XI. 1821. CHAP. has been, and ever will be, of the really great and noble in every age and country. He evinced this intrepidity alike in braving the hostility of Napoleon in the zenith of his power, on occasion of the murder of the Duke d'Enghien, in opposing the government of the Restoration, when it sought, in its palmy days, to impose shackles on the freedom of thought; and in adhering to it with noble constancy amidst a nation's defection, when it was laid in the dust on the accession of Louis Philippe. 7. Chateaubriand's merits as an author-by far the most His merits secure passport he has obtained to immortality—will be as an orator, considered in a subsequent chapter, which treats of the literature of France during the Restoration. It is with his qualities as an orator and a statesman that we are here concerned, and they were both of no ordinary kind. Untrained in youth to parliamentary debate, brought for the first time, in middle life, into senatorial contests, he had none of the facility or grace of Mr Canning in extempore debate. This was of the less consequence in France, that the speeches delivered at the tribune were almost all written essays, with scarcely any alteration made at the moment. But, independently of this, his turn of mind was essentially different from that of his English rival. It was equally poetical, brilliant, and imaginative, but more earnest, serious, and impassioned. The one was a high-bred steed, which, conscious of its powers, and revelling in their pacific exercise, canters with ease and grace over the greensward turf; the other, a noble Arab, which toils have inured to privation, and trained to efforts over the sterile desert, and which is any day prepared to die in defence of the much-loved master or playmates of its childhood. Many of his speeches or political pamphlets contain passages of surpassing vigour, eloquence, and pathos; but we shall look in vain in them for the light touch, the aerial spirit, the sportive fancy, which have thrown such a charm over the speeches of Mr Canning. XI. 1821. ter as a As a practical and consistent statesman, we shall find CHAP. more to applaud in the illustrious Frenchman than the far-famed Englishman. It was his good fortune, indeed, 8. not less than his merit, which led to his being appointed His characMinister of Foreign Affairs in France at the time when statesman. its external policy was entirely in harmony with his recorded opinions through life. Mr Canning's evil star placed him in the same situation, when his policy was to be directly at variance with those of his. But, unlike Canning, Chateaubriand showed on other occasions, and on decisive crises, that he could prefer consistency, poverty, and obloquy, to vacillation, riches, and power. His courageous defence of the liberty of the press alone prevented his obtaining a minister's portfolio during the ministry of the Duke de Richelieu. His generous adherence to the fallen fortunes of Henry V. caused him to prefer exile, poverty, and destitution, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he was offered on the accession of Louis Philippe.1 1 ChateauHe was in general to be found in direct opposition to the Memoires, ruling majority, both in numbers and influence, around viii. 372. him-the sure sign of a powerful and noble mind. Power came for a brief season to him, not he to power; he refused it when it could be purchased only at the expense of consistency. briand, 9. Yet with all these great and lofty qualities, Chateaubriand was far from being a perfect character, and many His defects. of his qualities were as pernicious to him as a statesman as they were valuable to him as a romance or didactic writer. He had far too much of the irritability of genius in his temper that unfortunate peculiarity which is so often conspicuous where the force of intellect is not equal to the brilliancy of imagination, and which so generally disqualifies imaginative writers from taking a permanent lead in the government of mankind. He had a great store of historical knowledge at command, but it was of the striking and attractive more than the solid and the useful kind; and there is no trace, either in his speeches or writings, VOL. II. 2 M XI. 1821. CHAP. of his having paid any attention to statistics, or the facts connected with the social amelioration of mankind. In that respect he was decidedly inferior to Mr Canning, who, although not inclined by nature to that species of information, was yet aware of its importance, and could at times, when required, bring out its stores with the happiest effect. Above all, he was infected with that inordinate vanity which is so peculiarly the disgrace of the very highest class of French literature, and which, if it at times sustained his courage in the most trying circumstances, at others led him into the display of the most puerile weaknesses, and renders his memoirs a melancholy proof how closely the magnanimity of a great can be connected with the vanities of a little mind. lèle. 10. M. DE VILLÈLE, who was the head of the new and M. de Vil- purely Royalist Ministry which succeeded the second one of the Duke de Richelieu, and who played so important a part in the subsequent history of the Restoration, was a very remarkable man. He had no natural advantages, either of rank, family, or person. What JOSEPH DE VILLÈLE was born at Toulouse in 1773, of an ancient Languedoc family. He entered, at a very early age, the service of the marines, and, under M. de St Félix, served long in the Indian seas. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, the crew of the vessel in which he was revolted against their officers, who held out faithfully for their captive king, and in consequence he was brought, with M. de St Félix, a prisoner into the Isle of France, where the latter escaped and was sheltered by a courageous friend, while the revolutionary authorities in the island put a price on his head. M. de Villèle was acquainted with the place of his retreat, and as this was known, he was seized, thrown into prison, and threatened with instant death if he did not reveal it; but neither menaces nor offers could prevail upon him to be unfaithful to his friend. Meanwhile M. de St Félix, informed of his danger, voluntarily quitted his retreat, and surrendered himself to the revolutionary authorities, by whom he was brought to trial along with M. de Villèle. The latter, however, defended himself with so much courage, ability, and temper, that he excited a general interest in his behalf, which led to his acquittal. As he could not rejoin his vessel, which was entirely under the guidance of revolutionary officers, he remained in the island, where his amiable manners, and the universal esteem in which he was held among its inhabitants, procured for him the hand of the daughter of a respectable planter, and with it a considerable fortune. He fixed his residence in consequence there; made himself acquainted with its local affairs; and from the attention which he bestowed upon them, and the ability he displayed, he was XI. 1821. he became he owed to the native vigour of his mind, and CHAP. the practical force of his understanding, and to them alone. Diminutive in figure, thin in person, and in his later years almost emaciated, with a stoop in his shoulders, and a feeble step, he was not qualified, like Mirabeau or Danton, to overawe popular assemblies by a look. His voice was harsh-even squeaking; and a nasal twang rendered it in a peculiar manner unpleasant. . The keenness of his look, and penetration of his eye, alone revealed the native powers of his mind. When speaking, he generally looked down, and was often fumbling among the papers before him-the most unfortunate habit which a person destined for public speaking can possibly acquire. But all these disadvantages, which, in the case of most men, would have been altogether fatal, were compensated, and more than compensated, by the remarkable powers of his mind. Thought gave expres elected a member of the colonial legislature, and obtained nearly its entire direction. He returned to France in 1807, with a moderate fortune, and fixed his residence at his paternal estate of Marville, near his native town of Toulouse, where he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, without losing sight of the colonial interests, of which he had become so entire a master. In 1814, when the Bourbons were first restored, he evinced the strength of his Royalist principles by the publication of a pamphlet, in which he protested against the charter as an unwarrantable encroachment on the rights of the crown. His conduct subsequently, on the return of Napoleon from Elba, was so courageous, that it attracted the notice of the Duke de Angoulême, who recom mended him to the king for the situation of mayor of Toulouse, which he accordingly obtained. His conduct in that capacity was so firm, temperate, and judicious, that it procured for him the esteem of all classes of citizens, and led to his being chosen, in a short time after, to represent that city in the Chamber of Deputies. He did not rise, like a meteor, to sudden eminence there, but slowly acquired confidence, and won the ascendancy which is never in the end denied to men who save their more indolent but not less impassioned associates the labour of thinking and the trouble of study. He did not shine by his eloquence or fervour at the tribune, but by degrees won respect and confidence by the information which his speeches always displayed, the moderation by which they were distinguished, and the thorough acquaintance which they evinced with the pressing wants and material interests of the dominant middle class of society. It was easy to see how much he had profited by the salutary misfortunes which had rendered him for so many years a planter in the Isle of France. Thenceforward his biography forms part of the history of France.-Biographie des Hommes Vivants, v. 511, 513; and LAMARTINE'S Histoire de la Restauration, vii. 9, 11. XI. 1821. CHAP. sion to his countenance, elocution supplied the want of voice, earnestness made up for the absence of physical advantages. Intelligence revealed itself in spite of every natural defect. His auditors began by being indifferent ; they soon became attentive; they ended by being admirers. A clear and penetrating intellect, great powers of expression, its usual concomitant, a just and reasonable mind, and an enlightened understanding, were his chief characteristics. He did not carry away his audience by noble sentiments and eloquent language, like Chateaubriand; nor charm them by felicitous imagery and brilliant ideas, like Canning; but he succeeded in the end in not less forcibly commanding their attention, and often more durably directed their determinations. The reason was, that he addressed himself more exclusively to their reason the considerations which he adduced, if less calculated to carry away in the outset, were often more effective in prevailing in the end, because they did not admit of a reply. He was a decided Royalist in principle; but his loyalty was that of the reason and the understanding, not the heart and the passions, and, therefore, widely different from the unreflecting violence of the ultras, or the blind bigotry of the priests. He was a supporter of the monarchy, because he was convinced that it was the form of government alone practicable in and suited to the necessities of France; but he was well aware of the difficulties with which it was surrounded, from the interests created by, and the passions evolved during, the Revolu259, 260; tion; and it was his great object to pursue such a moderate and conciliatory policy as could alone render such a system durable.1 1 Cap. vii. Lam. vii. 7,8. 11. turn of mind, and His penetrating understanding early perceived that, in His peculiar this view, the most pressing of all considerations was the management of the finances. Aware that it was the frightful state of disorder in which they had become involved which had been the immediate cause of the Revolution, he anticipated a similar convulsion from the recur course of policy. |