TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. =52= Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius Oration on Voltaire Victor Hugo HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY GIRARD, KANSAS Copyright 1923, Haldeman-Julius Company. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ORATION ON VOLTAIRE CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 5 VICTOR HUGO’S ORATION ON VOLTAIRE 10 A SKETCH OF VOLTAIRE 28 GEORG BRANDES ON VOLTAIRE 36 ORATION ON VOLTAIRE Translated by James Parton. INTRODUCTION This oration of Victor Hugo brings out in clear contrast a strange contradiction. Our progress is but an evolution from and at the same time it is a revolt against the past. “The thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns.” “Yet the mighty dead still rule us from their urns.” This apparent contradiction exists because the peoples are not as yet familiar with the law of evolution in social progress. The picture of a child imprisoned within the ribs of a skeleton is the picture of the world that many have for want of this conception of time and growth. They revolt against the order of time, because time is not solid, and is only visible to the eye of the intellect. Therefore such revolts have been necessary. They are the great revolutions and social volcanoes of which Paris has been the favorite crater in Europe. Hugo’s great soul has seized the lights and shadows of the great catastrophes of the 18th century, and, their meaning visible to mankind forever in his wonderful oration. It is a warning, a consecration, and a hope. It tells that progress is the only condition of human safety. It consecrates the noble Voltaire who made its conditions possible. It is a prophecy of hope and peace in evolution under the light of knowledge and love. It is the inspiration of every liberated soul to realize this aspiration for “peace on earth and good will to men,” which rises immeasurably higher than any Christian myth ever dreamed. The magnificent word painting of this oration and its inspiration is one of the highest points humanity has ever reached. We are at a loss to find anything superior to it. Compare with it the great orations of Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero, Chatham, Mirabeau, Henry, Webster, or the consecration of the dead at Gettysburg of Abraham Lincoln, and you will feel that those mighty voices were limited by local and temporary interests and feelings.