,.*^;^«. -i -^v^, w.- ■" -K" > *■ •^l- -ait -#11 1993 Cornell University Library PQ 2108.HS9 1883 Oration on Voltaire. 3 1924 027 453 830 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027453830 VICTOR yUQO^S OR/TION ON YOLTAIf { V Delivered at Paris, Man ^Oth, 1818— t?te One Hundredth Anniversary of his Death. JAMES^PARION, Author of *'^The Li/e q/l^ofaire*' TO^l^ICH AllJEfADDED THE THREE GREAT POEMS, aOETHE, GEOEaE ELIOT AND LONGFELLOW. NEW YORK : PUBLISHED BF THE EDITORS OF ''MAN," A Liberal Journal of Progress and Reform, No. 744 Broadway. A. D. 1883. E. M. 283. Newbubtport, Mass., Feb. 12, 1883. My Dear Friend : — I send Victor Hugo's wonderful Dis- course, as per request, and shall be pleased to see it print- ed for the first time in the English language. Of all the things that I was obliged to leave out of my Life of Vol- taire from want of room, I lamented most the absence of this prodigious and salutary utterance. I do believe that the pacific attitude of the French nation, and the pacific tone of the French press, during the late Egyptian crisis, was due, in a great measure, to the influence of this high argument for peace and brotherly co-operation. Print it, my dear Man; print it in your valuable paper. Circulate it. Spread it abroad over the land. No man can read it without feeling the vast absurdity of human beings' doing anything but to pity, love, and help one another. Ever Yours, JAMES PARTON. THE GRAND ORATION. This oration of Victor Hugo brings out in clear contrast a strange contradiction. Our progress is but an evolution from and at the same time it is a revolt agaipst the past. The thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns." " Yet the mighty dead still rule us from their urns." This apparent contradiction exists because the peoples ar not as yet familiar vyith the law of evolution in social progress. The picttire of a child imprisoned within the ribs of a skeleton is the picture of the world that many havfor want of this conception of time and growth. They revolt against the order of time, because time is not solid, and is only visible to the eye of the intellect. Therefore such revolts hav been necessary. They ar the great revolutions and social volcanoes of which Paris has been the favorite crater in Europe. Hugo's great soul has seized the lights and shadows of the great catastrophes of the last centur}', and, as poet, orator, and painter, has made their meaning visible to mankind forever in his wonder- ful oration. It is a warning, a consecration, and a hope. It teUs that progTesa is the only condition of human safety. It conse- crates the noble Voltaire who made its conditions possible. It is a prophecy of hope and peace in evolution under the light of knowledge and love. It is the inspiration of ev- ery liberated soul to realize this aspiration for " peace on earth and good wil to men," which rises im.measurablj higher than any Christian myth ever dreamed. The magniticent word painting of this oration and its inspiration is one of the highest points humanity has ever reached. We ar at a loss to find anything superior to it. Compare with it the great orations of Pericles, Demosthe- nes, Cicero, Chatham, Mirabeau, Henry, Webster, or that peerless pearl, the consecration of the dead at G^ttys- burgh, of Abraham Lincoln, and you wil feel that those mighty voices were limited by local and temporary inter- ests and feelings. Hugo has spoken for all the races of earth and for all time. He has realized to the heart and eye humanity's heaven of progress sustained by all of the powers of the good in the human soul. To those who can but catch a glimpse of its mighty meaning it wil be a treasure forever. No one can read and understand it and be the same per- son he was before. T. B. W. Discours pour Voltaire PAR VICTOR HUSO. Gentenaire de Voltaire, Paris, 30 Mai, 1878. II y a cent ans aujourd'hiii un homme mourait. H mourait immortel. II s'en allait charge d'annees, charge d'cBuvres, charge de la plus illuslre ef de la plus redou- table des responsabilites, la responsabilite de la conscience humaine avertie et rectifiee. H s'en allait maudit et beni, maudit par le passe, beni par I'avenir, et ce sont la, messieurs, les deux formes superbes de la gloire. II avait a son lit de mort, d'un cote I'acclamation des contemporains et de la posterite, de I'autre ce triomphe de huee et de haine que I'implacable passe fait a ceus qui I'ont combattu. II etait plus qu'un homme, il etait un siecle. II avait exerce une fonction et rempli une mission. H avait ete evidemment elu pour I'oeuvre qu'il avait fait par la supreme volonte qui se manifeste aussi visiblement dans les lois de la destinee que dans les lois de la nature. Les quatrevingt- quatre ans que cet homme a vecu occupent Tintervalle qui separe la monarchie a son apogee de la revolution a son VICTOR HUSO'S Oration on Voltaire. Delivered at Paris, May 30, 1878, the hundredth anniversary of Voltaire's death. TRANSLAT3D BY JAMES PABTON. ' A hundred years ago to-day a man died. He died immortal. He departed laden with years, laden with works, laden with the most illustrious and the most fearful of responsibilities, the responsibility of the human conscience informed and rectified. He went cursed and blessed, cursed by the past, blessed by the future; and these, gentlemen, ar the two superb forms of glory.) On his death bed he had, on the one hand, the acclaim of contemporaries and of posterity; on the other, that triumph of hooting and of hate which the implacable past bestows upon those who hav combatted it. ^He was more than a man; he was an age. He had exercised a function and fulfilled a mission. He had been evidently chosen for the work which he had done, by the supreme wiD, which manifests itself as visibly in the laws of destiny as in the laws of nature.\ The eighty-four years which this man lived occupy the interval fhat separates the monarchy at its apogee from // 10 aurore. Quand il uaquit Louis XIV regnait encore, quand il mourut Louis XVI regnait deja, de sorts que son berceau put voir les derniers rayons du grand trone et son cercueil les premieres lueurs du grand abime. (Apptaudissementg.) Avant d'aller plus loin, entendons-nous, messieurs, sur le mot abime; il y a de bons abimes: ce sont les abimes ou s'ecroule le mal. (Bravo!) Messieurs, puisque je me suis interrompu, trouvez bon que je complete ma pensee. Aucune parole imprudente ou malsaine ne sera prononeee ici. Nous sommes ici pour faire acte de civilisation. Nous sommes ici pour faire I'affirmation du progres, pour donner reception aux phil- osophes des bienfaits de la philosophie, pour apporter au dix-huitieme siecle le temoignage du dix-neuvieme, pour honorer les magnanimes combattants et les bons serviteur--, pour feliciter le noble effort des peuples, I'industrie, la science, la vaiUante marche en avant, le travail, pour cimenter la Concorde humaine, en un mot pour glorifier la paix, cette sublime volonte imiverselle. La paix est la vertu de la civilisation, la guerre en est le crime. {Applaudissements.) Nous sommes ici, dans ce grand moment, dans cette heure solennelle, pour nous incliner religieusement devant la loi morale, et pour dire au monde qui ecoute la France, ceci: 'II n'y a qu'une puissance, la conscience au service de la justice; et il n'y a qu'une gloire, la genie au service de la verite. (Alouvement.) ' Cela dit, je continue. Avant la Eevolutioji, messieurs, la construction sociale etait ceci: En bas, le peuple : Au-dessus du peuple, la religion representee par le clerge : A cote de la religion, la justice representee par la, magistrature. Et, a ce moment de la societe humaine, qu'etait-ce que le peui)le ? C'etait I'ignorance. Qu'etait-ce que la religion ? 11 the revolution in its dawn. When he was bom Louis XIV. still reigned, when he died Louis XVI. reigned already; so that his cradle could see the last rays of thejgreat throne, and Ms coffin the first gleams from the great abyss. [Applause.] Before going further, let us come to an understanding, gentlemen, upon the word abyss. There ar good abysses: such ar the abysses in which evil is engulfed. [Bravo !] Grentlemen,^ since I hav interrupted myself, allow me to complete my thought. No word imprudent or unsound wil be pronounced here. (We archere to perform an act of civilization. We aifihere to make affirmation of progress, to pay respect to philosophers for the benefits of philosophy> to bring to the eighteenth century the testimony of the nineteenth, to honor magnanimous combatants and good servants, to felicitate the noble effort of peoples, industry, science, the valiant marcli in advance, the toil to cement human concord; in one word, to glorify peace, that sublime, universal desire. Peace is the virtue of civilization ; war is its crime. [Applause.] We ar here, at this grand mo- ment, in this solemn hour, to bow religiously before the moral law, and to say to the world, which hears Prance, this: Thsre is only one power, conscience in the service of justice; and there is only one glory, genius in the service of truth. J [Movement.] That said, I continue. / Before the revolution, gentlemen, the social structure was this: At the base, the people; Above the people, religion represented by the clergy; By the side of religion, justice represented by the magis- tracy. And, at that period of human society, what was the people? It was ignorance. What was religion? It was intolerance. And what was justice ? It was injustice. Am I going too far in my words ? i Judge. I wil confine myself to the citation of two facts, but decisiv. 12 Cetaifc I'intolerance. Bt qu'efcaifc-ce que la justice ? C'etait rinjustice. Vais-je trop loin dans mes paroles? Jugez-en. Je me bornerai a eiter deux faits, mais decisifs. A Toulouse, le 13 octobre 1761, on trouve dans la saUo basse d'une maison iin jeune hbmme pendu. La foule s'ameute, le clerge fulmine,la magistrature informe. C'e^t un suicide, on en fait un assassinat. Dans quel interet ? Dans I'interet de la religion. Et qui accuse-t-on ? Le pere. C'est un huguenot, et il a voulu empecher son fils de se faire eatholique. II y amonstruosite morale et impossibil- ite materieUe; n'importe! ce pere a tue son fils, ce vieillard a pendu ce jeune homme. La justice travaiUe, et voici le denoument. Le 9 mars 1762, un homine en cheveux blan'cs, Jean Galas, est amene sur une place pubHque, on le met nu, on I'etend sur une roue, les membres lies en porte-a-faux, la tete pendante. Trois hommes sont la, sur rechafaud, un capitoul, nomme David, charge de soigner le supplice, un pretre, qui tient un crucifix, et le bourreau, une barre de fer a la main. ' Le patient, stupefait et terrible, ne regarde pas le pretre et regarde le bourreau. Le bourreau leve la barre de fer et lui brise un bras. Le patient hurle et s'evanouit. Le capitoul s'empresse, on fait respLrer dcs sels au condamne, il revient a la vie; alors nouveau coup de barre, nouveau hurlement; Galas perd connaissance ; on le ranime, et le bourreau recommence; et comme chaque membre, devant etre rompu en deux endroits, re9oit deux coups, cela fait huit supplices. Apres le huitieme evanouis- sement,le pretre lui offre le crucifix a baiser, Galas detourne la tete, et le bourreau lui donne le coup de grace, c'est-a- direlui ecrase la pt)itrine avec le gros bout de la barre de fer. Ainsi expira Jean Galas. Gela dura deux heures. Apres sa mort, I'evidence du suicide apparut. Mais un assassinat avait ete commis. Par qui? Par les juges. ( Vive aeiMOlion. Applaudissements.) 13 At Toulouse, October 13, 1761, there was found in a lower story of a house, a young man hanged. The crowd gathered, the clergy fulminated, the magistracyinvestigated. It was a suicide; they made of it an assassination. In what interest ? In the interest of religion. And who was accused ? The father. He was a Huguenot, and he wished to hinder his son from becoming a Catholic, There was here a moral monstrosity and a material impossibility ; no matter ! This father had killed his son; this old man had hanged this young man. Justice travailled, and this was the result. On the month of March, 1762, a man with white hair, Jean Galas, was conducted to a pubhc place, stripped nated, stretched upon a wheel, the members bound upon it, the head hanging. Three men ar there upon a scaffold, a magistrate, named David, charged to superintend the pun- ishment, a priest to hold the crucifix, and the executioner with a bar of iron in his hand. The patient, stupefied and terrible, regards not the priest, and looks at the ex- ecutioner. The executioner lifts the bar of iron, and breaks one of his arms. The victim groans and swoons. The magistrate comes forward; they make the condemned inhale salts; he returns to life. Then another stroke of the bar; another groan. Galas loses consciousness; they revive him, and the executioner begins again; and, as each limb before being broken in two places receives two blows, that makes eight punishments. After the eighth swooning the priest offers him the crucifix to kiss; Galas turns away his head, and the executioner gives him the coup de grace ; tha,t is to say, crushes in his chest with the thick end of the bar of iron. So died Jean Galas. That lasted two hours. After his death, the evidence of the suicide came to light. Biit an assassination had been committed. By whom? By the judges. [Great sensation. Applause.] Another fact. • After the old man, the young man. "Three 14 Autre fait. Apres le vieillard le jeune homme. Trois ans plus tard, en 1765, a Abbeville, le lendemain d'unenmt d'orage et de grand vent, on ramasse a terra sur le pave d'un pont un vieux crucifix de bois vermoulu qui depuia trois siecles etait scelle au parapet. Qui a jete bas ce cru- cifix? Qui a commis ce sacrilege ? Onnesait. Peut-etre un passant. Peut-etre le vent. Qui est le coupable ? L'eveque d' Amiens lance un monitoire. Voici ce que c'est qu'un monitoire : c'est un ordre a tons les fideles sous peine de I'enfer, de dire ce qu'Us savent ou croient savoir de tel ou tel fait; injonction meiuiriere du fanatisme a I'igfnorance. Le monitoire de l'eveque d' Amiens opere; le grossissement des commerages prend les proportions de la denonciation. La justice decouvre, ou droit decouvrir, que dans la nuit ou le crucifix a ete jete a terre, deux hommes, deux offici- ers, nommes I'ua Labarre, 1' autre d'Etallonde, ont passe sur le pont d'AbljeviUe, qu'Us etaient ■ ivres, et qu'ils ont chante une chanson de corps de garde. Le tribunal, c'est la senechaussee d' Abbeville. Les senechaux d'Abbeville valent les Capitouls de Toulouse. Us ne sont pas moins justes. On decerne deux mandats d'arret. D'Etallonde s'echappe, Labarre est pris. On le livre a I'instruction ju- diciaire. II nie avoir passe sur le pont, il avoue avoir chante la chanson. La senechaussee d'Abbeville le con- damne ; il fait appel au parlement de Paris. On I'amene a Paris, la sentence est trouvee bonne et confirmee. On le ramene a Abbevitte, enchaine. J'abrege. L'heure mon- strueuse arrive. On commence par soumettre le chevalier de Labarre a la question ordinaire et extraordinaire pour lui faire avouer ses complices ; complices de quoi? d'etre passe stir un pont et d'avoir chante une chanson ; on lui brise un genou dans la torture ; son confesseur, en enten- dant craquer les os, s'evanouit ; le lendemain, le 5 juin 1766, on traine Labarre dans la grande place d'Abbe- ville ; la flambe un biicher ardent ; on lit sa sentence a years later, in 1765, at Abbeville, tlie day after a night of storm and high wind, there was found upon the pavement of a bridge an old crucifix of worm-eaten wood, which for three centuries had been fastened to the parapet. Who had thrown down this crucifix ? Who committed this sacrilege ? It is not known. Perhaps a passer by. Per- haps the wind. Who is the guilty one ? The Bishop of Amiens launches a monitoire. Note what a momioire was: it was an order to all the faithful, on pain of hell, to declare what they knew or believed they knew of such or such a fact; a murderous injunction, when addressed by fanaticism to ignorance. The monitoire of the Bishop of Amiens does its work ; the town gossip assumes the character of the crime charged. Justice discovers, or be- lieves it discovers, that on the night when the crucifix was thrown dovm, two men, two ofiicers, one named La Barre, the other d'EtaUonde, passed over the bridge of Abbeville, that t^ey were drunk, and that they feang a guard-room song. The tribunal was the Seneschalcy of Abbeville. The Seneschalcy of Abbeville was equivalent to the court of the Capitouls of Toulouse. It was not less jusk Two or- ders for arrest were issued. D'EtaUonde escaped. La Barre was taken. Him they delivered to judicial exami- nation. He denied having crossed the bridge; he con- fessed to having sung the song. The Seneschalcy of Abbeville condemned him; he appealed to the Parliament of Paris. He was conducted to Paris; the sentence was found good and confirmed. He was conducted back to Abbeville in chains. I abridge. The monstrous hoiur arrives. Th€y begin by subjecting the Chevalier de La Barre to the torture, ordinary and extraordinary, to make him reveal his accomplices. Accomplices in what ? In having crossed a bridge and sung a song. During the tor- ture one of his knees was broken ; his confessor, on hear- ing the bones crack, fainted away. The next day, June 16 Labarre, puis on lui coupe le poing, puis on lui arrache la langue avec une tenaille de fer, puis, par grace, on lui tranche la tete, et on le jette dans le bucher. Ainsi mourut le chevalier de Labarre. II avait dix-neuf ans. (Longue et profonde sensation.) Alors, 6 Voltaire, tu poussas un cri d'horreur, et ce sera ta gloire etemelle ! {Explosion d'applaudissepient?.) Alors tu commenfas I'epouvantable proces du passe, tu plaidas contre les tyrans et les monstres la cause du genre humain, et tu la gagnasi Grand homme, sois a jamais beni ! {Nouveaux applaudissements.) , Messieurs, les choses affreuses que je viens de rappeler s'accomplissaient au milieu d'une societe poUe; la vie etait gaie et legere, on aUait et venait, on ne regardait ni au-dessus ni au-dessous de soi, rindifferehce se resol- vait en insouciance, de gracieux poetes, Saint-Aulaire, Boufflers, Gentil-Bernard, faisaient de joUs vers, la cour etait pleine de fetes, Versailles raypnnait, Paris ignorait; et pendant ce temps-la, par ferocite reKgieuse, les juges faisaient expirer un vieillard sur la roue et les pretres arrachaient la langue a un enfant pour une chanson. {Vive emotion,. Applaudissements.) En presence de cette societe frivole et lugubre, Voltaire, seul, ayant la sous ses yeux toutes ces forces'reunies, la cour, la noblesse, la finance; cette puissance inconsciente, la multitude aveuglfe; cette efeoyable magistrature, si lourde aux sujets, si docile au rnaitre, ecrasant et flattant, a ;genqux sur le peuple devanfcleroi {Bravo!); ceclerge sinistrement melange d'hypocrisie; et' de fanatisme, Vol- taire, seul, je le repete, declara la guerre a Cette coalition de toutes les iniquites sociales, a ce monde enorme et terrible, et- il accepta la bataille. Et quelle etait son arme ? celle qui. a la legerete du vent et la puissance de la foudre. T^e^plume. (Applavdi.i.^ments.) . 17 5, 1766, La Barre was drawn to the great square of Abbe- ville, where flamed a penitential fire; the sentence was read to La Barre; then they cut off one of his hands; then they tore out his tongue with iron pincers; then, in mercy, his head was cut off and thrown into the fire. So died the Chevalier de La Barre. He was nineteen years of age. [Long and profound sensation. ] Then, O Voltaire ! thou didst utter a cry of horror, and it wiU be thine eternal glory ! [Thunders of applause.] Then didst thou enter upon the appalling trial of the past; thou didst plead, against tyrants and monsters, the cause of the human race, and thou didst gain it. Great man, blessed be thou forever ! [Renewed applause.] Gentlemen, the frightful things which I have recalled were accomplished in the midst of a polite society; its life was gay ai;d light; people went and came; they looked neither above nor below themselves ; their indifference had become carelessness; graceful poets, Saint-Aulaire, Boufflers, Gentil- Bernard, composed pretty verses; the court was all festival; Versailles was brilliant; Paris ig- nored what was passing; and then it was that, through religious ferocity, the judges made an old man die upon the wheel, and the priests tore out a child's tongue for a song. [Vivid emotion. Applause.] In the presence of this society, frivolous and dismal, Voltaire alone, having before his eyes those united forces, the court, the nobility, capital; that unconscious power, the blind multitude; thast terrible magistracy, so severe to subjects, so docile to the master, crushing and flatter- ing, kneeling upon the people before the king [Bravo !] ; that clergy, vile melange of hypocrisy and lanaticism; Voltaire alone, I repeat it, declared war against that coali- tion of all the social iniquities, against that enormous and ^ terrible world, and he accepted battle with it. And what was bis weapon? That which has the lightness of the 18 Avec cette arme il a combattu. avec cette arme il a vaincu. Messieurs, saluons cette memoire. Voltaire a vaincu, Voltaire a fait la guerre rayonnante, la guerre d'un seul centre tous, c'est-a-dire la grande guerre. La guerre de la pensee centre la matiere, la guerre de la raison centre le prejuge, la guerre du juste contre I'injuste, la guerre peur Topprime centre I'eppres- seur, la guerre de la bonte, la guerre de la ^ouceur. H a eu la tendresse d'une femme et. la celere d'un heros. II a ete un grand esprit et un immense coeur. (Bravos.) "^ H a vaincu le vieux cede et le vieux degme. II a vaincu le seigneur feedal, le juge gothique, le pretre remain. II a eleve la populace a la dignite de peuple. H a enseigue, pacifie et civilise. H a combattu peur Sirven et Mont- bailly comme pour Galas et Labarre; il a accepte toutes les menaces, teus les outrages, toutes les persecutions, la calomnie, I'exil. II a ete infatigable et inebranlable. II a vaincu la violeijce par le- sourire, le despotisme par le sarcasme, rinfaillibilite par I'ironie, . I'opini^tret^ par la perseverance, I'ignerance par la verite. Je viens de prononcer ce mot, le sourire, je m'y arrete. Le sourire, c'est Voltaire. Disens-le, messieurs, car I'apaisement est le grand cote du pbilosophe, dans Voltaire Tequilibre finit toujours par se retablir. Quelle que soit sa juste celere, elle passe, et le Voltaire irrite fait toujours place au Voltaire calme. Alors, dans cet ceil prefond, le sourire apparait. Ce sourire, c'est la sagesse. Ce sourire, je le repete, c'est VoTEaire. Ce sourire va parfeis jusqu'a u rir g,. mais la tristesse philosophique le tempere. Du cote des forts, il est moqueur, du cote des faibles, il est caressant. H inquiete I'oppresseur et rassure I'opprime. Contre les grands, la raillerie; pour les petits, la pitie. Ah! soyons emus de ce sourire. II a eu des clartes d'aurore. II a 19 wind and the power of the thunder-bolt. A pen. [Ap- plause.] With that weapon he fought; with that weapon he con- quered. Gentlemen, let us salute that memory. Voltaire conquered ;( Voltaire waged the splendid kind of warfare, the war of one alone against aU; that is to say, the grand warfare. The war of thought against matter, the war of reason against prejudice, the war of the just against the unjust, the war for the oppressed against the op- pressor, the war of goodness, the war of kindness. He had the tenderness of a woman and the wrath of a hero. He was a great mind, and an immfense heart. \ [Bravos.] He conquered the -old code and the old dogma. He conquered the feudal lord, the gothic judge, the Eoman priest. He raised the populace to the dignity of people. He taught, pacificated, and civilized. He fought for Sirven and Montbailly, as for Calas and La Barre; he iaccepted aU the menaces, aU the outrages, all the perse- jcutions, calumoy, and exile. He was indefatigable and immovable, f He conquered violence by a smile, despot- ism by sarcasm, infallibility by irony, obstinacy by persever- ence, ignorance by truth. ] I have just pronounced the word smile. I pause at it. Smile ! It is Voltaire. Let us say it, gentlemen, pacification (apaise-menif) is the great side of the philosopher: in Voltaire the equi- librium always re-establishes itself at last. Whatever may be his just wrath, it passes, and the irritated Voltaire al- ways gives place to the Voltaire calmed. Then in that profound eye the smile appears. That smile is wisdom. That smile, I repeat, is Voltaire. That smile sometimes becomes laughter, but the phil- osophic sadness tempers it. Toward the strong, it is mock- ery; toward the weak, it is a caress. It disquiets the 20 illuminie le vrai, le juste, le bon, et ce quM y a d'honnete dans Tiitile; il a eclaire Tinterieiir des superstitions; ces laideurs sont bonnes a voir; il las a montrees. Etant lumineujs, il a ete fecond. La societe nouvelle, le desir d'egalite et de concession et ce commencement de frater- nite qui s'appelle la tolerance, le bonne volonte reci- proque, la mise en proportion des hommes et des droits, la raison reconnue loi supreme, I'effacement des prejuges et des partis pris, la serenite des ames, I'esprit d'irdul: gence et de pardon, rharmonie, la pais, voila ce qui est sorti de ce grand sourire. Le jour^prodbain sans nul doute, ou sera reconnue I'identite de la sagesse_et d^laTcIemence, le jour oii I'am- nistie sera proclamee, je I'affirme, la-haut, dans les etoiles, Voltaire sourira. (Tr^le salve d'applaudissements. Cris : Vwe Farrmmtef) Messieurs, il y a entre deux serviteurs de I'humanite qui ont apparu a dix-huit cents ans d'intervalle un rap- port mysterieux. Combattre le pharisa'isme, demasquer Timposture, ter- rasser les tyrannies, les usurpations, les prejuges, les mensonges, les superstitions, demolir le temple, quitte a le rebatir, c'est-a-dire a remplacer le faux par le vrai, attaquer la magistrature feroce, attaquer le sacerdoce sanguinaire, prendre un fouet et cbasser les vendeurs du sanctuaire, reclamer I'heritage des desherites, proteger les faibles, les pauvres, les soufErants, les accables, lutter pour les persecutes et les opprimes; c'est la guerre do Jesus-Christ; et quel est I'homme qui fait cette guerre? C'est Voltaire. {Bravos.) L'cBuvre ev aji geliq ue a pour.complement I'oBjivre pJbilQ- sojAiique; I'esprit de mansuetude a commence, I'esprit de tolerance a continue; disons-le avec un sentiment de respect profond, Jesus a pleure, Voltaire a souri, c'est de ceite larme divine et de ce sourire humain qu'est faite la 31 oppressor, and reassiires the oppressed. Against the great, it is raillery; for the little, it is pity. Ah, let us be moved by that smile ! It had in it the rays of the • dawn. It illuminated the true, the just, the good, and what there is of worthy in the useful. It lighted up the interior of superstitions. Those ugly things it is salutary to see; he has shown them. Luminous, that smile was fruitful ako. The new society, the desire foi' equality and concession, and that beginning of fraternity which called itself tolerance, reciprocal good-wil, the just accord of men and rights, reasoa recognized as the supreme law, the annihilation of prejudices and fixed opinions, the serenity of souls, the spirit of indulgence and of pardon, harmony, peace — ^behold what has come from that great smile ! On the day — ^very near, without any doubt — when the identity of wisdom and clemency wil be recognized, the day when the amnesty wil be proclaimed, I affirm it, up there, in the stars, Voltaire wil| smile. [Triple • salvo of applause. Cries, Vive I'amnestie /] j- Gentlemen, between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundred years apart, there is a mys- terious relation. To combat Pharisaism; to unmask imposture; t^ over- throw tyrranies, usurpations, prejudtces, falsehoods, su- perstitions; to demolish the temple in order to rebuild it, that is to saj, to replace the false by the true; to attack a ferocious magistracy; to attack a sanguinary priesthood; to take a whip and drive the money-changers from the sanctuary; to reclaim the heritage of the disinherited; to protect the weak, the poor, the suffering, the over- whelmed to struggle for the persecuted and oppressed, — that was the war of Jesus Christ! And who waged that war? It was Voltaire. The completion of the evangelical work is the phil- osophical work; the spirit of meekness began, the spirit 32 douceur de la civilisation aetuelle. {Applaudissements prolonges.) Voltaire a-t-il souri toujours? Non. II s'est indigne souvent. Vous I'avez vu dans mes premieres paroles. Cedes, messieurs, la mesure, la reserve, la proportion, c'est ]a loi supreme de la raison. On peut dire que la moderation est la respiration memedu phUosophe. L'effort du sage doit etre de condenser dans una sorte de certitude serein e tous les a peu pres dont se compose la phUosophie. Mais, a de certains moments, la passi M i du vrai se leve puissante et violente, et elle est dans son droit comma les grands vents qui assainissent. Jamais, j'y insiste, aucun sage n'ebranlera ces daux augustes points d'appui dulabaur social, la^justicejtj^perance, et tous respecteront le juge / s'il incarna la justice, et tous venereront la pretre s'U yyyyy v, rapresante I'esperance. Mais si la magistratura s'appalle la torture, si I'Eglisa s'appalle I'lnquisition, alors I'humanite les regarde en face et dit au jtlge: Ja ne veux pas de ta loi ! et dit au pretra : Je ne veux pas de ton dogme ! je ne vaux pas da ton bucher sur la terre et de ton enfar dans la ciel ! (Vive sensaiion. Applaudissements prolonges.) Alors le philosopha courrouce sa dresse, et denonce le juge a la justice, et denonce le pretre a Dieu ! {Les applaudissements redoublent.) C'est ca qu'a fait Voltaire. H est grand. Ce qu'a ate Voltaire, je I'ai dit ; ca qu'a ete son siecle je vais le dire. Messieurs, las grands hommes sont rarament seuls ; les grands arbres semblent plus grands quand ils dominant una foret, ils sont la chez eux ; il y a una for£t, c'est le dix-huitieme siecle. Parmi ces asprits, H y a dea cimes, Montesquieu, Buffon, Beauma-cbais, et deux antra autres, les plus bautas apres Voltaire,— Rousseau pt Diderot. Cas penseurs ont appris aux hommes a raisonner ; bien 83 of tolerance continued. Let us say it with a sentiment of profound respect: Jesus wept; Voltaike smiled. Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the sweet- ness of the present civilization. [Prolonged applause.] Did Voltaire always smile ? No. He was often indig- nant. You remarked it in my first words. Certainly, gentlemen, measure, reserve, proportion are reason's supreme law. We can say that moderation is the very respiration of the philosopher. The effort of the wise man ought to be to condense into a sort of serene certainty all the apprbximatious of wbicli philosophy is composed. But at certain moments, the passion for the true rises powerful and violent, and it is within its right in so doing, like the stormy winds which purify. Never, I insist upon it, wil any wise man shake those two august supports of social labor, justice and hope; and all wil respect the judge if he is embodied justice, and all -wil venerate the priest if he represents hope. But if the magistracy calls itself torture, if the Church calls itself Inquisition, then Humanity looks them in tlje face, and says to the jud;ie : I wil none of thy law ! and says to the priest: I wil none of thy dogma! I wil hone of thyfire upon the earth and thy hell in the future I [Wild sen- sation. Prolonged applause.] Then philosophy rises in wrath, and arraigns the judge before justice, and the priest before God! [Redoubled applause.] / This is what Voltaire did It was grand. What Voltaire was, I have said; what his age was, I am about to say. Gentlemen, great men rarely come iilone; large trees seem larger when they dominate a forest; there they ar at home. .There was a forest of minds around Voltaire ; that forestjwas the eighteenth century. Among those minds theife were summits, Montesquieu, Buffon, Beaum- archais, and among others, two, the highest after Voltaire — 24 /raisonner mene a bien agir, la justesse dans I'esprit de- V. YJent la justice dans le coeur. Ces ouvriers du progres onfc utilement travaille. Buffon a fonde le n%tTirailjgm.e_;__jt:^ Beaumarchais a trouve, au dela de Moliere, une comedie inconnue, pres que la co medie sociale ; Montesquieu a fait dans la loi des fouiUes si profondes qu'il a reussi a ex- humer le droit. Quant a Rousseau, quant a Diderot, pro- non9ons ces deux noms a part ; Diderot, vaste intelligence curieuse, coeur tendre altere de justice, a voulu donner les notions certaines pour bases aux idees vraies, et a cree Y Encyclopedie ; Rousseau a rendu a la femme un admira- ble service, il a complete la mere par la nourrice, il a mis I'mie aupres de I'autre ces deux majestes du berceau; Rousseau, ecrivain eloquent et pathetique ; prof end re- veur oratoire, a souvent devine et proclame la verite politique ; son ideal confine au reel ; il a eu cette gloire d'etre le premier en Prance qui se soit appele citoyen ; la fibre civique vibre en Rousseau ; ce qui vibre en Vol- taire, c'est la fibre universelle. On peut dire que, dans ce fecond dixhuitieme siecle, Rousseau represente le Peuple; z' Voltaire, plus vaste encore, represente THomme. Ces puis- ( sants ecrivains ont disparu ; mais ils nous ontjaisse leur_ S aille, la Revolution. (Applaudissements.) ,,^;- Oui, la Revolution frangaise est leur ame. EUe est leur i emanation rayonnante. EUe vient d'eux ; on les retrouve :^ partout_dansj3ettejcatestTO superbe jyii^a f ait la cloture du passe et I'ouverture de rayenir. Dans cette transparence qui"est propre aux revolutions, et qui a trav- ers les causes laisse apercevoir les effets et a travers le premier plan le second, on voit derriere Diderot Danton, derriere Rousseau Robespierre, et derriere Voltaire Mira- beau. Ceux-ci ont fait ceux-la. Messieurs, resumer des epoques dans des noms d'hommes, nommer des siecles, en faire en quelque sorte 25 Bousseau and Diderot. Those thinkers taught men to reason; reasoning -wel leads to acting wel; justness in the mind becomes justice iu the heart. Those toilers for progress labored usefully. Buffon founded naturalism; Beaumarchais discovered, outside of Moliere, a kind of comedy til then unknown, almost the social comedy; Mon- tesquieu made in law some excavations so profound that he succeeded in exhuming the right. As to Rousseau, as to Diderot, let us pronounce those two names apart; Diderot, a vast intelligence, inquisitiv, a tender heart, a thirst for justice, wished to give certain notions as the foundation of true ideas, and created the encyclopaedia. Eousseau rendered to woman an admirable sei-vice, com- pleting the mother by the nurse, placing near one another those two majesties of the cradle. Rousseau, a writer, elo- quent and pathetic, a profound oratorical dreamer, often divined and proclaimed political truth; his ideal borders upon the real; he had the glory of being the first man in Trance who called himself citizen. The civic fibre vibrates in Rousseau; that which vibrates in Voltaire is the uni- versal fibre. One can say that in the fruitful eighteenth century, Eousseau represented the people; Voltaire, stil more vast, represented Man. Those powerful vreiters dis- appeared, but they left us their soul, the Revolution. [Ap- plause.] ', Yes, the French Revolution was their soul. It was their radiant manifestation. It came from them; we find them everywhere in that blest and superb catastrophe, which formed the conclusion of the past and the opening of the future. In that clear light, which is peculiar to revolu- tions, and which beyond causes permits us to perceive effects, and beyond the first plan the second, we see behind Danton Diderot, behind Robespierre Eousseau, and be- hind Mirabeau Voltaire. These formed those. Gentlemen, to sum up epochs, by giving them the names des personnages humains, cela n'a ete donne qu'a tioiB peiiples, la Grece, I'ltalie, la France. On dit le siecle de Pericles, le siecle d'Auguste, le siecle de Leon X, le siecle de Louis XIV, le siecle de Voltaire. Ces appellations ont un grand sens. Ce privilege, donner dep noms a des siecles, exolusivement propre a la Grece, a I'ltalie et a la France, est la_^liia jiaute marque d e civilisatio ji. Jusqu'a Voltaire, ce sont des noms de chefs d'etats ; Voltaire est plus qu'un chef d'etats, c'est un ^hef dldgsg. A Voltaire un cycle ^'jiouveau commence. On sent que desormais la supreme puissance gouvernante du genre Immaiiu sera la pensee. La civilisation obeissait a la force, elle obeira a I'ideaL C'est la rupture du sceptre et du glaive remplaces par le rayon ; c'est-a-dire I'autorite transfiguree en liberte. Plus d'autre souverainete que la loi pour le peuple et la con- science pour I'individu. Pour chacun de nous, les deux aspects du progres se degagent nettement, et les voici : exercer son droit, c'est-a-dire, etre un homme ; accomplir son devoir, c'est-a-dire, etre un citoyen. Telle est la signification de ce mot, le siecle de Voltaii-e; tel est le sens de cet evenement auguste, la Revolution fran9aise. ' " / Les deux siecles memorables qui ont precede le dix- i I huitieme I'avaient prepare; Rabelais avertit la ro_ Yautfi.dans ij Gargantua, et MoHere^ayertit jnEg]ise_jdaiis Tartuffe. La \ haine de la force et le respect du droit sont visibles dans ces deux illustres esprits. Quiconque dit aujourd'hui: la force, prime le droit, fait acte d e moyen age , et parle aux liommes de trois cents ans en arriere. {Applaudissements repetes.) Messieurs, le dix-neuvieme siecle glorifie le dix-huitieme siecle. Le dix-huitieme propose, le dix-neuvieme conclut Et ma dernier e parole sera la constatation tranquille, mais inflexible, du progres. of men, to name ages, to make of tbem in some sort Iiulnan personages, has only been done by three peoples, Greece, Italy, France. We say, the Age of Pericles, the Age of Augustus, the Age of Leo X, the Age of Louis XIV, the Age of Voltaire. Those appellations hav a gayeat signifi- cance. This privilege of giving names to periods belong- ing exclusivly to Greece, to Italy, and to France, is the highest mark of civilization. Until Voltaire, they were the names of the chiefs of states; Voltaire is more than the chief of a state; he is a chief of ideas; with Voltaire a new cycle begins. We feel that henceforth the supreme gov- ernmental power is to be thought. Civilization obeyed force; it wil obey the ideal. It was the sceptre and the sword broken, to be replaced by the ray of light; that is to say, authority transfigured into liberfy. Henceforth, no other sovereignty than the law for the people, and the conscience for the individual. For each of us, the two aspects of progress separate themselves clearly, and they ar these: to exercise one's right; that is to say, to be a man; to perform one's duty; that is to say, to be a citizen. Such is the signification of that word, the Age of Vol- taire; such is the meaning of that august event, the French Bevolution. The two memorable centuries which preceded the eight- eenth, prepared for it; Eebelais warned royalty in Gar- gantua, and Moliere warned the church in Tartuffe. Hatred of force and respect for right ar visible in those two illus- trious spirits. Whoever says to-day, might makes right, performs an act of the Middle Ages, and speaks to men three hundred years behind their time. [Eepeated applause.] Gentlemen, the nineteenth century glorifies the eight- eenth century. The eighteenth proposed, the nineteenth concludes. And my last word wil be the declaration, tran- quil but inflexible, of progress. 38 Les temps sont venus. Le droit a trouve sa f ormule^la / / federati on humaine. Aujourd'hiii la force s'a^e|leja violence et commence a etre jugee, la guerre eitmise en ac'cusaSoiT; la civilisation, sur la plainte du gem-e humain, instruit le proces et dresse le grand dossier criminel des conquerants etdes capitataes. (Mouvemmt.) Ce temoin, I'histoire, est appele. La realite apparait. Les eblouissements factices se dissipient. Dans beaucoup de cas, 1eJl^j:.Qs est nne va ^-iot" 'Jig I'aHsaHS'Ti- {A'p- plaudissements.) Les peuples en viennent a comprendre que I'agrandissement d'un forfait n'en saurait etre la di- minution, que si tuer est un crime, tuer beaucoup n'en peut pas etre la circonstance attenuante {Bires et bravos), que si voler est une bonte, envahir ne saurait etre une gloire. {Ap- plaudissemenifs repetes), que les Tedeums n'y font pas grand' chose, que Thomicide est I'homicide, que le sang verse est le sang verse, que cela ne sert a rien de s'appeler Cesar ou Napoleo n, et qu'aux yeux du Dieu eternel on ne change pas la figure du meurtre parce qu'au lieu d'tm bonnet_de_f or^at_on lui met sur la teteune couroniie d'em- pereur. {Longue acclamation. Triple salve d' applaudia- sements.) Ah ! proclamons^ les verites absolues. Deshonorons la guerre. Non, la gloire sanglante u'existe pas. Non, ce n'est pas bon et ce n'est pas utile de faire des cadavres. Non, il ne se peut pas que la vie travaiUe pour la mort. Non, 6 meres qui m'entourez, il ne se peut pas que la guerre, cette voleuse, continue a vous prendre vos enfants. Non, il ne se peut pas que la femme enfante dans la douleur, que les hommes naissent, que les peuples labourent et sement, que le paysan fertilise les champs et I'ouvrier feconde les villes, que les penseurs meditent, que I'industrie fasse des merveiiles, que le genie fasse des prodiges, que la vaste aotivitS humaine mviltiple en presence du ciel etoile les 39 The time has come. The right has foimd its formula: human federation. To-day, force is called violence, and begins to be judged; war is arraigned. Civilization, upon the complaint of the human race, orders the trial, and draws up the great criminal indictment of conquerors and captains. [Emo- tion.] This witness, History, is summoned. The reality appears. The factitious brilliancy is dissipated. In many cases, the hero is a species of assassin. [Applause.] The peoples begin to comprehend that increasing the magni- tude of a crime cannot be its diminution; that, if to kill is a crime, to kiH much cannot be an extenuating circum- stance [Laughter and bravos.] ; that, if to steal is a shame to invade cannot be a glory [Repeated applause.]; that Te Deums do not count for much in tins matter; that homicide is homicide; that bloodshed is bloodshed; that it serves nothing to call one's self Csesar or Napoleon; and that in the eyes of the eternal God, the figure of a mur- derer is not changed because, instead of a gaUow's cap, there is placed upon his head an emperor's crown. [Long continued acclamation. Triple salvo of applause.] Ah ! let us proclaim absolute truths. Let us dishonor war. No; glorious war does not exist. No; it is not good, and it is not useful, to make corpses. No; it cannot be that life travails for death. No; oh, mothers who surroimd me, it cannot be that war, the robber, should continue to take from you your children. No; it cannot be that women should bear children in pain, that men should be born, that people should plow and sow, that the farmer should fer- tilize the fields, and the workmen enrich the city, that in- dustry should produce marvels, that genius should pro- duce prodigies, that the vast human activity should, in presence of the starry sky, luultiply eifbrts and creations, all to result in that frightful international exposition which 30 r efforts et les creations, pour aboutir a cette epouvantable \ Ij exposition international qu'on appelle un champ de bataille ! {Profonde sensation. Tous les assistants sont debout et dccla- ment I'orateur.) Le vrai champ de bataille, le voici. G'est ce rendezvous des chefs-d'cBu yrgjdutravail_humain que Paris oflfre au mondeen ce moment. La vraie victoire, c'est la victoire de Paris. {Apptaudisse- ments.) Helas ! on ne peut se le dissimuler, I'heure actuelle, si digne qu'elle soit d'admiration et de respect, a encore des cotes funebres : il y a encore des tenebres sur I'horizon ; • la tragedie des peuples n'est pas finie ; la guerre, la guerre scelerate, est encore la, et eUe a I'audace de lever la tete a travers cette fete auguste de la paix. Les princes, depuis deux ans, s'obstinent a un contre-sens funeste, leur dis- corde fait obstacle a notre Concorde, et ils sont mal inspires de nous condamner a la constatation d'un tel contraste. Que ce contraste- nous ramene aYoltaire. En presence des eventualites mena9antes, soypns plus paci fi ques que jamais. Tournons^nous vers ce grand mort, vers ce grand esprit. Inclinons-nous devant les sepnlcres venerables. Demandons conseil a celui dont la vie utile aux hommes s'est eteinte il y a cent ans, mais dont I'oeuvre est immortelle. Demandons conseil aux autres puissants penseiu-s, aux auxiliaires de ce glorieux Voltaire, a Jean Jacques, a Diderot a Montesquieu. Donnons la parole a ces grandes volx. Arretonsl'effiisiondusanghumain. Assez! assez! despotes. Ah ! la barbarie persiste, eh bien, que la philosophie proteste. 'J Le_glaive s'acharne, que la civilisation s'indigne. Que le dix-huitieme siecle vienne au secours du dix-neuvieme ; les phUosophes nos predecesseurs sont les apotres du vrai, invoquons ces iUustres fantomes; que, devant les monarchies revant les g^erres, ils proclament le droit de I'homme a la 3t i& called a field of battle! [Profound sensation. The whole audience rises and applauds the orator.J The true field of battle, behold it here ! It is this rendez- vous of the masterpieces of human labor which Paris offers the world at this moment.* The true victory is the victory of Paris. [Applause.] Alas ! we cannot hide it from ourselves, that the present hour, worthy as it is of admiration and respect, has stU some mournful aspects; there ar stil shadows upon the horizon; the tragedy of the peoples is not finished; war, wicked war, is stil there, and it has the audacity to lift its head in the midst of this august festival of peace. Princes, for two years past, obstinately adhere to a fat