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 CHATEAUBRIAND 333 modernes, considerees dans leurs rapports avec la revolution francaise; it was rather unsuccess- ful in England and entirely ignored in France. He was then of a skeptical and somewhat materialistic turn of mind ; but, being recalled to religious convictions by the dying appeal of his mother, he framed the plan of his Genie du Christianism,e, and, encouraged by Fontanes, whom he had met in London, engaged in wri- ting it. About this period he succeeded in re- entering France under an assumed name, and supported himself by literary work, while com- pleting the Genie du Christianisme. The epi- sode of Atala, which was incorporated in this work, was published separately in the Mercure de Francein 1801, and excited much attention. The Genie du Christianisme, published in 1802, WAS the signal of a literary and moral revo- lution, and greatly contributed to the revival of religious principles in France. Bonaparte, being pleased with the book, appointed the author secretary of the French legation at Rome in 1803, and he was promoted in 1804 to the office of charge d'affaires ; but the exe- cution of the duke d'Enghien put an end to his friendly intercourse with Napoleon. He re- signed his office, and afterward assailed the emperor most bitterly. In 1806 he visited Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt, and on his return retired to a small villa situated in the Vall6e aux Loups, near Paris, where he composed Lea martyrs, the most admired of his works, which was published in 1809. The notes of his travels were subsequently arranged to form the Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem. In 1811 he was made a member of the French academy, as the successor to Marie Joseph Ch6nier, but some difficulty as to his reception speech prevented his taking his seat, which he did not occupy till after the restoration. This was hailed with enthusiasm by Chateaubriand, who as early as March 30, 1814, had published a political pamphlet, De Bonaparte et des Bour- bons, which was eagerly sought for and did ex- cellent service to the king's cause. This was his first step in politics ; and " this new life of his," Sainte-Beuve says, " may be divided into three parts: 1, from March 30, 1814, to June 6, 1824, the period of pure royalism; 2, from June 6, 1824, when he was dismissed from the cabinet, to the end of the restoration, the pe- riod of liberal opinion, in flagrant opposition with the foregoing; 3, the period of mixed royalism and republicanism subsequent to the revolution of 1830, when Chateaubriand, for conscience sake, said to the duchess of Berry, ' Your son is my king,' while at the same time befriending Carrel and B6ranger, and preparing himself beforehand for the coming republic." On the first return of the Bourbons, Chateau- briand was appointed ambassador to Sweden ; but before he had departed for his post, Na- poleon reappeared in France, and Chateau- briand followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent, be- came a member of his cabinet, presented him with his Rapport sur Tetat de la France, and was on the second restoration appointed minis- ter of state and peer of France ; but having as- sailed, in the pamphlet De la monarchic selon la charte, the celebrated decree by which the chambre introuvable was dissolved, he forfeited the royal favor and lost his office. He now joined the ultra-royalist opposition, and be- came one of the principal editors of the Conser- vateur, the most powerful organ of that party. In 1820 he was reconciled with the court on occasion of the assassination of the duke of Ber- ry, and wrote his Memoires of that prince. In the same year he was appointed minister to Berlin, and in 1822 ambassador to London. He was one of the plenipotentiaries at the con- gress of Verona, where he was instrumental in bringing about the French expedition to Spain. On his return to France he was appointed min- ister of foreign affairs, but being unable to agree with the prime minister, M. de Villele, he was summarily dismissed, June 6, 1824. This time, instead of returning to his old asso- ciates, he joined the liberal opposition. He now proved himself the most ardent supporter of the freedom of the press, and eloquently ad- vocated the independence of Greece, by which he acquired great popularity. On the fall of Villele in 1828 he was made ambassador to Rome, but resigned on the formation of the Polignac cabinet. After the revolution of 1830 he manifested the most chivalric devotion to the duke of Bordeaux, notwithstanding his grievances against the family and his attach- ment to the principles of liberty. He was at that time, as he said himself, " a Bourbonist from the point of honor, a royalist by reason, a republican by taste and disposition." He now ceased to take any active part in politics, and even abandoned his seat in the chamber of peers, but occasionally published bitter pamphlets against the new government, in which he defended the rights of the fallen dy- nasty. In 1833 judicial proceedings were in- stituted against him on account of his Memoir e sur la captivite de la duchesse de Berry ; but he was acquitted by the jury. He also repeat- edly visited the exiled Bourbons at Prague. These occasional bursts of political passion in- terfered but little with his literary pursuits. As early as 1831 he had published his Etudes, ou discours historiques, which were but an introduction to a history of France on a plan of vast proportions ; unhappily, age and pecuni- ary embarrassments prevented his finishing the work. He completed, however, some lighter but more profitable performances; his Essai sur la litterature anglaise, followed by a literal translation of Milton's "Paradise Lost," com- manded general attention, while his Congres de Verone was eagerly read by the students of political history. From 1834 he devoted most of his time to completing an autobiography, which he called Memoires d'outre-tombe (12 vols., 1849-'50 ; new illustrated ed., 8 vols., 1856, and 6 vols., 1861 ; German translation, 2d ed., Jena, 1852). This work he sold in advance