M. GUIZOT.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 103, 29 September 1874, Page 4

M. GUIZOT.

Recent telegrams announce the death of this eminent French statesman. The following notice of his life is from " Men of the Time " :

"Guizot, Frangois-Pierre-Guillaume, historian and statesman, born October 4th, 1787, was the son of an advocate of Nimes, who perished on the scaffold during the Revolution. Guizot was educated at Geneva, and at the age of twelve made himself master of the learned languages, Germau haviDg become to him a second mother tongue, and English and Italian completely familiar. He left Geneva in 1805, and after a short sojourn in Languedoc, proceeded to Paris, with a view of being called to the bar —an intention which he does not seem to have earnestly prosecuted. About this time he met, in literary society, Mademoiselle Pauline de Meulan, who was editing a magazine, called ' The Publicist,' which enjoyed a considerable reputation, and who, through gratitude for the discreet assistance she had received during a long illness, from an unknown contributor—no other than Francois Guizot—consented, in 1812, in spite of the difference in their ages, to become his wife. She was fourteen years his senior, and her relations with the chiefs of the Royalist party were soon destined to open a political career for her husband In 1809 M. Guizot published his first regular work, an edition of Gerard's ' French Synonyms,' with a dissertation on the language. His ' Lives of the French Poets,' a translation of Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall,' 'The State of the Fine Arts in France,' 'Annals of Education,' and smaller works followed. In 1812 he obtained the chair of Modern History in the Sorbonne. After the fall of Napoleon, the exalted idea of the talents of Guizot which prevailed among the old aristocracy of France made it easy for him to obtain important posts under the twofold restoration of the Bourbons. He was successively Se-cretary-General of the Ministry of the Interior and of that of Justice, and DirectorGeneral of the Administration for settling claims of indemnity. He belonged to the Liberal school under the Restoration, and lost power with his colleagues, M. Decazes, M. Royer-Collard, and M. Camille de Jourdan, when the assassination of the Due de Berri, in 1819, turned the scale in favor of the counter-revolutionary party. The severe measures of M. Villule's administration c?lled forth vigorous protests in the form of political pamphlets from Guizot, which created a great sensation at the time, and their author was suspended in 3 825 from his lectureship. In his retirement he renewed his studies, and wrote ' Memoirs relative to the English Revolution,' followed by a'History of the English Revolution,'' Memoirs relative to the History of France,' and ' Critical Notes and Essays upon Shakspere,' and at the same time contributed to the Jiectie Franqaise and the Globe. At this period his house in the Rue St. Dominique was the resort of the most distinguished men of the day, in both politics and literature, and in 1827 be Lad the misfortune to lose his wife, who under her married name had written many tales bearing upon education and domestic life. In 1828 the interdict on his lectures was removed by the Martignac ministry, and he delivered the series published since as a ' Course of Modern History,' and ' The History of Civilization in Europe.' At the age of forty-two, M. Guizot was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and took his seat in that Assembly in the eventful session of 1830, on which occasion he joined in the celebrated address that provoked Charles X. to issue the famous vrdonnanees of July 2oth. Upon the accession of Louis Philippe, M, Guizot was named Minister of the Interior, then the most important post in the Government. The first Ministry formed by Louis Philippe lasted only three months. In the Cabinet of October, J 832, presided over by Marshal Soult, M. Guizot was Minister of Public Instruction; and from that period, excepting when filling the London embassy, he was a leading member of every Administration to the end of the reign of Louis Philippe. It is, however, as a member of the Ministry of October 29th, 1840—after he had retired from the Loudon embassy—that he became best known to Englishmen, On obtaining power in 1840, his task was exceedingly difficult. England and France were startled by the projects and ambition of M. Thiers, arid it was no easy matter to calm the excited feelings of the French, and to dissipate the suspicions of the English. But the device of ' peace at at any price' in a great degree succeeded, till the affairs of Tahiti interrupted the friendly relations of the two countries, and the vexed question of the Spanish marriages again excited considerable alarm and distrust. M. Guizot's conduct in the last matter was thought by many to be discreditable to his diplomacy. His rule came to an inglorious end in the revolution of February, 1848, after he had held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs for more than six years, and he withdrew from active political life. It is only a matter of justice to add, that whatever miy be thought of M. Guizot as a politician, he has earned a distinction as an author which must long secure eminence to his name. Nor is he less entitled to praise as the originator of an extensive improvement in the literature of his country. Since his retirement he has written two more volumes of his admirable ' History of the English Revolution,' embracing the history of the Commonwealth ; as well as ' Richard Cromwell

and the Dawn of the Restoration,' and two semi* political pamphlets, ' On Democracy in France,' published in 1849, and an ' Enquiry into the Causes of the Success of the English Revolution,' in 1850. The chief works that have been translated into English are, ' History of the English Revolution, of 1640,' in 1826-55 ; 'Life of Monk' ; 'Lectures on the History of Civilization,' in 1846 : ' Corneille and his Times,' and ' Shakspere and his Times,' in 1852 ; ' Essay on the Fine Arts,' and ' Love in Marriage,' in 1854. His later works are, ' Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire demon Temps,' in 9 vols, 185868; ' Discours Academiques,' and a pamphlet, entitled 'L'Eglise et la Societe Chr6tienne,' in 1861, being a defence of the temporal power of the Papacy, which gave rise to much discussion at the time, both in France and in England ; ' Meditations sur l'Essence de la Religion Chretienne,' in 1865 ; ' Melanges Uiographiques et Litteraires,' in 1868 : and ' La France et la Prusse responsable devant l'Europe,' in 1868. The ' Public Speeches of the late Prince Consort,' translated into French, with an introduction by M. Guizot, in which the latter favorably contrasts the acts of the former with those of William of Orange with regard to his wife, appeared in Paris."