REVIEW. "Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."-POPE. ART. I.-Lettre aux Electeurs du Seconde Lettre aux Electeurs, &c. La goire. But while he partakes, with his remaining associates, the obloquy which is cast upon all who have shewn their hostility to the ancient Régime, he stands unfortunately alone in the treatment he has experienced from too many from whom different conduct might have been anticipated. Fayette, Lanjuinais and others share with him, indeed, the calumnious outrages of the open advocates of slavish and corrupt principles; but they have not shared with him that neglect and indifference from men who call themselves the partisans of freedom, which it has been his lot to encounter. Those I ocenes of as of N recalling to our memories the illustrious patriots are still looked up the French Revolution, it is satisfactory to linger on the traces of a few moderate men, who were at once the firm assertors of their country's rights, and the resolute opposers of that spirit of desolation which so soon and so fatally betrayed itself in the councils and examples of many of the Revolutionary Leaders. It was their misfortune, and the misfortune was doubly felt by their country, that in the early periods of that tremendous civil commotion, the greater number of these consistent and unshaken friends of freedom, fell the victims of their endeavours to stem that tide of political fanaticism which they but too plainly foresaw would overwhelm every prospect of rational liberty. This faithful band of Modérés thus thinned by party hostility, and by the slower ravages of time, has now left but few of its members, who have preserved a high-toned independence of character through the various changes of despotism, which succeeded the vain efforts of their party but to the honour of human nature there are a few, who, unawed by the frantic violence of anarchists, and proof against all temptations to abuse the powers with which they were entrusted, have held on, and still persevere in a steady course, the unwearied advocates of universal liberty, the constant enemies alike of democratic, as of regal tyranny. : Of this number is the Abbé Gré enslaved and impatient world—while Grégoire, whose career has been one of moral, rather than of military or political glory, was, in the moment of trial, abandoned (with one honourable exception) to all the fury of an asseinbly of political fanatics and religions bigots, miscalled the representatives of the French people; miscalled, we say, for France is too just to recognise their dishonest, their wilfully dishonest decision. We deem the reputation of the Bishop of Blois perfectly secure in the hands of posterity, but, at the same time, consider it as an act of justice to this venerable patriot to give his contemporaries a sketch of his purely benevolent mind by enumerating some of his principal efforts for the improvement of his fellow-men. Even in this country, where it might be supposed that our neighbours would be judged with that impartiality which, if unattainable amidst contending factions, ought at least to distinguish those who judge of notorious events from a distance, (for a remoteness from the scene of action, whether of space or time, seems necessary to correct and candid inferences,) this good man has not escaped the slanders of misrepresentation and falsehood; and this poison has been spread even by what is called the liberal part of the English press. One might have expected that at the Court of France, distinguished as it is again become for the minutest attention to all the forms and all the parade of Catholicism, something like sympathy would have been felt, something like justice would have been done towards the man, who, when Atheism, if we may so speak, was the religion of the Thuilleries, had dared, undaunted by the danger incurred by dissent from the established unbelief, to proclaim his unalterable attachment to Christianity. We might have reasonably hoped, that the man whose example, perhaps more than any other, had tended to uphold the faith of his country when it was scoffed at by her philosophers and trampled on by her demagogues, would have been treated with something less than malignity by a Royal House which professes such zeal for the restoration of all the outward observances of the Catholic Creed. To insult him-to traduce him, however, has been a sure passport of recommendation to a Bourbon. We should be wasting our time and that of our readers, in attempting the defence of such a character, if that were allowed by general consent to be an axiom which to us appears incontrovertible, namely, "That that man is entitled to the veneration of mankind, who has employed a long life in his private and public capacity in the endeavour to benefit his fellow-creatures." Yet so far is this seeming truism from being sanctioned by common opinion, that the instances are even numerous in which a life thus devoted has been the object of unmerited and never-tired detraction. We do not, however, recollect a more signal example than the case of M. Grégoire. M. Grégoire is a native of Alsace. The early period of his active life was employed in the ministerial duties of the priesthood, and it was not till he had attained a mature age, that he published the first work which made his name equally known and respected throughout Europe. This was his "Essai sur la Régénération Physique, Morale et Politique des Juifs," which was crowned by the Royal Society of Metz, in 1788, and procured him admission to that learned body. In England, where the Jews have long enjoyed something like protection from the laws, a plea for their toleration would not perhaps oppose the prejudices of the many, in the degree that would be felt on many parts of the Continent, where this much-injured race are "even in the present day" so frequently the sufferers from popular violence. But among our neighbours it was a bold step to take in defence of the natural rights of man, when our author not only claimed for the Jews an unlimited freedom openly to profess their religion, but maintained the doctrine of their eligibility to the public duties of the citizen. The enlarged views exhibited in this dissertation are evidently the same that at a later period directed its eloquent author in his endeavours to obtain for his country, that first of blessings-quo nihil majus, meliusve terris Fata donavere - the blessing of civil liberty. He traces the causes of the degenerate character of the sons of Israel to their true source, the unceasing persecution of bigots, misnamed Christians, and anticipates, with a benevolence which is the spring of all his feelings, the happiest change in that character from the general acknowledgment of their natural rights in the Christian world. M. Grégoire was a member of the National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution, and was always found in the foremost rank of those whose moderate counsels, if followed, would have secured the lasting freedom of his country. At this time, Clarkson, whose name will always be coupled with the grand event of which he was the prime mover, arrived at Paris, and warmly engaged the “virtuous Abbé Grégoire" in the intended motion of the Count de Mirabeau for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. This, as it was a subject the most congenial to the feelings of this friend of universal man, ever after most deeply interested his thoughts, and has since been advocated in his work, "De la Traite et de l'Esclavage des Noirs et des Blancs, par un Ami des Hommes de toutes les Couleurs," another proof of the dedication of his mind to the great task of the improvement of his species. When the reign of Atheism, during which he had risked every thing for truth, was succeeded by the reestablishment of Christianity, this zealous prelate, in conjunction with his episcopal brethren, added his personal labours to his former example, for the purpose of eradicating the evil weeds of infidelity which had taken such deep root in France. The candour of these faithful labourers was not less conspicuous than their zeal. Among the books which they circulated, as one means of attaining their noble object, was Dr. Watson's Apology for the Bible. When the hopes of all good Frenchmen were disappointed in the failure of every endeavour to make their country free, and Napoleon had revived all the bad qualities except the legitimacy of the old monarchical despotism, M. Grégoire, with some others, received from the Emperor those tokens of his unwilling homage to virtue which were amongst the politic acts of his reign. He gave seats in the Senate to a few of the most independent men, whose characters had passed through the fiery furnace of the Revolution, and thus by the discussion which their opposition to his views occasioned, gave an appearance of freedom to the votes of this Chamber, which the overwhelming majority of his creatures entirely destroyed. The energetic resistance of this handful of patriots did, however, on some occasions, succeed in opposing the Imperial wishes. M. Grégoire used all his influence to effect the deposition of Buonaparte in 1814, and on his resuming the throne in 1815, was a resolute opponent of his ambitious schemes. The reward for his unvaried consistency and ardour in the holy cause of liberty has been given, it is true, in the applause of every good citizen of every country, and to his mind the approbation of the wise and good must be the most gratifying return for his unwearied labours of well-doing; but he has only experienced ingratitude from those whom he has most served, and it is melancholy to think, that some of his most malignant calumniators owe their very existence to his exertions during the horrors of the Revolution. Before we mention the particular act of his life, which has been the baseless foundation of the false accusation against him, we will enumerate the principal plans of which he was the author or great promoter during the progress of his country's troubles. With no ambition to gratify, but that of tendering his honest services for the good of France, and while her more aspiring statesmen, in their mighty schemes of conquest, neglected every department of policy which had nothing beyond public utility for its recommendation, M. Grégoire was engaged in forming establishments which will remain the monuments of his exertions as a citizen, when even the evils of the revolutionary wars shall have vanished. The French Board of Longitude and the Museum of Arts and Inventions were instituted at his suggestion; and on his report on the subject of Vandalism, and his eloquent plea on behalf of science and literature, he procured a grant of one hundred thousand crowns from the unlettered demagogues of the Revolution, for the encouragement of learning. He was a diligent member of the Agricultural Society of Paris, and gave the world a valuable report of their proceedings. He was one of the original founders of the Institute, a society which, from its birth, has held a high rank among the learned bodies of Europe: but from this society his name was struck out (as if men could be made learned by royal patent, or pronounced ignorant by a proclamation of kingly displeasure) by an arbitrary act of the present monarch in 1816-an act as illegal as absurd, but quite characteristic. Above all, his great talents and influence have been unceasingly employed in the most efficient plan of universal improvement in which human philanthropy can be exerted, namely, the extension of popular education. His penetrating eye saw that general knowledge would be infallibly accompanied by the spread of those liberal principles which he had so long and so well advocated, but which an ignorant people is unprepared to receive. The effects of this system, though so lately established, are at this moment felt in the remotest corners of Europe, and in them, and through them, Europe will find salvation. We have given but a slight sketch of the works of this good man; but we would now ask, Can the least sign of a wish to gratify any but the most virtuous ambition be traced in the above list of his claims for universal popularity? Yet this is the character that it is now required of every loyal Frenchman to hate, and which to revile is deemed an undoubted proof of peculiar public virtue. The alleged crime which has been the watch-word of attack is this-that he is a regicide--that he voted for the death of Louis the Sixteenth. This has, on his part and that of his friends, been repeatedly denied; but as the accusation has been repeated, a hundred times repeated in the face of this denial, we shall here extract the proof of its falsehood from the late publicaof M. La Roche. It consists of attested copies from the Archives of the kingdom, of extraits of the ProcèsVerbal and Bulletin de Correspondance of the National Convention of the 19th January, 1793. "Procès-Verbal.. "Une Lettre du 13 Janvier des De putés Grégoire, &c., Commissaires de la Convention Nationale au département du Mont-Blanc, exprime leur vou pour la condamnation de Louis Capet par la convention sans appel au peuple." "Bulletin de Correspondance. "Lettres des Commissaires du Département du Mont-Blanc. Nous declarons donc que notre vœu est pour la condamnation de Louis Capet par la Convention Nationale, sans appel au peuple.' These extracts are regularly attested by the Keeper of the Archives. It is necessary to state, that a few months before the king's sentence, M. Grégoire had moved in his place, in the National Convention, and his speech on the occasion is printed, that the punishIment of death should be abolished. The above letter from the Commissioners at Chambery contained originally the words" condamnation à mort;" but M. Grégoire prevailed on his colleagues to strike out the two last words, and send their vote with his, as it is worded in the extract, the original of which exists with the expression à mort, (to death,) erased by the Abbe's own hand. It certainly appears that he considered Louis as a great criminal, and we do not undertake to decide on the case of that unfortunate monarch. If we wonder that a man of the Abbé's mild character should have passed an unqualified or even an ambiguous sentence on the Sovereign of France, we are bound to notice the absurd injustice of calling him a regicide, who by his speech on the proposed abolition of the punishment of death, and by his vote here recorded, had twice most distinctly opposed the execution of Louis. The return of the Bourbons was the signal for all good Royalists to vie with each other in traducing the fair fame earned by M. Grégoire during the absence of the legitimate family. But it was not till a body of his fellowcitizens bore a public testimony to his great worth, by electing him Deputy for the Department of the Isère, that the full cry of this well-trained pack was heard. On this occasion he addressed the first of the Letters named at the head of this article, to his constituents. In this he notices and answers the calumnies which have been thrown out against him, by those in the pay of the government, and which, he says, are many of them founded on works falsely attributed to him, or grossly interpolated. But we shall only extract one passage, in which he describes the manner in which his Christian zeal was received by the atheists of the Revolution: "Quand, indigné profondement de voir l'Assemblée dans un oubli sacrilège préconiser l'apostasie, il (M. Grégoire) s'elançait à la tribune pour proclamer son immuable attachement à la religion Catholique: des hurlemens, d'horribles menaces tonnaient sur sa tête. La faction d'alors commandait de ne pas inserer son discours dans les feuilles publiques, ou de le travestir; ce qui explique la discordance de leurs narrations. Au coin des rues, on affichait des placards, imprimés contre l'audacieux, qui par sa raison. Pendant plusieurs mois à la Conrésistance avait retardé le triomphe de la vention c'était une sorte d'opprobre de s'asseoir près de lui, pour cela seul qu'il avait défendu ses principes religieux. Ces faits se sont passés sous les yeux de témoins dont un grand nombre sont vivans. Et, chose étrange, il a vu, il voit encore se déchaîner simultanément contre lui ceux qui foulaient aux pieds toute religion, et ceux qui s'en déclarent ensuite les hérauts privilégiés.”—P. 10. In the interval between his election and the meeting of the Chamber, various inducements were held out to M. Grégoire to obtain his resignation. These he firmly resisted, and on his rejection on a point of form, which was unwillingly listened to by those enemies who wished to expel him as a regicide, he again addressed a letter to the electors, and related the insidious attempts that had been made to procure his voluntary retirement. He again shews the falsehood of the charges proceed, ing from the venal pens of his accusers, and thus exposes the intention of their constant repetition : "Eh qu'importe? Imprimons tous les matins qu'il est régicide, suppleons aux raisons par la surcharge et l'acreté des epithètes: la répétition tiendra lieu des preuves: nous aurons pour échos non seulement nos journaux salariés, mais encore les gazettes composées sur les bords de la Seine qui s'impriment sur ceux de la Tamise et du Danube."-2de Lettre, p. 7. Monsr. Grégoire displays great eloquence as well as argument in these letters, in which he has stated, without ostentation, his labours for the good of his country. We recommend the perusal of the whole to our readers, but we cannot resist extracting one short passage which most exactly reflects the benevolent feelings of its author: "Parmi les faveurs multipliees dont la bonté céleste m'a comblé je compte pour beaucoup celle d' avoir pu, quelquefois, faire du bien à ceux qui m' ont fait du mal. Si mes vœux sont exaucés, cette faveur ne me sera pas retirée."-Ibid. p. 24. And another, which eloquently proves that fortitude may form a part of the character of the meekest of mankind: These two letters have given the first part of the title to Monsr. La Roche's pamphlet, which has, we imagine, an extensive sale, as it has almost immediately reached a third edition. Monsr. La Roche is an able advocate of all the Liberaux, and particularly of M. Grégoire, of whom he gives many interesting anecdotes. But we must refer our readers to the work itself. We are greatly gratified to think that some of his countrymen dare yet to stand forth with their testimony in favour of so good a man. Indeed, M. Grégoire himself takes occasion to thank several anonymous writers who have undertaken the justification of his conduct. He has been, within a few weeks, addressed in an animated Epistle by Audiguier, with a quotation from which, in praise of his struggles against the power of Napoleon, we shall conclude: Un seul homme naguère au sein de la patrie Sur les débris des lois fondait sa tyrannie, Tout pliait devant lui: despôte redouté Mais tu ne craignis pas, lorsque dans ses caprices Il opprimait les rois, et les peuples domptés, De lutter constamment contre ses volontés, de l'Isère "Celui que la fortune ne peut enivrer par ses faveurs, ni abattre par ses rigueurs celui qui calculant toutes les Et lui faire entendre un langage chances d'adversité, l'exil, la pauvreté, sévère; les cachots, les supplices, a son parti pris Aussi, quand le suffrage et le choix de pour toutes les hypothèses: celui qui Télevaient, triomphant, au rang de ses dans le trajet rapide de la vie, toujours haletant après le bonheur, en place le ravissant espoir au delà des bornes du temps, peut braver et désespérer les per sécuteurs." Ibid. p. 28. The work of calumny is still going on: and, thanks to the censorship which governs the periodical press of France, it goes on uninterruptedly. M. Grégoire wrote lately a letter to all the journals in contradiction of one of the libels which are so diligently reiterated, and finding that the careful guardians of public opinion would allow no defence of a proscribed character, to neutralize the effect of the poison he wrote a second letter to the Duc de Richelieu, demanding, as an act of justice, that the calumny should not stand against him unanswered. élus, C'était pour honorer tes stoïques vertus, Et pour récompenser par ce public homTa justice inflexible, et ton mâle courage: mage Non celui qui jadis près du trône placé A briguer la faveur fut toujours empressé ; Mais celui qui brava le maître de la France, Et qui, malgré l'effroi qu'inspirait sa puissance Senateur patriote, et prélat citoyen tien." Audiguier, Epitre à M. Grégoire,« After the above was written, an account reached this country, which gives, we suppose, a fair specimen of the |