CONTRASTS, OR 'THE CLOSING SCENES.' VOLNEY, THE INFIDEL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 363, 24 January 1849, Page 4

CONTRASTS, OR 'THE CLOSING SCENES.' VOLNEY, THE INFIDEL.

Volney, the writer of The Ruins of Emfires, a work in which. there is,,su,fficient cvi* dqnce.ofithe author's hostility to Christianity, was one of a ,knot of French philosophers, very animated, ;very happy, and very bpsy iv bastje/iing.on the French Revolution,,, at the close of the last century. , Although sufficiently bitter in his denunciation ,of revelation, and sufficiently willing on all occasions to avow himself an infidel, his principles do not seem always to have sustained him, — nor does he appear on all emergencies to have been prepared to abide by them.. Of his, shrinking from /his owji creed, we have a curious and well-attested record. Ttye late Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Isaac Weld,' some ye.ar^ sinGe, travelled through North America and the- two,Canadas. As they y^re, traversing one of .theextensive lakes of the Northern, States in a vessel, they found onboard of her,.yolney, celebrated, or rather notorious, for his infidel principles. A very heavy storm came on ; insomuch that the vessel, which had struck repeatedly great force, was expected to go down. The mast had gone by the board ; the helm was quite unmanageable ; and the ,wh.ole scene was one of confusion, suffering, and, horror. There were ma.ny fernale».as well as .male passengers; but .no qne exhibited such, strong marks of ungovernable despair as Vojln.ey.i. Throwing, fejrnself on the deck, now irapfofr ing now J% imprecating the captain, now remindingghim that he had engaged to » carry him safe to his. destination ; .vainly threatenipg, the while, penalties of all descriptions, iv case anything should happen J. At last, however, as the probability of, their being lgst increased, this great mirror of nature, human or inhuman, began loading all the pockets of his coat, waistcoat, breeches, and every place he< cquld c think of with dollars, toAhe amount of ,some, hundreds j. and Jw thus, ,asjhe thought, was preparing to swim for Jus If fe, should the expected wreck take place.. - M*. Bancroft remonstrated w,hh him ;on, the folly of. such! %cts, spying, that he wpuld. sinjp'.like a> piece of,,lead, with so great a weight jjppn him ;< a.ud, at length (as he became. sctiKfiry noisy and unsteady' as to impede the management of the, ship,, Mr. Banproft pusb)Bc| Atim fprci*, bly downAhe h.atchway^., - r i •, ' ■ ■ i\ _ Y^pey soqp^me up again, haying;-ligh-tened .himself #f tjie doil^rgj" unfa in the agony of his mind^threw, himself upon the deck, exclaimingj with, uplifted bands > and, streaming eyes,- ",Qhmf>n JPiw I mOnJDteu/. qufcst cc

quejeferai! quest cc quejefe?aif" — (My ' God ! my God I what shall Ido ? what shall fdo?") This so surprised' Bancroft, that, notwith-' standing the moment did not accord with flashes of humour, yet he could not refrain from replying, " Eh'j Hen ! Mons. Valney / voits avez done un Dieu a present!" — (',* Ah, well ! Mr. Volney ! so you do believe in a God at present P) — To which Volney returned, with, th^ most trembling anxiety, "Oh, out, ouir— (« f .Oh, yes, yes !")— The ship, however, got safe ; and Mr. Bancroft made every company which he went into echo with this' anecdote o£ Volney's acknowledgment of God. The infidel, ,for a considerable time, was so hurt at his " weakness," as he called' it, that 'he was ashamed of showing himself 1 in company at Philadelphia; but afterwards,' like an infallible French philosopher, remarked that " those words escaped him in' the instant of alarm, but had no meaning;" and he again utterly renounced them, and avowed his disbelief! of or superintending Being. * Man,' said he, like the beasts, perishes /' He died 25th April,. 1820. Few particulars of his closing scene were divulged by those who witnessed them. But the little -that transpired was gloomy in the extreme. The infidel's anguish as to -the future^was avowed and almost insupportable. >Hi& fears nothing CQuld calm ; and Jj his mental conflict nothing' could soothe. "

General Cavaignac—>As Getidral Gavaignac must occupy, at least for some considerable period, a prominent place in the current history of' Europe, and'is ljust now, I suppose in 'England, as-here, 1 to use a trite -phrase, "in- everybody's mouth" —-I take it iforgranted any information touchinghis antecedents will- be acceptable to'your readers. Cavaignacis by no means an unknown or obscure personage. He is a soldier in every sense_ of The ATord —a soldier by laste/by education, and I may say by descent. His father particularly distinguished himself at Austerlitz, at the the head of "the lOth regiment of Dragoons ; and afterwards took service as general under Murat, King of Naples. He signalised himself in various contests with the 'English and *lth the" insurgent Calabrians, over whom" he gained a decisive victory on the 20th of June, 1809, He went through the campaign of Moscow, Whence he took refuge at Dantzic, and at the restoration of the Bourbons, sent in his adhesion, and was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry. .Still fyirther back one generation; and I find that the'grandfather of the present military dictator'was an actor of some note in the old Wench Revolution, being one of its most ardentJ!and strenuous* partizans. He was a member of the Convention, and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. The present 'Ge- i rieral Cayaignac is about 40 years of age. I j have been informed by-one who knew him in- \ timately, that duriug the reign of Louis Ehi- j lipjpe he was noted among his compeers for j the strong predilection he had for Republican principles, and the boldness with which he avbwed'them. Having been employed in the army in, Africa, he soon showed that there was something.about him above the common stamp and ma^k,p.f-men. His gallant conduct and sol^ipti'y^skiil -raised him rapidly to the grade of seneral,pf division ; and at the proclamation 'of theljt^ubJic in February last, the Provisional Gp r ver^meijt made him Go-vernor-General ,o£ A'gef &•,',' $|pee t^at they recalled him, and plfic^ .him at the head of £h,e war department.- A mosc daring feat of personal courage was performed, by him during the campaign, , against Abd-el-Kader, w.h(en being spijpr.ised^lan^ iy a dozea Arabs, h.e, adopted the well-Jcnown Horatian stratagem., ,^nd,ba^ing caused .them to stra^gg|e.|n their pursuit, single-handexl p»t them sllhors. decojnpgt)* , jpiiringitbi.js, encounter he received, asseviege d^ggg r^ stab in the body, ye,t, nojtv^it^standiag* whgn h,is last assailant di ag-j ge,^ him.fnpm, Ivis. ho,r,se,and his s,wprd was Joat inthe,iall, < he got; t^e, better in the deathstruggle which ensue^. by y( B^ra,ngling. his opponent on the grqufldj,' , -. Cavaignac is a-rnsp, of; generous and nphle. bearing, ,of undoubted personal and, moral courage; he has, the; hparts of the soldiery with him ; and though he knows next, to no-,' , th.ijlg of the arts of diplomacy, he has .that which will gp far to secure him from the successful rivalry of.a mere poUticiau-r-thjaJ i«domilable mil which rarefy fails, to give awa surpassiug • iofjuence^rtha^ quality prompted ;Napoleon;s^RoJl-'knpwn aphotisrar^ "jtJie^word impossible'\s noit in nay dictioaary/'

An Affectionate; Et»oTHß&. —"Oa the arresi of Auguste Blanqui," says the, Union, "lists of proscriptions were found athis.lod,gißgs^^atthßJJead of which.. figured .his biffther, and former schoolmaster M«- Masski! disvbrothar, who devoted 800f. faJm his.modest salary to pay for the Board and education' of Auguste!"." . •• , ;At a recent gathering of one of the>Cork Confederate Globs the health of M-Madame >

J — . — — _ 'Blanc," whoever that Jady may be, „,wa« toasted with acclamation, because she had 4 cut off the heads of five of the Mobile Garde.during the late insurrection in Paris. 1 An elderly woman has lost her life at Bradford St. George, in Suffolk, from 1 the Sting' of a bee in her 'thumb. The, medical witnesses at the inquest were of opinion that the sting had caused death by producing' such a shock on the nervous system as to stop* the action of the heart. ' ' '' ' In the course of conversation in the House of Commons on Friday night, the curious fact was elicited, that ,the J streets, ' of London had increased upon the 1 aggregate length 6"f J no less than two hundred miles between 1830 and 1848, or at the rate of about twelve miles of street per annum. ! ' " A correspondent of Blnckwdod's' Magazine suggests that Manchester and Stockport should change their names for Cottoriburgh and Calicopolis. " ' _

A Good Retort. — On Sterne's entering the coffee-room at Y£rk, a Mr. A.,' staring him full in the face,' said he hated a parson ; upon which Sterne said, "And so, sir, does m y dog, for as soon, as I put on my gown and cassock, he fails a barking." ' " Indeed," replied, A., "How long has he done so?" "Ever siuce he was a puppy, sir," answered Sterne, "and I still look upon him as one."

Lola Monte z. — The Countess of Lans- ■ f eld (Lola Montez) has for ■ several month's past been occupying the< beautiful chateau at Pregny, on the north shore lJ of -the ''Lake of Geneva, known as the Chateau I 'de'lTtnpe'ra-" trice, for having been'the residence of the em*•press" Josephine, ' amda m d subsequently j also -Hi >Q,ueen Hortense-^ahd : where she 1 is. daily awaiting the arrival of the^ex-King of Bavaria. She has fitted up the chateau with exquisite taste> and now passes 1 her days in quiet !; and happy contrast' with the 'strange scenes of her eventful life. Much of her 5 time is spent on the lake, and in command of her little yacht, Le Corsaire, manned'toy' a crew -of youthful volunteers froni some y of the 1 best I! families 'in Geneva. She takes great pleasure-in showing hospitality to those amongst her fortrier friends who find out her retreat, but 'far more I—and1 — and to her credit be it said I—in1 — in the exercise of almost unbounded charity to the poor ■in the neighbourhood, by whom she is deservedly beloved. ' - '

Alcoholic Drinks, Death a^d^l'Diot'c't. — It i& said that GO^OOO^erson^die pearly 'in England from the' 'Sects' of strong' drinks,; and Governor Briggs, of Massachusetts, at a terftperance meeting ] la"tely r held in Fane'uiH Hall, Boston, stated } ihit the report of 'th'e committee appointed to inquire in regard to the idiots in the commonwealth, showed that there were from r) i;2o9 to 1,300 of that unfortunate class, and also the astounding fact that I^loo to "1,200 of them were born of drunken parents. — Water Cure Journal.

A Veteran. —Mr. J. Hosken (father of Capt. Hosken, formerly of the Great Britain*, and now port-master and harbour-master of the new colony of Labtian,) who died at Penryn on Friday the 7th, at the advanced 'age of 92, had been engaged in some of the principal -naval battles of the last wars. He was present at Kodney's victory over the Comte de Grasse, April 12, 1782, as well as in the actions previously fought between Admiral Hood and the French fleet in the West Bittiesand few saw more service in the last' WahK He was afterwards employed in charge of one of the vessels for-cdnstrricting the T Plymouth Breakwater, for which he dropped the first stone:' Here he met with a serious accident by a heavy stone striking the rudder liif 'its fall, and causing the tiller to fly round suddenly, which, striking him on the hip^ lamed him for life. -He suffered also a fracture of several ribs by a fall down the main' hatchway of the Britannia, 120. But for the consequences of these injuries his life would probably have been prolonged beyond a: century; His sight and hearing remained gobdj »n& his faculties clear to the last. - •' < ' '

Receipt rofc * a Gent.' —Bon'tfaa'tfeyottt hair cut, or disturbed by comb or brusli; let it bang- in matted locks over; the coUafr Yof your coat. If you have- a beard, let 1 iti grew w&erever it will. Don't wash your face if you can help it; and never wear a shirt, or if you have a taste for; such an obsolete custom don't show any part of it. Smoke incessantly, without regard to the feelings of any one. By strictly attending to the above rules you will soon attain yotir object, and look like a foreigner whose residence- in his own country has been dispensed .with, and-might well be spared in this* < ■ •"'- *•' >' '