MONTALEMBERT, COUNT. 



527 





too, expressed himself submissively on the pro- 

 mulgation >!' the I'.tjial decree condemning his 

 doctrines, but soon uftor betrayed his rebellious 

 spirit, and completed an irreconcilable rupture 

 with his church by the publication of hifl "Pa- 

 roltt (f unCroyant." It was condemned by tho 

 l'"po, but bad an immediate and unparalleled 

 popularity in Franco and throughout Hump.-. 

 Montulembert, on tho contrary, assumed some- 

 thing of that character as a politician which 

 his friends had hoped for Lacordaire. Ho 

 founded with Do Oaux a free Catholic school 

 in I'aris, but this was soon closed by the police 

 as an infringement of the ordinances of public- 

 instruction. He was tried and fined after de- 

 fending himself in a speech still pronounced 

 the most brilliant of his long career. The result 

 of this trial appears to have had the singular 

 effect of making him more conservative in 

 politics, and tho Papal censure of Lamennais's 

 rebellion strengthened his attachment to the 

 Church. On succeeding to his father's rank, 

 1831, and his rights as a member of the Cham- 

 ber of Peers, Montalembert entered upon a po- 

 litical career, though he could not take part in 

 tho debates of the Chamber until 1835, in con- 

 sequence of his youth. He occupied the interval 

 in tho preparation of his " Life of St. Elizabeth 

 of Hungary, Duchess of Thuringia," wiich was 

 first published in 1836, and has since passed 

 through numerous editions, been illustrated, 

 abridged, and partially rewritten. In this 

 work he manifested a lively appreciation of 

 the poetical aspect of mediteval piety and asceti- 

 cism. In 1843, on the occasion of the discus- 

 sion, in the Chamber of Peers, of the relations 

 of the Church to tho State, ho published his 

 " Catholic Manifesto," which led to his imme- 

 diate recognition by the Catholics in the Cham- 

 ber as their leader. In 1844, he opposed, from 

 its introduction, M. Villemain's project of 

 secondary instruction (see VILLEMAIX, in this 

 volume), and delivered his three addresses on 

 the "Liberty of the Church," the "Liberty of 

 Instruction," and the "Liberty of the Monastic 

 Orders." In the last of these addresses he 

 undertook openly the defence of the " Society 

 of Jesus," and concluded with the words since 

 so often quoted: "We are the sons of tho 

 Crucified ; we do not retreat before the sons of 

 Voltaire." The two diverse characters which 

 he endeavored to unite in one, tho ultramon- 

 tanist, or consistent supporter of the Catholic 

 faith and the dicta of the Pope, and the 

 equally zealous Liberal, often involved him in 

 trouble, and made him inconsistent, when ho 

 was carrying out his own deepest convictions. 

 Ho was everywhere tho advocate and de- 

 fender of the oppressed nationalities, whatever 

 their faith; Greece in 1831, Poland in 1832 

 and 1844, and the Christians in Syria in 1848, 

 found him always ready to plead their cause 

 with an eloquence which carried all before it ; 

 but he was not less zealous in his defence of 

 the Hindoos, or of the real wrongs of Ireland. 

 After tho lievolution of 1848 he joined tho 



Democratic party, with many avowals of repub- 

 lican principles, and wan elected, on these dec- 

 larations, to the Constituent Assembly, where 

 ho acted with tho monarchical or moderate 

 part y, voting against the now Constitution, and 

 for the restriction of the press. As time and 

 legislation advanced, he became still more con- 

 servative in his views, and found his natural 

 rival in Victor Hugo, with whom he engaged 

 in several memorable debates. 



His liberal views wore at this period, and for 

 some time afterward, subordinated to the an- 

 tagonistic principle of reverence for authority, 

 which was at this time in the ascendant. He 

 was the first to demand French intervention 

 in favor of Pius IX., and to give his adhesion 

 to tho expedition to Rome. He also defended 

 most elaborately, in the Legislative Assembly, 

 the aggressive movements by which Louis Na- 

 poleon was already foreshadowing his coup 

 <Tetat. After that event, ho protested against 

 the imprisonment of tho members of the As- 

 sembly, and remained for some years almost 

 alone in the opposition. At the elections of 

 1857, the Count de Montalembert found him- 

 self for the first time defeated, and withdrew 

 thenceforth from public life. Twice (in 1854 

 and 1858) ho was prosecuted by the Govern- 

 ment of Louis Napoleon on the charge of having 

 published articles in tho journals calculated to 

 excite hatred and contempt of tho government 

 of the Emperor. In tho first instance, the 

 Government withdrew the suit, in tho second, 

 ho was condemned, but the Emperor, finding 

 his prosecution impolitic, remitted both the 

 fine and imprisonment. From 1857 he lived 

 in retirement, suffering terribly from an in- 

 curable disease, and occupying all the time, 

 which was sufficiently free from pain, in liter- 

 ary pursuits. Ho wrote frequently for Lc 

 Correspondant, the leading French Catholic 

 review, published a number of brochures on re- 

 ligious and political questions, such as " Catho- 

 lic Interests in the Nineteenth Century," "Tho 

 Political Future of England" (in which ho 

 argued that tho interests of Great Britain were 

 identical with those of liberty), and " Pius IX. 

 and Lord Palmerston." In a recent letter to 

 Swiss students he made the following interest- 

 ing comparison between the Republic of Swit- 

 zerland and that of tho United States : 



You, who live in a country which the friends of lib- 

 erty love to cite at the same time as the United States 

 of America, know, better than I, how far your noblo 

 country is still from resembling our model beyond 

 the sea. When they read the discussions in vour 

 assemblies, and see the acts which emanate from 

 thenij they are stupefied at the great part which con- 

 fiscation, prohibition, and proscription still piny in 

 them, as wituess what has recently occurred in Thur- 

 govia anil tho Berne Jura. Nothing could less re- 

 semble the manner and customs of the sons of Wash- 

 ington and Franklin. These unhappy disturbances, 

 foolish exclusions, and shameful anachronisms will, 

 however, show you sufficiently what are the progres- 

 sive measures, tho urgent reforms, and the arduous 

 conflicts, of which you should be the indomitable 

 champions, in order that, in the country of Tell and 

 Winkelricd, that true liberty may reign 'which sooner 



