EDMOND ABOUT AS JOURNALIST.*
IN this volume, M. Joseph Reinach has collected Edmond About's contributions to his own well-known newspaper, Le .Dix-neuvieme Siecle, of which he became editor early in 1872. The last of these articles bears the date of 1885, and they are therefore a fair guide to the history of France during those years, as read from a Conservative-Republican point of view. It need hardly be said that they are cleverly and agreeably written, with much of that "amiable philosophy" which attracted as much suspicion as admiration to their author, and with a fine show of those narrow prejudices and fanatical judgments for which an independent Voltairean mind claimed the name of "tolerance."
To us the introduction seems by no means the least in- teresting part of the book. In it M. Reinach gives a lively sketch of About in his best-known role, that of journalist, and tries to persuade us that journalism such as this, far from being ephemeral, will live just as long as literary work of a more solid character. Montaigne's Essays and Pascal's Lettres Provinciales, he says, would appear now in the columns of some newspaper. To satisfy his argument, ordinary jour- nalism—certainly that of Edmond About—ought to reach the heights of Pascal or Montaigne, and we therefore remain unconvinced, for it can hardly be said that these extracts from the Dix-neuvieme Siecle, clever as they are, show the genius which, quite apart from their medium, makes literary works live.
About's real life as a journalist began in the .Figaro, in 1856, though he had already written enough to earn the name of " Voltaire cadet." These earlier writings had brought him much severe criticism as well as high praise, and it did not suit his disposition to receive blows without returning them. His sharp pen found full employment in caricaturing critics and editors in the Lettns d'un bon jeune homme. No artist or actor could be more keenly sensitive than he was to attack, offence, or even an appearance of neglect, and as he never gave himself time to think before replying, and was never at a loss for the most telling and pointed words, he was soon supplied with a goodly number of enemies—even more, his admirer allows, than are necessary to add salt to the life of a public man. Of course, this way of writing made retractations necessary now and then. On the whole, it would appear that the quality which M. Reinach calls "amiable philosophy" did not belong to About in these early Figaro years.
Later, he wrote in the Opinion Nationale, the Constilu- Hormel, the Gaulois, the Soir, finally throwing all his brilliancy of phrase and love of fighting into the Dix-neuvieme Siecle, where he was a strong influence in politics through the early years of the Third Republic. Speaking of his writings generally, and giving bim credit for a deep and sincere love of justice and of the public good, M. Reinach is yet obliged to confess that his mistakes were many : "il a meconnu pas mal de justes causes ;" and then, not contented with shooting at " un nombre considerable d'animaux malfaisants, chats fourres, jesuites, demagogues, tyrans et tyranneaux," he found equally
• Edmond About: Le Dix-neurame 8idcle. Ayes rine Introduction par /mph Reinach. Paris: Oliendorft. 1892.
good sport among " des pigeons et de simples ponlets." Does M. Reinach really expect journalism of this kind, without conscience, because without forethought, tolerance, candour, or fairness, to live with Pascal and Montaigne ? Posterity manages its matters better than this, and will not long be troubled, for instance, with the memory of flippancies like the article on Paray-le-Rfonial, or of those many political articles which lose something of their force when we are reminded that their author accepted the Empire, and voted enthusias- tically for both the Crimean and the Franco-German war. It seems to us, in truth, that About, with all his cleverness, was too inconsistent, too much swayed by the passions and prejudices of the moment, and yet not deeply enough in earnest, to be a safe guide for a great nation in hours of diffi- culty. M. Reinach defends him by pointing out that, in reality, he only cared for one thing—Progress—a word which, as years go on, seems only the more vague and unsatisfactory. It was in the interest of Progress, perhaps, that in his first Dix-neuvieme Siecle article, Notre Politique, he defended a man's right to change his mind over and over again. No doubt there is much truth in this doctrine, and perhaps it, rather than religious and national prejudice, is responsible for About's various ways of speaking of Mr. Gladstone. When England remains neutral after the war, she is " mal conseillee par regolsme stupide de M. Gladstone." But when we come to the burning subject of L'Enseignement clinical en France— a long article, which appeared also in the English Nineteenth Century—"la Societe de Jesus est toujoars, suivant la belle parole de M. Gladstone, le plus grand instrument de servitude mentale qui aft jamais etc invente.' " It can hardly be supposed that About was happy under the Empire, or that he could long reconcile its existence with his ideas of progress and liberty. But these ideas, though always at the end of his pen, and though his journalistic head was no doubt full of them, did not very strongly influence his life or lie at the foundation of his character. Another writer—not M. Reinach, who tries to admire and explain him as far as honesty will allow him—refers to About as incarnating " l'in- souciance mediocre et voltairienne " of that generation which, positivist and materialist, was ready to announce that " le monde est aujourd'hui sans mysteres." It is not far from this way of thought to that opportunism which lives from day to day, taking life as it comes without any deep feeling of the impor- tance of passing events. The same writer speaks of About's frivolity and indifference. The frivolity lies on the surface of many of those articles with which he influenced the mass of his fellow-countrymen : the indifference, we suspect, was not very far below. It seems hardly credible that About, who prided him- self on his political clear-sightedness, should have believed so profoundly in Louis Napoleon's star that he was utterly crashed by the defeat of Sedan, and could not understand why France did not then lay herself at the feet of Germany, sign a peace at once, and give up any further struggle. Yet, perhaps, this amount of patriotic feeling was all that could be expected from a man of About's disposition and opinions ;—" L'hor- reur grandiose de la guerre etrangere, l'horreur sinistre de la guerre civile, l'aimable philosophie d'About n'etait point cuirassee contre de pareils drames," says M. Reinach, in excuse for him. However, two years later he had recovered himself, had become convinced that the Re- public was the only way of salvation, and had thrown himself into that long series of articles which pushed on the secu- larisation of the State, and opposed anything that looked like a royalist or religious reaction. Thus he was among those who prepared the way for the present Government of France, the triumph of " progress," industrial development, the worship of money, atheism and materialism. If the ancient greatness of France, spiritual and intellectual, rises again out of sloughs like these, it will not be the fault of Edmond About and the Dix-neuvieme Siècle.
As an editor, and in the practical part of journalism, About's brilliant success was indisputable. He was ready for every- thing. His brain and his pen were equally quick in seizing ideas, collecting information, forming conclusions—always piquant, if not always true—dashing them on paper in the form of those articles which the French public looked for eagerly day by day. All the sins of the Royalist and Clerical party were served up in language which made them thoroughly enjoyable. He and his fellow-worker, Sarcey, as M. Reinach puts it, devoured a cure almost every day for breakfast, and a few magistrates for supper. Of the staff of the Dix. neuvieme Siecle, one of the strongest influences in France during the disturbed years from 1872 to 1880, and owing everything to the light touch, the clearness of speech, the brilliant talents of le petit Voltaire, its chief editor, M. Reinach writes :—" C'etait une famine, la plus bienveillante et la plus cordiale qu'il se puisse imaginer."
We have said enough to show that this volume is full of interest. Besides setting clearly before us the character of Edmond About, sketched by a friend who is too honest to hide his faults, it gives a view, one-sided, but none the less interesting, of a dozen important years of French history. All through is sounded the note of Progress, whether for good or evil.
"En avant, marche " says the editor of Le Dix-neuvieme Bieck. "Et les tambours de battre, et la France d'applaudir."
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