards, by fears and cruelty and +usurpations. + +Henceforth, the Revolution took another turn. It was directed, not by +men of genius, not by reformers seeking to rule by wisdom, but by +demagogues and Jacobin clubs, and the mobs of the city of Paris. What +was called the "Left," in the meetings of the Assembly,--made up of +fanatics whom Mirabeau despised and detested,--gained a complete +ascendency and adopted the extremest measures. Under their guidance, the +destruction of the monarchy was complete. Feudalism and the Church +property had been swept away, and the royal authority now received its +final blow; nay, the King himself was slain, under the influence of +fear, it is true, but accompanied by acts of cruelty and madness which +shocked the whole civilized world and gave an eternal stain to the +Revolution itself. + +It was not now reform, but unscrupulous destruction and violence which +marked the Assembly, controlled as it was by Jacobin orators and infidel +demagogues. A frenzy seized the nation. It feared reactionary movements +and the interference of foreign powers. When the Bastille had fallen, it +was by the hands of half-starved people clamoring for bread; but when +the monarchy was attacked, it was from sentiments of fear among those +who had the direction of affairs. The King, at last, alarmed for his own +safety, contrived to escape from the Tuileries, where he was virtually +under arrest, for his power was gone; but he was recaptured, and brought +back to Paris, a prisoner. Robespierre called upon the Assembly to +bring the King and Queen to trial. Marat proposed a military +dictatorship, to act more summarily, which proposal produced a temporary +reaction in favor of royalty. Lafayette, as commander of the National +Guard, declared, "If you kill the King to-day, I will place the Dauphin +on the throne to-morrow." But the republican party, now in fear of a +reaction, was increasing rapidly. Its leaders were at this time the +Girondists, bent on the suppression of royalty, and headed by Brissot, +who agitated France by his writings in favor of a republic, while Madame +Roland opened her _salons_ for intrigues and cabals,--a bright woman, +"who dreamed of Spartan severity, Roman virtue, and Plutarch heroes." + +The National Assembly dissolved itself in September, and appealed to the +country for the election of a National Convention; for, the King having +been formally suspended Aug. 10, there was no government. The first act +of the Convention was to proclaim the Republic. Then occurred the more +complete organization of the Jacobin club, to control the National +Convention; and this was followed by the rapid depreciation of the +_assignats_, bread-riots, and all sorts of disturbances. Added to these +evils, foreign governments were arming to suppress the Revolution, and +war had been declared by the Girondist ministry, of which Dumouriez was +war-minister. At this crisis, Danton, of the club of the Cordeliers, +who found the Jacobins too respectable, became a power,--a coarse, +vulgar man, but of indefatigable energy and activity, who wished to do +away with all order and responsibility. He attacked the Gironde as not +sufficiently violent. + +It was now war between the different sections of the revolutionists +themselves. Lafayette resolved to suppress the dangerous radicals by +force, but found it no easy thing, for the Convention was controlled by +men of violence, who filled the country with alarm, not of their +unscrupulous measures, but of the military and of foreign enemies. He +even narrowly escaped impeachment at the hands of the National +Convention. + +The Convention is now overawed and controlled by the Commune and the +clubs. Lafayette flies. The mob rules Paris. The revolutionary tribunal +is decreed. Robespierre, Marat, and Danton form a triumvirate of power. +The September massacres take place. The Girondists become conservative, +and attempt to stay the progress of further excesses,--all to no +purpose, for the King himself is now impeached, and the Jacobins control +everything. The King is led to the bar of the Convention. He is +condemned by a majority only of one, and immured in the Temple. On the +20th of January, 1793, he was condemned, and the next day he mounted the +scaffold. "We have burned our ships," said Marat when the tragedy was +consummated. + +With the death of the King, I bring this lecture to a close. It would +be interesting to speculate on what might have been averted, had +Mirabeau lived. But probably nothing could have saved the monarchy +except civil war, to which Louis XVI. was averse. + +Nor can I dwell on the second part of the Revolution, when the +government was in the hands of those fiends and fanatics who turned +France into one vast slaughter-house of butchery and blood. I have only +to say, that the same unseen hand which humiliated the nobles, +impoverished the clergy, and destroyed the King, also visited with +retribution those monsters who had a leading hand in the work of +destruction. Marat, the infidel journalist, was stabbed by Charlotte +Corday. Danton, the minister of justice and orator of the revolutionary +clubs, was executed on the scaffold he had erected for so many innocent +men. Robespierre, the sentimental murderer and arch-conspirator, also +expiated his crimes on the scaffold; as did Saint-Just, Lebas, Couthon, +Henriot, and other legalized assassins. As the Girondists sacrificed the +royal family, so did the Jacobins sacrifice the Girondists; and the +Convention, filled with consternation, again sacrificed the Jacobins. + +After the work of destruction was consummated, and there was nothing +more to destroy, and starvation was imminent at Paris, and general +detestation began to prevail, in view of the atrocities committed in +the name of liberty, the crushing fact became apparent that the nations +of Europe were arming to put down the Revolution and restore the +monarchy. In a generous paroxysm of patriotism, the whole nation armed +to resist the invaders and defend the ideas of the Revolution. The +Convention also perceived, too late, that anything was better than +anarchy and license. It put down the clubs, restored religious worship, +destroyed the busts of the monsters who had disgraced their cause and +country, intrusted supreme power to five Directors, able and patriotic, +and dissolved itself. + +Under the Directory, the third act of the drama of revolution opened +with the gallant resistance which France made to the invaders of her +soil and the enemies of her liberties. This resistance brought out the +marvellous military genius of Napoleon, who intoxicated the nation by +his victories, and who, in reward of his extraordinary services, was +made First Consul, with dictatorial powers. The abuse of these powers, +his usurpation of imperial dignity, the wars into which he was drawn to +maintain his ascendency, and his final defeat at Waterloo, constitute +the most brilliant chapter in the history of modern times. The +Revolution was succeeded by military despotism. Inexperience led to +fatal mistakes, and these mistakes made the strong government of a +single man a necessity. The Revolution began in noble aspirations, but +for lack of political wisdom and sound principles in religion and +government, it ended in anarchy and crime, and was again followed by the +tyranny of a monarch. This is the sequence of all revolutions which defy +eternal justice and human experience. There are few evils which are +absolutely unendurable, and permanent reforms are only obtained by +patience and wisdom. Violence is ever succeeded by usurpation. The +terrible wars through which France passed, to aggrandize an ambitious +and selfish egotist, were attended with far greater evils than those +which the nation sought to abolish when the States-General first met at +Versailles. + +But the experiment of liberty, though it failed, was not altogether +thrown away. Lessons of political wisdom were learned, which no nation +will ever forget. Some great rights of immense value were secured, and +many grievous privileges passed away forever. Neither Louis XVIII., nor +Charles X., nor Louis Philippe, nor Louis Napoleon, ever attempted to +restore feudalism, or unequal privileges, or arbitrary taxation. The +legislative power never again completely succumbed to the decrees of +royal and imperial tyrants. The sovereignty of the people was +established as one of the fixed ideas of the nineteenth century, and the +representatives of the people are now the supreme rulers of the land. A +man can now rise in France above the condition in which he was born, +and can aspire to any office and position which are bestowed on talents +and genius. Bastilles and _lettres de cachet_ have become an +impossibility. Religious toleration is as free there as in England or +the United States. Education is open to the poor, and is encouraged by +the Government. Constitutional government seems to be established, under +whatever name the executive may be called. France is again one of the +most prosperous and contented countries of Europe; and the only great +drawback to her national prosperity is that which also prevents other +Continental powers from developing their resources,--the large standing +army which she feels it imperative to sustain. + +In view of the inexperience and fanaticism of the revolutionists, and +the dreadful evils which took place after the fall of the monarchy, we +should say that the Revolution was premature, and that substantial +reforms might have been gained without violence. But this is a mere +speculation. One thing we do know,--that the Revolution was a national +uprising against injustice and oppression. When the torch is applied to +a venerable edifice, we cannot determine the extent of the +conflagration, or the course which it will take. The French Revolution +was plainly one of the developments of a nation's progress. To +conservative and reverential minds it was a horrid form for progress to +take, since it was visionary and infidel. But all nations are in the +hands of God, who is above all second causes. And I know of no modern +movement to which the words of Carlyle, when he was an optimist, when he +wrote the most original and profound of his works, the "Sartor +Resartus," apply with more force: "When the Phoenix is fanning her +funeral pyre, will there not be sparks flying? Alas! some millions of +men have been sucked into that high eddying flame, and like moths +consumed. In the burning of the world-Phoenix, destruction and creation +proceed together; and as the ashes of the old are blown about do new +forces mysteriously spin themselves, and melodious death-songs are +succeeded by more melodious birth-songs." + +Yet all progress is slow, especially in government and morals. And how +forcibly are we impressed, in surveying the varied phases of the French +Revolution, that nothing but justice and right should guide men in their +reforms; that robbery and injustice in the name of liberty and progress +are still robbery and injustice, to be visited with righteous +retribution; and that those rulers and legislators who cannot make +passions and interests subservient to reason, are not fit for the work +assigned to them. It is miserable hypocrisy and cant to talk of a +revolutionary necessity for violating the first principles of human +society. Ah! it is Reason, Intelligence, and Duty, calm as the voices of +angels, soothing as the "music of the spheres," which alone should +guide nations, in all crises and difficulties, to the attainment of +those rights and privileges on which all true progress is based. + +AUTHORITIES + +Dumont's Recollections of Mirabeau; Carlyle's French Revolution; +Carlyle's article on Mirabeau in his Miscellanies; Von Sybel's French +Revolution; Thiers' French Revolution; Mignet's French Revolution; +Croker's Essays on the French Revolution; Life of Lafayette; Loustalot's +Revolution de Paris; Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution; +Carlyle's article on Danton; Mallet du Pau's Considerations sur la +Revolution Francaise; Biographie Universelle; A. Lameth's Histoire de +l'Assemblee Constituante; Alison's History of the French Revolution; +Lamartine's History of the Girondists; Lacretelle's History of France; +Montigny's Memoires sur Mirabeau; Peuchet's Memoires sur Mirabeau; +Madame de Stael's Considerations sur la Revolution Francaise; Macaulay's +Essay on Dumont's Recollections of Mirabeau. + + + +EDMUND BURKE. + + +A. D. 1729-1797. + +POLITICAL MORALITY. + + +It would be difficult to select an example of a more lofty and +irreproachable character among the great statesmen of England than +Edmund Burke. He is not a puzzle, like Oliver Cromwell, although there +are inconsistencies in the opinions he advanced from time to time. He +takes very much the same place in the parliamentary history of his +country as Cicero took in the Roman senate. Like that greatest of Roman +orators and statesmen, Burke was upright, conscientious, conservative, +religious, and profound. Like him, he lifted up his earnest voice +against corruption in the government, against great state criminals, +against demagogues, against rash innovations. Whatever diverse opinions +may exist as to his political philosophy, there is only one opinion as +to his character, which commands universal respect. Although he was the +most conservative of statesmen, clinging to the Constitution, and to +consecrated traditions and associations both in Church and State, still +his name is associated with the most important and salutary reforms +which England made for half a century. He seems to have been sent to +instruct and guide legislators in a venal and corrupt age. To my mind +Burke looms up, after the lapse of a century, as a prodigy of thought +and knowledge, devoted to the good of his country; an unselfish and +disinterested patriot, as wise and sagacious as he was honest; a sage +whose moral wisdom shines brighter and brighter, since it was based on +the immutable principles of justice and morality. One can extract more +profound and striking epigrams from his speeches and writings than from +any prose writer that England has produced, if we except Francis Bacon. +And these writings and speeches are still valued as among the most +precious legacies of former generations; they form a thesaurus of +political wisdom which statesmen can never exhaust. Burke has left an +example which all statesmen will do well to follow. He was not a popular +favorite, like Fox and Pitt; he was not born to greatness, like North +and Newcastle; he was not liked by the king or the nobility; he was +generally in the ranks of the opposition; he was a new man, like Cicero, +in an aristocratic age,--yet he conquered by his genius the proudest +prejudices; he fought his way upward, inch by inch; he was the founder +of a new national policy, although it was bitterly opposed; and he died +universally venerated for his integrity, wisdom, and foresight. He was +the most remarkable man, on the whole, who has taken part in public +affairs, from the Revolution to our times. Of course, the life and +principles of so great a man are a study. If history has any interest or +value, it is to show the influence of such a man on his own age and the +ages which have succeeded,--to point out his contribution to +civilization. + +Edmund Burke was born, 1730, of respectable parents in Ireland. He was +educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he made a fair proficiency, +but did not give promise of those rare powers which he afterwards +exhibited. He was no prodigy, like Cicero, Pitt, and Macaulay. He early +saw that his native country presented no adequate field for him, and +turned his steps to London at the age of twenty, where he entered as a +student of law in the Inner Temple,--since the Bar was then, what it was +at Rome, what it still is in modern capitals, the usual resort of +ambitious young men. But Burke did not like the law as a profession, and +early dropped the study of it; not because he failed in industry, for he +was the most plodding of students; not because he was deficient in the +gift of speech, for he was a born orator; not because his mind repelled +severe logical deductions, for he was the most philosophical of the +great orators of his day,--not because the law was not a noble field +for the exercise of the highest faculties of the mind, but probably +because he was won by the superior fascinations of literature and +philosophy. Bacon could unite the study of divine philosophy with +professional labors as a lawyer, also with the duties of a legislator; +but the instances are rare where men have united three distinct spheres, +and gained equal distinction in all. Cicero did, and Bacon, and Lord +Brougham; but not Erskine, nor Pitt, nor Canning. Even two spheres are +as much as most distinguished men have filled,--the law with politics, +like Thurlow and Webster; or politics with literature, like Gladstone +and Disraeli. Dr. Johnson, Garrick, and Reynolds, the early friends of +Burke, filled only one sphere. + +The early literary life of Burke was signalized by his essay on "The +Sublime and Beautiful," original in its design and execution, a model of +philosophical criticism, extorting the highest praises from Dugald +Stewart and the Abbe Raynal, and attracting so much attention that it +speedily became a text-book in the universities. Fortunately he was able +to pursue literature, with the aid of a small patrimony (about L300 a +year), without being doomed to the hard privations of Johnson, or the +humiliating shifts of Goldsmith. He lived independently of patronage +from the great,--the bitterest trial of the literati of the eighteenth +century, which drove Cowper mad, and sent Rousseau to attics and +solitudes,--so that, in his humble but pleasant home, with his young +wife, with whom he lived amicably, he could see his friends, the great +men of the age, and bestow an unostentatious charity, and maintain his +literary rank and social respectability. + +I have sometimes wondered why Burke did not pursue this quiet and +beautiful life,--free from the turmoils of public contest, with leisure, +and friends, and Nature, and truth,--and prepare treatises which would +have been immortal, for he was equal to anything he attempted. But such +was not to be. He was needed in the House of Commons, then composed +chiefly of fox-hunting squires and younger sons of nobles (a body as +ignorant as it was aristocratic),--the representatives not of the people +but of the landed proprietors, intent on aggrandizing their families at +the expense of the nation,--and of fortunate merchants, manufacturers, +and capitalists, in love with monopolies. Such an assembly needed at +that day a schoolmaster, a teacher in the principles of political +economy and political wisdom; a leader in reforming disgraceful abuses; +a lecturer on public duties and public wrongs; a patriot who had other +views than spoils and place; a man who saw the right, and was determined +to uphold it whatever the number or power of his opponents. So Edmund +Burke was sent among them,--ambitious doubtless, stern, intellectually +proud, incorruptible, independent, not disdainful of honors and +influence, but eager to render public services. + +It has been the great ambition of Englishmen since the Revolution to +enter Parliament, not merely for political influence, but also for +social position. Only rich men, or members of great families, have found +it easy to do so. To such men a pecuniary compensation is a small +affair. Hence, members of Parliament have willingly served without pay, +which custom has kept poor men of ability from aspiring to the position. +It was not easy, even for such a man as Burke, to gain admission into +this aristocratic assembly. He did not belong to a great family; he was +only a man of genius, learning, and character. The squirearchy of that +age cared no more for literary fame than the Roman aristocracy did for a +poet or an actor. So Burke, ambitious and able as he was, must bide +his time. + +His first step in a political career was as private secretary to Gerard +Hamilton, who was famous for having made but one speech, and who was +chief secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Halifax. +Burke soon resigned his situation in disgust, since he was not willing +to be a mere political tool. But his singular abilities had attracted +the attention of the prime minister, Lord Rockingham, who made him his +private secretary, and secured his entrance into Parliament. Lord +Verney, for a seat in the privy council, was induced to give him a +"rotten borough." + +Burke entered the House of Commons in 1765, at thirty-five years of age. +He began his public life when the nation was ruled by the great Whig +families, whose ancestors had fought the battles of reform in the times +of Charles and James. This party had held power for seventy years, had +forgotten the principles of the Revolution, and had become venal and +selfish, dividing among its chiefs the spoils of office. It had become +as absolute and unscrupulous as the old kings whom it had once +dethroned. It was an oligarchy of a few powerful whig noblemen, whose +rule was supreme in England. Burke joined this party, but afterwards +deserted it, or rather broke it up, when he perceived its arbitrary +character, and its disregard of the fundamental principles of the +Constitution. He was able to do this after its unsuccessful attempt to +coerce the American colonies. + +American difficulties were the great issue of that day. The majority of +the Parliament, both Lords and Commons,--sustained by King George III., +one of the most narrow-minded, obstinate, and stupid princes who ever +reigned in England; who believed in an absolute jurisdiction over the +colonies as an integral part of the empire, and was bent not only in +enforcing this jurisdiction, but also resorted to the most offensive +and impolitic measures to accomplish it,--this omnipotent Parliament, +fancying it had a right to tax America without her consent, without a +representation even, was resolved to carry out the abstract rights of a +supreme governing power, both in order to assert its prerogative and to +please certain classes in England who wished relief from the burden of +taxation. And because Parliament had this power, it would use it, +against the dictates of expediency and the instincts of common-sense; +yea, in defiance of the great elemental truth in government that even +thrones rest on the affections of the people. Blinded and infatuated +with notions of prerogative, it would not even learn lessons from that +conquered country which for five hundred years it had vainly attempted +to coerce, and which it could finally govern only by a recognition of +its rights. + +Now, the great career of Burke began by opposing the leading opinions of +his day in reference to the coercion of the American colonies. He +discarded all theories and abstract rights. He would not even discuss +the subject whether Parliament had a right to tax the colonies. He took +the side of expediency and common-sense. It was enough for him that it +was foolish and irritating to attempt to exercise abstract powers which +could not be carried out. He foresaw and he predicted the consequences +of attempting to coerce such a people as the Americans with the forces +which England could command. He pointed out the infatuation of the +ministers of the crown, then led by Lord North. His speech against the +Boston Port Bill was one of the most brilliant specimens of oratory ever +displayed in the House of Commons. He did not encourage the colonies in +rebellion, but pointed out the course they would surely pursue if the +irritating measures of the Government were not withdrawn. He advocated +conciliation, the withdrawal of theoretic rights, the repeal of +obnoxious taxes, the removal of restrictions on American industry, the +withdrawal of monopolies and of ungenerous distinctions. He would bind +the two countries together by a cord of love. When some member remarked +that it was horrible for children to rebel against their parents, Burke +replied: "It is true the Americans are our children; but when children +ask for bread, shall we give them a stone?" For ten years he labored +with successive administrations to procure reconciliation. He spoke +nearly every day. He appealed to reason, to justice, to common-sense. +But every speech he made was a battle with ignorance and prejudice. "If +you must employ your strength," said he indignantly, "employ it to +uphold some honorable right. I do not enter upon metaphysical +distinctions,--I hate the very name of them. Nobody can be argued into +slavery. If you cannot reconcile your sovereignty with their freedom, +the colonists will cast your sovereignty in your face. It is not enough +that a statesman means well; duty demands that what is right should not +only be made known, but be made prevalent,--that what is evil should not +only be detected, but be defeated. Do not dream that your registers, +your bonds, your affidavits, your instructions, are the things which +hold together the great texture of the mysterious whole. These dead +instruments do not make a government. It is the spirit that pervades and +vivifies an empire which infuses that obedience without which your army +would be a base rabble and your navy nothing but rotten timber." Such is +a fair specimen of his eloquence,--earnest, practical, to the point, yet +appealing to exalted sentiments, and pervaded with moral wisdom; the +result of learning as well as the dictate of a generous and enlightened +policy. When reason failed, he resorted to sarcasm and mockery. +"Because," said he, "we have a right to tax America we must do it; risk +everything, forfeit everything, take into consideration nothing but our +right. O infatuated ministers! Like a silly man, full of his prerogative +over the beasts of the field, who says, there is wool on the back of a +wolf, and therefore he must be sheared. What! shear a wolf? Yes. But +have you considered the trouble? Oh, I have considered nothing but my +right. A wolf is an animal that has wool; all animals that have wool +are to be sheared; and therefore I will shear the wolf." + +But I need not enlarge on his noble efforts to prevent a war with the +colonies. They were all in vain. You cannot reason with +infatuation,--_Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat_. The logic of +events at last showed the wisdom of Burke and the folly of the king and +his ministers, and of the nation at large. The disasters and the +humiliation which attended the American war compelled the ministry to +resign, and the Marquis of Rockingham became prime minister in 1782, and +Burke, the acknowledged leader of his party, became paymaster of the +forces,--an office at one time worth L25,000 a year, before the reform +which Burke had instigated. But this great statesman was not admitted to +the cabinet; George III. did not like him, and his connections were not +sufficiently powerful to overcome the royal objection. In our times he +would have been rewarded with a seat on the treasury bench; with less +talents than he had, the commoners of our day become prime-ministers. +But Burke did not long enjoy even the office of paymaster. On the death +of Lord Rockingham, a few months after he had formed the ministry, Burke +retired from the only office he ever held. And he retired to +Beaconsfield,--an estate which he had purchased with the assistance of +his friend Rockingham, where he lived when parliamentary duties +permitted, in that state of blended elegance, leisure, and study which +is to be found, in the greatest perfection, in England alone. + +The political power of Burke culminated at the close of the war with +America, but not his political influence: and there is a great +difference between power and influence. Nor do we read that Burke, after +this, headed the opposition. That position was shared by Charles James +Fox, who ultimately supplanted his master as the leader of his party; +not because Burke declined in wisdom or energy, but because Fox had more +skill as a debater, more popular sympathies, and more influential +friends. Burke, like Gladstone, was too stern, too irritable, too +imperious, too intellectually proud, perhaps too unyielding, to control +such an ignorant, prejudiced, and aristocratic body as the House of +Commons, jealous of his ascendency and writhing under his rebukes. It +must have been galling to the great philosopher to yield the palm to +lesser men; but such has ever been the destiny of genius, except in +crises of public danger. Of all things that politicians hate is the +domination of a man who will not stoop to flatter, who cannot be bribed, +and who will be certain to expose vices and wrongs. The world will not +bear rebukes. The fate of prophets is to be stoned. A stern moral +greatness is repulsive to the weak and wicked. Parties reward mediocre +men, whom they can use or bend; and the greatest benefactors lose their +popularity when they oppose the enthusiasm of new ideas, or become +austere in their instructions. Thus the greatest statesman that this +country has produced since Alexander Hamilton, lost his prestige when +his conciliating policy became offensive to a rising party whose +watchword was "the higher law," although, by his various conflicts with +Southern leaders and his loyalty to the Constitution, he educated the +people to sustain the very war which he foresaw and dreaded. And had +that accomplished senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner, who +succeeded to Webster's seat, and who in his personal appearance and +advocacy for reform strikingly resembled Burke,--had he remained +uninjured to our day, with increasing intellectual powers and profounder +moral wisdom, I doubt whether even he would have had much influence with +our present legislators; for he had all the intellectual defects of both +Burke and Webster, and never was so popular as either of them at one +period of their career, while he certainly was inferior to both in +native force, experience, and attainments. + +The chief labors of Burke for the first ten years of his parliamentary +life had been mainly in connection with American affairs, and which the +result proved he comprehended better than any man in England. Those of +the next ten years were directed principally to Indian difficulties, in +which he showed the same minuteness of knowledge, the same grasp of +intellect, the same moral wisdom, the same good sense, and the same +regard for justice, that he had shown concerning the colonies. But in +discussing Indian affairs his eloquence takes a loftier flight; he is +less conciliating, more in earnest, more concerned with the principles +of immutable obligations. He abhors the cruelties and tyranny inflicted +on India by Clive and Hastings. He could see no good from an +aggrandizement purchased by injustice and wrong. If it was criminal for +an individual to cheat and steal, it was equally atrocious for a nation +to plunder and oppress another nation, infidel or pagan, white or black. +A righteous anger burned in the breast of Burke as he reflected on the +wrongs and miseries of the natives of India. Why should that ancient +country be ruled for no other purpose than to enrich the younger sons of +a grasping aristocracy and the servants of an insatiable and +unscrupulous Company whose monopoly of spoils was the scandal of the +age? If ever a reform was imperative in the government of a colony, it +was surely in India, where the government was irresponsible. The English +courts of justice there were more terrible to the natives than the very +wrongs they pretended to redress. The customs and laws and moral ideas +of the conquered country were spurned and ignored by the greedy scions +of gentility who were sent to rule a population ten times larger than +that between the Humber and the Thames. + +So Burke, after the most careful study of the condition of India, lifted +up his voice against the iniquities which were winked at by Parliament. +But his fierce protest arrayed against him all the parties that indorsed +these wrongs, or who were benefited by them. I need not dwell on his +protracted labors for ten years in behalf of right, without the +sympathies of those who had formerly supported him. No speeches were +ever made in the English House of Commons which equalled, in eloquence +and power, those he made on the Nabob of Arcot's debts and the +impeachment of Warren Hastings. In these famous philippics, he +fearlessly exposed the peculations, the misrule, the oppression, and the +inhuman heartlessness of the Company's servants,--speeches which +extorted admiration, while they humiliated and chastised. I need not +describe the nine years' prosecution of a great criminal, and the escape +of Hastings, more guilty and more fortunate than Verres, from the +punishment he merited, through legal technicalities, the apathy of men +in power, the private influence of the throne, and the sympathies which +fashion excited in his behalf,--and, more than all, because of the +undoubted service he had rendered to his country, if it _was_ a service +to extend her rule by questionable means to the farthermost limits of +the globe. I need not speak of the obloquy which Burke incurred from the +press, which teemed with pamphlets and books and articles to undermine +his great authority, all in the interests of venal and powerful +monopolists. Nor did he escape the wrath of the electors of Bristol,--a +narrow-minded town of India traders and Negro dealers,--who withdrew +from him their support. He had been solicited, in the midst of his +former eclat, to represent this town, rather than the "rotten borough" +of Wendover; and he proudly accepted the honor, and was the idol of his +constituents until he presumed to disregard their instructions in +matters of which he considered they were incompetent to judge. His +famous letter to the electors, in which he refutes and ridicules their +claim to instruct him, as the shoemakers of Lynn wished to instruct +Daniel Webster, is a model of irony, as well as a dignified rebuke of +all ignorant constituencies, and a lofty exposition of the duties of a +statesman rather than of a politician. + +He had also incurred the displeasure of the Bristol electors by his +manly defence of the rights of the Irish Catholics, who since the +conquest of William III. had been subjected to the most unjust and +annoying treatment that ever disgraced a Protestant government. The +injustices under which Ireland groaned were nearly as repulsive as the +cruelties inflicted upon the Protestants of France during the reign of +Louis XIV. "On the suppression of the rebellion under Tyrconnel," says +Morley, "nearly the whole of the land was confiscated, the peasants were +made beggars and outlaws, the Penal Laws against Catholics were +enforced, and the peasants were prostrate in despair." Even in 1765 "the +native Irish were regarded by their Protestant oppressors with exactly +that combination of intense contempt and loathing, rage and terror, +which his American counterpart would have divided between the Indian and +the Negro." Not the least of the labors of Burke was to bring to the +attention of the nation the wrongs inflicted on the Irish, and the +impossibility of ruling a people who had such just grounds for +discontent. "His letter upon the propriety of admitting the Catholics to +the elective franchise is one of the wisest of all his productions,--so +enlightened is its idea of toleration, so sagacious is its comprehension +of political exigencies." He did not live to see his ideas carried out, +but he was among the first to prepare the way for Catholic emancipation +in later times. + +But a greater subject than colonial rights, or Indian wrongs, or +persecution of the Irish Catholics agitated the mind of Burke, to which +he devoted the energies of his declining years; and this was, the +agitation growing out of the French Revolution. When that "roaring +conflagration of anarchies" broke out, he was in the full maturity of +his power and his fame,--a wise old statesman, versed in the lessons of +human experience, who detested sophistries and abstract theories and +violent reforms; a man who while he loved liberty more than any +political leader of his day, loathed the crimes committed in its name, +and who was sceptical of any reforms which could not be carried on +without a wanton destruction of the foundations of society itself. He +was also a Christian who planted himself on the certitudes of religious +faith, and was shocked by the flippant and shallow infidelity which +passed current for progress and improvement. Next to the infidel spirit +which would make Christianity and a corrupted church identical, as seen +in the mockeries of Voltaire, and would destroy both under the guise of +hatred of superstition, he despised those sentimentalities with which +Rousseau and his admirers would veil their disgusting immoralities. To +him hypocrisy and infidelity, under whatever name they were baptized by +the new apostles of human rights, were mischievous and revolting. And as +an experienced statesman he held in contempt the inexperience of the +Revolutionary leaders, and the unscrupulous means they pursued to +accomplish even desirable ends. + +No man more than Burke admitted the necessity of even radical reforms, +but he would have accomplished them without bloodshed and cruelties. He +would not have removed undeniable evils by introducing still greater +ones. He regarded the remedies proposed by the Revolutionary quacks as +worse than the disease which they professed to cure. No man knew better +than he the corruptions of the Catholic church in France, and the +persecuting intolerance which that church had stimulated there ever +since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,--an intolerance so cruel +that to be married unless in accordance with Catholic usage was to live +in concubinage, and to be suspected of Calvinism was punishable by +imprisonment or the galleys. But because the established church was +corrupt and intolerant, he did not see the necessity for the entire and +wholesale confiscation of its lands and possessions (which had not been +given originally by the nation, but were the bequests of individuals), +thereby giving a vital wound to all the rights of property which +civilization in all countries has held sacred and inviolable. Burke knew +that the Bourbon absolute monarchy was oppressive and tyrannical, +extravagant and indifferent to the welfare of the people; but he would +not get rid of it by cutting off the head of the king, especially when +Louis was willing to make great concessions: he would have limited his +power, or driven him into exile as the English punished James II. He +knew that the nobles abused their privileges; he would have taken them +away rather than attempt to annul their order, and decimate them by +horrid butcheries. He did not deny the necessity of reforms so searching +that they would be almost tantamount to revolution; but he would not +violate both constitutional forms and usages, and every principle of +justice and humanity, in order to effect them. + +To Burke's mind, the measures of the revolutionists were all mixed up +with impieties, sophistries, absurdities, and blasphemies, to say +nothing of cruelties and murders. What good could grow out of such an +evil tree? Could men who ignored all duties be the expounders of rights? +What structure could last, when its foundation was laid on the sands of +hypocrisy, injustice, ignorance, and inexperience? What sympathy could +such a man as Burke have for atheistic theories, or a social progress +which scorned the only conditions by which society can be kept together? +The advanced men who inaugurated the Reign of Terror were to him either +fools, or fanatics, or assassins. He did not object to the meeting of +the States-General to examine into the intolerable grievances, and, if +necessary, to strip the king of tyrannical powers, for such a thing the +English parliament had done; but it was quite another thing for _one +branch_ of the States-General to constitute itself the nation, and usurp +the powers and functions of the other two branches; to sweep away, +almost in a single night, the constitution of the realm; to take away +all the powers of the king, imprison him, mock him, insult him, and +execute him, and then to cut off the heads of the nobles who supported +him, and of all people who defended him, even women themselves, and +convert the whole land into a Pandemonium! What contempt must he have +had for legislators who killed their king, decimated their nobles, +robbed their clergy, swept away all social distinctions, abolished the +rites of religion,--all symbols, honors, and privileges; all that was +ancient, all that was venerable, all that was poetic, even to abbey +churches; yea, dug up the very bones of ancient monarchs from the +consecrated vaults where they had reposed for centuries, and scattered +them to the winds; and then amid the mad saturnalia of sacrilege, +barbarity, and blasphemy to proclaim the reign of "Liberty, Fraternity, +and Equality," with Marat for their leader, and Danton for their orator, +and Robespierre for their high-priest; and, finally, to consummate the +infamous farce of reform by openly setting up a wanton woman as the idol +of their worship, under the name of the Goddess of Reason! + +But while Burke saw only one side of these atrocities, he did not close +his eyes to the necessity for reforms. Had he been a Frenchman, he would +strenuously have lifted up his voice to secure them, but in a legal and +constitutional manner,--not by violence, not by disregarding the +principles of justice and morality to secure a desirable end. He was +one of the few statesmen then living who would not do evil that good +might come. He was no Jesuit. There is a class of politicians who would +have acted differently; and this class, in his day, was made up of +extreme and radical people, with infidel sympathies. With this class he +was no favorite, and never can be. Conservative people judge him by a +higher standard; they shared at the time in his sympathies and +prejudices. + +Even in America the excesses of the Revolution excited general +abhorrence; much more so in England. And it was these excesses, this +mode of securing reform, not reform itself, which excited Burke's +detestation. Who can wonder at this? Those who accept crimes as a +necessary outbreak of revolutionary passions adopt a philosophy which +would veil the world with a funereal and diabolical gloom. Reformers +must be taught that no reforms achieved by crime are worth the cost. Nor +is it just to brand an illustrious man with indifference to great moral +and social movements because he would wait, sooner than upturn the very +principles on which society is based. And here is the great difficulty +in estimating the character and labors of Burke. Because he denounced +the French Revolution, some think he was inconsistent with his early +principles. Not at all; it was the crimes and excesses of the Revolution +he denounced, not the impulse of the French people to achieve their +liberties. Those crimes and excesses he believed to be inconsistent with +an enlightened desire for freedom; but freedom itself, to its utmost +limit and application, consistent with law and order, he desired. Is it +necessary for mankind to win its greatest boons by going through a sea +of anarchies, madness, assassinations, and massacres? Those who take +this view of revolution, it seems to me, are neither wise nor learned. +If a king makes war on his subjects, they are warranted in taking up +arms in their defence, even if the civil war is followed by enormities. +Thus the American colonies took up arms against George III.; but they +did not begin with crimes. Louis XVI. did not take up arms against his +subjects, nor league against them, until they had crippled and +imprisoned him. He made even great concessions; he was willing to make +still greater to save his crown. But the leaders of the revolution were +not content with these, not even with the abolition of feudal +privileges; they wanted to subvert the monarchy itself, to abolish the +order of nobility, to sweep away even the Church,--not the Catholic +establishment only, but the Christian religion also, with all the +institutions which time and poetry had consecrated. Their new heaven and +new earth was not the reign of the saints, which the millenarians of +Cromwell's time prayed for devoutly, but a sort of communistic +equality, where every man could do precisely as he liked, take even his +neighbor's property, and annihilate all distinctions of society, all +inequalities of condition,--a miserable, fanatical dream, impossible to +realize under any form of government which can be conceived. It was this +spirit of reckless innovation, promulgated by atheists and drawn +logically from some principles of the "Social Contract" of which +Rousseau was the author, which excited the ire of Burke. It was license, +and not liberty. + +And while the bloody and irreligious excesses of the Revolution called +out his detestation, the mistakes and incapacity of the new legislators +excited his contempt. He condemned a _compulsory_ paper currency,--not a +paper currency, but a compulsory one,--and predicted bankruptcy. He +ridiculed an army without a head,--not the instrument of the executive, +but of a military democracy receiving orders from the clubs. He made +sport of the legislature ruled by the commune, and made up not of men of +experience, but of adventurers, stock-jobbers, directors of assignats, +trustees for the sale of church-lands, who "took a constitution in hand +as savages would a looking-glass,"--a body made up of those courtiers +who wished to cut off the head of their king, of those priests who voted +religion a nuisance, of those lawyers who called the laws a dead letter, +of those philosophers who admitted no argument but the guillotine, of +those sentimentalists who chanted the necessity of more blood, of +butchers and bakers and brewers who would exterminate the very people +who bought from them. + +And the result of all this wickedness and folly on the mind of Burke was +the most eloquent and masterly political treatise probably ever +written,--a treatise in which there may be found much angry rhetoric and +some unsound principles, but which blazes with genius on every page, +which coruscates with wit, irony, and invective; scornful and sad +doubtless, yet full of moral wisdom; a perfect thesaurus of political +truths. I have no words with which to express my admiration for the +wisdom and learning and literary excellence of the "Reflections on the +French Revolution" as a whole,--so luminous in statement, so accurate in +the exposure of sophistries, so full of inspired intuitions, so +Christian in its tone. This celebrated work was enough to make any man +immortal. It was written and rewritten with the most conscientious care. +It appeared in 1790; and so great were its merits, so striking, and yet +so profound, that thirty thousand copies were sold in a few weeks. It +was soon translated into all the languages of Europe, and was in the +hands of all thinking men. It was hailed with especial admiration by +Christian and conservative classes, though bitterly denounced by many +intelligent people as gloomy and hostile to progress. But whether liked +or disliked, it made a great impression, and contributed to settle +public opinion in reference to French affairs. What can be more just and +enlightened than such sentiments as these, which represent the spirit of +the treatise:-- + +"Because liberty is to be classed among the blessings of mankind, am I +to felicitate a madman who has escaped from the restraints of his cell? +There is no qualification for government but virtue and wisdom. Woe be +to that country that would madly reject the service of talents and +virtues. Nothing is an adequate representation of a State that does not +represent its ability as well as property. Men have a right to justice, +and the fruits of industry, and the acquisitions of their parents, and +the improvement of their offspring,--to instruction in life and +consolation in death; but they have no right to what is unreasonable, +and what is not for their benefit. The new professors are so taken up +with rights that they have totally forgotten duties; and without opening +one new avenue to the understanding, they have succeeded in stopping +those that lead to the heart. Those who attempt by outrage and violence +to deprive men of any advantage which they hold under the laws, proclaim +war against society. When, I ask, will such truths become obsolete among +enlightened people; and when will they become stale?" + +But with this fierce protest against the madness and violence of the +French Revolution, the wisdom of Burke and of the English nation ended. +The most experienced and sagacious man of his age, with all his wisdom +and prescience, could see only one side of the awful political hurricane +which he was so eloquent in denouncing. His passions and his prejudices +so warped his magnificent intellect, that he could not see the good +which was mingled with the evil; that the doctrine of equality, if false +when applied to the actual condition of men at their birth, is yet a +state to which the institutions of society tend, under the influence of +education and religion; that the common brotherhood of man, mocked by +the tyrants which feudalism produced, is yet to be drawn from the Sermon +on the Mount; that the blood of a plebeian carpenter is as good as that +of an aristocratic captain of artillery; that public burdens which bear +heavily on the poor should also be shared equally by the rich; that all +laws should be abolished which institute unequal privileges; that taxes +should be paid by nobles as well as by peasants; that every man should +be unfettered in the choice of his calling and profession; that there +should be unbounded toleration of religious opinions; that no one should +be arbitrarily arrested and confined without trial and proof of crime; +that men and women, with due regard to the rights of others, should be +permitted to marry whomsoever they please; that, in fact, a total change +in the spirit of government, so imperatively needed in France, was +necessary. These were among the great ideas which the reformers +advocated, but which they did not know how practically to secure on +those principles of justice which they abstractly invoked,--ideas never +afterwards lost sight of, in all the changes of government. And it is +remarkable that the flagrant evils which the Revolution so ruthlessly +swept away have never since been revived, and never can be revived any +more than the oracles of Dodona or the bulls of Mediaeval Rome; amid the +storms and the whirlwinds and the fearful convulsions and horrid +anarchies and wicked passions of a great catastrophe, the imperishable +ideas of progress forced their way. + +Nor could Burke foresee the ultimate results of the Revolution any more +than he would admit the truths which were overshadowed by errors and +crimes. Nor, inflamed with rage and scorn, was he wise in the remedies +he proposed. Only God can overrule the wrath of man, and cause melodious +birth-songs to succeed the agonies of dissolution. Burke saw the +absurdity of sophistical theories and impractical equality,--liberty +running into license, and license running into crime; he saw +pretensions, quackeries, inexperience, folly, and cruelty, and he +prophesied what their legitimate effect would be: but he did not see in +the Revolution the pent-up indignation and despair of centuries, nor did +he hear the voices of hungry and oppressed millions crying to heaven +for vengeance. He did not recognize the chastening hand of God on +tyrants and sensualists; he did not see the arm of retributive justice, +more fearful than the daggers of Roman assassins, more stern than the +overthrow of Persian hosts, more impressive than the handwriting on the +wall of Belshazzar's palace; nor could he see how creation would succeed +destruction amid the burnings of that vast funeral pyre. He foresaw, +perhaps, that anarchy would be followed by military despotism; but he +never anticipated a Napoleon Bonaparte, or the military greatness of a +nation so recently ground down by Jacobin orators and sentimental +executioners. He never dreamed that out of the depths and from the +clouds and amid the conflagration there would come a deliverance, at +least for a time, in the person of a detested conqueror; who would +restore law, develop industry, secure order, and infuse enthusiasm into +a country so nearly ruined, and make that country glorious beyond +precedent, until his mad passion for unlimited dominion should arouse +insulted nations to form a coalition which even he should not be +powerful enough to resist, gradually hemming him round in a king-hunt, +until they should at last confine him on a rock in the ocean, to +meditate and to die. + +Where Burke and the nation he aroused by his eloquence failed in wisdom, +was in opposing this revolutionary storm with bayonets. Had he and the +leaders of his day confined themselves to rhetoric and arguments, if +ever so exaggerated and irritating; had they allowed the French people +to develop their revolution in their own way, as they had the right to +do,--then the most dreadful war of modern times, which lasted twenty +years, would have been confined within smaller limits. Napoleon would +have had no excuse for aggressive warfare; Pitt would not have died of a +broken heart; large standing armies, the curse of Europe, would not have +been deemed so necessary; the ancient limits of France might have been +maintained; and a policy of development might have been inaugurated, +rather than a policy which led to future wars and national humiliation. +The gigantic struggles of Napoleon began when France was attacked by +foreign nations, fighting for their royalties and feudalities, and +aiming to suppress a domestic revolution which was none of their +concern, and which they imperfectly understood. + +But at this point we must stop, for I tread on ground where only +speculation presumes to stand. The time has not come to solve such a +mighty problem as the French Revolution, or even the career of Napoleon +Bonaparte. We can pronounce on the logical effects of right and +wrong,--that violence leads to anarchy, and anarchy to ruin; but we +cannot tell what would have been the destiny of France if the Revolution +had not produced Napoleon, nor what would have been the destiny of +England if Napoleon had not been circumvented by the powers of Europe. +On such questions we are children; the solution of them is hidden by the +screens of destiny; we can only speculate. And since we short-sighted +mortals cannot tell what will be the ultimate effect of the great +agitations of society, whether begun in noble aspirations or in depraved +passions, it is enough for us to settle down, with firm convictions, on +what we can see,--that crimes, under whatever name they go, are +eternally to be reprobated, whatever may be the course they are made to +take by Him who rules the universe. It would be difficult to single out +any memorable war in this world's history which has not been ultimately +overruled for the good of the world, whatever its cause or +character,--like the Crusades, the most unfortunate in their immediate +effects of all the great wars which nations have madly waged. But this +only proves that God is stronger than devils, and that he overrules the +wrath of man. "It must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man +by whom the offence cometh." There is only one standard by which to +judge the actions of men; there is only one rule whereby to guide +nations or individuals,--and that is, to do right; to act on the +principles of immutable justice. + +Now, whatever were the defects in the character or philosophy of Burke, +it cannot be denied that this was the law which he attempted to obey, +the rule which he taught to his generation. In this light, his life and +labors command our admiration, because he _did_ uphold the right and +condemn the wrong, and was sufficiently clear-headed to see the +sophistries which concealed the right and upheld the wrong. That was his +peculiar excellence. How loftily his majestic name towers above the +other statesmen of his troubled age! Certainly no equal to him, in +England, has since appeared, in those things which give permanent fame. +The man who has most nearly approached him is Gladstone. If the +character of our own Webster had been as reproachless as his intellect +was luminous and comprehensive, he might be named in the same category +of illustrious men. Like the odor of sanctity, which was once supposed +to emanate from a Catholic saint, the halo of Burke's imperishable glory +is shed around every consecrated retreat of that land which thus far has +been the bulwark of European liberty. The English nation will not let +him die; he cannot die in the hearts and memories of man any more than +can Socrates or Washington. No nation will be long ungrateful for +eminent public services, even if he who rendered them was stained by +grave defects; for it is services which make men immortal. Much more +will posterity reverence those benefactors whose private lives were in +harmony with their principles,--the Hales, the L'Hopitals, the Hampdens +of the world. To this class Burke undeniably belonged. All writers agree +as to his purity of morals, his generous charities, his high social +qualities, his genial nature, his love of simple pleasures, his deep +affections, his reverence, his Christian life. He was a man of sorrows, +it is true, like most profound and contemplative natures, whose labors +are not fully appreciated,--like Cicero, Dante, and Michael Angelo. He +was doomed, too, like Galileo, to severe domestic misfortunes. He was +greatly afflicted by the death of his only son, in whom his pride and +hopes were bound up. "I am like one of those old oaks which the late +hurricane has scattered about me," said he. "I am torn up by the roots; +I lie prostrate on the earth." And when care and disease hastened his +departure from a world he adorned, his body was followed to the grave by +the most illustrious of the great men of the land, and the whole nation +mourned as for a brother or a friend. + +But it is for his writings and published speeches that he leaves the +most enduring fame; and what is most valuable in his writings is his +elucidation of fundamental principles in morals and philosophy. And here +was his power,--not his originality, for which he was distinguished in +an eminent degree; not learning, which amazed his auditors; not sarcasm, +of which he was a master; not wit, with which he brought down the +house; not passion, which overwhelmed even such a man as Hastings; not +fluency, with every word in the language at his command; not criticism, +so searching that no sophistry could escape him; not philosophy, musical +as Apollo's lyre,--but _insight_ into great principles, the moral force +of truth clearly stated and fearlessly defended. This elevated him to a +sphere which words and gestures, and the rich music and magnetism of +voice and action can never reach, since it touched the heart and the +reason and the conscience alike, and produced convictions that nothing +can stifle. There were more famous and able men than he, in some +respects, in Parliament at the time. Fox surpassed him in debate, Pitt +in ready replies and adaptation to the genius of the house, Sheridan in +wit, Townsend in parliamentary skill, Mansfield in legal acumen; but no +one of these great men was so forcible as Burke in the statement of +truths which future statesmen will value. And as he unfolded and applied +the imperishable principles of right and wrong, he seemed like an +ancient sage bringing down to earth the fire of the divinities he +invoked and in which he believed, not to chastise and humiliate, but to +guide and inspire. + +In recapitulating the services by which Edmund Burke will ultimately be +judged, I would say that he had a hand in almost every movement for +which his generation is applauded. He gave an impulse to almost every +political discussion which afterwards resulted in beneficent reform. +Some call him a croaker, without sympathy for the ideas on which modern +progress is based; but he was really one of the great reformers of his +day. He lifted up his voice against the slave-trade; he encouraged and +lauded the labors of Howard; he supported the just claims of the +Catholics; he attempted, though a churchman, to remove the restrictions +to which dissenters were subjected; he opposed the cruel laws against +insolvent debtors; he sought to soften the asperities of the Penal Code; +he labored to abolish the custom of enlisting soldiers for life; he +attempted to subvert the dangerous powers exercised by judges in +criminal prosecutions for libel; he sought financial reform in various +departments of the State; he would have abolished many useless offices +in the government; he fearlessly exposed the wrongs of the East India +Company; he tried to bring to justice the greatest political criminal of +the day; he took the right side of American difficulties, and advocated +a policy which would have secured for half a century longer the +allegiance of the American colonies, and prevented the division of the +British empire; he advocated measures which saved England, possibly, +from French subjugation; he threw the rays of his genius over all +political discussions; and he left treatises which from his day to ours +have proved a mine of political and moral wisdom, for all whose aim or +business it has been to study the principles of law or government. +These, truly, were services for which any country should be grateful, +and which should justly place Edmund Burke on the list of great +benefactors. These constitute a legacy of which all nations should +be proud. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Works and Correspondence of Edmund Burke; Life and Times of Edmund +Burke, by Macknight (the ablest and fullest yet written); An Historical +Study, by Morley (very able); Lives of Burke by Croly, Prior, and +Bisset; Grenville Papers; Parliamentary History; the Encyclopaedia +Britannica has a full article on Burke; Massey's History of England; +Chatham's Correspondence; Moore's Life of Sheridan; also the Lives of +Pitt and Fox; Lord Brougham's Sketch of Burke; C.W. Dilke's Papers of a +Critic; Boswell's Life of Johnson. The most brilliant of Burke's +writings, "Reflections on the French Revolution," should be read by +everybody. + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. + + +A.D. 1769-1821. + +THE FRENCH EMPIRE. + + +It is difficult to say anything new about Napoleon Bonaparte, either in +reference to his genius, his character, or his deeds. + +His genius is universally admitted, both as a general and an +administrator. No general so great has appeared in our modern times. He +ranks with Alexander and Caesar in ancient times, and he is superior to +Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Conde, Marlborough, Frederic II., +Wellington, or any of the warriors who have figured in the great wars of +Europe, from Charlemagne to the battle of Waterloo. His military career +was so brilliant that it dazzled contemporaries. Without the advantages +of birth or early patronage, he rose to the highest pinnacle of human +glory. His victories were prodigious and unexampled; and it took all +Europe to resist him. He aimed at nothing less than universal +sovereignty; and had he not, when intoxicated with his conquests, +attempted impossibilities, his power would have been practically +unlimited in France. He had all the qualities for success in +war,--insight, fertility of resource, rapidity of movement, power of +combination, coolness, intrepidity, audacity, boldness tempered by +calculation, will, energy which was never relaxed, powers of endurance, +and all the qualities which call out enthusiasm and attach soldiers and +followers to personal interests. His victorious career was unchecked +until all the nations of Europe, in fear and wrath, combined against +him. He was a military prodigy, equally great in tactics and +strategy,--a master of all the improvements which had been made in the +art of war, from Epaminondas to Frederic II. + +His genius for civil administration was equally remarkable, and is +universally admitted. Even Metternich, who detested him, admits that "he +was as great as a statesman as he was as a warrior, and as great as an +administrator as he was as a statesman." He brought order out of +confusion, developed the industry of his country, restored the finances, +appropriated and rewarded all eminent talents, made the whole machinery +of government subservient to his aims, and even seemed to animate it by +his individual will. He ruled France as by the power of destiny. The +genius of Richelieu, of Mazarin, and of Colbert pale before his +enlightened mind, which comprehended equally the principles of political +science and the vast details of a complicated government. For executive +ability I know no monarch who has surpassed him. + +We do not associate with military genius, as a general rule, marked +intellectual qualities in other spheres. But Napoleon was an exception +to this rule. He was tolerably well educated, and he possessed +considerable critical powers in art, literature, and science. He +penetrated through all shams and impostures. He was rarely deceived as +to men or women. He could be eloquent and interesting in conversation. +Some of his expressions pierced like lightning, and were exceedingly +effective. His despatches were laconic and clear. He knew something +about everybody of note, and if he had always been in a private station +his intellectual force would have attracted attention in almost any +vocation he might have selected. His natural vivacity, wit, and +intensity would have secured friends and admirers in any sphere. + +Nor are the judgments of mankind less unanimous in reference to his +character than his intellect and genius. He stands out in history in a +marked manner with two sides,--great and little, good and bad. None can +deny him many good qualities. His industry was marvellous; he was +temperate in eating and drinking; he wasted no precious time; he +rewarded his friends, to whom he was true; he did not persecute his +enemies unless they stood in his way, and unless he had a strong +personal dislike for them, as he had for Madame de Stael; he could be +magnanimous at times; he was indulgent to his family, and allowed his +wife to buy as many India shawls and diamonds as she pleased; he was +never parsimonious in his gifts, although personally inclined to +economy; he generally ruled by the laws he had accepted or enacted; he +despised formalities and etiquette; he sought knowledge from every +quarter; he encouraged merit in all departments; he was not ruled by +women, like most of the kings of France; he was not enslaved by +prejudices, and was lenient when he could afford to be; and in the +earlier part of his career he was doubtless patriotic in his devotion to +the interests of his country. + +Moreover, many of his faults were the result of circumstances, and of +the unprecedented prosperity which he enjoyed. Pride, egotism, tyranny, +and ostentation were to be expected of a man whose will was law. Nearly +all men would have exhibited these traits, had they been seated on such +a throne as his; and almost any man's temper would have occasionally +given way under such burdens as he assumed, such hostilities as he +encountered, and such treasons as he detected. Surrounded by spies and +secret enemies, he was obliged to be reserved. With a world at his feet, +it was natural that he should be arbitrary and impatient of +contradiction. There have been successful railway magnates as imperious +as he, and bank presidents as supercilious, and clerical dignitaries as +haughty, in their smaller spheres. Pride, consciousness, and egotism are +the natural result of power and flattery in all conditions of life; and +when a single man controls the destinies of nations, he is an exception +to the infirmities of human nature if he does not seek to bend +everything before his haughty will. There have been many Richelieus, +there has been but one Marcus Aurelius; many Hildebrands, only one +Alfred; many Ahabs, only one David, one St. Louis, one Washington. + +But with all due allowance for the force of circumstances in the +development of character, and for those imperial surroundings which +blind the arbiters of nations, there were yet natural traits of +character in Napoleon which call out the severest reprobation, and which +make him an object of indignation and intense dislike among true-minded +students of history. His egotism was almost superhuman, his selfishness +was most unscrupulous, his ambition absolutely boundless. He claimed a +monopoly in perfidy and lying; he had no idea of moral responsibility; +he had no sympathy with misfortune, no conscience, no fear of God. He +was cold, hard, ironical, and scornful. He was insolent in his treatment +of women, brusque in manners, severe on all who thwarted or opposed him. +He committed great crimes in his ascent to supreme dominion, and mocked +the reason, the conscience, and the rights of mankind. He broke the most +solemn treaties; he was faithless to his cause; he centred in himself +the interests he was intrusted to guard; he recklessly insulted all the +governments of Europe; he put himself above Providence; he disgracefully +elevated his brothers; he sought to aggrandize himself at any cost, and +ruthlessly grasped the sceptre of universal dominion as if he were an +irresistible destiny whom it was folly to oppose, In all this he aimed +to be greater than conscience. + +Such was the character of a despot who arose upon the ruins of the old +monarchy,--the product of a revolution, whose ideas he proposed to +defend. Most historians, and all moralists, are on the whole unanimous +in this verdict. As for his deeds, they rise up before our minds, +compelling admiration and awe. He was the incarnation of force; he +performed the most brilliant exploits of our modern times. + +The question then arises, whether his marvellous gifts and transcendent +opportunities were directed to the good of his country and the cause of +civilization. In other words, did he render great services to France, +which make us forget his faults? How will he be judged by enlightened +posterity? May he be ranked among great benefactors, like Constantine. +Charlemagne, Theodosius, Peter the Great, and Oliver Cromwell? It is the +privilege of great sovereigns to be judged for their services rather +than by their defects. + +Let us summon, then, this great Emperor before the bar of universal +reason. Let him make his own defence. Let us first hear what he has to +say for himself, for he is the most distinguished culprit of modern +times, and it may yet take three generations to place him in his true +historical niche; and more, his fame, though immortal, may forever be in +doubt, like that of Julius Caesar, whom we still discuss. + +This great man may quietly yet haughtily say to us who seek to take his +measure: "It is for my services to France that I claim to be judged. I +do not claim perfection. I admit I made grand mistakes; I even committed +acts which the world stigmatizes as crimes. I seized powers which did +not belong to me; I overthrew constitutions; I made myself supreme; I +mocked the old powers of earth; I repudiated the ideas in the name of +which I climbed to a throne; I was harsh, insolent, and tyrannical; I +divorced the wife who was the maker of my fortune; I caused the +assassination of the Duc d'Enghien; I invaded Spain and Russia; and I +wafted the names of my conquering generals to the ends of the earth in +imprecations and curses. These were my mistakes,--crimes, if you please +to call them; but it is not for these you must judge me. Did I not come +to the rescue of law and order when France was torn with anarchies? Did +I not deliver the constituted authorities from the mob? Did I not rescue +France from foreign enemies when they sought to repress the Revolution +and restore the Bourbons? Was I not the avenger of twenty-five hungry +millions on those old tyrants who would have destroyed their +nationality? Did I not break up those combinations which would have +perpetuated the enslavement of Europe? Did I not seek to plant liberty +in Italy and destroy the despotisms of German princes? Did I not give +unity to great States and enlarge their civilization? Did I not rebuke +and punish Austria, Prussia, Russia, and England for interfering with +our Revolution and combining against the rights of a republic? Did I not +elevate France, and give scope to its enterprise, and develop its +resources, and inspire its citizens with an unknown enthusiasm, and make +the country glorious, so that even my enemies came to my court to wonder +and applaud? And did I not leave such an immortal prestige, even when I +was disarmed and overthrown by the armies of combined Christendom, that +my illustrious name, indelibly engraved in the hearts of my countrymen, +was enough to seat my nephew on the throne from which I was torn, and +give to his reign a glory scarcely inferior to my own? These were my +services to France,--the return of centralized power amid anarchies and +discontents and laws which successive revolutions have not destroyed, +but which shall blaze in wisdom through successive generations." + +Now, how far can these claims be substantiated? Was Napoleon, although a +usurper, like Cromwell and Caesar, also a benefactor like them; and did +his fabric of imperialism prove a blessing to civilization? What, in +reality, were his services? Do they offset his aspirations and crimes? +Is he worthy of the praises of mankind? Great deeds he performed, but +did they ultimately tend to the welfare of France and of Europe? + +It was a great service which Napoleon rendered to France, in the +beginning of his career, at the siege of Toulon, when he was a +lieutenant of artillery. He disobeyed, indeed, the orders of his +superiors, but won success by the skill with which he planted his +cannon, showing remarkable genius. This service to the Republic was not +forgotten, although he remained long unemployed, living obscurely at +Paris with straitened resources. By some means he caught the ear of +Barras, the most able of the Directory, and was intrusted with the +defence of the Convention in a great crisis, and saved it by his "whiff +of grapeshot," as Carlyle calls his dispersion of the mob in the streets +of Paris, from the steps of St. Roch. This, doubtless, was a service to +the cause of law and order, since he acted under orders, and discharged +his duty, like an obedient servant of the constituted authorities, +without reluctance, and with great skill,--perhaps the only man of +France, at that time, who could have done that important work so well, +and with so little bloodshed. Had the sections prevailed,--and it was +feared that they would,--the anarchy of the worst days of the Revolution +would have resulted. But this decisive action of the young officer, +intrusted with a great command, put an end for forty years to the +assumption of unlawful weapons by the mob. There was no future +insurrection of the people against government till Louis Philippe was +placed upon the throne in 1830. Napoleon here vindicated not only the +cause of law and order, but the Revolution itself; for in spite of its +excesses and crimes, it had abolished feudalism, unequal privileges, the +reign of priests and nobles, and a worn-out monarchy; it had proclaimed +a constitutional government, in the face of all the European despotisms; +it had asserted that self-government was a possibility, even in France; +it had inspired the whole nation with enthusiasm, and proclaimed the +Republic when hostile armies were ready to march upon the soil of France +and restore the Bourbons. All the impulses of the Revolution were +generous; all its struggles were heroic, although it was sullied with +crimes, and was marked by inexperience and follies. The nation rallied +around a great idea,--an idea which is imperishable, and destined to +unbounded triumph. To this idea of liberty Napoleon was not then +unfaithful, although some writers assert that he was ready to draw his +sword in any cause which promised him promotion. + +The National Convention, which he saved by military genius and supreme +devotion to it, had immortalized itself by inspiring France with +heroism; and after a struggle of three years with united Christendom, +jealous of liberty, dissolved itself, and transferred the government to +a Directory. + +This Directory, in reward of the services which Napoleon had rendered, +and in admiration of his genius, bestowed upon him the command of the +army of Italy. Probably Josephine, whom he then married, had sufficient +influence with Barras to secure the appointment. It was not popular with +the generals, of course, to have a young man of twenty-six, without +military prestige, put over their heads. But results soon justified the +discernment of Barras. + +At the head of only forty thousand men, poorly clad and equipped and +imperfectly fed, Napoleon in four weeks defeated the Sardinians, and in +less than two years, in eighteen pitched battles, he destroyed the +Austrian armies which were about to invade France. That glorious +campaign of 1796 is memorable for the conquest of Piedmont and Lombardy, +and the establishment of French supremacy in Italy. Napoleon's career +on the banks of the Po was so brilliant, unexpected, and startling, that +his nation was filled with equal astonishment and admiration. Instead of +predicted ruin, there was unexampled victory. The enthusiasm of the +French was unbounded. Had Napoleon died at the Bridge of Lodi, he would +have passed down in history as a Judas Maccabaeus. In this campaign he +won the hearts of his soldiers, and secured the admiration of his +generals. There was something new in his system of fighting, not seen at +least in modern times,--a rapid massing of his troops, and a still more +rapid concentration of them upon the weak points of the enemy's lines, +coming down on them like a mountain torrent, and sweeping everything +before him, in defiance of all rules and precedents. A new master in the +art of war, greater than Conde, or Turenne, or Marlborough, or Frederic +II., had suddenly arisen, with amazing audacity and faith in himself. + +The deliverance of republican France from four great Austrian armies was +a grand service; and Napoleon merited its gratitude and all the honors +he received. He had violated no trust thus far. He was still Citizen +Bonaparte, professing liberal principles, and fighting under the flag of +liberty, to make the Republic respected, independent, and powerful. He +robbed Italy, it is true, of some of her valuable pictures, and exacted +heavy contributions; but this is war. He was still the faithful servant +of France. + +On his return to Paris as a conqueror, the people of course were +enthusiastic in their praises, and the Government was jealous. It had +lost the confidence of the nation. All eyes were turned upon the +fortunate soldier who had shown so much ability, and who had given glory +to the country. He may not yet have meditated usurpation, but he +certainly had dreams of power. He was bent on rising to a greater +height; but he could do nothing at present, nor did he feel safe in +Paris amid so much envy, although he lived simply and shunned popular +idolatry. But his restless nature craved activity; so he sought and +obtained an army for the invasion of Egypt. He was inspired with a +passion of conquest, and the Directory was glad to get rid of so +formidable a rival. + +He had plainly rendered to his country two great services, without +tarnishing his own fame, or being false to his cause. But what excuse +had he to give to the bar of enlightened posterity for the invasion of +Egypt? The idea originated with himself. It was not a national +necessity. It was simply an unwarrantable war: it was a crime; it was a +dream of conquest, without anything more to justify it than Alexander's +conquests in India, or any other conquest by ambitious and restless +warriors. He hoped to play the part of Alexander,--to found a new +empire in the East. It was his darling scheme. It would give him power, +and perhaps sovereignty. Some patriotic notions may have blended with +his visions. Perhaps he would make a new route to India; perhaps cut off +the empire of the English in the East; perhaps plant colonies among +worn-out races; perhaps destroy the horrid empire of the Turks; perhaps +make Constantinople the seat of French influence and empire in the East. +But what harm had Turkey or Syria or Egypt done to France? Did they +menace the peace of Europe? Did even suffering Egyptians call upon him +to free them from a Turkish yoke? No: it was a meditated conquest, on +the same principles of ambition and aggrandizement which ever have +animated unlawful conquests, and therefore a political crime; not to be +excused because other nations have committed such crimes, ultimately +overruled to the benefit of civilization, like the conquest of India by +England, and Texas by the United States. + +I will not dwell on this expedition, which failed through the +watchfulness of the English, the naval victory of Nelson at the Nile, +and the defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith. It was the dream of +Napoleon at that time to found an empire in the East, of which he would +be supreme; but he missed his destiny, and was obliged to return, +foiled, baffled, and chagrined, to Paris;--his first great +disappointment. + +But he had lost no prestige, since he performed prodigies of valor, and +covered up his disasters by lying bulletins. Here he first appeared as +the arch-liar, which he was to the close of his career. In this +expedition he rendered no services to his country or to civilization, +except in the employment of scientific men to decipher the history of +Egypt,--which showed that he had an enlightened mind. + +During his absence disasters had overtaken France. Italy was torn from +her grasp, her armies had been defeated, and Russia, Austria, and +England were leagued for her overthrow. Insurrection was in the +provinces, and dissensions raged in Paris. The Directory had utterly +lost public confidence, and had shown no capacity to govern. All eyes +were turned to the conqueror of Italy, and, as it was supposed, of +Egypt also. + +A _coup d'etat_ followed. Napoleon's soldiers drove the legislative body +from the hall, and he assumed the supreme control, under the name of +First Consul. Thus ended the Republic in November, 1799, after a brief +existence of seven years. The usurpation of a soldier began, who trod +the constitution and liberty under his iron feet. He did what Caesar and +Cromwell had done, on the plea of revolutionary necessity. He put back +the march of liberty for nearly half-a-century. His sole excuse was that +his undeniable usurpation was ratified by the votes of the French +people, intoxicated by his victories, and seeing no way to escape from +the perils which surrounded them than under his supreme guidance. They +parted with their liberties for safety. Had Napoleon been compelled to +"wade through slaughter to his throne,"--as Caesar did, as Augustus +did,--there would have been no excuse for his usurpation, except the +plea of Caesar, that liberty was impossible, and the people needed the +strong arm of despotism to sustain law and order. But Napoleon was more +adroit; he appealed to the people themselves, recognizing them as the +source of power, and they confirmed his usurpation by an +overwhelming majority. + +Since he was thus the people's choice, I will not dwell on the +usurpation. He cheated them, however; for he invoked the principles of +the Revolution, and they believed him,--as they afterwards did his +nephew. They wanted a better executive government, and were willing to +try him, since he had proved his abilities; but they did not anticipate +the utter suppression of constitutional government,--they still had +faith in the principles of their Revolution. They abhorred absolutism; +they abhor it still; to destroy it they had risked their Revolution. To +the principles of the Revolution the great body of French people have +been true, when permitted to be, from the time when they hurled Louis +XVI. from the throne. Absolutism with the consent of the French nation +has passed away forever, and never can be revived, any more than the +oracles of Dodona or the bulls of Mediaeval popes. + +Now let us consider whether, as the executive of the French nation, he +was true to the principles of the Revolution, which he invoked, and +which that people have ever sought to establish. + +In some respects, it must be confessed, he was, and in other respects he +was not. He never sought to revive feudalism; all its abominations +perished. He did not bring back the law of entail, nor unequal +privileges, nor the _regime_ of nobles. He ruled by the laws; rewarding +merit, and encouraging what was obviously for the interests of the +nation. The lives and property of the people were protected. The _idea_ +of liberty was never ignored. If liberty was suppressed to augment his +power and cement his rule, it was in the name of public necessity, as an +expression of the interests he professed to guard. When he incited his +soldiers to battle, it was always under pretence of delivering enslaved +nations and spreading the principles of the Revolution, whose product he +was. And until he assumed the imperial title most of his acts were +enlightened, and for the benefit of the people he ruled; there was no +obvious oppression on the part of government, except to provide means to +sustain the army, without which France must succumb to enemies. While he +was First Consul, it would seem that the hostility of Europe was more +directed towards France herself for having expelled the Bourbons, than +against him as a dangerous man. Europe could not forgive France for her +Revolution,--not even England; Napoleon was but the necessity which the +political complications arising from the Revolution seemed to create. +Hence, the wars which Napoleon conducted while he was First Consul were +virtually defensive, since all Europe aimed to put down France,--such a +nest of assassins and communists and theorists!--rather than to put down +Napoleon; for, although usurper, he was, strange to say, the nation's +choice as well as idol. He reigned by the will of the nation, and he +could not have reigned without. The nation gave him his power, to be +wielded to protect France, in imminent danger from foreign powers. + +And wisely and grandly did he use it at first. He turned his attention +to the internal state of a distracted country, and developed its +resources and promoted tranquillity; he appointed the ablest men, +without distinction of party, for his ministers and prefects; he +restored the credit of the country; he put a stop to forced loans; he +released priests from confinement; he rebuked the fanaticism of the +ultra-revolutionists, he reorganized the public bodies; he created +tribunals of appeal; he ceased to confiscate the property of emigrants, +and opened a way for their return; he restored the right of disposing +property by will; he instituted the Bank of France on sound financial +principles; he checked all disorders; he brought to a close the +desolating war of La Vendee; he retained what was of permanent value in +the legislation of the Revolution; he made the distribution of the +public burdens easy; he paid his army, and rewarded eminent men, whom he +enlisted in his service. So stable was the government, and so wise were +the laws, and so free were all channels of industry, that prosperity +returned to the distracted country. The middle classes were particularly +benefited,--the shopkeepers and mechanics,--and they acquiesced in a +strong rule, since it seemed beneficent. The capital was enriched and +adorned and improved. A treaty with the Pope was made, by which the +clergy were restored to their parishes. A new code of laws was made by +great jurists, on the principles of the Justinian Code. A magnificent +road was constructed over the Alps. Colonial possessions were recovered. +Navies were built, fortifications repaired, canals dug, and the +beet-root and tobacco cultivated. + +But these internal improvements, by which France recovered prosperity, +paled before the services which Napoleon rendered as a defender of his +country's nationality. He had proposed a peace-policy to England in an +autograph letter to the King, which was treated as an insult, and +answered by the British government by a declaration of war, to last till +the Bourbons were restored,--perhaps what Napoleon wanted and expected; +and war was renewed with Austria and England. The consulate was now +marked by the brilliant Italian campaign,--the passage over the Alps; +the battle of Marengo, gained by only thirty thousand men; the recovery +of Italy, and renewed military _eclat_. The Peace of Amiens, October, +1801, placed Napoleon in the proudest position which any modern +sovereign ever enjoyed. He was now thirty-three years of age,--supreme +in France, and powerful throughout Europe. The French were proud of a +man who was glorious both in peace and war; and his consulate had been +sullied by only one crime,--the assassination of the heir of the house +of Conde; a blunder, as Talleyrand said, rather than a crime, since it +arrayed against him all the friends of Legitimacy in Europe. + +Had Napoleon been contented with the power he then enjoyed as First +Consul for life, and simply stood on the defensive, he could have made +France invincible, and would have left a name comparatively +reproachless. But we now see unmistakable evidence of boundless personal +ambition, and a policy of unscrupulous aggrandizement. He assumes the +imperial title,--greedy for the trappings as well as the reality of +power; he openly founds a new dynasty of kings; he abolishes every +trace of constitutional rule; he treads liberty under his feet, and +mocks the very ideas by which he had inspired enthusiasm in his troops; +his watchword is now not _Liberty_, but _Glory_; he centres in himself +the interests of France; he surrounds himself, at the Tuileries, with +the pomp and ceremonies of the ancient kings; and he even induces the +Pope himself to crown him at Notre Dame. It was a proud day, December 2, +1804, when, surrounded by all that was brilliant and imposing in France, +Napoleon proceeded in solemn procession to the ancient cathedral, where +were assembled the magistrates, the bishops, and the titled dignitaries +of the realm, and received, in his imperial robes, from the hands of the +Pope, the consecrated sceptre and crown of empire, and heard from the +lips of the supreme pontiff of Christendom those words which once +greeted Charlemagne in the basilica of St. Peter when the Roman clergy +proclaimed him Emperor of the West,--_Vivat in oeternum semper +Augustus_. The venerable aisles and pillars and arches of the ancient +cathedral resounded to the music of five hundred performers in a solemn +_Te Deum_. The sixty prelates of France saluted the anointed soldier as +their monarch, while the inspiring cry from the vast audience of _Vive +l'Empereur!_ announced Napoleon's entrance into the circle of European +sovereigns. + +But this fresh usurpation, although confirmed by a vote of the French +people, was the signal for renewed hostilities. A coalition of all +governments unfriendly to France was formed. Military preparations +assumed a magnitude never seen before in the history of Europe, which +now speedily became one vast camp. Napoleon quit his capital to assume +the conduct of armies. He had threatened England with invasion, which he +knew was impossible, for England then had nearly one thousand ships of +war, manned by one hundred and twenty thousand men. But when Napoleon +heard of the victories of Nelson, he suddenly and rapidly marched to the +Rhine, and precipitated one hundred and eighty thousand troops upon +Austria, who was obliged to open her capital. Then, reinforced by +Russia, Austria met the invader at Austerlitz with equal forces; but +only to suffer crushing defeat. Pitt died of a broken heart when he +heard of this decisive French victory, followed shortly after by the +disastrous overthrow of the Prussians at Jena, and that, again, by the +victory of Eylau over the Russians, which secured the peace of Tilsit, +1807,--making Napoleon supreme on the continent of Europe at the age of +thirty-nine. It was deemed idle to resist further this "man of destiny," +who in twelve years, from the condition of an unemployed officer of +artillery, without friends or family or influence, had subdued in turn +all the monarchies of Europe, with the exception of England and Russia, +and regulated at his pleasure the affairs of distant courts. To what an +eminence had he climbed! Nothing in history or romance approaches the +facts of his amazing career. + +And even down to this time--to the peace of Tilsit--there are no grave +charges against him which history will not extenuate, aside from the +egotism of his character. He claims that he fought for French +nationality, in danger from the united hostilities of Europe. Certainly +his own glory was thus far identified with the glory of his country. He +had rescued France by a series of victories more brilliant than had been +achieved for centuries. He had won a fame second to that of no conqueror +in the world's history. + +But these astonishing successes seem to have turned his head. He is +dazzled by his own greatness, and intoxicated by the plaudits of his +idolaters. He proudly and coldly says that "it is a proof of the +weakness of the human understanding for any one to dream of resisting +him." He now aims at a universal military monarchy; he seeks to make the +kings of the earth his vassals; he places the members of his family, +whether worthy or unworthy, on ancient thrones; he would establish on +the banks of the Seine that central authority which once emanated from +Rome; he apes the imperial Caesars in the arrogance of his tone and the +insolence of his demands; he looks upon Europe as belonging to himself; +he becomes a tyrant of the race; he centres in the gratification of his +passions the interests of humanity; he becomes the angry Nemesis of +Europe, indifferent to the sufferings of mankind and the peace of +the world. + +After the peace of Tilsit his whole character seems to have changed, +even in little things. No longer is he affable and courteous, but +silent, reserved, and sullen. His temper becomes bad; his brow is +usually clouded; his manners are brusque; his egotism is transcendent. +"Your first duty," said he to his brother Louis, when he made him king +of Holland, "is to _me_; your second, to France." He becomes intolerably +haughty, even to the greatest personages. He insults the ladies of the +court, and pinches their ears, so that they feel relieved when he has +passed them by. He no longer flatters, but expects incense from +everybody. In his bursts of anger he breaks china and throws his coat +into the fire. He turns himself into a master of ceremonies; he cheats +at cards; he persecutes literary men. + +Napoleon's career of crime is now consummated. He divorces +Josephine,--the greatest mistake of his life. He invades Spain and +Russia, against the expostulations of his wisest counsellors, showing +that he has lost his head, that reason has toppled on her throne,--for +he fancies himself more powerful than the forces of Nature. All these +crimes are utterly inexcusable, except on the plea of madness. Such +gigantic crimes, such a recklessness of life, such uncontrollable +ambition, such a defiance of justice, such an abrogation of treaties, +such a disregard of the interests of humanity, to say nothing of the +welfare of France, prostituted, enslaved, down-trodden,--and all to +nurse his diabolical egotism,--astonished and shocked the whole +civilized world. These things more than balanced all the services he +ever rendered, since they directly led to the exhaustion of his country. +They were so atrocious that they cried aloud to Heaven for vengeance. + +And Heaven heard the agonizing shrieks of misery which ascended from the +smoking ruins of Moscow, from the bloody battlefield of Borodino, from +the river Berezina, from the homes of the murdered soldiers, from the +widows and orphans of more than a million of brave men who had died to +advance his glory, from the dismal abodes of twenty-five millions more +whom he had cheated out of their liberties and mocked with his ironical +proclamations; yea, from the millions in Prussia, Austria, and England +who had been taxed to the uttermost to defeat him, and had died martyrs +to the cause of nationalities, or what we call the Balance of Power, +which European statesmen have ever found it necessary to maintain at any +cost, since on this balance hang the interests of feeble and +defenceless nations. Ay, Heaven heard,--the God whom he ignored,--and +sent a retribution as signal and as prompt and as awful as his victories +had been overwhelming. + +I need not describe Napoleon's fall,--as clear a destiny as his rise; a +lesson to all the future tyrants and conquerors of the world; a moral to +be pondered as long as history shall be written. Hear, ye heavens! and +give ear, O earth! to the voice of eternal justice, as it appealed to +universal consciousness, and pronounced the doom of the greatest sinner +of modern times,--to be defeated by the aroused and indignant nations, +to lose his military prestige, to incur unexampled and bitter +humiliation, to be repudiated by the country he had raised to such a +pitch of greatness, to be dethroned, to be imprisoned at Elba, to be +confined on the rock of St. Helena, to be at last forced to meditate, +and to die with vultures at his heart,--a chained Prometheus, rebellious +and defiant to the last, with a world exultant at his fall; a hopeless +and impressive fall, since it broke for fifty years the charm of +military glory, and showed that imperialism cannot be endured among +nations craving for liberties and rights which are the birthright of +our humanity. + +Did Napoleon, then, live in vain? No great man lives in vain. He is +ever, whether good or bad, the instrument of Divine Providence, Gustavus +Adolphus was the instrument of God in giving religious liberty to +Germany. William the Silent was His instrument in achieving the +independence of Holland. Washington was His instrument in giving dignity +and freedom to this American nation, this home of the oppressed, this +glorious theatre for the expansion of unknown energies and the adoption +of unknown experiments. Napoleon was His instrument in freeing France +from external enemies, and for vindicating the substantial benefits of +an honest but uncontrolled Revolution. He was His instrument in arousing +Italy from the sleep of centuries, and taking the first step to secure a +united nation and a constitutional government. He was His instrument in +overthrowing despotism among the petty kings of Germany, and thus +showing the necessity of a national unity,--at length realized by the +genius of Bismarck. Even in his crimes Napoleon stands out on the +sublime pages of history as the instrument of Providence, since his +crimes were overruled in the hatred of despotism among his own subjects, +and a still greater hatred of despotism as exercised by those kings who +finally subdued him, and who vainly attempted to turn back the progress +of liberal sentiments by their representatives at the Congress +of Vienna. + +The fall of Napoleon taught some awful and impressive lessons to +humanity, which would have been unlearned had he continued to be +successful to the end. It taught the utter vanity of military glory; +that peace with neighbors is the greatest of national blessings, and war +the greatest of evils; that no successes on the battlefield can +compensate for the miseries of an unjust and unnecessary war; and that +avenging justice will sooner or later overtake the wickedness of a +heartless egotism. It taught the folly of worshipping mere outward +strength, disconnected from goodness; and, finally, it taught that God +will protect defenceless nations, and even guilty nations, when they +shall have expiated their crimes and follies, and prove Himself the kind +Father of all His children, even amid chastisements, gradually leading +them, against their will, to that blessed condition when swords shall be +beaten into ploughshares, and nations shall learn war no more. + +What remains to-day of those grand Napoleonic ideas which intoxicated +France for twenty years, and which, revived by Louis Napoleon, led to a +brief glory and an infamous fall, and the humiliation and impoverishment +of the most powerful state of Europe? They are synonymous with +imperialism, personal government, the absolute reign of a single man, +without constitutional checks,--a return to Caesarism, to the +unenlightened and selfish despotism of Pagan Rome. And hence they are +now repudiated by France herself,--as well as by England and +America,--as false, as selfish, as fatal to all true national progress, +as opposed to every sentiment which gives dignity to struggling States, +as irreconcilably hostile to the civilization which binds nations +together, and which slowly would establish liberty, and peace, and +industry, and equal privileges, and law, and education, and material +prosperity, upon this fallen world. + +AUTHORITIES. + +So much has been written on Napoleon, that I can only select some of the +standard and accessible works. Bourrienne's Memoirs of Napoleon I.; L. +P. Junot's Memoirs of Napoleon, Court, and Family; Las Casas' Napoleon +at St. Helena; Thiers' History of the Consulate and the Empire; Memoirs +of Prince Metternich; Segur's History of Expedition to Russia; Memoirs +of Madame de Remusat; Vieusseau's Napoleon, his Sayings and Deeds; +Napoleon's Confidential Correspondence with Josephine and with his +Brother Joseph; Alison's History of Europe; Lockhart's and Sir Walter +Scott's Lives of Napoleon; Court and Camp of Napoleon, in Murray's +Family Library; W. Forsyth's Captivity at St. Helena; Dr. Channing's +Essay on Napoleon; Lord Brougham's Sketch of Napoleon; J. G. Wilson's +Sketch of Napoleon; Life of Napoleon, by A. H. Jomini; Headley's +Napoleon and his Marshals; Napier's Peninsular War; Wellington's +Despatches; Gilford's Life of Pitt; Botta's History of Italy under +Napoleon; Labaume's Russian Campaign; Berthier's Histoire de +l'Expedition d'Egypte. + + + +PRINCE METTERNICH. + + +1773-1859. + +CONSERVATISM. + + +In the later years of Napoleon's rule, when he had reached the summit of +power, and the various German States lay prostrate at his feet, there +arose in Austria a great man, on whom the eyes of Europe were speedily +fixed, and who gradually became the central figure of Continental +politics. This remarkable man was Count Metternich, who more than any +other man set in motion the secret springs which resulted in a general +confederation to shake off the degrading fetters imposed by the French +conqueror. In this matter he had a powerful ally in Baron von Stein, who +reorganized Prussia, and prepared her for successful resistance, when +the time came, against the common enemy. In another lecture I shall +attempt to show the part taken by Von Stein in the regeneration of +Germany; but it is my present purpose to confine attention to the +Austrian chancellor and diplomatist, his various labors, and the +services he rendered, not to the cause of Freedom and Progress, but to +that of Absolutism, of which he was in his day the most noted champion. + +Metternich, in his character as diplomatist, is to be contemplated in +two aspects: first, as aiming to enlist the great powers in armed +combination against Napoleon; and secondly, as attempting to unite them +and all the German States to suppress revolutionary ideas and popular +insurrections, and even constitutional government itself. Before +presenting him in this double light, however, I will briefly sketch the +events of his life until he stood out as the leading figure in European +politics,--as great a figure as Bismarck later became. + +Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Count von Metternich, was born at +Coblentz, on the Rhine, May 15, 1773. His father was a nobleman of +ancient family. I will not go into his pedigree, reaching far back in +the Middle Ages,--a matter so important in the eyes of German and even +English biographers, but to us in America of no more account than the +genealogy of the Dukes of Edom. The count his father was probably of +more ability than an ordinary nobleman in a country where nobles are so +numerous, since he was then, or soon after, Austrian ambassador to the +Netherlands. Young Metternich was first sent to the University of +Strasburg, at the age of fifteen, about the time when Napoleon was +completing his studies at a military academy. In 1790, a youth of +seventeen, he took part in the ceremonies attending the coronation of +Emperor Leopold at Frankfort, and made the acquaintance of the archduke, +who two years later succeeded to the imperial dignity as Francis II. We +next see him a student of law in the University of Mainz, spending his +vacations at Brussels, in his father's house. + +Even at that time Metternich attracted attention for his elegant manners +and lively wit,--a born courtier, a favorite in high society, and so +prominent for his intelligence and accomplishments that he was sent to +London as an attache to the Netherlands embassy, where it seems that he +became acquainted with the leading statesmen of England. There must have +been something remarkable about him to draw, at the age of twenty, the +attention of such men as Burke, Pitt, Fox, and Sheridan. What interested +him most in England were the sittings of the English Parliament and the +trial of Warren Hastings. At the early age of twenty-one he was +appointed minister to the Hague, but was prevented going to his post by +the war, and retired to Vienna, which he now saw for the first time. +Soon after, he married a daughter of Prince Kaunitz, eldest son of the +great chancellor who under three reigns had controlled the foreign +policy of the empire. He thus entered the circle of the highest +nobility of Austria,--the proudest and most exclusive on the face of the +whole earth. + +At first the young count--living with his bride at the house of her +father, and occupying the highest social position, with wealth and ease +and every luxury at command, fond equally of books, of music, and of +art, but still fonder of the distinguished society of Vienna, and above +all, enamored of the charms of his beautiful and brilliant wife--wished +to spend his life in elegant leisure. But his remarkable talents and +accomplishments were already too well known for the emperor to allow him +to remain in his splendid retirement, especially when the empire was +beset with dangers of the most critical kind. His services were required +by the State, and he was sent as ambassador to Dresden, after the peace +of Luneville, 1801, when his diplomatic career in reality began. + +Dresden, where were congregated at this time some of the ablest +diplomatists of Europe, was not only an important post of observation +for watching the movements of Napoleon, but it was itself a capital of +great attractions, both for its works of art and for its society. Here +Count Metternich resided for two years, learning much of politics, of +art, and letters,--the most accomplished gentleman among all the +distinguished people that he met; not as yet a man of power, but a man +of influence, sending home to Count Stadion, minister of foreign +affairs, reports and letters of great ability, displaying a sagacity and +tact marvellous for a man of twenty-eight. + +Napoleon was then engaged in making great preparations for a war with +Austria, and it was important for Austria to secure the alliance of +Prussia, her great rival, with whom she had never been on truly friendly +terms, since both aimed at ascendency in Germany. Frederick William III. +was then on the throne of Prussia, having two great men among his +ministers,--Von Stein and Hardenberg; the former at the head of +financial affairs, and the latter at the head of the foreign bureau. To +the more important post of Berlin, Metternich was therefore sent. He +found great difficulty in managing the Prussian king, whose jealousy of +Austria balanced his hatred of Napoleon, and who therefore stood aloof +and inactive, indisposed for war, in strict alliance with Russia, who +also wanted peace. + +The Czar Alexander I., who had just succeeded his murdered father Paul, +was a great admirer of Napoleon. His empire was too remote to fear +French encroachments or French ideas. Indeed, he started with many +liberal sentiments. By nature he was kind and affectionate; he was +simple in his tastes, truthful in his character, philanthropic in his +views, enthusiastic in his friendships, and refined in his +intercourse,--a broad and generous sovereign. And yet there was +something wanting in Alexander which prevented him from being great. He +was vacillating in his policy, and his judgment was easily warped by +fanciful ideas. "His life was worn out between devotion to certain +systems and disappointment as to their results. He was fitful, +uncertain, and unpractical. Hence he made continual mistakes. He meant +well, but did evil, and the discovery of his errors broke his heart. He +died of weariness of life, deceived in all his calculations," in 1825. + +Metternich spent four years in Berlin, ferreting out the schemes of +Napoleon, and striving to make alliances against him; but he found his +only sincere and efficient ally to be England, then governed by Pitt. +The king of Prussia was timid, and leaned on Russia; he feared to offend +his powerful neighbor on the north and east. Nor was Prussia then +prepared for war. As for the South German States, they all had their +various interests to defend, and had not yet grasped the idea of German +unity. There was not a great statesman or a great general among them +all. They had their petty dynastic prejudices and jealousies, and were +absorbed in the routine of court etiquette and pleasures, stagnant and +unenlightened. The only brilliant court life was at Weimar, where Goethe +reigned in the circle of his idolaters. The great men of Germany at +that time were in the universities, interested in politics, like the +Humboldts at Berlin, but not taking a prominent part. Generals and +diplomatists absorbed the active political field. As for orators, there +were none; for there were no popular assemblies,--no scope for their +abilities. The able men were in the service of their sovereigns as +diplomatists in the various courts of Europe, and generally were nobles. +Diplomacy, in fact, was the only field in which great talents were +developed and rewarded outside the realm of literature. + +In this field Metternich soon became pre-eminently distinguished. He was +at once the prompting genius and the agent of an absolute sovereign who +ruled over the most powerful State, next to France, on the continent of +Europe, and the most august. The emperor of Austria was supposed to be +the heir of the Caesars and of Charlemagne. His territories were more +extensive than that of France, and his subjects more numerous than those +of all the other German States combined, except Prussia. But the emperor +himself was a feeble man, sickly in body, weak in mind, and governed by +his ministers, the chief of whom was Count Stadion, minister of foreign +affairs. In Austria the aristocracy was more powerful and wealthy than +the nobility of any other European State. It was also the most +exclusive. No one could rise by any talents into their favored circle. +They were great feudal landlords; and their ranks were not recruited, as +in England, by men of genius and wealth. Hence, they were narrow, +bigoted, and arrogant; but they had polished and gracious manners, and +shone in the stiff though elegant society of Vienna,--not brilliant as +in Paris or London, but exceedingly attractive, and devoted to pleasure, +to grand hunting-parties on princely estates, to operas and balls and +theatres. Probably Vienna society was dull, if it was elegant, from the +etiquette and ceremonies which marked German courts; for what was called +society was not that of distinguished men in letters and art, but almost +exclusively that of nobles. A learned professor or wealthy merchant +could no more get access to it than he could climb to the moon. But as +Vienna was a Catholic city, great ecclesiastical dignitaries, not always +of noble birth, were on an equality with counts and barons. It was only +in the Church that a man of plebeian origin could rise. Indeed, there +was no field for genius at all. The musician Haydn was almost the only +genius that Austria at that time possessed outside of diplomatic or +military ranks. + +Napoleon had now been crowned emperor, and his course had been from +conquering to conquer. The great battles of Austerlitz and Jena had been +fought, which placed Austria and Prussia at the mercy of the conqueror. +It was necessary that some one should be sent to Paris capable of +fathoming the schemes of the French emperor, and in 1806 Count +Metternich was transferred from Berlin to the French capital. No abler +diplomatist could be found in Europe. He was now thirty-three years of +age, a nobleman of the highest rank, his father being a prince of the +empire. He had a large private fortune, besides his salary as +ambassador. His manners were perfect, and his accomplishments were +great. He could speak French as well as his native tongue. His head was +clear; his knowledge was accurate and varied. Calm, cold, astute, +adroit, with infinite tact, he was now brought face to face with +Talleyrand, Napoleon's minister of foreign affairs, his equal in +astuteness and dissimulation, as well as in the charms of conversation +and the graces of polished life. With this statesman Metternich had the +pleasantest relations, both social and diplomatic. Yet there was a +marked difference between them. Talleyrand had accepted the ideas of the +Revolution, but had no sympathy with its passions and excesses. He was +the friend of law and order, and in his heart favored constitutional +government. On this ground he supported Napoleon as the defender of +civilization, but afterward deserted him when he perceived that the +Emperor was resolved to rule without constitutional checks. His nature +was selfish, and he made no scruple of enriching himself, whatever +master he served; but he was not indifferent to the welfare and glory of +France. Metternich, on the other hand, abhorred the ideas of the +Revolution as much as he did its passions. He saw in absolutism the only +hope of stability, the only reign of law. He distrusted constitutional +government as liable to changes, and as unduly affected by popular ideas +and passions. He served faithfully and devotedly his emperor as a sacred +personage, ruling by divine right, to whom were intrusted the interests +of the nation. He was comparatively unselfish, and was prepared for any +personal sacrifices for his country and his sovereign. + +Metternich was treated with distinguished consideration at Paris, not +only because he was the representative of the oldest and proudest +sovereignty in Europe,--still powerful in the midst of disasters,--but +also on account of his acknowledged abilities, independent attitude, and +stainless private character. All the other ambassadors at Paris were +directed to act in accordance with his advice. In 1807 he concluded the +treaty of Fontainebleau, which was most favorable to Austrian interests. +He was the only man at court whom Napoleon could not browbeat or +intimidate in his affected bursts of anger. Personally, Napoleon liked +him as an accomplished and agreeable gentleman; as a diplomatist and +statesman the Emperor was afraid of him, knowing that the Austrian was +at the bottom of all the intrigues and cabals against him. Yet he dared +not give Metternich his passports, nor did he wish to quarrel with so +powerful a man, who might defeat his schemes to marry the daughter of +the Austrian emperor,--the light-headed and frivolous Marie Louise. So +Metternich remained in honor at Paris for three years, studying the +character and aims of Napoleon, watching his military preparations, and +preparing his own imperial master for contingencies which would probably +arise; for Napoleon was then meditating the conquest of Spain, as well +as the invasion of Russia, and Metternich as well as Talleyrand knew +that this would be a great political blunder, diverting his armies from +the preservation of the conquests he had already made, and giving to the +German States the hope of shaking off their fetters at the first +misfortune which should overtake him. No man in Europe so completely +fathomed the designs of Napoleon as Metternich, or so profoundly +measured and accurately estimated his character. And I here cannot +forbear to quote his own language, both to show his sagacity and to +reproduce the portrait he drew of Napoleon. + +"He became," says Metternich, "a great legislator and administrator, as +he became a great soldier, by following out his instincts. The turn of +his mind always led him toward the positive. He disliked vague ideas, +and hated equally the dreams of visionaries and the abstractions of +idealists. He treated as nonsense everything that was not clearly and +practically presented to him. He valued only those sciences which can be +verified by the senses, or which rest on experience and observation. He +had the greatest contempt for the false philosophy and false +philanthropy of the eighteenth century. Among its teachers, Voltaire was +the special object of his aversion. As a Catholic, he recognized in +religion alone the right to govern human societies. Personally +indifferent to religious practices, he respected them too much to permit +the slightest ridicule of those who followed them; and yet religion with +him was the result of an enlightened policy rather than an affair of +sentiment. He was persuaded that no man called to public life could be +guided by any other motive than that of interest. + +"He was gifted with a particular tact in recognizing those men who could +be useful to him. He had a profound knowledge of the national character +of the French. In history he guessed more than he knew. As he always +made use of the same quotations, he must have drawn from a few books, +especially abridgments. His heroes were Alexander, Caesar, and +Charlemagne. He laid great stress on aristocratic birth and the +antiquity of his own family. He had no other regard for men than a +foreman in a manufactory feels for his work-people. In private, without +being amiable, he was good-natured. His sisters got from him all they +wanted. Simple and easy in private life, he showed himself to little +advantage in the great world. Nothing could be more awkward than he in a +drawing-room. He would have made great sacrifices to have added three +inches to his height. He walked on tiptoe. His costumes were studied to +form a contrast with the circle which surrounded him, by extreme +simplicity or extreme elegance. Talma taught him attitudes. + +"Having but one passion,--that of power,--he never lost either his time +or his means in those objects which deviated from his aims. Master of +himself, he soon became master of events. In whatever period he had +appeared, he would have played a prominent part. His prodigious +successes blinded him; but up to 1812 he never lost sight of the +profound calculations by which he so often conquered. He never recoiled +from fear of the wounds he might cause. As a war-chariot crushes +everything it meets on its way, he thought of nothing but to advance. He +could sympathize with family troubles; he was indifferent to political +calamities. + +"Disinterested generosity he had none; he only dispensed his favors in +proportion to the value he put on the utility of those who received +them. He was never influenced by affection or hatred in his public acts. +He crushed his enemies without thinking of anything but the necessity of +getting rid of them. + +"In his political combinations he did not fail to reckon largely on the +weakness or errors of his adversaries. The alliance of 1813 crushed him +because he was not able to persuade himself that the members of the +coalition could remain united, and persevere in a given course of +action. The vast edifice he constructed was exclusively the work of his +own hands, and he was the keystone of the arch; but the gigantic +construction was essentially wanting in its foundations, the materials +of which were nothing but the ruins of other buildings." + +Such is the verdict of one of the acutest and most dispassionate men +that ever lived. Napoleon is not painted as a monster, but as a +supremely selfish man bent entirely on his own exaltation, making the +welfare of France subservient to his own glory, and the interests of +humanity itself secondary to his pride and fame. History can add but +little to this graphic sketch, although indignant and passionate enemies +may dilate on the Corsican's hard-heartedness, his duplicity, his +treachery, his falsehood, his arrogance, and his diabolic egotism. On +the other hand, weak and sentimental idolaters will dwell on his +generosity, his courage, his superhuman intellect, and the love and +devotion with which he inspired his soldiers,--all which in a sense is +true. The philosophical historian will enumerate the services Napoleon +rendered to his country, whatever were his virtues or faults; but of +these services the last person to perceive the value was Metternich +himself, even as he would be the last to acknowledge the greatness of +those revolutionary ideas of which Napoleon was simply the product. It +was the French Revolution which produced Napoleon, and it was the French +Revolution which Metternich abhorred, in all its aspects, beyond any +other event in the whole history of the world. But he was not a +rhetorician, as Burke was, and hence confined himself to acts, and not +to words. He was one of those cool men who could use decent and +temperate language about the Devil himself and the Pandemonium in which +he reigns. + +On the breaking up of diplomatic relations between Austria and France in +1809, Metternich was recalled to Vienna to take the helm of state in the +impending crisis. Count von Stadion, though an able man, was not great +enough for the occasion. Only such a consummate statesman as Metternich +was capable of taking the reins intrusted to him with unbounded +confidence by his feeble master, whose general policy and views were +similar to those of his trusted minister, but who had not the energy to +carry them out. Metternich was now made a prince, with large gifts of +land and money, and occupied a superb position,--similar to that which +Bismarck occupied later on in Prussia, as chancellor of the empire. It +was Metternich's policy to avert actual hostilities until Austria could +recover from the crushing defeat at Austerlitz, and until Napoleon +should make some great mistake. He succeeded in arranging another treaty +with France within the year. + +The object which Napoleon had in view at this time was his marriage with +Marie Louise, from which he expected an heir to his vast dominions, and +a more completely recognized position among the great monarchs of +Europe. He accordingly divorced Josephine,--some historians say with her +consent. Ten years earlier his offers would, of course, have been +indignantly rejected, or three years later, after the disasters of the +Russian campaign. But Napoleon was now at the summit of his power,--the +arbiter of Europe, the greatest sovereign since Julius Caesar, with a +halo of unprecedented glory, a prodigy of genius as well as a recognized +monarch. Nothing was apparently beyond his aspirations, and he wanted +the daughter of the successor of Charlemagne in marriage. And her +father, the proud Austrian emperor, was willing to give her up to his +conqueror from reasons of state, and from policy and expediency. To all +appearance it was no sacrifice to Marie Louise to be transferred from +the dull court of Vienna to the splendid apartments of the Tuileries, to +be worshipped by the brilliant marshals and generals who had conquered +Europe, and to be crowned as empress of the French by the Pope himself. +Had she been a nobler woman, she might have hesitated and refused; but +she was vain and frivolous, and was overwhelmed by the glory with which +she was soon to be surrounded. + +And yet the marriage was a delicate affair, and difficult to be managed. +It required all the tact of an arch-diplomatist. So Prince Metternich +was sent to Paris to bring it about. In fact, it was he more than any +one else who for political reasons favored this marriage. Napoleon was +exceedingly gracious, while Metternich had his eyes and ears open. He +even dared to tell the Emperor many unpleasant truths. The affair, +however, was concluded; and after Napoleon's divorce from Josephine, in +1810, the Austrian princess became empress of the French. + +One thing was impressed on the mind of Metternich during the festivities +of this second visit to Paris; and that was that during the year 1811 +the peace of Europe would not be disturbed. Napoleon was absorbed with +the preparations for the invasion of Russia,--the only power he had not +subdued, except England, and a power in secret coalition with both +Prussia and Austria. His acquisitions would not be secure unless the +Colossus of the North was hopelessly crippled. Metternich saw that the +campaign could not begin till 1812, and that the Emperor had need of all +the assistance he could get from conquered allies. He saw also the +mistakes of Napoleon, and meant to profit by them. He anticipated for +that daring soldier nothing but disaster in attempting to battle the +powers of Nature at such a distance from his capital. He perceived that +Napoleon was alienating, in his vast schemes of aggrandizement, even his +own ministers, like Talleyrand and Fouche, who would leave him the +moment they dared, although his marshals and generals might remain true +to him because of the enormous rewards which he had lavished upon them +for their military services. He knew the discontent of Italy and Poland +because of unfulfilled promises. He knew the intense hatred of Prussia +because of the humiliations and injuries Napoleon had inflicted on her. +Metternich was equally aware of the hostility of England, although Pitt +had passed away; and he despised the arrogance of a man who looked upon +himself as greater than destiny. "It is an evidence of the weakness of +the human understanding," said the infatuated conqueror, "for any one to +dream of resisting me." + +So Metternich, after the marriage ceremony and its attendant +festivities, foreseeing the fall of the conqueror, retired to his post +at Vienna to complete his negotiations, and make his preparations for +the renewal of the conflict, which he now saw was inevitable. His work +was to persuade Prussia, Russia, and the lesser Powers, of the absolute +necessity of a sincere and cordial alliance to make preparations for the +conflict to put down, or at least successfully to resist, the common +enemy,--the ruthless and unscrupulous disturber of the peace of Europe; +not to make war, but to prepare for war in view of contingencies; and +this not merely to preserve the peace of Europe, but to save themselves +from ruin. All his confidential letters to his sovereign indicate his +conviction that the throne of Austria was in extreme danger of being +subverted. All his despatches to ambassadors show that affairs were +extremely critical. His policy, in general terms, was pacific; he longed +for peace on a settled basis. But his policy in the great crisis of 1811 +and 1812 was warlike,--not for immediate hostilities, but for war as +soon as it would be safe to declare it. It was his profound conviction +that a lasting peace was utterly impossible so long as Napoleon reigned; +and this was the conviction also of Pitt and Castlereagh of England and +of the Prussian Hardenberg. + +The main trouble was with Prussia. Frederick William III. was timid, and +considering the intense humiliation of his subjects and the overpowering +ascendency of Napoleon, saw no hope but in submission. He was afraid to +make a move, even when urged by his ministers. Indeed, he had in 1808 +exiled the greatest of them, Stein, at the imperious demand of the +French emperor,--sending him to a Rhenish city, whence he was soon after +compelled to lead a fugitive life as an outlaw. It is true the king did +not like Stein, and saw him go without regret. He could not endure the +overshadowing influence of that great man, and was offended by his +brusque manners and his plain speech. But Stein saw things as +Metternich saw them, and had when prime minister devoted himself to +administrative and political reforms. Prince Hardenberg, the successor +of Stein, was easily convinced of Metternich's wisdom; for he was a +patriot and an honest man, though loose in his private morals in some +respects. Metternich had an ally, too, in Schornhurst, who was +remodelling the whole military system of Prussia. + +The king, however, persisted in his timid policy until the Russian +campaign,--a course which, singularly enough, proved the wisest in his +circumstances. When at last the king yielded, all Prussia arose with +unbounded enthusiasm to engage in the war of liberation; Prussia needed +no urging when actually invaded; Austria openly threw off her +conservative appearance of armed neutrality: and the coalition for which +Metternich had long been laboring, and of which he was the life and +brain, became a reality. The battle of Leipsic settled the fate +of Napoleon. + +Even before that fatal battle was fought, however, Napoleon, had he been +wise, might have saved himself. If he had been content in 1812 to spend +the winter in Smolensk, instead of hurrying on to Moscow, the enterprise +might not have been disastrous; but after his retreat from Russia, with +the loss of the finest army that Europe ever saw, he was doomed. Yet he +could not brook further humiliation. He resolved still to struggle. "It +may cost me my throne," said he, "but I will bury the world beneath its +ruins." He marched into Germany, in the spring of 1813, with a fresh +army of three hundred and fifty thousand men, replacing the half million +he had squandered in Russia. Metternich shrank from further bloodshed, +but clearly saw the issue. "You may still have peace," said he in an +audience with Napoleon. "Peace or war lie in your own hands; but you +must reduce your power, or you will fail in the contest." "Never!" +replied Napoleon; "I shall know how to die, but I will not yield a +handbreadth of soil." "You are lost, then," said the Austrian +chancellor, and withdrew. "It is all over with the man," said Metternich +to Berthier, Napoleon's chief of staff; and he turned to marshal the +forces of his empire. A short time was given Napoleon to reconsider, but +without effect. At twelve o'clock, Aug. 10, 1813, negotiations ceased; +the beacon fires were lighted, and hostilities recommenced. During the +preparations for the Russian campaign, Austria had been neutral and the +rest of Germany submissive; but now Russia, Prussia, and Austria were +allied, by solemn compact, to fight to the bitter end,--not to ruin +France, but to dethrone Napoleon. + +The allied monarchs then met at Toplitz, with their ministers, to +arrange the plan of the campaign,--the Austrian armies being commanded +by Prince Schwartzenberg, and the Prussians by Bluecher. Then followed +the battle of Leipsic, on the 16th to the 18th of October, 1813,--"the +battle of the nations," it has been called,--and Napoleon's power was +broken. Again the monarchs, with their ministers, met at Basle to +consult, and were there joined by Lord Castlereagh, who represented +England, the allied forces still pursuing the remnants of the French +army into France. From Basle the conference was removed to the heights +of the Vosges, which overlooked the plains of France. On the 1st of +April, 1814, the allied sovereigns took up their residence in the +Parisian palaces; and on April 4 Napoleon abdicated, and was sent to +Elba. He still had twelve thousand or fifteen thousand troops at +Fontainebleau; but his marshals would have shot him had he made further +resistance. On the 4th of May Louis XVIII. was seated on the throne of +his ancestors, and Europe was supposed to be delivered. + +Considering the evils and miseries which Napoleon had inflicted on the +conquered nations, the allies were magnanimous in their terms. No war +indemnity was even asked, and Napoleon in Elba was allowed an income of +six million francs, to be paid by France. + +After the leaders of the allies had settled affairs at Paris, they +reassembled at Vienna,--ostensibly to reconstruct the political system +of Europe and secure a lasting peace; in reality, to divide among the +conquerors the spoils taken from the vanquished. The Congress of +Vienna,--in session from November, 1814, to June, 1815,--of which Prince +Metternich was chosen president by common consent, was one of the +grandest gatherings of princes and statesmen seen since the Diet of +Worms. There were present at its deliberations the Czar of Russia, the +Emperor of Austria, the kings of Prussia, Denmark, Bavaria, and +Wuertemberg, and nearly every statesman of commanding eminence in Europe. +Lord Castlereagh represented England; Talleyrand represented the +Bourbons of France; and Hardenberg, Prussia. Von Stein was also present, +but without official place. Besides these was a crowd of petty princes, +each with attaches. Metternich entertained the visitors in the most +lavish and magnificent manner. The government, though embarrassed and +straitened by the expense of the late wars, allowed L10,000 a day, equal +perhaps in that country and at that time to L50,000 to-day in London. +Nothing was seen but the most brilliant festivities, incessant balls, +fetes, and banquets. The greatest actors, the greatest singers, and the +greatest dancers were allured to the giddy capital, never so gay before +or since. Beethoven was also there, at the height of his fame, and the +great assembly rooms were placed at his disposal. + +The sittings of the Congress, in view of the complicated questions +which had to be settled, did not regularly begin till November. The +meetings at first were harmonious; but ere long they became acrimonious, +as the views of the representatives of the four great powers--Russia, +Austria, England, and Prussia--were brought to light. They all, except +England, claimed enormous territories as a compensation for the +sacrifices they had made. Talleyrand at first was excluded from the +conferences; but his wonderful skill as a diplomatist soon made his +power felt. He was the soul of intrigue and insincerity. All the +diplomatists were at first wary and prudent, then greedy and +unscrupulous. Violent disputes arose. The Emperor Alexander openly +quarrelled with Metternich, and refused to be present at his parties, +although they had been on the most friendly terms. + +In the division of the spoils, the Czar claimed the Grand Duchy of +Warsaw, to be nominally under the rule of a sovereign, but really to be +incorporated with his vast empire. Metternich resisted this claim with +all the ability he had, as bringing Russia too dangerously near the +frontiers of Austria; but Alexander had laid Prussia under such immense +obligations that Frederick William supported his claims,--with the +mutual understanding, however, that Prussia should annex the kingdom of +Saxony, since Saxony had supported Napoleon. The plenipotentiaries were +in such awe of the vast armies of the Czar, that they were obliged to +yield to this wicked annexation; and Poland--once the most powerful of +the mediaeval kingdoms of Europe--was wiped out of the map of +independent nations. This acquisition by far outbalanced all the +expenses which Alexander had incurred during the war of liberation. It +made Russia the most powerful military empire in the world. + +Although Prussia and Austria had been, since the times of Frederic the +Great, in perpetual rivalry, the greatness of the common danger from +such a warlike neighbor now induced Metternich to make every overture to +Prussia to prevent a possible calamity to Germany; but Frederick William +was obstinate, and his league with Alexander could not be broken. It +appears, from the memoirs of Metternich, that it had been for a long +time his desire to unite Prussia and Austria in a firm alliance, in +order to protect Germany in case of future wars. That was undoubtedly +his true policy. It was the policy fifty years later of Bismarck, +although he was obliged to fight and humble Austria before he could +consummate it. With Russia on one side and France on the other, the only +hope of Germany is in union. But this aim of the great Austrian +statesman was defeated by the stupidity and greed of the Prussian king, +and by his interested friendship with "the autocrat of all the +Russias." Alexander got Poland, with an addition of about four million +subjects to his empire. + +A greater resistance was made to the outrageous claims of Prussia. She +wanted to annex the whole of Saxony and important provinces on the +Rhine, which would have made her more powerful than Austria. Neither +Metternich nor Talleyrand nor Castlereagh would hear of this crime; and +so angry and threatening were the disputes in the Congress that a treaty +was signed by England, France, and Austria for an offensive and +defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia, in case the claims of +Prussia were persisted in. After the combination of Russia, Prussia, +Austria, and England against Napoleon, there was imminent danger of war +breaking out between these great Powers in the matter of a division of +spoils. In rapacity and greed they showed themselves as bad as +Napoleon himself. + +Prussia, however, was the most greedy and insatiable of all the +contracting parties. She always has been so since she was erected into a +kingdom. The cruel terms exacted by Bismarck and Moltke in their late +contest with France indicate the real animus of Prussia. The conquerors +would have exacted ten milliards instead of five, as a war indemnity, if +they had thought that France could pay it. They did not dare to carry +away the pictures of the Louvre, nor perhaps did those iron warriors +care much for them; but they did want money and territory, and were +determined to get all they could. Prussia was a poor country, and must +be enriched any way by the unexpected spoils which the fortune of war +threw into her hands. + +This same rapacity was seen at the Congress of Vienna; but the +opposition to it was too great to risk another war, and Prussia, at the +entreaty of Alexander, abated some of her demands, as did also Russia +her own. The result was that only half of Saxony was ceded to Prussia, +raising the subjects of Prussia to ten millions. The tact and firmness +of Talleyrand and Castlereagh had prevented the utter absorption of +Saxony in the new military monarchy. Talleyrand, whose designs could +never be fathomed by the most astute of diplomatists, had succeeded also +in isolating Russia and Prussia from the rest of Europe, and raising +France into a great power, although her territories were now confined to +the limits which had existed in 1792. He had succeeded in detaching +Austria and the southern States of Germany from Prussia. He had split +Germany into two rival powers, just what Louis Napoleon afterwards +aspired to do, hoping to derive from their mutual jealousies some great +advantage to France in case of war. Neither of them, however, realized +the intense common love of both Austria and Prussia, and indeed of all +the German States at heart, for "Fatherland," needing only the genius +of a very great man finally to unite them together in one great nation, +impossible to be hereafter vanquished by any single power. + +Austria retained for her share Lombardy, Venice, Parma, Placentia,--the +finest part of Italy, that which was known in the time of Julius Caesar +as Cisalpine Gaul. She did not care for the Low Countries, which formed +a part of the old empire of Charles V., since to keep that territory +would cost more than it would pay. She also received from Bavaria the +Tyrol. As further results of the Congress of Vienna, the Netherlands and +Holland were united in one kingdom, under a prince of the house of +Nassau; Naples returned to the rule of the Bourbons; Genoa became a part +of Piedmont. The petty independent States of Germany (some three +hundred) were united into a confederation of thirty-seven, called the +German Confederacy, to afford mutual support in time of war, and to be +directed by a Diet, in which Austria and Prussia were to have two votes +each, while Bavaria, Wuertemberg, and Hanover were to have one vote each. +Thus, Prussia and Austria had four votes out of seven; which practically +gave to these two powers, if they chose to unite, the control of all +external relations. As to internal affairs, the legislative power was +vested in representatives from all the States, both small and great. It +will be seen that the higher interests of Germany were not considered +in this Congress at all, attention being directed solely to a division +of spoils. + +But while the Congress was dividing between the princes who composed it +its acquisition of territory by conquest, and quarrelling about their +respective shares like the members of a family that had come into a +large fortune, news arrived of the escape of Napoleon from Elba, after a +brief ten months' detention, the adherence to him of the French army, +and the consequent dethronement of Louis XVIII. The Congress at once +dispersed, forgetting all its differences, while the great monarchs +united once more in pouring such an avalanche of troops into France and +Belgium that Napoleon stood no chance of retaining his throne, whatever +military genius he might display. After his defeat at Waterloo the +allies occupied Paris, and this time exacted a large war indemnity of +L40,000,000, and left an army of occupation of one hundred and fifty +thousand men in France until the money should be paid. They also +returned to their owners the pictures of the Louvre which Napoleon had +taken in his various conquests. + +It was while the allies were in Paris settling the terms of the second +peace, that what is called the "Holy Alliance" was formed between +Alexander, Frederick William, and Francis (to whom were afterward added +the kings of France, Naples, and Spain), which had for its object the +suppression of liberal ideas throughout the Continent, in the name of +religion. Some of these monarchs were religious men in their +way,--especially the Czar, who had been much interested in the spread of +Christianity, and the king of Prussia; but even these men thought more +of putting down revolutionary ideas than they did of the triumphs +of religion. + +We must, however, turn our attention to Metternich as the administrator +of a large empire, rather than as a diplomatist, although for thirty +years after this his hand was felt, if not seen, in all the political +affairs of Europe. He was now forty-four years of age, in the prime of +his strength and the fulness of his fame,--a prince of the empire, +chancellor and prime minister to the Emperor Francis. On his shoulders +were imposed the burdens of the State. He ruled with delegated powers +indeed, but absolutely. The master whom he served was weak, but was +completely in accord with Metternich on all political questions. He of +course submitted all important documents to the emperor, and requested +instructions; but all this was a matter of form. He was allowed to do as +he pleased. He was always exceedingly deferential, and never made +himself disagreeable to his sovereign, who could not do without him. +From first to last they were on the most friendly terms with each +other, and there was no jealousy of his power on the part of the +emperor. The chancellor was a gentleman, and had extraordinary tact. But +his labors were prodigious, and gave him no time for pleasure, or even +social intercourse, which finally became irksome to him. He was too busy +with public affairs to be a great scholar, and was not called upon to +make speeches, as there was no deliberative assembly to address. Nor was +he a national idol. He lived retired in his office, among ministers and +secretaries, and appeared in public as little as possible. + +After the final dethronement of Napoleon, the policy of Metternich with +reference to foreign powers was pacific. He had seen enough of war, and +it had no charm for him. War had brought Germany to the verge of +political ruin. All his efforts as chancellor were directed to the +preservation of peace and the balance of power among all nations. At the +close of the great European struggle the finances of all the German +States were alike disordered, and their industries paralyzed. Compared +with France and England Germany was poor, and wages for all kinds of +labor were small. It became Metternich's aim to develop the material +resources of the empire, which could be best done in time of peace. +Austria, accordingly, took part in no international contest for fifty +years, except to preserve her own territories. Metternich did not seem +to be ambitious of further territorial aggrandizement for his country; +it required all his talents to preserve what she had. Indeed, the +preservation of the _status quo_ everywhere was his desire, without +change, and without progress. He was a conservative, like the English +Lord Eldon, who supported established institutions because they _were_ +established; and any movement or any ideas which interrupted the order +of things were hateful to him, especially agitations for greater +political liberty. A constitutional government was his abhorrence. + +Hence, the policy of Metternich's home rule was fatal to all expansion, +to all emancipating movements, to all progress, to everything which +looked like popular liberty. Men might smoke, drink beer, attend +concerts and theatres, amuse themselves in any way they pleased, but +they should not congregate together to discuss political questions; they +should not form clubs or societies with political intent of any kind; +they should not even read agitating tracts and books. He could not help +their thinking, but they should not criticise his government. They +should be taught in schools directed by Roman Catholic priests, who were +good classical scholars, good mathematicians, but who knew but little +and cared less about theories of political economy, or even history +unless modified to suit religious bigots of the Mediaeval type. He +maintained that men should be contented with the sphere in which they +were born; that discontent was no better than rebellion against +Providence; that any change would be for the worse. He had no liking for +universities, in which were fomented liberal ideas; and those professors +who sought to disturb the order of things, or teach new ideas,--anything +to make young scholars think upon anything but ordinary duties,--were +silenced or discharged or banished. The word "rights" was an abomination +to him; men, he thought, had no rights,--only duties. He disliked the +Press more than he did the universities. It was his impression that it +was antagonistic to all existing governments; hence he fettered the +Press with restrictions, and confined it to details of little +importance. He would allow no comments which unsettled the minds of +readers. In no country was the censorship of the Press more inexorable +than in Austria and its dependent States. All that spies and a secret +police and priests could do to ferret out associations which had in view +a greater liberty, was done; all that soldiers could do to suppress +popular insurrection was effected,--and all in the name of religion, +since he looked upon free inquiry as logically leading to scepticism, +and scepticism to infidelity, and infidelity to revolution. + +In the Catholic sense Metternich was a religious man, since he +recognized in the Roman Catholic Church the conservation of all that is +valuable in society, in government, and even in civilization. He brought +Catholics to his aid in cementing political despotism, for "Absolutism +and Catholicism," as Sir James Stephen so well said, "are but +convertible terms." Accordingly, he brought back the Jesuits, and +restored them to their ancient power and wealth. He formed the strictest +union with the Pope. He rewarded ecclesiastics, and honored the great +dignitaries of the established church as his most efficient and trusted +lieutenants in the war he waged on human liberty. + +But I must allude to some of the things which gave this great man +trouble. Of course nothing worried him so much as popular insurrections, +since they endangered the throne, and opposed the cherished ends of his +life. As early as 1817, what he called "sects" disturbed central Europe. +These were a class of people who resembled the Methodists of England, +and the followers of Madam von Kruedener in Russia,--generally mystics in +religion, who practised the greatest self-denial in this world to make +sure of the promises of the next. The Kingdom of Wuertemberg, the Grand +Duchy of Baden, and Suabia were filled with these people,--perfectly +harmless politically, yet with views which Metternich considered an +innovation, to be stifled in the beginning. So of Bible societies; he +was opposed to these as furnishing a class of subjects for discussion +which brought up to his mind the old dissertations on "the rights of +man." "The Catholic Church," he writes to Count Nesselrode, the Russian +minister, "does not encourage the universal reading of the Bible, which +should be confined to persons who are calm and enlightened." But he goes +on to say that he himself at forty-five reads daily one or two chapters, +and finds new beauties in them, while at the age of twenty he was a +sceptic, and found it difficult not to think that the family of Lot was +unworthy to be saved, Noah unworthy to have lived, Saul a great +criminal, and David a terrible man; that he had tried to understand +everything, but that now he accepts everything without cavil or +criticism. Truly, a Catholic might say, "See the glorious peace and +repose which our faith brings to the most intellectual of men!" + +In 1819 an event occurred, of no great importance in itself, but which +was made the excuse for increased stringency in the suppression of +liberal sentiments throughout Germany. This was the assassination of Von +Kotzebue, the dramatic author, at Manheim, at the hands of a fanatic by +the name of Sand. Kotzebue had some employment under the Russian +government, and was supposed to be a propagandist of the views of the +Czar, who had lately become exceedingly hostile to all emancipating +movements. In the early part of his reign Alexander was called a +Jacobin by Metternich, who despised his philanthropical and sentimental +theories, and his energetic labors in behalf of literature, educational +institutions, freer political conditions, etc.; but when Napoleon was +sent to St. Helena, the Russian ruler, wearied with great events and +dreading revolutionary tendencies, changed his opinions, and was now +leagued with the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria in +supporting the most stringent measures against all reformers. Sand was a +theological student in the University of Jena, who thought he was doing +God's service by removing from the earth with his assassin's dagger a +vile wretch employed by the Russian tyrant to propagate views which +mocked the loftiest aspirations of mankind. The murder of Kotzebue +created an immense sensation throughout Europe, and was followed by +increased rigor on the part of all despotic governments in muzzling the +press, in the suppression of public meetings of every sort, and +especially in expelling from the universities both students and +professors who were known or even supposed to entertain liberal ideas. +Metternich went so far as to write a letter to the King of Prussia +urging him to disband the gymnasia, as hotbeds of mischief. His +influence on this monarch was still further seen in dissuading him to +withhold the constitution promised his subjects during the war of +liberation. He regarded the meeting of a general representation of the +nation as scarcely less evil than democratic violence, and his hatred of +constitutional checks on a king was as great as of intellectual +independence in a professor at a gymnasium. Universities and constituent +assemblies, to him, were equally fatal to undisturbed peace and +stability in government. + +In the midst of these efforts to suppress throughout Germany all +agitating political ideas and movements, the news arrived of the +revolution in Naples, July, 1820, effected by the Carbonari, by which +the king was compelled to restore the constitution of 1813, or abdicate. +Metternich lost no time in assembling the monarchs of Austria, Prussia, +and Russia, with their principal ministers, to a conference or congress +at Troppau, with a view of putting down the insurrection by armed +intervention. The result is well known. The armies of Austria and +Russia--170,000 men--restored the Neapolitan tyrant to his throne; while +he, on his part, revoked the constitution he had sworn to defend, and +affairs at Naples became worse than they were before. In no country in +the world was there a more execrable despotism than that exercised by +the Bourbon Ferdinand. The prisons were filled with political prisoners; +and these prisons were filthy, without ventilation, so noisome and +pestilential that even physicians dared not enter them; while the +wretched prisoners, mostly men of culture, chained to the most +abandoned and desperate murderers and thieves, dragged out their weary +lives without trial and without hope. And this was what the king, +supported and endorsed by Metternich, considered good government to be. + +The following year saw an insurrection in Piedmont, when the patriotic +party hoped to throw all Northern Italy upon the rear of the Austrians, +but which resulted, as will be treated elsewhere, in a sad collapse. The +victory of absolutism in Italy was complete, and all people seeking +their liberties became the object of attack from the three great Powers, +who obeyed the suggestions of the Austrian chancellor,--now +unquestionably the most prominent figure in European politics. He had +not only suppressed liberty in the country which he directly governed, +but he had united Austria, Prussia, and Russia in a war against the +liberties of Europe, and this under the guise of religion itself. + +Metternich now thought he had earned a vacation, and in the fall of 1821 +he made a visit to Hanover. He had previously visited Italy with the +usual experience of cultivated Germans,--unbounded admiration for its +works of art and sunny skies and historical monuments. He was as +enthusiastic as Madame de Stael over St. Peter's and the Pantheon. In +his private letters to his wife and children, so simple, so frank, so +childlike in his enjoyment, no one would suppose he was the arch and +cruel enemy of all progress, with monarchs for his lieutenants, and +governors for his slaves. His journey to Hanover was a triumphant +procession. The King George IV. embraced him with that tenderness which +is usual with monarchs when they meet one another, and in the +fulsomeness of his praises compared him to all the great men of +antiquity and of modern times,--Caesar, Cato, Gustavus Adolphus, +Marlborough, Pitt, Wellington, and the whole catalogue of heroes. On his +return journey to Vienna, Metternich stopped to rest himself a while at +Johannisberg, the magnificent estate on the Rhine which the emperor had +given him, near where he was born, and where he had stored away forty +huge casks of his own vintage, worth six hundred ducats a cask, for the +use of monarchs and great nobles alone. From thence he proceeded to +Frankfort, a beautiful but to him a horrible town, I suppose, because it +was partially free; and while there he took occasion to visit five +universities, at all of which he was received as a sort of deity,--the +students following his carriage with uncovered heads, and with cheers +and shouts, curious to see what sort of a man it was who had so easily +suppressed revolution in Italy, and who ruled Germany with such an +iron hand. + +And yet while Metternich so completely extinguished the fires of +liberty in the countries which he governed, he was doomed to see how +hopeless it was to do the same in other lands by mere diplomatic +intrigues. In 1822 the Spanish revolution broke out; and a year after +came the Greek revolution, with all its complications, ending in a war +between Russia and Turkey. From this he stood aloof, since if he helped +the Turks to put down insurrection he would offend the Emperor +Alexander, thus far his best ally, and commit Austria to a war from +which he shrank. It was his policy to preserve his country from +entangling wars. It was as much as he could do to preserve order and law +in the various States of Germany, at the cost of all intellectual +progress. But he watched the developments of liberty in other parts of +Europe with the keenest interest, and his correspondence with the +different potentates--whether monarchs or their ministers--is very +voluminous, and was directed to the support of absolutism, in which +alone he saw hope for Europe. The liberal views of the English Canning +gave Metternich both solicitude and disgust; and he did all he could to +undermine the influence of Capo D'Istrias, the Greek diplomatist, with +his imperial master the Czar. He hated any man who was politically +enlightened, and destroyed him if he could. The event in his long reign +which most perplexed him and gave him the greatest solicitude was the +revolution in France in 1830, which unseated the Bourbons, and +established the constitutional government of Louis Philippe; and this +was followed by the insurrection of the Netherlands, revolts in the +German States, and the Polish revolution. With the year 1830 began a new +era in European politics,--a period of reform, not always successful, +but enough to show that the spirit of innovation could no longer be +suppressed; that the subterranean fires of liberty would burst forth +when least expected, and overthrow the strongest thrones. + +But amid all the reforms which took place in England, in France, in +Belgium, in Piedmont, Austria remained stationary, so cemented was the +power of Metternich, so overwhelming was his influence,--the one central +figure in Germany for eighteen years longer. In 1835 the Emperor Francis +died, recommending to his son and successor Ferdinand to lean on the +powerful arm of the chancellor, and continue him in great offices. Nor +was it until the outbreak in Vienna in 1848, when emperor and minister +alike fled from the capital, that the official career of Metternich +closed, and he finally retired to his estates at Johannisberg to spend +his few declining years in leisure and peace. + +For forty years Metternich had borne the chief burdens of the State. For +forty years his word was the law of Germany. For forty years all the +cabinets of continental Europe were guided more or less by his advice; +and his advice, from first to last, was uniform,--to put down popular +movements and uphold absolutism at any cost, and severely punish all +people, of whatever rank or character, who tempted the oppressed to +shake off their fetters, or who dared to give expression to emancipating +ideas, even in the halls of universities. + +In view of the execrable tyranny, both political and religious, which +Metternich succeeded in establishing for thirty years, it is natural for +an ordinary person to look upon him as a monster,--hard, cruel, +unscrupulous, haughty, gloomy; a sort of Wallenstein or Strafford, to be +held in abhorrence; a man to be assassinated as the enemy of mankind. + +But Metternich was nothing of the sort. As a man, in all his private +relations he was amiable, gentle, and kind to everybody, and greatly +revered by domestic servants and public functionaries. By his imperial +master he was treated as a brother or friend, rather than as a minister; +while on his part he never presumed on any liberties, and seemed simply +to obey the orders of his sovereign,--orders which he himself suggested, +with infinite tact and politeness; unlike Stein and Bismarck, who were +overbearing and rude even in the presence of the sovereign and court. +Metternich had better manners and more self-control. Indeed, he was the +model of a gentleman wherever he went. He was the hardest worked man in +the empire; and he worked from the stimulus of what he conceived to be +his duty, and for the welfare of the country, as he understood it. +Though one of the richest men in Austria, and of the highest social +rank, he lived in frugal simplicity, despising pomp and extravagance +alike. His highest enjoyment, outside the society of his family, was +music. The whole realm of art was his delight; but he loved Nature more +even than art. He enjoyed greatly the repose of his own library,--an +apartment eighteen feet high, and containing fifteen thousand volumes. +The only unamiable thing about Metternich was his fear of being bored. +He maintained that it was impossible to find over six interesting men in +any company whatever. With people whom he trusted he was unusually frank +and free-spoken. With diplomatists he wore a mask, and made it a point +to conceal his thoughts. He deceived even Napoleon. No one could +penetrate his intentions. Under a smooth and placid countenance, +unruffled and calm on all occasions, he practised when he pleased the +profoundest dissimulation; and he dissimulated by telling the truth +oftener than by concealing it. He knew what the _ars celare artem_ +meant. When he could find leisure he was fond of travelling, especially +in Italy; but he hated and avoided the discomforts of travel. If he +made distant journeys he travelled luxuriously, and wherever he went he +was received with the greatest honors. At Rome the Pope treated him as a +sovereign. The Czar Alexander commanded his magnates to give to him the +same deference that they gave to himself. + +While the world regarded Metternich as the most fortunate of men, he yet +had many sorrows and afflictions, which saddened his life. He lost two +wives and three of his children, to all of whom he was devotedly +attached, yet bore the loss with Christian resignation. He found relief +in work, and in his duties. There were no scandals in his private life. +He professed and seemed to feel the greatest reverence for religion, in +the form which had been taught him. He detested vulgarity in every +shape, as he did all ordinary vices, from which he was free. He was +self-conscious, and loved attention and honors, but was not a slave to +them, like most German officials. Nothing could be more tender and +affectionate than his letters to his mother, to his wife, and to his +daughters. His father he treated with supreme reverence. No public man +ever gave more dignity to domestic pleasures. "The truest friends of my +life," said he, "are my family and my master;" and to each he was +equally devoted. On the death of his second wife, in 1829, he writes,-- + +"I feel this misfortune most deeply. I have lost everything for the +remainder of my days. The other world is daily more and more peopled +with beings to whom I am united by the closest ties of affection. I too +shall take my place there, and I shall disengage myself from this life +with all the less regret. My only relief is in work. I am at my desk by +nine in the morning. I leave it at five, and return to it at half-past +six, and work till half-past ten, when I receive visitors till +midnight." + +Time, however, brought its relief, and in 1831 he married the Princess +Melanie, and his third marriage was as happy as the others appear to +have been. In the diary of this wife, December 31, I read:-- + +"We supped at midnight, and exchanged good wishes for the new year. May +God long preserve to me my good, kind Clement, and illuminate him with +His divine light. It touches me to see the pleasure it gives him to talk +with me on business, and read to me what he writes." + +Such was the great Austrian statesman in his private life,--a dutiful +son, a loving and devoted husband, an affectionate father, a faithful +servant to his emperor, a kind master to his dependants, a courteous +companion, a sincere believer in the doctrines of his church, a man +conscientious in the discharge of duties, and having at heart the +welfare of his country as he understood it, amid innumerable perils from +foreign and domestic foes. As a statesman he was vigilant, sagacious, +experienced, and devoted to the interests of his imperial master. + +But what were Metternich's services, by which great men claim to be +judged? He could say that he was the promoter of law and order; that he +kept the nation from entangling alliances with foreign powers; that he +was the friend of peace, and detested war except upon necessity; that he +developed industrial resources and wisely regulated finances; that he +secured national prosperity for forty years after desolating wars; that +he never disturbed the ordinary vocations of the people, or inflicted +unnecessary punishments; and that he secured to Austria a proud +pre-eminence among the nations of Europe. + +But this was all. Metternich did nothing for the higher interests of +Germany. He kept it stagnant for forty years. He neither advanced +education, nor philanthropy, nor political economy. He was the +unrelenting foe of all political reforms, and of all liberal ideas. What +we call civilization, beyond amusements and pleasures and the ordinary +routine of business, owes to him nothing,--not even codes of law, or +enlightened principles of government. Judged by his services to +humanity, Metternich was not a great man. His highest claims to +greatness were in a vigorous administration of public affairs and +diplomatic ability in his treatment of foreign powers, but not in +far-reaching views or aims. As a ruler he ranks no higher than Mazarin +or Walpole or Castlereagh, and far below Canning, Peel, Pitt, or Thiers. +Indeed, Metternich takes his place with the tyrants of mankind, yet +showing how benignant, how courteous, how interesting, and even +religious and beloved, a tyrant can be; which is more than can be said +of Richelieu or Bismarck, the only two statesmen with whom he can be +compared,--all three ruling with absolute power delegated by +irresponsible and imperial masters, like Mordecai behind the throne of +Xerxes, or Maecenas at the court of Augustus. + +AUTHORITIES. + +The greatest authority is the Autobiography of Metternich; but Alison's +History, though dull and heavy, and marked by Tory prejudices, is +reliable. Fyffe may be read with profit in his recent history of Modern +Europe; also Mueller's Political History of Recent Times. The Annual +Register is often quoted by Alison. Schlosser's History of Europe in the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is a good authority. + + + +CHATEAUBRIAND. + + +1768-1848. + +THE RESTORATION AND FALL OF THE BOURBONS. + + +In this lecture I wish to treat of the restoration of the Bourbons, and +of the counter-revolution in France. + +On the fall of Napoleon, the Prussian king and the Austrian emperor, +under the predominating influence of Metternich, in restoring the +Bourbons were averse to constitutional checks. They wanted nothing less +than absolute monarchy, such as existed before the Revolution. On the +other hand, the Czar Alexander, generous and inclined then to liberal +ideas, was willing to concede something to the Revolution; while the +government of England, mindful of the liberty which had made that +country so glorious and so prosperous, also favored a constitutional +government in the person of the legitimate heir of the French monarchy. +Such was also the wish of the French nation, so far as it could be +expressed; for the French people, under whatever form of government +they may have lived, have never forgotten or repudiated the ideas and +bequests of the greatest movement in modern times. + +Prussia and Austria, therefore, were obliged to yield to Russia and +England, supported by the will of the French nation itself. Russia had +no jealousy of French ideas; and England certainly could not, +consistently with her struggles and her traditions, oppose what the +English nation resolutely clung to, and of which it was so proud. +Prussia and Austria, undisturbed by revolutions, wished simply the +restoration of the _status quo_, which with them meant absolute +monarchy; but which in France was not really the _status quo_, since the +Revolution had effected great and permanent changes even under the +regime of Bonaparte. Russia and England, in conceding something to +liberty, were yet as earnest and sincere advocates of legitimacy as +Prussia and Austria; for constitutional rights may exist under a +monarchy as well as under a republic. Moreover, it was felt by +enlightened statesmen of all parties that no government could be stable +and permanent in France which ignored the bequests of the Revolution, +which even Napoleon professed to respect. + +Accordingly it was settled that Louis XVIII.,--the younger brother of +Louis XVI., who had fled from France in 1792,--should be recalled from +exile, and restored to the throne of his ancestors, since he agreed to +accept checks to his authority, and swore to defend the new +constitution, although he insisted upon reigning "by the grace of +God,"--not as a monarch who received his crown from the people, or as a +gift from other monarchs, but by divine right. To this all parties +consented. He maintained the dignity of the royal prerogative at the +same time that he recognized the essential liberties of the nation. They +were not so full and complete as those in England; but the king +guaranteed to secure the rights both of public and private property, to +respect the freedom of the Press, to grant liberty of worship, to +maintain the national obligations, to make the judicial power +independent and irremovable, and to admit all Frenchmen to civil and +military employment, without restrictions in matters of religion. These +in substance constituted the charter which he granted on condition of +reigning,--an immense gain to France and the cause of civilization, if +honestly maintained. + +Louis XVIII. was neither a great king nor a great man; but his long +exile of twenty years, his travels and residences in various countries +in Europe, his misfortunes and his studies, had liberalized his mind +without embittering his heart. He never lost his dignity or his hopes in +his sad reverses; and when he was thus recalled to France to mount the +throne of his murdered brother, he was a very respectable man, both +from natural intelligence and extensive attainments. He possessed great +social and conversational powers, was moderate in his views of +Catholicism, virtuous in his private character, affectionate with his +friends and the members of his family, prudent in the exercise of power, +and disposed to reign according to the constitution which he honestly +had accepted; but socially he restored the ancient order of things, +surrounded himself with a splendid court, lived in great pomp and +ceremony, and appointed the ancient nobles to the higher offices of +state. According to French writers, he was the equal in conversation of +any of the great men with whom he was brought in contact, without being +great himself, thereby resembling Louis XIV. He had handsome features, a +musical voice, pleasing manners, and singular urbanity, without being +condescending. He was infirm in his legs, which prevented him from +taking exercise, except in his long daily drives, drawn in his +magnificent carriage by eight horses, with outriders and guards. + +The king delegated his powers to no single statesman, but held the reins +in his own hand. His ability as a ruler consisted in his tact and +moderation in managing the conflicting parties, and in his honest +abstention from encroaching on the liberties of the people in rare +emergencies; so that his reign was peaceable and tolerably successful. +It required no inconsiderable ability to preserve the throne to his +successor amid such a war of factions, and such a disposition for +encroachments on the part of the royal family. In contrast with the +splendid achievements and immense personality of Napoleon, Louis XVIII. +is not a great figure in history; but had there been no Revolution and +no Napoleon, he would have left the fame of a wise and benevolent +sovereign. His only striking weakness was in submitting to the influence +of either a favorite or a woman, like all the Bourbons from Henry IV. +downward,--except perhaps Louis XVI., who would have been more fortunate +had he yielded implicitly to the overpowering ascendency of such a woman +as Madame de Maintenon, or such a minister as Richelieu. + +The reign of Louis XVIII. is not marked by great events or great +passions, except the unrelenting and bitter animosity of the Royalists +to everything which characterized the Revolution or the military +ascendency of Napoleon. By their incessant intrigues and unbounded +hatreds and intolerant bigotry, they kept the kingdom in constant +turmoils, even to the verge of revolution, gradually pushing the king +into impolitic measures, against his will and his better judgment, and +creating a reaction to all liberal movements. These turmoils, which are +uninteresting to us, formed no inconsiderable part of the history of the +times. The only great event of the reign was the war in Spain to +suppress revolutionary ideas in that miserable country, ground down by +priests and royal despotism, and a prey to every conceivable faction. + +The ministry which the king appointed on his accession was composed of +able, moderate, and honest men, but without any ascendant genius, except +Talleyrand; who selected his colleagues, and retained for himself the +portfolio of foreign affairs and the presidency of the Council, giving +to Fouche the management of internal affairs. Loth was the king to +accept the services of either,--the one a regicide, and the other a +traitor. The whole royal family set up a howl of indignation at the +appointment of Fouche; but it was deemed necessary to secure his +services in order to maintain law and order, and the king remained firm +against the earnest expostulations of his brother the Comte d'Artois, +his niece the Duchesse d'Angouleme, and all the Royalists who had +influence with him. But he despised and hated in his soul Fouche,--that +minion of Napoleon, that product of blood and treason,--and waited only +for a convenient time to banish him from the councils and the realm. Nor +did he like Talleyrand (at that time the greatest man in France), but +made use of his magnificent talents only until he could do without him. +When the king felt established on his throne, he sent Talleyrand away; +indeed, there was great pressure brought to bear for the dismissal by +those who found the minister too moderate in his views. The king did not +punish him, but kept him in a subordinate office, leaving him to enjoy +his dignities and the immense fortune he had accumulated. + +Talleyrand was born in 1754, and belonged to one of the most illustrious +families in France. He was destined to the Church against his will, +being from the start worldly, ambitious, and scandalously immoral; but +he accepted his destiny, and soon distinguished himself at the Sorbonne +for his literary attainments, for his wit and his social qualities. At +twenty, as the young Abbe de Perigord, he was received into the highest +society of Paris; his noble birth, his aristocratic and courtly manners, +his convivial qualities, and his irrepressible wit made him a favorite +in the gay circles which marked the early part of the reign of Louis +XVI., while his extraordinary abilities and consummate tact naturally +secured early promotion. In 1780 he was appointed to the office of +general agent for the clergy of France, which brought him before the +public. Eight years after, at the early age of thirty-four, he was made +Bishop of Autun. In May, 1789, he became a member of the States-General, +and with his fascinating eloquence tried to induce the clergy to +surrender their tithes and church lands to the nation,--a result which +was brought about soon after, _nolens volens_, by the genius of +Mirabeau. Talleyrand hated the Church and despised the people, but, like +Mirabeau, was in favor of a constitution like that of England, In all +his changes he remained an aristocrat from his tastes, his education, +and his rank, but veiled his views, whatever they were, with profound +dissimulation, of which he was a consummate master. The laxity of his +morals, the secret hatred of his order, and his infidel sentiments led +to his excommunication, which troubled him but little. Out of the pale +of the Church, he turned his thoughts to diplomacy, and was sent to +London as an ambassador,--without, however, the official title and +insignia of that high office,--where he fascinated the highest circles +by the splendor of his conversation and the causticity of his wit. On +his return to Paris he was distrusted by the Jacobins, and with +difficulty made his escape to England; but the English government also +distrusted a man of such boundless intrigue, and ordered him to quit the +country within twenty-four hours. He fled to America at the age of +forty, with straitened means, but after the close of the Reign of Terror +returned to Paris, and six months later was made foreign minister under +the Directory. This office he did not long retain, failing to secure the +confidence of the government. The austere Carnot said of him:-- + +"That man brings with him all the vices of the old regime, without +being able to acquire a single virtue of the new one. He possesses no +fixed principles, but changes them as he does his linen, adopting them +according to the fashion of the day. He was a philosopher when +philosophy was in vogue; a republican now, because it is necessary at +present to be so in order to become anything; to-morrow he would +proclaim and uphold tyranny, if he could thereby serve his own +interests. I will not have him at any price; and so long as I am at the +helm of State he shall be nothing." + +When Bonaparte returned from Egypt, Citizen Talleyrand had been six +months out of office, and he saw that it would be for his interest to +put himself in intimate connection with the most powerful man in France. +Besides, as a diplomatist, he saw that only in a monarchical government +could he have employment. Napoleon, who seldom made a mistake in his +estimate of character, perceived that Talleyrand was just the man for +his purpose,--talented, dexterous, unscrupulous, and sagacious,--and +made him his minister of foreign affairs, utterly indifferent as to his +private character. Nor could he politically have made a wiser choice; +for it was Talleyrand who made the Concordat with the Pope, the Treaty +of Luneville, and the Peace of Amiens. Napoleon wanted a practical man +in the diplomatic post,--neither a pedant nor an idealist; and that was +just what Talleyrand was,--a man to meet emergencies, a man to build up +a throne. But even Napoleon got tired of him at last, and Talleyrand +retired with the dignity of vice-grand elector of the empire, grand +chamberlain, and Prince of Benevento, together with a fortune, it is +said, of thirty million francs. + +"How did you acquire your riches?" blandly asked the Emperor one day. +"In the simplest way in the world," replied the ex-minister. "I bought +stock the day before the 18th Brumaire [when Napoleon overthrew the +Directory], and sold it again the day after." + +When Napoleon meditated the conquest of Spain, Talleyrand, like +Metternich, saw that it would be a blunder, and frankly told the Emperor +his opinion,--a thing greatly to his credit. But his advice enraged +Napoleon, who could brook no opposition or dissent, and he was turned +out of his office as chamberlain. Talleyrand avenged himself by plotting +against his sovereign, foreseeing his fall, and by betraying him to the +Bourbons. He gave his support to Louis XVIII., because he saw that the +only government then possible for France was one combining legitimacy +with constitutional checks; for Talleyrand, with all his changes and +treasons, liked neither an unfettered despotism nor democratic rule. As +one of those who acted with the revolutionists, he was liberal in his +ideas; but as the servant of royalty he wished to see a firmly +established government, which to his mind was impossible with the reign +of demagogues. When the Congress of Vienna assembled, he was sent to it +as the French plenipotentiary. And he did good work at the Congress for +his sovereign, whose representative he was, and for his country by +contriving with his adroit manipulations to alienate the northern from +the southern States of Germany, making the latter allies of France and +the former allies of Russia,--in other words, practically dividing +Germany, which it was the work of Bismarck afterward to unite. A united +Germany Talleyrand regarded as threatening to the interests of France; +and he contrived to bring France back again into political importance,-- +to restore her rank among the great Powers. He did not bargain for +spoils, like the other plenipotentiaries; he only strove to preserve the +nationality of France, and to secure her ancient limits, which Prussia +in her greed and hatred would have destroyed or impaired but for the +magnanimity of the Czar Alexander and the firmness of Lord Castlereagh. + +On his return from the Congress of Vienna, the reign of Talleyrand as +prime minister was short; and as his power was comparatively small under +both Louis XVIII. and his successor Charles X., and as he was not the +representative of reactionary ideas or movements, but only of +a firm government, I do not give to him the leadership of the +counter-revolution. He was unquestionably the greatest statesman at that +time in France, though indolent, careless, and without power as +an orator. + +Who was then the great exponent of reaction, and of antagonism to +liberal and progressive opinions, during the reigns of the restored +Bourbons? It was not the king himself, Louis XVIII.; for he did all he +could to repress the fanatical zeal of his family and of the royalist +party. He despised the feeble mind of his brother, the Comte d'Artois, +his narrow intolerance, and his court of priests and bigots, and was in +perpetual conflict with him as a politician, while at the same time he +clung to him with the ties of natural affection. + +Was it the Duc de Richelieu, grand-nephew of the great cardinal, whom +the king selected for his prime minister on the retirement of +Talleyrand? He hardly represents the return to absolutism, since he was +moderate, conciliatory, and disposed to unite all parties under a +constitutional government. No man in France was more respected than +he,--adored by his family, modest, virtuous, disinterested, and +patriotic. As an administrator in the service of Russia during the +ascendency of Napoleon, he had greatly distinguished himself. He was a +favorite of Alexander, and through his influence with the Czar France +was in no slight degree indebted for the favorable terms which she +received on the restoration of the monarchy, when Prussia exacted a +cruel indemnity. He wished to unite all parties in loyal submission to +the constitution, rather than secure the ascendency of any. While able +and highly respected, Richelieu was not pre-eminently great. Nor was +Villele, who succeeded him as prime minister, and who retained his power +for six or eight years, nearly to the close of the reign of Charles X., +a great historical figure. + +The man under the restored monarchy who represented with the most +ability reactionary movements of all kinds, and devotion to the cause of +absolute monarchy, I think was Francois Auguste, Vicomte de +Chateaubriand. Certainly he was the most illustrious character of that +period. Poet, orator, diplomatist, minister, he was a man of genius, who +stands out as a great figure in history; not so great as Talleyrand in +the single department of diplomacy, but an infinitely more respectable +and many-sided man. He had an immense _eclat_ in the early part of this +century as writer and poet, although his literary fame has now greatly +declined. Lamartine, in his sentimental and rhetorical exaggeration, +speaks of him as "the Ossian of France,--an aeolian harp, producing +sounds which ravish the ear and agitate the heart, but which the mind +cannot define; the poet of instincts rather than of ideas, who gained an +immortal empire, not over the reason but over the imagination of +the age." + +Chateaubriand was born in Brittany, of a noble but not illustrious +family, in 1769, entered the army in 1786, and during the Reign of +Terror emigrated to America. He returned to France in 1799, after the +18th Brumaire, and became a contributor to the "Mercure de France." In +1802 he published the "Genie du Christianisme," which made him +enthusiastically admired as a literary man,--the only man of the time +who could compete with the fame of Madame de Stael. This book astonished +a country that had been led astray by an infidel philosophy, and +converted it back to Christianity, not by force of arguments, but by an +appeal to the heart and the imagination. The clergy, the aristocracy, +women, and youth were alike enchanted. The author was sent to Rome by +Napoleon as secretary of his embassy; but on the murder of the Due +d'Enghien (1804), Chateaubriand left the imperial service, and lived in +retirement, travelling to the Holy Land and throughout the Orient and +Southern Europe, and writing his books of travels. He took no interest +in political affairs until the time of the Restoration, when he again +appeared. A brilliant and effective pamphlet, "De Bonaparte et des +Bourbons," published by him in 1814, was said by Louis XVIII. to be +worth an army of a hundred thousand men to the cause of the Bourbons; +and upon their re-establishment Chateaubriand was immediately in high +favor, and was made a member of the Chamber of Peers. + +The Chamber of Peers was substituted for the Senate of Napoleon, and was +elected by the king. It had cognizance of the crime of high treason, and +of all attempts against the safety of the State. It was composed of the +most distinguished nobles, the bishops, and marshals of France, presided +over by the chancellor. To this chamber the ministers were admitted, as +well as to the Chamber of Deputies, the members of which were elected by +about one hundred thousand voters out of thirty millions of people. They +were all men of property, and as aristocratic as the peers themselves. +They began their sessions by granting prodigal compensations, +indemnities, and endowments to the crown and to the princes. They +appropriated thirty-three millions of francs annually for the +maintenance of the king, besides voting thirty millions more for the +payment of his debts; they passed a law restoring to the former +proprietors the lands alienated to the State, and still unsold. They +brought to punishment the generals who had deserted to Napoleon during +the one hundred days of his renewed reign; they manifested the most +intense hostility to the regime which he had established. Indeed, all +classes joined in the chorus against the fallen Emperor, and attributed +to him alone the misfortunes of France. Vengeance, not now directed +against Royalists but against Republicans, was the universal cry; the +people demanded the heads of those who had been their idols. Everything +like admiration for Napoleon seemed to have passed away forever. The +violence of the Royalists for speedy vengeance on their old foes +surpassed the cries of the revolutionists in the Reign of Terror. France +was again convulsed with passions, which especially raged in the bosoms +of the Royalists. They shot Marshal Ney, the bravest of the brave, and +Colonel Labedoyen; they established courts-martial for political +offences; they passed a law against seditious cries and individual +liberty. There were massacres at Marseilles, and atrocities at Nismes; +the Catholics of the South persecuted the Protestants. The king himself +was almost the only man among his party that was inclined to moderation, +and he found a bitter opposition from the members of his own family. +Added to these discords, the finances were found to be in a most +disordered state, and the annual deficit was fifty or sixty millions. + +All this was taking place while one hundred and fifty thousand foreign +soldiers were quartered in the towns and garrisons at the expense of the +government. The return of Napoleon had cost the lives of sixty thousand +Frenchmen and a thousand millions of francs, besides the indemnities, +which amounted to fifteen hundred millions more. No language of +denunciation could be stronger than that which went forth from the mouth +of the whole nation in view of Napoleon's selfishness and ambition. But +one voice was listened to, and that was the cry for vengeance; prudence, +moderation, and justice were alike disregarded. All attempts to stem the +tide of ultra-royalist violence were in vain. The king was obliged to +dismiss Talleyrand because he was not violent enough in his measures; at +the same time he was glad to get rid of his sagacious minister, being +jealous of his ascendency. + +So the throne of Louis XVIII. was anything but a bed of roses, amid the +war of parties and the perils which surrounded it. All his tact was +required to steer the ship of state amidst the rocks and breakers. Most +of the troubles were centred in the mutual hostilities, jealousies, and +hatreds of the Royalists themselves, at the head of whom were the king's +brother the Comte d'Artois, and the Vicomte de Chateaubriand. So +vehement were the passions of the deputies, nearly all Royalists, that +the president of the Chamber, the excellent and talented Laine, was +publicly insulted in his chair by a violent member of the extreme Right; +and even Chateaubriand the king was obliged to deprive of his office on +account of the violence of his opinions in behalf of absolutism,--a +greater royalist than the king himself! The terrible reaction was forced +by the nation upon the sovereign, who was more liberal and humane than +the people. + +Of course, in the embittered quarrels between the Royalists themselves, +nothing was done during the reign of Louis XVIII. toward useful and +needed reforms. The orators in the chambers did not discuss great ideas +of any kind, and inaugurated no grand movements, not even internal +improvements. The only subjects which occupied the chambers were +proscriptions, confiscations, grants to the royal family, the +restoration of the clergy to their old possessions, salaries to high +officials, the trials of State prisoners, conspiracies and crimes +against the government,--all of no sort of interest to us, and of no +historical importance. + +In the meantime there assembled at Verona a Congress composed of nearly +all the sovereigns of Europe, with their representatives,--as brilliant +an assemblage as that at Vienna a few years before. It met not to put +down a great conqueror, but to suppress revolutionary ideas and +movements, which were beginning to break out in various countries in +Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. To this Congress was sent, as one +of the representatives of France, Chateaubriand, who on its assembling +was ambassador at London. He was, however, weary of English life and +society; he did not like the climate with its interminable fogs; he was +not received by the higher aristocracy with the cordiality he expected, +and seemed to be intimate with no one but Canning, whose conversion to +liberal views had not then taken place. + +In France, the ministry of the Duc de Richelieu had been succeeded by +that of Villele as president of the Council, in which M. Matthieu de +Montmorency was minister of foreign affairs,--member of a most +illustrious house, and one of the finest characters that ever adorned an +exalted station. Between Montmorency and Chateaubriand there existed the +most intimate and affectionate friendship, and it was at the urgent +solicitation of the former that Chateaubriand was recalled from London +and sent with Montmorency to Verona, where he had a wider scope for +his ambition. + +Chateaubriand was most graciously received by the Czar Alexander and by +Metternich, the latter at that time in the height of his power and +glory. Alexander flattered Chateaubriand as a hero of humanity and a +religious philosopher; while Metternich received him as the apostle of +conservatism. + +The particular subject which occupied the attention of the Congress was, +whether the great Powers should intervene in the internal affairs of +Spain, then agitated by revolution. King Ferdinand, who was restored to +his throne after the forced abdication of Joseph Bonaparte, had broken +the Constitution of 1812, which he had sworn to defend, and outraged his +subjects by cruelties equalled only by those of that other Bourbon who +reigned at Naples. In consequence, his subjects had rebelled, and sought +to secure their liberties. This rebellion disturbed all Europe, and the +great Powers, with the exception of England,--ruled virtually by +Canning, the foreign minister,--resolved on an armed intervention to +suppress the popular revolution. Chateaubriand used all his influence in +favor of intervention; and so did Montmorency. They even exceeded the +instructions of the king and Villele the prime minister, who wished to +avoid a war with Spain; they acted as the representatives of the Holy +Alliance rather than as ambassadors of France. The Congress committed +Russia, Austria, and Prussia to hostile interference, in case the king +of France should be driven into war,--a course which Wellington +disapproved, and which he urged Louis XVIII. to refrain from. In +consequence, the French king temporized, dreading either to resist or to +submit to the ascendency of Russia, and dissatisfied with the course +his negotiators had taken at the Congress, especially his minister of +foreign affairs, on whom the responsibility lay. Montmorency accordingly +resigned, and Chateaubriand took his place; in consequence of which a +coolness sprung up between the two friends, who at the Congress had +equally advocated the same policy. + +The discussions which ensued in the chambers whether or not France +should embark in a war with Spain,--in other words, whether she should +interfere with the domestic affairs of a foreign and independent +nation,--were the occasion of the first serious split among the +statesmen of France at this time. There was a party for war and a party +against it; at the head of the latter were men who afterward became +distinguished. There were bitter denunciations of the ministers; but the +war party headed by Chateaubriand prevailed, and the French ambassador +was recalled from Madrid, although war was not yet formally declared. In +the Chamber of Peers Talleyrand used his influence against the invasion +of Spain, foretelling the evils which would ultimately result, even as +he had cautioned Napoleon against the same thing. He told the chamber +that although the proposed invasion would be probably successful, it +would be a great mistake. + +M. Mole, afterward so eminent as an orator, took the side of Talleyrand. +"Where are we going?" said he. "We are going to Madrid. Alas, we have +been there already! Will a revolution cease when the independence of +the people who are suffering from it is threatened? Have we not the +example of the French Revolution, which was invincible when its cause +became identical with that of our independence?" "This man," exclaimed +the king, "confirms me in the system of M. de Villele,--to temporize, +and avoid the war if it be possible." + +Chateaubriand replied in an elaborate speech in favor of the war. From +his standpoint, his speech was masterly and unanswerable. It was a grand +consecutive argument, solid logic without sentimentalism. While he +admitted that, according to the principles laid down by the great +writers on international war, intervention could not generally be +defended, he yet maintained that there were exceptions to the rule, and +this was one of them; that the national safety was jeopardized by the +Spanish revolution; that England herself had intervened in the French +Revolution; that all the interests of France were compromised by the +successes of the Spanish revolutionists; that a moral contagion was +spreading even among the troops themselves; in fact, that there was no +security for the throne, or for the cause of religion and of public +order, unless the armies of France should restore Ferdinand, then a +virtual prisoner in his own palace, to the government he had inherited. + +The war was decided upon, and the Duke of Angouleme, nephew of the king, +was sent across the Pyrenees with one hundred thousand troops to put +down the innumerable factions, and reseat Ferdinand. The Duke was +assisted, of course, by all the royalists of Spain, by all the clergy, +and by all conservative parties; and the conquest of the kingdom was +comparatively easy. The republican chiefs were taken and hanged, +including Diego, the ablest of them all. Ferdinand, delivered by foreign +armies, remounted his throne, forgot all his pledges, and reigned on the +most despotic principles, committing the most atrocious cruelties. The +successful general returned to France with great _eclat_, while the +government was pushed every day by the triumphant Royalists into +increased severity,--into measures which logically led, under Charles +X., to his expulsion from the throne, and the final defeat of the +principle of legitimacy itself,--another great step toward republican +institutions, which were finally destined to triumph. + +Among the extreme measures was the Septennial Bill, which passed both +houses against the protest of liberal members, some of whom afterward +became famous,--such as General Foy, General Sebastiani, Dupont (de +l'Eure), Casimir Perier, Lafitte, Lanjuinais. This law was a _coup +d'etat_ against electoral opinions and representative government. It +gave the king and his government the advantage of fixing for seven +years longer the majority which was secured by the elections of 1822, +and of closing the Chamber against a modification of public opinions. +Villele and Chateaubriand were the authors of this act. + +Another bill was proposed by Villele, not so objectionable, which was to +reduce the interest on the loans contracted by the State; in other +words, to borrow money at less interest and pay off the old debts,--a +salutary financial measure adopted in England, and later by the United +States after the Civil War. But this measure was bitterly opposed by the +clergy, who looked upon it as a reduction of their incomes. Here +Chateaubriand virtually abandoned the government, in his uniform support +of the temporalities of the Church; and the measure failed; which so +deeply exasperated both the king and the prime minister that +Chateaubriand was dismissed from his office as minister of +foreign affairs. + +The fallen minister angrily resented his disgrace, and thenceforward +secretly took part against the government, embarrassing it by his +articles in the journals of the day. He did not renounce his +conservative opinions; but he became the personal enemy of Villele. +Chateaubriand had no magnanimity. He retired to nurse his resentments in +the society of Madame Recamier, with whom he had formed a friendship +difficult to be distinguished from love. He had been always her devoted +admirer when she reigned a queen of society in the fashionable _salons_ +of Paris, and continued his intimacy with her until his death. Daily did +he, when a broken old man, make his accustomed visit to her modest +apartments in the Convent of St. Joseph, and give vent to his melancholy +and morbid feelings. He regarded himself as the most injured man in +France. He became discontented with the Crown, and even with the +aristocracy. On the day of his retirement from the ministry the +intelligence of the Royalist party followed him in opposition to the +government, whose faults he had encouraged and shared. The "Journal des +Debats," the most influential newspaper in France, deserted Villele; and +from this defection may be dated, says Lamartine, "all those enmities +against the government of the Restoration which collected in one work of +aggression the most contradictory ideas, which alienated public opinion, +which exasperated the government and pushed it on from excesses to +insanity, irritated the tribune, blindfolded the elections, and finished +by changing, five years afterward, the opposition of nineteen votes +hostile to the Bourbons into a heterogeneous but formidable majority, in +presence of which the monarchy had only the choice left between a +humiliating resignation and a mortal _coup d'etat_." + +Chateaubriand now disappears from the field of history as one of its +great figures. He lived henceforth in retirement, but bitter in his +opposition to the government of which he had been the virtual head, +contributing largely to the "Journal des Debats," of which he was the +life, and by which he was supported. In the next reign he refused the +office of Minister of Public Instruction as derogatory to his dignity, +but accepted the post of ambassador to Rome,--a sort of honorable exile. +But he was an unhappy and disappointed man; he had taken the wrong side +in politics, and probably saw his errors. His genius, if it had been +directed to secure constitutional liberty, would have made him a +national idol, for he lived to see the dethronement of Louis Philippe in +1848; but like Castlereagh in England, he threw his superb talents in +with the sinking cause of absolutism, and was after all a political +failure. He lives only as a literary man,--one of the most eloquent +poets of his day, one of the lights of that splendid constellation of +literary geniuses that arose on the fall of Napoleon. + +Soon after the retirement of Chateaubriand, Louis XVIII. himself died, +at an advanced age, having contrived to preserve his throne by +moderation and honesty. In his latter days he was exceedingly infirm in +body, but preserved his intellectual faculties to the last. He was a +lonely old man, even while surrounded by a splendid court. He wanted +somebody to love, at least to cheer him in his isolation; for he had no +peace in his family, deeply as he was attached to its members. He +himself had discovered the virtues and disinterestedness of his minister +Decazes, and when his family and ministers drove away this favorite, the +king was devoted to him even in disgrace, and made him his companion. +Still later he found a substitute in Madame du Caylus,--one of those +interesting and accomplished women peculiar to France. She was not +ambitious of ruling the king, as her aunt, Madame de Maintenon, was of +governing Louis XIV., and her virtue was unimpeachable. She wrote to the +king letters twice a day, but visited him only once a week. She was the +tool of a cabal, rather than the leader of a court; but her influence +was healthy, ennobling, and religious. Louis XVIII. was not what would +be called a religious man; he performed his religious duties regularly, +but in a perfunctory manner. He was not, however, a hypocrite or a +pharisee, but was simply indifferent to religious dogmas, and secretly +averse to the society of priests. When he was dying, it was with great +difficulty that he could be made to receive extreme unction. He died +without pain, recommending to his brother, who was to succeed him, to +observe the charter of French liberties, yet fearing that his blind +bigotry would be the ruin of the family and the throne, as events +proved. The last things to which the dying king clung were pomps and +ceremonies, concealing even from courtiers his failing strength, and +going through the mockery of dress and court etiquette to almost the +very day of his death, in 1824. + +The Comte d'Artois, now Charles X., ascended the throne, with the usual +promises to respect the liberties of the nation, which his brother had +conscientiously maintained. Unfortunately Charles's intellect was weak +and his conscience perverted; he was a narrow-minded, bigoted sovereign, +ruled by priests and ultra-royalists, who magnified his prerogatives, +appealed to his prejudices, and flattered his vanity. He was not cruel +and blood-thirsty,--he was even kind and amiable; but he was a fool, who +could not comprehend the conditions by which only he could reign in +safety; who could not understand the spirit of the times, or appreciate +the difficulties with which he had to contend. + +What was to be expected of such a monarch but continual blunders, +encroachments, and follies verging upon crimes? The nation cared nothing +for his hunting-parties, his pleasures, and his attachment to mediaeval +ceremonies; but it did care for its own rights and liberties, purchased +so dearly and guarded so zealously; and when these were gradually +attacked by a man who felt himself to be delegated from God with +unlimited powers to rule, not according to laws but according to his +caprices and royal will, then the ferment began,--first in the +legislative assemblies, then extending to journalists, who controlled +public opinion, and finally to the discontented, enraged, and +disappointed people. The throne was undermined, and there was no power +in France to prevent the inevitable catastrophe. In Russia, Prussia, and +Austria an overwhelming army, bound together by the mechanism which +absolutism for centuries had perfected, could repress disorder; but in a +country where the army was comparatively small, enlightened by the ideas +of the Revolution and fraternizing with the people, this was not +possible. A Napoleon, with devoted and disciplined troops, might have +crushed his foes and reigned supreme; but a weak and foolish monarch, +with a disaffected and scattered army, with ministers who provoked all +the hatreds and violent passions of legislators, editors, and people +alike, was powerless to resist or overcome. + +The short reign of Charles X. was not marked by a single event of +historical importance, except the conquest of Algiers; and that was +undertaken by the government to gain military _eclat_,--in other words, +popularity,--and this at the very time it was imposing restrictions on +the Press. There were during this reign no reforms, no public +improvements, no measures of relief for the poor, no stimulus to new +industries, no public encouragement of art or literature, no triumphs of +architectural skill; nothing to record but the strife of political +parties, and a systematic encroachment by the government on electoral +rights, on legislative freedom, on the liberty of the Press. There was a +senseless return to mediaeval superstitions and cruelties, all to please +the most narrow and intolerant class of men who ever traded on the +exploded traditions of the past. The Jesuits returned to promulgate +their sophistries and to impose their despotic yoke; the halls of +justice were presided over by the tools of arbitrary power; great +offices were given to the most obsequious slaves of royalty, without +regard to abilities or fitness. There was not indeed the tyranny of +Spain or Naples or Austria; but everything indicated a movement toward +it. Those six years which comprised the reign of Charles X. were a +period of reaction,--a return to the Middle Ages in both State and +Church, a withering blast on all noble aspirations. Even the prime +minister Villele, a legitimatist and an ultra-royalist, was too liberal +for the king; and he was dismissed to make room for Martignac, and he +again for Polignac, who had neither foresight nor prudence nor ability. +The generals of the republic and of the empire were removed from active +service. An indemnity of a thousand millions was given by an obsequious +legislature to the men who had emigrated during the Revolution,--a +generous thing to do, but a premium on cowardice and want of patriotism. +A base concession was made to the sacerdotal party, by making it a +capital offence to profane the sacred vessels of the churches or the +consecrated wafer; thus putting the power of life and death into the +hands of the clergy, not for crimes against society but for an insult to +the religion of the Middle Ages. + +But the laws passed against the Press were the most irritating of all. +The Press had become a power which it was dangerous to trifle with,--the +one thing in modern times which affords the greatest protection to +liberty, which is most hated by despots and valued by enlightened minds. +A universal clamor was raised against this return to barbarism, this +extinction of light in favor of darkness, this discarding of the +national reason. Royalists and liberals alike denounced this culminating +act of high treason against the majesty of the human mind, this +death-blow to civilization. Chateaubriand, Royer-Collard, Dupont (de +l'Eure), even Labourdonnais, predicted its fatal consequences; and their +impassioned eloquence from the tribune became in a few days the public +opinion of the nation, and the king in his infatuation saw no remedy for +his increasing unpopularity but in dissolving the Chamber of Deputies +and ordering a new election,--the blindest thing he could possibly do. +It was now seen that he was determined to rule in utter defiance of the +charter he had sworn to defend, and on the principles of undisguised +absolutism. All parties now coalesced against the king and his +ministers. The king then began to tamper with the military in order to +establish by violence the old regime. It was found difficult to fill +ministerial appointments, as everybody felt that the ship of State was +drifting upon the rocks. The king even determined to dissolve the new +Chamber of Deputies before it met, the elections having pronounced +emphatically against his government. + +At last the passions of the people became excited, and daily increased +in violence. Then came resistance to the officers of the law; then +riots, then barricades, then the occupation of the Tuileries, then +ineffectual attempts of the military to preserve order and restrain the +violence of the people. Marshal Marmont, with only twelve thousand +troops, was powerless against a great city in arms. The king thinking it +was only an _emeute,_ to be easily put down, withdrew to St. Cloud; and +there he spent his time in playing whist, as Nero fiddled over burning +Rome, until at last aroused by the vengeance of the whole nation, he +made his escape to England, to rust in the old palace of the kings of +Scotland, and to meditate over his kingly follies, as Napoleon meditated +over his mistakes in the island of St. Helena. + +Thus closed the third act in the mighty drama which France played for +one hundred years: the first act revealing the passions of the +Revolution; the second, the abominations of military despotism; the +third, the reaction toward the absolutism of the old regime and its +final downfall. Two more acts are to be presented,--the perfidy and +selfishness of Louis Philippe, and the usurpation of Louis Napoleon; but +these must be deferred until in our course of lectures we have +considered the reaction of liberal sentiments in England during the +ministries of Castlereagh, Canning, and Lord Liverpool, when the Tories +resigned, as Metternich did in Vienna. + +Yet the reign of the Bourbons, while undistinguished by great events, +was not fruitless in great men. On the fall of Napoleon, a crowd of +authors, editors, orators, and statesmen issued from their retreats, and +attracted notice by the brilliancy of their writings and speeches. +Crushed or banished by the iron despotism of Napoleon, who hated +literary genius, they now became a new power in France,--not to +propagate infidel sentiments and revolutionary theories, but to awaken +the nation to a sense of intellectual dignity and to maturer views of +government; to give a new impulse to literature, art, and science, and +to show how impossible it is to extinguish the fires of liberty when +once kindled in the breasts of patriots, or to put a stop to the +progress of the human mind among an excitable, intelligent, though +fickle people, craving with passionate earnestness both popular rights +and constitutional government in accordance with those laws of progress +which form the basis of true civilization. + +There was Count Joseph de Maistre,--a royalist indeed, but who +propounded great truths mixed with great paradoxes; believing all he +said, seeking to restore the authority of divine revelation in a world +distracted by scepticism, grand and eloquent in style, and astonishing +the infidels as much as he charmed the religious. + +Associated with him in friendship and in letters was the Abbe de +Lamennais, a young priest of Brittany, brought up amid its wilds in +silent reverence and awe, yet with the passions of a revolutionary +orator, logical as Bossuet, invoking young men, not to the worship of +mediaeval dogmas, but to the shrine of reason allied with faith. + +Of another school was Cousin, the modern Plato, combating the +materialism of the eighteenth century with mystic eloquence, and drawing +around him, in his chair of philosophy at the Sorbonne, a crowd of +enthusiastic young men, which reminded one of Abelard among his pupils +in the infant university of Paris. Cousin elevated the soul while he +intoxicated the mind, and created a spirit of inquiry which was felt +wherever philosophy was recognized as one of the most ennobling studies +that can dignify the human intellect. + +In history, both Guizot and Thiers had already become distinguished +before they were engrossed in politics. Augustin Thierry described, with +romantic fascination, the exploits of the Normans; Michaud brought out +his Crusades, Barante his Chronicles, Sismondi his Italian Republics, +Michelet his lively conception of France in the Middle Ages, Capefigue +the Life of Louis XIV., and Lamartine his poetical paintings of the +Girondists. All these masterpieces gave a new interest to historical +studies, infusing into history life and originality,--not as a barren +collection of annals and names, in which pedantry passes for learning, +and uninteresting details for accuracy and scholarship. In that +inglorious period more first-class histories were produced in France +than have appeared in England during the long reign of Queen Victoria, +where only three or four historians have reached the level of any one of +those I have mentioned, in genius or eloquence. + +Another set of men created journalism as the expression of public +opinion, and as a lever to overturn an obstinate despotism built up on +the superstitions and dogmas of the Middle Ages. A few young men, almost +unknown to fame, with remorseless logic and fiery eloquence overturned a +throne, and established the Press as a power that proved irresistible, +driving the priests of absolutism back into the shadows of eternal +night, and making reason the guide and glory of mankind. Among these +were the disappointed and embittered Chateaubriand, who almost redeemed +his devotion to the royal cause by those elegant essays which recalled +the eloquence of his early life. Villemain wrote for the "Moniteur," +Royer--Collard and Guizot for the "Courier," with all the haughtiness +and disdain which marked the Doctrinaire or Constitutional school; +Etienne and Pages for the "Constitutionel," ridiculing the excesses of +the ultra-royalists, the pretensions of the clergy, and the follies of +the court; De Genoude for the "Gazette de France," and Thiers for the +"National." + +In the realm of science Arago explored the wonders of the heavens, and +Cuvier penetrated the secrets of the earth. In poetry only two names are +prominent,--Delille and Beranger; but the French are not a poetical +nation. Most of the great writers of France wrote in prose, and for +style they have never been surpassed. If the poets were few after the +Restoration, the novelists were many, with transcendent excellences and +transcendent faults, reaching the heart by their pathos, insulting the +reason by their exaggerations, captivating the imagination while +shocking the moral sense; painting manners and dissecting passions with +powerful, acute, and vivid touch. Such were Victor Hugo, Eugene Sue, and +Alexandre Dumas, whose creations interested all classes alike, not +merely in France, but throughout the world. + +The dignity of intellect amid political degradation was never more +strikingly displayed than by those orators who arose during the reign of +the Bourbons. The intrepid Manuel uttering his protests against royal +encroachments, in a chamber of Royalists all heated by passions and +prejudices; Laine and De Serres, pathetic and patriotic; Guizot, De +Broglie, and De St. Aulaire, learned and profound; Royer-Collard, +religious, disdainful, majestic; General Foy, disinterested and +incorruptible; Lafitte, the banker; Benjamin Constant, the philosopher; +Berryer, the lawyer; Chateaubriand, the poet, most eloquent of +all,--these and a host of others (some liberal, some conservative, all +able) showed that genius was not extinguished amid all the attempts of +absolutism to suppress it. It is true that none of these orators arose +to supreme power, and that they were not equal to Mirabeau and other +great lights in the Revolutionary period. They were comparatively +inexperienced in parliamentary business, and were watched and fettered +by a hostile government, and could not give full scope to their +indignant eloquence without personal peril. Nor did momentous questions +of reform come before them for debate, as was the case in England during +the agitation on the Reform Bill. They did little more than show the +spirit that was in them, which under more favorable circumstances would +arouse the nation. + +There was one more power which should be mentioned in connection with +that period of torpor and reaction, and that was the influence of the +_salons_. To these all the bright intellects of Paris resorted, and gave +full vent to their opinions,--artists, scholars, statesmen, journalists, +men of science, and brilliant women, in short, whoever was distinguished +in any particular sphere; and these composed what is called society, a +tremendous lever in fashionable life. In the _salons_ of Madame de +Stael, of the Duchesse de Duras, of the Duchesse de Broglie, of Madame +de St. Aulaire, and of Madame de Montcalm, all parties were represented, +and all subjects were freely discussed. Here Sainte-Beuve discoursed +with those whom he was afterward to criticise; here Talleyrand uttered +his concise and emphatic sentences; here Lafayette won hearts by his +courteous manners and amiable disposition; here Guizot prepared himself +for the tribune and the Press; here Villemain, with proud indifference, +broached his careless scepticism; here Montlosier blended aristocratical +paradoxes with democratic theories. All these great men, and a host of +others,--Beranger, Constant, Etienne, Lamartine, Pasquier, Mounier, +Mole, De Neuville, Laine, Barante, Cousin, Sismondi,--freely exchanged +opinions, and rested from their labors; a group of geniuses worth more +than armies in the great contests between Liberty and Absolutism. + +And here it may be said that these kings and queens of society +represented not material interests,--not commerce, not manufactures, not +stocks, not capital, not railways, not trade, not industrial +exhibitions, not armies and navies, but ideas, those invisible agencies +which shake thrones and make revolutions, and lift the soul above that +which is transient to that which is permanent,--to religion, to +philosophy, to art, to poetry, to the glories of home, to the certitudes +of friendship, to the benedictions of heaven; which may exist in all +their benign beauty and power whatever be the form of government or the +inequality of condition, in cottage or palace, in plenty or in want, +among foes or friends,--creating that sublime rest where men may prepare +themselves for a future and imperishable existence. + +Such was the other side of France during the reign of the Bourbons,--the +lights which burst through the gloomy shades of tyranny and +superstition, to alleviate sorrows and disappointed hopes,--the +resurrection of intellect from the grave of despair. + +AUTHORITIES. + +The History of the Restoration by Lamartine is the most interesting work +I have read on the subject; but he is not regarded as a high authority. +Talleyrand's Memoirs, Memoires de Chateaubriand; Lacretelle, Capefigue, +Alison; Biographie Universelle, Memoires de Louis XVIII., Fyffe, +Mackenzie's History of the Nineteenth Century,--all are interesting, and +worthy of perusal. + + + + +GEORGE IV. + + +1762-1830. + +TORYISM. + + +Where an intelligent and cultivated though superficial traveller to +recount his impressions of England in 1815, when the Prince of Wales was +regent of the kingdom and Lord Liverpool was prime minister, he probably +would note his having been struck with the splendid life of the nobility +(all great landed proprietors) in their palaces at London, and in their +still more magnificent residences on their principal estates. He would +have seen a lavish if not an unbounded expenditure, emblazoned and +costly equipages, liveried servants without number, and all that wealth +could purchase in the adornment of their homes. He would have seen a +perpetual round of banquets, balls, concerts, receptions, and garden +parties, to which only the _elite_ of society were invited, all dressed +in the extreme of fashion, blazing with jewels, and radiant with the +smiles of prosperity. Among the lions of this gorgeous society he would +have seen the most distinguished statesmen of the day, chiefly peers of +the realm, with the blue ribbon across their shoulders, the diamond +garter below their knees, and the heraldic star upon their breasts. +Perhaps he might have met some rising orator, like Canning or Perceval, +whose speeches were in every mouth,--men destined to the highest +political honors, pets of highborn ladies for the brilliancy of their +genius, the silvery tones of their voices, and the courtly elegance of +their manners; Tories in their politics, and aristocrats in their +sympathies. + +The traveller, if admitted as a stranger to these grand assemblages, +would have seen but few lawyers, except of the very highest distinction, +perhaps here and there a bishop or a dean with the paraphernalia of +clerical rank, but no physician, no artist, no man of science, no +millionaire banker, no poet, no scholar, unless his fame had gone out to +all the world. The brilliancy of the spectacle would have dazzled him, +and he would unhesitatingly have pronounced those titled men and women +to be the most fortunate, the most favored, and perhaps the most happy +of all people on the face of the globe, since, added to the distinctions +of rank and the pride of power, they had the means of purchasing all the +pleasures known to civilization, and--more than all--held a secure +social position, which no slander could reach and no hatred +could affect. + +Or if he followed these magnates to their country estates after the +"season" had closed and Parliament was prorogued, he would have seen the +palaces of these lordly proprietors of innumerable acres filled with a +retinue of servants that would have called out the admiration of Cicero +or Crassus,--all in imposing liveries, but with cringing manners,--and a +crowd of aristocratic visitors, filling perhaps a hundred apartments, +spending their time according to their individual inclinations; some in +the magnificent library of the palace, some riding in the park, others +fox-hunting with the hounds or shooting hares and partridges, others +again flirting with ennuied ladies in the walks or boudoirs or gilded +drawing-rooms,--but all meeting at dinner, in full dress, in the carved +and decorated banqueting-hall, the sideboards of which groaned under the +load of gold and silver plate of the rarest patterns and most expensive +workmanship. Everywhere the eye would have rested on priceless pictures, +rare tapestries, bronze and marble ornaments, sumptuous sofas and +lounges, mirrors of Venetian glass, chandeliers, antique vases, +_bric-a-brac_ of every description brought from every corner of the +world. The conversation of these titled aristocrats,--most of them +educated at Oxford and Cambridge, cultivated by foreign travel, and +versed in the literature of the day,--though full of prejudices, was +generally interesting; while their manners, though cold and haughty, +were easy, polished, courteous, and dignified. It is true, most of them +would swear, and get drunk at their banquets; but their profanity was +conventional rather than blasphemous, and they seldom got drunk till +late in the evening, and then on wines older than their children, from +the most famous vineyards of Europe. During the day they were able to +attend to business, if they had any, and seldom drank anything stronger +than ale and beer. Their breakfasts were light and their lunches simple. +Living much in the open air, and fond of the pleasures of the chase, +they were generally healthy and robust. The prevailing disease which +crippled them was gout; but this was owing to champagne and burgundy +rather than to brandy and turtle-soups, for at that time no Englishman +of rank dreamed that he could dine without wine. William Pitt, it is +said, found less than three bottles insufficient for his dinner, when he +had been working hard. + +Among them all there was great outward reverence for the Church, and few +missed its services on Sundays, or failed to attend family prayers in +their private chapels as conducted by their chaplains, among whom +probably not a Dissenter could be found in the whole realm. Both +Catholics and Dissenters were alike held in scornful contempt or +indifference, and had inferior social rank. On the whole, these +aristocrats were a decorous class of men, though narrow, bigoted, +reserved, and proud, devoted to pleasure, idle, extravagant, and callous +to the wrongs and miseries of the poor. They did not insult the people +by arrogance or contumely, like the old Roman nobles; but they were not +united to them by any other ties than such as a master would feel for +his slaves; and as slaves are obsequious to their masters, and sometimes +loyal, so the humbler classes (especially in the country) worshipped the +ground on which these magnates walked. "How courteous the nobles are!" +said a wealthy plebeian manufacturer to me once, at Manchester. "I was +to show my mill to Lord Ducie, and as my carriage drove up I was about +to mount the box with the coachman, but my lord most kindly told me +to jump in." + +So much for the highest class of all in England, about the year 1815. +Suppose the attention of the traveller were now turned to the +legislative halls, in which public affairs were discussed, particularly +to the House of Commons, supposed to represent the nation. He would have +seen five or six hundred men, in plain attire, with their hats on, +listless and inattentive, except when one of their leaders was making a +telling speech against some measure proposed by the opposite party,--and +nearly all measures were party measures. Who were these favored +representatives? Nearly all of them were the sons or brothers or cousins +or political friends of the class to which I have just alluded, with +here and there a baronet or powerful county squire or eminent lawyer or +wealthy manufacturer or princely banker, but all with aristocratic +sympathies,--nearly all conservative, with a preponderance of Tories; +scarcely a man without independent means, indifferent to all questions +except such as affected party interests, and generally opposed to all +movements which had in view the welfare of the middle classes, to which +they could not be said to belong. They did not represent manufacturing +towns nor the shopkeepers, still less the people in their rugged +toils,--ignorant even when they could read and write. They represented +the great landed interests of the country for the most part, and +legislated for the interests of landlords and the gentry, the +Established Church and the aristocratic universities,--indeed, for the +wealthy and the great, not for the nation as a whole, except when great +public dangers were imminent. + +At that time, however, the traveller would have heard the most +magnificent bursts of eloquence ever heard in Parliament,--speeches +which are immortal, classical, beautiful, and electrifying. On the front +benches was Canning, scarcely inferior to Pitt or Fox as an orator; +stately, sarcastic, witty, rhetorical, musical, as full of genius as an +egg is full of meat. There was Castlereagh,--not eloquent, but gifted, +the honored plenipotentiary and negotiator at the Congress of Vienna; +the friend of Metternich and the Czar Alexander; at that time perhaps +the most influential of the ministers of state, the incarnation of +aristocratic manners and ultra conservative principles. There was Peel, +just rising to fame and power; wealthy, proud, and aristocratic, as +conservative as Wellington himself, a Tory of the Tories. There were +Perceval, the future prime minister, great both as lawyer and statesman; +and Lord Palmerston, secretary of state for war. On the opposite benches +sat Lord John Russell, timidly maturing schemes for parliamentary +reform, lucid of thought, and in utterance clear as a bell. There, too, +sat Henry Brougham, not yet famous, but a giant in debate, and +overwhelming in his impetuous invectives. There were Romilly, the law +reformer, and Tierney, Plunkett, and Huskisson (all great orators), and +other eminent men whose names were on every tongue. The traveller, +entranced by the power and eloquence of these leaders, could scarcely +have failed to feel that the House of Commons was the most glorious +assembly on earth, the incarnation of the highest political wisdom, the +theatre and school of the noblest energies, worthy to instruct and guide +the English nation, or any other nation in the world. + +From the legislature we follow our traveller to the Church,--the +Established Church of course, for non-conformist ministers, whatever +their learning and oratorical gifts, ranked scarcely above shopkeepers +and farmers, and were viewed by the aristocracy as leaders of sedition +rather than preachers of righteousness. The higher dignitaries of the +only church recognized by fashion and rank were peers of the realm, +presidents of colleges, dons in the universities, bishops with an income +of L10,000 a year or more, deans of cathedrals, prebendaries and +archdeacons, who wore a distinctive dress from the other clergy. I need +not say that they were the most aristocratic, cynical, bigoted, and +intolerant of all the upper ranks in the social scale, though it must be +confessed that they were generally men of learning and respectability, +more versed, however, in the classics of Greece and Rome than in Saint +Paul's epistles, and with greater sympathy for the rich than for the +poor, to whom the gospel was originally preached. The untitled clergy of +the Church in their rural homes,--for the country and not the city was +the paradise of rectors and curates, as of squires and men of +leisure,--were also for the most part classical scholars and gentlemen, +though some thought more of hunting and fishing than of the sermons they +were to preach on Sundays. Nothing to the eye of a cultivated traveller +was more fascinating than the homes of these country clergymen, +rectories and parsonages as they were called,--concealed amid +shrubberies, groves, and gardens, where flowers bloomed by the side of +the ivy and myrtle, ever green and flourishing. They were not large but +comfortable, abodes of plenty if not of luxury, freeholds which could +not be taken away, suggestive of rest and repose; for the favored +occupant of such a holding, supported by tithes, could neither be +ejected nor turned out of his "living," which he held for life, whether +he preached well or poorly, whether he visited his flock or buried +himself amid his books, whether he dined out with the squire or went up +to town for amusement, whether he played lawn tennis in the afternoon +with aristocratic ladies, or cards in the evening with gentlemen none +too sober. He had an average stipend of L200 a year, equal to L400 in +these times,--moderate, but sufficient for his own wants, if not for +those of his wife and daughters, who pined of course for a more exciting +life, and for richer dresses than he could afford to give them. His +sermons, it must be confessed, were not very instructive, suggestive, or +eloquent,--were, in fact, without point, delivered in a drawling +monotone; but then his hearers were not used to oratorical displays or +learned treatises in the pulpit, and were quite satisfied with the +glorious liturgy, if well intoned, and pious chants from surpliced +boys, if it happened to be a church rich and venerable in which they +worshipped. + +Not less imposing and impressive than the Church would the traveller +have found the courts of law. The House of Lords was indeed, in a +general sense, a legislative assembly, where the peers deliberated on +the same subjects that occupied the attention of the Commons; but it was +also the supreme judicial tribunal of the realm,--a great court of +appeals of which only the law lords, ex-chancellors and judges, who were +peers, were the real members, presided over by the lord chancellor, who +also held court alone for the final decision of important equity +questions. The other courts of justice were held by twenty-four judges, +in different departments of the law, who presided in their scarlet robes +in Westminster Hall, and who also held assizes in the different counties +for the trial of criminals,--all men of great learning and personal +dignity, who were held in awe, since they were the representatives of +the king himself to decree judgments and punish offenders against the +law. Even those barristers who pleaded at these tribunals quailed before +the searching glance of these judges, who were the picked men of their +great profession, whom no sophistry could deceive and no rhetoric could +win,--men held in supreme honor for their exalted station as well as for +their force of character and acknowledged abilities. In no other +country were judges so well paid, so independent, so much feared, and so +deserving of honors and dignities. And in no other country were judges +armed with more power, nor were they more bland and courteous in their +manners and more just in their decisions. It was something to be a judge +in England. + +Turning now from peers, legislators, judges, and bishops,--the men who +composed the governing class,--all equally aristocratic and exclusive, +let us with our traveller survey the middle class, who were neither rich +nor poor, living by trade, chiefly shopkeepers, with a sprinkling of +dissenting ministers, solicitors, surgeons, and manufacturers. Among +these, the observer is captivated by the richness and splendor of their +shops, over which were dark and dingy chambers used as residences by +their plebeian occupants, except such as were rented as lodgings to +visitors and men of means. These people of business were rarely +ambitious of social distinction, for that was beyond their reach; but +they lived comfortably, dined on roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on +Sunday, with tolerable sherry or port to wash it down, went to church or +chapel regularly in silk or broadcloth, were good citizens, had a horror +of bailiffs, could converse on what was going on in trade and even in +politics to a limited extent, and generally advocated progressive and +liberal sentiments,--unless some of their relatives were employed in +some way or other in noble houses, in which case their loyalty to the +crown and admiration of rank were excessive and amusing. They read good +books when they read at all, educated their children, some of whom +became governesses, travelled a little in the summer, were hospitable to +their limited circle of friends, were kind and obliging, put on no airs, +and were on the whole useful and worthy people, if we can not call them +"respectable members of society." They were, perhaps, the happiest and +most contented of all the various classes, since they were virtuous, +frugal, industrious, and thought more of duties than they did of +pleasures. These were the people who were soon to discuss rights rather +than duties, and whom the reform movement was to turn into political +enthusiasts. + +Such was the bright side of the picture which a favored traveller would +have seen at the close of the Napoleonic wars,--on the whole, one of +external prosperity and grandeur, compared with most Continental +countries; an envied civilization, the boast of liberty, for there was +no regal despotism. The monarch could send no one to jail, or exile him, +or cut off his head, except in accordance with law; and the laws could +deprive no one of personal liberty without sufficient cause, determined +by judicial tribunals. + +And yet this splendid exterior was deceptive. The traveller saw only +the rich or favored or well-to-do classes; there were toiling and +suffering millions whom he did not see. Although the laws were made to +favor the agricultural interests, yet there was distress among +agricultural laborers; and the dearer the price of corn,--that is, the +worse the harvests,--the more the landlords were enriched, and the more +wretched were those who raised the crops. In times of scarcity, when +harvests were poor, the quartern loaf sold sometimes for two shillings, +when the laborer could earn on an average only six or seven shillings a +week. Think of a family compelled to live on seven shillings a week, +with what the wife and children could additionally earn! There was rent +to pay, and coals and clothing to buy, to say nothing of a proper and +varied food supply; yet all that the family could possibly earn would +not pay for bread alone. And the condition of the laboring classes in +the mines and the mills was still worse; for not half of them could get +work at all, even at a shilling a day. The disbanding of half a million +of soldiers, without any settled occupation, filled every village and +hamlet with vagrants and vagabonds demoralized by war. During the war +with France there had been a demand for every sort of manufactures; but +the peace cut off this demand, and the factories were either closed or +were running on half-time. Then there was the dreadful burden of +taxation, direct and indirect, to pay the interest of a national debt +swelled to the enormous amount of L800,000,000, and to meet the current +expenses of the government, which were excessive and frequently +unnecessary,--such as sinecures, pensions, and grants to the royal +family. This debt pressed upon all classes alike, and prevented the use +of all those luxuries which we now regard as necessities,--like sugar, +tea, coffee, and even meat. There were import duties, almost +prohibitory, on many articles which few could do without, and worst of +all, on corn and all cereals. Without these it was possible for the +laboring class to live, even when they earned only a shilling a day; but +when these were retained to swell the income of that upper class whose +glories and luxuries I have already mentioned, there was inevitable +starvation. + +To any kind of popular sorrow and misery, however, the government seemed +indifferent; and this was followed of course by discontent and crime, +riots and incendiary conflagrations, murders and highway robberies,--an +incipient pandemonium, disgusting to see and horrible to think of. At +the best, what dens of misery and filth and disease were the quarters of +the poor, in city and country alike, especially in the coal districts +and in manufacturing towns. And when these pallid, half-starved miners +and operatives, begrimed with smoke and dirt, issued from their +infernal hovels and gathered in crowds, threatening all sorts of +violence, and dispersed only at the point of the bayonet, there was +something to call out fear as well as compassion from those who lived +upon their toils. + +At last, good men became aroused at the injustice and wretchedness which +filled every corner of the land, and sent up their petitions to +Parliament for reform,--not for the mere alleviation of miseries, but +for a reform in representation, so that men might be sent as legislators +who would take some interest in the condition of the poor and oppressed. +Yet even to these petitions the aristocratic Commons paid but little +heed. The sigh of the mourner was unheard, and the tear of anguish was +unnoticed by those who lived in their lordly palaces. What was desperate +suffering and agitation for relief they called agrarian discontent and +revolutionary excess, to be put down by the most vigorous measures the +government could devise. _O tempora! O mores!_ the Roman orator +exclaimed in view of social evils which would bear no comparison with +those that afflicted a large majority of the human beings who struggled +for a miserable existence in the most lauded country in Europe. In their +despair, well might they exclaim, "Who shall deliver us from the body of +this death?" + +I often wonder that the people of England were as patient and orderly +as they were, under such aggravated misfortunes. In France the oppressed +would probably have arisen in a burst of frenzy and wrath, and perhaps +have unseated the monarch on his throne. But the English mobs erected no +barricades, and used no other weapons than groans and expostulations. +They did not demand rights, but bread; they were not agitators, but +sufferers. Promises of relief disarmed them, and they sadly returned to +their wretched homes to see no radical improvement in their condition. +Their only remedy was patience, and patience without much hope. Nothing +could really relieve them but returning prosperity, and that depended +more on events which could not be foreseen than on legislation itself. + +Such was the condition, in general terms, of high and low, rich and +poor, in England in the year 1815, and I have now to show what occupied +the attention of the government for the next fifteen years, during the +reign of George IV. as regent and as king. But first let us take a brief +review of the men prominent in the government. + +Lord Liverpool was the prime minister of England for fifteen years, from +1812 (succeeding to Perceval upon the latter's assassination) to 1827. +He was a man of moderate abilities, but honest and patriotic; this chief +merit was in the tact by which he kept together a cabinet of +conflicting political sentiments; but he lived in comparatively quiet +times, when everybody wanted rest and repose, and when he had only to +combat domestic evils. The lord chancellor, Lord Eldon, had been seated +on the woolsack from nearly the beginning of the century, and was the +"keeper of the king's conscience" for twenty-five years, enjoying his +great office for a longer period than any other lord chancellor in +English history. He was doubtless a very great lawyer and a man of +remarkable sagacity and insight, but the narrowest and most bigoted of +all the great men who controlled the destinies of the nation. He +absolutely abhorred any change whatever and any kind of reform. He +adhered to what was already established, and _because_ it was +established; therefore he was a good churchman and a most reliable Tory. + +The most powerful man in the cabinet at this time, holding the second +office in the government, that of foreign secretary, was Lord +Castlereagh,--no very great scholar or orator or man of business, but an +inveterate Tory, who played into the hands of all the despots of Europe, +and who made captive more powerful minds than his own by the elegance of +his manners, the charm of his conversation, and the intensity of his +convictions. William Pitt never showed greater sagacity than when he +bought the services of this gifted aristocrat (for he was then a Whig), +and introduced him into Parliament. He was the most prominent minister +of the crown until he died, directing foreign affairs with ability, but +in the wrong direction,--the friend and ally of Metternich, +Chateaubriand, Hardenberg, and the monarchs whom they represented. + +But foremost in genius among the great statesmen of the day was George +Canning, who, however, did not reach the summit of his ambition until +the latter part of the reign of George IV. But after the death of +Castlereagh in 1822, he was the leading spirit of the cabinet, holding +the great office of foreign secretary, second in rank and power only to +that of the premier. Although a Tory,--the follower and disciple of +Pitt,--it was Canning who gave the first great blow to the narrow and +selfish conservatism which marked the government of his day, and entered +the first wedge which was to split the Tory ranks and inaugurate reform. +For this he acquired the greatest popularity that any statesman in +England ever enjoyed, if we except Fox and Pitt, and at the same time +incurred the bitterest wrath which the Metternichs of the world have +ever cherished toward the benefactors of mankind. + +Canning was born in London, in the year 1770, in comparatively humble +life,--his father being a dissipated and broken-down barrister, and his +mother compelled by poverty to go upon the stage. But he had a wealthy +relative who took the care of his education. In 1788 he entered Christ +Church College, where he won the prize for the best Latin poem that +Oxford had ever produced. After he had graduated with distinguished +honors, he entered as a law student at Lincoln's Inn; but before he wore +the gown of a barrister Pitt had sought him out, as he had Castlereagh, +having heard of his talents in debating societies. Pitt secured him a +seat in Parliament, and Canning made his first speech on the 31st of +January, 1794. The aid which he brought to the ministry secured his +rapid advancement. In a year after his maiden speech he was made +under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, at the age of twenty-five. +On the death of Pitt, in 1806, when the Whigs for a short period came +into power, Canning was the recognized leader of the opposition; and in +1807, when the Tories returned to power, he became foreign secretary in +the ministry of the Duke of Portland, of which Mr. Perceval was the +leading member. It was then that Canning seized the Danish fleet at +Copenhagen, giving as his excuse for this bold and high-handed measure +that Napoleon would have taken it if he had not. It was through his +influence and that of Lord Castlereagh that Sir Arthur Wellesley, +afterward the Duke of Wellington, was sent to Spain to conduct the +Peninsular War. + +On the retirement of the Duke of Portland as head of the government in +1809, Mr. Perceval became minister,--an event soon followed by the +insanity of George III. and the entrance of Robert Peel into the House +of Commons. In 1812 Mr. Perceval was assassinated, and the long ministry +of Lord Liverpool began, supported by all the eloquence and influence of +Canning, between whom and his chief a close friendship had existed since +their college days. The foreign secretaryship was offered to Canning; +but he, being comparatively poor, preferred the Lisbon embassy, on the +large salary of L14,000. In 1814 he became president of the Board of +Control, and remained in that office until he was appointed +governor-general of India. On the death of Castlereagh (1822) by his own +hand, Canning resumed the post of foreign secretary, and from that time +was the master spirit of the government, leader of the House of Commons, +the most powerful orator of his day, and the most popular man in +England. He had now become more liberal, showing a sympathy with reform, +acknowledging the independence of the South American colonies, and +virtually breaking up the Holy Alliance by his disapprobation of the +policy of the Congress of Vienna, which aimed at the total overthrow of +liberty in Europe, and which (under the guidance of Metternich and with +the support of Castlereagh) had already given Norway to Sweden, the +duchy of Genoa to Sardinia, restored to the Pope his ancient +possessions, and made Italy what it was before the French Revolution. +The most mischievous thing which the Holy Alliance had in view was +interference in the internal affairs of all the Continental States, +under the guise of religion. England, under the leadership of +Castlereagh, would have upheld this foreign interference of Russia, +Prussia, and Austria; but Canning withdrew England from this +intervention,--a great service to his country and to civilization. In +fact, the great principle of his political life was non-intervention in +the internal affairs of other nations. Hence he refused to join the +great Powers in re-seating the king of Spain on his throne, from which +that monarch had been temporarily ejected by a popular insurrection. But +for him, the great Powers might have united with Spain to recover her +lost possessions in South America. To him the peace of the world at that +critical period was mainly owing. In one of his most famous speeches he +closed with the oft-quoted sentence, "I called the New World into +existence to redress the balance of the Old." + +Canning, like Peel,--and like Gladstone in our own time,--grew more and +more liberal as he advanced in years, in experience, and in power, +although he never left the Tory ranks. His commercial policy was +identical with that of his friend Huskisson, which was that commerce +flourished best when wholly unfettered by restrictions. He held that +protection, in the abstract, was unsound and unjust; and thus he opened +the way for free-trade,--the great boon which Sir Robert Peel gave to +the nation under the teachings of Cobden. He also was in favor of +Catholic emancipation and the repeal of the Test Act, which the Duke of +Wellington was compelled against his will ultimately to give to +the nation. + +At the head of all this array of brilliant statesmen stood the king, or +in this case the regent, who was a man of very different character from +most of the ministers who served him. + +It was in January, 1811, that the Prince of Wales became regent in +consequence of the insanity of his father, George III.; it was during +the Peninsular War, when Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wellesley, was +wearing out the French in Spain. But the reign of this prince as regent +is barren of great political movements. There is scarcely anything to +record but riots and discontent among the lower classes, and the +incendiary speeches and writings of demagogues. Measures of relief were +proposed in Parliament, also for parliamentary reform and the removal of +Catholic disabilities; but they were all alike opposed by the Tory +government, and came to nothing. Four years after the beginning of the +regency saw the overthrow of Napoleon, and the nation was so wearied of +war and all great political excitement that it had sunk to inglorious +repose. It was the period of reaction, of ultra conservatism, and hatred +of progressive and revolutionary ideas, when such men as Cobbett and +Hunt (Henry) were persecuted, fined, and imprisoned for their ideas. +Cobbett, the most popular writer of the day, was forced to fly to +America. Government was utterly intolerant of all political agitation, +which was chiefly confined to men without social position. + +But of all the magnates who were opposed to reform, the prince regent +was the most obstinate. He was wholly devoted to pleasure. His court at +the Carleton palace was famous for the assemblage of wits and beauties +and dandies, reminding us of the epicureanism which marked Versailles +during the reign of Louis XV. It was the most scandalous period in +England since the times of Charles II. The life of the regent was a +perpetual scandal, especially in his heartless treatment of women, and +the disgraceful revels in which he indulged. + +The companions of the prince were mostly dissipated and ennuied +courtiers, as impersonated in that incarnation of dandyism who went by +the name of Beau Brummell,--a contemptible character, who yet, it seems, +was the leader of fashion, especially in dress, of which the prince +himself was inordinately fond. This boon companion of royalty required +two different artists to make his gloves, and he went home after the +opera to change his cravat for succeeding parties. His impertinence and +audacity exceeded anything ever recorded of men of fashion,--as when he +requested his royal master to ring the bell. Nothing is more pitiable +than his miserable end, deserted by all his friends, a helpless idiot in +a lunatic asylum, having exhausted all his means. Lord Yarmouth, +afterward the Marquis of Hertford, infamous for his debaucheries and +extravagance, was another of the prince's companions in folly and +drunkenness. So was Lord Fife, who expended L80,000 on a dancer; and a +host of others, who had, however, that kind of wit which would "set the +table on a roar,"--but all gamblers, drunkards, and sensualists, who +gloried in the ruin of those women whom they had made victims of their +pleasures. + +But I pass by the revelries and follies of "the first gentleman" in the +realm, as he was called, to allude to one event which has historical +importance, and which occupied the attention of the whole country,--and +that was the persecution of his wife, who was also his cousin, Caroline +Amelia Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick. He drove her from +the nuptial bed, and from his palace. He sought also to get a divorce, +which failed by reason of the transcendent talents and eloquence of +Brougham and Denman, eminent lawyers whom she employed in her defence, +and which brought them out prominently before the eyes of the +nation,--for the great career of Brougham, especially, began with the +trial of Caroline of Brunswick, the unhappy woman whom the Prince of +Wales married to get relief from his pecuniary necessities, and whom he +insulted as soon as he saw her, although she was a princess of +considerable accomplishments, and as amiable as she was beneficent. The +only palliation of his infamous treatment of this woman was that he +never loved her, and was even disgusted with her. No sooner was the +marriage solemnized, than she was treated on every occasion with studied +contumely, and scarcely had she recovered from illness incident to the +birth of the Princess Charlotte, when the "first gentleman of the age" +was pleased to intimate that it suited his disposition that they should +hereafter live apart. Never allowed to be crowned as queen, driven from +the shelter of her husband's roof, surrounded with spies, accused of +crimes of which there was no proof, even excluded from the public +prayers, and finally forced into exile, she sank under her accumulated +wrongs, and was carried off by a fatal illness at the age of +fifty-three. + +On the death of the old king in 1820, the Prince of Wales became George +IV., after having been regent for nine years. As he was inflexibly +opposed to all reforms, no great measures had been carried through +Parliament except from urgent necessity and fear of revolution. But the +State was being prepared for reforms in the next reign. In 1820 the +agitation, which finally ended in the Reform Bill, set in with great +earnestness. Henry Brougham had become a great power in the House of +Commons, and poured out the vials of his wrath on the Tory government. +Lord John Russell busily employed himself in forging the weapons by +which he, more than any other man, afterward broke the power of the +Tories. The voice of Wilberforce was also heard in demanding the +abolition of negro slavery. Romilly was advocating a reform in criminal +law. Macaulay was making those brilliant speeches which would have +elevated him to the highest rank among debaters had he not cherished +other ambitions. + +The only things which stand out as memorable and of political importance +in this reign were a change in the foreign policy of England, the +discontents and agitations of the people, the removal of Catholic +disabilities, and the repeal of the Test Acts. + +On the first I shall not dwell, since I have already alluded to it as +the great work of Canning. As foreign minister he divorced England from +the Holy Alliance, and insisted on maintaining non-intervention in the +internal affairs of other nations, and a peace policy which raised his +country to the highest pinnacle of power she ever attained, and brought +about a development of wealth and industry entirely unprecedented. Had +he lived he would have carried out those reforms that later were the +glory of Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel, for he was emancipated +from the ideas which made the Tories obnoxious. His spirit was liberal +and progressive, and hence he incurred bitter hostilities. The +government, however, could not be carried on without him, and the king +was forced unwillingly to accept him as minister. His magnificent +services as foreign secretary had mollified the hostilities of George +IV., who became anxious to retain him in power at the head of the +foreign department, after the retirement of Lord Liverpool. But Canning +felt that the premiership was his due, and would accept nothing short of +it, and the king was forced to give it to him in spite of the howl of +the Tory leaders. He enjoyed that dignity, however, but two months, +being worn out with labors, and embittered by the hostilities of his +political enemies, who hounded him to death with the most cruel and +unrelenting hatred. His sensitive and proud nature could not stand +before such unjust attacks and savage calumnies. He rapidly sank, in the +prime of his life and in the height of his fame. Canning's death in 1827 +was a marked event in the reign of George IV.; it filled England with +mourning, and never was grief for a departed statesman more sincere and +profound. He was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. The +sculptor Chantry was intrusted with the execution of his statue,--a +memorial which he did not need, for his fame is imperishable. The day +after the funeral his wife was made a peeress, an annuity was granted to +his sons, and every honor that it was possible for a grateful nation to +bestow was lavished on his memory. + +Canning left only L20,000,--a less sum than he had received from his +wife upon his marriage. His domestic life was singularly happy. He was +also happy in the brilliant promises of his sons, one of whom became +governor-general of India, and was created a peer for his services. His +only daughter married the Marquis of Clanricarde. His children thus +entered the ranks of the nobility,--a distinction which he himself did +not covet. It was his chief ambition to rule the nation through the +House of Commons. + +Some authorities have regarded Canning as the greatest of English +parliamentary orators; but his speeches to me are disappointing, +although elaborate, argumentative, logical, and full of fancy and wit. +They were too rhetorical to suit the taste of Lord Brougham. Rhetorical +exhibitions, however brilliant, are not those which posterity most +highly value, and lose their charm when the occasions which produced +them have passed away. Canning's presence was commanding and dignified, +his articulation delicate and precise, his voice clear and musical; +while the curl of his lip and the glance of his eye would silence almost +any antagonist. In cabinet meetings he was habitually silent, having +already made up his mind. He could not gracefully bear contradiction, +and made many enemies by his pride and sarcasm. In private life he was +courteous and gentlemanly, fond of society, but fonder of domestic life, +pure in his moral character, devoted to his family,--especially to his +mother, whom he treated with extraordinary deference and affection. + +The next subject of historical importance in the reign of George IV. was +the perpetual agitation among the people growing out of their misery and +discontent. There were no great insurrections to overturn the throne, as +in Spain and Italy and France; but there was a fierce demand for the +removal of evils which were intolerable; and this was manifested in +monster petitions to Parliament, in incendiary speeches like those made +by "Orator Hunt" and other agitators, in such political tracts as +Cobbett wrote and circulated in every corner of the land, in occasional +uprisings among agricultural laborers and factory operatives, in angry +mobs destroying private property,--all impelled by hunger and despair. +To these discontents and angry uprisings the government was haughty and +cold, looking upon them as revolutionary and dangerous, and putting them +down by sheriffs and soldiers, by coercion bills and the suspension +of the Act of _habeas corpus_. Some speeches were made in +Parliament in favor of education, and some efforts in behalf of law +reforms,--especially the removal of the death penalty for small +offences, more than two hundred of which were punishable with death. +Numerous were the instances where men and boys were condemned to the +gallows for stealing a coat or shooting a hare; but the sentences of +judges were often not enforced when unusually severe or unjust. +Moreover, large charities were voted for the poor, but without +materially relieving the general distress. + +On the whole, however, the country increased in wealth and prosperity in +consequence of the long and uninterrupted peace; and the only great +drawback was the mercantile crisis of 1825, resulting from the mania of +speculation, and followed by the contraction of the currency,--the +effect of which was the failure of banks and the ruin of thousands who +had calculated on being suddenly enriched. Alison estimates the +shrinkage of property in Great Britain alone as at least L100,000,000. +Men worth L100,000 could not at one time raise L100. The banks were +utterly drained of gold and silver. Nothing prevented universal +bankruptcy but the issue of small bills by the Bank of England. There +was a lull of political excitement after the trial of Queen Caroline, +and Parliament confined itself chiefly to legal, economical, and +commercial questions; although occasionally there were grand debates on +the foreign policy, on Catholic emancipation, and on the +disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs. Ireland obtained considerable +parliamentary attention, owing to the failure of the potato crop and its +attendant agricultural distress, which produced a state bordering on +rebellion, and to the formation of the Catholic Association. + +But the great event in the political history of England during the reign +of George IV. was unquestionably the removal of Catholic +disabilities,--ranking next in importance and interest with the Reform +Bill and the repeal of the Corn Laws. Catholic disability had existed +ever since the reign of Elizabeth, and was the standing injustice under +which Ireland labored. Catholic peers were not admitted to the House of +Lords, nor Catholics to a seat in the House of Commons,--which was a +condition of extremely unequal representation. In reality, only the +Protestants were represented in Parliament, and they composed only about +one tenth of the whole population. + +In addition to this injustice, the Irish, who were mostly Roman +Catholics, were ground down by such oppressive laws that they were +really serfs to those landlords who owned the soil on which they toiled +for a mere pittance,--about fourpence a day,--resulting in a general +poverty such as has never before been seen in any European country, with +its attendant misery and crime. The miserable Irish peasantry lived in +mud huts or cabins, covered partially with thatch, but not enough to +keep out the rain. No furniture and no comforts were to be seen in these +huts. There were no chairs or tables, only a sort of dresser for laying +a plate upon; no cooking utensils but a cast-metal pot to boil +potatoes,--almost the only food. There were no bedsteads, and but few +blankets. The people slept in their clothes, the whole family generally +in one room,--the only room in the cabin. For fuel they burned peat. In +order to pay their rent, they sold their pigs. Beggars infested every +road and filled every village. No one was certain of employment, even at +twopence a day. Everybody was controlled by the priests, whose power +rested on their ability to stimulate religious fears, and who were +supported by such contributions as they were able to extort from the +superstitious and ignorant people,--by nature brave and generous and +joyous, but improvident and reckless. It was the wonder of O'Connell how +they could remain cheerful amid such privations and such wrongs, with +the government seemingly indifferent, with none to pity and few to help. +Nor could they vote for the candidates for any office whatever unless +they had freeholds, or life-rent possessions, for which they paid a rent +of forty shillings. The landlords of this wretched tenantry, unable to +face the misery they saw and which they could not relieve, or fearful of +assassination, left the country to spend their incomes in the great +cities of Europe, not being united with their people by any ties, social +or religious. + +What wonder that such a wretched people, urged by the priests, should +form associations for their own relief, especially when famine pressed +and landlords exacted the uttermost farthing,--when the crimes to which +they were impelled by starvation were punished with the most inexorable +severity by Protestant magistrates in whose appointment they had +no hand! + +The result was the rise of the Catholic Association, the declared object +of which was to forward petitions to Parliament, to support an +independent Press, to aid emigration to America,--all worthy, and +unobjectionable on the surface, but with the real intent (as affirmed by +the Tories and believed by a large majority of the nation) of securing +the control of elections, of bringing about the repeal of the Union with +England (which, enacted in 1801, had done away with the separate Irish +parliament), the resumption of the Church property by the Catholic +clergy, and the restoration of the Catholic faith as the dominant +religion of the land. Such an Association, embracing most of the Roman +Catholic population, was regarded with great alarm by the government; +and they determined to put it down as seditious and dangerous, against +the expostulation of such men as Brougham, Mackintosh, and Sir Henry +Parnell. Then arose the great figure of O'Connell in the history of +Ireland (whose eloquence, tact, and ability have no parallel in that +country of orators), defending the cause of his countrymen with masterly +power, leading them like a second Moses according to his will,--in fact, +uniting them in a movement which it was hopeless to oppose except with +an army bent on the depopulation of the country; so that George IV. is +reported to have said, with considerable bitterness, "Canning is king of +England, O'Connell is king of Ireland, and I am Dean of Windsor." + +Such, however, was the hostility of Parliament to the Irish Catholics +that a bill was carried by a great majority in both Houses to suppress +the Association, supported powerfully by the Duke of York as well as by +the ministers of the crown, even by Canning himself and Sir Robert Peel. + +Then followed renewed disturbances, riots, and murders; for the +condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland was desperate as well as +gloomy. The Association was dissolved, for O'Connell would do nothing +unlawful; but a new one took its place, which preached peace and unity, +but which meant the repeal of the Union,--the grand object that from +first to last O'Connell had at heart. Of course, this scheme was utterly +impracticable without a revolution that would shake England to its +centre; but it was followed by an immense emigration to America,--so +great that the population of Ireland declined from eight and a half to +four and a half millions. The Irish Catholics, however, were +comparatively quiet during the administration of Mr. Canning, whose +liberal tendencies had given them hope; but on his death they became +more restive. The coalition ministry under Lord Goderich was much +embarrassed how to act, or was too feeble to act with vigor,--not for +want of individual abilities, but by reason of dissensions among the +ministers. It lasted only a short time, and was succeeded by that of the +Duke of Wellington, with Sir Robert Peel for his lieutenant; both of +whom had shown an intense prejudice and dislike of the Irish Catholics, +and had voted uniformly for their repression. On the return of the +Tories to power, the Irish disturbances were renewed and increased. +Hitherto the landlords had directed the votes of their tenantry,--the +forty-shilling freeholders; but now the elections were determined by the +direction of the Catholic Association, which was controlled by the +priests, and by O'Connell and his associates. In addition, O'Connell +himself was elected to represent in the English Parliament the County of +Clare, against the whole weight of the government,--which was a bitter +pill for the Tories to swallow, especially as the great agitator +declared his intention to take his seat without submitting to the +customary oath. It was in reality a defiance of the government, backed +by the whole Irish nation. The Catholics became so threatening, they +came together so often and in such enormous masses, that the nation was +thoroughly alarmed. The king and a majority of his ministers urged the +most violent coercive measures, even to the suspension of +_habeas corpus_. + +O'Connell was not admitted to Parliament; but his case precipitated an +intense turmoil, which settled the question forever; for then the great +general who had defeated Napoleon, and was the idol of the nation, +seeing the difficulties of coercion as no other statesman did, and +influenced by Sir Robert Peel (for whom he had unbounded respect), made +one of his masterly retreats, by which he averted revolution and +bloodshed. Wellington hated the Catholics, and was a most loyal member +of the Church of England; moreover, he was a Tory and an +ultra-conservative. But at last even his eyes were opened, not to the +injustices and wrongs which ground Ireland to the dust, but to the +necessity of conciliation. Like Peel, he could face facts; and when his +path was clear he would walk therein, whatever kings or ministers or +peers or people might think or say. He resolved to emancipate the +Catholics, as Sir Robert Peel afterward repealed the Corn Laws, against +all his antecedents and affiliations and sympathies, and more than all +against the declared wishes and resolutions of the monarch whom he +nominally served, yet whom he controlled by his iron will. Sir Robert +Peel, as obstinate a Tory as his chief, had been for some time convinced +of the necessity of conciliation, and at once resigned his seat as the +representative of Oxford University, which he felt he could no longer +honorably hold. In March, 1829, he brought forward his bill for the +removal of Catholic disabilities, which was read the third time, and +passed the Commons by a majority of 178. In the House of Peers, it was +carried by a majority of 104,--so great was the influence of Wellington +and Peel, so impressed at last were both Houses of the necessity for +the measure. + +The difficulty now was to obtain the signature of the king, although he +had promised it as the probable alternative of revolution,--a great +State necessity, which his ministers had made him at last perceive, but +to which he reluctantly yielded. He was somewhat in the position of Pope +Clement XIV. when obliged, against his will and against the interests of +the Catholic Church, to sign the bull for the revocation of the charter +of the Jesuits. _Compulsus feci! compulsus feci!_ he exclaimed, with +mental agony. George IV. could have said the same. He procrastinated; he +lay all day in bed to avoid seeing his ministers; he talked of his +feelings; he threatened to abdicate, and go to Hanover; he would not +violate his conscience; he would be faithful to the traditions of his +house and the memory of his father,--and so on, until the patience of +Wellington and Peel was exhausted, and they told him he must sign the +bill at once, or they would immediately resign. "The king could no +longer wriggle off the hook," and surrendered. O'Connell was instantly +re-elected, and took his seat in Parliament,--a position which he +occupied for the rest of his life. George IV. was the last of the +monarchs of England who attempted to rule by personal government. +Henceforward the monarch's duty was simply to register the decrees of +Parliament. + +But the admission of Catholics to Parliament did not heal the disorders +of Ireland as had been hoped. The Irish clamored for still greater +privileges. The cry for repeal of the Union succeeded that for the +removal of disabilities. Their poverty and miseries remained, while +their monster meetings continued to shake the kingdom to its centre. + +The historical importance of Catholic emancipation consists in +this,--that it was the first great victory over the aristocratic powers +of the empire, and was an entrance wedge to the reform of Parliament +effected in the next reign. It threw forty or fifty members of the House +of Commons into the ranks of opposition to the Tory side, which with a +few brief intervals had governed England for a century. "The reform +movement was the child of Catholic agitation; the anti-corn law league +that of the triumph of reform." Brougham was the legitimate successor of +O'Connell. A foresight of such consequences was the real cause of the +movement being so bitterly opposed by the king and Lord Eldon. It was +not jealousy of the Catholics that moved them,--that was only the +pretence; it was really fear of the blow aimed against Toryism. They had +sagacity enough to see the inevitable result,--the advancing power of +the Liberal party, and the impossibility of longer ruling the country +without ceding privileges to the people. The repeal of the Test Act by +the previous administration, which removed the disabilities of +Dissenters from the Established Church to hold public office, was only +another act in the great drama of national development which was to give +ascendency to the middle class in matters of legislation, rather than to +the favored classes who had hitherto ruled. The movement was political +and not religious, whatever might be the hatred of the Tories for both +Catholics and Dissenters. + +Nothing further of political importance marked the administration of the +Duke of Wellington except the increasing agitations for parliamentary +reform, which will be hereafter considered. Wellington was elevated to +his exalted post from the influence and popularity which followed his +military achievements. His fame, like that of General Grant, rests on +his military and not on his civil services, although his great +experience as a diplomatist and general made him far from contemptible +as a statesman. It was his misfortune to hold the helm of state in +stormy times, amid riots, agitations, insurrections, and party +dissensions, amid famines and public distresses of every kind; when +England was going through a transition state, when there was every shade +of opinion among political leaders. The duke, like Canning before him, +was isolated, and felt the need of a friend. He was not like a +commander-in-chief surrounded with a band of devoted generals, but with +ministers held together by a rope of sand. He had no real colleagues in +his cabinet, and no party in the House of Commons. The chief troubles in +England were financial rather than political, and he had no head for +finance like Huskisson and Sir Robert Peel. + +In the midst of the difficulties with which the great duke had to +contend, George IV. died, June 26, 1830. He was in his latter days a +great sufferer from the gout and other diseases brought about by the +debaucheries of his earlier days; and he was a disenchanted man, living +long enough to see how frail were the supports on which he had +leaned,--friends, pleasures, and exalted rank. + +All authorities are agreed as to the character of George IV., though +some in their immeasurable contempt have painted him worse than he +really was, like Brougham and Thackeray. All are agreed that he was +selfish and pleasure-seeking in his ordinary life, though courteous in +his manners and kind to those who shared his revels. As dissipated +habits obtained the mastery over him, and the unbounded flattery of his +boon companions stultified his conscience, he became heartless and even +brutal. He was proud and overbearing; was fond of pomp and ceremony, and +ultra-conservative in all his political views. He was outrageously +extravagant and reckless in his expenditures, and then appealed to +Parliament to pay his debts. He liked to visit his favorites, and +received visits from them in return so long as his physical forces +remained; but when these were hopelessly undermined by self-indulgence, +he buried himself in his palaces, and rarely appeared in public. Indeed, +in his latter days he shunned the sight of the people altogether. His +character appears better in his letters than in the verdicts of +historians. Those written to his Chancellor Eldon, to the Duke of +Wellington, to Lord Liverpool, to Sir William Knighton, keeper of the +privy purse, and others, show great cordiality, frankness, and the utter +absence of the stiffness and pride incident to his high rank. They +abound in expressions of kindness and even affection, whether sincere or +not. They are all well written, and would do credit, from a literary +point of view, to any private person. His talents and conversation, his +wit and repartee, and his felicitous description of character are +undeniable. He is said to have had the talent of telling stories to +perfection. His powers of mimicry were remarkable, and he was fond of +singing songs at his banquets. Had he been simply a private person or an +ordinary nobleman, he would have been far from contemptible. + +The latter days of George IV. were sad, and for a king he was left +comparatively alone. He had neither wife nor children to lean upon and +to cheer him,--only mercenary courtiers and physicians. His tastes were +refined, his manners affable, and his conversation interesting. He was +intelligent, sagacious, and well-informed; yet no English monarch was +ever more cordially despised. The governing principle of his life was a +love of ease and pleasure, which made him negligent of his duties; and +there never yet lived a man, however exalted his sphere, who had not +imperative duties to perform, without the performance of which his life +was a failure and a reproach. So it was with this unhappy king, who died +like Louis XV. without any one to mourn his departure; and a new king +reigned in his stead. + +And yet the reign of the fourth George as king was marked by returning +national prosperity,--owing not to the efforts of statesmen and +legislators, but to the marvellous spread of commerce and manufactures, +resulting from the establishment of peace, thus opening a market for +British goods in all parts of the world. + +This period of the fourth George's rule, as regent and king, was also +remarkable for the appearance of men of genius in all departments of +human thought and action. As the lights of a former generation sank +beneath the horizon, other stars arose of increased brilliancy. In +poetry alone, Byron, Scott, Rogers, Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, +Moore, Campbell, Keats, would have made the age illustrious,--a +constellation such as has not since appeared. In fiction, Sir Walter +Scott introduced a new era, soon followed by Bulwer, Dickens, and +Thackeray. In the law there were Brougham, Eldon, Lyndhurst, +Ellenborough, Denman, Plunkett, Erskine, Wetherell,--all men of the +first class. In medicine and surgery were Abernethy, Cooper, Holland. In +the Church were Parr, Clarke, Hampden, Scott, Sumner, Hall, Arnold, +Irving, Chalmers, Heber, Whately, Newman. Sir Humphry Davy was +presiding at the Royal Society, and Sir Thomas Lawrence at the Royal +Academy. Herschel was discovering planets. Bell was lecturing at the new +London University, and Dugald Stewart in the University of Edinburgh. +Captain Ross was exploring the Northern Seas, and Lander the wilds of +Africa. Lancaster was founding a new system of education; Bentham and +Ricardo were unravelling the tangled web of political economy; Hallam, +Lingard, Mitford, Mills, were writing history; Macaulay, Carlyle, Smith, +Lockhart, Jeffrey, Hazlitt, were giving a new stimulus to periodical +literature; while Miss Edgeworth, Jane Porter, Mrs. Hemans, were +entering the field of literature as critics, poets, and novelists, +instead of putting their inspired thoughts into letters, as bright women +did one hundred years before. Into everything there were found some to +cast their searching glances, creating an intellectual activity without +previous precedent, if we except the great theological discussions of +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Even shopkeepers began to read +and think, and in their dingy quarters were stirred to discuss their +rights; while William Cobbett aroused a still lower class to political +activity by his matchless style. All philanthropic, educational, and +religious movements received a wonderful stimulus; while improvements in +the use of steam, mechanical inventions, chemical developments and +scientific discoveries, were rapidly changing the whole material +condition of mankind. + +In 1820, when the regent became George IV., a new era opened in English +history, most observable in those popular agitations which ushered in +reforms under his successor William IV. These it will be my object to +present in another volume. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Croly's Life of George IV.; Thackeray's Four Georges; Annual Register; +Life of the Duke of Wellington; Life of Canning; Life of Lord Liverpool; +Life of Lord Brougham; Miss Martineau's History of England; Life of +Mackintosh; Life of Sir Robert Peel; Alison's History of Europe; Life of +Lord Eldon; Life of O'Connell; Molesworth's History of England. + + + +THE GREEK REVOLUTION. + + +1820-1828. + + +When Napoleon was sent to St. Helena, the European nations breathed more +freely, and it was the general expectation and desire that there would +be no more wars. The civilized world was weary of strife and +battlefields, and in the reaction which followed the general peace of +1815, the various States settled down into a state of dreamy repose. Not +only were they weary of war, but they hated the agitation of those ideas +which led to discontent and revolution. The policy of the governments of +England, France, Germany, and Russia was pacific and conservative. There +was a universal desire to recover wasted energies and develop national +resources. Visions of military glory passed away for a time with the +enjoyment of peace. Nations reflected on their follies, and resolved to +beat their swords into ploughshares. + +Then began a period of philanthropy as well as of rest and reaction. +Societies were organized, especially in England, to spread the Bible in +all lands, to send missionaries to the heathen, and proclaim peace and +good-will to all mankind, A new era seemed to dawn upon the world, +marked by a desire to cultivate the arts, sciences, and literature; to +develop industries, and improve social conditions. War was seen to be +barbaric, demoralizing, and exhausting. Peace was hailed with an +enthusiasm scarcely less than that which for twenty years had created +military heroes. The Holy Alliance was not hypocritical. Although a +political compact made under a religious pretext, it was formed by +monarchs deeply impressed by the horrors of war, and by the necessity of +establishing a new basis for the happiness of mankind on the principles +of Christianity, when peace should be the law of nations; at the same +time it was formed no less to suppress those ideas which it was supposed +led logically to rebellions and revolutions, and to disturb the reign of +law, the security of established institutions, and the peaceful pursuit +of ordinary avocations. This was the view taken by the Czar Alexander, +by Frederick William of Prussia, by Francis I. of Austria, by Louis +XVIII. of France, as well as by leading statesmen like Talleyrand, +Nesselrode, Hardenberg, Chateaubriand, Metternich, Wellington, and +Castlereagh. + +But these views were delusive. The world was simply weary of fighting; +it was not impressed with a sense of the wickedness, but only of the +inexpediency of war, except in case of great national dangers, or to +gain what is dearest to enlightened people,--personal liberty and +constitutional government. + +Consequently, scarcely five years passed away after the fall of Napoleon +before Europe was again disturbed by revolutionary passions. There were +no international wars. On the whole, England, France, Russia, Prussia, +and Austria put aside ambitious designs of further aggrandizement, and +were disposed to keep peace with one another; and this desire lasted for +a whole generation. But there were other countries in which the flames +of insurrection broke out. The Spanish colonies of South America were +impatient of the yoke of the mother country, and sought national +independence, which they gained after a severe struggle. The +disaffection in view of royal despotism reached Spain itself, and a +revolution in that country dethroned the Bourbon king, and was +suppressed only by the aid of France. All Italy was convulsed by +revolutionary ideas and passions growing out of the cruel despotism +exercised by the various potentates who ruled that fair but unhappy +country. Insurrections were violent in Naples, in Piedmont, and in the +papal territories, and were put down not by Italian princes, but by +Austrian bayonets. As it is my design to present these in another +lecture, I simply allude to them in this connection. + +But the most important revolution which occurred at this period, taking +into view its ultimate consequences and its various complications, was +that of Greece. It was different from those of Spain and Italy in this +respect, that it was a struggle not to gain political rights from +oppressive rulers, but to secure national independence. As such, it is +invested with great interest. Moreover, it was glorious, since it was +ultimately successful, after a dreadful contest with Turkey for seven +years, during which half of the population was swept away. Greece +probably would have succumbed to a powerful empire but for the aid +tardily rendered her by foreign Powers,--united in this instance, not to +suppress rebellion, but to rescue a noble and gallant people from a +cruel despotism. + +Had the armed intervention of Russia, England, and France taken place at +an earlier period, much suffering and bloodshed might have been averted. +But Russia was fettered by the Holy Alliance to suppress all +insurrection and attempts at constitutional liberty wherever they might +take place, and could not, consistently with the promises given to +Austria and Prussia, join in an armed intervention, even in a matter +dear to the heart of Alexander, whose religion was that of Greece. The +Czar was placed in an awkward position. If he gave assistance to the +Greeks, whose religious faith was the same as his own and whose foe was +also the traditionary enemy of Russia, he would violate his promises, +which he always held sacred, and give umbrage to Austria. The intolerant +hatred of Alexander for all insurrections whatever induced him to stand +aloof from a contest which jeoparded the stability of thrones, and with +which in a political view, as an absolute sovereign, he had no sympathy. +On the other hand, if Alexander remained neutral, his faith would be +trodden under foot, and that by a power which he detested both +politically and religiously,--a power, too, with which Russia had often +been at war. If Turkey triumphed in the contest, rebels against a +long-constituted authority might indeed be put down; but a hostile power +would be strengthened, dangerous to all schemes of Russian +aggrandizement. Consequently Alexander was undecided in his policy; yet +his indecision tore his mind with anguish, and probably shortened his +days. He was, on the whole, a good man; but he was a despot, and did not +really know what to do. England and France, again, were weakened by the +long wars of Napoleon, and wanted repose. Their sympathies were with the +Greeks; but they shielded themselves behind the principles of +non-intervention, which were the public law of Europe. + +So the poor Greeks were left for six years to struggle alone and unaided +against the whole force of the Turkish empire before relief came, when +they were on the verge of annihilation. It was the struggle of a little +country about half the size of Scotland against an empire four times as +large as Great Britain and France combined; of a population less than a +million against twenty-five millions. It was more than this: it was, in +many important respects, a war between Asia and Europe, kindred in +spirit with the old Crusades. It was a war of races and religions, +rather than of political principles; and hence it was marked by inhuman +atrocities on both sides, reminding us of the old wars between Jews and +Syrians. It was a tragedy at which the whole civilized world gazed with +blended interest and horror. It was infinitely more fierce than any +contest which has taken place in Europe for three hundred years. To the +Greeks themselves it was, after the first successes, the most +discouraging contest that I know of in human history; and yet it had all +those elements of heroism which marked the insurrection of the +Hollanders under William the Silent against the combined forces of +Austria and Spain. It was grand in its ideas, like our own Revolutionary +War; and the liberty which was finally gained was purchased by greater +sacrifices than any recorded in any war, either ancient or modern. The +war of Italian independence was a mere holiday demonstration in +comparison with it. Even the Polish wars against Russia were nothing to +it, in the sufferings which were endured and the gallant feats which +were performed. + +But as Greece was a small and distant country, its memorable contest was +not invested with the interest felt for battles on a larger scale, and +which more directly affected the interests of other nations. It was not +till its complications involved Turkey and Russia in war, and affected +the whole "Eastern Question," that its historical importance was seen. +It was perhaps only the beginning of a series of wars which may drive +the Ottoman Turks out of Europe, and make Constantinople a great prize +for future conquerors. + +That is unquestionably what Russia wants and covets to-day, and what the +other great Powers are determined she shall not have. Possibly Greece +may yet be the renewed seat of a Greek empire, under the protection of +the Western nations, as a barrier to Russian encroachments around the +Black Sea. There is sympathy for the Greeks; none for the Turks. +England, France, and Austria can form no lasting alliance with +Mohammedans, who may be driven back into Asia,--not by Russians, but by +a coalition of the Latin and Gothic races. + +It is useless, however, to speculate on the future wars of the world. We +only know that offences must needs come so long as nations and rulers +are governed more by interests and passions than by reason or +philanthropy. When will passions and interests cease to be dominant or +disturbing forces? To these most of the wars which history records are +to be traced. And yet, whatever may be the origin or character +of wars, those who stimulate or engage in them find plausible +excuses,--necessity, patriotism, expediency, self-defence, even religion +and liberty. So long then as men are blinded by their passions and +interests, and palliate or justify their wars by either truth or +sophistry, there is but little hope that they will cease, even with the +advance of civilization. When has there been a long period unmarked by +war? When have wars been more destructive and terrible than within the +memory of this generation? It would indeed seem that when nations shall +learn that their real interests are not antagonistic, that they cannot +afford to go to war with one another, peace would then prevail as a +policy not less than as a principle. This is the hopeful view to take; +but unfortunately it is not the lesson taught by history, nor by that +philosophy which has been generally accepted by Christendom for eighteen +hundred years,--which is that men will not be governed by the loftiest +principles until the religion of Jesus shall have conquered and changed +the heart of the world, or at least of those who rule the world. + +The chapter I am about to present is one of war,--cruel, merciless, +relentless war; therefore repulsive, and only interesting from the +magnitude of the issues, fought out, indeed, on a narrow strip of +territory. What matter, whether the battlefield is large or small? There +was as much heroism in the struggles of the Dutch republic as in the +wars of Napoleon; as much in our warfare for independence as in the +suppression of the Southern rebellion; as much among Cromwell's soldiers +as in the Crimean war; as much at Thermopylae as at Plataea. It is the +greatness of a cause which gives to war its only justification. A cause +is sacred from the dignity of its principles. Men are nothing; +principles are everything. Men must die. It is of comparatively little +moment whether they fall like autumn leaves or perish in a storm,--they +are alike forgotten; but their ideas and virtues are imperishable, +--eternal lessons for successive generations. History is a record not +merely of human sufferings,--these are inevitable,--but also of the +stepping-stones of progress, which indicate both the permanent welfare +of men and the Divine hand which mysteriously but really guides +and governs. + +When the Greek revolution broke out, in 1820, there were about seven +hundred thousand people inhabiting a little over twenty-one thousand +square miles of territory, with a revenue of about fifteen millions of +dollars,--large for such a country of mountains and valleys. But the +soil is fertile and the climate propitious, favorable for grapes, +olives, and maize. It is a country easily defended, with its steep +mountains, its deep ravines, and rugged cliffs, and when as at that time +roads were almost impassable for carriages and artillery. Its people +have always been celebrated for bravery, industry, and frugality (like +the Swiss), but prone to jealousies and party feuds. It had in 1820 no +central government, no great capital, and no regular army. It owed +allegiance to the Sultan at Constantinople, the Turks having conquered +Greece soon after that city was taken by them in 1453. + +Amid all the severities of Turkish rule for four centuries the Greeks +maintained their religion, their language, and distinctive manners. In +some places they were highly prosperous from commerce, which they +engrossed along the whole coast of the Levant and among the islands of +the Archipelago. They had six hundred vessels, bearing six thousand +guns, and manned by eighteen thousand seamen. In their beautiful +islands,-- + + "Where burning Sappho loved and sung,"-- + +abodes of industry and freedom, the Turkish pashas never set their foot, +satisfied with the tribute which was punctually paid to the Sultan. +Moreover, these islands were nurseries of seamen for the Turkish navy; +and as these seamen were indispensable to the Sultan, the country that +produced them was kindly treated. The Turks were indifferent to +commerce, and allowed the Greek merchants to get rich, provided they +paid their tribute. The Turks cared only for war and pleasure, and spent +their time in alternate excitement and lazy repose. They disdained +labor, which they bought with tribute-money or secured from slaves taken +in war. Like the Romans, they were warriors and conquerors, but became +enervated by luxury. They were hard masters, but their conquered +subjects throve by commerce and industry. + +The Greeks, as to character, were not religious like the Turks, but +quicker witted. What religion they had was made up of the ceremonies and +pomps of a corrupted Christianity, but kept alive by traditions. Their +patriarch was a great personage,--practically appointed, however, by the +Sultan, and resident in Constantinople. Their clergy were married, and +were more humane and liberal than the Roman Catholic priests of Italy, +and about on a par with them in morals and influence. The Greeks were +always inquisitive and fond of knowledge, but their love of liberty has +been one of their strongest peculiarities, kept alive amid all the +oppressions to which they have been subjected. Nevertheless, unarmed, at +least on the mainland, and without fortresses, few in numbers, with +overwhelming foes, they had not, up to 1820, dared to risk a general +rebellion, for fear that they should be mercilessly slaughtered. So long +as they remained at peace their condition as a conquered people was not +so bad as it might have been, although the oppressions of tax-gatherers +and the brutality of Turkish officials had been growing more and more +intolerable. In 1770 and 1790 there had been local and unsuccessful +attempts at revolt, but nothing of importance. + +Amid the political agitations which threw Spain and Italy into +revolution, however, the spirit of liberty revived among the hardy Greek +mountaineers of the mainland. Secret societies were formed, with a view +of shaking off the Turkish yoke. The aspiring and the discontented +naturally cast their eyes to Russia for aid, since there was a religious +bond between the Russians and the Greeks, and since the Russians and +Turks were mortal enemies, and since, moreover, they were encouraged to +hope for such aid by a great Russian nobleman, by birth a Greek, who was +private secretary and minister, as well as an intimate, of the Emperor +Alexander,--Count Capo d'Istrias. They were also exasperated by the +cession of Parga (a town on the mainland opposite the Ionian Islands) to +the Turks, by the treaty of 1815, which the allies carelessly +overlooked. + +The flame of insurrection in 1820 did not, however, first break out in +the territory of Greece, but in Wallachia,--a Turkish province on the +north of the Danube, governed by a Greek hospodar, the capital of which +was Bucharest. This was followed by the revolt of another Turkish +province, Moldavia, bordering on Russia, from which it was separated by +the River Pruth. At Jassy, the capital, Prince Ypsilanti, a +distinguished Russian general descended from an illustrious Greek +family, raised the standard of insurrection, to which flocked the whole +Christian population of the province, who fell upon the Turkish soldiers +and massacred them. Ypsilanti had twenty thousand soldiers under his +command, against which the six hundred armed Turks could make but feeble +resistance. This apparently successful revolt produced an immense +enthusiasm throughout Greece, the inhabitants of which now eagerly took +up arms. The Greeks had been assured of the aid of Russia by Ypsilanti, +who counted without his host, however; for the Czar, then at the +Congress of Laibach, convened to put down revolutionary ideas, was +extremely angry at the conduct of Ypsilanti, and, against all +expectation, stood aloof. This was the time for him to attack Turkey, +then weakened and dilapidated; but he was tired of war. Among the Greeks +the wildest enthusiasm prevailed, especially throughout the Morea, the +ancient Peloponnesus. The peasants everywhere gathered around their +chieftains, and drove away the Turkish soldiers, inflicting on them the +grossest barbarities. In a few days the Turks possessed nothing in the +Morea but their fortresses. The Turkish garrison of Athens shut itself +up in the Acropolis. Most of the islands of the Archipelago hoisted the +standard of the Cross; and the strongest of them armed and sent out +cruisers to prey on the commerce of the enemy. + +At Constantinople the news of the insurrection excited both +consternation and rage. Instant death to the Christians was the +universal cry. The Mussulmans seized the Greek patriarch, an old man of +eighty, while he was performing a religious service on Easter Sunday, +hanged him, and delivered his body to the Jews. The Sultan Mahmoud was +intensely exasperated, and ordered a levy of troops throughout his +empire to suppress the insurrection and to punish the Christians. The +atrocities which the Turks now inflicted have scarcely ever been +equalled in horror. The Christian churches were entered and sacked. At +Adrianople the Patriarch was beheaded, with eight other ecclesiastical +dignitaries. In ten days thousands of Christians in that city were +butchered, and their wives and daughters sold into slavery; while five +archbishops and three bishops were hanged in the streets, without trial. +There was scarcely a town in the empire where atrocities of the most +repulsive kind were not perpetrated on innocent and helpless people. In +Asia Minor the fanatical spirit raged with more ferocity than in +European Turkey. At Smyrna a general massacre of the Christians took +place under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, and fifteen thousand +were obliged to flee to the islands of the Archipelago to save their +lives. The Island of Cyprus, which once had a population of more than a +million, reduced at the breaking out of the insurrection to seventy +thousand, was nearly depopulated; the archbishop and five other bishops +were ruthlessly murdered. The whole island, one hundred and forty-six +miles long and sixty-three wide, was converted into a theatre of rapine, +violation, and bloodshed. + +All now saw that no hope remained for Greece but in the most determined +resistance, which was nobly made. Six thousand men were soon in arms in +Thessaly. The mountaineers of Macedonia gathered into armed bands. +Thirty thousand rose in the peninsula of Cassandra and laid siege to +Salonica, a city of eighty thousand inhabitants, but were repulsed, and +fled to the mountains,--not, however, until thousands of Mussulmans were +slain. It had become "war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt." No +quarter was asked or given. + +All Greece was now aroused to what was universally felt to be a death +struggle. The people eagerly responded to all patriotic influences, and +especially to war songs, some of which had been sung for more than two +thousand years. Certain of these were reproduced by the English poet +Byron, who, leaving his native land, entered heart and soul into the +desperate contest, and urged the Greeks to heroic action in memory of +their fathers. + + "Then manfully despising + The Turkish tyrant's yoke, + Let your country see you rising, + And all her chains are broke. + Brave shades of chiefs and sages, + Behold the coming strife! + Hellenes of past ages + Oh, start again to life! + At the sound of trumpet, breaking + Your sleep, oh, join with me! + And the seven-hilled city seeking, + Fight, conquer, till we're free!" + +Success now seemed to mark the uprising in Southern Greece; but in the +Danubian provinces, without the expected aid of Russia, it was far +otherwise. Prince Ypsilanti, who had taken an active part in the +insurrection, was dismissed from the Russian service and summoned back +to Russia; but he was not discouraged, and advanced to Bucharest with +ten thousand men. In the mean time ten thousand Turks entered the +Principalities and regained Moldavia. Ypsilanti fled before the +conquering enemy, abandoned Bucharest, and was totally defeated at +Dragaschan, with the loss of all his baggage and ammunition. Only +twenty-five of his hastily collected band escaped into Transylvania. + +The intelligence of this disaster would have disheartened the Greeks but +for their naval successes among the islands of the Archipelago. Hydra, +Ipsara, and Samos equipped a flotilla which drove the Turkish fleet back +to the Dardanelles with immense losses. The Greeks having now the +command of the sea, made successful incursions, and hoisted their flag +at Missolonghi, which they easily fortified, it being situated in the +midst of lagoons, like Venice, which large ships could not penetrate. +But on the mainland they suffered severe reverses. Fifteen thousand +Greeks perished at Patras; but the patriots were successful at Valtezza, +where five thousand men repulsed fifteen thousand Turks, and drove them +to seek shelter in the strong fortress of Tripolitza. The Greeks +avoiding action in the open field, succeeded in taking Navarino and +Napoli di Malvasia, and rivalled their enemies in the atrocities they +committed. They lost Athens, whose citadel they had besieged, but +defeated the Turks in Thermopylae with great slaughter, which enabled +them to reoccupy Athens and blockade the Acropolis. + +Then followed the siege of Tripolitza, in the centre of the Morea, the +seat of the Pasha, where the Turks were strongly intrenched. It was soon +taken by Kolokotronis, who commanded the Greeks. The fall of this +fortress was followed by the usual massacre, in which neither age nor +sex was spared. The Greek chiefs attempted to suppress the fury and +cruelty of their followers; but their efforts were in vain, and their +cause was stained with blood needlessly shed. Yet when one remembers the +centuries during which the Turks had been slaying the men, carrying off +the women to their harems, and making slaves of the children of the +Greeks, there is less to wonder at in such an access of blind fury and +vengeance. Nine thousand Turks were massacred, or slain in the attack. +The capture of this important fortress was of immense advantage to the +Greeks, who obtained great treasures and a large amount of ammunition, +with a valuable train of artillery. + +But this great success was balanced by the failure of the Greeks, under +Ypsilanti, to capture Napoli di Romania,--another strong fortress, +defended by eight hundred guns, regarded as nearly impregnable, +situated, like Gibraltar, on a great rock eight hundred feet high, the +base of which was washed by the sea. It was a rash enterprise, but came +near being successful on account of the negligence of the garrison, +which numbered only fifteen hundred men. An escalade was attempted by +Mavrokordatos, one of the heroic chieftains of the Greeks; but it was +successfully repulsed, and the attacking generals with difficulty +escaped to Argos. The Greeks also met with a reverse on the peninsula of +Cassandra, near Salonica, which proved another massacre. Three thousand +perished from Turkish scimitars, and ten thousand women and children +were sold into slavery. + +Thus ended the campaign of 1821, with mutual successes and losses, +disgraced on both sides by treachery and massacres; but the Greeks were +sufficiently emboldened to declare their independence, and form a +constitution under Prince Mavrokordatos as president,--a Chian by birth, +who had been physician to the Sultan. The seat of government was fixed +at Corinth, whose fortress had been recovered from the Turks. Seven +hundred thousand people threw down the gauntlet to twenty-five millions, +and defied their power. + +The following year the Greek cause indirectly suffered a great blow by +the capture and death of Ali Pasha. This ambitious and daring rebel, +from humble origin, had arisen, by energy, ability, and fraud, to a high +command under the Sultan. He became pasha of Thessaly; and having +accumulated great riches by extortion and oppression, he bought the +pashalic of Jannina, in one of the richest and most beautiful valleys +of Epirus. In the centre of a lake he built an impregnable fortress, +collected a large body of Albanian troops, and soon became master of the +whole province. He preserved an apparent neutrality between the Sultan +and the rebellious Greeks, whom, however, he secretly encouraged. In his +castle at Jannina he meditated extensive conquests and independence of +the Porte. At one time he had eighty thousand half-disciplined Albanians +under his command. The Sultan, at last suspecting his treachery, +summoned him to Constantinople, and on his refusal to appear, denounced +him as a rebel, and sent Chourchid Pasha, one of his ablest generals, +with forty thousand troops, to subdue him. This was no easy task; and +for two years, before the Greek revolution broke out, Ali had maintained +his independence. At last he found himself besieged in his island +castle, impregnable against assault, but short of provisions. From this +retreat he was decoyed by consummate art to the mainland, to meet the +Turkish general, who promised an important command and a high rank in +the Turkish service. In the power now of the Turks, he was at once +beheaded, and his head sent to Constantinople. + +Ali's death set free the large army of Chourchid Pasha to be employed +against the Greeks. Aided too by the enthusiasm which the suppression of +a dangerous enemy created, the Sultan made great preparations for a +renewed attack on the Morea. The contest now assumed greater +proportions, and the reconquest of Greece seemed extremely probable. +Sixty thousand Turks, under the command of the ablest general of the +Sultan, prepared to invade the Morea. In addition, a powerful squadron, +with eight thousand troops, sailed from the Dardanelles to reinforce the +Turkish fortresses and furnish provisions. In the meantime the +insurrection extended to Chios, or Scio, an opulent and fertile island +opposite Smyrna. It had eighty thousand inhabitants, who drove the Turks +to their citadel. The Sultan, enraged at the loss of this prosperous +island, sent thirty thousand fanatical Asiatic Mussulmans, and a fleet +consisting of six ships-of-the-line, ten frigates, and twelve brigs, to +reconquer what was regarded as the garden of the Archipelago. Resistance +was impossible against such an overwhelming array of forces, who +massacred nearly the whole of the male population, and sold their wives +and children as slaves. The consuls of France and Austria remonstrated +against this unheard-of cruelty; but nothing could appease the fanatical +fury of the conquerors. The massacre has no parallel in history since +the storming of Syracuse or the sack of Bagdad, Not only were the +inhabitants swept away, but the churches, the fine villas, the scattered +houses, and the villages were burned to the ground. When the slaughter +ceased, it was found that twenty-five thousand men had been slain, and +forty-five thousand women and children had become slaves to glut the +markets of Constantinople and Egypt, while fifteen thousand had fled to +the mainland. + +This great calamity, however, was partially avenged by the sailors and +chiefs of Hydra, a neighboring island, under the command of one of the +greatest heroes that the war produced,--the intrepid and fearless +Andreas Miaulis, who with fire-ships destroyed nearly the whole of the +Turkish fleet. He was aided by Constantine Canaris and George Pepinis, +equal to him in courage, who succeeded in grappling the ships of the +enemy and setting them on fire. The Turks, with the remnant of their +magnificent fleet, took refuge in the harbor of Mitylene, while the +victors returned in triumph to Ipsara, and became the masters of the +Archipelago. + +The Greek operations were not so fortunate at first on the land as they +were on the sea. Mavrokordatos led in person an expedition into Epirus; +but he was no general, and failed disastrously. Even the brave Marco +Bozzaris was unable to cut his way to the relief of his countrymen, shut +up in their fortresses without an adequate supply of provisions; and all +that the Greeks could do in their great discouragement was to supply +Missolonghi with provisions and a few defenders, in anticipation of +a siege. + +Epirus was now fallen, and nothing remained but a guerilla warfare. +Indeed, a striking feature of the whole revolution was "the absence of +any one great leader to concentrate the Greek forces and utilize the +splendid heroism of people and chieftains in permanent strategic +successes. The war was a succession of sporadic fights,--successes and +failures,--with small apparent mutual relations and effects." In +Macedonia, which had joined the insurrection, there were six thousand +brave mountaineers in arms; but they had to contend with fifteen +thousand regular troops under the command of the pashas of Salonica and +Thessaly, who forced the passes of the Vale of Tempe, and slew all +before them. Chourchid Pasha, having his rear provided for, with thirty +thousand men now passed through the defile of Thermopylae, appeared +before Corinth, took its citadel, advanced to Argos, dispersed the +government which had established itself there, and then pursued his +victorious career to Napoli di Romania, whose garrison he reinforced. +But the summer sun dried up the surrounding plains; there was nothing +left on which his cavalry could feed, or his men either, and he found +himself in a perilous position in the midst of victory. + +The defeated Greeks now rallied under Ypsilanti and Kolokotronis, who +raised the siege of Corinth, and advanced against their foes with twelve +thousand men. The Turkish army, decimated and in fear of starvation, +resolved to cut their way through the guarded defiles, and succeeded +only by the loss of seven thousand men, with all their baggage and +military stores. The Morea was delivered from the oppressor, and the +Turkish army of thirty thousand was destroyed. Chourchid Pasha was soon +after seized with dysentery, brought about by fatigue and anxiety, to +which he succumbed; and the ablest general yet sent against the Greeks +failed disastrously, to the joy of the nation. + +This great success was followed by others. The Acropolis of Athens +capitulated to the victorious Greeks, not without the usual atrocities, +and Attica, was recovered. But the mountains of Epirus were still filled +with Turkish troops, who advanced to lay siege to Missolonghi, defended +by a small garrison of four hundred men under Marco Bozzaris. +Mavrokordatos contrived to come to his relief, and the town soon had +three thousand defenders. Six times did the Turks attempt an assault +under Omar Vrione; but each time they were repulsed with great +slaughter, and compelled to retreat. The Turkish general lost three +quarters of his army, and with difficulty escaped himself in an open +boat. Altogether twelve thousand Turks perished in this disastrous +siege, with the loss of their artillery. + +As the insurrection had now assumed formidable proportions in Cyprus and +Candia, a general appeal was made to Mussulmans of those islands, whose +numbers greatly exceeded the rebels. Twenty-five thousand men rallied +around the standards of the Moslems; but they were driven into their +fortresses, leaving both plains and mountains in the hands of +the Greeks. + +These brave insurgents gained still another great success in this +memorable campaign. They carried the important fortress of Napoli di +Romania by escalade December 12, under Kolokotronis, with ten thousand +men, and the garrison, weakened by famine, capitulated. Four hundred +pieces of cannon, with large stores of ammunition, were the reward of +the victors. This conquest was the more remarkable since a large Turkish +fleet was sent to the relief of the fortress; but fearing the fire-ships +of the Greeks, the Turkish admiral sailed away without doing anything, +and cast anchor in the bay of Tenedos. Here he was attacked by the Greek +fire-ships, commanded by Canaris, and his fleet were obliged to cut +their cables and sail back to the Dardanelles, with the loss of their +largest ships. The conqueror was crowned with laurel at Ipsara by his +grateful countrymen, and the campaign of 1822 closed, leaving the +Greeks masters of the sea and of nearly the whole of their territory. + +This campaign, considering the inequality of forces, is regarded by +Alison as one of the most glorious in the annals of war. A population of +seven hundred thousand souls had confronted and beaten the splendid +strength of the Ottoman Empire, with twenty-five millions of Mussulmans. +They had destroyed four-fifths of an army of fifty thousand men, and +made themselves masters of their principal strongholds. Twice had they +driven the Turkish fleets from the Aegean Sea with the loss of their +finest ships. But Greece, during the two years' warfare, had lost two +hundred thousand inhabitants,--not slain in battle, but massacred, and +killed by various inhumanities. It was clear that the country could not +much longer bear such a strain, unless the great Powers of Europe came +to its relief. + +But no relief came. Canning, who ruled England, sympathized with the +Greeks, but would not depart from his policy of non-intervention, +fearing to embroil all Europe in war. It was the same with Louis XVIII., +who feared the stability of his throne and dared not offend Austria, who +looked on the contest with indifference as a rebellious insurrection. +Prussia took the same ground; and even Russia stood aloof, unprepared +for war with the Turks, which would have immediately resulted if the +Czar had rendered assistance to the Greeks. Never was a nation in +greater danger of annihilation, in spite of its glorious resistance, +than was Greece at that time, for what could the remaining five hundred +thousand people do against twenty-five millions inspired with fanatical +hatred, but to sell their lives as dearly as they might? The contest was +like that of the Maccabees against the overwhelming armies of Syria. + +As was to be expected, the disgraceful defeat of his fleets and armies +filled the Sultan with rage and renewed resolution. The whole power of +his empire was now called out to suppress the rebellion. He had long +meditated the destruction of that famous military corps in the Turkish +service known as the Janizaries, who were not Turks, but recruited from +the youth of the Greeks and other subject races captured in war. They +had all become Mussulmans, and were superb fighters; but their insults +and insolence, engendered by their traditional pride in the prestige of +the corps and the favor shown them by successive Sultans, filled Mahmoud +with wrath. The Sultan dissembled his resentment, however, in order to +bring all the soldiers he could command to the utter destruction of his +rebellious subjects. He deposed his grand vizier, and sent orders to all +the pashas in his dominions for a general levy of all Mussulmans +between fifteen and fifty, to assemble in Thessaly in May, 1823. He also +made the utmost efforts to repair the disasters of his fleet. + +The Greeks, too, made corresponding exertions to maintain their armies. +Though weakened, they were not despondent. Their successes had filled +them with new hopes and energies. Their independence seemed to them to +be established. They even began to despise their foes. But as soon as +success seemed to have crowned their efforts they were subject to a new +danger. There were divisions, strifes, and jealousies between the +chieftains. Unity, so essential in war, was seriously jeoparded. Had +they remained united, and buried their resentments and jealousies in the +cause of patriotism, their independence possibly might have been +acknowledged. But in the absence of a central power the various generals +wished to fight on their own account, like guerilla chiefs. They would +not even submit to the National Assembly. The leaders were so full of +discords and personal ambition that they would not unite on anything. +Mavrokordatos and Ypsilanti were not on speaking terms. One is naturally +astonished at such suicidal courses, but he forgets what a powerful +passion jealousy is in the human soul. It was not absent from our own +war of Independence, in which at one time rival generals would have +supplanted, if possible, even Washington himself; indeed, it is present +everywhere, not in war alone, but among all influential and ambitious +people,--women of society, legislators, artists, physicians, singers, +actors, even clergymen, authors, and professors in colleges. This +unfortunate passion can be kept down only by the overpowering dominancy +of transcendent ability, which everybody must concede, when envy is +turned into admiration,--as in the case of Napoleon. There was no one +chieftain among the Greeks who called out universal homage any more than +there was in the camp of Agamemnon before the walls of Troy. There were +men of ability and patriotism and virtue; but, as already noted, no one +of them was great enough to exact universal and willing obedience. And +this fact was well understood in all the cabinets of Europe, as well as +in the camps of their enemies. The disunions and dissensions of the +rival Greek generals were of more advantage to the Turks than a force of +fifty thousand men. + +These jealous chieftains, however, had reason to be startled in the +spring of 1823, when they heard that eighty thousand Mussulmans were to +be sent to attack the Isthmus of Corinth; that forty thousand more were +to undertake the siege of Missolonghi; that fifty thousand in addition +were to co-operate in Thessaly and Attica; while a grand fleet of one +hundred and twenty sail was to sweep the Aegean and reduce the revolted +islands. It was, however, the very magnitude of the hostile forces which +saved the Greeks from impending ruin; for these forces had to be fed in +dried-up and devastated plains, under scorching suns, in the defiles of +mountains, where artillery was of no use, and where hardy mountaineers, +behind rocks and precipices, could fire upon them unseen and without +danger. There was more loss from famine and pestilence than from +foes,--a lesson repeatedly taught for three thousand years, but one +which governments have ever been slow to learn. Alexander the Great had +learned it when he invaded Persia with a small army of veterans, rather +than with a mob of undisciplined allies. Huge armies are not to be +relied on, except when they form a vast mechanism directed by a master +hand, when they are sure of their supplies, and when they operate in a +wholesome country, with nothing to fear from malaria or inclemency of +weather. Then they can crush all before them like some terrible and +irresistible machine; but only then. This the old crusaders learned to +their cost, as well as the invading armies of Napoleon amid the snows of +Russia, and even the disciplined troops of France and England when they +marched to the siege of Sebastopol. + +Hence, in spite of the divisions of the Greeks, which paralyzed their +best efforts, the Turkish armies effected but little, great as were +their numbers, in the campaign of 1823. The intrepid Marco Bozzaris, +with only five thousand men, kept the Turks at bay in Epirus, and chased +a large body of Albanians to the sea; while Odysseus defended the pass +of Thermopylae, and prevented the advance of the Turks into Southern +Greece. The grand army destined for the invasion of the Morea gradually +melted away in attacking fortresses, and under the desultory actions of +guerilla bands amidst rocks and thickets. Bozzaris surprised a Turkish +army near Missolonghi by a nocturnal attack, and although he himself +bravely perished, the attack was successful. The Turks in renewed +numbers, however, advanced to the siege of Missolonghi; but they were +again repulsed with great slaughter. + +The naval campaign from which so much was expected by the Sultan also +proved a failure. As usual the Greeks resorted to their fire-ships, not +being able openly to contend with superior forces, and drove the fleet +back again to the Dardanelles. When the sea was clear, they were able to +reinforce Missolonghi with three thousand men and a large supply of +provisions; for it was foreseen that the siege would be renewed. + +It was at this time, when the Greek cause was imperilled by the +dissensions of the leading chieftains; when Greece indeed was threatened +by civil war, in addition to its contest with the Turks; when the whole +country was impoverished and devastated; when the population was melting +away, and no revenue could be raised to pay the half-starved and +half-naked troops,--that Lord Byron arrived at Missolonghi to share his +fortune with the defenders of an uncertain cause. Like most scholars and +poets, he had a sentimental attachment for the classic land,--the +teacher of the ancient world; and in common with his countrymen he +admired the noble struggles and sacrifices, worthy of ancient heroes, +which the Greeks, though divided and demoralized, had put forth to +recover their liberties. His money contributions were valuable; but it +was his moral support which accomplished the most for Grecian +independence. Though unpopular and maligned at this time in England for +his immoralities and haughty disdain, he was still the greatest poet of +his age, a peer, and a man of transcendent genius of whom any country +would be proud. That such a man, embittered and in broken health, should +throw his whole soul into the contest, with a disinterestedness which +was never questioned, shows not only that he had many noble traits, but +that his example would have great weight with enlightened nations, and +open their eyes to the necessity of rallying to the cause of liberty. +The faults of the Greeks were many; but these faults were such as would +naturally be produced by four hundred years of oppression and scorn, of +craft, treachery, and insensibility to suffering. As for their +jealousies and quarrels, when was there ever a time, even in periods of +their highest glory, when these were not their national characteristics? + +Interest in the affairs of Greece now began to be awakened, especially +among the English; and the result was a loan of L800,000 raised in +London for the Greek government, at the rate of L59 for L100. Greece +really obtained only L280,000, while it contracted a debt of L800,000. +Yet this disadvantageous loan was of great service to an utterly +impoverished government, about to contend with the large armies of the +Turks. The Sultan had made immense preparations for the campaign of +1824, and had obtained the assistance of the celebrated Ibrahim Pasha, +adopted son of Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, who with his Egyptian +troops had nearly subdued Crete. Over one hundred thousand men were now +directed, by sea and land, to western Greece and Missolonghi, of which +twenty thousand were disciplined Egyptian troops. With this great force +the Mussulmans assumed the offensive, and the condition of Greece was +never more critical. + +First, the islands of Spezzia and Ipsara were attacked,--the latter +being little more than a barren rock, but the abode of liberty. It was +poorly defended, and was unable to cope with the Turkish armada, having +on board fifteen thousand disciplined troops. Canaris advised a combat +on the sea, but was overruled; and the consequences were fatal. The +island was taken and sacked, and all the inhabitants were put to the +sword. In addition to this great calamity, the spoil made by the victors +was immense, including two hundred pieces of artillery and ninety +vessels. Canaris, however, contrived to escape in a boat, to pursue a +victorious career with his fire-ships. The Turkish and Egyptian fleets +had effected a junction, consisting of one ship-of-the-line, twenty-five +frigates, twenty-five corvettes, fifty brigs and schooners, and two +hundred and forty transports, carrying eighty thousand soldiers and +sailors and twenty-five hundred cannon. To oppose this great armament, +the Greek admiral Miaulis had only seventy sail, manned by five thousand +sailors and carrying eight hundred guns. In spite however of this +disproportion of forces he advanced to meet the enemy, and dispersed it +with a great Turkish loss of fifteen thousand men. All that the Turks +had gained was a barren island. + +On the land the Turks had more successes; but these were so indecisive +that they did not attempt to renew the siege of Missolonghi, and the +campaign of 1824 closed with a great loss to the Mussulmans. The little +army and fleet of the Greeks had repelled one hundred and twenty +thousand soldiers confident of success; but the population was now +reduced to less than five hundred thousand, becoming feebler every day, +and the national treasury was empty, while the whole country was a scene +of desolation and misery. And yet, strange to say, the Greeks continued +their dissensions while on the very brink of ruin. Stranger still, their +courage was unabated. + +The year 1825 opened with brighter prospects. The rival chieftains, in +view of the desperate state of affairs, at last united, and seemingly +buried their jealousies. A new loan was contracted in London of +L2,000,000, and the naval forces were increased. + +But the Turks also made their preparations for a renewed conflict, and +Ibrahim Pasha felt himself strong enough to undertake the siege of +Navarino, which fell into his hands after a brave resistance. Tripolitza +also capitulated to the Egyptian, and the Morea was occupied by his +troops after several engagements. After this the Greeks never ventured +to fight in the open field, but only in guerilla bands, in mountain +passes, and behind fortifications. + +Then began the memorable siege of Missolonghi under Reschid Pasha. It +was probably the strongest town in Greece,--by reason not of its +fortifications but of the surrounding marshes and lagoons which made it +inaccessible. Into this town the armed peasantry threw themselves, with +five thousand troops under Niketas, while Miaulis with his fleet raised +the blockade by sea and supplied the town with provisions. Reschid Pasha +determined on an assault, but was driven back. Thrice he advanced with +his troops, only to be repulsed. His forces at the end of October were +reduced to three thousand men. The Sultan, irritated by successive +disasters, brought the whole disposable force of his empire to bear on +the doomed city. Ibrahim, powerfully reinforced with twenty-five +thousand men, by sea and land stormed battery after battery; yet the +Greeks held out, contending with famine and pestilence, as well as with +troops ten times their number. + +At last they were unable to offer further resistance, and they resolved +on a general sortie to break through the enemy's line to a place of +safety. The women of the town put on male attire, and armed themselves +with pistols and daggers. The whole population,--men, women, and +children,--on the night of the 22d of April, 1826, issued from their +defences, crossed the moat in silence, passed the ditches and trenches, +and made their way through an opening of the besiegers' lines. For a +while the sortie seemed to be successful; but mistakes were made, a +panic ensued, and most of the flying crowd retreated back to the +deserted town, only to be massacred by Turkish scimitars. Some made +their escape. A column of nearly two thousand, after incredible +hardships, succeeded in reaching Salonica in safety; but Missolonghi +fell, with the loss of nearly ten thousand, killed, wounded, and +prisoners. + +It was a great disaster, but proved in the end the foundation of Greek +independence, by creating a general burst of blended enthusiasm and +indignation throughout Europe. The heroic defence of this stronghold +against such overwhelming forces opened the eyes of European statesmen. +Public sentiment in England in favor of the struggling nation could no +longer be disregarded. Mr. Canning took up the cause, both from +enthusiasm and policy. The English ambassador at Constantinople had a +secret interview with Mavrokordatos on an island near Hydra, and +promised him the intervention of England. The death of the Czar +Alexander gave a new aspect to affairs; for his successor, Nicholas, +made up his mind to raise his standard in Turkey. The national voice of +Russia was now for war. The Duke of Wellington was sent to St. +Petersburg, nominally to congratulate the Czar on his accession, but +really to arrange for an armed intervention for the protection of +Greece. The Hellenic government ordered a general conscription; for +Ibrahim Pasha was organizing new forces for the subjection of the Morea +and the reduction of Napoli di Romania and Hydra, while a powerful +fleet put to sea from Alexandria. No sooner did this fleet appear, +however, than Canaris and Miaulis attacked it with their dreaded +fire-ships, and the forty ships of Egypt fled from fourteen small Greek +vessels, and re-entered the Dardanelles. But the Turks, always more +fortunate on land than by sea, pressed now the siege of the Acropolis, +and Athens fell into their hands early in 1827. + +For six or seven years the Greeks had struggled heroically; but relief +was now at hand. Russia and England signed a protocol on the 6th of +July, and France soon after joined, to put an end to the sanguinary +contest. The terms proposed to the Sultan by the three great Powers were +moderate,--that he should still retain a nominal sovereignty over the +revolted provinces and receive an annual tribute; but the haughty and +exasperated Sultan indignantly rejected them, and made renewed +preparations to continue the contest. Ibrahim landed his forces on the +Morea and renewed his depredations. Once more the ambassadors of the +allied Powers presented their final note to the Turkish government, and +again it was insultingly disregarded. The allied admirals then entered +the port of Navarino, where the Turkish and Egyptian fleets were at +anchor, with ten ships-of-the-line, ten frigates, with other vessels, +altogether carrying thirteen hundred and twenty-four guns. The Ottoman +force consisted of seventy-nine vessels, armed with twenty-two hundred +and forty guns. Strict orders were given not to fire while negotiations +were going on; but an accidental shot from a Turkish vessel brought on a +general action, and the combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet was +literally annihilated Oct. 20, 1827. This was the greatest disaster +which the Ottoman Turks had yet experienced; indeed, it practically +ended the whole contest. Christendom at last had come to the rescue, +when Greece unaided was incapable of further resistance. + +The battle of Navarino excited, of course, the wildest enthusiasm +throughout Greece, and a corresponding joy throughout Europe. Never +since the battle of Lepanto was there such a general exultation among +Christian nations. This single battle decided the fate of Greece. The +admirals of the allied fleet were doubtless "the aggressors in the +battle; but the Turks were the aggressors in the war." + +Canning of England did not live to enjoy the triumph of the cause which +he had come to have so much at heart. He was the inspiring genius who +induced both Russia and France (now under Charles X.) to intervene. +Chateaubriand, the minister of Charles X., was in perfect accord with +Canning from poetical and sentimental reasons. Politically his policy +was that of Metternich, who could see no distinction between the +insurrection of Naples and that of Greece. In the great Austrian's eyes, +all people alike who aspired to gain popular liberty or constitutional +government were rebels to be crushed. Canning, however, sympathized in +his latter days with all people striving for independence, whether in +South America or Greece. But his opinion was not shared by English +statesmen of the Tory school, and he had the greatest difficulty in +bringing his colleagues over to his views. When he died, England again +relapsed into neutrality and inaction, under the government of +Wellington. Charles X. in France had no natural liking for the Greek +cause, and wanted only to be undisturbed in his schemes of despotism. +Russia, under Nicholas, determined to fight Turkey, unfettered by +allies. She sought but a pretext for a declaration of war. Turkey +furnished to Russia that pretext, right in the stress of her own +military weakness, when she was exhausted by a war of seven years, and +by the destruction of the Janizaries,--which the Sultan had long +meditated, and concealed in his own bosom with the craft which formed +one of the peculiarities of this cruel yet able sovereign, but which he +finally executed with characteristic savagery. Concerning this Russian +war we shall speak presently. + +The battle of Navarino, although it made the restoration of the Turkish +power impossible in Greece, still left Ibrahim master of the fortresses, +and it was two years before the Turkish troops were finally expelled. +But independence was now assured, and the Greeks set about establishing +their government with some permanency. Before the end of that year Capo +d'Istrias was elected president for seven years, and in January, 1828, +he entered upon his office. His ideas of government were arbitrary, for +he had been the minister and favorite of Alexander. He wished to rule +like an absolute sovereign. His short reign was a sort of dictatorship. +His council was composed entirely of his creatures, and he sought at +once to destroy provincial and municipal authority. He limited the +freedom of the Press and violated the secrecy of the mails. "In Plato's +home, Plato's Gorgias could not be read because it spoke too strongly +against tyrants." + +Capo d'Istrias found it hard to organize and govern amid the hostilities +of rival chieftains and the general anarchy which prevailed. Local +self-government lay at the root of Greek nationality; but this he +ignored, and set himself to organize an administrative system modelled +after that of France during the reign of Napoleon. Intellectually he +stood at the head of the nation, and was a man of great integrity of +character, as austere and upright as Guizot, having no toleration for +freebooters and peculators. He became unpopular among the sailors and +merchants, who had been so effective in the warfare with the Turks. "A +dark shadow fell over his government" as it became more harsh and +intolerant, and he was assassinated the 9th of October, 1831. + +The allied sovereigns who had taken the Greeks under their protection +now felt the need of a stronger and more stable government for them than +a republic, and determined to establish an hereditary but constitutional +monarchy. The crown was offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who at +first accepted it; but when that prince began to look into the real +state of the country,--curtailed in its limits by the jealousies of the +English government, rent with anarchy and dissension, containing a +people so long enslaved that they could not make orderly use of +freedom,--he declined the proffered crown. It was then (1832) offered to +and accepted by Prince Otho of Bavaria, a minor; and thirty-five hundred +Bavarian soldiers maintained order during the three years of the +regency, which, though it developed great activity, was divided in +itself, and conspiracies took place to overthrow it. The year 1835 saw +the majority of the king, who then assumed the government. In the same +year the capital was transferred to Athens, which was nothing but a heap +of rubbish; but the city soon after had a university, and also became +an important port. In 1843, after a military revolution against the +German elements of Otho's government, which had increased from year to +year, the Greeks obtained from the king a representative constitution, +to which he took an oath in 1844. + +But the limits of the kingdom were small, and neither Crete, Thessaly, +Epirus, nor the Ionian Islands were included in it. In 1846 these +islands were ceded by Great Britain to Greece, which was also +strengthened by the annexation of Thessaly. Since then the progress of +the country in material wealth and in education has been rapid. Otho +reigned till 1862, although amid occasional outbreaks of impatience and +revolt against the reactionary tendencies of his rule. In that year he +fled with his queen from a formidable uprising; and in 1863 Prince +William, son of Christian IX. King of Denmark, was elected monarch, +under the title of George I. King of the Hellenes. + +The resurrection of Greece was thus finally effected. It was added to +the European kingdoms, and now bids fair to be prosperous and happy. +"Thus did the Old Hellas rise from the grave of nations. Scorched by +fire, riddled by shot, baptized by blood, she emerged victorious from +the conflict. She achieved her independence because she proved herself +worthy of it; she was trained to manhood in the only school of real +improvement,--the school of suffering." + +The Greek revolution has another aspect than battles on the Morea, +massacres on the islands of the Archipelago, naval enterprises under +heroic seamen, guerilla conflicts amid the defiles of mountains, brave +defences of fortresses, dissensions and jealousies between chieftains, +treacheries and cruelties equalling those of the Turks,--another aspect +than the recovery of national independence even. It is memorable for the +complications which grew out of it, especially for the war between +Turkey and Russia, when the Emperor Nicholas, feeling that Turkey was +weakened and exhausted, sought to grasp the prize which he had long +coveted, even the possessions of the "sick man." Nicholas was the +opposite of his brother Alexander, having neither his gentleness, his +impulsiveness, his generosity, nor his indecision. He was a hard despot +of the "blood-and-iron" stamp, ambitious for aggrandizement, indifferent +to the sufferings of others, and withal a religious bigot. The Greek +rebellion, as we have seen, gave him the occasion to pick a quarrel with +the Sultan. The Danubian principalities were dearer to him than remote +possessions on the Mediterranean. + +So on the 7th of May, 1828, the Russians crossed the Pruth and invaded +Moldavia and Wallachia,--provinces which had long belonged to Turkey by +right of conquest, though governed by Greek hospodars. The Danube was +crossed on the 7th of June. The Turks were in no condition to contend in +the open field with seventy thousand Russians, and they retreated to +their fortresses,--to Ibraila and Silistria on the Danube, to Varna and +Shumla in the vicinity of the Balkans. The first few weeks of the war +were marked by Russian successes. Ibraila capitulated on the 18th of +June, and the military posts on the Dobrudscha fell rapidly one after +another. But it was at Shumla that the strongest part of the Turkish +army was concentrated, under Omar Brionis, bent on defensive operations; +and thither the Czar directed his main attack. Before this stronghold +his army wasted away by sickness in the malarial month of September. The +Turks were reinforced, and moved to the relief of Varna, also invested +by Russian troops. But the season was now too far advanced for military +operations, and the Russians, after enormous losses, withdrew to the +Danube to resume the offensive the following spring. The winter was +spent in bringing up reserves. The Czar finding that he had no aptitude +as a general withdrew to his capital, intrusting the direction of the +following campaign to Diebitsch, a Prussian general, famous for his +successes and his cruelties. + +In the spring of 1829 the first movement was made to seize Silistria, +toward which a great Turkish force was advancing, under Reschid Pasha, +the grand vizier. His forces experienced a great defeat; and two weeks +after, in the latter part of June, Silistria surrendered. Resistance to +the Russians was now difficult. The passes of the Balkans were left +undefended, and the invading force easily penetrated them and advanced +to Adrianople, which surrendered in a great panic. The Russians could +have been defeated had not the Turks lost their senses, for the troops +under Diebitsch were reduced to twenty thousand men. But this fact was +unknown to the Turks, who magnified the Russian forces to one hundred +thousand at least. The result was the treaty of Adrianople, on the 14th +of September,--apparently generous to the Turks, but really of great +advantage to the Russians. Russia restored to Turkey all her conquests +in Europe and Asia, except a few commercial centres on the Black Sea, +while the treaty gave to the Czar the protectorate over the Danubian +principalities, the exclusion of Turks from fortified posts on the left +bank of the Danube, free passage through the Dardanelles to the merchant +vessels of all nations at peace with the Sultan, and the free navigation +of the Black Sea. + +But Constantinople still remained the capital of Turkey. The "sick man" +would not die. From jealousy of Russia the western Powers continued to +nurse him. Without their aid he was not long to live; but his existence +was deemed necessary to maintain the "balance of power," and they came +to his assistance in the Crimean War, twenty-six years later, and gave +him a new lease of life. + +This is the "Eastern Question,"--How long before the Turks will be +driven out of Europe, and who shall possess Constantinople? That is a +question upon which it would be idle for me to offer speculations. +Another aspect of the question is, How far shall Russia be permitted to +make conquests in the East? This is equally insoluble. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Finlay's Greece under Ottoman Domination; Leake's Travels in Northern +Greece; Gordon's Greek Revolution; Metternich's Memoirs; Howe's Greek +Revolution; Mendelssohn's Graf Capo d'Istrias; Ann. Hist. Valentini; +Alison's Europe; Fyffe's History of Modern Europe; Mueller's Political +History of Recent Times. + + + +LOUIS PHILIPPE. + + +1773-1850. + +THE CITIZEN KING. + + +A new phase in the development of French revolutionary history took +place on the accession of Louis Philippe to the throne. He became King +of the French instead of King of France. + +Louis XVIII., upon his coming to the throne at Napoleon's downfall, +would not consent to reign except by divine right, on principles of +legitimacy, as the brother of Louis XVI. He felt that the throne was his +by all the laws of succession. He would not, therefore, accept it as the +gift of the French nation, or of foreign Powers. He consented to be +fettered by a Constitution, as his brother had done; but that any power +could legally give to him what he deemed was already his own, was in his +eyes an absurdity. + +This was not the case with Louis Philippe, for he was not the legitimate +heir. He belonged to a younger branch of the Bourbons, and could not be +the legitimate king until all the male heirs of the elder branch were +extinct; and yet both branches of the royal family were the lineal +descendants of Henry IV. This circumstance pointed him out as the proper +person to ascend the throne on the expulsion of the elder branch; but he +was virtually an elective sovereign, chosen by the will of the nation. +So he became king, not "by divine right," but by receiving the throne as +the gift of the people. + +There were other reasons why Louis Philippe was raised to the throne. He +was Duke of Orleans,--the richest man in France, son of that Egalite +who took part in the revolution, avowing all its principles; therefore +he was supposed to be liberal in his sentiments. The popular leaders who +expelled Charles X., among the rest Lafayette,--that idol of the United +States, that "Grandison Cromwell," as Carlyle called him,--viewed the +Duke of Orleans as the most available person to preserve order and law, +to gain the confidence of the country, and to preserve the +Constitution,--which guaranteed personal liberty, the freedom of the +Press, the inviolability of the judiciary, and the rights of electors to +the Chamber of Deputies, in which was vested the power of granting +supplies to the executive government. Times were not ripe for a +republic, and only a few radicals wanted it. The nation desired a +settled government, yet one ruling by the laws which the nation had +decreed through its representatives. Louis Philippe swore to everything +that was demanded of him, and was in all respects a constitutional +monarch, under whom the French expected all the rights and liberties +that England enjoyed. All this was a step in advance of the monarchy of +Louis XVIII. Louis Philippe was rightly named "the citizen king." + +This monarch was also a wise, popular, and talented man. He had passed +through great vicissitudes of fortune. At one time he taught a school in +Switzerland. He was an exile and a wanderer from country to country. He +had learned much from his misfortunes; he had had great experiences, and +was well read in the history of thrones and empires. He was affable in +his manners, and interesting in conversation; a polished gentleman, with +considerable native ability,--the intellectual equal of the statesmen +who surrounded him. His morals were unstained, and his tastes were +domestic. His happiest hours were spent in the bosom of his family; and +his family was harmonious and respectable. He was the idol of the middle +class; bankers, merchants, lawyers, and wealthy shopkeepers were his +strongest supporters. All classes acquiesced in the rule of a worthy +man, as he seemed to all,--moderate, peace-loving, benignant, +good-natured. They did not see that he was selfish, crafty, +money-loving, bound up in family interests. This plain-looking, +respectable, middle-aged man, as he walked under the colonnade of the +Rue de Rivoli, with an umbrella under his arm, looked more like a plain +citizen than a king. The leading journals were all won over to his side. +The Chamber of Deputies by a large majority voted for him, and the +eighty-three Departments, representing thirty-five millions of people, +by a still larger majority elected him king. The two Chambers prepared a +Constitution, which he unhesitatingly accepted and swore to maintain. He +was not chosen by universal suffrage, but by one hundred and fifty +thousand voters. The Republicans were not satisfied, but submitted; so +also did the ultra-Royalists. It was at first feared that the allied +Powers, under the influence of Metternich, would be unfriendly; yet one +after another recognized the new government, feeling that it was the +best, under the circumstances, that could be established. + +The man who had the most to do with the elevation of Louis Philippe was +the Marquis de Lafayette, who as far back as the first revolution was +the commander of the National Guards; and they, as the representatives +of the middle classes, sustained the throne during this reign. Lafayette +had won a great reputation for his magnanimous and chivalrous assistance +to the United States, when, at twenty years of age, he escaped from +official hindrances at home and tendered his unpaid voluntary services +to Washington. This was in the darkest period of the American +Revolution, when Washington had a pitifully small army, and when the +American treasury was empty. Lafayette was the friend and admirer of +Washington, whose whole confidence he possessed; and he not only +performed distinguished military duty, but within a year returned to +France and secured a French fleet, land forces, clothing and ammunition +for the struggling patriots, as the result of French recognition of +American independence, and of a treaty of alliance with the new American +nation,--both largely due to his efforts and influence. + +When Lafayette departed, on his return to France, he was laden with +honors and with the lasting gratitude of the American people. He +returned burning with enthusiasm for liberty, and for American +institutions; and this passion for liberty was never quenched, under +whatever form of government existed in France. He was from first to last +the consistent friend of struggling patriots,--sincere, honest, +incorruptible, with horror of revolutionary excesses, as sentimental as +Lamartine, yet as firm as Carnot. + +Lafayette took an active part in the popular movements in 1787, and in +1789 formed the National Guard and gave it the tricolor badge. But he +was too consistent and steady-minded for the times. He was not liked by +extreme Royalists or by extreme Republicans. He was denounced by both +parties, and had to flee the country to save his life. Driven from Paris +by the excesses of the Reign of Terror, which he abhorred, he fell into +the hands of the Prussians, who delivered him to the Austrians, and by +them he was immured in a dungeon at Olmutz for three and a half years, +being finally released only by the influence of Napoleon. So rigorous +was his captivity that none of his family or friends knew for two years +where he was confined. On his return from Austria, he lived in +comparative retirement at La Grange, his country-seat, and took no part +in the government of Napoleon, whom he regarded as a traitor to the +cause of liberty. Nor did he enter the service of the Bourbons, knowing +their settled hostility to free institutions. History says but little +about him during this time, except that from 1818 to 1824 he was a +member of the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1825 to 1830 was again +prominent in the legislative opposition to the royal government. In 1830 +again, as an old man, he reappeared as commander-in-chief of the +National Guards, when Charles X. was forced to abdicate. Lafayette now +became the most popular man in France, and from him largely emanated the +influences which replaced Charles X. with Louis Philippe. He was not a +man of great abilities, but was generally respected as an honest man. +He was most marked for practical sagacity and love of constitutional +liberty. The phrase, "a monarchical government surrounded with +republican institutions," is ascribed to him,--an illogical expression, +which called out the sneers of Carlyle, whose sympathies were with +strong governments and with the men who can rule, and who therefore, as +he thought, ought to rule. + +Lafayette was doubtless played with and used by Louis Philippe, the most +astute and crafty of monarchs. Professing the greatest love and esteem +for the general who had elevated him, the king was glad to get rid of +him; so, too, were the Chambers,--the former from jealousy of his +popularity, and the latter from dislike of his independence and +integrity. Under Louis Philippe he held no higher position than as a +member of the Chamber of Deputies. As deputy he had always been and +continued to be fearless, patriotic, and sometimes eloquent. His +speeches were clear, unimpassioned, sensible, and he was always listened +to with respect. He took great interest in the wrongs of all oppressed +people; and exiles from Poland, from Spain, and from Italy found in him +a generous protector. His house was famous for its unpretending +hospitalities, especially to American travellers. He lived long enough +to see the complete triumph of American institutions. In 1824, upon a +formal invitation by Congress, he revisited the United States as the +guest of the nation, and received unprecedented ovations wherever he +went,--a tribute of the heart, such as only great benefactors enjoy, +when envy gives place to gratitude and admiration. A great man he was +not, in the ordinary sense of greatness; yet few men will live as long +as he in the national hearts of two nations, for character if not for +genius, for services if not for brilliant achievements. + +The first business of the new monarch in 1830 was to choose his +ministers, and he selected as premier Lafitte the banker, a prominent +member of the Chamber of Deputies, who had had great influence in +calling him to the throne. Lafitte belonged to the liberal party, and +was next to Lafayette the most popular man in France, but superior to +that statesman in intellect and executive ability. He lived in grand +style, and his palace, with its courts and gardens, was the resort of +the most distinguished men in France,--the Duke of Choiseul, Dupin, +Beranger, Casimir Perier, Montalivet, the two Aragos, Guizot, Odillon +Barrot, Villemain,--politicians, artists, and men of letters. His +ministry, however, lasted less than a year. The vast increase in the +public expenditure aroused a storm of popular indignation. The increase +of taxation is always resented by the middle classes, and by this +measure Lafitte lost his popularity. Moreover, the public disorders +lessened the authority of the government. In March, 1831, the king found +it expedient to dismiss Lafitte, and to appoint Casimir Perier, an abler +man, to succeed him. Lafitte was not great enough for the exigencies of +the times. His business was to make money, and it was his pleasure to +spend it; but he was unable to repress the discontents of Paris, or to +control the French revolutionary ideas, which were spreading over the +whole Continent, especially in Belgium, in which a revolution took +place, accompanied by a separation from Holland. Belgium was erected +into an independent kingdom, under a constitutional government. Prince +Leopold, of Saxe Coburg, having refused the crown of Greece, was elected +king, and shortly after married a daughter of Louis Philippe; which +marriage, of course, led to a close union between France and Belgium. In +this marriage the dynastic ambition of Louis Philippe, which was one of +the main causes of his subsequent downfall in 1848, became obvious. But +he had craft enough to hide his ambition under the guise of zeal for +constitutional liberty. + +Casimir Perier was a man of great energy, and liberal in his political +antecedents, a banker of immense wealth and great force of character, +reproachless in his integrity. He had scarcely assumed office when he +was called upon to enforce a very rigorous policy. France was in a +distracted state, not so much from political agitation as from the +discontent engendered by poverty, and by the difficulty of finding work +for operatives,--a state not unlike that of England before the passage +of the Reform Bill. According to Louis Blanc the public distress was +appalling, united with disgusting immorality among the laboring classes +in country districts and in great manufacturing centres. In consequence +there were alarming riots at Lyons and other cities. The people were +literally starving, and it required great resolution and firmness on the +part of government to quiet the disorders. Lyons was in the hands of a +mob, and Marshal Soult was promptly sent with forty thousand regular +troops to restore order. And this public distress,--when laborers earned +less than a shilling a day, and when the unemployed exceeded in number +those who found work on a wretched pittance,--was at its height when the +Chamber of Deputies decreed a civil list for the king to the amount of +nearly nineteen millions of francs, thirty-seven times greater than that +given to Napoleon as First Consul; and this, too, when the king's +private income was six millions of francs a year. + +Such was the disordered state of the country that the prime minister, +whose general policy was that of peace, sent a military expedition to +Ancona, in the Papal territories, merely to divert the public mind from +the disorders which reigned throughout the land. Indeed, the earlier +years of the reign of Louis Philippe were so beset with difficulties +that it required extraordinary tact, prudence, and energy to govern at +all. But the king was equal to the emergency. He showed courage and good +sense, and preserved his throne. At the same time, while he suppressed +disorders by vigorous measures, he took care to strengthen his power. He +was in harmony with the Chamber of Deputies, composed almost entirely of +rich men. The liberal party demanded an extension of the suffrage, to +which he gracefully yielded; and the number of electors was raised to +one hundred and eighty thousand, but extended only to those who paid a +direct tax of two hundred francs. A bill was also passed in the Chamber +of Deputies abolishing hereditary peerage, though opposed by Guizot, +Thiers, and Berryer. Of course the opposition in the upper house was +great, and thirty-six new peers were created to carry the measure. + +The year 1832 was marked by the ravages of the cholera, which swept away +twenty thousand people in Paris alone, and among them Casimir Perier, +and Cuvier the pride of the scientific world. + +But Louis Philippe was not yet firmly established on his throne. His +ministers had suppressed disorders, seized two hundred journals, +abolished hereditary peerage, extended the electoral suffrage, while he +had married his daughter to the King of Belgium. He now began to +consolidate his power by increasing the army, seeking alliances with the +different powers of Europe, bribing the Press, and enriching his +subordinates. Taxation was necessarily increased; yet renewed prosperity +from the increase of industries removed discontents, which arise not +from the excess of burdens, but from a sense of injustice. Now began the +millennium of shopkeepers and bankers, all of whom supported the throne. +The Chamber of Deputies granted the government all the money it wanted, +which was lavishly spent in every form of corruption, and luxury again +set in. Never were the shops more brilliant, or equipages more gorgeous. +The king on his accession had removed from the palace which Cardinal +Mazarin had bequeathed to Louis XIV., and took up his residence at the +Tuileries; and though his own manners were plain, he surrounded himself +with all the pomp of royalty, but not with the old courtiers of Charles +X. Marshal Soult greatly distinguished himself in suppressing disorders, +especially a second riot in Lyons. To add to the public disorders, the +Duchess of Berri made a hostile descent on France with the vain hope of +restoring the elder branch of the Bourbons. This unsuccessful movement +was easily put down, and the discredited princess was arrested and +imprisoned. Meanwhile the popular discontents continued, and a fresh +insurrection broke out in Paris, headed by Republican chieftains. The +Republicans were disappointed, and disliked the vigor of the government, +which gave indications of a sterner rule than that of Charles X. +Moreover, the laboring classes found themselves unemployed. The +government of Louis Philippe was not for them, but for the bourgeois +party, shop-keepers, bankers, and merchants. The funeral of General +Lamarque, a popular favorite, was made the occasion of fresh +disturbances, which at one time were quite serious. The old cry of _Vive +la Republique_ began to be heard from thousands of voices in the scenes +of former insurrections. Revolt assumed form. A mysterious meeting was +held at Lafitte's, when the dethronement of the king was discussed. The +mob was already in possession of one of the principal quarters of the +city. The authorities were greatly alarmed, but they had taken vigorous +measures. There were eighteen thousand regular troops under arms with +eighty pieces of cannon, and thirty thousand more in the environs, +besides the National Guards. What could the students of the Polytechnic +School and an undisciplined mob do against these armed troops? In vain +their cries of _Vive la Liberte; a bas Louis Philippe!_ The military +school was closed, and the leading journals of the Republican party were +seized. Marshal Soult found himself on the 7th of June, 1832, at the +head of sixty thousand regular troops and twenty thousand National +Guards. The insurgents, who had erected barricades, were driven back +after a fierce fight at the Cloister of St. Meri. This bloody triumph +closed the insurrection. The throne of the citizen king was saved by the +courage and discipline of the regular troops under a consummate general. +The throne of Charles X. could not have stood a day in face of such an +insurrection. + +The next day after the defeat of the insurgents Paris was proclaimed in +a state of siege, in spite of the remonstrances of all parties against +it as an unnecessary act; but the king was firm and indignant, and +ordered the arrest of both Democrats and Legitimists, including +Garnier-Pages and Chateaubriand himself. He made war on the Press. +During his reign of two years two hundred and eighty-one journals were +seized, and fines imposed to nearly the amount of four hundred +thousand francs. + +The suppression of revolts in both Paris and Lyons did much to +strengthen the government, and the result was an increase of public +prosperity. Capital reappeared from its hiding-places, and industry +renewed its labors. The public funds rose six per cent. The first dawn +of the welfare of the laboring classes rose on their defeat. + +For his great services in establishing a firm government Marshal Soult +was made prime minister, with De Broglie, Guizot, and Thiers among his +associates. The chief event which marked his administration was a war +with Holland, followed by the celebrated siege of Antwerp, which the +Hollanders occupied with a large body of troops. England joined with +France in this contest, which threatened to bring on a general European +war; but the successful capture of the citadel of Antwerp, after a +gallant defence, prevented that catastrophe. This successful siege +vastly increased the military prestige of France, and brought Belgium +completely under French influence. + +The remaining events which marked the ministry of Marshal Soult were the +project of fortifying Paris by a series of detached forts of great +strength, entirely surrounding the city, the liberal expenditure of +money for public improvements, and the maintenance of the colony of +Algeria. The first measure was postponed on account of the violent +opposition of the Republicans, and the second was carried out with +popular favor through the influence of Thiers. The Arc de l'Etoile was +finished at an expense of two million francs; the Church of the +Madeleine, at a cost of nearly three millions; the Pantheon, of +1,400,000; the Museum of Natural History, for which 2,400,000 francs +were appropriated; the Church of St. Denis, 1,350,000; the Ecole des +Beaux Arts, 1,900,000; the Hotel du Quay d'Orsay, 3,450,000; besides +other improvements, the chief of which was in canals, for which +forty-four millions of francs were appropriated,--altogether nearly one +hundred millions of francs, which of course furnished employment for +discontented laborers. The retention of the Colony of Algeria resulted +in improving the military strength of France, especially by the +institution of the corps of Zouaves, which afterward furnished effective +soldiers. It was in Africa that the ablest generals of Louis Napoleon +were trained for the Crimean War. + +In 1834 Marshal Soult retired from the ministry, and a series of prime +ministers rapidly succeeded one another, some of whom were able and of +high character, but no one of whom made any great historical mark, until +Thiers took the helm of government in 1836,--not like a modern English +prime minister, who is supreme so long as he is supported by Parliament, +but rather as the servant of the king, like the ministers of George III. + +Thiers was forty years of age when he became prime minister, although +for years he had been a conspicuous and influential member of the +Chamber of Deputies. Like Guizot he sprang from the people, his father +being an obscure locksmith in Marseilles. Like Guizot, he first became +distinguished as a writer for the "Constitutional," and afterward as +its editor. He was a brilliant and fluent speaker, at home on all +questions of the day, always equal to the occasion, yet without striking +originality or profundity of views. Like most men who have been the +architects of their own fortunes, he was vain and consequential. He was +liberal in his views, a friend of order and law, with aristocratic +tendencies. He was more warlike in his policy than suited either the +king or his rival Guizot, who had entered the cabinet with him on the +death of Casimir Perier. Nor was he a favorite with Louis Philippe, who +was always afraid that he would embroil the kingdom in war. Thiers' +political opinions were very much like those of Canning in later days. +His genius was versatile,--he wrote history in the midst of his +oratorical triumphs. His History of the French Revolution was by far the +ablest and most trustworthy that had yet appeared. The same may be said +of his History of the Consulate and of the Empire. He was a great +admirer of Napoleon, and did more than any other to perpetuate the +Emperor's fame. His labors were prodigious; he rose at four in the +morning, and wrote thirty or forty letters before breakfast. He was +equally remarkable as an administrator and as a statesman, examining all +the details of government, and leaving nothing to chance. No man in +France knew the condition of the country so well as Thiers, from both a +civil and a military point of view. He was overbearing in the Chamber of +Deputies, and hence was not popular with the members. He was prime +minister several times, but rarely for more than a few months at a time. +The king always got rid of him as soon as he could, and much preferred +Guizot, the high-priest of the Doctrinaires, whose policy was like that +of Lord Aberdeen in England,--peace at any price. + +Nothing memorable happened during this short administration of Thiers +except the agitation produced by secret societies in Switzerland, +composed of refugees from all nations, who kept Europe in constant +alarm. There were the "Young Italy" Society, and the societies of "Young +Poland," "Young Germany," "Young France," and "Young Switzerland." The +cabinets of Europe took alarm, and Thiers brought matters to a crisis by +causing the French minister at Berne to intimate to the Swiss government +that unless these societies were suppressed all diplomatic intercourse +would cease between France and Switzerland,--which meant an armed +intervention. This question of the expulsion of political refugees drew +Metternich and Thiers into close connection. But a still more important +question, as to intervention in Spanish matters, brought about a +difference between the king and his minister, in consequence of which +the latter resigned. + +Count Mole now took the premiership, retaining it for two years. He was +a grave, laborious, and thoughtful man, but without the genius, +eloquence, and versatility of Thiers. Mole belonged to an ancient and +noble family, and his splendid chateau was filled with historical +monuments. He had all the affability of manners which marked the man of +high birth, without their frivolity. One of the first acts of his +administration was the liberation of political prisoners, among whom was +the famous Prince Polignac, the prime minister of Charles X. The old +king himself died, about the same time, an exile in a foreign land. The +year 1836 was also signalized by the foolish and unsuccessful attempt of +Louis Napoleon, at Strasburg, to overthrow the government; but he was +humanely and leniently dealt with, suffering no greater punishment than +banishment to the United States for ten years. In the following year +occurred the marriage of the Duke of Orleans, heir to the throne, with a +German princess of the Lutheran faith, followed by magnificent +festivities. Soon after took place the inauguration of the palace of +Versailles as a museum of fine arts, which, as such, has remained to +this day; nor did Louis Napoleon in the height of his power venture to +use this ancient and magnificent residence of the kings of France for +any other purpose. + +But the most important event in the administration of Count Mole was +the extension of the Algerian colony to the limits of the ancient +Libya,--so long the granary of imperial Rome, and which once could boast +of twenty millions of people. This occupation of African territory led +to the war in which the celebrated Arab chieftain, Abd-el-Kader, was the +hero. He was both priest and warrior, enjoying the unlimited confidence +of his countrymen; and by his cunning and knowledge of the country he +succeeded in maintaining himself for several years against the French +generals. His stronghold was Constantine, which was taken by storm in +October, 1837, by General Vallee. Still, the Arab chieftain found means +to defy his enemies; and it was not till 1841 that he was forced to flee +and seek protection from the Emperor of Morocco. The storming of +Constantine was a notable military exploit, and gave great prestige to +the government. + +Louis Philippe was now firmly established on his throne, yet he had +narrowly escaped assassination four or five times. This taught him to be +cautious, and to realize the fact that no monarch can be safe amid the +plots of fanatics. He no longer walked the streets of Paris with an +umbrella under his arm, but enshrouded himself in the Tuileries with the +usual guards of Continental kings. His favorite residence was at St. +Cloud, at that time one of the most beautiful of the royal palaces +of Europe. + +At this time the railway mania raged in France, as it did in England. +Foremost among those who undertook to manage the great corporations +which had established district railways, was Arago the astronomer, who, +although a zealous Republican, was ever listened to with respect in the +Chamber of Deputies. These railways indicated great material prosperity +in the nation at large, and the golden age of speculators and +capitalists set in,--all averse to war, all worshippers of money, all +for peace at any price. Morning, noon, and night the offices of bankers +and stock-jobbers were besieged by files of carriages and clamorous +crowds, even by ladies of rank, to purchase shares in companies which +were to make everybody's fortune, and which at one time had risen +fifteen hundred per cent, giving opportunities for boundless frauds. +Military glory for a time ceased to be a passion among the most +excitable and warlike people of Europe, and gave way to the more +absorbing passion for gain, and for the pleasures which money purchases. +Nor was it difficult, in this universal pursuit of sudden wealth, to +govern a nation whose rulers had the appointment of one hundred and +forty thousand civil officers and an army of four hundred thousand men. +Bribery and corruption kept pace with material prosperity. Never before +had officials been so generally and easily bribed. Indeed, the +government was built up on this miserable foundation. With bribery, +corruption, and sudden wealth, the most shameful immorality existed +everywhere. Out of every one thousand births, one third were +illegitimate. The theatres were disgraced by the most indecent plays. +Money and pleasure had become the gods of France, and Paris more than +ever before was the centre of luxury and social vice. + +It was at this period of peace and tranquillity that Talleyrand died, on +the 17th of May, 1838, at eighty-two, after serving in his advanced age +Louis Philippe as ambassador at London. The Abbe Dupanloup, afterward +bishop of Orleans, administered the last services of his church to the +dying statesman. Talleyrand had, however, outlived his reputation, which +was at its height when he went to the Congress of Vienna in 1814. Though +he rendered great services to the different sovereigns whom he served, +he was too selfish and immoral to obtain a place in the hearts of the +nation. A man who had sworn fidelity to thirteen constitutions and +betrayed them all, could not be much mourned or regretted at his death. +His fame was built on witty sayings, elegant manners, and adroit +adaptation to changing circumstances, rather than on those solid merits +winch alone extort the respect of posterity. + +The ministry of Count Mole was not eventful. It was marked chiefly for +the dissensions of political parties, troubles in Belgium, and +threatened insurrections, which alarmed the bourgeoisie. The king, +feeling the necessity for a still stronger government, recalled old +Marshal Soult to the head of affairs. Neither Thiers nor Guizot formed +part of Soult's cabinet, on account of their mutual jealousies and +undisguised ambition,--both aspiring to lead, and unwilling to accept +any office short of the premiership. + +Another great man now came into public notice. This was Villemain, who +was made Minister of Public Instruction, a post which Guizot had +previously filled. Villemain was a peer of France, an aristocrat from +his connections with high society, but a liberal from his love of +popularity. He was one of the greatest writers of this period, both in +history and philosophy, and an advocate of Polish independence. Thiers +at this time was the recognized leader of the Left and Left Centre in +the Deputies, while his rival, Guizot, was the leader of the +Conservatives. Eastern affairs now assumed great prominence in the +Chamber of Deputies. Turkey was reduced to the last straits in +consequence of the victories of Ibrahim Pasha in Asia Minor; France and +England adhered to the policy of non-intervention, and the Sultan in his +despair was obliged to invoke the aid of his most dangerous ally, +Russia, who extorted as the price of his assistance the famous treaty of +Unkiar-Skelessi, which excluded all ships-of-war, except those of +Russia and Turkey, from the Black Sea, the effect of which was to make +it a Muscovite lake. England and France did not fully perceive their +mistake in thus throwing Turkey into the arms of Russia, by their +eagerness to maintain the _status quo_,--the policy of Austria. There +were, however, a few statesmen in the French Chamber of Deputies who +deplored the inaction of government. Among these was Lamartine, who made +a brilliant and powerful speech against an inglorious peace. This orator +was now in the height of his fame, and but for his excessive vanity and +sentimentalism might have reached the foremost rank in the national +councils. He was distinguished not only for eloquence, but for his +historical compositions, which are brilliant and suggestive, but rather +prolix and discursive. + +Sir Archibald Alison seems to think that Lamartine cannot be numbered +among the great historians, since, like the classic historians of Greece +and Rome, he has not given authorities for his statements, and, unlike +German writers, disdains foot-notes as pedantic. But I observe that in +his "History of Europe" Alison quotes Lamartine oftener than any other +French writer, and evidently admires his genius, and throws no doubt on +the general fidelity of his works. A partisan historian full of +prejudices, like Macaulay, with all his prodigality of references, is +apt to be in reality more untruthful than a dispassionate writer without +any show of learning at all. The learning of an advocate may hide and +obscure truth as well as illustrate it. It is doubtless the custom of +historical writers generally to enrich, or burden, their works with all +the references they can find, to the delight of critics who glory in +dulness; but this, after all, may be a mere scholastic fashion. +Lamartine probably preferred to embody his learning in the text than +display it in foot-notes. Moreover, he did not write for critics, but +for the people; not for the few, but for the many. As a popular writer +his histories, like those of Voltaire, had an enormous sale. If he were +less rhetorical and discursive, his books, perhaps, would have more +merit. He fatigues by the redundancy of his richness and the length of +his sentences; and yet he is as candid and judicial as Hallam, and would +have had the credit of being so, had he only taken more pains to prove +his points by stating his authorities. + +Next to the insolvable difficulties which attended the discussion of the +Eastern question,--whether Turkey should be suffered to crumble away +without the assistance of the Western Powers; whether Russia should be +driven back from the Black Sea or not,--the affairs of Africa excited +great interest in the Chambers. Algiers had been taken by French armies +under the Bourbons, and a colony had been founded in countries of great +natural fertility. It was now a question how far the French armies +should pursue their conquests in Africa, involving an immense +expenditure of men and money, in order to found a great colonial empire, +and gain military _eclat_, so necessary in France to give strength to +any government. But a new insurrection and confederation of the defeated +Arab tribes, marked by all the fanaticism of Moslem warriors, made it +necessary for the French to follow up their successes with all the vigor +possible. In consequence, an army of forty thousand infantry and twelve +thousand cavalry and artillery drove the Arabs, in 1840, to their +remotest fastnesses. The ablest advocate for war measures was Thiers; +and so formidable were his eloquence and influence in the Chambers, that +he was again called to the head of affairs, and his second +administration took place. + +The rivalry and jealousy between this great statesman and Guizot would +not permit the latter to take a subordinate position, but he was +mollified by the appointment of ambassador to London. The prime minister +had a great majority to back him, and such was his ascendency that he +had all things his own way for a time, in spite of the king, whose +position was wittily set forth in a famous expression of Thiers, _Le Roi +regne, et ne gouverne pas_. Still, in spite of the liberal and +progressive views of Thiers, very little was done toward the +amelioration of the sufferings of the people, for whom, personally, he +cared but little. True, a bill was introduced into the Chambers which +reduced the hours of labor in the manufactories from twelve to eight +hours, and from sixteen hours to twelve, while it forbade the employment +of children under eight years of age in the mills; but this beneficent +measure, though carried in the Chamber of Peers, was defeated in the +lower house, made up of capitalists and parsimonious money-worshippers. + +What excited the most interest in the short administration of Thiers, +was the removal of the bones of Napoleon from St. Helena to the banks of +the Seine, which he loved so well, and their deposition under the dome +of the Invalides,--the proudest monument of Louis Quatorze. Louis +Philippe sent his son the Prince de Joinville to superintend this +removal,--an act of magnanimity hard to be reconciled with his usual +astuteness and selfishness. He probably thought that his throne was so +firmly established that he could afford to please the enemies of his +house, and perhaps would gain popularity. But such a measure doubtless +kept alive the memory of the deeds of the great conqueror, and renewed +sentiments in the nation which in less than ten years afterward +facilitated the usurpation of his nephew. In fact, the bones of +Napoleon were scarcely removed to their present resting-place before +Louis Napoleon embarked upon his rash expedition at Boulogne, was taken +prisoner, and immured in the fortress of Ham, where he spent six years +in strict seclusion, conversing only with books, until he contrived to +escape to England. + +The Eastern question again, under Thiers' administration, became the +great topic of conversation and public interest, and his military policy +came near embroiling France in war. So great was the public alarm that +the army was raised to four hundred thousand men, and measures were +taken to adopt a great system of fortifications around Paris. It was +far, however, from the wishes and policy of the king to be dragged into +war by an ambitious and restless minister. He accordingly summoned +Guizot from London to meet him privately at the Chateau d'Eu, in +Normandy, where the statesman fully expounded his conservative and +pacific policy. The result of this interview was the withdrawal of the +French forces in the Levant and the dismissal of Thiers, who had brought +the nation to the edge of war. His place was taken by Guizot, who +henceforth, with brief intervals, was the ruling spirit in the councils +of the king. + +Guizot, on the whole, was the greatest name connected with the reign of +Louis Philippe, although his elevation to the premiership was long +delayed. In solid learning, political ability, and parliamentary +eloquence he had no equal, unless it were Thiers. He was a native of +Switzerland, and a Protestant; but all his tendencies were conservative. +He was cold and austere in manners and character. He had acquired +distinction in the two preceding reigns, both as a political writer for +the journals and as a historian. The extreme Left and the extreme Right +called him a "Doctrinaire," and he was never popular with either of +these parties. He greatly admired the English constitution and attempted +to steer a middle course, being the advocate of constitutional monarchy +surrounded with liberal institutions. Amid the fierce conflict of +parties which marked the reign of Louis Philippe, Guizot gradually +became more and more conservative, verging on absolutism. Hence he broke +with Lafayette, who was always ready to upset the throne when it +encroached on the liberties of the people. His policy was pacific, while +Thiers was always involving the nation in military schemes. In the +latter part of the reign of Louis Philippe, Guizot's views were not +dissimilar to those of the English Tories. His studies led him to detest +war as much as did Lord Aberdeen, and he was the invariable advocate of +peace. He was, like Thiers, an aristocrat at heart, although sprung from +the middle classes. He was simple in his habits and style of life, and +was greater as a philosopher than as a practical statesman amid popular +discontents. + +Guizot was the father of what is called philosophical history, and all +his historical writings show great research, accuracy, and breadth of +views. His temperament made him calm and unimpassioned, and his +knowledge made him profound. He was a great historical authority, like +Ranke, but was more admired fifty years ago than he is at the present +day, when dramatic writings like those of Motley and Froude have spoiled +ordinary readers for profundity allied with dulness. He resembles Hallam +more than Macaulay. But it is life rather than learning which gives +immortality to historians. It is the life and the individuality of +Gibbon which preserve his fame and popularity rather than his marvellous +learning. Voltaire lives for his style alone, the greatest of modern +historical artists. Better it is for the fame of a writer to have a +thousand faults with the single excellence of living power, than to have +no faults and no remarkable excellences. Guizot is deficient in life, +but is wonderful for research and philosophical deductions, and hence is +to be read by students rather than by the people. As a popular historian +he is inferior to Thiers, but superior to him in general learning. + +Guizot became the favorite minister of Louis Philippe for his +conservative policy and his love of peace rather than for his personal +attractions. He was less independent than Thiers, and equally ambitious +of ruling, and was also more subservient to the king, supporting him in +measures which finally undermined his throne; but the purity of Guizot's +private life, in an age of corruption, secured for him more respect than +popularity, Mr. Fyffe in his late scholarly history sneers at him as a +sanctimonious old Puritan,--almost a hypocrite. + +Guizot died before Thiers had won his greatest fame as the restorer of +law and order after the communistic riots which followed the siege of +Paris in 1871, when, as President of the Republic, he rendered +inestimable services to France. The great personal defect of Thiers was +vanity; that of Guizot was austerity: but both were men of transcendent +ability and unimpeached patriotism. With these two men began the mighty +power of the French Press in the formation of public opinion. With them +the reign of Louis Philippe was identified as much as that of Queen +Victoria for twenty years has been with Gladstone and Disraeli. Between +them the king "reigned" rather than "governed." This was the period when +statesmen began to monopolize the power of kings in Prussia and Austria +as well as in France and England. Russia alone of the great Powers was +ruled by the will of a royal autocrat. In constitutional monarchies +ministers enjoy the powers which were once given to the favorites of +royalty; they rise and fall with majorities in legislative assemblies. +In such a country as America the President is king, but only for a +limited period. He descends from a position of transcendent dignity to +the obscurity of private life. His ministers are his secretaries, +without influence, comparatively, in the halls of Congress,--neither +made nor unmade by the legislature, although dependent on the Senate for +confirmation, but once appointed, independent of both houses, and +responsible only to the irremovable Executive, who can defy even public +opinion, unless he aims at re-election, a unique government in the +political history of the world. + +The year 1841 opened auspiciously for Louis Philippe. He was at the +summit of his power, and his throne seemed to be solidly cemented. All +the insurrections which had given him so much trouble were suppressed, +and the country was unusually prosperous. The enormous sum of +L85,000,000 had been expended in six years on railways, one quarter more +than England had spent. Population had increased over a million in ten +years, and the exports were L7,000,000 more than they were in 1830. +Paris was a city of shops and attractive boulevards. + +The fortification of the capital continued to be an engrossing matter +with the ministry and legislature, and it was a question whether there +should be built a wall around the city, or a series of strong detached +forts. The latter found the most favor with military men, but the Press +denounced it as nothing less than a series of Bastiles to overawe the +city. The result was the adoption of both systems,--detached forts, each +capable of sustaining a siege and preventing an enemy from effectually +bombarding the city; and the _enceinte continuee_, which proved an +expensive _muraille d'octroi_. Had it not been for the detached forts, +with their two thousand pieces of cannon, Paris would have been unable +to sustain a siege in the Franco-Prussian war. The city must have +surrendered immediately when once invested, or have been destroyed; but +the distant forts prevented the Prussians from advancing near enough to +bombard the centre of the city. + +The war in Algeria was also continued with great vigor by the government +of Guizot. It required sixty thousand troops to carry on the war, bring +the Arabs to terms, and capture their cunning and heroic chieftain +Abd-el-Kader, which was done at last, after a vast expenditure of money +and men. Among the commanders who conducted this African war were +Marshals Valee, Changarnier, Cavaignac, Canrobert, Bugeaud, St. Arnaud, +and Generals Lamoriciere, Bosquet, Pelissier. Of these Changarnier was +the most distinguished, although, from political reasons, he took no +part in the Crimean War. The result of the long contest, in which were +developed the talents of the generals who afterward gained under +Napoleon III. so much distinction, was the possession of a country +twelve hundred miles in length and three hundred in breadth, many parts +of which are exceedingly fertile, and capable of sustaining a large +population. As a colony, however, Algeria has not been a profitable +investment. It took eighteen years to subdue it, at a cost of one +billion francs, and the annual expense of maintaining it exceeds one +hundred million francs. The condition of colonists there has generally +been miserable; and while the imports in 1845 were one hundred million +francs, the exports were only about ten millions. The great importance +of the colony is as a school for war; it has no great material or +political value. The English never had over fifty thousand European +troops, aside from the native auxiliary army, to hold India in +subjection, with a population of nearly three hundred millions, whereas +it takes nearly one hundred thousand men to hold possession of a country +of less than two million natives. This fact, however, suggests the +immeasurable superiority of the Arabs over the inhabitants of India from +a military point of view. + +The accidental death, in 1842, of the Due d'Orleans, heir to the +throne, was attended with important political consequences. He was a +favorite of the nation, and was both gifted and virtuous. His death left +a frail infant, the Comte de Paris, as heir to the throne, and led to +great disputes in the Chambers as to whom the regency should be +intrusted in case of the death of the king. Indeed, this sad calamity, +as it was felt by the nation, did much to shake the throne of +Louis Philippe. + +The most important event during the ministry of Guizot, in view of its +consequences on the fortunes of Louis Philippe, was the Spanish +marriages. The Salic law prohibited the succession of females to the +throne of France, but the old laws of Spain permitted females as well as +males to reign. In consequence, it was always a matter of dynastic +ambition for the monarchs of Europe to marry their sons to those Spanish +princesses who possibly might become sovereign of Spain. But as such +marriages might result in the consolidation of powerful States, and thus +disturb the balance of power, they were generally opposed by other +countries, especially England. Indeed, the long and bloody war called +the War of Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough and Eugene were the +heroes, was waged with Louis XIV. to prevent the union of France and +Spain, as seemed probable when the bequest of the Spanish throne was +made to the Duc d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., who had married a +Spanish princess. The victories of Marlborough and Eugene prevented this +union of the two most powerful monarchies of Europe at that time, and +the treaty of Utrecht permanently guarded against it. The title of the +Duc d'Anjou to the Spanish throne was recognized, but only on the +condition that he renounced for himself and his descendants all claim to +the French crown,--while the French monarch renounced on his part for +his descendants all claim to the Spanish throne, which was to descend, +against ancient usages, to the male heirs alone. The Spanish Cortes and +the Parliament of Paris ratified this treaty, and it became incorporated +with the public law of Europe. + +Up to this time the relations between England and France had been most +friendly. Louis Philippe had visited Queen Victoria at Windsor, and the +Queen of England had returned the visit to the French king with great +pomp at his chateau d'Eu, in Normandy, where magnificent fetes followed. +Guizot and Lord Aberdeen, the English foreign minister, were also in +accord, both statesmen adopting a peace policy. This _entente cordiale_ +between England and France had greatly strengthened the throne of Louis +Philippe, who thus had the moral support of England. + +But this moral support was withdrawn when the king, in 1846, yielding to +ambition and dynastic interests, violated in substance the treaty of +Utrecht by marrying his son, the Duc de Montpensier, to the Infanta, +daughter of Christina the Queen of Spain, and second wife of Ferdinand +VII., the last of the Bourbon kings of Spain. Ferdinand left two +daughters by Queen Christina, but no son. By the Salic law his younger +brother Don Carlos was the legitimate heir to the throne; but his +ambitious wife, who controlled him, influenced him to alter the law of +succession, by which his eldest daughter became the heir. This bred a +civil war; but as Don Carlos was a bigot and tyrant, like all his +family, the liberal party in France and England brought all their +influence to secure the acknowledgment of the claims of Isabella, now +queen, under the regency of her mother Christina. But her younger +sister, the Infanta, was also a great matrimonial prize, since on the +failure of issue in case the young queen married, the Infanta would be +the heir to the crown. By the intrigues of Louis Philippe, aided by his +astute, able, but subservient minister Guizot, it was contrived to marry +the young queen to the Duke of Cadiz, one of the degenerate descendants +of Philip V., since no issue from the marriage was expected, in which +case the heir of the Infanta Donna Fernanda, married to the Duc de +Montpensier, would some day ascend the throne of Spain. The English +government, especially Lord Palmerston, who had succeeded Lord Aberdeen +as foreign secretary, was exceedingly indignant at this royal trick; for +Louis Philippe had distinctly promised Queen Victoria, when he +entertained her at his royal chateau in Normandy, that this marriage of +the Duc de Montpensier should not take place until Queen Isabella was +married and had children. Guizot also came in for a share of the +obloquy, and made a miserable defence. The result of the whole matter +was that the _entente cordiale_ between the governments of France and +England was broken,--a great misfortune to Louis Philippe; and the +English government was not only indignant in view of this insincerity, +treachery, and ambition on the part of the French king, but was +disappointed in not securing the hand of Queen Isabella for Prince +Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. + +Meanwhile corruption became year by year more disgracefully flagrant. It +entered into every department of the government, and only by evident +corruption did the king retain his power. The eyes of the whole nation +were opened to his selfishness and grasping ambition to increase the +power and wealth of his family. In seven years a thousand million francs +had been added to the national debt. The government works being +completed, there was great distress among the laboring classes, and +government made no effort to relieve it. Consequently, there was an +increasing disaffection among the people, restrained from open violence +by a government becoming every day more despotic. Even the army was +alienated, having reaped nothing but barren laurels in Algeria. +Socialistic theories were openly discussed, and so able an historian as +Louis Blanc fanned the discontent. The Press grew more and more hostile, +seeing that the nation had been duped and mocked. But the most marked +feature of the times was excessive venality. "Talents, energy, and +eloquence," says Louis Blanc, "were alike devoted to making money. Even +literature and science were venal. All elevated sentiments were +forgotten in the brutal materialism which followed the thirst for gold." +The foundations of society were rapidly being undermined by dangerous +theories, and by general selfishness and luxury among the middle +classes. No reforms of importance took place. Even Guizot was as much +opposed to electoral extension as the Duke of Wellington. The king in +his old age became obstinate and callous, and would not listen to +advisers. The Prince de Joinville himself complained to his brother of +the inflexibility of his father. "His own will," said he, "must prevail +over everything. There are no longer any ministers. Everything rests +with the king." + +Added to these evils, there was a failure of the potato crop and a +monetary crisis. The annual deficit was alarming. Loans were raised +with difficulty. No one came to the support of a throne which was felt +to be tottering. The liberal Press made the most of the difficulties to +fan the general discontent. It saw no remedy for increasing evils but in +parliamentary reform, and this, of course, was opposed by government. +The Chamber of Deputies, composed of rich men, had lost the confidence +of the nation. The clergy were irrevocably hostile to the government. +"Yes," said Lamartine, "a revolution is approaching; and it is a +revolution of contempt." The most alarming evil was the financial state +of the country. The expenses for the year 1847 were over fourteen +hundred millions, nearly four hundred millions above the receipts. Such +a state of things made loans necessary, which impaired the +national credit. + +The universal discontent sought a vent in reform banquets, where +inflammatory speeches were made and reported. These banquets extended +over France, attended by a coalition of hostile parties, the chiefs of +which were Thiers, Odillon Barrot, De Tocqueville, Garnier-Pages, +Lamartine, and Ledru-Rollin, who pointed out the evils of the times. At +last, in 1848, the opposition resolved on a great banquet in Paris, to +defy the government. The radicals sounded the alarm in the newspapers. +Terror seized all classes, and public business was suspended, for +revolution was in the air Men said to one another, "They will be +fighting in the streets soon." + +The place selected for the banquet was in one of the retired streets +leading out of the Champs Elysees,--a large open space enclosed by +walls capable of seating six thousand people at table. The proposed +banquet, however, was changed to a procession, extending from the Place +of the Bastille to the Madeleine. The National Guard were invited to +attend without their arms, but in uniform. The government was justly +alarmed, for no one could tell what would come of it, although the +liberal chiefs declared that nothing hostile was meant. Louis Blanc, +however,--socialist, historian, journalist, agitator, leader among the +working classes,--meant blood. The more moderate now began to fear that +a collision would take place between the people and the military, and +that they would all be put down or massacred. They were not prepared for +an issue which would be the logical effect of the procession, and at the +eleventh hour concluded to abandon it. The government, thinking that the +crisis was passed, settled into an unaccountable repose. There were only +twenty thousand regular troops in the city. There ought to have been +eighty thousand; but Guizot was not the man for the occasion. + +Meanwhile the National Guard began to fraternize with the people. The +popular agitation increased every hour. Soon matters again became +serious. Barricades were erected. There was consternation at the +Tuileries. A cabinet council was hastily called, with the view of a +change of ministers, and Guizot retired from the helm. The crowd +thickened in the streets, with hostile intent, and an accidental shot +precipitated the battle between the military and the mob. Thiers was +hastily sent for at the palace, and arrived at midnight. He refused +office unless joined by the man the king most detested, Odillon Barrot. +Loath was Louis Philippe to accept this great opposition chief as +minister of the interior, but there was no alternative between him and +war. The command of the army was taken from Generals Sebastiani and +Jacqueminot, and given to Marshal Bugeaud, while General Lamoriciere +took the command of the National Guard. + +The insurgents were not intimidated. They seized the churches, rang the +bells, sacked the gunsmith shops, and erected barricades. The old +marshal was now hampered by the Executive. He should have been made +dictator; but subordinate to the civil power, which was timid and +vacillating, he could not act with proper energy. Indeed, he had orders +not to fire, and his troops were too few and scattered to oppose the +surging mass. The Palais Royal was the first important place to be +abandoned, and its pictures and statues were scattered by the triumphant +mob. Then followed the attack on the Louvre and the Tuileries; then the +abdication of the king; and then his inglorious flight. The monarchy +had fallen. + +Had Louis Philippe shown the courage and decision of his earlier years, +he might have preserved his throne. But he was now a timid old man, and +perhaps did not care to prolong his reign by massacre of his people. He +preferred dethronement and exile rather than see his capital deluged in +blood. Nor did he know whom to trust. Treachery and treason finished +what selfishness and hypocrisy had begun. Still, it is wonderful that he +preserved his power for eighteen years. He must have had great tact and +ability to have reigned so long amid the factions which divided France, +and which made a throne surrounded with republican institutions at that +time absurd and impossible. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Louis Blanc's Six Ans de Louis Philippe; Lamartine; Capefigue's +L'Histoire de Louis Philippe; Lives of Thiers and Guizot; Fyffe's Modern +Europe; Life of Lafayette; Annual Register; Mackenzie's Nineteenth +Century; Conversations with Thiers and Guizot. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +IX*** + + +******* This file should be named 10640.txt or 10640.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/4/10640 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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