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第76部分

雨果 悲惨世界 英文版2-第76部分

小说: 雨果 悲惨世界 英文版2 字数: 每页4000字

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repidity; a general at Valmy; a soldier at Jemappes; attacked eight times by regicides and always smiling。
  brave as a grenadier; courageous as a thinker; uneasy only in the face of the chances of a European shaking up; and unfitted for great political adventures; always ready to risk his life; never his work; disguising his will in influence; in order that he might be obeyed as an intelligence rather than as a king; endowed with observation and not with divination; not very attentive to minds; but knowing men; that is to say requiring to see in order to judge; prompt and penetrating good sense; practical wisdom; easy speech; prodigious memory; drawing incessantly on this memory; his only point of resemblance with Caesar; Alexander; and Napoleon; knowing deeds; facts; details; dates; proper names; ignorant of tendencies; passions; the diverse geniuses of the crowd; the interior aspirations; the hidden and obscure uprisings of souls; in a word; all that can be designated as the invisible currents of consciences; accepted by the surface; but little in accord with France lower down; extricating himself by dint of tact; governing too much and not enough; his own first minister; excellent at creating out of the pettiness of realities an obstacle to the immensity of ideas; mingling a genuine creative faculty of civilization; of order and organization; an indescribable spirit of proceedings and chicanery; the founder and lawyer of a dynasty; having something of Charlemagne and something of an attorney; in short; a lofty and original figure; a prince who understood how to create authority in spite of the uneasiness of France; and power in spite of the jealousy of Europe。
  Louis Philippe will be classed among the eminent men of his century; and would be ranked among the most illustrious governors of history had he loved glory but a little; and if he had had the sentiment of what is great to the same degree as the feeling for what is useful。
  Louis Philippe had been handsome; and in his old age he remained graceful; not always approved by the nation; he always was so by the masses; he pleased。
  He had that gift of charming。
  He lacked majesty; he wore no crown; although a king; and no white hair; although an old man; his manners belonged to the old regime and his habits to the new; a mixture of the noble and the bourgeois which suited 1830; Louis Philippe was transition reigning; he had preserved the ancient pronunciation and the ancient orthography which he placed at the service of opinions modern; he loved Poland and Hungary; but he wrote les Polonois; and he pronounced les Hongrais。
  He wore the uniform of the national guard; like Charles X。; and the ribbon of the Legion of Honor; like Napoleon。
  He went a little to chapel; not at all to the chase; never to the opera。 Incorruptible by sacristans; by whippers…in; by ballet…dancers; this made a part of his bourgeois popularity。
  He had no heart。 He went out with his umbrella under his arm; and this umbrella long formed a part of his aureole。
  He was a bit of a mason; a bit of a gardener; something of a doctor; he bled a postilion who had tumbled from his horse; Louis Philippe no more went about without his lancet; than did Henri IV。
  without his poniard。
  The Royalists jeered at this ridiculous king; the first who had ever shed blood with the object of healing。
  For the grievances against Louis Philippe; there is one deduction to be made; there is that which accuses royalty; that which accuses the reign; that which accuses the King; three columns which all give different totals。
  Democratic right confiscated; progress bees a matter of secondary interest; the protests of the street violently repressed; military execution of insurrections; the rising passed over by arms; the Rue Transnonain; the counsels of war; the absorption of the real country by the legal country; on half shares with three hundred thousand privileged persons; these are the deeds of royalty; Belgium refused; Algeria too harshly conquered; and; as in the case of India by the English; with more barbarism than civilization; the breach of faith; to Abd…el…Kader; Blaye; Deutz bought; Pritchard paid;these are the doings of the reign; the policy which was more domestic than national was the doing of the King。
  As will be seen; the proper deduction having been made; the King's charge is decreased。
  This is his great fault; he was modest in the name of France。
  Whence arises this fault?
  We will state it。
  Louis Philippe was rather too much of a paternal king; that incubation of a family with the object of founding a dynasty is afraid of everything and does not like to be disturbed; hence excessive timidity; which is displeasing to the people; who have the 14th of July in their civil and Austerlitz in their military tradition。
  Moreover; if we deduct the public duties which require to be fulfilled first of all; that deep tenderness of Louis Philippe towards his family was deserved by the family。
  That domestic group was worthy of admiration。
  Virtues there dwelt side by side with talents。 One of Louis Philippe's daughters; Marie d'Orleans; placed the name of her race among artists; as Charles d'Orleans had placed it among poets。
  She made of her soul a marble which she named Jeanne d'Arc。 Two of Louis Philippe's daughters elicited from Metternich this eulogium:
  〃They are young people such as are rarely seen; and princes such as are never seen。〃
  This; without any dissimulation; and also without any exaggeration; is the truth about Louis Philippe。
  To be Prince Equality; to bear in his own person the contradiction of the Restoration and the Revolution; to have that disquieting side of the revolutionary which bees reassuring in governing power; therein lay the fortune of Louis Philippe in 1830; never was there a more plete adaptation of a man to an event; the one entered into the other; and the incarnation took place。 Louis Philippe is 1830 made man。
  Moreover; he had in his favor that great remendation to the throne; exile。
  He had been proscribed; a wanderer; poor。
  He had lived by his own labor。
  In Switzerland; this heir to the richest princely domains in France had sold an old horse in order to obtain bread。
  At Reichenau; he gave lessons in mathematics; while his sister Adelaide did wool work and sewed。 These souvenirs connected with a king rendered the bourgeoisie enthusiastic。
  He had; with his own hands; demolished the iron cage of Mont…Saint…Michel; built by Louis XI; and used by Louis XV。 He was the panion of Dumouriez; he was the friend of Lafayette; he had belonged to the Jacobins' club; Mirabeau had slapped him on the shoulder; Danton had said to him:
  〃Young man!〃 At the age of four and twenty; in '93; being then M。 de Chartres; he had witnessed; from the depth of a box; the trial of Louis XVI。; so well named that poor tyrant。
  The blind clairvoyance of the Revolution; breaking royalty in the King and the King with royalty; did so almost without noticing the man in the fierce crushing of the idea; the vast storm of the Assembly…Tribunal; the public wrath interrogating; Capet not knowing what to reply; the alarming; stupefied vacillation by that royal head beneath that sombre breath; the relative innocence of all in that catastrophe; of those who condemned as well as of the man condemned;he had looked on those things; he had contemplated that giddiness; he had seen the centuries appear before the bar of the Assembly…Convention; he had beheld; behind Louis XVI。; that unfortunate passer…by who was made responsible; the terrible culprit; the monarchy; rise through the shadows; and there had lingered in his soul the respectful fear of these immense justices of the populace; which are almost as impersonal as the justice of God。
  The trace left in him by the Revolution was prodigious。
  Its memory was like a living imprint of those great years; minute by minute。 One day; in the presence of a witness whom we are not permitted to doubt; he rectified from memory the whole of the letter A in the alphabetical list of the Constituent Assembly。
  Louis Philippe was a king of the broad daylight。
  While he reigned the press was free; the tribune was free; conscience and speech were free。
  The laws of September are open to sight。 Although fully aware of the gnawing power of light on privileges; he left his throne exposed to the light。
  History will do justice to him for this loyalty。
  Louis Philippe; like all historical men who have passed from the scene; is to…day put on his trial by the human conscience。
  His case is; as yet; only in the lower court。
  The hour when history speaks with its free and venerable accent; has not yet sounded for him; the moment has not e to pronounce a definite judgment on this king; the austere and illustrious historian Louis Blanc has himself recently softened his first verdict; Louis Philippe was elected by those two almosts which are called the 221 and 1830; that is to say; by a half…Parliament; and a half…revolution; and in any case; from the superior point of view where philosophy must place itself; we cannot judge him here; as the reader has seen above; except with certain reservations in the name of the absolute democratic principle; in the eyes of the absolute; outside these two rights; the right of man in the first place; the right of the people in the second; all is usurpation; but what we can say; even at the present day; that after making these reserves is; that to sum up the whole; and in whatever manner he is considered; Louis Philippe; taken in himself; and from the point of view of human goodness; will remain; to use the antique language of ancient history; one of the best princes who ever sat on a throne。
  What is there against him?
  That throne。
  Take away Louis Philippe the king; there remains the man。
  And the man is good。
  He is good at times even to the point of being admirable。
  Often; in the midst of his gravest souvenirs; after a day of conflict with the whole diplomacy of the continent; he returned at night to his apartments; and there; exhausted with fatigue; overwhelmed with sleep; what did he do? He t

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