Victor Hugo by H. T. Porter
From Jersey Life, 1966
VICTOR HUGO, the celebrated French V writer, was born at Besancon, Doubs, on February 26th, 1802, and, comparatively early in life, achieved great success, his genius as a novelist, poet and playwright ' being widely acknowledged.
As a politician, however, although he became a Peer of France and a Republican Deputy, he was a failure.
After the French Coup d'Etat of December 2nd, 1851, Louis-Napoleon assumed dictorial powers. He thus in-curred the intense hostility of Victor Hugo, who, passionately devoted to the cause of freedom, took refuge in Brussels, having fled from France with a forged passport and disguised as a workman. Whilst there he wrote Histoire d'un Crime, a reference to the Coup d'Etat.
The Belgian Government, fearing the effect that the possible publication of another of his works, Napoleon-le-Petit, might have on its relations with France, requested him to leave the country. This he did, from Antwerp, on August 1st, 1852, and made his way, via London, to Jersey, where he arrived on August 5th of the same year.
Within a short time he succeeded in renting a furnished house in Marine Terrace by the sea at St. Luke's in the Parish of St. Clement. This Terrace was, at that time, detached, and from 1852¬1855, in No. 3, the house now known as the Maison ;Victor Hugo Hotel, he lived with his family and Auguste Vacquerie, a relative. Here Victor Hugo wrote, among other works, Les Chatiments and part of Les Contemplations.
Other French exiles in the Island printed a paper called L'Homme, Organe de la Democratie Universelle. On October 10th, 1855, it reproduced a violent and disrespectful letter addressed to Queen Victoria (Lettre a la Reine d' Angleterre), which had been read in London at a meeting organized by the Comite Inter-national et de la Commune revolution¬naire. The letter was written by a French exile Felix Pyat who had sought sanctuary in London and who was enraged by the Queen's recent official visit to Napoleon III—L'Homme du Deux-Decembre.
For reproducing this letter, a document which caused great indignation in Jersey, the proprietor, the editor and the distributor of L'Homme were expelled from the Island by the Lieutenant Governor.
Victor Hugo thereupon wrote and signed a Declaration in protest, as a result of which he and the thirty-five other signatories thereof were also expelled.
On October 31st, 1855, he arrived in Guernsey where he,
his family and Auguste Vacquerie resided at Hauteville House which he, Victor
Hugo, had bought and in which he lived from 1856-1870. It is now a museum
devoted to him and his possessions, many of these being of great interest and
value. It is in St. Peter Port and belongs to the City of Paris. After 1870 he
paid three visits to Guernsey—in 1872 (nearly a year), in 1875 (a week) and in
1878 (four months). In spite of his long residence in the Chan nel Islands, he
made no attempt to learn English and used to say `Quand l'Angle-terre voudra
causer avec moi, elle apprendra ma langue'. ('When England wishes to talk with
me, she will learn my language').
He had five children, Leopolkbharles, Francois-Victor,
Leopoldine and‘ Adele. All but the latter, who lost her reason, died during his
lifetime. In 1843 his eldest daughter Leopoldine, aged nine¬teen, to whom he
was devoted, was drowned in the Seine with her husband Charles Vacquerie,
brother of Auguste Vacquerie, poet, journalist and author, who shared the
Hugos' home.
Victor Hugo, whose father was a general, died in Paris on
May 22nd, 1885, and was buried in the Pantheon. His wife, Adele, died on August
27th, 1868—she being about a year younger than he.
At the base of his statue in Candie Gardens, Guernsey, is
the following inscription, part of the dedication of The Toilers of the Sea,
his great novel written at Hauteville House.
`Au rocher d'hospitalite et de liberte ce coin de vieille
tarre normande ou vit le noble petit peuple de la mer a l'ile Guernsey, severe
et douce'.
The Roches des Proscrits, a large rock not far from the
Maison Victor Hugo Hotel, was, at that time, a meeting place for many exiles;
living on the Island.
His son, Francois-Victor, translated in masterly fashion,
the entire works of Shakespeare into French. He also wrote La Normandie
Inconnue (another way of saying the Channel Islands), in which he describes his
own and his father's de-parture from Jersey .. .
`It was the 31st of October, 1855. It was, six in the
morning. In spite of light rain, fine and penetrating, my father wished to
proceed on foot along the road which leads from Marine Terrace to the Victoria
Pier where we were to embark. This road is certainly charming, it avoids the
town, which is an advantage; it also skirts the coast, passes through a
fisherman's hamlet called Havre des Pas and is lost to sight under the trees of
a steep hill. And many memories of the road drew us towards it. My father chose
it because he preferred it and because he felt grateful. I walked with him, an
arm on his, and in the hand of the other I carried a small suit-case containing
various items which would be needed on the journey. My mother, sister and
brother and the tireless friend, whom I likewise call my brother, were to
rejoin us two days later. Having lived for three years in Jersey, we were
leaving it forever'.
But it was not to be forever, for in 1860 he returned to
the Island and, in support of Garibaldi, made an impressive speech before a
huge crowd. Later, at a banquet, in reply to a toast, he praised the Island and
its people, giving various reasons why he had become attached to them, 'We all
like Jersey'.
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