satisfied with the author of the Génie du Christianisme for his journey to Rome, why does not he commend the heroism by which he repaired and effaced his fault? Why does not he state that on the day of the death of the Duke d'Enghien, the Viscount alone, of all those who had public appointments, sent in his resignation to the murderer of the last heir of the house of Condè? It were almost to be wished that he should fall into error, so nobly does he make reparation. His first fault produced the Génie du Christianisme; the second, an action which exalts the dignity of human nature.

Some observations are yet to be made on his speech to the Institute. It was never published by M. de C.; he has disavowed the copies which have been circulated by his enemies. They are materially changed, mutilated in some parts, and amplified in others. Do the editors of these libels wish to be believed on their bare affirmation? We know they are not unpractised in the art of interpolation and alterations of text. For example, the report made by M. de C. to the king's council at Thort, is most inaccurately given. It has been perverted, after the manner of Bonaparte, and the author is represented to have used expressions precisely the reverse of those he really employed. The same mode of conduct has been pursued in regard to the manifesto of Count de Lally Tollendal.

If it were so much approved by Bonaparte, why should he declare, that had such a speech been made, he would have closed. the doors of the Institute, and thrown M. de C. to the bottom of a dungeon? In what way are we to explain the order received by the Viscount to quit Paris; and the refusal to admit him a member of the Institute?

There must have been contained in that speech remarks very unusual facts which the tyrant could not hear, but which M. de C. had the courage to tell him! Such is then the reward of twelve years spent in struggles, privations, and the most honorable distress! Such is the character of the attempt made to traduce one of the most illustrious personages of which France could ever boast. The hirelings of the Revolution would lessen the weight of their own infamy, by endeavouring to communicate a portion of it to men of integrity and honor.

The conduct of M. de C. during the hundred days, is in a spirit of consistency with a life so laudably engaged; his glory is consecrated, and belongs to posterity.

In conclusion, M. de C. is accused of being ambitious! If the reproach be merited, let us acknowledge at least, that his ambition: is very deficient in dexterity; that he has followed an uncommon path in pursuit of eminence. His compositions, if they were intended to promote his interest, should have been conducted on very different principles.

It may be affirmed with great truth that the virulency of detrac tion will not create in the Viscount a moment of uneasiness or surprise. "I shall soon," he observes in his last work, “see revived the happy era of Fouché. and Savary.”

The libellers of M. de C. know very well they have nothing to fear from his generosity. Seven or eight months ago a gentleman in one of the departments of the ministry, whose name we suppress, for it would be imprudent to disclose it, acquainted M. de C. by letter, that a pamphlet would soon appear against him, but that if he would exert himself a little, he might prevent the publication of it. The Viscount having thanked him for his generous advice, refused to adopt any measures that could prevent the appearance of the libel, and it did appear.

Another person during the hundred days wrote against M. de C. with so much intemperance, that one of the ministers thought himself obliged after the king's return, to deprive him of the post he held under government. The man then addressed himself to M. de C., who interceded with the minister in his behalf.

We are aware that M. de Chateaubriand will see with reluctance, these traits of character and disposition made public. He must however pardon the indiscretion; the care of his reputation belongs to every man of honor in France.

M. de C. commenced his career in the camp of Louis XVIII. He was so fortunate as to be included in the number of those who first shed their blood in his defence. He languished afterwards in protracted exile; during which he frequently wanted the necessaries of life. At this period his elder brother died on the scaffold, with his illustrious grandfather, M. de Malesherbes, The Viscount revisited France, to bring us back to the faith of

our ancestors.

"If in our country religion has recovered a portion of her empire, (says an article to which we merely allude,') if to point sarcasms at priests, saints, mysteries, and the ceremonial observances of religion, be no longer fashionable; for the advantages we are certainly indebted to M. de C.'s Génie du Christianisme..

"That work has occasioned a real revolution. When we consider that the author, unknown to the world as a man of letters, had to contend with impieties of sixty years' duration, to encounter sallies of wit and sarcasm, consecrated on the shrine of Voltaire, and that in a space of less than four years, he has been able to surmount difficulties, so considerable in number and variety, we must admit that an enterprise crowned with such

'Journal des Debats, 8 Janvier, 1815.

signal success, is a proof of intellectual energy and internal power, not commonly bestowed on men.

From that moment the hopes and confidence of all men of honor were reposed in M. de C. To them he showed the distant possibility of a return to the ancient order of things. For while he revived the recollection of the Christian faith, he contributed at the same time to re-establish the principle of a monarchy, founded on the Christian religion. He could not adduce so many recorded examples of chivalry; mourn so pathetically over the ashes of religious institutions destroyed by the revolution; draw so inimitable a portrait of the manners of our ancestors, and the customs and habits of early days; retrace in the destruction of St. Denis, the grandeur of our ancient kings; it was not possible to write a history of the past, with so many descriptive interesting touches, without inspiring a feeling of regret for what was no more, and the hope of seeing it revived.

Bonaparte foresaw the danger, and would have conciliated the author of the Génie du Christianisme. He dispatched him to Rome, accompanied by his uncle, Cardinal Fesch. Napoleon was yet a consul, and the royalists served him in the hope that he might be prevailed upon to imitate the example of a second Monck; a line of policy equally dictated to him by a sense of interest as well as of glory. We were, however, quickly undeceived. The Duke d'Enghien was assassinated. The crime afforded M. de C. an opportunity of displaying those virtues which adorn the human character, and are its best source of consolation.

The day after the commission of that atrocious deed, he signified his refusal to accept a post under government in the department of the Valais, to which he had been recently appointed.

A circumstance must here be mentioned, which has not perhaps excited the attention it deserved. The contest between Bonaparte and M. de C. assumed the character of a public dispute. The latter, repeatedly exposed to the danger of being shot by order of the former, called every day on the police; and, though menaced with the threat of imprisonment and exile, and open to a different kind of persecution,-bribery, and the exchange of obliging offices, escaped notwithstanding, by the peculiar favor of Heaven.

Can it be conceived, at this time, possible, that such passages as the following should have been written during Bonaparte's reign, and at a period when his triumphs had raised him to the highest point of power?

"When abject submission continues silent, and nothing is to be heard but the chain of the slave, and the cry of the informer; VOL. XII. NO. XXIV.

Pam.

2 M

when all hearts tremble at the approach of the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to merit his approbation as to incur his displeasure; the historian comes forth, the avenger of his country. In vain Nero succeeds: already Tacitus is born; near the ashes of Germanicus he rises unseen; and a just Providence abandons to an obscure child, the master of the world. The author of the Annals will soon unmask his pretended virtue; and leave to the deified tyrant no qualities but those of the buffoon, incendiary, and parricide; just as the primitive Christians of Egypt, at the risk of their lives, penetrated the sanctuary of idolaters; and, seizing in its dark recesses the god which crime presented to the incense of fear, dragged to light not the image of a saint, but the hideous resemblance of a monster."

In the following passage, M. de C. appears to have drawn his own portrait.

"There are some altars, (the altar of honor is one of them,) which, though abandoned, still have a claim to sacrifice. The temple is deserted, but the deity is still there. Wherever fortune affords a chance of success, there is no heroism in the attempt to secure it. Magnanimous actions are those which contemplate, as a necessary consequence, misfortune and death. We have no doubt that in the age of Sertorius, people of contracted notions, who mistook the baseness of their heart for sagacity, thought it extremely ridiculous that an obscure individual should dare to withstand singly all the power of Sylla. The actions of men, very fortunately however, are judged in a different manner by posterity; and the last sentence on courage and virtue, is not pronounced by vice and cowardice."

How pathetic is the language of M. de C. when speaking of Mesdames (the aunts of the king)! May it not be regarded in the light of a sermon, delivered at the foot of the imperial throne, recommending the dynasty of the Bourbons?

"We were destined to find on the shores of the Adriatic, the tomb of those daughters of kings, whose funeral oration we had heard delivered under the roof of a garret in London, the silence of the grave which incloses the remains of these august personages, shall for once, at least, be interrupted. The sound of French footsteps shall be heard descending to the vault. The respect paid to princesses, while living, by a poor nobleman at Versailles, would have been of little value: the prayers of a Christian, in a foreign land, will now perhaps be acceptable to saints."

When Bonaparte read this celebrated passage in the Mercury, he threatened to the author on the steps of his throne. Happily he did not put his threat in execution. It is certain that

the ex-emperor, who was insensible to fear, entertained a secret sort of partiality for great literary names. He would not have put to death the author of the Génie du Christianisme in reality: he meant only to destroy him morally; and to annihilate, if possible,

his power.

Armand de Chateaubriand was soon afterwards arrested on the coast of Normandy, entrusted with the king's orders. M. de C. strove, in vain, to save the life of his cousin. Bonaparte satisfied on the unhappy man, his implacable hatred of the family. M. de C., who could not obtain permission to visit his relative in prison, followed him to the field of Grenelle, the day of the execution; but he arrived a moment too late; for he found him already shot, and a butcher's dog in the act of gnawing the skull. The only brother of the Viscount had previously suffered in the

same cause.

The work intitled The Martyrs, was then published. It contains a picture of the character of Galerius, and his conversation with Diocletian; in which Bonaparte might easily discern his own likeness:

"In the midst of those Saturnalia of grandeur, he endeavours to conceal his former nakedness, by an ostentatious display of luxury but the more closely he wraps himself in the folds of Cæsar's purple robe, the more evidently the coarse garb of the shepherd is

seen."

The dialogue between Galerius and Diocletian, is perhaps still more remarkable:

or die.

They must," said Galerius, " either contribute to my renown, What do I care for being hated, provided I only am feared? To avoid contempt, I will inspire terror."

"That method of proceeding is not so prudent as you imagine it to be," replied Diocletian. "If humanity has no weight with you, show some regard of your own safety. A violent reign cannot last. I do not pretend to assert that your fall will be sudden; but there is in the nature of things a certain boundary of evil, which cannot be passed. The elements of that evil are soon observed, whatever be the cause, to disappear. Of wicked princes, Tiberius alone maintained for any length of time his post at the helm of state; but Tiberius was not cruel till toward the conclusion of his reign. You belong to the race of those princes, who appear on earth at the epocha of great revolutions, when, by the will of God, families and kingdoms are overthrown."

The English translator gave, what no one had the courage to attempt in France, the true explanation of those passages; and, doubtless, had it been known at Paris, the author would most probably have been ruined.