LAMENNAIS Félicité de (1782-1854).

65 L.A. (12 signed "F.M." or "L. a. de l. M."), 1820-1824, to Jacques Bins de SAINT-VICTOR; 144 pages in-4 or in-8, mostly with address (some scotch repairs and small tears, notably from broken stamps). Important political and religious correspondence. Jacques Bins, comte de SAINT-VICTOR (1772-1858), royalist and catholic publicist and publisher, was one of the main contributors to the monarchist newspaper Le Drapeau blanc, to which Lamennais also contributed. The letters are written from La Chênaie, Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Malo, Geneva, and Paris. We can only give a quick overview of this rich correspondence. Lamennais speaks in particular of his collaboration with the Défenseur and the Drapeau blanc, as well as the project of a political and religious Observer; he suggests texts of a theological or spiritual nature to be collected in the Journée du chrétien and the Opuscules des Pères, and advises against other re-publications; he sends as he goes along the chapters of his translation of the Imitation of Jesus Christ. He spoke at length and freely about his Essay on indifference in matters of religion (1817-1823), informing his friend of its progress, denouncing the procedures of the publishers and the attacks which led him to write his Defence: "I see where this general outburst comes from. [...] Everything starts with the clergy, and a certain class of royalists. They taught me what I did not know, that I have many enemies" (August 20, 1820)... "I received from Rome a copy of the Italian translation of my Defence. It is covered with three approvals conceived in the strongest terms" (July 1, 1822)... Especially, he exhales his rage in front of the political waste of the last years of the reign of Louis XVIII, naming, among others, Lainé, Corbière, Bonald, Villèle, Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan, Pasquier, Vaublanc, Manuel, Lafayette, and referring to what he reads in the press of Laurentie, Feletz, Genoude, Rohrbacher, Martainville and O' Mahony. He exclaims, after the assassination of the Duke of Berry: "Where are we! Will this warning from God, this terrible lesson be lost like the others? (February 20, 1820)... "The blood spilt on the 13th has irritated the thirst for blood": a priest has been threatened, calvaries have been pulled down, a cross has been slashed, "a great, dreadful justice must be expected" (27 February 1820)... He blamed the freedom of the press and the foolishness of the royalist party. "Jacobinism, aided by the administration, is making rapid progress. [...] there is in the government a truly frightening obstinacy to lose itself. But it is not losing itself alone, it is dragging us, the very innocent of its faults, and the whole of Europe into its downfall" (August 7, 1820)... The conspiracy of the bazaar makes him tremble. "Our government is a complication of permanent miracles. [Its existence is one, its stupidity another, etc. etc. God has stretched out his hand before the light, and peoples and kings stagger in darkness" (August 31 [1820])... Abbé Frayssinous, Grand Master of the University, "lends his name to the wicked, who will throw it like a veil over the hideous wound that devours France. Alas! What will become of this poor France? What will become of society? It is not only dead, it is rotten" (June 7, 1822)... He foresees the "abyss" of the Spanish war, sees in the antichristianism which is spreading a symptom of the death of society, also deplores the intrigues of the ministers and the spectacle of the English royalty... A "corrupt government corrupts the national character, and an absurd government alters public reason. I have no hope but in religion, which is not extinguished in France" (July 9, 1822)... Etc