LETTER TO THEMUNICIPALITY OF ROUENON THE SUBJECT OF A MEMORIALTOLOUIS BOUILHET.
GENTLEMEN:--
B]By a majority of two votes--thirteen votes againsteleven (including that of the mayor and his six clerks)--you refused theoffer I made you to erect _free of cost_, at any place you might choosein your city, a small fountain ornamented with the bust of LouisBouilhet.
As I am spokesman for the persons who contributed their money for thispurpose, I must protest in their name against this decision--that is, Imust reply to the objections uttered in your meeting of the 8th ofDecember last, an account of which appeared in the newspapers of Rouenon the 18th of the same month.
The four principal objections were:
1.--That the subscription committee changed the destination of themonument;
2.--That the municipal budget would be imperilled;
3.--That Bouilhet was not born in Rouen;
4.--That his literary talent is inadequate.
First objection (I use the words as they were printed): "Can thecommittee modify the intention and substitute a fountain for atombstone? Will all the subscribers accept the substitution?"
We have modified nothing, gentlemen! the monument (a vague expression,not precisely designating a tombstone) was suggested by M. Ernest Leroy,ex-prefect of the "Seine-Inferieure," on the day of Bouilhet's funeral.
I immediately started a subscription, on which figured the names of animperial highness, George Sand, Alexandre Dumas, the great Russianauthor Tourgeneff, Harrisse, a New York journalist, etc. Somesubscribers from the _Comedie Francaise_ are: Mmes. Plessy, Favart,Brohan and M. Bressant; from the Opera, M. Faure and Mlle. Nilsson; inshort, after six months, we had about 14,000 francs at our disposal;besides this, the marble was to be given to us by the _Beaux-Arts_administration, and the sculptor chosen by us refused to accept anyremuneration.
Surely, all those people, known or unknown, did not give their time,talent, or money, for the erection in a cemetery (which very few wouldever visit) of so costly a tombstone; one of those grotesqueconstructions that are adverse to all religious feeling, to allphilosophies, whose derisive pride insults eternity!
No, gentlemen, what they desired was something less useful--and moremoral: that when passing Bouilhet's statue each one could say: "Therewas a man who, in this avaricious century, devoted his whole life to theworship of literature. This mark of respect is but justice to him, and Ihave contributed my share to this reparation." This was their idea;nothing else. Besides, how do you know? Who asked you to defend them?
The municipal council say: "As we understand it to be a tombstone, wewill give ten metres of ground and subscribe 500 francs." As thisdecision implies a recrimination, let them keep their 500 francs! As tothe ground, we are willing to buy it. What is your price? But enough onyour first objection.
The second is dictated by excessive caution: "If the subscriptioncommittee have made a mistake in their estimate, the city could notleave it (the monument) unfinished; and we must even now foresee that,if need be, we should have to make up the deficit."
Our estimate was submitted to your architect; as to our funds, if theyhad been insufficient, rest assured the committee would have made anappeal to the subscribers, or rather, would have supplied them out oftheir own pockets. Thank heaven! we are rich enough to keep our word!Your excessive anxiety seems somewhat rude.
Third objection: "Bouilhet was not born in Rouen!" Yet, M. Decorde saysin his report: "He is one of us"; and after the first performance of _LaConjuration d'Ambroise_, M. Verdrel, ex-Mayor of Rouen, at a banquetgiven in honor of Bouilhet, complimented him in the most flatteringterms; calling him "one of the geniuses of Rouen." For some years, itwas quite a fad of the smaller Parisian publications to ridicule theenthusiasm of the people of Rouen for Bouilhet. In the _Charivari_, acaricature represented the people of Rouen offering their respects to_Helene Peyron_ in the shape of bonbons and cakes; in another, I wasrepresented dragging the "Rouenese float."
But no matter. According to you, gentlemen, if an illustrious man isborn in a village consisting of thirty shanties, the monument must beerected in that village, and not in the county seat? Then why not erectit in the street, house, or even room where he was born? Suppose hisbirthplace were unknown (history is not always decisive on thispoint),--what would you do? Nothing. Am I right?
Fourth objection:--"His literary merit!"
I find in the report many big words on this subject: "Propriety";"principles." "It must be risky." "It would be a great distinction; anextreme honour; a supreme homage; which must be granted only withextreme caution"; lastly, "Rouen is too large a pedestal for hisgenius!" Really, such praise was not bestowed even upon the excellent M.Pottier, "whose services to the city library were more conspicuous" (nodoubt, because it was your library). Nor, secondly, on HyacintheLanglois! I knew him, gentlemen, better than all of you. Do not revivethis painful recollection! Never speak of this noble man! His life was adisgrace to his countrymen! You call him "a great Norman celebrity,"and, dispensing fame in fantastic manner, you quote among thecelebrities of which our city can boast (you can, but do not always)Pierre Corneille! Corneille a celebrity? Really, you are severe! Then,in the same breath, you mention Boieldieu, Lemonnier, Fontenelle, and,gentlemen, you forget Gericault, the dean of modern painting;Saint-Amant, the great poet; Boisgilbert, the first economist of France;De La Salle, who discovered the mouth of the Mississippi; Louis Poterat,inventor of porcelain in Europe,--and others!
That your predecessors should have forgotten to pay high, immoderate,sufficient tribute, or even no tribute at all, to these "celebrities"(Samuel Bochart, for instance, whose name adorns one of the streets ofCaen) is an indisputable fact! But does a previous injustice authorisesubsequent wrongs?
It is true, nothing has been erected to the memory of Rabelais,Montaigne, Ronsard, Pascal, La Bruyere, Le Sage, Diderot, Vauvenargues,Lamennais, Alexandre Dumas, and Balzac, in their native cities. On theother hand, there is a statue of General de Saint-Pol atNogent-le-Rotrou; one of General Blanmont at Gisors; one of GeneralLeclerc at Pontoise; one of General Valhubert at Avranches; one of M.Vaisse at Lyons; one of M. Billault at Nantes; one of M. de Morny atDeauville; one of Ancelot at Havre; one of Ponsard at Valence; in apublic park at Vire, an enormous bust of Chenedolle; at Seez, in frontof the cathedral, a magnificent statue of Conte, etc.
This is all well enough, if the public purse has not suffered. Let thosewho desire fame pay for it; let those who wish to pay tributes toothers, do so at their own cost. This is exactly what we wished to do.
So long as you were subject to no financial risks, your duty was todemand of us a guaranty of execution. Besides the right to choose thespot for our fountain, you had that of rejecting our sculptor andchoosing one yourselves. But you are too engrossed in the hypotheticalsuccess of _Mademoiselle Aisse_! "If this drama is not a success, mightnot the erection of a public monument to his literary talent[Bouilhet's] be looked upon with disfavour?"
M. Nion (who has special charge of the fine arts) thinks that if bychance this drama should be a failure, the adoption of the proposed planwould be "rashness" on the part of the municipal council. So, it wouldseem that the bone of contention is the financial success of the piece!If it is a success, Bouilhet is a great man; if a failure, he is not!What a noble theory! The immediate success of a drama has nothing to dowith its literary value. There are numerous examples: Moliere's_L'Avare_ ran four nights; Racine's _Athalie_ and Rossini's _Barbier deSeville_ were hooted. But rest easy, _Mademoiselle Aisse_ was a greatsuccess. It does not seem to matter to M. Decorde, your reporter, whosays: 'Bouilhet's talent is not proof against criticism'; and: 'Hisreputation is not sufficiently established.' M. Nion says: 'His methodis more remarkable than his scenic conceptions! He is not original, nota first-class author!' M. Decorde calls him 'an imitator of Alfred deMusset, who was sometimes successful'! Really, my dear sir, you are notas indulgent as you should be towards a contemporary,--you who, artfullyscoffing at this v
ery city of Rouen, whose literary morals you defend sowell, have stigmatized Saint-Tard as 'a progressive borough.'[C] A nicelittle place, where, "Despite the city toll, against which they grumble,liquor-shops and cafes flourish."
[C] Read at a public meeting of the Academy of Rouen, Aug. 7th, 1867.
If you had been asked for money, I should have understood yourreluctance.
"Here is another thing; we are continually taxed for the least reason."'Tis true the bourgeois of Saint-Tard are not much given to generosity!
We expected better of you after your treatment of modern slang in yourepistle _Des importations Anglaises_[D] in which are these lines: "Iread in a paper that at Boulogne-sur-Mer a fashionable cricket-club hadarranged a match. And having so poorly aped fashion, can lay claim toadmiration." Attractive lines, but these are better: "I have readsomewhere that a miser of Rennes, knowing no better way to avoid givingpresents, had died on the New Year."
[D] Read at the Academy of Rouen, at a public meeting, Aug. 7th, 1865. (See analytical summary of the works of the Academy of Rouen.)
You are really versatile--whether you praise photograph collections: "Itis a pleasant pastime, and everyone has a large collection," orSaint-Ouen Park: "Your fate is that of the great stream once so soughtafter, and you in your turn are deserted."[E] Or dancing: "As everythingmust follow the fashion, Terpsichore has submitted to the law ofexchange. Ignoring prohibition, the Lancers have already reached us fromAlbion."[F] Or dinners in town: "You must not expect me to divulge whatthe menu consists of; but from the beginning the dessert adorns thetable. Alas! those pleasures are not had for nothing; a winter in thecity is more costly than one thinks!"[G] Or the marvels of modernindustry: "And now, thanks to special trains, we can visit Belgium orSwitzerland in eight days, and at much less cost. And when De Lessepshas at last made a passage through the Suez Canal, the tourist can takea pleasure trip to India or the extreme Orient as easily as travellingthrough France."[H]
[E] Letter of condolence to Saint-Ouen park.--Meeting of June 2, 1865. (See analytical summary of the Academy of Rouen.)
[F] Winter in the city. (Letter.--Meeting of Aug. 6th, 1863.)
[G] Winter in the city. (Letter.--Meeting Aug. 6th, 1863.)
[H] Vacations. (Familiar letter.--Meeting of Aug. 6th, 1861.)
Do not stop, by any means! Write dramas even, you who have such a keenconception of dramatic form! And rest assured, honourable sir, that ifyour "reputation were sufficiently established," and although like LouisBouilhet's, your "talent" is not "proof against criticism," you are not"original" not "a first-class author," you will never be called "animitator," even "sometimes successful," of Alfred de Musset!
Besides, your memory is at fault on this point. Did not one of yourcolleagues of the Academy of Rouen, at the meeting of Aug. 7th, 1862,praise Louis Bouilhet in flattering terms? He praised him so highly as adramatic author, and denied so energetically that he was an imitator ofAlfred de Musset, that when I wrote the preface to _Dernieres Chansons_,I simply copied the words of my old friend, Alfred Nion, brother of M.Emile Nion, the gentleman that lacked boldness!
What was the gentleman "who has special charge of the fine arts" afraidof? Of obstructing your public by-ways? Poets like this one (beggingyour pardon) are not precisely innumerable. Since you have refused toaccept his statue, _notwithstanding_ our gift of a fountain, you havelost one of your colleagues, M. Thubeuf. I do not wish to speakunbecomingly, or to insult a sorrowful family I have not the honour ofknowing, but it seems to me that Nicholas-Louis-Juste Thubeuf is at thepresent moment as forgotten as if he never had existed, while Bouilhet'sname is known over all Europe. _Aisse_ is being played in St.Petersburg and London. His plays and verses will be printed in six,twenty, even a hundred years hence, and perhaps beyond that. A man isseldom remembered unless he has been amusing or serviceable. You are notable to be the former; grant us the latter. Instead of devoting yourtime to literary criticism, a pastime that is beyond your powers, attendto more serious things such as: the construction of a bridge; theconstruction of a bonded-warehouse; the widening of the Rue duGrand-Pont; the opening of a street, running from the Court-House to thedocks; the much delayed completion of the spire of the cathedral, etc.Queer collection, indeed! It might be called "Museum of deferredprojects."
You are so afraid of compromising yourselves, so afraid to act, thateach outgoing administration hands its caution down to its successor.You think caution such a virtue that it would be a crime for you to act.Mediocrity is not detrimental, you think, but one must avoid beingenterprising. When the public clamours, a committee is at onceappointed; and from that time nothing is done. "We can do absolutelynothing; we await the committee's decision." Invincible argument tosoothe public impatience!
Sometimes, however, you are bold enough to act; but it almost creates ascandal: as when the ex-Rue de l'Imperatrice, now the Rue Jeanne-Darc,and the Square Solferino were opened in Rouen. Still: "Public parks arethe style now, and Rouen must have one!"[I]
[I] M. Decorde's poetry. (Letter of condolence to Saint-Ouen Park, already cited.)
But the most important, though the most neglected, of all your projectsis the distribution of water throughout the city. Take Saint-Sever, forexample, where there is great need of it. What we proposed was, toerect, at any street corner, a small fountain adorned with a statue.Several of you had formally promised that our fountain should beerected; we were therefore greatly surprised at your decision, inasmuchas you are sometimes generous in these matters. The statue to NapoleonI. on the Place Saint-Ouen is an instance. You gave, for the erection ofthis masterpiece, which had cost 160,000 francs or thereabouts, thesmall sum of 30,000 francs! The council had appropriated the first time10,000 francs; the second time, 8,000; and the third time, 5,000, asindemnity to the sculptor, because his _maquette_ had casually beenoverthrown by the committee--always the committee! What aptitude forart! For the statue of Pierre Corneille, proposed in 1805 and erectedtwenty-nine years later, 1834, you spent 7,037.38 francs--not a centmore. True, he was a great poet, and you are so considerate that youprefer to deprive yourselves of a necessity, rather than honour asecond-rate poet!
Permit me to ask two questions: If this fountain, this useful publicmonument which we offered, had represented anything but Louis Bouilhet'sbust, would you have refused it? If it had been intended for one of thecapitalists of our district, whose fortune runs into the millions, wouldyou have refused it? I doubt it.
Be careful, or you will be accused of despising those who cannot boastof a fortune! For such cautious men, who consider success the mainobject, you have sadly erred, gentlemen! The _Moniteur Universel_,_l'Ordre_, the _Paris-Journal_, the _Bien Public_, the _XIXeme Siecle_,_l'Opinion Nationale_, the _Constitutionnel_, the _Gaulois_, the_Figaro_, in fact, nearly all the papers, were against you. To convinceyou, we will simply quote a few lines from the dean of modern critics,Jules Janin:
"When the time came for definitive compensation, the last hope of LouisBouilhet's friends was dashed to the ground; they encountered all sortsof obstacles. His statue was refused a place in a city that his fame hadmade illustrious! His friends proposed in vain to erect a much neededfountain, so that the statue ornamenting it might not be thought themain object of this good deed. But how can unjust men understand thecruelty of such a refusal? They might erect a statue to war, but to apoet, never!"
Of the twenty-four composing the committee, eleven sided with us; andMessrs. Vaucquier du Traversin, F. Deschamps and Raoul Duval spokeeloquently in our favour. This affair is trifling in itself, but it maybe noted as a characteristic feature of the century--of your class.
"I address myself to you no longer, gentlemen, but to all the_bourgeoisie_. Therefore I say: Conservators who conserve nothing, it istime to follow a different path. You speak of decentralizing,regenerating,--if so, rouse yourselves. Be active! Originate! Frenchnobles lost their prestige for having had, during two centuries, thefeelings of menials. The end of the _bourgeois_ is at hand, becaus
etheir feelings are those of the rabble. I do not see that they readdifferent papers, or hear different music, or that their pleasures aremore refined. In one as in the other, it is the same love of money; thesame wish to destroy idols; the same hatred of superior minds; the samemeanness; the same crass ignorance."
Of the seven hundred members of l'Assemblee Nationale, how many arethere who could name six kings of France, who know the first rudimentsof political economy, who have even read Bastiat? The whole municipalityof Rouen, who disowned a poet's talent, no doubt are ignorant of therules of versification. They do not need to know them, so long as theydo not meddle with poetry.
To be respected by those beneath us, we must respect those above us!Before educating the rabble, educate yourselves! Enlightened people,enlighten yourselves! Because of your disdain for superiority, you thinkyou have abundant good sense, you are positive, you are practical. Oneis never really practical unless he carries it a little farther.... Youwould not enjoy the benefits of industry if your ancestors of theeighteenth century had had other ideals than common usefulness. How wescoffed at Germany--at her dreamers, her ideologists, her etherealpoets! Our milliards compensated her for the time well employed inperfecting plans. It seems to me, it was the dreamer Fichte whoreorganized the Prussian army after Jena; and that the poet Koerner senta few Uhlans against us about 1813!
You practical? Come! You cannot even hold a pen or a gun! You letconvicts rob, imprison, and slaughter you! You have lost even thebrute's instinct of defence; and when not only your life, but your purse(which ought to be dearer to you), is in danger, you lack the energy todrop a ballot into a box! With all your capital, all your wisdom, younever can form an association equal to _l'Internationale_! All yourintellectual efforts consist of trembling for the future. Think! Hasten!or France, between a hideous demagogy and a stupid _bourgeoisie_, willsink lower and lower!
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT.
SELECTED
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