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Show HUGO'S TRIBUTE TO GREAT SAGE Eulogy of Voltaire Held as Masterpiece. Just a century after Voltaire's death in 1778, Victor Hugo delivered an oration on the man and his abiding abid-ing influence, a writer In the Kansas City Star recalls. Hugo was not only his country's greatest poet In the Nineteenth century, but equally famed as the writer of such celebrated celebrat-ed dramatic novels as "Notre Dame" and "Les Miserables." He was also a superb orator, and it is safe to say that no more eloquent words have been spoken concerning the Eighteenth Eight-eenth century sage during all the years which elapsed since 1778 when Voltaire laid down the burden of his body. The following passage from that address, May SO, 1S78. vividly sums up what the later great Frenchman felt concerning the earlier great man of the same race: ' "In the presence of this society, frivolous and dismal, Voltaire alone, having before his eyes those united voices, the court, the nobility and capital ; that unconscious power, that blind multitude; that terrible magistracy, magis-tracy, so severe to subjects, so docile to the master, crushing and flattering, kneeling on the people before the king: that clergy, vile melange of hypocrisy and fanaticism : Voltaire alone, declared war against that coalition of all the social Iniquities, against that enormous and terrible world, and be accepted battle with it. And what was his weapon? That which has the lightness of the wind nnd the power of the thunderbolt. A pen. With that weapon he fought: with that weapon he conquered. "Gentlemen, let us salute that memory. . . . He conquered the old code and the old dogma. He conquered the feudal lord, the Gothic Goth-ic judge. ... He raised the populace to the dignity of people. peo-ple. He taught, paelflc.'ited, civilized. civ-ilized. He was Indefatigable and Immovable. lie conquered violence by a smile, despotism by sarcasm, infallibility by Irony, ob.stinaney by perseverance, Ignorance by ruth. I have used the word, smile. It Is Voltaire. Vol-taire. Whatever may be his Just wrath, Is passes, and the Irritated Voltaire always gives way to the Voltaire calmed. Then In that profound pro-found eye the smile appears. That smile, I repeat, is Voltaire. Luminous, Lumi-nous, that smile was fruitful also. The new socelty, the society for equality and concession, and that beginning of fraternity which calls Itself tolerance, reciprocal good will, the Just accord of men and rights, reason recognized as the supreme law, the annihilation of prejudices and fixed opinions, the serenity of souls, the spirit of indulgence and of reason, harmony, peace behold, all has come from that great smile!" |
