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Page 35
"Louis Napoleon and Eug�nie Montijo, Emperor and Empress of France!
one of whom I have had a guest at my cottage on the Hudson; the
other, whom, when a child, I have had on my knee at Granada. It
seems to cap the climax of the strange dramas of which Paris has
been the theatre during my life-time. I have repeatedly thought
that each grand _coup de th��tre_ would be the last that would
occur in my time; but each has been succeeded by another equally
striking; and what will be the next, who can conjecture?
"The last time I saw Eug�nie Montijo she was one of the reigning
belles of Madrid; and she and her giddy circle had swept away my
charming young friend, the beautiful and accomplished ---- ----,
into their career of fashionable dissipation. Now Eug�nie is upon a
throne, and ---- a voluntary recluse in a convent of one of the
most rigorous orders! Poor ----! Perhaps, however, her fate may
ultimately be the happiest of the two. 'The storm' with her 'is
o'er, and she's at rest;' but the other is launched upon a
returnless shore, on a dangerous sea, infamous for its tremendous
shipwrecks. Am I to live to see the catastrophe of her career, and
the end of this suddenly conjured-up empire, which seems to be of
'such stuff as dreams are made of'?"
As we have seen, the large sums Irving earned by his pen were not spent
in selfish indulgence. His habits and tastes were simple, and little
would have sufficed for his individual needs. He cared not much for
money, and seemed to want it only to increase the happiness of those who
were confided to his care. A man less warm-hearted and more selfish, in
his circumstances, would have settled down to a life of more ease and
less responsibility.
To go back to the period of his return to America. He was now past
middle life, having returned to New York in his fiftieth year. But he
was in the full flow of literary productiveness. I have noted the dates
of his achievements, because his development was somewhat tardy compared
with that of many of his contemporaries; but he had the "staying"
qualities. The first crop of his mind was of course the most original;
time and experience had toned down his exuberant humor; but the spring
of his fancy was as free, his vigor was not abated, and his art was more
refined. Some of his best work was yet to be done. And it is worthy of
passing mention, in regard to his later productions, that his admirable
sense of literary proportion, which is wanting in many good writers,
characterized his work to the end.
High as his position was as a man of letters at this time, the
consideration in which he was held was much broader than that,--it was
that of one of the first citizens of the Republic. His friends, readers,
and admirers were not merely the literary class and the general public,
but included nearly all the prominent statesmen of the time. Almost any
career in public life would have been open to him if he had lent an ear
to their solicitations. But political life was not to his taste, and it
would have been fatal to his sensitive spirit. It did not require much
self-denial, perhaps, to decline the candidacy for mayor of New York, or
the honor of standing for Congress; but he put aside also the
distinction of a seat in Mr. Van Buren's Cabinet as Secretary of the
Navy. His main reason for declining it, aside from a diffidence in his
own judgment in public matters, was his dislike of the turmoil of
political life in Washington, and his sensitiveness to personal attacks
which beset the occupants of high offices. But he also had come to a
political divergence with Mr. Van Buren. He liked the man,--he liked
almost everybody,--and esteemed him as a friend, but he apprehended
trouble from the new direction of the party in power. Irving was almost
devoid of party prejudice, and he never seemed to have strongly marked
political opinions. Perhaps his nearest confession to a creed is
contained in a letter he wrote to a member of the House of
Representatives, Gouverneur Kemble, a little time before the offer of a
position in the cabinet, in which he said that he did not relish some
points of Van Buren's policy, nor believe in the honesty of some of his
elbow counselors. I quote a passage from it:--
"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
attached, from complete conviction, to the institutions of my
country; but I am a republican without gall, and have no bitterness
in my creed. I have no relish for Puritans, either in religion or
politics, who are for pushing principles to an extreme, and for
overturning everything that stands in the way of their own zealous
career.... Ours is a government of compromise. We have several
great and distinct interests bound up together, which, if not
separately consulted and severally accommodated may harass and
impair each other.... I always distrust the soundness of political
councils that are accompanied by acrimonious and disparaging
attacks upon any great class of our fellow-citizens. Such are those
urged to the disadvantage of the great trading and financial
classes of our country."
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