JEW YORK DE LA SALLE MONTHLY. VOL. IV.—JANUARY, 1871.No. 19. CHATEAUBRIAND. BY ANTHONY D'AVALON. Descended of a noble family of Brit- by his appointment, through the influtany, Rene Francis Augustus, Viscount ence of his brother, the Count of Chomde Chateaubriand, the illustrious author bourg, as lieutenant in the regiment of the "Genius of Christianity," was of Navarre, in which the fulfillment of born at Saint Malo, in France, on the 4th his duties left him little time for despondof September, 1768. His ancestors, the ent thoughts. After serving meritobarons of Chateaubriand, had been fa- riously for some time, he left his military mous not only for feats of arms and royal post upon the death of his father, in lineage in a direct line from Thierri, 1786, to look after his estate, and being grandson of Alain III., sovereign of the well pleased with civic life, settled with Armorican peninsula, but also, like true his family in Paris. His noble birth and Bretons, for their steadfast attachment distinguished connections procured him to religion. presentation at Court, and introduction Unfortunately, young Chateaubriand, to the most refined and aristocratic though tenderly and piously nurtured circles, and having by royal favor reby a devout mother, did not prove him-ceived the preferment of a captain of self worthy of his noble sires; for soon cavalry, he was intended for memberafter completing his classical studies in ship in the order of Malta. But his litcompany with Broussais, at Dinan, he erary predilections becoming manifest, devoted himself to the perusal of danger- he cultivated the society of Gingueni, ous works, then much in vogue, and ex- Lebruń, Champfort, Delisle de Salles, changed his early sentiments of piety for and under their auspices, preferring the the infidel and pernicious doctrines sown peaceful avocation of authorship to broadcast throughout the land by Vol courtly and knightly honors, made his taire and his associates. Naturally of first appearance as a writer in the an ardent temperament, his fancy be- "Almanach des Muses." The approach came most extravagant, and with his of civil commotion soon diverted him passions as his only guide, it need not from his new profession, and in 1789 he be wondered at, that in the revulsion of attended the session of the States of feelings which always follows, his des- Brittany, and in the disturbance that pondency became almost overwhelming, ensued, took up the sword against the and that, weary of life, he even rashly mob that had assailed the Hall of Assemand most impiously meditated suicide. bly. Returning to Paris, he witnessed He was recalled, however, from his gloom the first outbreak of popular fury which VOL. IV.-1. subsequently culminated in the famous at his home, he married Mademoiselle de Revolution that deluged France with Lavigne, a lady of distinction. The hapstreams of blood. On the occasion of a piness of this union was rudely disturbed revolt in his regiment he quit the ser- in a few months by the national commovice, and sought in foreign travel refuge tion, which impelled him, in company from the danger to his order that popular with his brother, to join the army of excesses had already presaged. He pro- French nobles who had rallied in defence ceeded to the United States, and by of their country. At the siege of Thionmeans of a letter of introduction from ville, where he fought valorously, his Colonel Armand, who had served in the life was saved by the manuscript of American war, became acquainted with "Atala," which he carried about with President Washington, whose simplicity him, and which turned away from his and affability of demeanor and strength body a ball of the enemy. He was, of character made a most indelible im- however, desperately wounded in the pression upon his mind. He continued thigh, and, in addition, was attacked by his journey through the country, visit- small pox. In this miserable condition ing all the principal points of interest, he undertook, on foot, a journey of six not only those of commercial and civic hundred miles, and was found one evenimportance, but also those consecrated ing, overcome with weariness and sufferby the struggles of the Revolutionary ing, in a ditch by the roadside, by a patriots, or rendered memorable by nat- party attached to the Prince of Ligne, ural grandeur and beauty. In his enthu- who threw him into a wagon and carried siastic desire to approach closely to the him to the walls of Namur. Crawling cataract of Niagara, which he so elo- through the city on his hands and feet, quently describes in one of his works, he excited the compassion of some good he was twice placed in most imminent women, who assisted him to reach Brusdanger of his life; traveling from forest sels, where he met his brother, and reto forest, from tribe to tribe in the West, ceived all the care and attention neceshe hesitated at incurring no risk in order sary for his partial restoration to health. to contemplate the most secluded beau- Making his way through Belgium, he ties of nature and study the character sailed in a fishing-smack for the Isle of of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Jersey, where he found some of his famcountry. The habits of observation thusly, and many other unfortunate exiles. fostered were of invaluable service to him subsequently, in the composition of his numerous works. He procured the means of bare subsistence in London by his services as a translator, and, though at one time on He became intent, acting under the the verge of starvation, was too haughty advice of Malesherbes, upon discovering to seek the assistance which the British a northwest passage to the Polar Sea; Government generously extended to the but, learning of the flight and capture of refugees. Having procured suitable Louis XVI., and the unhappy condition remuneration for translating some im of his country, he relinquished his pro- portant documents of the twelfth cenject, embarked for France in the begin- tury relating to the history of the county ning of 1792, and immediately rejoined ofSuffolk, he was in possession of sufficient his family at Saint Malo. His mother funds to publish, in 1797, his "Essai sur tenderly received her long absent son; les Revolutions," which gained for him and during a season of temporary repose the esteem and consideration of the French nobility in England, and directed | tion, and drew forth mendacious attacks general attention to his merits as an from the enemies of religion on all sides. It was hailed, however, by thinking men of various shades of opinion as a timely production, while Catholics greeted it with joy, and looked upon it as the harbinger of a new era of religious feeling. On the appearance of this remarkable work, Bonaparte, who was then busy in arranging the details of the concordat, conferred upon the author who so ably seconded his views the office of First Secretary to Cardinal Fesch, Ambassador at Rome. presented to Pius VII. the venerable Pontiff was reading the Genie du Christianisme and greeted its author in the most affable and genial manner, blessing him as a true defender of the faith. When Chateaubriand was author. His momentary elation of spirits at his success was speedily depressed by the sad intelligence that his brother and sister-in-law, with his friend Malesherbes, had been guillotined by the miscreants of the revolution; while his wife and sister had been imprisoned at Rennes, and his mother in Paris. The latter, after a long and arduous confinement, died, breathing a prayer for the conversion of her son; and his heart, by the mercy of God, was touched by the announcement made to him of her dying aspiration. She charged one of my sisters," he writes, "to recall me to a sense of that religion in which I had been educated, and my sister made known to me her wish. When the let- Chateaubriand was too independent and ter reached me beyond the water, my sister also had departed this life, having succumbed under the effects of her imprisonment. Those two voices coming up from the grave, and that death which had now become the interpreter of death, struck me with peculiar force. I became a Christian. I did not yield to any great supernatural light; my conviction came from the heart. I wept, and I believed." sincere to long remain a diplomatist at the Papal Court, when the tortuous policy resolved upon by his official superiors had become clearly manifest. Sensible of his eminent abiities and desirous of attaching him to his own fortunes, Napoleon appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to the Valais; but Chateaubriand, being about to proceed upon his mission, heard of the arrest on foreign territory and subseWhen Bonaparte was appointed First quent shooting of the Duke d'Enghien Consul, Chateaubriand returned to in a ditch of Vincennes, and that very France under an assumed name, and, in evening, while men spoke with bated conjunction with Fontanes, edited the breath of their ruler, sent in his resignaMercure. In 1801 he published "Atala," tion. This implied protest bolder and which, though attacked by some critics, more meritorious, as it was the only exwon for him the protection of Madame pression of fearless opposition to the Bacciochi and Lucien Bonaparte, and measures of proscription which the First introduced him to that brillant society Consul had determined on, made Naof which Joubert, De Bonald, La Harpe, poleon perceive in the able author a Chenedolle, Mesdames Recamier and de declared enemy, and accordingly finding Beaumont, were the central figures. preferment and honors of no aval in This work led the way for the "Genie making Chateaubriand subservient to du Christianisme," which appeared in his will, exercised his power to cripple. 1803, was denounced by the disciples the literary resources of his political of Voltaire as the offspring of supersti-adversary. Leaving France once more |