Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand (September 4, 1768-July 4, 1848) was a French politician and writer. He helped begin the literary style known as Romanticism, which emphasized man's emotion in a rather flowery style. A young captain in the French military, he became disillusioned at the violence of the French Revolution and came to America in 1791. His fascination with the Southern States became the subject of his novels, Les Natchez (1826), Atala (1801) and René (1802).
He returned to France in 1792 and fought for Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé. Wounded and left for dead at the siege of Thionville, 1792. Exiled to England, he read John Milton's Paradise Lost, which he later translated into French prose.
Chateaubriand examined the causes of the French Revolution and wrote Essai sur les Révolutions (1797). In 1798, his life changed when he converted to Christianity. In 1802, he wrote of his conversion in Le Genie du Christianisme, which contributed to a resurgence of faith in Europe after the French Revolution. Chateaubriand declared:
<J'ai pleure' et j'ai cru. (I wept and I believed.)> 1768FC001
<Christianity is perfect; men are imperfect.> 1768FC002
The Catholic Encyclopedia printed this account of Chateaubriand's life:
<It was indeed a rude shock that awoke his dormant religion. On the 1st of July, 1798, his sister, Mme de Farcy, wrote him of his mother's death, adding that, grief-stricken at his abandonment of the Faith - a condition sadly manifest in his "Essai sur les révolutions" - she had made it her dying request that he would become reconciled to it. Chateaubriand heeded the appeal.
It seemed to come as a last prayer, a tear-laden supplication from the tomb that enclosed the mortal remains of one who had loved him devotedly, and whose anguish he had so ruthlessly augmented.
His heart was touched by the recollection of his childhood's days, by the pious memories with which the picture of his mother was inseparably connected, and, comparing the awful void made within his soul by false philosophy with the ineffable peace with which his religion had formerly filled it, his cruel doubts were suddenly submerged in a flood of tears.
"I wept", said he, "and I believed" (Preface to the first edition of "Le génie du Christianisme"). This change of heart is the more easily explained as it was brought about by the progress of his ideas. His "Essai" is not the work of a confirmed infidel. If occasionally the author speaks like an eighteenth century philosopher, he also speaks as a Christian; he believes and doubts by turns.
The mind is not always the dupe of the heart, it is sometimes its debtor.
Chateaubriand's mind oscillated between the faith of the Christian and the incredulity of the sceptic, but his heart, never wholly indifferent, threw its entire belief into the scale, and faith triumphed forever...
Having had the misfortune to attack the Faith, Chateaubriand craved the honour of defending it, and in various parts of his writings he realized this ambition, but most especially in "Le génie du Christianisme".
His defense of religion presented in this celebrated book is invested with a new character. Moreover, the subtitle of the first edition clearly indicates that the writer's intention was to point out the "Beauties of the Christian Religion". The apology is based on the æsthetic, and the fundamental argument of the work is thus expressed in its closing lines:
"Though we have not employed the arguments usually advanced by the apologists of Christianity, we have arrived by a different chain of reasoning at the same conclusion: Christianity is perfect; men are imperfect. Now, a perfect consequence cannot spring from an imperfect principle. Christianity, therefore, is not the work of men."
It was just then that Bonaparte was rebuilding overthrown altars, and the author of "Le génie" and the victorious general worked towards the same end, each in his own way...
Chateaubriand's influence is incontestable. The Abbé Pradt, a writer who was hostile to his book, said in 1818:
"He reinstated religion in the world, establishing it on a better footing than it had occupied, for until then it had followed, so to speak, in the wake of society, and since then it has marched visibly at the bead."> 1768FC003
In his Mémoires d'outre-tombe, translated by A.S. Kline, Chateaubriand wrote a Comparison of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte, Book VI: Chapter 8:
<A degree of silence envelops Washington's actions; he moved slowly; one might say that he felt charged with future liberty, and that he feared to compromise it. It was not his own destiny that inspired this new species of hero: it was that of his country; he did not allow himself to enjoy what did not belong to him; but from that profound humility what glory emerged! Search the woods where Washington's sword gleamed: what do you find? Tombs? No; a world!
Washington has left the United States behind for a monument on the field of battle.
Bonaparte shared no trait with that serious American: he fought amidst thunder in an old world; he thought about nothing but creating his own fame; he was inspired only by his own fate. He seemed to know that his project would be short, that the torrent which falls from such heights flows swiftly; he hastened to enjoy and abuse his glory, like fleeting youth.
Following the example of Homer's gods, in four paces he reached the ends of the world. He appeared on every shore; he wrote his name hurriedly in the annals of every people; he threw royal crowns to his family and his generals; he hurried through his monuments, his laws, his victories. Leaning over the world, with one hand he deposed kings, with the other he pulled down the giant, Revolution; but, in eliminating anarchy, he stifled liberty, and ended by losing his own on his last field of battle.
Each was rewarded according to his efforts: Washington brings a nation to independence; a justice at peace, he falls asleep beneath his own roof in the midst of his compatriots' grief and the veneration of nations.
Bonaparte robs a nation of its independence: deposed as emperor, he is sent into exile, where the world's anxiety still does not think him safely enough imprisoned, guarded by the Ocean. He dies: the news proclaimed on the door of the palace in front of which the conqueror had announced so many funerals, neither detains nor astonishes the passer-by: what have the citizens to mourn?
Washington's Republic lives on; Bonaparte's empire is destroyed.
Washington and Bonaparte emerged from the womb of democracy: both of them born to liberty, the former remained faithful to her, the latter betrayed her.
Washington acted as the representative of the needs, the ideas, the enlightened men, the opinions of his age; he supported, not thwarted, the stirrings of intellect; he desired only what he had to desire, the very thing to which he had been called: from which derives the coherence and longevity of his work.
That man who struck few blows because he kept things in proportion has merged his existence with that of his country: his glory is the heritage of civilization; his fame has risen like one of those public sanctuaries where a fecund and inexhaustible spring flows.> 1768FC004
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1768FC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand, 1802, in writing on his conversion in Le Genie du Christianisme. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 419. SAINTE-BUEVE, Chateaubriand et son groupe littéraire sous l'Empire (Paris, new ed., 1889); for all works on Chateaubriand appearing prior to 1896 one may generally consult KERVILLER, Essai d'une bibliographie de Chateaubriand (Vannes, 1896); BERTRIN, La sincérité religieuse de Chateaubriand (Paris, 1900); ID., Sainte-Beuve et Chateaubriand (Paris, 1906); BÉDIER, Etudes critiques (Paris, 1904); GIRAUD, Chateaubriand (Paris, 1904). BIRE, Mémoires d'outre-tombe (Paris, new ed., 6 vols. in 12mo, not dated). Bertrin, G. (1908). Françpois-René de Chateaubriand. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm MLA citation. Bertrin, Georges. "Françpois-René de Chateaubriand." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. Aug. 12, 2009 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm. Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Marjorie Bravo-Leerabhandh. Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org.
1768FC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand, 1802, in writing on his conversion in Le Genie du Christianisme. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 419. SAINTE-BUEVE, Chateaubriand et son groupe littéraire sous l'Empire (Paris, new ed., 1889); for all works on Chateaubriand appearing prior to 1896 one may generally consult KERVILLER, Essai d'une bibliographie de Chateaubriand (Vannes, 1896); BERTRIN, La sincérité religieuse de Chateaubriand (Paris, 1900); ID., Sainte-Beuve et Chateaubriand (Paris, 1906); BÉDIER, Etudes critiques (Paris, 1904); GIRAUD, Chateaubriand (Paris, 1904). BIRE, Mémoires d'outre-tombe (Paris, new ed., 6 vols. in 12mo, not dated). Bertrin, G. (1908). Françpois-René de Chateaubriand. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm MLA citation. Bertrin, Georges. "Françpois-René de Chateaubriand." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. Aug. 12, 2009 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm. Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Marjorie Bravo-Leerabhandh. Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org.
1768FC003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand, 1802, in writing on his conversion in Le Genie du Christianisme. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 419. SAINTE-BUEVE, Chateaubriand et son groupe littéraire sous l'Empire (Paris, new ed., 1889); for all works on Chateaubriand appearing prior to 1896 one may generally consult KERVILLER, Essai d'une bibliographie de Chateaubriand (Vannes, 1896); BERTRIN, La sincérité religieuse de Chateaubriand (Paris, 1900); ID., Sainte-Beuve et Chateaubriand (Paris, 1906); BÉDIER, Etudes critiques (Paris, 1904); GIRAUD, Chateaubriand (Paris, 1904). BIRE, Mémoires d'outre-tombe (Paris, new ed., 6 vols. in 12mo, not dated). Bertrin, G. (1908). Françpois-René de Chateaubriand. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm MLA citation. Bertrin, Georges. "Françpois-René de Chateaubriand." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. Aug. 12, 2009, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03640a.htm. Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Marjorie Bravo-Leerabhandh. Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org.
1768FC004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand, in his Mémoires d'outre-tombe, translated by A.S. Kline, François de Chateaubriand wrote a Comparison of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte, Book VI: Chapter 8.