“Replying to those who reproached him for having served successively all governments, he observes that he had done so without the least scruple, guided by the idea that, in whatever situation the country might be, there were always means of doing it some good, and that to do this good was the business of a statesman.”
Supposing the testament thus spoken of to exist, it is curious; and the expression of gratitude to the Bonaparte family is the more creditable from the fact that it could not have been made with any idea that it would be rewarded.
As to the defence set up for serving all dynasties and all causes, it cannot apply to any country where public men have the power, out of office, to put down a bad government, as they have in office the power to uphold a good one.
I will conclude with the appreciation of a French friend, who thus summed up many of my own remarks:—
“Enfin, chez M. de Talleyrand, l’aménité et la raison remplaçaient le cœur, et la conscience. Avec bien des défauts qui ont terni sa réputation, il avait toutes les qualités qui devaient faire prospérer son ambition. Ses talents qu’il a employés constamment pour son propre avantage, il les a employés presque aussi constamment pour le bien public. Beaucoup attaqué et peu défendu par ses contemporains, il n’en restera pas moins pour la postérité un des hommes les plus aimables de son temps et un des citoyens les plus illustres de son pays.”
MACKINTOSH, THE MAN OF PROMISE.
Part I.
FROM HIS YOUTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT IN INDIA.
Mackintosh’s character.—Character of men of his type.—Birth and parentage.—Starts as a physician, fails, and becomes a newspaper writer, and author of a celebrated pamphlet in answer to Burke’s “Thoughts on the French Revolution.”—Studies for the bar.—Becomes noted as a public character, violent on the Liberal side.—Becomes acquainted with Mr. Burke.—Modifies his opinions.—Gives lectures on public law, remarkable for their eloquence and their Conservative opinions.—Becomes the advocate of Peltier; makes a great speech, and shortly afterwards accepts an appointment in India.