e of the Legitimist side had been but
half-hearted, and his first published work, _Sur les Revolutions
Anciennes et Modernes_, still expresses the peculiar liberalism
which--it is sometimes forgotten--was much more deeply rooted in the
French noblesse of the eighteenth century than in any other class. This
opened the way to his return at the time that Napoleon, then entering on
the consulate, endeavoured, by all the means in his power, to conciliate
the emigrants. The _Genie du Christianisme_, which had been preceded by
_Atala_ (a kind of specimen of it), was his first original, and his most
characteristic, work. This curious book, which it is impossible to
analyse, consists partly of a rather desultory apology for Christian
doctrine, partly of a series of historical illustrations of Christian
life: it appeared in 1802. It suited the policy of Napoleon, who made
Chateaubriand, first, secretary to the Roman Embassy, and then
ambassador to the Valais. But Chateaubriand had never given up his
legitimism, and the murder of the Duke d'Enghien shocked him
irresistibly. He at once resigned his post, and thenceforward was in
more or less covert opposition, though he was not actually banished from
France. Pursuing the vein which he had opened in the _Genie_, he made a
journey to the East, the result of which was his _Itineraire de Paris a
Jerusalem_, and the unequal but remarkable prose epic of _Les Martyrs_.
This, the story of which is laid in the time of Diocletian, shifts its
scene from classical countries to Gaul, where the half-mythical heroes
of the Franks appear, and then back to Greece, Rome, and Purgatory. The
fall of Napoleon opened once more a political career, of which
Chateaubriand had always been ardently desirous. His pamphlet, _De
Bonaparte et des Bourbons_, was, perhaps, the most important literary
contribution to the re-establishment of the ancient monarchy. During the
fifteen years which elapsed between the battle of Waterloo and the
Revolution of July, Chateaubriand underwent vicissitudes due to the
difficulty of adjusting his liberalism and his legitimism, sentiments
which seem both to have been genuine, but to have been quite
unreconciled by any reasoning process on the part of their holder. Yet,
though he had again and again experienced the most ungracious treatment
both from Louis XVIII. and Charles X., the July monarchy had no sooner
established itself than he resigned his positions and pensions, and took