In the scenes of the Revolution of February, 1848, he occupied a prominent position as mediator between the two opposite parties; and the retention of the tricolour, in place of the Red flag, is attributed to his intervention. Elected a member of the Provisional Government, Lamartine served as Foreign Minister of the Republic. In this capacity he published his well-known _Manifesto à l’Europe_. But, in spite of the fact that ten departments had elected him as representative in the Assemblée Constituante, and that he was also made one of the five members of the Executive Commission, his popularity was short-lived. With all his, apparently, sincere sympathy with the cause of the Oppressed, traditionary associations and strong family attachments (sufficiently manifest in his _Mémoirs_) impeded him in his political course; and his compromising attitude provoked the distrust of more advanced political reformers. In competition with Louis Napoléon and Cavaignac, he was nominated for the presidency; but he received the support of few votes. From this period he withdrew into private life and devoted himself entirely to literature. His _Histoire de la Révolution_ (1849), _Histoire de la Restauration_, _Histoire de la Russie_, _Histoire de la Turquie_, _Raphael_ (a narrative of his childhood and youth) _Confidences_ (1849-1851), a further autobiography--one of the most interesting of all his prose productions--and various other writings, most of them appearing, in the first instance, in the periodicals of the day, attested the activity and versatility of his genius. He also for some time conducted a journal--_Conseiller du Peuple_. In 1860 he collected his entire writings into forty-one volumes. Of them his _Histoire des Girondins_ is, probably, the most widely known. But, next to _The Fall of an Angel_, it is his own Memoirs which will always have most interest and instruction for those who know how to appreciate true refinement of soul, and, making due deductions from political or traditionary prejudice, can discern essential worth of mind. In _Les Confidences_ he allows us to see the natural sensibility and superiority of his disposition in his deep repugnance to the orthodox table--none the less real because he seems, unhappily, to have deemed himself forced to comply with the universal or, rather, fashionable barbarism. Writing of his early education, he tells us:--