The Diplomatists of EuropeCapefigue, M. (Jean Baptiste Honoré Raymond)
History
The Diplomatists of Europe
Capefigue, M. (Jean Baptiste Honoré Raymond)
Diplomats; Statesmen
The trial of Fieschi was going on almost at the same time, after the
atrocious crime which had filled Paris with horror and bloodshed.
History will, perhaps, deprecate the too great consideration exhibited
towards Fieschi, and blame the undue attention shewn to that sanguinary
mountebank, who declaimed at the bar of justice like a street orator.
One of the prisoners alone had something remarkable in his appearance
and character; this was the aged Morey, a faithful specimen of the
old Jacobins, whose erroneous opinions are deserving of pity, because
he sealed them with his blood. This abuse was remedied in the affair
of Alibeau, by assigning a subordinate rank to that miserable trial,
with which the chamber of peers was burdened. On this occasion the
scene was restrained within due proportions, the reward of celebrity
was no longer conferred upon all those who dreamed of murder and
assassination, and the alteration produced so good an effect, that
during the last trial, that of Meunier, public curiosity was scarcely
excited, and the crime was abandoned to its proper obscurity.
The great exertions M. Pasquier was compelled to make injured his
health, but had no effect upon the great qualities of his mind, or
upon the activity and skill in the management of affairs, which always
particularly distinguished men of the political party. I believe no
circumstance of importance has occurred during the last seven years,
upon which he has not been consulted. It is said he exercised great
influence on the formation of Casimir Perier's ministry; at all events,
his habit of preparing memorials, and of examining closely into all the
circumstances likely to produce any striking effect upon public life,
has often decided the resolutions of government, and his connexion with
the cabinet, and with the principal diplomatic characters, has always
facilitated the direction of affairs. He rarely takes them in hand
himself, but, like Talleyrand, he makes people act without personally
appearing; occupying thus, perhaps, a more elevated position than if
he were openly at the head of the government.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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