selfishness as this a superstructure of liberty and exquisite of scholars, Mr. Justice was never yet erected. Liberty is not the Maule-to the level of the rank majority product of such a soil. It is a wild flower, of the deputies in these varied and diverse spontaneously springing up, and needs not questions.

either the muck or manure of selfishness or Below the middle stature, somewhat corruption to stimulate it into mushroom square-built, and of an aspect always grave, maturity. if not severe, with a proud and piercing eye, It remains, therefore, but to consider M. M. Guizot strikes you at first sight as a Guizot as orator, statesman, and politician. man of thoughtful and reflective habits, and The cabinet of the 1st of March left him of an energy subdued rather than extinmany thorny questions to resolve. The guished by severe study. Approach him questions of Morocco, of Public Credit, nearer, and you will perceive that he is of Railways, of Tahiti, of the Right of more spare in flesh, more sombre in appearSearch, and many others. From 1842 to ance, more livid in look, than you had sup1846, the intrepid and inexhaustible Mi- posed at a distance. His features, when nister for Foreign Affairs pronounced 137 excited, assume a disagreeable aspect-his speeches, double the number, as one of his lips become contracted, his eyes appear admirers states, spoken by Cicero, De- deeper sunk in their cavernous orbits, and mosthenes, and Eschines. In the session his whole appearance gives token of a perof 1843 and 1844, he spoke 39 times; in son of a restless and melancholy, as well as that of 1844 and 1845, 25; in that of 1845 of a meditative disposition. There is no and 1846, close upon 50 times: so that gaiety in his look or manner. He does not moral and mental resources, as well as cou- laugh nor joke with his next neighbor on rage of the highest order, were necessary the bench of ministers, and appears altogefor these most wasting wordy encounters. ther absorbed in public affairs or in his own But though Guizot had to deal with the reflections. He exhibits, on his entrance ablest and best men of both Chambers to the Chamber, the impassibility of a with Molé, Thiers, Berryer, Lamartine, professor or college tutor. He crosses his Billaut, Dufaure, Barrot, and a dozen arms, inclines his head on his breast, and others-yet who is there that can say that attentively listens to the discussion. But any one of them has ever had a victory if the orator at the tribune attacks the man over him? Let any impartial and unpre- or his system, Guizot becomes restless and judiced man turn over his discourse on the excited, rises from his seat, interrupts the Regency, on the Right of Search, his an- speaker, strikes his desk with his woodenswer to Lamartine, his speeches on the Sy- paper knife, and, in giving a loud contrarian question, his speech, in 1844, on the diction to the member in possession of the legitimate gathering in Belgrave-square, on house, asks to be heard in reply. the United States, on the treaty of Mo- At the tribune, notwithstanding his dirocco, his speeches on the United States, minutive stature, his appearance is imposhis discourses on Education, and his re- ing, for he has an expressive countenance plies to M. Thiers, and we ask any such-there is much latent fire in his deep-set candid inquirer whether he has not proved eye, and notwithstanding his dictatorial and himself the master and superior, as a deba- pedantical air, there is a certain dignity in ter, of all living Frenchmen? One living his manner. His voice is full and sonorfrenchman, indeed, is more eloquent and ous, but it is neither very varied in tone spirit-stirring. But put M. Berryer to the nor very flexible. His style of speaking apevery-day task of a harassed and jaded pears more of the Genevese than of the minister, and what a sad hash he would French school. It is dry, sententious, make of it. We entertain not, to use the clear, dogmatical, luminous, lacking the words of Hume, the ancient prejudice in- suppleness and vivacity of Thiers, and the dustriously propagated by the dunces in all genial flow, pathos, richness, grace, and countries, that a man of genius is unfit large manner of Berryer. But the tone of for business; but we hold, nevertheless, the deputy for Lisieux, it must be admitthat a man of the impetuous feelings, of ted, is generally philosophical and elevatthe exquisite sensibility, and of the impul- ed, and he exhibits great power of expressive ardor of Berryer could not have low- sion, and often much adroitness in hitting ered his nature down, even by drinking the humor of the Chamber. No man porter-to use the apt and familiar illus- seizes on a leading popular idea with greattration of that most learned of lawyers, er address, or more artfully and elaborate

ly produces it suited to the taste of a ma- | Thiers. Of this personage we gave a jority. Though he seldom breaks out into rather hasty sketch in the British Quarterthose happy bursts which enthral and cap-ly Review,' No. VI., but it is indispensable tivate in Berryer, which seize upon the au- now to state that more than a quarter of a ditor and hurry him along against his will, century ago, he had rendered himself reyet he is almost always copious and fertile, markable, not merely by the vivacity, but and shows his superiority to the mass as a by the vigor of his intellect. The articles scholar and a man of general information. which he published in the Constitutionnel He has, with all the fulness of Macaulay, even so far back as 1820 were distinguishmuch more tact and discretion-though he ed, not merely by vigorous thought, but by wants the fancy and rich wardrobe of words purity and pungency of style, and by a which the late M.P. for Edinburgh had al- liveliness and dramatic power, second only ways at command. Guizot is always self- to the pamphlet writing of Paul Louis reliant, and nearly always cool and self- Courier. If Thiers were an ordinary man, possessed. The most frivolous and oft-re- he would doubtless have been abundantly peated interruptions cannot turn him from satisfied by his eminent success as a newsthe exposition and development of a favo- paper writer.

rite idea.

The position of an eminent newspaper

Of many of the details of business, and writer in France is far different from that of much of the ordinary routine of office, of a newspaper writer in England, and Guizot is ignorant. To the praise of being secures to the fortunate penman, social and a very learned man, a clever and copious political rank, as well as money, homage, writer, and a first-rate debater, M. Guizot and troops of friends.

has fully vindicated his claim. But though But notwithstanding the brilliant success he has exhibited more dexterity, plausibi- which thus dawned on him, Thiers looked lity, and, we fear, insincerity, as a politi- for some more permanent fame than can cian, than his warmest and sincerest friends be acquired even by the most successful would wish he has failed to make out his diurnal disquisitions. He therefore deterclaim to be a great statesman, or even a mined to publish a work on the Revolution, good man of business. Placed in the posi- the first volume of which appeared in 1823. tion in which he has been for the last seven But, hear it, young authors and aspiring years, he has had rarer opportunities of do- statesmen-so unknown was Thiers at that ing good, not merely to England and time to the booksellers, that he was obliged France, but to the world, than any man to couple his name with a worn-out hack, a since the time of Canning; but of these op- man of the name of Felix Bodin, who portunities he has not availed himself, and would be considered a safe character here history must hold him accountant for al- by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, lowing great and glorious occasions to pass and Co., or any other solvent and establishaway, often unimproved, oftener still alto-ed firm in the Row. The first volume of gether unused. To please party, and to this work created a sensation, and it soon please a monarch, he has dedicated abili- acquired a party value altogether indepenties, powers of speech, expression, and ac- dent of its literary merit. tion, which might have been used more It was a new revelation for the men of highly-we may add, more honorably, in the movement. The clearness, vigor, and the service of his country-in the service of the whole human race.

beauty of the young author's style-the art and wonderful tact with which he dramaIn administrative knowledge, and in the tized circumstances-added an inexpressiart of conciliating men and majorities, M. ble charm to his development of an old, Guizot is far surpassed by very ordinary though never in France a hackneyed story. common-place men in his own cabinet. Each volume appeared with increasing Though, therefore, the present Prime Mi- popularity, and shortly after the revolution nister of France is fully entitled to the of 1830, the work had already gone through epithets of able, gifted, eloquent, and a third edition. learned, still the historian must refuse to

statesman.

Thiers had long before the revolution

him the epithets of a great man or a great of 1830 been known to Manuel, Foy, Constant, Perier, Laffitte, and the Duke de A man even better known than M. Rochefoucauld Liancourt. Manuel introGuizot, though not so much in the eyes of duced him to Etienne of the Constitutionthe public for the last seven years, is M. nel, and that able editor soon appreciated

his articles at their proper value. At the has occupied his leisure in travelling over a period when Polignac was named by great portion of Italy and Spain, and in Charles X. Minister for Foreign Affairs, writing his brilliant and very readable Thiers founded, with Carrel and others, the novel, called the History of the Consulate National Newspaper,' and on the 26th of and the Empire.' But notwithstanding all his July, 1830, was the first to exhibit a resist- faults and all his turpitudes, Thiers is the ance in the shape of a protest, of which we most considerable man in France after have elsewhere spoken.' ** His first service Guizot, and in so far as mere natural talent under the government was in the finances and resources go, he is a more considerable, attached to the ministry of Baron Louis. a readier, and infinitely a more flexibleIn this subordinate station he afforded such we will not say a more honest man-than unquestionable evidence of capacity, that the deputy for Lisieux.

Baron Louis did not hesitate to propose his As to physical appearance, it is impossiname to the king as Minister of Finance, ble to conceive a more ignoble little being on the 2d or 3d November, 1830, when than Adolphe Thiers. He has neither the cabinet of the 1st of August was quit- figure, nor shape, nor grace, nor mien, and ting office. truly, to use the unsavory description of Thiers, however, declined this promo- Cormenin (Timon), looks like one of those tion, and contented himself with the post provincial barbers, who, with brush and of under-secretary of state in the cabinet of razor in hand, go from door to door offering Laffitte. Contemporaneously almost with their savonnette.' His voice is thin, this appointment, he was elected deputy harsh, and reedy--his aspect sinister, defor Aix, and soon distinguished himself ceitful, and tricky-a sardonical smile by such financial aptitude, that Royer Col- plays about his insincere and mocking lard, addressing him after one of his earliest mouth, and at first view you are disposed speeches, said, Young man, your fortune to distrust so ill-favored a looking little is made.' And made it unquestionably dwarf, and to disbelieve his story. But was; for, notwithstanding the prejudice of hear the persuasive little pigmy-hear him Casimir Perier against him, he conquered fairly out, and he greets you with such a position in the Chamber, and immediate- pleasant, lively, light, voluble talk, interly after the death of that statesman, there spersed with historical remark, personal was a question of introducing him into the anecdote, ingenious reflections, all conveyed cabinet. But there were susceptibilities in such clear, concise, and incomparable and jealousies to assuage, and the day language, that you forget his ugliness, his of his triumph was only deferred, and not impudence, insincerity, and dishonesty. destroyed. On the 11th October, 1832, You listen, and, as Rousseau said in one he first became Minister of the Interior, of his most eloquent letters, 'in listening and signalized his advent to power by the are undone." C'est le roué le plus amuarrest of the Duchess of Berry. This sant de nos roués politiques, le plus aigu de measure accomplished, he surrendered the nos sophistes, le plus subtil et le plus inportfolio of the Interior for that of Com- saisissable de nos prestidigitateurs, c'est le merce and Public Works. Bosco de la Tribune,' says the incisive and

In 1836, he became President of the pungent Timon. Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Though there is something of what the and continued in this position till he was French call malice' in this description, replaced by Molé, in 1837. Again, in still it is in the main true. It is impossiMarch, 1840, he was raised to the Presi- ble for any human being, who knows hudency of the Council and Ministry of Fo- man nature well, to think M. Thiers ever reign Affairs; but his indiscretion, his can be in earnest unless in a matter which turbulence, his personal ambition, his de- intimately concerns his own interests, or sire of personal distinction and notoriety, which is now pretty much the same thing, even at the risk of a war with Great Bri- since he has become a leader-the interests tain, caused the king to call Marshal of his party. It must be avowed that, Soult to his councils in December, 1840. unlike Guizot, there is neither bitterness Since that period, now seven years and nor acerbity. in the man; but how can two months ago, M. Thiers has been an bitterness or acerbity find a place in the exile from power, and in the interval he

* See 'British Quarterly Review,' No. VI., p. 498.

breast of an individual who is wholly without principle of any kind-without fixity to any banner or to any political faith?

t

The little man laughs at right or wrong, In 1817 he was named Minister of Marine; for he has a sliding scale of virtue peculiar- a post he continued to occupy till the end ly his own. When Thiers is at the top of of 1828. This was his sole service under the scale, all is right; when his rivals the Restoration, though he belonged to the Molé or Guizot are uppermost, all is school of Talleyrand, Malouet, Clermont wrong. The truth is, that in his inner- Tonnerre, Portalis, and Fontanes. He was most heart he laughs at all theories, other the first Minister of Foreign Affairs after than the one which can raise Adolphe the Revolution of 1830, and was President Thiers to power, and maintain him there. of the Council in September, 1837, and Nevertheless, although vulgar in a certain again in April, 1838, but for the last ten sense, ignorant in a mitigated sense, and years he has been an exile from power. generally rash, impudent, and shameless, Molé has been a French peer for many Thiers is a remarkable man, and more fitly years, and therefore his discourses do not represents France of 1848 than any living figure in the Chamber of Deputies. But Frenchman. He possesses all the restless- although his name be not in the mouths of ness, boldness, ignorance, and audacious the public, like the names of Guizot, self-confidence of the age and nation which Thiers, and Berryer, every educated he represents, and all its wit, quickness, Frenchman knows that he is one of the cleverness, self-reliance, and strong spirit foremost and most considerable men of of nationality. It is because he represents France. He is rather a man of the world France of the middle class as it really is, than a littérateur, or a man of science, yet neither better nor worse, that he has been he is infinitely more of a scholar and a man a considerable personage in all his under- of science than M. Thiers, and understands takings, and has left behind him a trace all questions of diplomacy and administraof individuality-a trace, in a word, of tion infinitely better than either Thiers or Thiers. As a journalist, he was successful Guizot. Though not so brilliant, showy, -as a historian, he was popular-as a or lively a person, in public or in society, minister, he was notorious, and national as the deputy for Aix,-though less quick to a certain extent. He has, no doubt, and apprehensive and ready, he is more many talents and many defects, but his solid, steady, and reliable. Though he successes in life are more owing to his could not write a state paper so quickly worst vices, than to his negative virtues. and so glowingly as M. Guizot, yet when He is probably the most intelligent man written by him, after being fully perpendin Europe-if a perception of the wants ed and slowly elaborated, it would be less and wishes of the million indicate intelli- open to criticism or objection-it would gence; but he is possibly also one of the be more neatly and more succinctly drawn most insincere, mocking, and corrupt of up, and present fewer assailable points to public men, and at bottom one of the shal- a rival or an enemy.

เ

lowest in all sound knowledge. Donnez- Experience in affairs and in administramoi un petit quart d'heure,' he wrote to tion, Molé has in a greater degree than any Spring Rice in 1834, pour m'expliquer le modern Frenchman; and it is the opinion of systeme financier de la Grande Bretagne.' no bad judge,-himself nearly the most In no other country than France could experienced statesman in Europe, and, such a clever charlatan be tolerated or since Metternich has fallen into premature endured; and it says little for the national caducity, by far the ablest statesman and morality or feeling, that he has been so politician-it is the opinion, we believe, of long not suffered, but petted and propped Lord Palmerston, that Mole is the first up by applauding deputies and admiring statesman in France, if not the only statesman. But though Mole is a full, he is not, Molé is much more of a statesman- in debate, a ready man, and therefore lacks much more of a politician-much more of a that confidence which, in such an opsimathman of the world, than either Guizot or ist as Thiers, borders on presumption, if it Thiers. He is now in his sixty-ninth year, does not even go beyond it. But Molé, and descended of an illustrious legal family. though not so ready, is sounder and safer, Early in life, more than forty-five years and his style, in speaking and writing, ago, he entered the service of France under though not so facile and glowing, is more the First Consul, as Auditor of the Council classic and pure than the style either of of State, and subsequently filled high ad- Thiers or Guizot. ministrative functions under the Emperor.

millions.

The countenance of Molé is serious and

grave, yet pleasant and agreeable. His a poet and orator, the eye of a painter, the complexion is of a deep brown, and his grace of a rhetorician and, the polished art of air of a dark gray. His language is ra- a perfect actor, you feel there is something her choice and correct than flowing, rather wanting. There is a want of heart, of sinlistinguished by propriety and elegance cerity and conviction, of moral honesty and than by copiousness or strength. He is respectability of character, which is felt as calm, clear, neat, often ingenious; always a serious drawback. We have nearly the equal to his subject; sometimes he rises far eloquence of Mirabeau, and all his want of above it. Now that Talleyrand, Haute- principle-the sensuality and profligacy of rive, and Roederer are dead, he is possessed Rochester and Lauzun, with their wit, their of more anecdotal history than any living powers of repartee, their facility and utter iomme d'etat in Paris, and is, perhaps, the indifference and obduracy to any principle best and most classic raconteur in France. or opinion which interfered with their own His countenance is open and gentlemanlike, selfish enjoyments. and there is breadth and elevation in the A statesman or a great leader Berryer forehead. He is rather tall, thin, and deli- never can become. But when moved by a cately shaped, and possesses in an eminent party question, or a topic in which he takes degree what our neighbors call the "air a personal interest, he will abandon the distingué." coulisses and foyer of the Opera Italien, Berryer is a widely different manner of and, eschewing Grisi and Lablache, dediman from either Guizot, Thiers, or Molé. cate himself for days to the Chamber. He is not merely an orator, but a man of When he rises to give a resumé of the disgenius; and, without any manner of doubt, cussion, however intricate, you may hear a the only orator in France, and one of the pin drop, and ere he concludes, you are few-and every-day decreasing number-in convinced that he can run, like Sheridan-Europe. Nature has been in the highest «Through each mode of the lyre, and be perfect degree bountiful to him; and it were, per

haps, no exaggeration to say, that in his

in all."

own country he has not been equalled since It is melancholy to think that a man of he days of Mirabeau. His face is hand- powers of such extent and versatility, has come and expressive--his manners are cor- sadly wasted, and not unfrequently misused lial, frank, and agreeable. He is a gay, them. laughing, debonnaire, good fellow, who tells Dupin is a very different man from Bera good story, relishes a good dinner, and ryer. He is now in his sixty-fifth year, and enjoys a good glass of wine. He is, in had already acquired the reputation of a truth, a simple, natural, and enjoyable man, profound lawyer and able advocate, when though "tant soit peu sensualiste." But it elected in May, 1815, as a member of the is as a speaker and as an advocate that he Representative Chamber, by the Electoral is beyond comparison. To his incompa- College of Nievre. It is not our business, rable, deep, and sweet-toned voice, he and indeed we lack the space, to go over owes many of his parliamentary, and most his history since that time. But starting of his forensic triumphs. In him you find from the 27th July, 1830, when he contendcombined the silvery tones of Murray, the ed, at the house of Casimir Perier, that exquisite grace of Wedderburne, and the Charles the Tenth had the right to issue polished rhetoric and playful fancy of Can- the ordinances, and when he was so trining or of Bushe. Long before he entered umphantly and indignantly answered by the Chamber in 1829, he had attained the Mauguin, we may merely remark that Duforemost rank in his profession, and in that pin did not attend the private meeting of very year he was offered an under-secreta- the deputies held on the following day at ryship by Polignac. "C'est de trop, ou the house of Audry de Puyraveau, nor was c'est trop peu," was his reply, and to con- he present at M. Berard's, at four o'clock tinue in his profession was the only course on the 28th.

left to him.

In the beginning of August, however, Whether as tribune or as advocate, never when all the fighting was over, he again was a man more calculated to captivate and appeared upon the scene, and made that enthral an audience. His action is simple famous pedestrian journey to Neuilly which and imposing, his imagination gorgeous and deprived France of the private fortune of fertile, his perception quick and rapid, and Louis Philippe. By the law of France, the his tact exquisite. But with the tongue of private property of the king merges in that