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 VILLELE 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 of Angoulême, who recommended 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 Revolution; 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. 259, 260; 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. XI. 1821. rence of similar difficulties, and saw no security for the CHAP. monarchy but in such a prudent course as might avoid the embarrassments which had formerly proved so fatal. He saw not less clearly that, as the territorial aristocracy had been destroyed, and the Church shorn of its whole temporal influence, during the Revolution, it was neither by the sentiments of honour which thrilled the hearts of the nobility, nor the pious devotion which conciliated the power of the Church in the olden time, that attachment to the throne was now to be secured. The land, divided among four millions of little proprietors, the majority of whom could not read, had ceased to maintain an influential body in the state; literary talent, all-powerful in directing others, had no separate interests save that of consequence and place for its possessors, and its energies were directed to the support of the wishes of the really ruling class in society. It was in the burgher class that power was now in reality vested; and it was by attention to their interests and wishes that durability, either for any administration or for the monarchy itself, was to be secured. Economy in expenditure, diminution of burdens, were the great objects on which they were set ; no argument was so convincing with them, no appeal so powerful, as that which promised a reduction of taxation. Penetrated with these ideas, M. de Villèle, from the outset of his parliamentary career, devoted himself, in an especial manner, to the subject of finance, and by his close attention to it, and the store of statistical information which his vast powers of application enabled him to accumulate, and his retentive memory to bring forth on every occasion, he soon acquired that superiority in debate which ultimately led to his being placed at the head of the Government. He was, in every sense, the man of the age; but he was the man of that age only. He had 1 Cap, vii. no great or enlarged ideas: he saw the present clearly, Lam. vii. with all its necessities; but he was blind to the future, iii. 191,192. with its inevitable accessories. His mind had, in the 259, 260; 8, 11; Lac. XI. 1821. CHAP. highest perfection, the powers of the microscope, but not of the telescope. He fell skilfully in with, and worked out admirably, present ideas; but he was not their director, and never could have become the ruler of ultimate thought. 12. Mathieu de Montmorency, M. de Peyron net, Victor. M. de Villèle was the life and soul of the new Ministry, M. de Cor- but he had several coadjutors, who, though not of equal bière, M. capacity, were yet important in their several departments. M. de Corbière, in the important situation of Minister of Finance, displayed qualities, not only of the most suitable, but the most marketable kind. Though of good family, he was essentially bourgeois in his character; he had its virtues, its industry, its perseverance, but at the same time its contracted views, selfishness, and jealousy. The aristocracy was not less the object of his animosity, than it was of the most democratic shopkeeper in the Faubourg St Antoine. His morals were austere, his probity universally known; his manners harsh, his conversation cynical; respected by all, he was beloved by none; but he was a favourite with the Liberal deputies, and possessed great weight in the Chamber, because he was the enemy of their enemy-the noblesse. No contrast could be more striking than the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Mathieu de Montmorency, exhibited. Born of the noblest family in France, inheriting from his historic ancestors their courage, their elevation of mind, and grace of manner, he had united to these qualities of the olden time the liberal ideas and enlarged views of modern society. Carried away, like so many of the young noblemen of the day, by the deceitful colours of the Revolution, he had at first been the warm supporter of its doctrines; and when their fatal tendency had been demonstrated by experience, he fled from France, and consoled himself on the banks of the Leman Lake with the intellectual conversation of Madame de Staël, the fascinating grace of Madame Récamier. Latterly, he had become devout, and was the steady supporter of the Parti-Prétre; but he did not pos |