BOOKS.

GIIIZOT'S MEMOIRS..

This volume of M. Guizot's "Memoirs to Illustrate the History of my Time" will not fulfil the expectations of many. The author avows and acts upon the principle of reserve ; he could say more. There is little or nothing of the purely personal ; very little of what the elder Disraeli called Secret History, or even of the writ- er's autobiography. " Characters " of eminent public men will be found in its pages from historical figures like Louis the Eighteenth, Talleyrand, or Fondle, down to French politicians whose names are scarcely known out of France, if they are re- membered there ; but they are painted in their public rather than their individual characters, and though the traits are evidently true the manner of the master is almost as remark- able as the features of the portrait. We meet with passing notices of the public feelings and opinions of France, especially of Parisian society under Napoleon, and of the country at large during that terrible crisis from the approach of Napoleon's first downfall until the reestablishment of the Bourbons after Waterloo ; and these with the portraits constitute the most fresh and popular parts of the volume. Reflections, deserving to be characterized as political philosophy, frequently occur, sometimes broad, pro- found, and stated with exceeding pith and mastery, not to say felicity, though too much founded on French nature to be always universally true ; sometimes too merely doctrinaire in tone ; oc- casionally weighty in the first rather than seoondary metaphorical meaning, and, be it said with all respect, even prosy. But the political philosophy iss incidental. Substantially the memoirs will be a political history of France from the downfall of Napoleon to the downfall of Guizot, written with the object of defending the great doctrinaire, his party, and their principles, from the attacks that have been made upon them, and extenuating what must be called their failure ; for neither as ministers, supporters, critics, or op- posers of the old Bourbons could the doctrinaires teach that in- curable family in the elder or younger branch how to govern consti- tutionally, and all the world knows the end of the juste milieu under Louis Philippe, when doctrinaire principles seemed at least to be embraced and carried out by the King himself. This de- fence, though " fortiter in re," is not barefaced or unflinching in mode. The principles of the party were, and, indeed, must be, always right, their characters above all suspicion ; and though they have failed in France, they have rendered immortal service to the cause of Parliamentary government ; but looking back upon the past, M. Guizot admits, that new to representative and constitutional institutions, they sometimes made mistakes ; in the conflict of parties they might be occasionally violent or unjust; but their-champion sees nothing important to repent of—nothing in the nature of "deadly political sin." Their ideas properly carried out would have upheld the Restoration the elder line of the Bourbons, and the Charter of Louis the Eighteenth; which M. Guizot thinks furnished -sufficient guarantees for regulated liberty and constitutional government, had the times, the temper of men, and the state of French politics during the period of which this volume treats, allowed of a fair trial.

And in this last point he appears to be right. Viewed as a nar- rative the history is rather unexciting ; partly because the reader may be a little disappointed of the revelations which he cannot help expecting, while he finds himself at each page being told only what he knows already, (or at least might learn,) accompanied with a commentary:. The object of the writer necessarily renders the story if not impartial yet imperfect, from the prominence given to his party, their measures, and ideas ; while though the author cannot in the least be charged with wilfully obtruding him- self, yet the very essence of the volume being the recollections and thinkings and doings of Guizot, he is made to stand out somewhat too prominently for the subordinate place he then occu- pied in public affairs. M. Guizot's book forcibly impresses upon the mind the conviction that the political and social elements be- queathed by the Revolutionary and Imperial periods to the Con- stitutional Restoration, were such as taking the characters of the Bourbons and returned emigres into consideration, made the Revolution of 1830 inevitable. Personal vanity was rampant throughout society, the passion for " equality " which had pro- duced and been confirmed by the Revolution, and of which the im- plicit submission to the rule of the great Emperor was only another expression, the obstinacy and unmanageableness of the triumphant Royalists, who would conceive the Restoration only as the appointed period of their own selfish and vindictive triumph, rendered Representative government almost impossible. To thesa conflicting elements were added angry Imperialists idolizing a past which did not seem dead, while the great-Emperor and his son were still in life ;- and Republicans who may well be pardoned for the illusion which causes them to think that form of govern- ment the only one possible for a country, which at all events has been abused by every dynasty. The retrospect as seen in M. Guizot's book is most melancholy ; and yet he considers that the bulk of the middle olasses were reasonable in their wishes and willing to sup- port the King's government, till the final catastrophe under Charles the Tenth ; and that even he meant well, and erred mainly from weakness. Indeed there is throughout the book an evident lean- ing to the old Bourbon rule that will surprise many who only re- member Guizot as the minister of Louis Philippe. Does the an-

• Memoirs to Illustrate the History of My Throe. By F. Guisot, Author of "Memoirs of Sir Hobert Peel," "History of Oliver Cromwell," Sm. Volume I. Published by Bentley.

thor's great experience in revolutions and the troubled silence or subdued mutterings that forecast them, . induce him to anticipate another change • and that the representative of so-called legiti- mate right is the next idol to be raised up, and in its turn thrown down ? When M. Guizot arrived in Paris in 1807 despotism was tri- umphant and it may be supposed satisfied, so far as it can be satisfied, as to its safety. What the author calls the "opposi- tion" was apparently social only—for how could it show itself in public ? But it was merely an opposition of sentiment, or at best of opinion, giving utterance to its thoughts in private life.

"The errors and disasters of the Revolution had not led the survivors of that active generation to renounce their convictions or desires ; they re- mained sincerely liberal, 'but without practical or urgent pretension, and with the reserve of men who had suffered much and succeeded little in their attempts at legislative reform. They still held to freedom of thought and speech, but had no aspirations after pnwer. They detested and warmly cri- ticized despotism, but without any open attempt to repress or overthrow existing authority. It was the opposition of enlightened and independent lookers-on, who had neither the opportunity nor inclination to interfere as actors."

Such was the tone and feeling of the salons ; public opinion out of doors did not dare to display itself, or there was none to dis- play, or M. Guizot if he observed it does not record his observa- tions. When in 1814 the close of the Imperial drama was ap- proaching, this was the state of mind to which the most glorious of despots had brought the most glory-loving of nations.

"While Napoleon in this closing struggle wasted the last remnants of his fortune and power, he encountered no disappointment or ob- stacle from any quarter of France, either from Paris or the departments, the party in opposition, or the public in general. There was no enthu- siasm in his cause, and little confidence in his success, but no one rose openly against him ; all hostility was comprised in a few unfavourable expressions, some preparatory announcements, and here and there a change of side as people began to catch a glimpse of the approaching issue. The 'Emperor acted in full liberty, with all the strength that still pertained to his isolated position, and the moral and physical exhaustion of the country. Such general apathy was never before exhibited in the midst of so much na- tional anxiety, or so many disaffected persons abstaining from action under similar circumstances, with such numerous partisans ready to renounce the master they still served with implicit docility. It was an entire nation of wearied spectators who had long given up all interference in their own fate, and knew not what catastrophe they were to hope or fear to the terrible game of which they were the stake. "I grew impatient of remaining a motionless beholder of the shifting spectacle ; and not foreseeing when or how it would terminate, I determined, towards the middle of March, to repair to Nismes, and pass some weeks with my mother, whom I had not seen for a considerable time. I have still be- fore my eyes the aspect of Paris, particularly of the Rue de Rivoli, (then in progresa of construction,) as I passed along on the morning of my departure. There were no workmen and no activity; materials heaped together without being used, deserted scaffoldings, buildings abandoned for want of money, hands, or confidence,-and in 'ruins before completion. Everywhere, amongst the people, a discontented air of uneasy idleness, as if they were equally in want of labour and repose. Throughout my journey, on the highways, in the towns, and in the fields, I noticed the same appearance of inactivity and agitation, the same visible impoverishment of the country ; there were more women and children than men many young conscripts marching mourn- fully to their battalions sick and wounded soldiers returning to the interior; in fact, a mutilated and exhausted nation. Side by side with this physical suffering, I also remarked a great moral perplexity, the uneasiness of oppo- sing sentiments, an ardent longing for peace, a deadly hatred of foreign in- vaders, with alternating feelings, as regarded Napoleon, of anger and sym- pathy. By some he was denounced as the author of all their calamities ; by others he was hailed as the bulwark of the country, and the avenger of her injuries. What struck me as a serious evil, although I was then far from being able to estimate its full extent, was the marked inequality of these different expressions amongst the divided classes of the population. With the affluent and educated, the prominent feeling was evidently a strong desire for peace, a dislike of the exigencies and hazards of the Imperial despotism, a calculated foreshadowing of its fall, and the dawning per- spective of another system of government. The lower orders, on the con- trary, only roused themselves up from lassitude to give way to a momentary burst of patriotic rage, or to their reminiscences of the Revolution. The Imperial rule had given them discipline without reform. Appearances were tranquil, but in truth it might be said of the popular masses as of the emigrants, that they had forgotten nothing and learned nothing. There was no moral unity throughout the land, no common thought or passion, notwithstanding the common misfortunes and experience. The nation was almost as blindly and completely divided in its apathy, as it had lately been in its excitement."

We are bound to express our surprise that M. Guizot's book should have appeared for the first time in this country, and in the shape of a translation. This would seem something like an in- justice to so important a work, while it may be considered in the light. of a compliment to English readers. The translator has been successful in conveying a sufficient intimation of M. Guizot's characteristic style, which is pure, nervous, and forcible, and bears ample traces of the writer's career as great historian and Parliamentary orator. The occasional felicity with which political principles are ex- pressed has been alluded to. The following exposition of the general and particular rights of man may be quoted as an in- stance ; the object of the author being to show that the dread of a political supremacy of the French bourgeoisie, which largely operated to bring about the Revolution of 1848 was chimerical.

Two ideas constitute the great features of modern civilization, and stamp it with its formidable activity. I sum them up in these terms : there are certain universal rights inherent in man's nature, and which no system can legitimately withhold from any one ; there are individual rights which spring from personal merit alone, -without regard to the external cir- cumstances of birth, fortune or rank, and which every one who has them in himself should be permitted to exercise. From he two principles of legal respect for the general rights of humanity, and the free development of natural gifts ill or welt understood, have proceeded for nearly a cen- tury the advantages and evils, the great actions and crimes, the advances and wanderings which revolutions and governments have alternately ex- cited in the bosom of every European community. Which of these two principles provokes or even permits the exclusive supremacy of the middle classes ? Assuredly neither the one nor the other. One opens to individual endowments every gate ; the other demands for every human being his place and his portion • no greatness is unattainable; no condition, however insignificant, is coutited as nothing. Such principles are irreconcileable with exclusive superiority ; that of the middle classes, as of every other, would be in direct contradiction to the ruling tendencies of modern society."

This view, however, is too purely French to apply universally. Material interests, national habits, national intelligence, insti- tutions, and forms of government—which, however, are mainly the result of national character, and even geographical features, exercise a far more practical influence on actions and even opinions, than the two somewhat abstract doctrines propounded by M. Guizot; though they are no doubt very influential and perhaps mischievously so in France. The following defence of prudence as opposed to enthusiasm, and of the caution of the rich or well to do, against the rashness of the poor, is a larger truth than the dogma on the rights of man. It might be added that prudent selfishness, having a solid foundation, is more to be depended upon as a lasting power, than enthusiastic rashness.

"The upper, nd particularly the middle classes, have often been re- proached with their indifference and selfishness. It has been said that they think only of their personal interests, and are incapable of public principle and patriotism. I am amongst those who believe that nations' and the dif- ferent classes that constitute nations,—and, above all, nations that desire to be free,—can only live in security and credit under a condition of moral perseverance and energy ; with feelings of devotion to their cause, and with the power of opposing courage and self-sacrifice to danger. But devotion does not exclude sound sense, nor courage intelligence. It would be too convenient for ambitious pretenders to have blind and fearless attachment ever ready at their command. It is often the case with popular fee ' that the multitude, army or people, ignorant, unreilecting, and shortaig,h become too frequently, from generous impulse, the instruments and dupes of individual selfishness, much more perverse and more indifferent to their fate than that of which the wealthy and enlightened orders are so readily accused. Napoleon, perhaps more than any other eminent leader of his class, has exacted from military and civil devotion the most trying proofs.

"The unsettled feeling of the middle classes in 1815 was a legitimate and patriotic disquietude. What they wanted, and what they had a right to demand, for the advantage of the entire nation as well as for their own peculiar interests, was that peace and liberty should be secured to them ; but they had good reason to question the power of Napoleon to accomplish these objects."

From the general plan of the work, M. Guizot individually ap- pears but little in the narrative after the introductory part, and. then generally in his public capacity. Such is even the case with his celebrated mission during the hundred days, that procured him his sobriquet of "the man of Ghent." He does not personally appear much in the subordinate offices he held between 1815 and 1820, though it is intimated that he was busy and influential. Even in his long withdrawal (1820-1829) from practical politics to journalistic, literary, and professorial labours there is little of what is properly biography, though we have an account of his works and ideas.

This first volume is strictly introductory only to the pith and marrow of the author's career. It closes just as he is entering conspicuously on public life by his election in 1829 to the Cham- ber of Deputies, and as Charles the Tenth is passing from the his- torical scene. The last picture in the volume is striking: It re- presents the Russian Ambassador introduced into the private ca- binet of King Charles the Tenth who is earnestly studying the Charter, and especially Article XIV.

"A few days before the decrees of July, the Russian Ambassador Count Pozzo di Berge had an audience of the King. He found him seated before his desk, with his eyes fixed on the Charter, opened at Article 14. Charles X read and reread that article, seeking with honest inquietude the inter- pretation he wanted to find there. In such cases we always discover what we are in search of; and the King's conversation, although indirect and uncertain, left little doubt on the Ambassador's mind as to the measures in preparation."

All the world knows what came of that hour's royal meditation ! Charles the Tenth would have been better occupied forhis dynasty in that ridiculous " chime " which French Princes, legitimate and Imperialist, alike so much affect. Monarchs should stick to the pageantry : the statesmanship will always better be left to re- sponsible ministers, who may say to them as does Sganarelle in the " Medeein Malgre Lui," " Vou.s n'etes pas oblige d'etre aussi sage que nous."