untimely death, although it saddened the heart of the poetic pilgrim, elicited some of the most pathetic odes that ever flowed from his inspired pen. Leaving Madame de Lamartine at Beyrout, he travelled through Syria and the Holy Land, and was at Jerusalem when intelligence arrived that he had been elected deputy for the department of the North. The poet thereupon returned to France to try his powers as an orator and politician. His friends, of course, persisting in the popular error, so often refuted, that a man of genius cannot deal with matters of fact, were under the impression that he would prove out of place in a legislative chamber, but he speedily dissipated their delusions. When he ascended the tribune, the rapidity with which he could glance over a subject, the simple manner with which he went direct to the point, and the eloquence with which he adorned whatever he touched, made him as useful and practical a member as any trader or manufacturer, and won for him general admiration.

While valuing little what he calls "the vulgar utility" of Louis Philippe's reign, and rather scorning his pretensions, Lamartine, on entering upon his duties as a deputy, embraced the Conservative cause and took his seat in the ranks headed by Guizot, but he soon gave indications of holding opinions of a much more progressive character than those maintained by that eminent minister. Though in his heart the love of the Bourbon dynasty contended with the republican principles which his reason recommended, Lamartine's politics gradually assumed a more liberal color; and the longer he devoted his attention to public affairs, the more convinced he became that the French nation had been

deluded, and that the king and his ministers were the foes, and not the friends, of the people. From the tribune he warned the government to exhibit a spirit of concession to the popular wants and wishes; but, finding his words disregarded, he withdrew his support from men whose measures aroused his suspicions and whose policy filled him with alarm. The Opposition in 1845 received him with exultation as a new champion, and he avowed with his wonted eloquence his adhesion to the liberal cause. He was, indeed, a formidable opponent to the government, and wielded a two-edged sword. While from the tribune he incessantly called upon the king and his minister to yield to the national demand for reform, and, moreover, urged his views on that head in the columns of the Bien Public, he took up his pen, painted in bright words the most precious recollections of the first French Revolution, produced his History of the Girondins, and thus prepared the public mind for the coming events which were casting their shadows before, and in which he was to play so conspicuous a part. orations pronounced in 1848, with surpassing eloquence, at the reform banquets which he insisted should be celebrated in spite of the ministry, marked him out as a hero of the coming struggle; and when solicited to concur in a scheme for preserving the throne. which had in 1830 been erected on barricades by the installation of the duchess of Orleans as regent during her son's minority, he expressed in decided language his regret that any one should have counted on the historian of the Girondins, and significantly added that he was not for half measures which would leave the work to be begun afresh.

His

At length, on the 24th of February, when the red flag had been unfurled and the populace had made themselves masters of Paris, and the chamber was discussing the proposed regency in the presence of the duchess of Orleans and her son, the count of Paris, Lamartine ascended the tribune and addressed the audience. “I have shared," he said, "in the sentiments of grief which a short time ago agitated this assembly when it saw the saddest sight that has been offered in human annals-that of a princess presenting herself with her innocent son and leaving her palace to seek the protection of the chamber. But if I shared in this respect a great misfortune, I also share the solicitude and the admiration which must be excited at the sight of a people which has been fighting for the last two days against a perfidious government in order to re-establish the empire of order and liberty. Let there be no illusion. Do not think that an acclamation in this chamber can replace the united will of thirty-five million of men. Another kind of acclamation must be heard, and, whatever may be the government which this country will adopt, it must be cemented by solid and definite guarantees. How will you do it? How will you find the conditions necessary for such a government in the floating elements which surround us? By descending into the very depth of the country itself, boldly sounding the great mystery of the right of nations. Instead of having recourse to subterfuges to maintain one of those fictions which have nothing durable, I ask you, first, to form a provisional government whose duty it will be to stop the flow of blood and put a stop to the civil war-a -a government which we institute without giv

ing up the rights for our anger, or that of the great mission of establishing peace between citizens; a government on which we will impose the duty of convoking the whole of the people." At the time when Lamartine was thus endeavoring "to stay the plague both ways" a loud noise was heard in one of the tribunes, and forthwith a body of men armed with muskets, rushing in, forced their way to the front seats and pointed their weapons, first at the deputies, and then at the royal party, with so menacing an aspect that the perplexed princess with her son quitted the chamber.

It having now become evident that compromise was out of the question, a provisional government, including Lamartine was formed, the chamber of peers was forbidden to meet, the chamber of deputies was dissolved, and Louis Philippe was fain to escape in a craven manner, in a one-horse brougham, from the people whom his policy had exasperated to insurrection. The republic which was thus brought into existence was immediately exposed to peril, for the populace were in a state of fierce excitement and suspicious of all public men. At this crisis Lamartine had the enviable distinction of saving his country from dreadful and sanguinary anarchy. Under his auspices the provisional government adopted resolutions against capital punishment for political offences, and substituted the tri-color for the ill-omened red flag. These measures, which were proposed by Lamartine, owed their success entirely to his courage and eloquence. In one day the Parisian populace, mad with excitement, assembled five times in front of the Hôtel de Ville, and as often Lamartine addressed them in words whose influence

proved him the master of their passions and his own. "You are led," he said, "from calumny to calumny against the men who have devoted themselves, head and heart, to give you a real republic-the republic of all rights, all interests, all the legitimate rights of the people. Yesterday you asked us to usurp in the name of the people of Paris the rights of thirty-five million Frenchmen -to vote them an absolute republic instead of one invested with the strength of their consent. To-day you demand from us the red instead of the tricolor flag. Citizens, for Citizens, for my part I never will adopt the red flag, and I will explain why I will oppose it with all the strength of my patriotism. It is because the tricolor flag has made the tour of the world, under the republic and the empire, with our liberties and our glories, whilst the red flag has only made the tour of the Champs de Mars trailed through torrents of the blood of the people." The effect of this speech was quite magical: the crowd clapped their hands, shed tears, embraced the orator, shook his hands and carried him aloft in triumph.

But a moment afterward fresh masses of the people, armed with sabres and bayonets, surrounded the building, knocked at the doors and filled the salles. A cry arose that all was lost, that the mob was about to fire on the members of the provisional government, and that only one voice could allay their wrath. Lamartine appeared. He was raised on the staircase, but for a whole hour the crowd continued to vociferate and brandish their weapons without even deigning to listen. Lamartine at length folded his arms, commenced his address, and by softening and appeasing the people did all that orator

could do to induce them to become the guardians of the provisional government. The Parisians, however, were anything but docile, and the lives of the republican chiefs were never in any degree of safety until they had put it beyond all doubt that the cause of the people would be secure in their keeping. Remembering how they had been duped in 1830, they distrusted all professions of liberalism, however sincere, and, often as they were soothed and charmed by Lamartine's eloquence, their suspicions would still return as soon as his voice had ceased to delight their ears. The more the orator had enchanted them, the more enraged they felt at the idea that all his fine words might be nothing but cajolery. Their perplexity would have been in the highest degree comic had it not threatened a most tragic catastrophe. They insisted that the provisional government should every quarter of an hour report their proceedings to the people.

On one occasion Lamartine came forward and said,

Citizens, I come to impart to you the ideas of the provisional government.”

dignified-was generally to inspire confidence. The same moderate and self-possessed language was held by him to the various deputations of foreigners who came to seek the aid of the republic in their projected attempts to revolutionize their respective countries, especially to those of the Poles and Italians.

But, with all his genius, Lamartine could not accomplish the great achievement of establishing a safe and permanent republic. While he was discharging with a firmness and temperance worthy of all praise the high functions with which he had been entrusted, the populace, incited by some designing men who for the misfortune of the nation had found a place in the provisional government, were preparing those disorders which resulted in the catastrophe of June. Lamartine, with the prescience of genius, foresaw the storm, and prepared to meet it. "We are approaching a crisis," said he in council, "and it will not be a riot or a battle, but a campaign of several days, and of several factions combined. The National Assembly may perhaps be forced for a while to quit Paris. We must provide for these contingencies with the energy of a republican power. The fifty-five thousand men sufficient for Paris would not suffice to bring back the national representation into the capital. I demand, besides, a series of decrees of public security -that the minister of war immediately order up to Paris twenty thousand more men."

This proposal was unanimously agreed to, and thus, a fortnight before the insurrection broke out, the government had made arrangements to bring seventy-five thousand bayonets to the support of the National Guard

of one hundred and ninety thousand men. General Cavaignac carried the orders of the government into execution as rapidly as quarters could be provided. Lamartine every day inquired as to the arrival of the troops, and was told, "The orders have been given, and the troops are in movement." Taking into account the effective strength of the Garde Mobile, the Garde Républicaine and the Gardiens de Paris, the effective number of the garrison in and around the capital at the end of June was forty-five thousand men. The steps taken by government to break up the useless Ateliers Nationaux precipitated the struggle, and on the 23d of June the insurrection commenced. Its obstinacy and protracted duration, together with its suppression by Cavaignac, are well known. From this time forward the government of the republic was administered in a repressive spirit, and the nation, frightened into retrogression, hastened to elect a chamber the majority of which was opposed to the views of Lamartine.

On the 21st of December, Louis Napoleon was installed as president of the republic, having been chosen by a majority of six million; while the candidature of Lamartine-formerly the idol of the people, and who had been returned to the Assembly by six constituencies could only secure a few thousand votes. Lamartine met his fate after the manner of a man who at a terrible crisis had done his duty. He had failed in reconciling order with freedom; but as he had risen with temper, so he fell with dignity, carrying with him the admiration of his friends and the respect of his opponents.

After that date Lamartine's principal works

ward visited Paris, where he applied himself to the study of the old French poets.

After his return home, Uhland was employed in the department of the minister of justice in Würtemberg, was elected to the second chamber in 1816, became professor at Tübingen in 1829, but resigned his post in consequence of not being admitted to the chamber. At the regeneration of Germany, in March, 1848, the discarded name of Uhland again assumed political weight. The Würtemberg ministry having sent him as a delegate to Frankfort, he took part in the reorganization of the congress.

During the height of the Romantic period Uhland wrote his earlier poems, but the brightness of the imagery and the purity and simplicity of the thoughts elevated them above the ruling influences. He sought materials for his poems among the traditions of all the nations of the West of Europe, but always invested them with the pure German character and expression.

erable talent, was born in Portland, January 20, 1817. While a child he was removed to Boston, and received his first education at the Latin school of that city and the Phillips Academy at Andover. He entered Yale College in the seventeenth year of his age, and about the same time produced a series of poems on sacred subjects which obtained for him some reputation. Immediately after he had graduated, in 1827, he was engaged by Mr. Goodrich ("Peter Parley") to edit The Legendary and The Token. In 1828 he established the American Monthly Magazine, which he conducted for two years and a half, when it was merged in the New York Mirror, and Willis went to Europe. On his arrival in France he was attached to the American legation by Mr. Rives, then minister to the court of Versailles, and with a diplomatic passport he travelled in that country, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Turkey, and, last of all, in England, where he mar