1831.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



577 



At the restoration of peace, in 1814, 

 Sir Edward Berry returned to Norfolk, 

 and fixed his residence at Catton, near 

 Norwich. After some years, he pro- 

 ceeded to Bath, for the benefit of his 

 health ; and, with the same view, he 

 subsequently made a continental tour, 

 and he and Lady Berry lived for some 

 time at Pisa, in Italy. Unfortunately, 

 the hopes of re-establishing his health 

 were not realized ; and he returned to 

 Bath, where he died on the 13th of Feb- 

 ruary last. Lady Berry survives her 

 husband, but without any family. 



BENJAMIN CONSTANT. 



Benjamin Constant, who has been a 

 distinguished litterateur in France for 

 thirty years or upwards, was born at 

 Geneva, in 1767- His parents were Pro- 

 testant ; his father, a General in the 

 Dutch service, had returned to his na- 

 tive country at the close of his military 

 career. 



At the commencement of the revolu- 

 tion, voung Constant went to Paris. In 

 1796,The appeared at the bar of the Coun- 

 cil of Five Hundred, demanding admis- 

 sion to the rights of a French citizen, as 

 the descendant of French ancestors ex- 

 iled by the revocation of the edict of 

 Nantes. About the same time, he pub- 

 lished a little work, which attracted 

 much notice, " On the Strength of the 

 Existing Government (the Directory) 

 of France, and the Necessity of sup- 

 porting it." In the following year 

 1797 two productions of his pen ap- 

 peared : one, " On Political Reaction ;" 

 the other, " An Examination of the 

 Effects of Terror;" in the latter of 

 which he contended, that, in the course 

 of the Revolution, terror had caused 

 much mischief, without producing any 

 advantage. 



In 1797 or 1798, M. Constant became 

 a member of the Club de Salm, or Con- 

 stitutional Circle ; in which he delivered 

 and afterwards published a long dis- 

 course against terror, arbitrary power, 

 and royalty, and enforced the necessity 

 of having republican elections. Another 

 of his publications at this period was 

 " On the Consequences of the Counter- 

 Revolution in England, in 1660." 



On the formation of the Tribunate, he 

 became a member of that body, vehe- 

 mently attacking the communication be- 

 tween different powers in the state. 

 " The object," he observed, " was to 

 dictate laws with such haste that no 

 time was allowed for examining them." 

 He supported the Conscription law, and 

 the law for abrogating the rights of pri- 

 mogeniture. 



In 1801, M. Constant opposed the 

 establishment of a sinking, fund, and also 

 the civil code then under consideration. 

 Regarded as one of the chiefs of the op- 



M.M. New Series. VOL. XI. No. 65. 



position, he was comprehended in Buo- 

 naparte's first purification of the Assem- 

 bly ; consequently, in 1802, he ceased 

 to be a member of the Tribunate. 



It was at the close of the year 1797, 

 that Madame de Stael first saw Buona- 

 parte, who was then at Paris preparing 

 for his expedition to Egypt. The ad- 

 miration with which she had regarded 

 him as the conqueror of Italy, was now 

 succeeded by a sentiment bordering 

 upon aversion ; and the dislike appears 

 to have been mutual. However, she 

 continued in Paris after the return of 

 Buonaparte from Egypt, on his assump- 

 tion of supreme authority ; and in her 

 coteries, and by her writings, she ex- 

 erted herself to the utmost in opposing 

 his views. M. Constant had been long 

 politically connected with Madame de 

 Stael. The consequence was, that, at 

 the same time with Madame, he was 

 ordered to quit Paris. The two exiles 

 went together, and travelled in company 

 over different countries. 



When M. Constant separated from 

 Madame de Stael, he, with the permis- 

 sion of Buonaparte, returned to Paris. 

 There, however, his stay was short. He 

 went to Gottingen, where, for a length 

 of time, he employed himself in his 

 " History of the Different Modes of 

 Worship." It was, we believe, during 

 this retreat from public life, that he 

 also produced his " Walstein, a Tra- 

 gedy, in Five Acts, in Verse ; preceded 

 by Reflections on the German Theatre." 



In 1814, M. Constant again returned 

 to Paris, in the train of the Prince Royal 

 of Sweden. At that time, he appeared 

 to be in the interest of the Bourbons. 

 Several times he wrote in their favour, 

 particularly on the disembarkation of 

 Buonaparte from Elba. He also attacked 

 the whole of the conduct of Buonaparte, 

 and exposed the folly of trusting to 

 promises of liberty from a man who for 

 so many years had made France groan 

 under the most cruel slavery. On these 

 principles he continued to write, even 

 when Buonaparte was within a few 

 leagues of Paris. On the 19th of March, 

 he inserted an article in the Journal des 

 Debats, with his signature, in which he 

 declared that he would never purchase 

 a dishonourable existence by bending 

 before such a man. Yet he did bend 

 before him. In fact, notwithstanding 

 all his occasionally apparent boldness, 

 firmness, and independence of spirit, M. 

 Constant was neither more nor less than 

 a trimmer in politics. On the 20th of 

 April, he received from Buonaparte the 

 title of Councillor of State ; he assisted 

 in drawing up the constitution presented 

 at the Champ de Mai, which he defended 

 and enforced in several of his publica- 

 tions and speeches ; and, immediately 

 before the second and final overthrow of 



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