Lamartine, ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE

Lamartine, ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE, French statesman and author, was born at Mâcon, 21st October 1790. He came of an ultra-royalist stock, and was educated in royalist principles. Up to 1815 a considerable portion of his time was spent in Italy, a country for which he had a deep affection. On the fall of Napoleon and the establishment of the Bourbons, Lamartine proceeded to Paris and entered the ranks of the Garde Royale. He soon returned to Italy, however, which he traversed on foot; and here, as his Elvire and Julie testify, he experienced a passion that kindled into energy those poetic gifts which ultimately made him one of the great singers of France. His first Méditations were published in 1820, and at this period he was appointed First Secretary of Legation at Naples. He subsequently became chargé d'affaires at Florence, where he remained for five years, acquiring a wide knowledge of international politics. Lamartine married an English wife, Marianne Birch, who shared in her husband's labours and aspirations. In 1829 Lamartine, foreseeing impending difficulties, declined the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Polignac ministry. He accepted a mission to the new king of Greece, Leopold of Belgium (elected 11th February 1830; resigned 15th May). At the same time he published his Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, which excited such enthusiasm that he was unanimously elected to the Academy. Lamartine, still a royalist in principle, disapproved of the revolution of July 1830. His friends nominated him at Dunkerque and Toulon for election to the Chamber of Deputies, but he was defeated at both places, and went on a tour to the East. He wrote an account of his travels, entitled Souvenirs d'Orient. Recalled to France in 1833, he was returned for both Mâcon and Bergues, and elected to sit for the latter place. But Mâcon being his native place, his fellow-townsmen would not be denied, and re-elected him almost unanimously in 1837. Between 1834 and 1848 Lamartine wrote and published his Jocelyn, La Chute d'un Ange, and the celebrated work, the Histoire des Girondins, which the Conservatives erroneously alleged was the cause of the revolution of 1848. The historian merely saw further into the future than most of his con- temporaries. The Orleanist régime was repugnant to him because of its duplicity, and when the monarchy fell he accepted the inevitable. It was he who insisted upon an appeal to the people. He was a member of the Provisional Government which formally proclaimed the Republic at the Hôtel de Ville. The new order having been established on the basis of liberty, equality, and fraternity, the ministry was constituted with Lamartine as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Lamartine, who was the presiding genius of the government, endeavoured to rule the country according to the principles of constitutional liberty, but there was an extreme party, headed by Louis Blanc and Ledru Rollin, which sought to establish national workshops and to effect social changes of a sweeping character. A formidable outbreak on the 15th of May, resulting from the refusal of the Assembly to appoint a Minister of Labour, and which eventually led to the expulsion of Louis Blanc, was suppressed by the vigorous efforts of Lamartine. In June, however, a more serious rising occurred, upon which the executive committee resigned their functions, and conferred the command of the forces on General Cavaignac. After a terrible conflict the insurrection was suppressed. Lamartine had already stepped down from power, and from the time when Louis Napoleon acquired the ascendancy through unscrupulous means his political career practically closed. He now devoted himself to literature, publishing in the order named the two series of the Confidences, his Raphaël, Geneviève, the Tailleur de Pierres de St-Point, and that valuable contribution to the study of continental politics, the Histoire de la Restauration. He likewise edited several Collections of his former writings, Discours divers, and issued monthly his Entretiens Familiers. Lamartine continued to take an interest in public affairs, discussing them eloquently with his friends, but his patriotic spirit revolted against the iron rule of Napoleon III. In consequence of his straitened circumstances, parliament voted Lamartine a moderate pension, and the Paris town-council presented him with a chalet in the Bois de Boulogne. He died on February 28, 1869. See the Life by Lady M. Domville (1888), and by Deschanel (2 vols. Par. 1893).