The sketches now offered to the reader have most of them been already published in parts, in magazines and reviews. I have been advised to collect them into one work, in order to make their tendency and their spirit better understood. The end I proposed to myself at the time I wrote them, was to efface the prejudices which the decrepit schools of the Revolution, and of the Empire, had cast over the vast intellects who have had the direction of the government in various countries, or who still co

The Austrian government, which is composed of old hereditary states and conquests of a later date, a sort of chequer-work of provincial privileges and immunities, may be said to be the creation of a statesman, who must be placed in a superior rank to all others. It is not only under the aspect of a long and brilliant diplomatic career that we must regard the life of Prince Metternich, we must also look upon him as the head of the executive organisation, which includes so many various interests,

One of the torments of a statesman who has played a great part in politics is to see his conduct subjected to the judgment of ignoble minds and the discussions of people incapable of forming a just estimate of it. How much has been written concerning M. de Talleyrand! how many bons mots , and how many rude sayings have been attributed to him! His biography has been made a sort of Ana , for the amusement of idle people; he has been represented as a kind of facetious personage, almost a mountebank

There is no county in Europe whose national character is so ancient, so thoroughly peculiar, as the Island of Corsica. Imagine a vast landscape of Salvator Rosa's, with all the features which he alone was capable of depicting, and whose type he has sought in Calabria and the Abruzzi; add to this a people whose disposition is hardy and obstinate; whose affections, love, hatred, or jealousy, are perpetuated from one generation to another; whose proud and patriotic attachment to their native soil f

The administration of the Empire was, generally speaking, strong, full of energy and unity of purpose; it was composed of two elements, the ruins of the republican party now rallied around the dictatorship of Napoleon, and became submissive under his iron rule, such as Treilhard, Merlin, and Thibaudeau, and the pure and elevated remains of the old monarchical school, like Molé, De Fontanes, and De Narbonne. According to the custom observed in all governments possessed of any portion of strength

Shall we long continue to be dazzled by that fairy land, sparkling with diamonds and rubies? I think so; for no government possesses all the qualities necessary to insure the colonisation of distant countries in so eminent a degree as the noble and elevated system pursued by England. People constantly talk of the projects of Russia: what need has she of extending her conquests? These are dreams only fit for the period of the empire under Napoleon. Russia and England are united by the most powerf

Among the admirable works that have emanated from the pencil of Lawrence, the reader must have observed a countenance with a melancholy expression, and a high forehead shaded by locks prematurely blanched; the mild intelligent eyes, delicate nose, and firmly compressed mouth, are indicative of a mind of a superior order, but at the age of scarcely fifty years this countenance, whose nobleness and simplicity of expression are remarkable, conveys the idea of a man worn out with the troubles and an

It is natural that States which feel an incessant desire of increasing, should not retain the inflexible principles of upright and generous policy in their diplomatic system. Every time they feel stifled, they strive for more space and the means of more extended respiration; and such has constantly been the condition of the Prussian monarchy, from the time of its foundation, which may be said to have taken place unexpectedly, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. At this period the Duchy b

In the march of generations two distinct periods are observable: the one of ardent and vigorous activity, when quiet and lukewarmness are vexatious and annoying; the other of fatigue and exhaustion; and, when this reaction has taken place, it is necessary there should be at the head of affairs, wise and moderate ministers, perhaps even men who are themselves weary of too active and busy a life. The great European monarchies enjoy an incontestable advantage over freer but more stormy governments,

I am about to write the life of a statesman whose character has been more violently attacked in the annals of England—I might almost say of Europe—than any other with whom I am acquainted. No one ever had to endure more outrages and insults, and no one ever displayed more inflexible firmness, in the course of a most chequered and agitated life. I shall offend many little prejudices, and hurt many vulgar opinions; but things of this sort have never prevented me from proceeding straight to the tru