Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

IV.

1789.

CHAP. tion having there induced the governor to grant him permission to live on his parole in the neighbouring town of Pontarlier, he met and fell in love with a young lady of the name of Sophie de Ruffey, wife of the Marquis de Monnier, president of the Chamber of Accounts at Dol, whom he soon seduced. This led him into new difficulties. The relations of his wife and of the Marquis de Monnier combined with his father to have him again imprisoned; and it required the intervention of Malesherbes, who was at that period on the eve of quitting the ministry, to obtain for him the mitigated penalty of 1 Biog. Univ. leave to withdraw to a foreign country, He withdrew accordingly to Holland, was outlawed as for rape by the 3d and 4th parliament of Besançon, and beheaded in effigy by their sentence, which involved a confiscation of the life interest in his estates.1

xxix. 91, 92.

Mem. de

Mirabeau,

vols. 8vo

edit.

[blocks in formation]

Reduced now to subsist in exile, and maintain Sophie, who had fled to his protection, by the productions of his pen, the prodigious activity and mingled greatness and turpitude of his mind at once displayed itself. He translated several respectable works, of which Watson's Philip II. was the most remarkable; and at the same time published the most violent libels against his father, who had accused him of having corrupted his wife, Mirabeau's own mother. There being no end to his violence, and the scrapes into which it betrayed him, he was a third time seized by warrant of a lettre-de-cachet, backed by the Dutch authorities in Holland, and taken to Vincennes, where he was confined three years and a half. Again the charms of his conversation prevailed over the rules of his prison; and he obtained from the secretary of police leave secretly to correspond with Sophie, which he did during his confinement, and copies of his letters, having been preserved by the police, were afterwards published. For the edification of that fond mistress he translated in prison, and sent to her, Boccacio's "Tales," and the "Baisers de Jean Second,"

CHAP.

IV.

1789.

works which sufficiently prove the character of the liaison. He there also wrote some original compositions, licentious in the extreme, and abounding in the satire on the sacred writings then so prevalent-particularly "L'Erotica Biblion," and " Ma Conversion," the latter of which equals the grossest productions of Aretin, and was a perfect disgrace to a man of Mirabeau's genius. He could not rest satisfied, however, with such scandalous pursuits; 1 Biog. Univ. and, in a treatise on prisons of state and lettres-de-cachet, xxix. 92,93. gave vent to his indignation at the coercion to which he was subjected.1

before the

At length he extricated himself from prison, and made 25. his peace with his father by attacking the reputation of His career his mother, whose tenderness to him had been uninter- Revolution. rupted during all the family dissensions which had so long embittered his existence. Immediately after, he returned to Provence, where he published his memoirs, which produced an extraordinary sensation. Subsequently he compromised the lawsuit with M. de Monnier; and, in order to regain Madame de Mirabeau's fortune, exerted all his eloquence and art, both with her and the legal tribunal before which the process depended, to effect a reconciliation with that much-injured lady, whom he represented with truth as an " angel of sweetness and goodness." Having failed in that object, however, he thought no more of either his angel or Sophie, but came to London in company with a young Dutchwoman, who had succeeded both in his inconstant affections. But the strict morals of England soon disconcerted a person of his licentious habits, and he afterwards passed into Prussia, the institutions and rapid rise of which, under the auspices of the Great Frederick, strongly arrested his attention. His residence there led to the composition of the most bulky work which ever appeared with his name, and which related to the Prussian monarchy. During his stay in that country he corresponded regularly with Calonne, the minister of France, for whom he acted

CHAP.

IV.

1789.

as a sort of spy, and to whom he furnished valuable statistical information regarding all the German states. During the whole time he was so employed, he incessantly importuned the French minister for money. After various other literary sallies, in one of which M. Necker, then at the height of his reputation, became the object of his attacks, he was at length thrown into his proper sphere by the convocation of the States-general, when he was elected representative of Aix in Provence. Even before the meeting of the assembly, he had given proof of the 1 Biog. Univ. xxxi. 96, 97. line he was to adopt in politics, by steering a middle part between the two extreme parties, whose collision was then shaking society to its centre in that remote province.1

Dumont,

Souv. de Mirabeau, 24, 85.

26.

Mirabeau.

*

The preceding detail is necessary to a due appreciation Character of of the character of Mirabeau, by far the most powerful man who appeared in the commencement of the Revolution. Impetuous in passion, unbridled in desire, vehement in anger, irascible in temper, vain and yet proud, alike without shame and without remorse, the tyrant of men, the corrupter of women, he had been at once an ungrateful son, a faithless husband, a brutal lover, an imperious master, and a needy suppliant. Overwhelmed with debt, without a profession, insatiable in desires, panting for fortune," alieni appetens, sui profusus ;"+ he realised the picture of those reckless yet formidable characters who formed Catiline's conspirators, and of whom the pencil of Sallust has left so graphic a picture. He looked to the Revolution as the means of reinstating his affairs, and reopening to him that round of licentious pleasures for which, even in middle life, he panted with unextinguish

* It is in reference to his mother, who always treated him with the greatest kindness, that this trait in his character is given. His father's conduct to him had been so cruel and unnatural, that it is not surprising it had extinguished every sentiment of filial affection. "L'Ami des Hommes" never ceased to persecute his son with the most impassioned rancour; and this circumstance affords some extenuation of his licentious life. See LA HARPE, Cours de Littérature, xii. 273; and WEBER, i. 336.

+ "Covetous of others' fortunes, prodigal of his own."

IV.

1789.

able ardour. Necker said of him, with equal felicity and CHAP. justice, that he was "an aristocrat by nature, and a tribune by calculation;" and such in truth was his character. Notwithstanding all his declamations in favour of popular rights, he never at heart had in view to surrender the vital privileges of his order, and entertained throughout a secret pride in those advantages of birth, with regard to which in public he professed himself to be so indifferent, and a thorough perception of the peril of those democratic principles of which he appeared so ardent a supporter.* He espoused with vehemence the popular side, because he thought it likely to prevail— because he had suffered under authority, was bankrupt in fortune and his ardent spirit, thirsting for enjoyment, chafed against all laws, human and divine. But he was equally ready to support the opposite side if it held out still greater advantages; and when at last he accepted the secret bribes of the court, and sought to allay the tempest which he had been so largely instrumental in creating, he acted not less in conformity with his real inclinations than with the ruling principle of his conduct, 1 Marm. ii. which was ever to throw for the highest stake. The air La Harpe, of sincerity, to which so large a share of his success was xii. 173,174. owing, was all assumed; his professions of public zeal 337. Lab. were a mere cloak for private ambition. He said of ii. 363. Robespierre, whose abilities early attracted his notice, 132. Duval, "That young man will go great lengths: he believes all 69. he says.”1

As an orator, Mirabeau was one of the most powerful that ever appeared on a great stage in public affairs. An

* He said at the tribune “ As to my title of Count, any one is welcome to it who chooses to take it;" but that was only because he believed that, by the force of such professions, he could obtain a higher rank, and, above all, a larger fortune, than had devolved to him by birth, or he had acquired by marriage. He frequently said in private society, "the Admiral Coligny, who, by the bye, was my cousin ;" and when the decree abolishing titles of honour was passed, he said, "Savez-vous que vous avez désorienté l'Europe pendant trois jours?" At home he was always styled, even after that decree, M. Le Comte, and his servants wore livery after it had been disused by every one else. See Biog. Univ. xxix. 108, 109.

342, 343.

Cour de Lit.

Dumont, 99,

Terreur, i.

IV.

1789.

27.

His character as an

orator.

CHAP. ardent soul, a ready elocution, vast force of expression, a brilliant imagination, a voice of thunder, an unconquerable will, rendered him the natural leader of an assembly in which the selfish and generous passions were tossed together in wild confusion, and both sought their gratification in the most extravagant schemes for the reconstruction of society. Like Mr Fox, he had no great store of acquired information-he trusted to others for the materials of his orations; and the greater part both of the most celebrated and laborious compositions which bear his name were the work of an able circle of friends, who, fascinated by his talents, had become the coadjutors of his labours. But though he got the materials, and often the exordium, from others, the great merit and unbounded success of his speeches were his own. Self-confident in the highest degree, no opposition could daunt, no clamours disconcert him; his ready capacity seldom failed to retort an interruption with effect on his adversaries; vehement and impassioned, he always contrived, even when insincere, to throw into his speeches that vigour of expression, and earnestness of manner, which contribute so largely to oratorical fascination. No one saw so clearly where the vital points in every question discussed lay; none knew so well how to address himself, whether in support or opposition, to the prevailing feelings of the majority. Though steeped in gross ideas, and burning for sensual

Dumont, Duroverai, and Clavières, were the most remarkable of these assistants, and composed almost all the writings which at first, before his great oratorical talents had become known, gave Mirabeau his colossal reputation. The former, well known to the world by his invaluable "Souvenirs de Mirabeau," published in 1834, to which this history is so largely indebted, wrote his Courrier de Provence, which, after Mirabeau's Journal des Etats Généraux had been stopped by a decree of the royal council, continued to give a summary of the debates of the Assembly, and obtained a prodigious reputa tion. He also, with Duroverai, wrote the celebrated address to the King for the removal of the armies, on July 8; the still more famous "Rights of Man," and many of the speeches which Mirabeau delivered with most emphasis and effect.— See DUMONT'S Souvenirs de Mirabeau, 79, 105, 125, 139. Major Mauvillon, a Prussian officer, whom he had in like manner pressed into his service, wrote nearly the whole of his elaborate work on Prussia in eight volumes.Ibid. 136.

« AnteriorContinuar »