The life of Louis Adolphe Thiers

Dedication

To M. J. BARTH&LEMY ST. HILAIRE,

Senator and Member of the Institute.

In authorizing me to place your name at the head of this

Contents

Early Life . . . » I

The Revolution of July ...... 26

Early Years of the July Monarchy ... 50

Author's Preface

I do not think you have an exact idea in America of France. The Atlantic seems to hide her from you or lets you see her only through dense mists. The illusion often remains, even after the distance that separates you from her has been passed over. Afar off, you see little or you see badly ; near by, the brilliant and agitated foreground alone attracts your gaze ; you do not see the background, or rather the delicate blending of the colors, which is as important for an exact and complete understanding of a picture as the background itself. This phenomenon, however, is easily explained. An old society which aspires to a loftier life, to a new growth, which is struggling to throw off the narrow robe of the past, does not resemble a young society, full-grown, which cuts out for itself a generous garment from a tissue woven by its own hands. The same institutions do not breathe the same spirit there, nor have words the same viii Author s Preface.

signification, and, what appears not less strange, the same principles do not produce the same consequences. The best persons are liable, therefore, unless, on their guard, to make mistakes concerning men as well as things, so that good intentions and impartial judgment are not always safe guides.

Perhaps there is not a more striking example of this facility of delusion concerning France, than the opinion of Thiers, expressed by Mr. John Bigelow in his book entitled France and Hereditary Monarchy, published in 1 87 1. Party spirit has rarely brought against the illustrious statesman, even in his own country, so many and so grave accusations. Without limiting himself to those which might have their raison d'etre in the events of the day, and which sprang, as it were, from the still smoking ruins of Paris, Mr. Bigelow has been pleased to go back to the earliest political life of the statesman whom he has taken to task, and he finds there almost all the germs of the misfortunes that have befallen France for more than twenty-five years. If the last of the Napoleons undertook that foolish and terrible war which overthrew his dynasty and mutilated his country, it is the fault of Thiers. If Louis Philippe fell from the throne in 1848, it is likewise the fault of Thiers. If the Empire arose in 185 1 on the ruins of the Republic, it is again the fault of

Author s Preface. ix

Thiers, who, in reviving the Napoleonic legend, restored the adoration of Bonaparte and thus prepared a name and an instrument for despotism. Thiers, according to Mr. Bigelow, was not less hurtful during the latter part of his life than during this early period. As soon as he came upon the scene again, near the end of the second Empire, he is the auxiliary of the ultramontanes in their anti-gallican policy, and the enemy of all legislation favorable to the emancipation of the schools, opening them to the light of modern thought and popular influence ; and, finally, placed at the head of the executive power by the Assembly at Bordeaux in 1871, Thiers was justly suspected of preparing the return of the Orleans Monarchy, (Mr. Bigelow's words are : " was merely warming the bed for some scion of the House of Bourbon ; ") of reviving the despotism he had combated, and of placing the government in an attitude of marked hostility towards the governed.*

* France and Hereditary Monarchy, pp. 9 and 10.

President White, of Cornell University, one of our best read students of French history, has about the same opinion as Mr. Bigelow concerning Thiers, if we may judge from the following extracts from a letter to the translator of this volume :

" Though Mr. Thiers' life has been very interesting, I have never admired him in the slightest degree, until the last days of his career, beginning with the close of the Franco-German struggle. Before that time, he seemed to me a curse to his country and to Europe , but then he became a sublimely energetic and patriotic public servant. * * * To him more than any other man in France is due a sort of Mephistophelian deification of Revolution on the one hand, and of Napoleonic despotism on the other. Yet, he did more to heal the wounds he had done so much to cause, than any other man could do."

x Author s Preface.

If Mr. Bigelow were to draw up his act of accusation to-day, he would no doubt revise it in more than one of its articles. Recent events have thrown a light on certain points before obscured, which render all illusion of perspective impossible, and brings clearly before the most inattentive eyes the character of the man and the unity of his life. There cannot, I think, remain a doubt concerning the unity of the political life of Thiers after the perusal of this sketch. I have followed Thiers throughout almost all of his career with keen and constant interest, not to say regard ; I have read all that he has written, all that he has spoken in the tribune ; I have heard him deliver most of his great speeches for the last ten years ; I knew him personally and I am acquainted with many of his friends. To this knowledge of my subject, I think I may add a fair share of impartiality.

In closing this preface, I would remark, that in spite of the great interest attached to the public life of a man who, occupied during more than a half century, so important a place in the history of his country, who played the first part under such different circumstances, and in such various situations, it is not so much Thiers whom I have in view in speaking of the former President of the French Republic, of the historian of the Consulate and Empire, of the Ex-minister of Louis Philippe, as the

Authors Preface. xi

country and the epoch in which his long life was passed. It will be for me a sort of pretext, a means, the best perhaps, of penetrating into the intricacies of a society complicated of itself, rendered more perplexing by the agitations of its surface, and of seizing out the difficulties of the problems there being discussed, the passions and interests which there dispute for empire. All of these problems, passions and interests are grouped about Thiers, and form, as it were, his retinue. The light that he emits will flash upon them and will aid us to see clearly into this " visible darkness."

Francois LeGoff, July 1878. 44 rue Monge, Paris.

LOUIS ADOLPH THIERS.

Chapter I

Thiers was born at Marseilles on the morning of April 1 Kih, 1797, at ten minutes past two, in his grandmother's house, number 15 rue des Petits-Peres. The house to-daybears the number 40.* His mother's name was Marie Madeleine Amic ; his father's, Pierre Louis Marie Thiers. He was baptized Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe, the first two names in honor of the poet Marie Joseph Chenier, who was his second cousin, Thiers's grandmother on his mother's side being the sister of the mother of the Cheniers.

The physician who was present at the birth of Thiers pronounced the child " turbulent and very viable," f characteristics that were seen in the whole after life of the man, who was one of the most active spirits of his time, whose remarkable vitality carried him through four political revolutions, supported him in the midst of immense literary labors, and only failed him after he had passed the advanced age of four score years.

* See Appendix A for the Registry of Birth.

f See Appendix B for the curious note found ini the diary of this phy-

On his mother's side, Thiers was of eastern origin. His grandfather was a merchant of Marseilles, but his grandmother, named Santi-Lomaica, ,was a Greek. They were as familiar with the Greek language as with the Provencal; were courageous, impressionable, quick to anger and not less prompt to reconciliation. They were strongly attached to royalty. The father of Thiers, on the contrary, was a friend of the Revolution and had even played a part in it as a member of the Committee of Public Safety at Marseilles. When the reaction against the Terrorists set in,* fearing for his safety, he was introduced into the Amic family by a common friend — an Italian lady, who lived at Chateau-Gombert, a little spot in the environs of Marseilles, — where he was sure his enemies would not follow him. Mile. Amic fell in love with the guest of her father, touched by his misfortunes, dazzled, doubtless, also by the brilliancy of his mind, the distinction of his manners; and, in spite of his poverty, his widowhood, his family embarrassments — he had some children — in spite of his revolutionary opinions which she detested, Mile. Amic decided to marry him. She was a beautiful girl, of a lively imagination of ready and highly-colored conversational powers, like all the children of Marseilles, and of an energetic and decided character.

It is customary to-day to endeavor to find in the gen-

* Robespierre, the soul of the Reign of Terror, was guillotined on July 27th, 1794, — the gth Thermidor — and the Directory then came into power with milder measures.

Early Life. 3

ealogy of celebrated men the precursory signs, the psychologic seeds of their future growth and genius. Atavism has become one of the factors of history. Thiers was not repugnant to this doctrine, perhaps because he knew his own pedigree. What we have just said concerning his mother's family does not contradict the influence of origin, nor does that which is known and which he was accustomed to tell voluntarily concerning his father and his father's ancestors.

The paternal family of Thiers, which belonged to that ancient bourgeoisie of Marseilles that from 1560 to 1775 exercised in that city an almost absolute power, presents, in the course of three generations, some singular and not mediocre types. His great-grandfather, a rich merchant, talented, loving society and good eating, giving grand dinners, was finally ruined in speculations with the French colonies and died at the age of ninety-seven. His grandfather was appointed archivist of Marseilles by a decree of Louis XV, dated at Versailles, September 16th, 1770, in which, referring to the three candidates presented by the Municipal Council of Marseilles to fill the vacancy, the royal document reads: "His Majesty considers all three of them worthy, yet, being well informed of the fidelity and affection for his service of M. Charles Thiers, advocate at the Parliament of Aix, His Majesty designates him to exercise the functions of the office." He also wrote an able history of Provence, was a sturdy royalist, and died in his ninety-fifth year, pursued by the wrath of his republican enemies. The father of Thiers did not hold to the monarchical beliefs of his ancestors, nor does he appear to have led as upright a life. His father left him about ten thousand dollars — not a small fortune in those days — which he quickly wasted in wild speculations and in dissipations of the worst kind.* The father of Thiers would be called in the parlance of to-day a "fast" man. He was a wandering and original character, a great lover of novelties and adventures., a grand builder of air-castles, by turns merchant, theatrical manager, director of a gambling house, knowing everything, talking about everything, never embarrassed by a question, sometimes rich, oftener poor, but never losing faith in himself or despairing of the future. How many of these characteristics he transmitted to his son ! Good sense, however, he seemed to lack, a quality that the son, fortunately for his success, possessed in a large degree.

Thlers's first years were spent either at Marseilles or in short visits to little towns in the environs of the city. As he advanced in years his physical development was slower than his mental. When he was seven years old he had the stature and the features of a child of four or five. At this period he was sent to a school where he acquired the principles of the French and Latin languages, and at nine he became a day scholar at the Marseilles Lycee.f

* Adolphe Thiers, by Achille Gastaldy, page 17.

f A Lycee in France is the State school that prepares for the University 1 it partakes of the nature both of our college and high school.

The school bills were paid by one of Thiers's aunts and by a cousin, the latter being the wife of a rich Marseilles merchant. Three years later, as the result of a competitive examination, he gained one of the scholarships at the Lycee. This was in 1809, at the age of twelve.

The delighted mother, too poor to educate her son and sensitive at his dependence on his relations, writes to the Mayor of Marseilles the following letter, which has recently been discovered among the archives of that city.

Mr Mayor :

Accept my thanks for the attention you have shown me in informing me of the admission of my son to the Lycee ol this city, by the letter with which you honored me, the fourth of this month ; he will try to make himself worthy of the favor, by his application and exactness, and thus merit in some degree the esteem of his superiors and of the head of the University ; yours also, sir, will be very flattering.

I have the honor to be, with respectful consideration, sir, your very humble servant,

Thiers nee Amic.

His collegiate career did not fail to respond to the high hopes expressed in this letter. The young bursar was one of the most brilliant and studious scholars of the Lycee. The new University* while remaining classic, gave, in its curriculum, a large place to history, geogra-

* Napoleon I. by the decree of March, 17th 1808, established the University of France a great system of education by the State, embracing Primary and University instruction, which still exists in all essential particulars as marked out by its founder. " University ," therefore, in France, means the whole system of public education.

phy and the mathematical sciences. Thiers embraced all with equal ardor and equal success.

Thiers says in one of the passages of his Consulate and Empire, that there is but one miracle in the world, good sense seconded by determined will. He attributes all the real success of individuals as well as peoples to the union of these two powers. This truth would not have been suggested to him by the study of history, if he had not found it in his own mind and in the history of his own life. There are few self-made men who have risen to prominence, in whom this trait is more distinctly seen, or who grasped its meaning at an earlier hour. Someone has remarked that Thiers was inspired by it even in his college days, and that ever since it has accompanied him like a familar spirit.

Two particular influences, besides the general influences arising from study itself and a classical education, seem to have acted strongly on Thiers's mind at the Lycee and to have contributed a great deal towards giving it a certain direction — that of one of his professors, M. Maillet- Lacoste, and that of the military spirit of the first Empire, whose victorious bulletins, read aloud in the class-rooms, in the dining hall and in the lecture rooms, then formed a part of the University programme.

Maillet-Lacoste, a graduate of the Polytechnic school, had had the misfortune to write against the Empire, for which reason he was sent in disgrace by M. de Fontanes, grand-master of the University, to teach in the Lycee of

^ T - 12 -^-] Early Life. y

Marseilles. He had aspired to be an engineer, but was forced to be a college professor. A man of refinement and lofty sentiments, he soon gained great influence over his pupils. Thiers felt himself drawn towards him. The young professor was struck by the intelligence of his pupil. They frequently walked and conversed together. History, politics, art, all topics were discussed on these occasions and discussed on an elevated plain. Thiers never forgot this early teacher and ever spoke of him with respect.

The greater part of the students of the Lycees of this period, dazzled by the glories of the First Empire, had their thoughts turned towards a military career. The young bursar of Marseilles did not escape the fascina tion, and we can imagine the future historian of the Consulate and Empire, dreaming on the college benches of a participation in that military glory which at a later day he was to celebrate. In fact, Thiers always had a strong taste for military affairs, and gave considerable thought to questions of this nature. When the last bill concern ing the reorganization of the French army was being discussed in the Assembly a few years ago, a witty caricaturist drew a sketch of Thiers astride a drum, in the uniform of an enfant de troupe* of 1832, with the words "Old Soldier" written under the picture. The artist's fancy could have gone back farther into the past, and he might have pictured the schoolboy,, in the midst of his

* An enfant de troupe is a soldier's son brought up in the banacks at the expense of the State.

games, dressed in the uniform of a pupille de la garde* or dreaming in a corner of the study-room of the future battles of Marengo or Austerlitz, and of the laurels that awaited his prowess. But at the moment when these dreams might have become realities, a new order of things was instituted which opened another career to his talents and offered other hopes to his ambition.

The Empire fell, and the Charter of Louis XVIII was given France, and along with the Charter, enough liberty to inspire the hope of being able to gain more. It was 1815. Thiers was eighteen. He had left the Lycee covered with honors, to enter the law school at Aix. An aunt and a friend of the family furnished the funds that were needed. The young law student, with that rapidity of glance and that prompt decision which are not the least marked traits of his character, saw in a moment that politics was going to supplant arms, and that, for him, the forum was to be more important than the camp. His course was quickly chosen; politics henceforth became his chief occupation, and, for that matter, the chief occupation of the college world. At Aix as elsewhere — more than elsewhere perhaps — the new phase into which the Revolution entered, now brought face to face with its old enemies, was warmly welcomed, and the struggle was more intense as the reaction was more violent.

The pupilles de la garde were a body of youth attached to the guard of Napoleon I.

^Et. is.] Early Life. 9

The young Thiers, who was not, as can be imagined, the least ardent, was not slow in taking a prominent position among his fellow-students as an advocate of liberal principles. Independently of the earnest views which sprang in common from the closely united body of students, Thiers boldly assumed a more advanced position, and charmed his companions by his inexhaustible fund of information, by the piquancy of his language and by his eloquence, so brilliant, so full of feeling and so French. He had also, at this early date, what he never failed to have up to the day of his death, numerous friends and numerous enemies. It was, so to speak, the prelude of his after life. And he had intimate friends not only within the walls of the law school, but also in the city, where his name had caused not a little commotion. Among his college friends, Mignet, the distinguished historian, should be mentioned particularly, to whom he made the first proffer of friendship and with whom he was closely united throughout his whole life.

Aix opened to Thiers a freer, larger and more animated field than he had found at Marseilles, and circumstances seemed to conspire to bring into play the most striking and original qualities of his mind. Aix was a learned city. Besides its law school and its court of appeals, it possessed a nobility which contained a great number of distinguished men who had a keen relish for intellectual subjects. Thiers here found himself in his element. Mignet introduced his friend to the most honorable and enlightened personages of the city. Thiers was well received because of his vivacity and his already' inexhaustible conversational powers. Some aristocratic and even Legitimist families* welcomed him to their parlors. They called him the "little Jacobin." but he did not hide his opinions. He never "put his flag in his pocket," as he has been accused of doing. Royalism was powerful at Aix ; Liberalism was only the more ardent for this very reason. It dominated on the benches of the law school, and Thiers might be called its leader. He had founded a club called the Cenacle — a sort of debating society, where politics were tabooed. Thiers, however, was the first to break over the rule. Politics was his passion. He was preparing himself for the future.

To this epoch belongs an episode with which the name of M. d 'Arlatan de Lauris, a judge of the court of appeals and a member of the academy of Aix, is connected. Though found in all the biographical notices of Thiers, it cannot be omitted here, for, besides its raciness of detail, it throws the first important light upon his character. We refer to his Eulogy on Vauvenargues.\

The Academy of Aix had offered a prize for the best

eulogy on the young moralist, a friend of Voltaire. Vauven-

argues's touching fate, his sturdy upright character, his

* The Legitimists are the adherents of the old monarchy, overthrown first in 1793 and again in 1830.

f Vauvenargues. a French moralist born in 1715 at Aix, died in 1747, after long suffering from diseases contracted in the army.

jet. 20-21.] Early Life. i r

love of glory, that moderate system of philosophy which was also Thisrs's, in which thought and action combine and balance, the fact, not unimportant to a youth, that he was a native of the same province, so captivated his young compatriot, that when M. de Lauris, who perceived Thiers's abilities and divined his future, advised him to compete for the prize, he was only too eager to do so.

His essay, written in a clear rapid style, where more attention was paid to the thoughts than to the language, and animated by the fire of hopeful youth, was considered excellent ; but the name of the author had been divulged, and it was not the time nor the country in which justice alone was to decide upon merit even in the most harmless things. The royalists had a majority in the academy and they determined to let the " little Jacobin," know it. They did not, however, carry their partiality so far as to award the prize to another, but contented themselves with adjourning the contest to the next year, hoping to have competitors more to their taste. But Thiers, with the obstinacy of youth, was resolved to have the prize that belonged to him, and since the judges refused to give it to him, he determined to snatch it from them. He rewrote his eulogy on Vauvenargues and sent it once more to the academy. But this time, in order to put them on the wrong scent and to outwit their partisanship, he had the essay forwarded from Paris, through the medium of a Parisian friend, whom he had let into the secret. He also took good care to hand in his former essay without changing it in the slightest particular, except that of the handwriting. The academy fell into the trap, adjudged the prize to the essay sent from Paris, and made honorable mention of that dated from Aix. It is said that the academicians took their discomfiture with good grace, while Thiers, besides the joy of a double triumph, had also the pleasure of laughing at his judges, a pleasure without alloy since he had won his case.

This eulogy on Vauvenargues, by which Thiers made his debut in letters, is- of great importance to the student of his character, not simply on account of the little episode that it gave rise to, which, characteristic of the man, was not much more than a youthful frolic, but more particularly on account of the nature of the ideas and the way of looking at human destiny therein exposed. The youth traces the course he is to pursue in manhood, and points out clearly the aim he has in view. Action, according to Thiers, is the object and the province of life. "Since man is put on earth to work," he says, "the more he does, the more he fulfills his end." There is nothing extraordinary in this thought, the contrary being an absurdity. Its significance lies in the fact that as soon as the author sees his object, he disengages it from all the systems which might tend to enervate our activity by declaring the supreme reward of all our efforts to be found in an obscure and mysterious future. He does not deny the truth of these systems, whether religious or philosophical, but contents himself with not discussing them. He jet. 23-24. } Early Life. 13

has to do with certain, visible, incontestable reality. He would ascertain the laws of our being which incite to action, and which are summed up in the exercise of our energies, and hence it is that he concludes that the aim and the reward, that work and pay, are the same thing. '■ Life is action," says Thiers, " and whatever the prize may be, the employment of our own powers is enough to satisfy us because it is the accomplishment of our nature." It is under the patronage of Vauvenargues that Thiers advances this thought, which is only, in fact, the formula of all the philosophy of the eighteenth century. Yet, at the same time, it is none the less his own, since this idea continually manifested itself during the whole course of his life, which was one long labor in a single cause, a continual exercise of the most elevated faculties, tending always towards some practical end, seeking no other recompense than that which emanated from the struggle, the effort and the result.

In France, politicians rarely rise to prominence in the provinces, where superior intellects are often outstripped by mediocre ones. Thiers knew this. He was graduated from the law school in 1820. In 1821, about the month of July, his friend Mignet left Aix for the capital, and in less than three months thereafter, Thiers joined him, armed with his diploma (of which he was to make no use), his courage and great confidence in himself and his future.

This latter sentiment, so powerful a factor in a suecessful career, showed itself early in the life of Thiers. He was accustomed to remark, in moments of friendly communion with Mignet and in conversation with his

fellow-students, "When we are ministers ." He did

not hesitate to speak freely on this subject, even in public, and he does not appear to have been always overparticular concerning the choice of his confidants. Thiers was by nature careless and unreserved.

There stood at the gate of the law school of Aix, an old apple-woman with whom Thiers frequently chatted. The poor woman often complained of her lot, while the young student, in order to reconcile her to the present, would talk to her of the future, especially of his own, and would make fine promises, which, all in fun, he would say he hoped might be fulfilled. " I know, my good woman, that times are hard," he would remark, *' but be patient, they will change. When I am minister, I will, of course, have a fine residence, and you will see me some day coming in a coach to take you home. That will be a gala day for us."

Thiers, notwithstanding his poverty, did not encounter in his early efforts those sore trials which often check the advance of the most talented minds. Dr. Johnson's famous couplet,

This mournful truth is everywhere confess'd, Slow rises worth by poverty depress'd,

is not true in Thiers's case. Thiers was, however, in straightened circumstances for at least a year and a half jet. 24-26.] Early Life. i5

after coming to Paris. He was at this time closely united with the young literary circle that Abel Hugo, brother of the poet, had brought together, and which, in summer, on Thursdays, used to take dinner at Montrouge, on the outskirts of the city, in the saloon kept by mother Saget, as the landlady was called. She did not then know what a galaxy of future politicians and publicists were her patrons. One day in the year 1832, while looking over her old account books, she was almost beside herself with joy at finding that a haricot de mouton was still unpaid on Thiers's bill, and Thiers was a minister ! The minor journals of the time recounted the fact with merriment, and the old dame all rigged out in her best, called on the minister and the little debt was handsomely liquidated.