[Boston—Monday, 3 February 1873]
Feb 3. The value of Dumont’s life of Mirabeau appears to me today as never before. We see the weight of the individual upon his time—the dark cloud which hangs over those days makes it almost impossible for us to distinguish the motive powers—but in this book Mirabeau the motive may be described through the thick darkness. It is not history it is the base of history—individual action.
“Il voulait donner à la France une constitution aussi semblable à celle de l’Angleterre que les circonstances des deux etats pouvait le permettre” —Dumont—