C5- '5"? peRmalife© pH 8.5 Notice of AleXis E. V. Baltimobe, Monday, May 9, 1859, \To the Editor of the New-York Times : Wben AL2XIS de Tocqueville died, France lost a great and good man. Born of the highest old juobility of his country, endowed with a genius igraad, comprehensive, accurate, his nobleness of heart and justice of soul cast into comparative 'shade the brigLtest attributes of birth and intel- lect. But when he died France was not the only sufferer ; nor was it Frenchmen alone who raised the funeral wail. He was of the world, to the world of feeling and of intelligence he belonged, and all who were acquainted with his delicate, sen- sitive nature, who saw, ever unenviously, how gracefully and modestly he bore the early-won laurel on his unspotted brow— all, Frenchman orj foreigner, who ever met him, must have joined in one deep lament. ' I knew M. dk Tocqueville well. He was one! of ray dearest friends. When our acquaintance began, and under what circumstances, I do not; Temeaiber, it was so long ago. To no man living am I indebted as I was to him. Gratitude, then,| and a desire to tell Americans, whom he loved and served, somewhat of one known to most of them only by a single work, but a man among the fore' 3t of his age, induce me to send you this sin I e and humble tribute to his memory. j You will soon receive from Europe — from Eng- ' lard as from France— ample and eloquent memo- rials of his heart and genius, written by hands iafiniteiy more skillful than mine. The French Academy, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and other bodies, of which he was a dearly cherished and honored member, wijl pour forth a note of sorrow and admiration, not less mournful and sincere than that which lately tolled tiie departure of America's great Historian. But none, perhaps, of all those who will pay the well- deserved offering of friendship and praise to one' of the worthiest sons of France, better understood or mor5 highly prized his moral qualities, than did he w?io would now bear witness to his surpassing celience. i'ew, if any, cf these v^ho perchance may read ■these words, can tell who wrote them ; but you, Bvho are acquainted with their author, will be able :o answer for his fidelity. The portrait of my lost friend is now before mej md on(* more, before descjibing such ajjerfec' Ipreserice as was his, I gaze upon its life-like pre- |sentment sorrowfully indeed. ! Notwithstanding M. de Tocqueville was no longer young, it was only within a few years that the thick, glossy, wavy Jjlack hair, v\fhich adorned a magnificent forehead, became tinged, and that rather by the finger of sickness than of time. Full, dark eyes, betokening honesty and firmness, yet alrftost overflowing with benevolence approac^"- ing woman's tenderness, reminded one ui me couiage of Louis XVI.'s gallant defc.iJer, LI^., SSH2&BE?, whose heart's blood lived by inlierit- ance in Lis heart, and of an affection which only one huiaan Being ever felt for min, and that EeiHg more than mortal. A beautifully-form ^ nose, a mouth with well-curved lips, full ar .. resolute, exquisitely perfect teeth, and a roui.d, strong chin, completed a face an^ expression replete with the beauty of intellect and feature. It was a wonderful and faithful exponent of a woisderfiill}^ faithful and well-proportioned combi- nation of heart and head. From long-continued iu health, (for five or six years ago his life was sorely threatened by the malady which has since proved fatal,) or from some other cause, my fnVnd h""^ contracted the habit of slightly stooping, wHch a veiy ordii^.ary stature could ill afforu. But spirit he never stooped. To Mm, on the contrary, so far as one gentleman could do so to another, did the most exalted personage in the l?rd s^^op to gain him to his views and purposes, but failed in the attempt. When, as attendant on .he fa- moo? coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, a crowd of Rep- resentatives — the noblest by birth, the bravest in arms, the most reHOwned in letters, whose glory was the boast of France — were paiaded Jox miles on foot, through mud and mire, beneath a driz- zling wintr)' sky, to be thrust pell-mell into public receptacles for malefactors, it was to the house of M. DS Tocqueville alone, so far as ever came to my knowledge, (and I was upon the spot,) that the aufhor of that untoward act — in which, I am per- suaded, his underlings, exceeding their authority, grossly erred — sent an accredited ' agent of highest dignity to apologize for the out- rage perpetrated against him individually. Of this apology no acknowledgment was ever made ; and, at a later day, when in an offi- cial capacity, he was compelled formally to I address the Emperor at the ceremonious opening of a new railway, and was. greeted with these gra cious words : " Now, Monsieur le Maire, that rail- ways have done so much to approximate places, why should not individuals, also, hitherto es- tranged, be drawn nearer to each other?" The &ole return was one in perfect accordance with a disposition incapable of useless or insulting aggres- sion, and insensible alike to flattery or force. Without one uttered word, a simple bow, indicat- ive of proper respect for the chief magistrate of his country, but also of mournful despair of a lime to come for that country's freedom, told the disap- pciuted sovereign that between the body's durance and the spirit's thraldom there is, as he himself from painful experience ftiight have known, a world-wide difference— that between the destroyer of a people's liberties and the defender of their rights there is a gulf impassable. , And here I would remark, in passing, that un- due censure has been cast upon Frenchmen — fore- most in rank and talent—because they refuse to serve Napoleon III. They do so, not that he is a usurp-er — Louis Philippe was a usurper, and yet the beat talent in the country was at liis com- mand — but that to sustain him in camp or council their feet would necessarily tread upon a holy thing, which he himself has trampled in the dust. Men like M. be Tocqpetille, as I have heard him declare of himself, would gladly recognize any mere form of government, provided that beneath that foim the real presence and substance of lib- erty were preserved. During a portion of the presidency of Louis Kapolsojt, he had been Minister for Foreign Af- fairs — Prime Minister, that is, so far as any one was permitted to be. Admired and liked by that astute judge of human character, he, in his turn, not a whit less acute, having frequent oppor- tunity in almost daily intercourse, was able to form an estimate of that remarkable man, which, as once communicated to me of his o-\\ii accord, and repeated at my solicitation, time has confirmed and is every day confirming. The only features of the Lnperial portrait thus drawn wliich I am at liberty to transcribe, are that for large, general and comprehensive state views and conduct the present ruler of France, if equaled by any one, is surpassed by none, but that for details he is weak, wavering and inefficient. Although regarding him as a curse, permitted by Providence to rest a moral and intellectual incubus upon a devoted country for a certain time ; although feel- ing, but far less keenly, the personal indignities lie had hhnselt suffered at the Imperial hand, never was he known to be guilty of one unbecoming expression against tha occupant of the French tlirone. He spoke of him in a wonderful spirit of foibearance, as a great man of our day would speak of some other great man who flourished in ■tha eighteenth century. Whether it be owing to prejudice, grounded in 'ducation, or;, to non-community of blood, reli- 3 ion and language, the truth is that Englishmen -and Americans look on Frenchmen as unstable in affection, inconstant in design, uncertain in action, unworthy of confidence. Many years of my life have been passed among them, and from personal experience I can declare, being no stranger amid I other peoples, that there exists not a race of men on earth more loving, faithful, and, in frieudship's service, more devoted and untiring than that which inhabits the land of the Gaul. In more than one instance which I could cite, Americans have found warmel- friends and more enduriag affection in Frarice than ever fell to their lot iuthe country of their b:r;li. ; M, D£ Tocorsvirrw xx-nc o ^.-■-•^- -•- _ , . such friemia. I have kno-.vn him at a very early morning hour, his time for labor, an hour ■mien the world was sleeping, artd at a period of his life when his precanous health made even moments of unspeakable value to him and to others — I have known him cheerfully to sacifice an entire day to rescue from trouble one of our countrymen, who had no imperative claim upon his kind oflices. I have known him to rise from the bed of sickness and pain to beg a favor of an Imperial dignitary for an American, when even to approach,^xcept socially, one of the Imperial Court, was almost self-degradation in his eyes. Nor was he content merely to ask and trust. The Imperialist officer, too happy to court by "obliging such a man, readily promised to send the required document so soon as it could be executed. " No," replied the faithful friend, who was well aware of time's value in the desperate case, and hoped that his presence would insure dis- patch, " I will await its completion." And, ill as he w^as, he did await it, and the next post bore it on its way to save the innocent from a heavy ca- lamity. In manner, M. de Tocquevillk was calm, suf- ficiently animated, but never declamatory. He in- dulged in no gesticulation, no extravagance of language, no extreme or speculative opinions. His words flowed copiously, yet moderately and unin- terruptedly, like crystal waters from a silver foun- tain. He was a constant visitor at my house, where others, hardly infeiior in fame, were al- ways glad to meet him ; and often has the thought occurred to me, how great must be the esteem of all these men— each eminent iu his own special- ty — for this one unassuming individual, wheu, the moment he begins to speak, they become mute, wondering listeners. His intelligence — intelli- gence taken in its largest sense — was complete. I have seen him uncer trying circumstances, when instant action wes necessary, when a mis- take might have been fatal, when nervausness might have excused a blunder, and ne ver dji^ hi judgment falter or fail. Like Colji prehensible talent in mathematics, like Mospuys unparalleled genius in chess, he arrived, as it were by intuition, at a conclusion which never proved wrong. Wisdom, the result of exferience and re- flection, had become in him almost the gift of prophecy. Who that ever heard or read, can for- get those s€er-lilve words of his, made ever memo- rable by the catastrophe which followed, when, alone foreseeing the storm so criminally evoked bj Louis Philipps, he cried aloud amid a host of bribed hu clings, of worthless, time-serving adherents of that besotted King — " Sirs, do you nbt sse the black cloud approaching ? Do you not hear the muttering of the near thunder ? Lo ! the bolt is even now suspended over your heads ! Within a year — a month — what do I say? v/ithin a week, or a day, it may fall and crush you ! " In less than three weeks from the utterance of these unheeded words. King Louis Philippe had fled the land, his Government were escaping though no one pursued, and wreck and ruin covered the face of France. After the accession of Napoleon IIL to the throne, M. de Tocqustillb devoted himself en- tirely to literary labor, to him a true labor of love. His last work, L'Ancten Regime et la Revolution, a work too little known in America, is, in the opinion of judicious critics, hardly equaled by any other of our day for "originality of view, care and independence of research, the habit of proving everything, assuming nothing, and for a fascinating, genial, and consummate wisdom. The style of it —including in this word the thoughts as well as the mere language— is faultless. We can do lit- tle," adds the Edinburgh Review, which I am quot- ing. " but sit at the feet of GamalieUo listen and to learn." Wise even in youth, of surpassing wisdom in maturer jears, with a loving heart and kindly dis- position, earnest in the pursuit of truth, devoted to man's freedom, always ready to sacrifice self, con- demning and warring against injustice, however high its source, uncomplaining when the victim of it himself, can it be wondered at that such a man —that Alexis de Tocqueyille was adored by friends, courted by the world, and had no enemy — that the good he did lives after him, while no evil remains to be interred with his bones ? E. V. c. if. ».— Bince writing the above lines lae jour- nal des Dehats, of April 19, has been received by me, and I translate from it the following article ; " We have most mournful tidings to anaounce : M. Alexss de TocauEvitLS, whose death has been prema- turely reported in the papers, expired last Saturday evening at Carmss, where he had been passing the Winter. M. DE TccQUEViLiE was only 53 years of age. His last days were calm and peace/ul. Never to the last moment of his life did he cfase from study and labor, in the preparation of his second volume upon the ad- ministrative and political condition of Franse before the Revolution. Even to the latest hour of Ms exis- tence did he devote his Christian and courageous soul to the dulies of life. 'Although the delicacy of M. »2! TccwaviiiK's health, especially for several years last past, condemned him to extraordinary pre- cautions, so firm an* free was his spirit, so generous and vigorous were the sentiments which animated his heart, that one could not but indulge the hope of seeing the moral force in hioi surmounting physical debOity. And, indeed, it was scarcely a month ago that aa urexpected improvement seemed likely to conflrnE, this hope. Bat, alas, the illusion was cruelly dlsceUed — M. »a TocQiJEVttJ.s is no more '. Trie two Academies to which he belonged— the French Academy and the Academy of Moral and Po- litical Sciences — in losing him have experienced an irreparable loss. As writer, publicist, thinker, M, DE TccQUBvn.i.B stood among the very best of the most distinguished men of our time. No one can for- get the brilliant success which attended the appear- ance of the two first volumes of his great work upon the United States of America, and many persons at- tribute a still higher rank to the ' C onsiderations upon the Condition of France before the Revolution of 1769,' already alluded to, written with a hand en- feebledby sickness and now so fatally Interrupted by death. But the present is not a suitable moment for be- stowing the due meed of praise upon th« talent of M. DB ToowEviiiE, and upon those works which have rendered his name and memory forever illustrious. Nor would we now sp^ak of his political and parlia- mentary career ; but no one can be ignorant of the disinterestedness, the elevation of character, the pureness of patriolisra which marked his public life. As a public man and authsr we will speak of him hereafter, but to-day in publishing the sad tidings of ids decease, we cannot refrain from joinlag our grief to the grief of his family and friends, nor from de- ploring a loss which deprives Frantse of one of those men whose places can never be filled." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 642 988 8 .er xtJiii pH8.5 \ LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 019 S42 988 8 peRmalife© pH8.5