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Leader (1850-1860), 11th October 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18

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      Lamenna.Is. (Huvrcs Vosthtmes Da I<\ Lam...

      pretre ; he was then the ardent champion of Catholicism , but his splendid talents were moved by an earnestness which promised trouble , and produced what it promised . The Breton thinker was " terribly in earnest , " as Eeinble said of Kean ; and while he denounced the vice of the age , "indifference in matters of religion , " he tried to make even the Pope change indifference into earnestness . Failing here—finding that the Church regarded him as " impracticable "—he wheeled suddenly round , and attacked the Church . He became an ardent republican ., and he died with emphatic disavowal of that Church which had once been his ark of refuge . In many ways liarnerinais is deeply interesting to us . His pure and noble life , his ardent faith , his incomparable style , make everything that fell from his pen worth , preservation . The volume before us will be welcomed by all who know Lamennais ; but for the public to whom his other works arc unknown , it will have less interest . It contains J ? ensees after the manner of Pascal , sometimes brief essays , sometimes epigrams and yvtofiat ; a charming little essay on " Old Age " ( not at all like Cic « ro _); and a long account of the once famous Proces d ' jdvriL

      From , the Pens 6 es we will borrow a few samples suited to pur pages ; we must be permitted to quote the original sometimes in order to obviate the necessary injustice of translation : —

      ¦¦¦• . •¦; ¦ ¦¦ ¦' .:. - ' MIRACLES . ¦ ., ¦ ' . ' ... . ¦ ¦ . There are miracles whenever miracles are believed ; they vanish as soon as doubt appears . "' . ' ¦ ' • .. ¦ ¦ ¦ ... ¦ ' " .. ' ¦¦ : ¦ - ¦ : - . "' . ¦ . .. ' . '" . .. ¦' . ¦ .- . ¦; ' . ¦¦ HISTORY . . ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ' What is History ? Humanity at the Old Bailey . Government hangs the patient , the chaplain preaches to Mm of salvation . Uhistoire , qiJest-ce ? JLe long proces-verbaldu supplicedeVhwnanite . Lejpouvoir iientlahache et lepretre exkoi'te le patient . RESTIESS MEDIOCRIXr . There are people always tormented , always about to produce something important . "They mistake the cholic for the pains of labour ! . " ' : "• : ¦ . : . .: ¦ SINCERITY IN STYI / E . . . . . . " / . ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ . No man succeeds in expressing a sentiment he dees not feel . His style reflects the grimaces of his inind . On ne trouvejamaisVexpression d ^ uiisentivientqiie Von via pas . . L ' esprit grimace et ¦ le style aussi .

      PERFECT STUPIDITY . There are minds so sterile that they cannot even produce absurdities . We find absurdities in . them , it is true , but they are transplantations . It will he expected that among these epigrams many will be merely -epigrams of questionable truth or even unquestionable error ; but they are always happily expressed . There is one rather long passage , in which Xiamennais correctly enough inveighs against the danger to liberty-of a standing armj , but he glides into error when he says , " The Camp replaces theNation . It is absolutely necessary for the freedom of a people tliat the soldier should be a citizen and the citizen a soldier . " A . glance at England would , have assured him that such was by no means the necessary condition of freedom . Our soldiers are not citizens , our citizens are not soldiers . France approximates much nearer to such a condition , yet is France near freedom ? ' ¦ ¦ : .

      There are some admirable thoughts on religion and on free discussion , for which we must refer the reader to the volume itself . " Nothing is rarer , " he says in one place ,.. " than real love of truth ; and yet what interest have men in . evading truth ? It is clear that their convictions in nowise alter her ; admit her or reject her , she remains as truth . KTo man says , 'I will refuse to accept evident truth *—such an enormity would repel every one ; but starting from the supposition that his belief is true , instead of examining this belief he examines all things according to it , calling those opinions true which conform to it , those false which oppose it . This disposition of mind is the resiilt of early tuition . He has been taught that to question what his teachers proclaim is sin ; and hence it is that all controversy in after life irritates him . "

      978 The Le A3)Eb. Psro. 342, Sattthday

      978 THE LE A 3 ) EB . psro . 342 , Sattthday

      Beaumarciiais. Bcaumarchais And Ids Time...

      BEAUMARCIIAIS . Bcaumarchais and Ids Times . By Louis de Lomcnie . Translated by Henry < TEdwards . Vols . III . and IV . Addey and Co . These volumes complete the amusing but somewhat spun-out memoirs of the " admirable Crichton" of the eighteenth century . Beaumarchais seems to have been the most remarkable specimen , of a " Jack of all trades" and * ' master of all" which his century produced , and indeed to this Protean activity he attributes the calumnies which throughout his successful career shadowed every success . Hear him , in his old age , review that career : — \ Vith , gaiety , and even bonhomie ^ I have had enemies without number , and have novcrthele 3 S never crossed , or even taken the path of another person . By dint of reasoning with myself I havo discovered the cause of so much hostility ; in fact , it is natural enough . From the period of my thoughtless youth I have played every instrument , but I belonged to no body of musicians ; the professors of the art detested me .

      I have invented some good machines ; but I did not belong to the body of cngincors , and they spoke ill of me . I composed versoa , songa ; but who -would recognize mo as a poet ? I was the son of a watchmaker . Hot caring about tho game of loto , I wrote Home pieces for the stage , but people aaW : " What is he interfering with ? ho is not an author , for he has immense speculations , and entorprizes without number . " Unable tomeet with anyone who -would undertake my defonco , I printed long Memorials , in order to gain actions which had b « en brought against me , and which may be called atrocious ; but people said : " You see very well that these are not like those our advocatoB produce ; he does not tire you to death ; will such a man be allowed to prove without us that he is in tho right ? " Inde iras . I havo treated-with mioiatere on the subject of great points of reform of which our finances wer * in need ; but people said : " What is ho interfering in ? this man is not a financier . '

      Struggling against all tho powers , I have raised the art of printing in Franco by my euperb editions of Voltaire—the enterprise having been regarded as beyond the capabilities of one individual-, but I woa not a printer , and they said tho devil about

      me . I lnid constructed at the same time the first establishments of tbree or f ~ paper factories without being a manufacturer ; I had the Manufacturers and viLi tor my adversaries . w-aiers _ I have traded in the four quarters of the globe ; but I was not a regular nierch-mt I had forty Chips' at sea at one time ; but I -was not a shipowner , and I was calm « niated in all our seaports . •« nm-A ship-of-war-of fifty-two guns belonging to me had the honour of fightiric in lin with those of his Majesty at the ' taking of Grenada . Notwithstanding the pride of the navy , they gave the cross to the captain of my vessel , and military rewards to my other officers , and what I , who was looked upon as an intruder , gained was the In ? of lny flotilla , which this vessel was convoying . . And nevertheless , of all Frenchmen , whoever they may be , I am the one who has done the most for the liberty of America , the begetter of our own ; for I was the onlv person who dared to form the plan and commence its execution , in spite of Eno-land Spain , and even France ; but I did not belong to the class of negotiators , and I was a ' stranger in the bureaux of the ministers . . Inde tree . Weary of seeing our uniform habitations , and our gardens without poetrv I built a louse which is spoken of ; but I did not belong to the arts , liuleinc *'

      >\ hat . -was I , then ? I was nothing but myself , and myself I have remained free in the midst of fetters , calm in the greatest , of dangers , ¦ making bead-against all storms , directing speculations with one hand , and war -with the other ; as lazy as an ass , and always working ; the object of a thousand calumnies , tut happy m my home , having never belonged to any coterie , either literary , orpolitical , or mystical having never paid court to any one , and yet repelled by all . ' There is : some truth in this , but it is not all the truth . Ours is an envious world , an unjust world , but there is always some fault where it attributes crime , there is always some unavowed cause creating the distrust and dislike

      which arc expressed . It may be that a fault of manner creates the prejudice , and makes the prejudiced public willing to believe the worst that envy or hatred can invent ; but fault or vice there always is . Beaumarchais attributes to sheer envy what was probably the result of his own insolence . His confident , pushing , restless , intriguing nature , created more enmities than friendships . He carried his laurels with an insolent air ; he bpro his defeats Tvith a courage which , admirable in itself , was fatal to sympathy . People are slow to praise those who loudly praise themselves , and are slow to pity those who seem unafflicted by misfortune : no one ; gives alms to the wealthy . ¦ ; '¦ ¦ ¦ ' - , . -. - .: ¦'¦ ' ' . ' . . ' ¦ ' ¦¦ - ¦¦ ' . ¦ ' ;; ¦ ¦ . ¦ ' ...- ¦ . - ¦• . : ..

      Read with this key , the life of Beaumarchais receives fresh interest . That he was an amazingly clever fellow every chapter of the book sufliciently proves ; that he had excellent points in his character his biographer has placed beyond dispute ; and although , on a rigorous investigation , his life seems to have been entirely that of a clever adventurer , it was also that of a good-hearted , valiant man . But his faults were of a kind which the world never pardons , and these faults damage a reputation more than many vices . How many mea are there whose immorality is screened by agreeable manners ? We know them to be dishonest , but they are so charming ; we know them to be sensual , but they are so gay and pleasant ; we know / them to be selfish , but they are so sympathizing in their manners that our goodwill is captive . The two volumes now before us are not so interesting as the two which

      preceded them , but they are full of curious details respecting the state of society in the eighteenth century . The chapters which relate JLJeaumarehais ' extraordinary enterprize of publishing the complete editions of Voltaireand those which relate the story of the opposition tothe pei ' formance of the " Marriage of Figaro "—a performance which the king had absolutely interdicted , foreseeing the i * evolutionary tendency of the piece , but which the Parisian public absolutely demanded—are chapters which no historical student should leave unread . We cannot praise M . de Lomeirie for any higher quality than that of diligence in collecting his materials , but the materials are often sufficiently curious to make us forget his delects .

      The Last Days Of The War. The War. By "W...

      THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR . The War . By "W . H . Russell . From the Death of Lord Raglan to the Evacuation of the Crimea . Koutledge Whew certain documents have been published , and when certain persons have said or printed that which they dare not print or say now , the late war with llussia will be ready for the historian . Mr . Russell has contributed his share . He himself avows , however , that the time has not yet come for the disclosure of all the truth . Nor is this otherwise than natural , considering how several military records even of the Wellington era , are expected to change colour , when the Duke ' s state-paper vault has given up its secrets . At present , an infinite variety of influences ai'e at work to keep the story obscure . From the diplomatic beginning to the diplomatic end , from the

      original plan of the Eastern expedition to the cessation of hostilities—probably at a sudden order from France—a mystery gathers from time to time over the narrative , and wo are forced to be satisfied with Mr . llussell's excuse , " tho time has not yet come . " lie , at least , has told all he knew , though occasionally with studied vagueness , for there are many things that a journalist may know which he cannot prove . It may be a perfectly fandiiar fact to him , that one general betrayed stupidity , and another cowardice ; but who could say so V The law of libel covers a multitude of sins , and common report is not admitted among pleas in justiiication . Suppose a journalist to accredit himself a representative of the ariny , and to ask why a runaway is suffered to wear triumphal plumes , he might sitolaration

      2 iceii . ee whole battalions without wringing from man or oflicor a dec that a particular general of division > vas esteemed a coward in the cunin . So with other matters , still more completely beyond tho reach of present evidence . What were the debates , the bickerings , the divided proposals during the successive councils of war ? What orders were received by the French Commander-in-Chief , and not communicated to the British ? Only an oozing rumour escaped now and then , pervading the camps , and giving rise to endless perplexity and discussion ; the ofliciul ground was beyond the jurisdiction of our own correspondent , deeply as he dived , and minutely as he planned and put together his personal observations and tho testimonies ol other witnesses and actors on the scene . , His second volume takes up the story at tho appointment of General

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11101856/page/18/