Two centuries ago, Chateaubriand warned us against a society where « figures would replace principles. » We are there. Faced with the spectacle of an American democracy gangrenous with dirty money and mafia ties, and before the guilty passivity of European chancelleries, the author of Memoirs from Beyond the Grave breaks his silence. This pastiche is not a stylistic exercise; it is an alarm. With his words of fire and ash, he depicts our tragedy: that of a West which, for lack of courage, walks with eyes wide open toward dishonor and war.
If François-René de Chateaubriand, the great witness to the shipwrecks of History, were to emerge today from his tomb on Grand-Bé to contemplate our century, he would not see ruins of stone, but moral ruins. He who had predicted the dangers of a democracy gnawed by money, what voice would he raise in the face of this « new world » where unscrupulous merchants make pacts with organized crime to enslave peoples? This text is a literary resurrection. It is the cry from beyond the grave of an aristocratic conscience coming to warn us: when a civilization accepts dishonor for the sake of comfort, it does not avoid war; it gets both.
It is said that the dead have their eyes open. From the rock of Saint-Malo where he sleeps facing the ocean, Chateaubriand has seen the rising black tide of vulgarity and compromise. He has seen America, which he once loved for its virgin forests, become the prey of a tornado of dirty-handed profiteers. He has seen Europe tremble before carnival tyrants. Because the silence of the living has become deafening, the Viscount has taken up the pen again.
Table of Contents
Letter from beyond the grave from François-René de Chateaubriand to European-Security — Grand Bé, November 28, 2025 (© European-Security)
I: The Idolatry of Nothingness
I sat upon the milestones of time, and I watched the century pass. It did not walk: it flowed, like muddy water laden with the debris of a civilization that no longer believes in itself. Formerly, I sought in America the muses of the wilderness and primitive liberty; today, I find there only the tyranny of gold and the triumph of a carnival Caesar.
Mr. Trump has reascended the throne. This is not one of those eagles that swoop down upon empires to tear them apart with grandeur; it is a histrion who has turned the White House into a shop. There is in this man something of ancient fatality, but a trivial fatality, without purple and without glory. He is the punishment that Providence sends to peoples who have forgotten dignity for comfort.[01]
I am told of his power. What power? That of an aged Narcissus who admires himself in the digital ocean and believes the foam of the waves is the applause of the universe. He has no greatness of soul, for he is full of himself, and the self is an abyss that nothing fills, save God or death.On me parle de sa puissance. Quelle puissance ? Celle d’un Narcisse vieilli qui se mire dans l’océan numérique et croit que l’écume des vagues est l’applaudissement de l’univers. Il n’a point de grandeur dans l’âme, car il est plein de lui-même, et le moi est un abîme que rien ne comble, si ce n’est Dieu ou la mort.[02]
II: Vice Leaning on Crime
One must have the courage to lift the veil. Behind the gilding of the Florida palaces, I perceive shadows that do not dissipate. I once saw, entering the cabinet of Louis XVIII, « vice leaning on the arm of crime, » Talleyrand supported by Fouché. This infernal vision returns to me when I think of the friendship between Mr. Trump and that Epstein, a name history will pronounce only while veiling its face.
For ten years, they were the companions of those sad festivities where innocence is immolated on the altar of voluptuousness. « He’s a terrific guy, » the future president said, adding with a smile that freezes the blood that his friend liked women « on the younger side. »[03][04] What a confession! In this century of mud, fortune is forgiven everything. Remorse is a luxury these brazen souls cannot afford. One died in a dungeon, taking his secrets before the Supreme Tribunal; the other governs the world, and the crowd acclaims him, forgetful that the hand signing the decrees has perhaps touched abysses that morality reproves.
III: The Merchants of the Temple and the Sale of Peoples
And now, behold him at work. There he is, transforming the alliance of free nations into a usurer’s counter. He does not see Europe as a cathedral of thought, but as an insolvent debtor. He threatens us, he taxes us, he rackets us with the arrogance of an upstart who believes honor can be bought by the weight of metal.05]
But the greatest crime lies elsewhere. It is over there, on those plains of Ukraine where the blood of the brave still steams toward the sky. Mr. Trump, for a handful of dollars and through an obscure complicity with the tyrant of the Kremlin—that new Scourge of God—is preparing to sell an entire people.[06][07]
It is a new partition of Poland that is being prepared, but without the tragic grandeur of the past. It is a liquidation. Crimea is ceded, the Donbas is abandoned, millions of souls are delivered into servitude, and this is called « peace. » A lie! It is not peace, it is the silence of the tombs. It is the kiss of Judas given to liberty for thirty pieces of Russian silver.[08]
IV: The procession of crowned slaves
What are they doing, meanwhile, our kings of Europe? Ah! I weep for my fatherland. I see our leaders, those pale shadows who have succeeded giants, running to the master, hat in hand, trembling with fear and greed. They go to Mar-a-Lago as one formerly went to Canossa, not to ask pardon of God, but to implore the clemency of Mammon.[09]
They smile at the man who insults them. They flatter the one who despises them. They accept the unacceptable to save their automobile exports or their wines. O cowardice of modern times! Europe, this land that bore Charlemagne and Napoleon, is nothing more than an old courtesan who paints her wrinkles and pays not to be beaten..[10]
I see them, these ministers, these chancellors, seated on small chairs before the despot’s desk, resembling guilty schoolboys awaiting the rod.[11] They have no more pride, for they have no more faith.
They have replaced the Cross with the Bank, and the sword with the contract. They deserve their servitude, for they have forgotten that a people not ready to die for its liberty is already dead.
Conclusion: The last sigh
The wind rises over the ruins. Night descends. I see a new barbarism coming, not that of the Goths who at least had the vigor of new blood, but a technological barbarism, cold, vulgar, illuminated by the neon lights of advertising and the fires of war.
Mr. Trump will pass, as destructive storms pass. But what will remain after him? Broken institutions, severed alliances, and the eternal shame of having bent the knee before the golden calf. I, who saw the monarchy die and the republic born, see today civilization dying. I return to my silence, leaving it to the future to judge these times of mediocrity and fury.
François-René de Chateaubriand, this 28th of November, 2025 — European-Security (©)
Sources :
[01] The Guardian : Donald Trump’s return is a threat to the liberal world order
[02] Open Library of Humanities : La primauté du pathos : analyse rhétorique des discours (Référence stylistique sur le Moi et l’Histoire)
[03] New York Magazine : Trump on Epstein in 2002: « He’s a lot of fun to be with »
[04] The Guardian : Trump and Epstein were close friends for 15 years
[05] The Guardian : Trump vows to slap 25% tariffs on EU and claims bloc was ‘formed to screw US’
[06] Sky News : Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
[07] Associated Press : Trump administration proposed 28-point Russia-Ukraine peace plan
[08] The Guardian : Republicans warn Steve Witkoff ‘cannot be trusted’ after reportedly advising officials on peace plan
[09] ECFR : MAGA goes global: Trump’s plan for Europe – Bending the knee
[10] Washington Monthly : Trump, Zelensky, European Leaders Get Along: The Flattery Strategy
[11] The Independent : Trump meeting photos: Starmer, Macron, Meloni look like ‘unruly schoolchildren
[12] Le Monde (2025-1124) and European-Security : « The Witkoff / Dmitriev Peace Plan: Stupidity or High Treason?» — (2025-1127).
In the series: Voices of Twilight
- François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : « La contagion des ténèbres : Exégèse d’une pathologie impériale (2) » — (2025-1130).
- « François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : « The Contagion of Darkness: Exegesis of an Imperial Pathology (2) » — (2025-1130).
- François de Vries (Jules Michelet) : « Die Ansteckung der Finsternis: Exegese einer imperialen Pathologie (2) » — (2025-1130).
- Jules Michelet : « La danse des morts : Chronique de la grande nuit (1) Ou le sabbat des tyrans contre la résurrection des peuples » — (2025-1130).
- François-René de Chateaubriand : « Vu de l’autre rive : le naufrage de l’Occident » — (2025-1128).
- François-René de Chateaubriand: « From the Other Shore: Contemplation on the Shipwreck of the West » — (2025-1128).
- François-René de Chateaubriand « Vom anderen Ufer: Betrachtung über den Untergang des Abendlandes » — (2025-1128).
Decryption:
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the world has changed faster than in the last twenty years. The Law of the Strongest has replaced the Rule of Law. The West, which believed itself safe for eighty years under the American nuclear umbrella, discovers that Trump wants to discard allies he deems burdensome, whose only value in his eyes is their capacity to be racketeered. As noted by Françoise Thom,[12] the joint exploitation of the European Union has become the primary motivation of both Moscow and Washington. Facing this unnatural alliance, perceived as a true betrayal, our political leaders remain silent, paralyzed by the fear of irritating a volatile President capable of anything. We endure the daily repetition of his delusional self-praise.
One certainty remains: Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America share a common goal—to enslave Europe to better exploit it together. The former to pillage it to fund modernization, the latter to racketeer it without shame. To understand this regression to a darker era, we have summoned the giants of the past for a spiritual autopsy of the present.
First, François-René de Chateaubriand, whose voice from beyond the grave gazes upon the ruins of a civilization corroded by mercantilism and vulgarity. Then Jules Michelet, whose republican mysticism and breathless rhythm resurrect the Ukrainian martyr against the biological « lie » of Russian autocracy. Next, Victor Hugo, wielding the alexandrine like a sword to strike down the « Golden Calf » and modern tyrants. Finally, General de Gaulle, whose haughty grandeur scans history with military coldness to judge today’s « mediocrity » and « vassalage. »
Here is a new reading grid for a reality that has lost its bearings.
