HUGO, VICTOR-MARIE. 



483 



tion of Louis Napoleon as a traitor to his oath. 

 Dec. 11, 1851, he left Paris under the decree 

 of banishment and went to Belgium. From 

 there he issued a protest against the acts of 

 Dec. 2, 1851, and the plebiscite of Dec. 20, 

 which he denounced as a farce. Imperial in- 

 fluence was strong enough to secure his expul- 

 sion from Belgium, and, after a short visit to 

 England, he took up his residence in the isl- 

 and of Jersey, which he left, under political 

 pressure, in 1853, for the island of Guernsey, 

 where he remained until the fall of the second 

 empire in 1870. 



In 1852 Hugo published at Brussels, "Napo- 

 16on le Petit," a diatribe against the new French 

 emperor; and in 1853 appeared "Les chati- 

 ments," a series of philippics in verse, against 

 the whole coterie of villains concerned in the 

 overthrow of the republic. In 1856 was pub- 

 lished "Les contemplations," mainly a collec- 

 tion of pieces written before 1843. In 1859 ap- 

 peared the first part of "La legende des sie- 

 cles," a poet's review of all history, vindicating 

 liberty and attacking tyranny. In 1862, "Les 

 miserables," one Of the world-famous romances, 

 appeared, being published in eight different 

 cities and in nine languages at the same time. 

 When Hugo was joined by his family in his 

 place of exile, his younger son asked if the 

 exile would be long, and the father answered 

 that it would. To his son's second question 

 as to how he would spend his time, Hugo 

 answered that he would watch the ocean, and 

 the son rejoined that he would translate Shake- 

 speare. This translation was made and pub- 

 lished in 1864 with a preface, " William Shake- 

 speare," by Victor Hugo. " Les chansons des 

 rues et Bois" appeared in 1865, and "Les tra- 

 vailleurs de la mer," a prose epic of the strug- 

 gle of manhood against the forces of nature, 

 was published in 1866. In 1869, "Hernani" 

 was revived at the Theatre Francais, and held 

 the stage for four months. The same year the 

 grotesque story, "L'homme qui rit," appeared, 

 and did something to impair the author's fame. 

 After the amnesty proclamation of that year, 

 Hugo might have returned to France, but he 

 refused to do so, holding to what he had said 

 when going into exile, "Quand le droit reu- 

 trera en France, je rentrerai." 



Hugo published in the " Rappel," in 1870, 

 a strong protest against the plebiscite of that 

 year, for which he was cited to appear and 

 answer on the charge of exciting hatred and 

 contempt of the Government, but in Septem- 

 ber following the empire was overthrown, 

 and Hugo went home to share the misfor- 

 tunes of his country. His first public act 

 was to address a manifesto to the German 

 armies, urging them to make peace with 

 France and proclaim a Teutonic republic. He 

 remained in Paris during the siege, and con- 

 tributed liberally to the defense of the city and 

 to sanitary work. Against his will he was 

 appointed a member of the Committee of Pub- 

 lic Safety. February, 1871, he was chosen as 



representative of the department of the Seine 

 in the National Assembly at Bordeaux. 'He 

 strongly opposed the preliminaries of peace 

 with Germany, and resigned because the ma- 

 jority would not listen to his protests. He 

 was in Paris for a few days during the Com- 

 mune, and spoke and wrote in defense of the 

 Vendome column; but he went to Brussels 

 on private business, and there denounced 

 the action taken by the Belgian Government 

 against the leaders of the revolt. As a conse- 

 quence of his action he was expelled, and on 

 his return to Paris, after a short visit to Lon- 

 don, he was active in behalf of Henri Roche- 

 fort, and in the following election he was de- 

 feated. 



Hugo lost one of his sons in 1871, and the 

 other in 1873; but neither public nor pri- 

 vate calamity interfered with his intellectual 

 activity. In 1872 appeared "L'annee terri- 

 ble," a poem on the misfortunes of France, and 

 in 1873 he produced a poem called "La libe- 

 ration du territoire." In 1874, " Quatre- 

 vingt-treize," a romance of La Vendee in the 

 revolutionary era, was published in eight lan- 

 guages; in 1875, "Actes et paroles pendant 

 1'exil" was issued, a collection of speeches, 

 public letters, and professions of faith. The 

 same year he wrote "Le delegu6 de Paris aux 

 delegues des 36,000 communes de France." 

 In 1876 he published the second part of "La 

 legende des siecles," and was elected to the 

 senate. In 1877 appeared "L'histoire d'un 

 crime," the story of the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 

 1851, and "L'art d'etre grande-pere," both 

 of which achieved great success, the latter be- 

 ing regarded by many, on account of the ten- 

 derness of the theme, as the best of the work 

 of his old age. " Le Pape " was published in 

 1878; "La pitie" supreme," in 1879; "L'ane," 

 in 1880; "Les quatre vents de 1'esprit,". in 

 1881 ; " Torquemada," in 1882 ; the third part 

 of " La legende des siecles " and " L'Archipel 

 de la Manche," in 1883. The first and second 

 of these are regarded as of no great value ; the 

 fourth and fifth take rank with the poet's best 

 works. 



Hugo was poor in his youth ; the success 

 of "Les misdrables" made him independent; 

 and after his return to France he became 

 wealthy. He was a feeble child, but devel- 

 oped into a strong and handsome boy and a ro- 

 bust and majestic-looking old man. He was a 

 royalist in his youth, a Bonapartist in early 

 manhood, and a republican, almost a socialist, 

 as he advanced in years ; but it has been said 

 that he was never false to 'liberty. He was 

 brought up without religious faith ; after some 

 years he took Lamennais for a father con- 

 fessor; and, finally, he died without the for- 

 mal consolations of religion. He was not al- 

 ways true as a husband, and sometimes showed 

 himself over-stern as a parent ; but he played 

 the part of grandfather to perfection. His 

 brother and one of his daughters went mad ; 

 and though he kept the even balance of his in- 



