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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time, by 
+François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time
+       Volume 1
+
+Author: François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+Translator: John William Cole
+
+Release Date: February 24, 2009 [EBook #28169]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS--HISTORY OF MY TIME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, Carla Foust, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer
+errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other
+inconsistencies are as in the original.
+
+
+
+
+   MEMOIRS
+
+   TO ILLUSTRATE
+
+   THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.
+
+   BY
+
+   F. GUIZOT,
+
+   AUTHOR OF 'MEMOIRS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL;' 'HISTORY OF OLIVER CROMWELL,'
+   ETC. ETC.
+
+
+   VOLUME I.
+
+
+   LONDON:
+   RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+   Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+   1858.
+
+
+
+
+   PRINTED BY
+
+   JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
+
+   LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
+
+   1807-1814.
+
+                                                                    Page
+
+
+   My Reasons for publishing these Memoirs during my Life.--My
+   Introduction into Society.--My First Acquaintance with
+   M. de Châteaubriand, M. de Suard, Madame de Staël, M. de Fontanes,
+   M. Royer-Collard.--Proposal to appoint me Auditor in the Imperial
+   State Council.--Why the Appointment did not take place.--I enter
+   the University and begin my Course of Lectures on Modern
+   History.--Liberal and Royalist Parties.--Characters of the
+   different Oppositions towards the Close of the Empire.--Attempted
+   resistance of the Legislative Body.--MM. Lainé, Gallois,
+   Maine-Biran, Raynouard, and Flaugergues.--I leave Paris for
+   Nismes.--State of Paris and France in March, 1814.--The Restoration
+   takes place.--I return to Paris, and am appointed Secretary-General
+   to the Ministry of the Interior.                                    1
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   THE RESTORATION.
+
+   1814-1815.
+
+   Sentiments with which I commenced Public Life.--True Cause and
+   Character of the Restoration.--Capital Error of the Imperial
+   Senate.--The Charter suffers from it.--Various Objections to the
+   the Charter.--Why they were Futile.--Cabinet of King
+   Louis XVIII.--Unfitness of the Principal Ministers for
+   Constitutional Government.--M. de Talleyrand.--The
+   Abbé de Montesquieu.--M. de Blacas.--Louis XVIII.--Principal Affairs
+   in which I was concerned at that Epoch.--Account of the State of the
+   Kingdom laid before the Chambers.--Bill respecting the Press.--Decree
+   for the Reform of Public Instruction.--State of the Government
+   and the Country.--Their Common Inexperience.--Effects of the Liberal
+   System.--Estimate of Public Discontent and Conspiracies.--Saying of
+   Napoleon on the Facility of his Return.                            27
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   THE HUNDRED DAYS.
+
+   1815.
+
+   I immediately leave the Ministry of the Interior, to resume my
+   Lectures.--Unsettled Feeling of the Middle Classes on the Return
+   of Napoleon.--Its Real Causes.--Sentiments of Foreign Nations
+   and Governments towards Napoleon.--Apparent Reconciliation,
+   but Real Struggle, between Napoleon and the Liberals.--The
+   Federates.--Carnot and Fouché.--Demonstration of Liberty
+   during the Hundred Days, even in the Imperial Palace.--Louis XVIII.
+   and his Council at Ghent.--The Congress and M. de Talleyrand
+   at Vienna.--I go to Ghent on the part of the Constitutional
+   Royalist Committee at Paris.--My Notions and Opinions during this
+   Journey.--State of Parties at Ghent.--My Conversation with
+   Louis XVIII.--M. de Blacas.--M. de Châteaubriand.--M. de Talleyrand
+   returns from Vienna.--Louis XVIII. re-enters France.--Intrigue
+   planned at Mons and defeated at Cambray.--Blindness and Imbecility of
+   the Chamber of Representatives.--My Opinion respecting the Admission
+   of Fouché into the King's Cabinet.                                 58
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   THE CHAMBER OF 1815.
+
+   1815-1816.
+
+   Fall of M. de Talleyrand and Fouché.--Formation of the
+   Duke de Richelieu's Cabinet.--My Connection as Secretary-General of
+   the Administration of Justice with M. de Marbois, Keeper
+   of the Great Seal.--Meeting and Aspect of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--Intentions and Attitude of the Old Royalist
+   Faction.--Formation, and Composition of a New Royalist
+   Party.--Struggle of Classes under the cloak of Parties.--Provisional
+   Laws.--Bill of Amnesty.--The Centre becomes the Government Party, and
+   the Right, the Opposition.--Questions upon the connection between
+   the State and the Church.--State of the Government beyond the
+   Chambers.--Insufficiency of its Resistance to the spirit of
+   Re-action.--The Duke of Feltri and General Bernard.--Trial of
+   Marshal Ney.--Controversy between M. de Vitrolles and Me.--Closing
+   of the Session.--Modifications in the Cabinet.--M. Lainé Minister of
+   the Interior.--I leave the Ministry of Justice and enter the State
+   Council as Master of Requests.--The Cabinet enters into Contests with
+   the Right-hand Party.--M. Decazes.--Position of MM. Royer-Collard and
+   De Serre.--Opposition of M. de Châteaubriand.--The Country declares
+   against the Chamber of Deputies.--Efforts of M. Decazes to bring
+   about a Dissolution.--The King determines on it.--Decree of the 5th
+   of September, 1816.                                                97
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.
+
+   1816-1821.
+
+   Composition of the New Chamber of Deputies.--The Cabinet in a
+   Majority.--Elements of that Majority, the Centre properly so
+   called, and the Doctrinarians.--True character of the
+   Centre.--True character of the Doctrinarians, and real cause of
+   their Influence.--M. de la Bourdonnaye and M. Royer-Collard at the
+   Opening of the Session.--Attitude of the Doctrinarians in the
+   Debate on the Exceptional Laws.--Electoral Law of February
+   5th, 1817.--The part I took on that occasion.--Of the Actual
+   and Political Position of the Middle Classes.--Marshal Gouvion
+   St. Cyr, and his Bill for recruiting the Army, of the 10th
+   of March, 1818.--Bill respecting the Press, of 1819, and
+   M. de Serre.--Preparatory Discussion of these Bills in the State
+   Council.--General Administration of the Country.--Modification of
+   the Cabinet from 1816 to 1820.--Imperfections of the Constitutional
+   System.--Errors of Individuals.--Dissensions between the Cabinet and
+   the Doctrinarians.--The Duke de Richelieu negotiates, at
+   Aix-la-Chapelle, the entire Retreat of Foreign Troops from
+   France.--His Situation and Character.--He attacks the Bill on
+   Elections.--His Fall.--Cabinet of M. Decazes.--His
+   Political Weakness, notwithstanding his Parliamentary
+   Success.--Elections of 1819.--Election and Non-admission of
+   M. Grégoire.--Assassination of the Duke de Berry.--Fall of
+   M. Decazes.--The Duke de Richelieu resumes Office.--His Alliance
+   with the Right-hand Party.--Change in the Law of
+   Elections.--Disorganization of the Centre, and Progress
+   of the Right-hand Party.--Second Fall of the
+   Duke de Richelieu.--M. de Villèle and the Right-hand Party obtain
+   Power.                                                            150
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.
+
+   1822-1827.
+
+   Position of M. de Villèle on assuming Power.--He finds himself
+   engaged with the Left and the Conspiracies.--Character of the
+   Conspiracies.--Estimate of their Motives.--Their connection
+   with some of the Leaders of the Parliamentary
+   Opposition.--M. de La Fayette.--M. Manuel.--M. D'Argenson.--Their
+   Attitude in the Chamber of Deputies.--Failure of the Conspiracies,
+   and Causes thereof.--M. de Villèle engaged with his Rivals within
+   within and by the side of the Cabinet.--The Duke
+   de Montmorency.--M. de Châteaubriand Ambassador at
+   London.--Congress of Verona.--M. de Châteaubriand becomes Minister of
+   Foreign Affairs.--Spanish War.--Examination of its Causes and
+   Results.--Rupture between M. de Villèle and
+   M. de Châteaubriand.--Fall of M. de Châteaubriand.--M. de Villèle
+   engaged with an Opposition springing from the Right-hand Party.--The
+   'Journal des Débats' and the Messrs. Bertin.--M. de Villèle falls
+   under the Yoke of the Parliamentary Majority.--Attitude and Influence
+   of the Ultra-Catholic Party.--Estimate of their conduct.--Attacks to
+   which they are exposed.--M. de Montlosier.--M. Béranger.--Acuteness
+   of M. de Villèle.--His decline.--His Enemies at the
+   Court.--Review and Disbanding of the National Guard of
+   Paris.--Anxiety of Charles X.--Dissolution of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--The Elections are Hostile to M. de Villèle.--He
+   retires.--Speech of the Dauphinists to Charles X.                 223
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   MY OPPOSITION.
+
+   1820-1829.
+
+   My Retirement at the Maisonnette.--I publish four incidental
+   Essays on Political Affairs: 1. Of the Government of France
+   since the Restoration, and of the Ministry in Office (1820); 2.
+   Of Conspiracies and Political Justice (1821); 3. Of the Resources
+   of the Government and the Opposition in the actual State of
+   France (1821); 4. Of Capital Punishment for Political Offences
+   (1822).--Character and Effects of these Publications.--Limits of
+   my Opposition.--The Carbonari.--Visit of M. Manuel.--I commence
+   my Course of Lectures on the History of the Origin of
+   Representative Government.--Its double Object.--The Abbé
+   Frayssinous orders its Suspension.--My Historical Labours--on
+   the History of England; on the History of France; on the Relations
+   and Mutual Influence of France and England; on the Philosophic
+   and Literary Tendencies of that Epoch.--The French
+   Review.--The Globe.--The Elections of 1827.--My Connection
+   with the Society, 'Help thyself and Heaven will help thee.'--My
+   Relations with the Administration of M. de Martignac; he
+   authorizes the Re-opening of my Course of Lectures, and restores
+   my Title as a State-Councillor.--My Lectures (1828-1830) on
+   the History of Civilization in Europe and in France.--Their
+   Effect.--I am elected Deputy for Lisieux (December, 1829).        278
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.
+
+   1830.
+
+   Menacing, and at the same time inactive attitude of the
+   Ministry.--Lawful Excitement throughout the Country.--Association
+   for the ultimate Refusal of the non-voted Taxes.--Character and
+   Views of M. de Polignac.--Manifestations of the Ministerial
+   Party.--New Aspect of the Opposition.--Opening of the
+   Session.--Speech of the King.--Address of the Chamber of
+   Peers.--Preparation of the Address of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--Perplexity of the Moderate Party, and of
+   M. Royer-Collard.--Debate on the Address.--The part taken in it by
+   M. Berryer and myself.--Presentation of the Address to the
+   King.--Prorogation of the Session.--Retirement of MM. de Chabrol and
+   Courvoisier.--Dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies.--My Journey to
+   Nismes for the Elections.--True Character of the
+   Elections.--Intentions of Charles X.                              330
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+   HISTORIC DOCUMENTS                                                359
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+*** This Work has been translated by J. W. Cole, Esq., who also
+translated the 'Celebrated Characters' of M. de Lamartine.
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS
+
+TO ILLUSTRATE
+
+THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
+
+1807-1814.
+
+     MY REASONS FOR PUBLISHING THESE MEMOIRS DURING MY LIFE.--MY
+     INTRODUCTION INTO SOCIETY.--MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH M. DE
+     CHÂTEAUBRIAND, M. SUARD, MADAME DE STAEL, M. DE FONTANES,
+     M. ROYER-COLLARD.--PROPOSAL TO APPOINT ME AUDITOR IN THE IMPERIAL
+     STATE COUNCIL.--WHY THE APPOINTMENT DID NOT TAKE PLACE.--I ENTER
+     THE UNIVERSITY, AND BEGIN MY COURSE OF LECTURES ON MODERN
+     HISTORY.--LIBERAL AND ROYALIST PARTIES.--CHARACTERS OF THE
+     DIFFERENT OPPOSITIONS TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE EMPIRE.--ATTEMPTED
+     RESISTANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY.--MM. LAINÉ, GALLOIS,
+     MAINE-BIRAN, RAYNOUARD, AND FLAUGERGUES.--I LEAVE PARIS FOR
+     NISMES.--STATE OF PARIS AND FRANCE IN MARCH, 1814.--THE RESTORATION
+     TAKES PLACE.--I RETURN TO PARIS, AND AM APPOINTED SECRETARY-GENERAL
+     TO THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR.
+
+
+I adopt a course different from that recently pursued by several of my
+contemporaries; I publish my memoirs while I am still here to answer for
+what I write. I am not prompted to this by the weariness of inaction, or
+by any desire to re-open a limited field for old contentions, in place
+of the grand arena at present closed. I have struggled much and ardently
+during my life; age and retirement, as far as my own feelings are
+concerned, have expanded their peaceful influence over the past. From a
+sky profoundly serene, I look back towards an horizon pregnant with many
+storms. I have deeply probed my own heart, and I cannot find there any
+feeling which envenoms my recollections. The absence of gall permits
+extreme candour. Personality alters or deteriorates truth. Being
+desirous to speak of my own life, and of the times in which I have
+lived, I prefer doing so on the brink, rather than from the depths of
+the tomb. This appears to me more dignified as regards myself, while,
+with reference to others, it will lead me to be more scrupulous in my
+words and opinions. If objections arise, which I can scarcely hope to
+escape, at least it shall not be said that I was unwilling to hear them,
+and that I have removed myself from the responsibility of what I have
+done.
+
+Other reasons, also, have induced this decision. Memoirs, in general,
+are either published too soon or too late. If too soon, they are
+indiscreet or unimportant; we either reveal what would be better held
+back for the present, or suppress details which it would be both
+profitable and curious to relate at once. If too late, they lose much of
+their opportunity and interest; contemporaries have passed away, and can
+no longer profit by the truths which are imparted, or participate in
+their recital with personal enjoyment. Such memoirs retain only a moral
+and literary value, and excite no feeling beyond idle curiosity.
+Although I well know how much experience evaporates in passing from one
+generation to another, I cannot believe that it becomes altogether
+extinct, or that a correct knowledge of the mistakes of our fathers, and
+of the causes of their failures, can be totally profitless to their
+descendants. I wish to transmit to those who may succeed me, and who
+also will have their trials to undergo, a little of the light I have
+derived from mine. I have, alternately, defended liberty against
+absolute power, and order against the spirit of revolution,--two leading
+causes which, in fact, constitute but one, for their disconnection leads
+to the ruin of both. Until liberty boldly separates itself from the
+spirit of revolution, and order from absolute power, so long will France
+continue to be tossed about from crisis to crisis, and from error to
+error. In this is truly comprised the cause of the nation. I am grieved,
+but not dismayed, at its reverses. I neither renounce its service, nor
+despair of its triumph. Under the severest disappointments, it has ever
+been my natural tendency, and for which I thank God as for a blessing,
+to preserve great desires, however uncertain or distant might be the
+hopes of their accomplishment.
+
+In ancient and in modern times, the greatest of great historians,
+Thucydides, Xenophon, Sallust, Cæsar, Tacitus, Macchiavelli, and
+Clarendon, have written, and some have themselves published, the annals
+of the passing age and of the events in which they participated. I do
+not venture on such an ambitious work; the day of history has not yet
+arrived for us, of complete, free, and unreserved history, either as
+relates to facts or men. But my own personal and inward history; what I
+have thought, felt, and wished in my connection with the public affairs
+of my country; the thoughts, feelings, and wishes of my political
+friends and associates, our minds reflected in our actions,--on these
+points I can speak freely, and on these I am most desirous to record my
+sentiments, that I may be, if not always approved, at least correctly
+known and understood. On this foundation, others will hereafter assign
+to us our proper places in the history of the age.
+
+I only commenced public life in the year 1814. I had neither served
+under the Revolution nor the Empire: a stranger to the first from youth,
+and to the second from disposition. Since I have had some share in the
+government of men, I have learned to do justice to the Emperor Napoleon.
+He was endowed with a genius incomparably active and powerful, much to
+be admired for his antipathy to disorder, for his profound instincts in
+ruling, and for his energetic rapidity in reconstructing the social
+framework. But this genius had no check, acknowledged no limit to its
+desires or will, either emanating from Heaven or man, and thus remained
+revolutionary while combating revolution: thoroughly acquainted with the
+general conditions of society, but imperfectly, or rather, coarsely
+understanding the moral necessities of human nature; sometimes
+satisfying them with the soundest judgment, and at others depreciating
+and insulting them with impious pride. Who could have believed that the
+same man who had established the Concordat, and re-opened the churches
+in France, would have carried off the Pope from Rome, and kept him a
+prisoner at Fontainebleau?
+
+It is going too far to apply the same ill-treatment to philosophers and
+Christians, to reason and faith. Amongst the great men of his class,
+Napoleon was by far the most necessary for the times. None but himself
+could have so quickly and effectually substituted order in place of
+anarchy; but no one was so chimerical as to the future, for after having
+been master of France and Europe, he suffered Europe to drive him even
+from France. His name is greater and more enduring than his actions, the
+most brilliant of which, his conquests, disappeared suddenly and for
+ever, with himself. In rendering homage to his exalted qualities, I feel
+no regret at not having appreciated them until after his death. For me,
+under the Empire, there was too much of the arrogance of power, too much
+contempt of right, too much revolution, and too little liberty.
+
+It is not that at that period I was much engaged in politics, or
+over-impatient for the freedom that should open to me the road I
+desired. I associated myself with the Opposition, but it was an
+Opposition bearing little resemblance to that which we have seen and
+created during the last thirty years. It was formed from the relics of
+the philosophic world and liberal aristocracy of the eighteenth century,
+the last representatives of the saloons in which all subjects whatever
+had been freely proposed and discussed, through the impulse of
+inclination, and the gratification of mental indulgence, rather than
+from any distinct object of interest or ambition. The errors and
+disasters of the Revolution had not led the survivors of that active
+generation to renounce their convictions or desires; they remained
+sincerely liberal, but without practical or urgent pretension, and with
+the reserve of men who had suffered much and succeeded little in their
+attempts at legislative reform. They still held to freedom of thought
+and speech, but had no aspirations after power. They detested and warmly
+criticized despotism, but without any open attempt to repress or
+overthrow existing authority. It was the opposition of enlightened and
+independent lookers-on, who had neither the opportunity nor inclination
+to interfere as actors.
+
+After a long life of fierce contention, I recur with pleasure to the
+remembrance of this enchanting society. M. de Talleyrand once said to
+me, "Those who were not living in and about the year 1789, know little
+of the enjoyments of life." In fact, nothing could exceed the pleasure
+of a great intellectual and social movement, which, at that epoch, far
+from suspending or disturbing the arrangements of the world, animated
+and ennobled them by mingling serious thoughts with frivolous
+recreations, and as yet called for no suffering, or no sacrifice, while
+it opened to the eyes of men a dazzling and delightful perspective. The
+eighteenth century was, beyond all question, the most tempting and
+seductive of ages, for it promised to satisfy at once the strength and
+weakness of human nature; elevating and enervating the mind at the same
+time; flattering alternately the noblest sentiments and the most
+grovelling propensities; intoxicating with exalted hopes, and nursing
+with effeminate concessions. Thus it has produced, in pellmell
+confusion, utopians and egotists, sceptics and fanatics, enthusiasts and
+incredulous scoffers, different offspring of the same period, but all
+enraptured with the age and with themselves, indulging together in one
+common drunkenness on the eve of the approaching chaos.
+
+When I first mixed with the world in 1807, the storm had for a long time
+burst; the infatuation of 1789 had completely disappeared. Society,
+entirely occupied with its own re-establishment, no longer dreamed of
+elevating itself in the midst of mere amusement; exhibitions of force
+had superseded impulses towards liberty. Coldness, absence of
+fellow-feeling, isolation of sentiment and interests,--in these are
+comprised the ordinary course and weary vexations of the world. France,
+worn out with errors and strange excesses, eager once more for order and
+common sense, fell back into the old track. In the midst of this general
+reaction, the faithful inheritors of the literary saloons of the
+eighteenth century held themselves aloof from its influence; they alone
+preserved two of the noblest and most amiable propensities of their
+age--a disinterested taste for pleasures of the mind, and that readiness
+of sympathy, that warmth and ardour of curiosity, that necessity for
+moral improvement and free discussion, which embellish the social
+relations with so much variety and sweetness.
+
+In my own case, I drew from these sources a profitable experience. Led
+into the circle I have named, by an incident in my private life, I
+entered amongst them very young, perfectly unknown, with no other title
+than a little presumed ability, some education, and an ardent taste for
+refined pleasures, letters, and good company. I carried with me no ideas
+harmonizing with those I found there. I had been brought up at Geneva,
+with extremely liberal notions, but in austere habits and religious
+convictions entirely opposed to the philosophy of the eighteenth
+century, rather than in coincidence with or in admiration of its works
+and tendencies. During my residence in Paris, German metaphysics and
+literature had been my favourite study; I read Kant and Klopstock,
+Herder and Schiller, much more frequently than Condillac and Voltaire.
+M. Suard, the Abbé Morellet, the Marquis de Boufflers, the frequenters
+of the drawing-rooms of Madame d'Houdetot and of Madame de Rumford, who
+received me with extreme complaisance, smiled, and sometimes grew tired
+of my Christian traditions and Germanic enthusiasm; but, after all, this
+difference of opinion established for me, in their circle, a plea of
+interest and favour instead of producing any feeling of illwill or even
+of indifference. They knew that I was as sincerely attached to liberty
+and the privileges of human intelligence as they were themselves, and
+they discovered something novel and independent in my turn of thought,
+which inspired both esteem and attraction. At this period, they
+constantly supported me with their friendship and interest, without ever
+attempting to press or control me on the points on which we disagreed.
+From them especially, I have learned to exercise in practical life, that
+expanded equity, joined to respect for the freedom of others, which
+constitute the character and duty of a truly liberal mind.
+
+This generous disposition manifested itself on every opportunity. In
+1809, M. de Châteaubriand published 'The Martyrs.' The success of this
+work was at first slow, and strongly disputed. Amongst the disciples of
+the eighteenth century and of Voltaire, a great majority treated
+M. de Châteaubriand as an enemy, while the more moderate section looked
+on him with little favour. They rejected his ideas even when they felt
+that they were not called upon to contest them. His style of writing
+offended their taste, which was divested of all imagination, and more
+refined than grand. My own disposition was entirely opposed to theirs. I
+passionately admired M. de Châteaubriand in his ideas and language: that
+beautiful compound of religious sentiment and romantic imagination, of
+poetry and moral polemics, had so powerfully moved and subdued me, that,
+soon after my arrival at Paris in 1806, one of my first literary
+fantasies was to address an epistle, in very indifferent verse, to
+M. de Châteaubriand, who immediately thanked me in prose, artistically
+polished and unassuming. His letter flattered my youth, and 'The
+Martyrs' redoubled my zeal. Seeing them so violently attacked, I
+resolved to defend them in the 'Publicist,' in which I occasionally
+wrote. M. Suard, who conducted that journal, although far from
+coinciding with the opinions I had adopted, lent himself most obligingly
+to my desire. I have met with very few men of a natural temperament so
+gentle and liberal, and with a mind at the same time scrupulously
+refined and fastidious. He was much more disposed to criticize than to
+admire the talent of M. de Châteaubriand; but he admitted the great
+extent of his ability, and on that ground dealt with him gently,
+although with delicate irony. Besides which, the talent was full of
+independence, and exerted in opposition to the formidable tendencies of
+Imperial power. These qualities won largely upon the esteem of M. Suard,
+who, in consequence, allowed me an unfettered course in the 'Publicist,'
+of which I availed myself to espouse the cause of 'The Martyrs' against
+their detractors.
+
+M. de Châteaubriand was deeply affected by this, and hastened to express
+his acknowledgments. My articles became the subject of a correspondence
+between us, which I still refer to with pleasure.[1] He explained to me
+his intentions and motives in the composition of his poem, discussed
+with susceptibility and even with some degree of temper concealed under
+his gratitude, the strictures mixed with my eulogiums, and finished by
+saying: "In conclusion, Sir, you know the tempests raised against my
+work, and from whence they proceed. There is another wound, not
+exhibited, which is the real source of all this rage. It is that
+_Hierocles_ massacres the Christians in the name of _philosophy_ and
+_liberty_. Time will do me justice, if my work deserves it, and you will
+greatly accelerate this justice by the publication of your articles,
+provided you could be induced to change and modify them to a certain
+point. Show me my faults, and I will correct them. I only despise those
+critics who are as base in their language as in the secret motives which
+induce them to speak. I can find neither reason nor principle in the
+mouths of those literary mountebanks hired by the police, who dance in
+the gutters for the amusement of lacqueys.... I do not give up the hope
+of calling to see you, or of receiving you in my hermitage. Honest men
+should, particularly at present, unite for mutual consolation; generous
+feelings and exalted sentiments become every day so rare, that we ought
+to consider ourselves too happy when we encounter them.... Accept, I
+entreat you, once more, the assurance of my high consideration, of my
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit, of a friendship which we
+commence under the auspices of frankness and honour."
+
+Between M. de Châteaubriand and myself, frankness and honour, most
+certainly, have never been disturbed throughout our political
+controversies; but friendship has not been able to survive them. The
+word is too rare and valuable to be hastily pronounced.
+
+When we have lived under a system of real and serious liberty, we feel
+both an inclination and a right to smile when we consider what, in other
+times, has been classed as factious opposition by the one side, and
+courageous resistance by the other. In August, 1807, eighteen months
+before the publication of 'The Martyrs,' I stopped some days in
+Switzerland, on my way to visit my mother at Nismes; and with the
+confident enthusiasm of youth, as anxious to become acquainted with
+living celebrities as I was myself unknown, I addressed a letter to
+Madame de Staël, requesting the honour of calling upon her. She invited
+me to dinner at Ouchy, near Lausanne, where she then resided. I was
+placed next to her; I came from Paris; she questioned me as to what was
+passing there, how the public were occupied, and what were the topics
+of conversation in the saloons. I spoke of an article by
+M. de Châteaubriand, in the 'Mercury,' which was making some noise at
+the moment of my departure. A particular passage had struck me, which I
+quoted according to the text, as it had strongly impressed itself on my
+memory. "When, in the silence of abject submission, we hear only the
+chains of the slave and the voice of the informer, when all tremble
+before the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to incur favour as to merit
+disgrace, the historian appears to be charged with the vengeance of
+nations. It is in vain that Nero triumphs. Tacitus has been born in the
+Empire; he grows up unnoticed near the ashes of Germanicus, and already
+uncompromising Providence has handed over to an obscure child the glory
+of the master of the world." My tone of voice was undoubtedly excited
+and striking, as I was myself deeply moved and arrested by the words.
+Madame de Staël, seizing me by the arm, exclaimed, "I am sure you would
+make an excellent tragedian; remain with us and take a part in the
+'Andromache.'" Theatricals were at that time the prevailing taste and
+amusement in her house. I excused myself from her kind conjecture and
+proposal, and the conversation returned to M. de Châteaubriand and his
+article, which was greatly admired, while at the same time it excited
+some apprehension. The admiration was just, for the passage was really
+eloquent; neither was the alarm without grounds, for the 'Mercury' was
+suppressed precisely on account of this identical paragraph. Thus, the
+Emperor Napoleon, conqueror of Europe and absolute master of France,
+believed that he could not suffer it to be written that his future
+historian might perhaps be born under his reign, and held himself
+compelled to take the honour of Nero under his shield. It was a heavy
+penalty attached to greatness, to have such apprehensions to exhibit,
+and such clients to protect!
+
+Exalted minds, who felt a little for the dignity of human nature, had
+sound reason for being discontented with the existing system; they saw
+that it could neither establish the happiness nor the permanent
+prosperity of France; but it seemed then so firmly established in
+general opinion, its power was so universally admitted, and so little
+was any change anticipated for the future, that even within the haughty
+and narrow circle in which the spirit of opposition prevailed, it
+appeared quite natural that young men should enter the service of
+Government, the only public career that remained open to them. A lady of
+distinguished talent and noble sentiments, who had conceived a certain
+degree of friendship for me, Madame de Rémusat, was desirous that I
+should be named Auditor in the State Council. Her cousin, M. Pasquier,
+Prefect of Police, whom I sometimes met at her house, interested himself
+in this matter with much cordiality, and, under the advice of my most
+intimate friends, I acceded to the proposition, although, at the bottom
+of my heart, it occasioned me some uneasiness. It was intended that I
+should be attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. M. Pasquier named
+me to the Duke of Bassano, then at the head of the department, and to
+Count d'Hauterive, Comptroller of the Archives. The Duke sent for me. I
+also had an interview with M. d'Hauterive, who possessed a fertile and
+ingenious mind, and was kindly disposed towards young men of studious
+habits. As a trial of ability, they ordered me to draw up a memorial on
+a question respecting which, the Emperor either was, or wished to
+appear, deeply interested--the mutual exchange of French and English
+prisoners. Many documents on the subject were placed in my hands. I
+completed the memorial; and, believing that the Emperor was sincere,
+carefully set forward those principles of the law of nations which
+rendered the measure desirable, and the mutual concessions necessary for
+its accomplishment. My work was duly submitted to the Duke of Bassano. I
+have reason to conclude that I had mistaken his object; and that the
+Emperor, looking upon the English detained in France as of more
+importance than the French confined in England, and believing also that
+the number of the latter pressed inconveniently on the English
+Government, had no serious intention of carrying out the proposed
+exchange. Whatever might be the cause, I heard nothing more either of my
+memorial or nomination, a result which caused me little regret.
+
+Another career soon opened to me, more suitable to my views, as being
+less connected with the Government. My first attempts at writing,
+particularly my Critical Notes on Gibbon's 'History of the Decline and
+Fall of the Roman Empire,' and the 'Annals of Education,' a periodical
+miscellany in which I had touched upon some leading questions of public
+and private instruction, obtained for me the notice of literary men.[2]
+With gratuitous kindness, M. de Fontanes, Grand Master of the
+University, appointed me Assistant Professor to the Chair of History,
+occupied by M. de Lacretelle, in the Faculty of Letters in the Academy
+of Paris. In a very short time, and before I had commenced my class, as
+if he thought he had not done enough to evince his esteem and to attach
+me strongly to the University, he divided the Chair, and named me
+Titular Professor of Modern History, with a dispensation on account of
+age, as I had not yet completed my twenty-fifth year. I began my
+lectures at the College of Plessis, in presence of the pupils of the
+Normal School, and of a public audience few in number but anxious for
+instruction, and with whom modern history, traced up to its remote
+sources, the barbarous conquerors of the Roman Empire, presented itself
+with an urgent and almost contemporaneous interest. In his conduct
+towards me, M. de Fontanes was not entirely actuated by some pages of
+mine he had read, or by a few friendly opinions he had heard expressed.
+This learned Epicurean, become powerful, and the intellectual favourite
+of the most potent Sovereign in Europe, loved literature for itself with
+a sincere and disinterested attachment. The truly beautiful touched him
+as sensibly as in the days of his early youth and poetical inspirations.
+What was still more extraordinary, this refined courtier of a despot,
+this official orator, who felt satisfied when he had embellished
+flattery with noble eloquence, never failed to acknowledge, and render
+due homage to independence. Soon after my appointment, he invited me to
+dinner at his country-house at Courbevoie. Seated near him at table, we
+talked of studies, of the different modes of teaching, of ancient and
+modern classics, with the freedom of old acquaintances, and almost with
+the association of fellow-labourers. The conversation turned upon the
+Latin poets and their commentators. I spoke with warm praise of the
+great edition of Virgil by Heyne, the celebrated professor of the
+University of Göttingen, and of the merit of his annotations.
+M. de Fontanes fiercely attacked the German scholars. According to him,
+they had neither discovered nor added anything to the earlier
+commentaries, and Heyne was no better acquainted with Virgil and the
+ancients than Père La Rue. He fulminated against German literature in
+the mass, philosophers, poets, historians, or philologists, and
+pronounced them all unworthy of attention. I defended them with the
+confidence of conviction and youth; when M. de Fontanes, turning to his
+neighbour on the other side, said to him, with a smile, "We can never
+make these Protestants give in." But, instead of taking offence at my
+obstinacy, he was cordially pleased with the frankness of this little
+debate. His toleration of my independence was, not long after, subjected
+to a more delicate trial.
+
+When I was about to commence my course, in December, 1812, he spoke to
+me of my opening address, and insinuated that I ought to insert in it a
+sentence or two in praise of the Emperor. It was the custom, he said,
+particularly on the establishment of a new professorship, and the
+Emperor sometimes demanded from him an account of these proceedings. I
+felt unwilling to comply, and told him, I thought this proposal scarcely
+consistent. I had to deal exclusively with science, before an audience
+of students; how then could I be expected to introduce politics, and,
+above all, politics in opposition to my own views? "Do as you please,"
+replied M. de Fontanes, with an evident mixture of regard and
+embarrassment; "if you are complained of, it will fall upon me, and I
+must defend you and myself as well as I can."[3]
+
+He displayed as much clear penetration and good sense as generosity, in
+so quickly and gracefully renouncing the proposition he had suggested.
+In regard to the master he served, the opposition of the society in
+which I lived had in it nothing of practical or immediate importance. It
+was purely an opposition of ideas and conversation, without defined plan
+or effective influence, earnest in philosophic inquiry, but passive in
+political action; disposed to be satisfied with tranquil life, in the
+unshackled indulgence of thought and speech.
+
+On entering the University, I found myself in contact with another
+opposition, less apparent but more serious, without being, at the
+moment, of a more active character. M. Royer-Collard, at that time
+Professor of the History of Philosophy, and Dean of the Faculty of
+Letters, attached himself to me with warm friendship. We had no previous
+acquaintanceship; I was much the younger man; he lived quite out of the
+world, within a small circle of selected associates; we were new to each
+other, and mutually attractive. He was a man, not of the old system, but
+of the old times, whose character had been developed, though not
+controlled, by the Revolution, the principles, transactions, and
+leading promoters of which he judged with rigid independence, without
+losing sight of the primary and national cause. His mind, eminently
+liberal, highly cultivated, and supported by solid good sense, was more
+original than inventive, profound rather than expanded, more given to
+sift thoroughly a single idea than to combine many; too much absorbed
+within himself, but exercising a singular power over others by the
+commanding weight of his reason, and by an aptitude of imparting, with a
+certain solemnity of manner, the unexpected brilliancy of a strong
+imagination, continually under the excitement of very lively
+impressions. Before being called to teach philosophy, he had never made
+this particular branch of science the object or end of his special
+study, and throughout our political vicissitudes between 1789 and 1814
+he had never taken an important position, or connected himself
+prominently with any party. But, in youth, under the influence of the
+traditions of Port-Royal, he had received a sound classical and
+Christian education; and after the _Reign of Terror_, under the
+government of the Directory, he joined the small section of Royalists
+who corresponded with Louis XVIII., less to conspire, than to enlighten
+the exiled Prince on the true state of the country, and to furnish him
+with suggestions equally advantageous for France and the House of
+Bourbon, if it were destined that the House of Bourbon and France should
+be re-united on some future day. He was therefore decidedly a
+spiritualist in philosophy, and a royalist in politics. To restore
+independence of mind to man, and right to government, formed the
+prevailing desire of his unobtrusive life. "You cannot believe," he
+wrote to me in 1823, "that I have ever adopted the word _Restoration_ in
+the restricted sense of an individual fact; but I have always regarded,
+and still look upon this fact as the expression of a certain system of
+society and government, and as the condition on which, under the
+circumstances of France, we are to look for order, justice, and liberty;
+while, without this condition, disorder, violence, and irremediable
+despotism, springing from things and not from men, will be the necessary
+consequence of the spirit and doctrines of the Revolution." Passionately
+imbued with this conviction, an aggressive philosopher and an expectant
+politician, he fought successfully in his chair against the
+materialistic school of the eighteenth century, and watched from the
+retirement of his study, with anxiety but not without hope, the chances
+of the perilous game on which Napoleon daily staked his empire.
+
+By his lofty and intuitive instincts, Napoleon was a spiritualist: men
+of his order have flashes of light and impulses of thought, which open
+to them the sphere of the most exalted truths. In his hours of better
+reflection, spiritualism, reviving under his reign, and sapping the
+materialism of the last century, was sympathetic with and agreeable to
+his own nature. But the principle of despotism quickly reminded him that
+the soul cannot be elevated without enfranchisement, and the
+spiritualistic philosophy of M. Royer-Collard then confused him as much
+as the sensual ideology of M. de Tracy. It was, moreover, one of the
+peculiarities of Napoleon's mind, that his thoughts constantly reverted
+to the forgotten Bourbons, well knowing that he had no other
+competitors for the throne of France. At the summit of his power he
+more than once gave utterance to this impression, which recurred to him
+with increased force when he felt the approach of danger. On this
+ground, M. Royer-Collard and his friends, with whose opinions and
+connections he was fully acquainted, became to him objects of extreme
+suspicion and disquietude. Not that their opposition (as he was also
+aware) was either active or influential; events were not produced
+through such agencies; but therein lay the best-founded presentiments of
+the future; and amongst its members were included the most rational
+partisans of the prospective Government.
+
+Hitherto they had ventured nothing beyond vague and half-indulged
+conversations, when the Emperor himself advanced their views to a
+consistence and publicity which they were far from assuming. On the 19th
+of December, 1813, he convened together the Senate and the Legislative
+Body, and ordered several documents to be laid before them relative to
+his negotiations with the Allied Powers, demanding their opinions on the
+subject. If he had then really intended to make peace, or felt seriously
+anxious to convince France, that the continuance of the war would not
+spring from the obstinacy of his own domineering will, there can be no
+doubt that he would have found in these two Bodies, enervated as they
+were, a strong and popular support. I often saw and talked
+confidentially with three of the five members of the Commission of the
+Legislative Body, MM. Maine-Biran, Gallois, and Raynouard, and through
+them I obtained a correct knowledge of the dispositions of the two
+others, MM. Lainé and Flaugergues. M. Maine-Biran, who, with
+M. Royer-Collard and myself formed a small philosophical association, in
+which we conversed freely on all topics, kept us fully informed as to
+what passed in the Commission, and even in the Legislative Assembly
+itself. Although originally a Royalist (in his youth he had been
+enrolled amongst the bodyguards of Louis XVI.), he was unconnected with
+any party or intrigue, scrupulously conscientious, even timid when
+conviction did not call for the exercise of courage, little inclined to
+politics by taste, and, under any circumstances, one of the last men
+to form an extreme resolution, or take the initiative in action.
+M. Gallois, a man of the world and of letters, a moderate liberal of the
+philosophic school of the eighteenth century, occupied himself much more
+with his library than with public affairs. He wished to discharge his
+duty to his country respectably, without disturbing the peaceful tenor
+of his life. M. Raynouard, a native of Provence and a poet, had more
+vivacity of manner and language, without being of an adventurous
+temperament. It was said that his loud complaints against the tyrannical
+abuses of the Imperial Government, would not have prevented him from
+being contented with those moderate concessions which satisfy honour for
+the present, and excite hope for the future. M. Flaugergues, an honest
+Republican, who had put on mourning for the death of Louis XVI.,
+uncompromising in temper and character, was capable of energetic but
+solitary resolutions, and possessed little influence over his
+colleagues, although he talked much. M. Lainé, on the contrary, had a
+warm and sympathetic heart under a gloomy exterior, and an elevated
+mind, without much vigour or originality. He spoke imposingly and
+convincingly when moved by his subject; formerly a Republican, he had
+paused as a simple partisan of liberal tendencies, and being promptly
+acknowledged as the head of the Commission, consented without hesitation
+to become its organ. But, like his colleagues, he had no premeditated
+hostility or concealed engagement against the Emperor. All were desirous
+of conveying to him a true impression of the desires of France;
+externally for a pacific policy, and internally for a respect for public
+rights and the legal exercise of power. Their Report contained nothing
+beyond a guarded expression of these moderate sentiments.
+
+With such men, animated by such views, a perfect understanding was
+anything but difficult. Napoleon would not even listen to them. It is
+well known how he suddenly suppressed the Report and adjourned the
+Legislative Body, and with what rude but intentional violence he
+received the Deputies and their Commissioners on the 1st of January,
+1814. "Who are you who address me thus? I am the sole representative of
+the nation. We are one and inseparable. I have a title, but you have
+none.... M. Lainé, your mouthpiece, is a dishonest man who corresponds
+with England through the Advocate Desèze. I shall keep my eye upon him.
+M. Raynouard is a liar." In communicating to the Commission the papers
+connected with the negotiation, Napoleon had forbidden his Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, the Duke of Vicenza, to include that which specified
+the conditions on which the Allied Powers were prepared to treat, not
+wishing to pledge himself to any recognized basis. His Minister of
+Police, the Duke of Rovigo, took upon himself to carry to extremity the
+indiscretion of his anger. "Your words are most imprudent," said he to
+the members of the Commission, "when there is a Bourbon in the field."
+Thus, in the very crisis of his difficulties, under the most emphatic
+warnings from heaven and man, the despot at bay made an empty parade of
+absolute power; the vanquished conqueror displayed to the world that the
+ostensible negotiations were only a pretext for still trying the chances
+of war; the tottering head of the new dynasty proclaimed himself that
+the old line was there, ready to supplant him.
+
+The day had arrived when glory could no longer repair the faults which
+it still covers. The campaign of 1814, that uninterrupted masterpiece of
+skill and heroism, as well on the part of the leader as of his
+followers, bore, nevertheless, the ineffaceable stamp of the false
+calculations and false position of the Emperor. He wavered continually
+between the necessity of protecting Paris, and the passion of
+reconquering Europe; anxious to save his throne without sacrificing his
+ambition, and changing his tactics at every moment, as a fatal danger or
+a favourable change alternately presented itself. God vindicated reason
+and justice, by condemning the genius which had so recklessly braved
+both, to sink in hesitation and uncertainty, under the weight of its own
+incompatible objects and impracticable desires.
+
+While Napoleon in this closing struggle wasted the last remnants of his
+fortune and power, he encountered no disappointment or obstacle from any
+quarter of France, either from Paris or the departments, the party in
+opposition, or the public in general. There was no enthusiasm in his
+cause, and little confidence in his success, but no one rose openly
+against him; all hostility was comprised in a few unfavourable
+expressions, some preparatory announcements, and here and there a change
+of side as people began to catch a glimpse of the approaching issue. The
+Emperor acted in full liberty, with all the strength that still
+pertained to his isolated position, and the moral and physical
+exhaustion of the country. Such general apathy was never before
+exhibited in the midst of so much national anxiety, or so many
+disaffected persons abstaining from action under similar circumstances,
+with such numerous partisans ready to renounce the master they still
+served with implicit docility. It was an entire nation of wearied
+spectators who had long given up all interference in their own fate, and
+knew not what catastrophe they were to hope or fear to the terrible game
+of which they were the stake.
+
+I grew impatient of remaining a motionless beholder of the shifting
+spectacle; and not foreseeing when or how it would terminate, I
+determined, towards the middle of March, to repair to Nismes, and pass
+some weeks with my mother, whom I had not seen for a considerable time.
+I have still before my eyes the aspect of Paris, particularly of the Rue
+de Rivoli (then in progress of construction), as I passed along on the
+morning of my departure. There were no workmen and no activity;
+materials heaped together without being used, deserted scaffoldings,
+buildings abandoned for want of money, hands, or confidence, and in
+ruins before completion. Everywhere, amongst the people, a discontented
+air of uneasy idleness, as if they were equally in want of labour and
+repose. Throughout my journey, on the highways, in the towns, and in the
+fields, I noticed the same appearance of inactivity and agitation, the
+same visible impoverishment of the country; there were more women and
+children than men, many young conscripts marching mournfully to their
+battalions, sick and wounded soldiers returning to the interior; in
+fact, a mutilated and exhausted nation. Side by side with this physical
+suffering, I also remarked a great moral perplexity, the uneasiness of
+opposing sentiments, an ardent longing for peace, a deadly hatred of
+foreign invaders, with alternating feelings, as regarded Napoleon, of
+anger and sympathy. By some he was denounced as the author of all their
+calamities; by others he was hailed as the bulwark of the country, and
+the avenger of her injuries. What struck me as a serious evil, although
+I was then far from being able to estimate its full extent, was the
+marked inequality of these different expressions amongst the divided
+classes of the population. With the affluent and educated, the prominent
+feeling was evidently a strong desire for peace, a dislike of the
+exigencies and hazards of the Imperial despotism, a calculated
+foreshadowing of its fall, and the dawning perspective of another system
+of government. The lower orders, on the contrary, only roused themselves
+up from lassitude to give way to a momentary burst of patriotic rage, or
+to their reminiscences of the Revolution. The Imperial rule had given
+them discipline without reform. Appearances were tranquil, but in truth
+it might be said of the popular masses as of the emigrants, that they
+had forgotten nothing, and learned nothing. There was no moral unity
+throughout the land, no common thought or passion, notwithstanding the
+common misfortunes and experience. The nation was almost as blindly and
+completely divided in its apathy, as it had lately been in its
+excitement. I recognized these unwholesome symptoms; but I was young,
+and much more disposed to dwell on the hopes than on the perils of the
+future. While at Nismes, I soon became acquainted with the events that
+had taken place in Paris. M. Royer-Collard wrote to press my return. I
+set out on the instant, and a few days after my arrival, I was appointed
+Secretary-General to the Ministry of the Interior, which department the
+King had just confided to the Abbé de Montesquiou.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: I have inserted, amongst the "Historic Documents" at the
+end of the Volume, three of the letters which M. de Châteaubriand
+addressed to me, at the time, on this subject. (Historic Documents, No.
+I.)]
+
+[Footnote 2: Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+I have included a letter, addressed to me from Brussels, by the
+Count de Lally-Tolendal, on the 'Annals of Education,' in which the
+character of the writer and of the time are exhibited with agreeable
+frankness. (Hist. Documents, No. II.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Notwithstanding its imperfections, of which, no one is more
+sensible than I am, this address may be read, perhaps, with some little
+interest. It was my first historical lecture and first public discourse,
+and remains locked up in the Archives of the Faculty of Letters, from
+the day when it was delivered, now forty-five years ago. I have added it
+to the "Historic Documents" (No. III.).]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE RESTORATION.
+
+1814-1815.
+
+     SENTIMENTS WITH WHICH I COMMENCED PUBLIC LIFE.--TRUE CAUSE AND
+     CHARACTER OF THE RESTORATION.--CAPITAL ERROR OF THE IMPERIAL
+     SENATE.--THE CHARTER SUFFERS FROM IT.--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE
+     CHARTER.--WHY THEY WERE FUTILE.--CABINET OF KING LOUIS
+     XVIII.--UNFITNESS OF THE PRINCIPAL MINISTERS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
+     GOVERNMENT.--M. DE TALLEYRAND.--THE ABBÉ DE MONTESQUIOU.--M. DE
+     BLACAS.--LOUIS XVIII.--PRINCIPAL AFFAIRS IN WHICH I WAS CONCERNED
+     AT THAT EPOCH.--ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE KINGDOM LAID BEFORE THE
+     CHAMBERS.--BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS.--DECREE FOR THE REFORM OF
+     PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.--STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE
+     COUNTRY.--THEIR COMMON INEXPERIENCE.--EFFECTS OF THE LIBERAL
+     SYSTEM.--ESTIMATE OF PUBLIC DISCONTENT AND CONSPIRACIES.--SAYING OF
+     NAPOLEON ON THE FACILITY OF HIS RETURN.
+
+
+Under these auspices, I entered, without hesitation, on public life. I
+had no previous tie, no personal motive to connect me with the
+Restoration; I sprang from those who had been raised up by the impulse
+of 1789, and were little disposed to fall back again. But if I was not
+bound to the former system by any specific interest, I felt no
+bitterness towards the old Government of France. Born a citizen and a
+Protestant, I have ever been unswervingly devoted to liberty of
+conscience, equality in the eye of the law, and all the acquired
+privileges of social order. My confidence in these acquisitions is
+ample and confirmed; but, in support of their cause, I do not feel
+myself called upon to consider the House of Bourbon, the aristocracy of
+France, and the Catholic clergy, in the light of enemies. At present,
+none but madmen exclaim, "Down with the nobility! Down with the
+priests!" Nevertheless, many well-meaning and sensible persons, who are
+sincerely desirous that revolutions should cease, still cherish in their
+hearts some relics of the sentiments to which these cries respond. Let
+them beware of such feelings. They are essentially revolutionary and
+antisocial; order can never be thoroughly re-established as long as
+honourable minds encourage them with secret complaisance. I mean, that
+real and enduring order which every extended society requires for its
+prosperity and permanence. The interests and acquired rights of the
+present day have taken rank in France, and constitute henceforward the
+strength and vitality of the country; but because our social system is
+filled with new elements, it is not therefore new in itself; it can no
+more deny what it has been, than it can renounce what it has become; it
+would establish perpetual confusion and decline within itself, if it
+remained hostile to its true history. History is the nation, the
+country, viewed through ages. For myself, I have always maintained an
+affectionate respect for the great names and actions which have held
+such a conspicuous place in our destinies; and being as I am, a man of
+yesterday, when the King, Louis XVIII., presented himself with the
+Charter in his hand, I neither felt angry nor humiliated that I was
+compelled to enjoy or defend our liberties under the ancient dynasty of
+the Sovereigns of France, and in common with all Frenchmen, whether
+noble or plebeian, even though their old rivalries might sometimes prove
+a source of mistrust and agitation.
+
+It was the remembrance of foreign intervention that constituted the
+wound and nightmare of France under the Government of the Restoration.
+The feeling was legitimate in itself. The jealous passion of national
+independence and glory doubles the strength of a people in prosperity,
+and saves their pride under reverses. If it had pleased Heaven to throw
+me into the ranks of Napoleon's soldiers, in all probability that single
+passion would also have governed my soul. But, placed as I was, in civil
+life, other ideas and instincts have taught me to look elsewhere than to
+predominance in war for the greatness and security of my country. I have
+ever prized, above all other considerations, just policy, and liberty
+restrained by law. I despaired of both under the Empire; I hoped for
+them from the Restoration. I have been sometimes reproached with not
+sufficiently associating myself with general impressions. Whenever I
+meet them sincerely and strongly manifested, I respect and hold them in
+account, but I cannot feel that I am called upon to abdicate my reason
+for their adoption, or to desert the real and permanent interest of the
+country for the sake of according with them. It is truly an absurd
+injustice to charge the Restoration with the presence of those
+foreigners which the mad ambition of Napoleon alone brought upon our
+soil, and which the Bourbons only could remove by a prompt and certain
+peace. The enemies of the Restoration, in their haste to condemn it
+from the very first hour, have plunged into strange contradictions. If
+we are to put faith in their assertions, at one time they tell us that
+it was imposed on France by foreign bayonets; at another, that in 1814,
+no one, either in France or Europe, bestowed a thought upon the subject;
+and again, that a few old adherences, a few sudden defections, and a few
+egotistical intrigues alone enabled it to prevail. Puerile blindness of
+party spirit! The more it is attempted to prove that no general desire,
+no prevailing force, from within or without, either suggested or
+produced the Restoration, the more its inherent strength will be brought
+to light, and the controlling necessity which determined the event. I
+have ever been surprised that free and superior minds should thus fetter
+themselves within the subtleties and credulities of prejudice, and not
+feel the necessity of looking facts in the face, and of viewing them as
+they really exist. In the formidable crisis of 1814, the restoration of
+the House of Bourbon was the only natural and solid solution that
+presented itself; the only measure that could be reconciled to
+principles not dependent on the influence of force and the caprices of
+human will. Some alarm might thence be excited for the new interests of
+French society; but with the aid of institutions mutually accepted, the
+two benefits of which France stood most in need, and of which for
+twenty-five years she had been utterly deprived, peace and liberty,
+might also be confidently looked for. Under the influence of this double
+hope, the Restoration was accomplished, not only without effort, but in
+despite of revolutionary remembrances, and was received throughout
+France with alacrity and cheerfulness. And France did wisely in this
+adoption, for the Restoration, in fact, came accompanied by peace and
+liberty.
+
+Peace had never been more talked of in France than during the last
+quarter of a century. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, "No more
+conquests;" the National Convention had celebrated the union of nations;
+the Emperor Napoleon had concluded, in fifteen years, more pacific
+negotiations than any preceding monarch. Never had war so frequently
+ended and recommenced; never had peace proved such a transient illusion;
+a treaty was nothing but a truce, during which preparations were making
+for fresh combats.
+
+It was the same with liberty as with peace. Celebrated and promised, at
+first, with enthusiasm, it had quickly disappeared under civil discord,
+even before the celebration and the promise had ceased; thus, to
+extinguish discord, liberty had also been abolished. At one moment
+people became maddened with the word, without caring for the reality of
+the fact; at another, to escape a fatal intoxication, the fact and the
+word were equally proscribed and forgotten.
+
+True peace and liberty returned with the Restoration. War was not with
+the Bourbons a necessity or a passion; they could reign without having
+recourse every day to some new development of force, some fresh shock to
+the fixed principles of nations. Treating with them, foreign Governments
+could and did believe in a sincere and lasting peace. Neither was the
+liberty which France recovered in 1814, the triumph of any particular
+school in philosophy or party in politics. Turbulent propensities,
+obstinate theories and imaginations, at the same time ardent and idle,
+were unable to find in it the gratification of their irregular and
+unbounded appetites. It was, in truth, social liberty, the practical and
+legalized enjoyment of rights, equally essential to the active life of
+the citizens and to the moral dignity of the nation.
+
+What were to be the guarantees of liberty, and consequently of all the
+interests which liberty itself was intended to guarantee? By what
+institutions could the control and influence of the nation in its
+government be exercised? In these questions lay the great problem which
+the Imperial Senate attempted to solve by its project of a Constitution
+in April, 1814, and which, on the 4th of June following, the King, Louis
+XVIII., effectually decided by the Charter.
+
+The Senators of 1814 have been much and justly reproached for the
+selfishness with which, on overthrowing the Empire, they preserved for
+themselves, not only the integrity, but the perpetuity of the material
+advantages with which the Empire had endowed them;--a cynical error, and
+one of those which most depreciate existing authorities in the
+estimation of the people, for they are offensive, at the same time, to
+honest feelings and envious passions. The Senate committed another
+mistake less palpable, and more consistent with the prejudices of the
+country, but in my judgment more weighty, both as a political blunder,
+and as to the consequences involved. At the same moment when it
+proclaimed the return of the ancient Royal House, it blazoned forth the
+pretension of electing the King, disavowing the monarchical right, the
+supremacy of which it accepted, and thus exercising the privilege of
+republicanism in re-establishing the monarchy:--a glaring contradiction
+between principles and acts, a childish bravado against the great fact
+to which it was rendering homage, and a lamentable confounding of rights
+and ideas. It was from necessity, and not by choice, on account of his
+hereditary title, and not as the chosen candidate of the day, that Louis
+XVIII. was called to the throne of France. There was neither truth,
+dignity, nor prudence, but in one line of conduct,--to recognize openly
+the royal claim in the House of Bourbon, and to demand as openly in
+return the national privileges which the state of the country and the
+spirit of the time required. Such a candid avowal and mutual respect for
+mutual rights, form the very essence of free government. It is by this
+steady union that elsewhere monarchy and liberty have developed and
+strengthened themselves together; and by frank co-operation, kings and
+nations have extinguished those internal wars which are denominated
+revolutions. Instead of adopting this course, the Senate, at once
+obstinate and timid, while wishing to place the restored monarchy under
+the standard of republican election, succeeded only in evoking the
+despotic in face of the revolutionary principle, and in raising up as a
+rival to the absolute right of the people, the uncontrolled authority of
+the King.
+
+The Charter bore the impress of this impolitic conduct; timid and
+obstinate in its turn, and seeking to cover the retreat of royalty, as
+the Revolution had sought to protect its own, it replied to the
+pretensions of the revolutionary system by the pretensions of the
+ancient form, and presented itself as purely a royal concession, instead
+of proclaiming its true character, such as it really was, a treaty of
+peace after a protracted war, a series of new articles added by common
+accord to the old compact of union between the nation and the King.
+
+In this point lay the complaint of the Liberals of the Revolution
+against the Charter, as soon as it appeared. Their adversaries, the
+supporters of the old rule, assailed it with other reproaches. The most
+fiery, such as the disciples of M. de Maistre, could scarcely tolerate
+its existence. According to them, absolute power, legitimate in itself
+alone, was the only form of government that suited France. The
+moderates, amongst whom were M. de Villèle in the reply he published at
+Toulouse to the declaration of Saint-Ouen, accused this plan for a
+constitution, which became the Charter, of being an importation from
+England, foreign to the history, the ideas, and the manners of France;
+and which, they said, "would cost more to establish than the ancient
+organization would require for repairs."
+
+I do not here propose to enter upon any discussion of principles, with
+the apostles of absolute power; as applied to France and our own time,
+experience, and a very overwhelming experience, has supplied an answer.
+Absolute power, amongst us, can only belong to the Revolution and its
+representatives, for they alone can (I do not say for how long) retain
+the masses in their interest, by withholding from them the securities of
+liberty.
+
+For the House of Bourbon and its supporters, absolute power is
+impossible; under them France must be free; it only accepts their
+government by supplying it with the eye and the hand.
+
+The objections of the moderate party were more specious. It must be
+admitted that the government established by the Charter had, in its
+forms at least, something of a foreign aspect. Perhaps too there was
+reason for saying that it assumed the existence of a stronger
+aristocratic element in France, and of a more trained and disciplined
+spirit of policy, than could, in reality, be found there. Another
+difficulty, less palpable but substantial, awaited it; the Charter was
+not alone the triumph of 1789 over the old institutions, but it was the
+victory of one of the Liberal sections of 1789 over its rivals as well
+as its enemies, a victory of the partisans of the English Constitution
+over the framers of the Constitution of 1791, and over the republicans
+as well as the supporters of the ancient monarchy,--a source teeming
+with offences to the self-love of many, and a somewhat narrow basis for
+the re-settlement of an old and extensive country.
+
+But these objections had little weight in 1814. The position of affairs
+was urgent and imperative; it was necessary that the old monarchy should
+be reformed when restored. Of all the measures of improvement proposed
+or attempted since 1789, the Charter comprised that which was the most
+generally recognized and admitted by the public at large, as well as by
+professed politicians. At such moments controversy subsides; the
+resolutions adopted by men of action, present an epitome of the ideas
+common to men of thought. A republic would be to revive the Revolution;
+the Constitution of 1791 would be government without power; the old
+French Constitution, if the name were applicable, had been found
+ineffective in 1789, equally incapable of self-maintenance or
+amelioration. All that it had once possessed of greatness or utility,
+the Parliaments, the different Orders, the various local institutions,
+were so evidently beyond the possibility of re-establishment, that no
+one thought seriously of such a proposition. The Charter was already
+written in the experience and reflection of the country. It emanated as
+naturally from the mind of Louis XVIII., returning from England, as from
+the deliberations of the Senate, intent on renouncing the yoke of the
+Empire. It was the produce of the necessities and convictions of the
+hour. Judged by itself, notwithstanding its inherent defects and the
+objections of opponents, the Charter was a very practicable political
+implement. Power and liberty found ample scope there for exercise and
+defence; the workmen were much less adapted to the machine than the
+machine to the work.
+
+Thoroughly distinguished from each other in ideas and character, and
+extremely unequal in mind and merit, the three leading Ministers of
+Louis XVIII. at that epoch, M. de Talleyrand, the Abbé de Montesquiou,
+and M. de Blacas, were all specially unsuited to the government they
+were called on to found.
+
+I say only what I truly think; yet I do not feel myself compelled, in
+speaking of those with whom I have come in contact, to say all that I
+think. I owe nothing to M. de Talleyrand; in my public career he
+thwarted rather than assisted me; but when we have been much associated
+with an eminent man, and have long reciprocated amicable intercourse,
+self-respect renders it imperative to speak of him with a certain degree
+of reserve. At the crisis of the Restoration, M. de Talleyrand
+displayed, in a very superior manner, the qualities of sagacity, cool
+determination, and preponderating influence. Not long after, at Vienna,
+he manifested the same endowments, and others even more rare and
+apposite, when representing the House of Bourbon and the European
+interests of France. But except in a crisis or a congress, he was
+neither able nor powerful. A courtier and a politician, no advocate upon
+conviction, for any particular form of government, and less for
+representative government than for any other, he excelled in negotiating
+with insulated individuals, by the power of conversation, by the charm
+and skilful employment of social relations; but in authority of
+character, in fertility of mental resources, in promptitude of
+resolution, in command of language, in the sympathetic association of
+general ideas with public passions,--in all these great sources of
+influence upon collected assemblies, he was absolutely deficient.
+Besides which, he had neither the inclination nor habit of sustained,
+systematic labour, another important condition of internal government.
+He was at once ambitious and indolent, a flatterer and a scoffer, a
+consummate courtier in the art of pleasing and of serving without the
+appearance of servility; ready for everything, and capable of any
+pliability that might assist his fortune, preserving always the mien,
+and recurring at need to the attractions of independence; a diplomatist
+without scruples, indifferent as to means, and almost equally careless
+as to the end, provided only that the end advanced his personal
+interest. More bold than profound in his views, calmly courageous in
+danger, well suited to the great enterprises of absolute government, but
+insensible to the true atmosphere and light of liberty, in which he felt
+himself lost and incapable of action. He was too glad to escape from the
+Chambers and from France, to find once more at Vienna a congenial sphere
+and associations.
+
+As completely a courtier as M. de Talleyrand, and more thoroughly
+belonging to the old system, the Abbé de Montesquiou was better suited
+to hold his ground under a constitutional government, and occupied a
+more favourable position for such a purpose, at this period of
+uncertainty. He stood high in the estimation of the King and the
+Royalists, having ever remained immovably faithful to his cause, his
+order, his friends, and his sovereign. He was in no danger of being
+taxed as a revolutionist, or of having his name associated with
+unpleasant reminiscences. Through a rare disinterestedness, and the
+consistent simplicity of his life, he had won the confidence of all
+honest men. His character was open, his disposition frank, his mind
+richly cultivated, and his conversation unreserved, without being
+exceptious as to those with whom he might be conversing. He could render
+himself acceptable to the middle classes, although indications of pride
+and aristocratic haughtiness might be occasionally detected in his words
+and manner. These symptoms were only perceptible to delicate
+investigators; by the great majority he was considered affable and
+unassuming. In the Chambers he spoke with ease and animation, if not
+with eloquence, and often indulged in an attractive play of fancy. He
+could have rendered good service to the constitutional government, had
+he either loved or trusted it; but he joined it without faith or
+preference, as a measure of necessity, to be evaded or restrained even
+during the term of endurance. Through habit, and deference for his
+party, or rather for his immediate coterie, he was perpetually recurring
+to the traditions and tendencies of the old system, and endeavouring to
+carry his listeners with him by shallow subtleties and weak arguments,
+which were sometimes retorted upon himself. One day, partly in jest, and
+partly in earnest, he proposed to M. Royer-Collard to obtain for him
+from the King the title of Count. "Count?" replied M. Royer-Collard, in
+the same tone, "make yourself a Count?" The Abbé de Montesquieu smiled,
+with a slight expression of disappointment, at this freak of citizen
+pride. He believed the old aristocracy to be beaten down, but he wished
+to revive and strengthen it by an infusion with the new orders. He
+miscalculated in supposing that none amongst the latter class would,
+from certain instinctive tendencies, think lightly of a title which
+flattered their interests, or that they could be won over by
+conciliation without sympathy. He was a thoroughly honourable man, with
+a heart more liberal than his ideas, of an enlightened and accomplished
+mind, naturally elegant, but volatile, inconsiderate, and absent; little
+suited for long and bitter contentions, formed to please rather than to
+control, and incapable of leading his party or himself in the course in
+which reason suggested that they should follow.
+
+In the character of M. de Blacas there were no such apparent
+inconsistencies. Not that he was either an ardent, or a decided and
+stirring partisan of the contra-revolutionary reaction; he was moderate
+through coldness of temperament, and a fear of compromising the King, to
+whom he was sincerely devoted, rather than from clear penetration. But
+neither his moderation nor his loyalty gave him any insight into the
+true state of the country, or any desire to occupy himself with the
+subject. He remained at the Tuileries what he had been at Hartwell, a
+country gentleman, an emigrant, a courtier, and a steady and courageous
+favourite, not deficient in personal dignity or domestic tact, but with
+no political genius, no ambition, no statesmanlike activity, and almost
+as entirely a stranger to France as before his return. He impeded the
+Government more than he pretended to govern, taking a larger share in
+the quarrels and intrigues of the palace, than in the deliberations of
+the Council, and doing much more injury to public affairs by utter
+neglect, than by direct interference.
+
+I do not think it would have been impossible for an active, determined
+monarch to employ these three ministers profitably, and at the same
+time, however much they differed from one another. Neither of them
+aspired to the helm, and each, in his proper sphere, could have rendered
+good service. M. de Talleyrand desired nothing better than to negotiate
+with Europe; the Abbé de Montesquiou had no desire to rule at court, and
+M. de Blacas, calm, prudent, and faithful, might have been found a
+valuable confidant in opposition to the pretensions and secret intrigues
+of courtiers and princes. But Louis XVIII. was not in the least capable
+of governing his ministers. As a King he possessed great negative or
+promissory qualities, but few that were active and immediate. Outwardly
+imposing, judicious, acute, and circumspect, he could reconcile,
+restrain, and defeat; but he could neither inspire, direct, nor give the
+impulse while he held the reins. He had few ideas, and no passion.
+Persevering application to business was as little suited to him, as
+active movement. He sufficiently maintained his rank, his rights, and
+his power, and seldom committed a glaring mistake; but when once his
+dignity and prudence were vindicated, he allowed things to take their
+own course; with too little energy of mind and body to control men, and
+force them to act in concert for the accomplishment of his wishes.
+
+From my inexperience, and the nature of my secondary post in a special
+department, I was far from perceiving the full mischief of this
+absence of unity and supreme direction in the Government. The
+Abbé de Montesquiou sometimes mentioned it to me with impatience and
+regret. He was amongst the few who had sufficient sense and honesty not
+to deceive themselves as to their own defects. He reposed great
+confidence in me, although even within his most intimate circle of
+associates, efforts had been made to check this disposition. With
+generous irony, he replied to those who objected to me as a Protestant,
+"Do you think I intend to make him Pope?" With his habitual unrestraint,
+he communicated to me his vexations at the Court, his differences with
+M. de Blacas, his impotence to do what he thought good, or to prevent
+what he considered evil. He went far beyond this freedom of
+conversation, by consigning to me, in his department, many matters
+beyond the duties of my specific office, and would have allowed me to
+assume a considerable portion of his power.[4] Thus I became associated,
+during his administration, with three important circumstances, the only
+ones I shall dwell on, for I am not writing the history of the time; I
+merely relate what I did, saw, and thought myself, in the general course
+of events.
+
+The Charter being promulgated, and the Government settled, I suggested
+to the Abbé de Montesquiou that it would be well for the King to place
+before the Chambers a summary of the internal condition of France, as he
+had found it, showing the results of the preceding system, and
+explaining the spirit of that which he proposed to establish. The
+Minister was pleased with the idea, the King adopted it, and I
+immediately applied myself to the work. The Abbé de Montesquiou also
+assisted; for he wrote well, and took personal pleasure in the task. On
+the 12th of July, the statement was presented to the two Chambers, who
+thanked the King by separate addresses. It contained, without
+exaggeration or concealment, a true picture of the miseries which
+unlimited and incessant war had inflicted on France, and the moral and
+physical wounds which it had left to be healed,--a strange portrait,
+when considered with reference to those which Napoleon, under the
+Consulate and the dawning Empire, had also given to the world; and which
+eulogized, with good reason at the time, the restoration of order, the
+establishment of rule, the revival of prosperity, with all the excellent
+effects of strong, able, and rational power. The descriptions were
+equally true, although immeasurably different; and precisely in this
+contrast lay the startling moral with which the history of the Imperial
+despotism had just concluded. The Abbé de Montesquiou ought to have
+placed the glorious edifices of the Consulate side by side with the
+deserved ruins of the Empire. Instead of losing by this course, he would
+have added to the impression he intended to produce; but men are seldom
+disposed to praise their enemies, even though the effect should be to
+injure them. By alluding only to the disasters of Napoleon, and their
+fatal consequences, the exposition of the state of the kingdom in 1814
+was undignified, and appeared to be unjust. The points in which it
+reflected honour on the authority from whence it emanated, were the
+moral tone, the liberal spirit, and the absence of all quackery, which
+were its leading features. These recommendations had their weight with
+right-minded, sensible people; but they passed for little with a public
+accustomed to the dazzling noise and bustle of the power which had
+recently been extinguished.
+
+Another exposition, more special, but of greater urgency, was presented
+a few days after, by the Minister of Finance, to the Chamber of
+Deputies. This included the amount of debt bequeathed by the Empire to
+the Restoration, with the Ministerial plan for meeting the arrear, as
+well as providing for the exigencies of 1814 and 1815. Amongst all the
+Government officials of my time, I have never been acquainted with any
+one more completely a public servant, or more passionately devoted to
+the public interest, than the Baron Louis. Ever resolved to cast aside
+all other considerations, he cared neither for personal risk nor labour,
+in promoting the success of what that interest demanded. It was not only
+the carrying out of his financial measures that he so ardently desired;
+he made these subservient to the general policy of which they were a
+portion. In 1830, in the midst of the disturbances occasioned by the
+Revolution of July, I one day, as Minister of the Interior, demanded
+from the Council, in which the Baron Louis also had a seat as Minister
+of Finance, the allocation of a large sum. Objections were made by
+several of our colleagues, on account of the embarrassed state of the
+treasury. "Govern well," said the Baron Louis to me, "and you will never
+spend as much money as I shall be able to supply." A judicious speech,
+worthy of a frank, uncompromising disposition, controlled by a firm and
+consistent judgment. The Baron Louis's financial scheme was founded on a
+double basis,--constitutional order in the State, and probity in the
+Government. With these two conditions, he reckoned confidently on public
+prosperity and credit, without being dismayed by debts to be paid, or
+expenses incurred. His assertions as to the closing state of the
+finances under the Empire, drew from the Count Mollien, the last
+Minister of the Imperial treasury, a man as able as he was honest, some
+well-founded remonstrances, and his measures were in consequence
+severely opposed in the Chambers. He had to contend with dishonest
+traditions, the passions of the old system, and the narrow views of
+little minds. The Baron Louis maintained the struggle with equal
+enthusiasm and perseverance. It was fortunate for him that
+M. de Talleyrand and the Abbé de Montesquiou had been his associates in
+the Church in early youth, and had always maintained a close intimacy
+with him. Both having enlightened views on political economy, they
+supported him strongly in the Council and in the Chambers. The
+Prince de Talleyrand even undertook to present his bill to the Chamber
+of Peers, adopting boldly the responsibility and the principles. This
+sound policy was well carried through by the whole cabinet, and justly
+met with complete success, in spite of prejudiced or ignorant
+opposition.
+
+It was not exactly the same with another measure in which I took a more
+active part,--the bill relating to the press, presented to the Chamber
+of Deputies on the 5th of July by the Abbé de Montesquiou, and which
+passed into law on the 21st of the following October, after having
+undergone, in both assemblies, animated debates and important
+amendments.
+
+In its first conception, this bill was reasonable and sincere. The
+object was to consecrate by legislative enactment the liberty of the
+press, both as a public right and as a general and permanent institution
+of the country; and at the same time, on the morrow of a great
+revolution and a long despotism, and on the advent of a free government,
+to impose some temporary and limited restrictions. The two persons who
+had taken the most active part in framing this bill, M. Royer-Collard
+and myself, were actuated simply and solely by this double end. I may
+refer the reader to a short work which I published at the time,[5] a
+little before the introduction of the bill, and in which its spirit and
+intention are stated without reserve.
+
+It must be evident that the King and the two Chambers had the right of
+prescribing in concert, temporarily, and from the pressure of
+circumstances, certain limitations to one of the privileges recognized
+by the Charter. This cannot be denied without repudiating constitutional
+government itself, and its habitual practice in those countries in which
+it is developed with the greatest vigour. Provisional enactments have
+frequently modified or suspended, in England, the leading constitutional
+privileges; and with regard to the liberty of the press in particular,
+it was not until five years after the Revolution of 1688 that, under the
+reign of William III. in 1693, it was relieved from the censorship.
+
+I recognize no greater danger to free institutions than that blind
+tyranny which the habitual fanaticism of partisanship, whether of a
+faction or a small segment, pretends to exercise in the name of liberal
+ideas. Are you a staunch advocate for constitutional government and
+political guarantees? Do you wish to live and act in co-operation with
+the party which hoists this standard? Renounce at once your judgment and
+your independence. In that party you will find upon all questions and
+under all circumstances, opinions ready formed, and resolutions settled
+beforehand, which assume the right of your entire control. Self-evident
+facts are in open contradiction to these opinions--you are forbidden to
+see them. Powerful obstacles oppose these resolutions--you are
+not allowed to think of them. Equity and prudence suggest
+circumspection--you must cast it aside. You are in presence of a
+superstitious _Credo_, and a popular passion. Do not argue--you would no
+longer be a Liberal. Do not oppose--you would be looked upon as a
+mutineer. Obey, advance--no matter at what pace you are urged, or on
+what road. If you cease to be a slave, you instantly become a deserter!
+
+My clear judgment and a little natural pride revolted invincibly against
+this yoke. I never imagined that even the best system of institutions
+could be at once imposed on a country without some remembrance of recent
+events and actual facts, both as regarded the dispositions of a
+considerable portion of the country itself and of its necessary rulers.
+I saw not only the King, his family, and a great number of the old
+Royalists, but even in new France, a crowd of well-meaning citizens and
+enlightened minds--perhaps a majority of the middle and substantial
+classes--extremely uneasy at the idea of the unrestricted liberty of the
+press, and at the dangers to which it might expose public peace, as well
+as moral and political order. Without participating to the same extent
+in their apprehensions, I was myself struck by the excesses in which the
+press had already begun to indulge; by the deluge of recriminations,
+accusations, surmises, predictions, animated invectives, or frivolous
+sarcasms, which threatened to rouse into hostility all parties, with all
+their respective errors, falsehoods, fears, and antipathies. With these
+feelings and facts before me, I should have considered myself a madman
+to have treated them lightly, and therefore I decided at once that a
+temporary limitation of liberty, in respect to journals and pamphlets
+alone, was not too great a sacrifice for the removal of such perils and
+fears, or at least to give the country time to overcome by becoming
+accustomed to them.
+
+But to ensure the success of a sound measure, open honesty is
+indispensable. Whether in the proposition or the debate, Government
+itself was called upon to proclaim the general right, as well as the
+limits and reasons for the partial restriction which it was about to
+introduce. It ought not to have evaded the principle of the liberty or
+the character of the restraining law. This course was not adopted.
+Neither the King nor his advisers had formed any fixed design against
+the freedom of the press; but they were more disposed to control it in
+fact than to acknowledge it in right, and wished rather that the new
+law, instead of giving additional sanction to the principle recorded in
+the Charter, should leave it in rather a vague state of doubt and
+hesitation. When the bill was introduced, its true intent and bearing
+were not clearly indicated. Weak himself, and yielding still more to the
+weaknesses of others, the Abbé de Montesquiou endeavoured to give the
+debate a moral and literary, rather than a political turn. According to
+his view, the question before them was the protection of literature and
+science, of good taste and manners, and not the exercise and guarantee
+of an acknowledged public right. An amendment in the Chamber of Peers
+was necessary to invest the measure with the political and temporary
+character which it ought to have borne from the beginning, and which
+alone confined it to its real objects and within its legitimate limits.
+The Government accepted the amendment without hesitation, but its
+position had become embarrassed. Mistrust, the most credulous of all
+passions, spread rapidly amongst the Liberals. Those who were not
+enemies to the Restoration had, like it, their foibles. The love of
+popularity had seized them, but they had not yet acquired foresight.
+They gladly embraced this opportunity of making themselves, with some
+display, the champions of a Constitutional principle which in fact was
+in no danger, but which power had assumed the air of eluding or
+disavowing. Three of the five honourable members who had been the first
+to restrain the Imperial despotism--Messrs. Raynouard, Gallois, and
+Flaugergues--were the declared adversaries of the bill; and in
+consequence of not having been boldly presented, from the opening, under
+its real and legitimate aspect, the measure entailed more discredit on
+the Government than it afforded them security.
+
+The liberty of the press, that stormy guarantee of modern civilization,
+has already been, is, and will continue to be the roughest trial of free
+governments, and consequently of free people, who are greatly
+compromised in the struggles of their rulers; for in the event of
+defeat, they have no alternative but anarchy or tyranny. Free nations
+and governments have but one honourable and effective method of dealing
+with the liberty of the press,--to adopt it frankly, without undue
+complaisance. Let them not make it a martyr or an idol, but leave it in
+its proper place, without elevating it beyond its natural rank. The
+liberty of the press is neither a power in the State, nor the
+representative of the public mind, nor the supreme judge of the
+executive authorities; it is simply the right of all citizens to give
+their opinions upon public affairs and the conduct of Government,--a
+powerful and respectable privilege, but one naturally overbearing, and
+which, to be made salutary, requires that the constituted authorities
+should never humiliate themselves before it, and that they should impose
+on it that serious and constant responsibility which ought to weigh upon
+all rights, to prevent them from becoming at first seditious, and
+afterwards tyrannical.
+
+The third measure of importance in which I was concerned at this epoch,
+the reform of the general system of public instruction, by a Royal
+ordinance of the 17th of February, 1815, created much less sensation
+than the Law of the Press, and produced even less effect than noise; for
+its execution was entirely suspended by the catastrophe of the 20th of
+March, and not resumed after the Hundred Days. There were more important
+matters then under consideration. This measure was what is now called
+the de-centralization of the University.[6] Seventeen separate
+Universities, established in the principal cities of the kingdom, were
+to be substituted for the one general University of the Empire. Each of
+these local colleges was to have a complete and separate organization,
+both as regarded the different degrees of instruction and the various
+scholastic establishments within its jurisdiction. Over the seventeen
+Universities a Royal Council and a great Normal School were appointed,
+one to superintend the general course of public teaching, and the other
+to train up for professors the chosen scholars who had prepared
+themselves for that career, and who were to be supplied from the local
+Universities. There were two motives for this reform. The first was a
+desire to establish, in the departments, and quite independent of Paris,
+leading centres of learning and intellectual activity; the second, a
+wish to abolish the absolute power which, in the Imperial University,
+held sole control over the establishments and the masters, and to bring
+the former under a closer and more immediate authority, by giving the
+latter more permanence, dignity, and independence in their respective
+positions. These were sound ideas, to carry out which the decree of the
+17th of February, 1815, was but a timid rather than an extended and
+powerful application. The local Universities were too numerous. France
+does not supply seventeen natural centres of high learning. Four or five
+would have sufficed, and more could not have been rendered successful or
+productive. The forgotten reform which I am here recalling had yet
+another fault. It was introduced too soon, and was the result, at once
+systematic and incomplete, of the meditations of certain men long
+impressed with the deficiencies of the University system, and not really
+the fruit of public impulse and opinion. Another influence also appeared
+in it, that of the clergy, who silently commenced at that time their
+struggle with the University, and adroitly looked for the extension of
+their personal power in the progress of general liberty. The decree of
+the 17th of February, 1815, opened this arena, which has since been so
+fiercely agitated. The Abbé de Montesquiou hastened to bestow on the
+clergy an early gratification, that of seeing one of their most justly
+esteemed members, M. de Beausset, formerly Bishop of Alais, at the head
+of the Royal Council. The Liberals of the University gladly seized this
+occasion of increasing their action and independence; and the King,
+Louis XVIII., voluntarily charged his civil list with an additional
+million for the immediate abolition of the University tax, until a new
+law, contained in the preamble of the decree, should come into operation
+to complete the reform, and provide from the public funds for all the
+requirements of the new system.
+
+It becomes my duty here to express my regret for an error which I ought
+to have endeavoured more urgently to prevent. In this reform, the
+opinion and situation of M. de Fontanes were not sufficiently estimated.
+As head of the Imperial University, he had rendered such eminent
+services to public instruction, that the title of Grand Officer of the
+Legion of Honour was far from being a sufficient compensation for the
+retirement which the new system rendered, in his case, desirable and
+almost necessary.
+
+But neither reform in public education, nor any other reform, excited
+much interest at that moment, when France was entirely given up to
+different considerations. Having scarcely entered on the new system, a
+sudden impression of alarm and mistrust began to rise and expand from
+day to day. This system was liberty, with its uncertainties, its
+contests, and its perils. No one was accustomed to liberty, and liberty
+contented no one. From the Restoration, the men of old France promised
+themselves the ascendency; from the Charter, new France expected
+security. Both were dissatisfied. They found themselves drawn up in
+presence of each other, with their opposing passions and pretensions. It
+was a sad disappointment for the Royalists to find the King victorious
+without their being included in the triumph; and it was a bitter
+necessity which reduced the men of the Revolution to the defensive after
+they had so long domineered. Both parties felt surprised and irritated
+at their position, as equally an insult to their dignity and an attack
+upon their rights. In their irritation, they gave themselves up, in
+words and projects, to all the fantasies and transports of their wishes
+and apprehensions. Amongst the rich and powerful of the old classes,
+many indulged, towards the influential members of the new, in menaces
+and insults. At the Court, in the drawing-rooms of Paris, and much more
+in the provinces, by newspapers, pamphlets, and conversation, and in the
+daily conduct of their private lives, the nobles and the citizens, the
+clergy and the laity, the emigrants and the purchasers of national
+property, allowed their animosities, their ill humour, their dreams of
+hope and fear, to exhibit themselves without disguise. This was nothing
+more than the natural and inevitable consequence of the extreme novelty
+of the system which the Charter, seriously interpreted and exercised,
+had suddenly introduced into France. During the Revolution there was
+contest; under the Empire silence; but the Restoration introduced
+liberty into the bosom of peace. In the general inexperience and
+susceptibility, the excitement and stir of freedom amounted to civil war
+on the eve of re-commencement.
+
+To meet the difficulties of such a state of things, to preserve at the
+same time liberty and peace, to cure the wounds without restraining the
+blows, no Government could have been too strong or too able. Louis
+XVIII. and his advisers were unequal to the task. With regard to a
+liberal system, they were neither more experienced nor inured than
+France herself. Their acts appeared to be regulated by no steady
+conviction: they believed that the Charter would check the birth of
+discontent; but when discontent manifested itself rather vehemently,
+they hastened to calm it down by abandoning or modifying the measures
+through which it had been excited. The celebrated rescript of Count
+Beugnot,[7] on the observance of Sundays and religious festivals, ended
+in an abortive law which never came into operation. The offensive
+expressions of Count Ferrand, on introducing to the Chamber of Deputies
+the bill for the restitution of unsold estates to their old
+proprietors,[8] was loudly disavowed, not only in the speeches, but in
+the resolutions and conduct of the Government in that matter. In
+reality, the interests which imagined themselves threatened were in no
+danger whatever; and in the midst of the alarms and remonstrances of
+France, the King and his principal ministers were much more inclined to
+yield than to contend. But having performed this act of constitutional
+wisdom, they believed themselves emancipated from all care, and relapsed
+back into their old tastes and habits, desirous also to live in peace
+with their ancient and familiar friends. It was indeed but a modified
+power, which attached importance to its oaths, and conceived no
+formidable designs against the new rights and interests of the country;
+but it was also an authority without leading vigour, isolated and a
+stranger in its own kingdom, divided and embarrassed within itself, weak
+with its enemies, weak with its friends, seeking only for personal
+security in repose, and called upon hourly to deal with a stubborn and
+restless people, who had suddenly passed from the rugged shocks of
+revolution and war to the difficult exercise of liberty.
+
+Under the prolonged influence of this liberty, such a Government,
+without obstinate prejudices, and disposed to follow public opinion when
+clearly expressed, might have corrected while strengthening itself, and
+from day to day have become more competent to its task. But this
+required time and the concurrence of the country. The country,
+discontented and unsettled, neither knew how to wait nor assist. Of all
+the knowledge necessary to a free people, the most essential point is to
+learn how to bear what displeases them, that they may preserve the
+advantages they possess, and acquire those they desire.
+
+There has been much discussion as to what plots and conspirators
+overthrew the Bourbons, and brought back Napoleon, on the 20th of March,
+1815,--a question of inferior importance, and interesting only as an
+historical curiosity. It is certain that from 1814 to 1815 there
+existed in the army and with the remnants of the Revolution, amongst
+generals and conventionalists, many plans and secret practices against
+the Restoration, and in favour of a new Government,--either the Empire,
+a regency, the Duke of Orleans, or a republic. Marshal Davoust promised
+his support to the Imperial party, and Fouché offered his to all. But if
+Napoleon had remained motionless at the island of Elba, these
+revolutionary projects would, in all probability, have successively
+failed, as did those of the Generals d'Erlon, Lallemand, and Lefèvre
+Desnouettes, even so late as the month of March. The fatuity of the
+contrivers of conspiracy is incalculable; and when the event seems to
+justify them, they attribute to themselves the result which has been
+achieved by mightier and much more complicated causes than their
+machinations. It was Napoleon alone who dethroned the Bourbons in 1815,
+by calling up, in his own person, the fanatical devotion of the army,
+and the revolutionary instincts of the popular masses.
+
+However tottering might be the monarchy lately restored, it required
+that great man and a combination of these great social powers to subvert
+it. Stupefied and intimidated, France left events to their course,
+without opposition or confidence. Napoleon adopted this opinion, with
+his admirable penetration:--"They allowed me to arrive," he said to
+Count Mollien, "as they permitted the others to depart."
+
+Four times in less than half a century we have seen kings traverse their
+realms as fugitives. Different enemies have described, with evident
+pleasure, their helplessness and destitution in flight,--a mean and
+senseless gratification, which no one, in the present day, has a right
+to indulge. The retreats of Napoleon in 1814 and 1815 were neither more
+brilliant nor less bitter than those of Louis XVIII. on the 20th of
+March, 1815, of Charles X. in 1830, and of Louis Philippe in 1848. Each
+state of greatness endured the same degradation; every party has the
+same need of modesty and mutual respect. I myself, as much as any
+participator, was impressed, on the 20th of March, 1815, with the
+blindness, the hesitation, the imbecility, the misery of every
+description, to which that terrible explosion gave birth. It would
+afford me no pleasure, and would lead to no advantage, to repeat them.
+People are too much inclined at present to conceal their own weaknesses
+under a display of the deficiencies of royalty. I prefer recording that
+neither royal nor national dignity were wanting at that epoch in noble
+representatives. The Duchess d'Angoulême, at Bordeaux, evinced courage
+equal to her misfortunes, and M. Lainé, as president of the Chamber of
+Deputies, protested fearlessly on the 28th of March, in the name of
+justice and liberty, against the event at that time fully accomplished,
+and which no longer encountered, through the wide extent of France, any
+resistance beyond the solitary accents of his voice.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 4: Included in the "Historic Documents," are two letters
+addressed to me by the Abbé de Montesquiou in 1815 and 1816, which
+furnish an idea of my intimacy with him, and show the natural and
+amiable turn of his mind. (Historic Documents, No. IV.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: 'Thoughts upon the Liberty of the Press,' 52 pages, 8vo,
+Paris, 1814. Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+some passages from this pamphlet are inserted, which indicate clearly
+its object and character. (Historic Documents, No. V.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Amongst the "Historic Documents" I include the text of this
+decree, and the report to the King which explains its object and
+bearing. (Historic Documents, No. VI.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: June 7th, 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 8: September 13th, 1814.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE HUNDRED DAYS.
+
+1815.
+
+     I IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, TO RESUME MY
+     LECTURES.--UNSETTLED FEELING OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES ON THE RETURN OF
+     NAPOLEON.--ITS REAL CAUSES.--SENTIMENTS OF FOREIGN NATIONS AND
+     GOVERNMENTS TOWARDS NAPOLEON.--APPARENT RECONCILIATION, BUT
+     REAL STRUGGLE, BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND THE LIBERALS.--THE
+     FEDERATES.--CARNOT AND FOUCHÉ.--DEMONSTRATION OF LIBERTY DURING THE
+     HUNDRED DAYS, EVEN IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE.--LOUIS XVIII. AND HIS
+     COUNCIL AT GHENT.--THE CONGRESS AND M. DE TALLEYRAND AT VIENNA.--I
+     GO TO GHENT ON THE PART OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ROYALIST COMMITTEE AT
+     PARIS.--MY MOTIONS AND OPINIONS DURING THIS JOURNEY.--STATE OF
+     PARTIES AT GHENT.--MY CONVERSATION WITH LOUIS XVIII.--M. DE
+     BLACAS.--M. DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.--M. DE TALLEYRAND RETURNS FROM
+     VIENNA.--LOUIS XVIII. RE-ENTERS FRANCE.--INTRIGUE PLANNED AT MONS
+     AND DEFEATED AT CAMBRAY.--BLINDNESS AND IMBECILITY OF THE CHAMBER
+     OF REPRESENTATIVES.--MY OPINION RESPECTING THE ADMISSION OF FOUCHÉ
+     INTO THE KING'S CABINET.
+
+
+The King having quitted, and the Emperor having re-entered Paris, I
+resumed my literary pursuits, determined to keep aloof from all secret
+intrigue, all useless agitation, and to occupy myself with my historical
+labours and studies, not without a lively regret that the political
+career which had scarcely opened to me, should be so suddenly closed.[9]
+It is true I did not believe that I was excluded beyond the possibility
+of return. Not but that the miraculous success of Napoleon had convinced
+me there was a power within him which, after witnessing his fall, I was
+far from believing. Never was personal greatness displayed with more
+astounding splendour; never had an act more audacious, or better
+calculated in its audacity, arrested the imagination of nations. Neither
+was external support wanting to the man who relied so much on himself,
+and on himself alone.
+
+The army identified itself with him, with an enthusiastic and blind
+devotion. Amongst the popular masses, a revolutionary and warlike
+spirit, hatred of the old system and national pride, rose up at his
+appearance and rushed madly to his aid. Accompanied by fervent
+worshippers, he re-ascended a throne abandoned to him on his approach.
+But by the side of this overwhelming power, there appeared almost
+simultaneously a proportionate weakness. He who had traversed France in
+triumph, and who by personal influence had swept all with him, friends
+and enemies, re-entered Paris at night, exactly as Louis XVIII. had
+quitted that capital, his carriage surrounded by dragoons, and only
+encountering on his passage a scanty and moody populace. Enthusiasm had
+accompanied him throughout his journey; but at its termination he found
+coldness, doubt, widely disseminated mistrust, and cautious reserve;
+France divided, and Europe irrevocably hostile.
+
+The upper, and particularly the middle classes, have often been
+reproached with their indifference and selfishness. It has been said
+that they think only of their personal interests, and are incapable of
+public principle and patriotism. I am amongst those who believe that
+nations, and the different classes that constitute nations--and, above
+all, nations that desire to be free--can only live in security and
+credit under a condition of moral perseverance and energy; with feelings
+of devotion to their cause, and with the power of opposing courage and
+self-sacrifice to danger. But devotion does not exclude sound sense, nor
+courage intelligence. It would be too convenient for ambitious
+pretenders, to have blind and fearless attachment ever ready at their
+command. It is often the case with popular feeling, that the multitude,
+army or people, ignorant, unreflecting, and short-sighted, become too
+frequently, from generous impulse, the instruments and dupes of
+individual selfishness, much more perverse and more indifferent to their
+fate than that of which the wealthy and enlightened orders are so
+readily accused. Napoleon, perhaps more than any other eminent leader of
+his class, has exacted from military and civil devotion the most trying
+proofs; and when, on the 21st of June, 1815, his brother Lucien, in the
+Chamber of Representatives, reproached France with not having upheld him
+with sufficient ardour and constancy, M. de la Fayette exclaimed, with
+justice: "By what right is the nation accused of want of devotion and
+energy towards the Emperor Napoleon? It has followed him to the burning
+sands of Egypt, and the icy deserts of Moscow; in fifty battle-fields,
+in disaster as well as in triumph, in the course of ten years, three
+millions of Frenchmen have perished in his service. We have done enough
+for him!"
+
+Great and small, nobility, citizens, and peasants, rich and poor,
+learned and ignorant, generals and private soldiers, the French people
+in a mass had, at least, done and suffered enough in Napoleon's cause to
+give them the right of refusing to follow him blindly, without first
+examining whether he was leading them, to safety or to ruin.
+
+The unsettled feeling of the middle classes in 1815 was a legitimate and
+patriotic disquietude. What they wanted, and what they had a right to
+demand, for the advantage of the entire nation as well as for their own
+peculiar interests, was that peace and liberty should be secured to
+them; but they had good reason to question the power of Napoleon to
+accomplish these objects.
+
+Their doubts materially increased when they ascertained the Manifesto of
+the Allied Powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, their declaration
+of March 13th, and their treaty of the 25th. Every reflecting mind of
+the present day must see, that unless the nation had obstinately closed
+its eyes, it could not delude itself as to the actual situation of the
+Emperor Napoleon, and his prospects for the future. Not only did the
+Allied Powers, in proclaiming him the enemy and disturber of the peace
+of the whole world, declare war against him to the last extremity, and
+engage themselves to unite their strength in this common cause, but they
+professed themselves ready to afford to the King of France and the
+French nation the assistance necessary to re-establish public
+tranquillity; and they expressly invited Louis XVIII. to give his
+adhesion to their treaty of March 25th. They laid it down also as a
+principle, that the work of general pacification and reconstruction
+accomplished in Paris by the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814, between
+the King of France and confederated Europe, was in no degree nullified
+by the violent outbreak which had recently burst forth; and that they
+should maintain it against Napoleon, whose return and sudden
+success--the fruit of military and revolutionary excitement--could
+establish no European right whatever, and could never be considered by
+them as the prevailing and true desire of France:--a solemn instance of
+the implacable judgments that, assisted by God and time, great errors
+draw down upon their authors!
+
+The partisans of Napoleon might dispute the opinion of the Allied Powers
+as to the wishes of France; they might believe that, for the honour of
+her independence, she owed him her support; but they could not pretend
+that foreign nations should not also have their independence at heart,
+nor persuade them that, with Napoleon master of France, they could ever
+be secure. No promises, no treaties, no embarrassments, no reverses,
+could give them confidence in his future moderation. His character and
+his history deprived his word of all credit.
+
+It was not alone governments, kings, and ministers who showed themselves
+thus firmly determined to oppose Napoleon's return; foreign nations were
+even more distrustful and more violent against him. He had not alone
+overwhelmed them with wars, taxes, invasions, and dismemberments; he had
+insulted as much as he had oppressed them. The Germans, especially, bore
+him undying hatred. They burned to revenge the injuries of the Queen of
+Prussia, and the contempt with which their entire race had been treated.
+The bitter taunts in which he had often indulged when speaking of them
+were repeated in every quarter, spread abroad and commented on, probably
+with exaggeration readily credited. After the campaign in Russia, the
+Emperor was conversing, one day, on the loss sustained by the French
+army during that terrible struggle. The Duke of Vicenza estimated it at
+200,000 men. "No, no," interrupted Napoleon, "you are mistaken; it was
+not so much." But, after considering a moment, he continued, "And yet
+you can scarcely be wrong; but there were a great many Germans amongst
+them." The Duke of Vicenza himself related this contemptuous remark to
+me; and the Emperor Napoleon must have been pleased both with the
+calculation and reply, for on the 28th of June, 1813, at Dresden, in a
+conversation which has since become celebrated, he held the same
+language to the Prime Minister of the first of the German Powers, to
+M. de Metternich himself. Who can estimate the extent of indignation
+roused by such words and actions, in the souls not only of the heads of
+the government and army--- amongst the Steins, Gneisenaus, Blüchers, and
+Müfflings--but in those of the entire nation? The universal feeling of
+the people of Germany was as fully displayed at the Congress of Vienna
+as the foresight of their diplomatists and the will of their sovereigns.
+
+Napoleon, in quitting Elba, deceived himself as to the disposition of
+Europe towards him. Did he entertain the hope of treating with and
+dividing the Coalition? This has been often asserted, and it may be
+true; for the strongest minds seldom recognize all the difficulties of
+their situation. But, once arrived at Paris, and informed of the
+proceedings of the Congress, he beheld his position in its true light,
+and his clear and comprehensive judgment at once grappled with it in all
+its bearings. His conversations with the thinking men who were then
+about him, M. Molé and the Duke of Vicenza, confirm this opinion. He
+sought still to keep the public in the uncertainty that he himself no
+longer felt. The Manifesto of the Congress of the 13th of March was not
+published in the 'Moniteur' until the 5th of April, and the treaty of
+the 25th of March only on the 3rd of May. Napoleon added long
+commentaries to these documents, to prove that it was impossible they
+could express the final intentions of Europe. At Vienna, both by
+solemnly official letters and secret emissaries, he made several
+attempts to renew former relations with the Emperor Francis, his
+father-in-law, to obtain the return of his wife and son, to promote
+disunion, or at least mistrust, between the Emperor Alexander and the
+sovereigns of England and Austria, and to bring back to his side Prince
+Metternich, and even M. de Talleyrand himself. He probably did not
+expect much from these advances, and felt little surprise at not
+finding, in family ties and feelings, a support against political
+interests and pledges. He understood and accepted without a sentiment of
+anger against any one, and perhaps without self-reproach, the situation
+to which the events of his past life had reduced him. It was that of a
+desperate gamester, who, though completely ruined, still plays on,
+alone, against a host of combined adversaries, a desperate game, with no
+other chance of success than one of those unforeseen strokes that the
+most consummate talent could never achieve, but that Fortune sometimes
+bestows upon her favourites.
+
+It has been, pretended, even by some of his warmest admirers, that at
+this period the genius and energy of Napoleon had declined; and they
+sought in his tendency to corpulence, in his attacks of languor, in his
+long slumbers, the explanation of his ill fortune. I believe the
+reproach to be unfounded, and the pretext frivolous. I can discover in
+the mind or actions of Napoleon during the hundred days, no symptoms of
+infirmity; I find, in both, his accustomed superiority. The causes of
+his ultimate failure were of a deeper cast: he was not then, as he had
+long been, upheld and backed by general opinion, and the necessity of
+security and order felt throughout a great nation; he attempted, on the
+contrary, a mischievous work, a work inspired only by his own passions
+and personal wants, rejected by the morality and good sense, as well as
+by the true interests of France. He engaged in this utterly egotistical
+enterprise with contradictory means, and in an impossible position. From
+thence came the reverses he suffered, and the evil he produced.
+
+It presented a strange spectacle to intelligent spectators, and one
+slightly tinged with the ridiculous, on both sides, to see Napoleon and
+the heads of the Liberal party arranged against each other, not to
+quarrel openly, but mutually to persuade, seduce, and control. A
+superficial glance sufficed to convince that there was little sincerity
+either in their dispute or reconciliation. Both well knew that the real
+struggle lay in other quarters, and that the question upon which their
+fate depended would be settled elsewhere than in these discussions.
+
+If Napoleon had triumphed over Europe, assuredly he would not long have
+remained the rival of M. de La Fayette and the disciple of Benjamin
+Constant; but when he lost the day of Waterloo, M. de La Fayette and his
+friends set themselves to work to complete his overthrow.
+
+From necessity and calculation, the true thoughts and passions of men
+are sometimes buried in the recesses of their hearts; but they quickly
+mount to the surface as soon as an opportunity occurs for their
+reappearing with success. Frequently did Napoleon resign himself, with
+infinite pliability, shrewdness, and perception, to the farce that he
+and the Liberals were playing together; at one moment gently, though
+obstinately, defending his old policy and real convictions; and at
+another yielding them up with good grace, but without positive
+renunciation, as if out of complaisance to opinions which he hesitated
+to acknowledge. But now and then, whether from premeditation or
+impatience, he violently resumed his natural character; and the despot,
+who was at once the child and conqueror of the Revolution, reappeared in
+complete individuality.
+
+When an attempt was made to induce him to insert, in the Additional Act
+to the Constitutions of the Empire, the abolition of the confiscation
+proclaimed by the Charter of Louis XVIII., he exclaimed passionately,
+"They drive me into a path that is not my own; they enfeeble and enchain
+me. France will seek, and find me no longer. Her opinion of me was once
+excellent; it is now execrable. France demands what has become of the
+old arm of the Emperor, the arm which she requires to control Europe.
+Why talk to me of innate virtue, of abstract justice, of natural laws?
+The first law is necessity; the first principle of justice is public
+safety ... Every day has its evil, every circumstance its law, every man
+his own nature; mine is not that of an angel. When peace is made, we
+shall see." On another occasion, on this same question of preparing the
+Additional Act, and with reference to the institution of an hereditary
+peerage, he yielded to the excursive rapidity of his mind, taking the
+subject by turns under different aspects, and giving unlimited vent to
+contradictory observations and opinions. "Hereditary peerage," said he,
+"is opposed to the present state of public opinion; it will wound the
+pride of the army, deceive the expectations of the partisans of
+equality, and raise against myself a thousand individual claims. Where
+do you wish me to look for the elements of that aristocracy which the
+peerage demands?... Nevertheless a constitution without an aristocracy
+resembles a balloon lost in the air. A ship is guided because there are
+two powers which balance each other; the helm finds a fulcrum. But a
+balloon is the sport of a single power; it has no fulcrum. The wind
+carries it where it will, and control is impossible."
+
+When the question of principle was decided, and the nomination of his
+hereditary house of peers came under consideration, Napoleon was anxious
+to include many names from amongst the old Royalists; but after mature
+reflection, he renounced this idea, "not," says Benjamin Constant,
+"without regret," and exclaimed, "We must have them sooner or later; but
+memories are too recent. Let us wait until after the battle--they will
+be with me if I prove the strongest."
+
+He would thus willingly have deferred all questions, and have done
+nothing until he came back a conqueror; but with the Restoration liberty
+once more re-entered France, and he himself had again woke up the
+Revolution. He found himself in conflict with these two forces,
+constrained to tolerate, and endeavouring to make use of them, until the
+moment should arrive when he might conquer both.
+
+He had no sooner adopted all the pledges of liberty that the Additional
+Act borrowed from the Charter, than he found he had still to deal with
+another ardent desire, another article of faith, of the Liberals, still
+more repugnant to his nature. They demanded an entirely new
+constitution, which should confer on him the Imperial crown by the will
+of the nation, and on the conditions which that will prescribed. This
+was, in fact, an attempt to remodel, in the name of the sovereign
+people, the entire form of government, institutional and dynastic; an
+arrogant and chimerical mania which, a year before, had possessed the
+Imperial Senate when they recalled Louis XVIII., and which has vitiated
+in their source nearly all the political theories of our time.
+
+Napoleon, while incessantly proclaiming the supremacy of the people,
+viewed it in a totally different light. "You want to deprive me of my
+past," said he, to his physicians; "I desire to preserve it. What
+becomes then of my reign of eleven years? I think I have some right to
+call it mine; and Europe knows that I have. The new constitution must be
+joined to the old one; it will thus acquire the sanction of many years
+of glory and success."
+
+He was right: the abdication demanded of him was more humiliating than
+that of Fontainebleau; for, in restoring the throne to him, they at the
+same time compelled him to deny himself and his immortal history. By
+refusing this, he performed an act of rational pride; and in the
+preamble as well as in the name of the Additional Act, he upheld the old
+Empire, while he consented to modified reforms. When the day of
+promulgation arrived, on the 1st of June, at the Champ de Mai, his
+fidelity to the Imperial traditions was less impressive and less
+dignified. He chose to appear before the people with all the outward
+pomp of royalty, surrounded by the princes of his family arrayed in
+garments of white taffeta, by the great dignitaries, in orange-coloured
+mantles, by his chamberlains and pages:--a childish attachment to
+palatial splendour, which accorded ill with the state of public affairs,
+and deeply disgusted public feeling, when, in the midst of this
+glittering pageant, twenty thousand soldiers were seen to march past and
+salute the Emperor, on their road to death.
+
+A few days before, a very different ceremony had revealed another
+embarrassing inconsistency in the revived Empire. While discussing with
+the Liberal aristocracy his new constitution, Napoleon endeavoured to
+win over and subdue, while he flattered, the revolutionary democrats.
+The population of the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau became
+excited, and conceived the idea of forming themselves into a federation,
+as their fathers had done, and of demanding from the Emperor leaders and
+arms. They obtained their desire; but they were no longer _Federates_,
+as in 1792; they were now called _Confederates_, in the hope that, by a
+small alteration of name, earlier reminiscences might be effaced. A
+police regulation minutely settled the order of their progress through
+the streets, provided against confusion, and arranged the ceremonial of
+their introduction to the Emperor, in the courtyard of the Tuileries.
+They presented an address, which was long and heavy to extreme
+tediousness. He thanked them by the name of "federated soldiers"
+(_soldats fédérés_), carefully impressing upon them, himself, the
+character in which it suited him to regard them. The next morning, the
+'Journal de l'Empire' contained the following paragraph:--"The most
+perfect order was maintained, from the departure of the Confederates
+until their return; but in several places we heard with pain the
+Emperor's name mingled with songs which recall a too memorable epoch."
+This was being rather severely scrupulous on such an occasion.
+
+Some days later, I happened to pass through the garden of the Tuileries.
+A hundred of these Federates, shabby enough in appearance, had assembled
+under one of the balconies of the palace, shouting, "_Long live the
+Emperor!_" and trying to induce him to show himself. It was long before
+he complied; but at length a window opened, the Emperor came forward,
+and waved his hand to them; but almost instantly the window was
+re-closed, and I distinctly saw Napoleon retire, shrugging his
+shoulders; vexed, no doubt, at being obliged to lend himself to
+demonstrations so repugnant in their nature, and so unsatisfactory in
+their limited extent.
+
+He was desirous of giving more than one pledge to the revolutionary
+party. Before reviewing their battalions in the court of his palace, he
+had taken into council the oldest and most celebrated of their leaders;
+but I scarcely think he expected from them any warm co-operation.
+Carnot, an able officer, a sincere republican, and as honest a man as an
+idle fanatic can possibly be, could not fail to make a bad Minister of
+the Interior; for he possessed neither of the two qualities essential to
+this important post,--knowledge of men, and the power of inspiring and
+directing them otherwise than by general maxims and routine.
+
+Napoleon knew better than anybody else how Fouché regulated the
+police,--for himself first, and for his own personal power; next for the
+authority that employed him, and just as long as he found greater
+security or advantage in serving than in betraying that authority. I
+only met the Duke of Otranto twice, and had but two short conversations
+with him. No man ever so thoroughly gave me the idea of fearless,
+ironical, cynical indifference, of imperturbable self-possession
+combined with an inordinate love of action and prominence, and of a
+fixed resolution to stop at nothing that might promote success, not from
+any settled design, but according to the plan or chance of the moment.
+He had acquired from his long associations as a Jacobin proconsul, a
+kind of audacious independence; and remained a hardened pupil of the
+Revolution, while, at the same time, he became an unscrupulous implement
+of the Government and the Court. Napoleon assuredly placed no confidence
+in such a man, and knew well that, in selecting him as a minister, he
+would have to watch more than he could employ him. But it was necessary
+that the revolutionary flag should float clearly over the Empire under
+its proper name; and he therefore preferred to endure the presence of
+Carnot and Fouché in his cabinet, rather than to leave them without, to
+murmur or conspire with certain sections of his enemies. At the moment
+of his return, and during the first weeks of the resuscitated Empire, he
+probably reaped from this double selection the advantage that he
+anticipated; but when the dangers and difficulties of his situation
+manifested themselves, when he came to action with the distrustful
+Liberals within, and with Europe without,--Carnot and Fouché became
+additional dangers and difficulties in his path. Carnot, without
+absolute treachery, served him clumsily and coldly; for in nearly all
+emergencies and questions he inclined much more to the Opposition than
+to the Emperor; but Fouché betrayed him indefinitely, whispering and
+arguing in an under tone, of his approaching downfall, with all who
+might by any possible chance happen to be his successors; just as an
+indifferent physician discourses by the bedside of a patient who has
+been given over.
+
+Even amongst his most trusted and most devoted adherents, Napoleon no
+longer found, as formerly, implicit faith and obedient temperaments,
+ready to act when and how he might please to direct. Independence of
+mind and a feeling of personal responsibility had resumed, even in his
+nearest circle, their scruples and their predominance. Fifteen days
+after his arrival in Paris, he summoned his Grand Marshal, General
+Bertrand, and presented to him, for his counter-signature, the decree
+dated from Lyons, in which he ordered the trials and sequestration of
+property of the Prince de Talleyrand, the Duke of Ragusa, the
+Abbé de Montesquiou, M. Bellard, and nine other persons, who in 1814,
+before the abdication, had contributed to his fall. General Bertrand
+refused. "I am astonished," said the Emperor, "at your making such
+objections; this severity is necessary for the good of the State." "I do
+not believe it, Sire." "But I do, and I alone have the right to judge. I
+have not asked your concurrence, but your signature, which is a mere
+matter of form, and cannot compromise you in the least." "Sire, a
+minister who countersigns the decree of his sovereign becomes morally
+responsible. Your Majesty has declared by proclamation that you granted
+a general amnesty. I countersigned that with all my heart; I will not
+countersign the decree which revokes it."
+
+Napoleon urged and cajoled in vain; Bertrand remained inflexible, the
+decree appeared without his signature: and Napoleon might, even on the
+instant, have convinced himself that the Grand Marshal was not the only
+dissentient; for, as he crossed the apartment in which his aides-de-camp
+were assembled, M. de La Bédoyère said, loud enough to be overheard, "If
+the reign of proscriptions and sequestrations recommences, all will soon
+be at an end."
+
+When liberty reaches this point in the interior of the palace, it may be
+presumed that it reigns predominantly without. After several weeks of
+stupor, it became, in fact, singularly bold and universal. Not only did
+civil war spring up in the western departments, not only were flagrant
+acts of resistance or hostility committed in several parts of the
+country, and in important towns, by men of consequence,--but everywhere,
+and particularly in Paris, people thought, and uttered their thoughts
+without reserve; in public places as well as in private drawing-rooms,
+they went to and fro, expressing hopes and engaging in hostile plots, as
+if they were lawful and certain of success; journals and pamphlets,
+increased daily in number and virulence, and were circulated almost
+without opposition or restraint. The warm friends and attached servants
+of the Emperor testified their surprise and indignation.
+
+Fouché pointed out the mischief, in his official reports to Napoleon,
+and requested his concurrence in taking measures of repression. The
+'Moniteur' published these reports; and the measures were decreed.
+Several arrests and prosecutions took place, but without vigour or
+efficacy. From high to low, the greater portion of the agents of
+government had neither zeal in their cause, nor confidence in their
+strength. Napoleon was aware of this, and submitted, as to a necessity
+of the moment, to the unlicensed freedom of his opponents, maintaining,
+without doubt, in his own heart, the opinion he had declared aloud on a
+previous occasion,--"I shall have them all with me if I prove the
+strongest."
+
+I question whether he appreciated justly, and at its true value, one of
+the causes, a hidden but powerful one, of the feebleness that
+immediately succeeded his great success. Notwithstanding the
+widely-spread discontent, uneasiness, mistrust, and anger that the
+Government of the Restoration had excited, a universal feeling soon
+sprang up, that there was not enough to justify a revolution, the
+opposition of an armed force against authority legally established, or
+the involvement of the country in the dangers to which it was exposed.
+The army had been drawn towards its old chief by a strong sentiment of
+attachment and generous devotion, rather than from views of personal
+interest; the army, too, was national and popular; but nothing could
+change the nature of acts or the meaning of words. The violation of an
+oath, desertion with arms in their hands, the sudden passing over from
+one camp to another, have always been condemned by honour as well as
+duty, civil or military, and denominated treason. Individuals, nations,
+or armies, men under the influence of a controlling passion, may
+contemn, at the first moment, or perhaps do not feel the moral
+impression which naturally attaches itself to their deeds; but it never
+fails to present itself, and, when seconded by the warnings of prudence
+or the blows of misfortune, it soon regains its empire.
+
+It was the evil destiny of the Government of the Hundred Days that the
+influence of moral opinion ranged itself on the side of its adversaries
+the Royalists; and that the conscience of the nation, clearly or
+obscurely, spontaneously or reluctantly, justified the severe judgments
+to which its origin had given rise.
+
+I and my friends attentively watched the progress of the Emperor's
+affairs and of the public temper. We soon satisfied ourselves that
+Napoleon would fall, and that Louis XVIII. would re-ascend the throne.
+While this was our impression of the future, we felt hourly more
+convinced that, from the deplorable state into which the enterprise of
+the Hundred Days had plunged France, abroad and at home, the return of
+Louis XVIII. would afford her the best prospect of restoring a regular
+government within, peace without, and the reassumption of her proper
+rank in Europe. In public life, duty and reason equally dictate to us to
+encourage no self-delusion as to what produces evil; but to adopt the
+remedy firmly, however bitter it may be, and at whatever sacrifice it
+may demand. I had taken no active part in the first Restoration; but I
+concurred, without hesitation, in the attempts of my friends to
+establish the second under the most favourable conditions for
+preserving the dignity, liberty, and repose of France.
+
+Our tidings from Ghent gave us much uneasiness. Acts and institutions,
+all the problems of principle or expediency which we flattered ourselves
+had been solved in 1814, were again brought forward. The struggle had
+recommenced between the Constitutional Royalists and the partisans of
+absolute power, between the Charter and the old system. We often smile
+ourselves, and seek to make others smile, when we revert to the
+discussions, rival pretensions, projects, hopes, and fears which
+agitated this small knot of exiles, gathered round an impotent and
+throneless monarch. Such an indulgence is neither rational nor
+dignified. What matters it whether the theatre be great or small,
+whether the actors fail or succeed, or whether the casualties of human
+life are displayed with imposing grandeur or contemptible meanness? The
+true measurement lies in the subjects discussed and the future destinies
+prepared. The question in debate at Ghent was how France should be
+governed when this aged King, without state or army, should be called on
+a second time to interpose between her and Europe. The problem and the
+solution in perspective were sufficiently important to occupy the minds
+of reflecting men and honest citizens.
+
+The intelligence from Vienna was no less momentous. Not that in reality
+there was either doubt or hesitation in the plans or union of the Allied
+Powers. Fouché, who had for some time been in friendly correspondence
+with Prince Metternich, made many overtures to him which the Chancellor
+of Austria did not absolutely reject. Every possible modification which
+promised a government to France was permitted to suggest itself. All
+were discussed in the cabinets or drawing-rooms of the Ministers, and
+even in the conferences of the Congress. In these questions were
+included, Napoleon II. and a Regency, the Duke of Orleans, and the
+Prince of Orange. The English Ministry, speaking with the authority of
+Parliament, announced that they had no intention of carrying on war
+merely for the purpose of imposing any particular form of government or
+dynasty on France; and the Austrian Cabinet seconded this declaration.
+But these were only personal reserves, or an apparent compliance with
+circumstances, or methods of obtaining correct knowledge, or mere topics
+of conversation, or the anticipation of extreme cases to which the
+leaders of European politics never expected to be reduced. Diplomacy
+abounds in acts and propositions of little moment or value, which it
+neither denies nor acknowledges; but they exercise no real influence on
+the true convictions, intents, and labours of the directors of
+government.
+
+Without wishing to proclaim it aloud, or to commit themselves by formal
+and public declarations, the leading kingdoms of Europe, from principle,
+interest, or honour, looked upon their cause at this period as allied,
+in France, with that of the House of Bourbon. It was near Louis XVIII.
+in his exile, that their ambassadors continued to reside; and with all
+the European Governments, the diplomatic agents of Louis XVIII.
+represented France. By the example and under the guidance of
+M. de Talleyrand, all these agents, in 1815, remained firm to the Royal
+cause, either from fidelity or foresight, and satisfied themselves, with
+him, that in that cause lay final success.
+
+But, side by side with this general disposition of Europe in favour of
+the House of Bourbon, a balancing danger presented itself,--an
+apprehension that the sovereigns and diplomatists assembled at Vienna
+had become convinced that the Bourbons were incapable of governing
+France. They had all, for twenty years, treated with and known France
+such as the Revolution and the Empire had made her. They still feared
+her, and deeply pondered over her position. The more uneasy they became
+at her leaning towards anarchy and war, the more they judged it
+indispensable that the ruling power should be placed in the hands of
+considerate, able, and prudent men, capable of understanding their
+functions, and of making themselves understood in their turn. For a
+considerable time they had ceased to retain any confidence in the
+companions of exile and courtiers of Louis XVIII.; and late experience
+had redoubled their mistrust. They looked upon the old Royalist party as
+infinitely more capable of ruining kings than of governing states.
+
+A personal witness to these conflicting doubts of the foreign Powers as
+to the future they were tracing themselves, M. de Talleyrand, at Vienna,
+had also his own misgivings. Amidst all the varied transformations of
+his life and politics, and although the last change had made him the
+representative of the ancient royalty, he did not desire, and never had
+desired, to separate himself entirely from the Revolution; he was linked
+to it by too many decided acts, and had acknowledged and served it
+under too many different forms, not to feel himself defeated when the
+Revolution was subdued. Without being revolutionary either by nature or
+inclination, it was in that camp that he had grown up and prospered, and
+he could not desert it with safety. There are certain defections which
+skilful egotism takes care to avoid; but the existing state of public
+affairs, and his own particular position, pressed conjointly and
+weightily upon him at this juncture. What would become of the
+revolutionary cause and its partisans under the second Restoration, now
+imminently approaching? What would even be the fate of this second
+Restoration if it could not govern and uphold itself better than its
+predecessor? Under the second, as under the first, M. de Talleyrand
+played a distinguished part, and rendered important services to the
+Royal cause. What would be the fruit of this as regarded himself? Would
+his advice be taken, and his co-operation be accepted? Would the
+Abbé de Montesquiou and M. de Blacas still be his rivals? I do not
+believe he would have hesitated, at this epoch, as to which cause he
+should espouse; but feeling his own power, and knowing that the Bourbons
+could scarcely dispense with him, he allowed his predilections for the
+past and his doubts for the future to betray themselves.
+
+Well informed of all these facts, and of the dispositions of the
+principal actors, the Constitutional Royalists who were then gathered
+round M. Royer-Collard, considered it their duty to lay before Louis
+XVIII., without reserve, their opinions of the state of affairs, and of
+the line of conduct it behoved him to adopt. It was not only desirable
+to impress on him the necessity of perseverance in a system of
+constitutional government, and in the frank acknowledgment of the state
+of social feeling in France, such as the new times had made it; but it
+was also essential to enter into the question of persons, and to tell
+the King that the presence of M. de Blacas near him would militate
+strongly against his cause; to request the dismissal of that favourite,
+and to call for some explicit act or public declaration, clearly
+indicating the intentions of the monarch on the eve of re-assuming
+possession of his kingdom; and finally to induce him to attach much
+weight to the opinions and influence of M. de Talleyrand, with whom it
+must be observed that, at this period, none of those who gave this
+advice had any personal connection, and to the greater part of whom he
+was decidedly objectionable.
+
+Being the youngest and most available of this small assembly, I was
+called on to undertake a mission not very agreeable in itself. I
+accepted the duty without hesitation. Although I had then little
+experience of political animosities and their blind extremes, I could
+not avoid perceiving which party of opponents would one day be likely to
+turn on me for taking this step; but I should feel ashamed of myself if
+fear of responsibility and apprehensions for the future could hold me
+back when circumstances call upon me to act, within the limits of duty
+and conviction, as the good of my country demands.
+
+I left Paris on the 23rd of May. One circumstance alone is worthy of
+notice in my journey--the facility with which I accomplished it. It is
+true there were many police restrictions on the roads and along the
+frontier; but the greater part of the agents were neither zealous nor
+particular in enforcing them. Their speech, their silence, and their
+looks, implied a kind of understood permission and tacit connivance.
+More than one official face appeared to say to the unknown traveller,
+"Pass on quickly," as if they dreaded making a mistake, or damaging a
+useful work by interfering with its supposed design. Having arrived at
+Ghent, I called first on the men I knew, and whose views corresponded
+with my own, MM. de Jaucourt, Louis, Beugnot, de Lally-Tolendal, and
+Mounier. I found them all faithful to the cause of the Constitution, but
+sad as exiles, and anxious as advisers without repose in banishment; for
+they had to combat incessantly with the odious or absurd passions and
+plans of the spirit of reaction.
+
+The same facts furnish to different parties the most opposite
+conclusions and arguments; the catastrophe, which again attached some
+more firmly than ever to the principles and politics of the Charter, was
+to others the sentence of the Charter; and a convincing proof that
+nothing but a return to the old system could save the monarchy. I need
+not repeat the details, given to me by my friends, of the advice with
+which the counter-revolutionists and partisans of absolutism beset the
+King; for in the idleness that succeeds misfortune, men give themselves
+up to dreams, and helpless passion engenders folly. The King stood firm,
+and agreed with his constitutional advisers. The Report on the state of
+France presented to him by M. de Châteaubriand a few days before we
+arrived, in the name of the whole Council, and which had just been
+published in the 'Moniteur of Ghent,' contained an eloquent exposition
+of the liberal policy acknowledged by the monarch. But the party thus
+rejected were not disposed to yield; they surrounded the King they were
+unable to control, and found their strongest roots in his own family and
+bosom friends. The Count d'Artois was their ostensible chief, and
+M. de Blacas their discreet but steady ally. Through them they hoped to
+gain a victory as necessary as it was difficult.
+
+I requested the Duke de Duras to demand for me a private audience of the
+King. The King received me the next day, June 1st, and detained me
+nearly an hour. I have no turn for the minute and settled parade of such
+interviews; I shall therefore only relate of this, and of the
+impressions which it produced on me, what still appears to be worthy of
+remembrance.
+
+Two points have remained strongly imprinted upon my memory--the
+impotence and dignity of the King. There was in the aspect and attitude
+of this old man, seated immovably and as if nailed to his arm-chair, a
+haughty serenity, and, in the midst of his feebleness, a tranquil
+confidence in the power of his name and rights, which surprised and
+touched me. What I had to say could not fail to be displeasing to him;
+and from respect, not calculation, I began with what was agreeable: I
+spoke of the royalist feeling which day by day exhibited itself more
+vehemently in Paris. I then related to him several anecdotes and
+couplets of songs, in corroboration of this. Such light passages
+entertained and pleased him, as men are gratified with humorous
+recitals, who have no sources of gaiety within themselves.
+
+I told him that the hope of his return was general. "But what is
+grievous, Sire, is that, while believing in the re-establishment of the
+monarchy, there is no confidence in its duration." "Why is this?" I
+continued; "when the great artisan of revolution is no longer there,
+monarchy will become permanent; it is clear that, if Bonaparte returns
+to Elba, it will only be to break out again; but let him be disposed of,
+and there will be an end to revolutions also.--People cannot thus
+flatter themselves, Sire; they fear something beyond Bonaparte, they
+dread the weakness of the royal government; its wavering between old and
+new ideas, between past and present interests, and they fear the
+disunion, or at least the incoherence of its ministers."
+
+The King made no reply. I persisted, and mentioned M. de Blacas. I said
+that I was expressly charged by men whom the King knew to be old,
+faithful, and intelligent servants, to represent to him the mistrust
+which attached itself to that name, and the evil that would result from
+it to himself. "I will fulfil all that I have promised in the Charter;
+names are not concerned with that; France has nothing to do with the
+friends I entertain in my palace, provided no act emanates from them
+injurious to the country? Speak to me of more serious causes of
+uneasiness." I entered into some details, and touched on various points
+of party intrigues and menaces. I also spoke to the King, of the
+Protestants in the south, of their alarms, of the violence even of
+which, in some instances, they had already been the objects. "This is
+very bad," said he: "I will do all I can to stop it; but I cannot
+prevent everything,--I cannot, at the same time, be a liberal and an
+absolute king." He questioned me upon several recent occurrences, and
+respecting some members of the Imperial Administration. "There are two,
+Sire, who, knowing that I was about to seek an audience of the King,
+have requested me to mention their names, and to assure him of their
+devotion." "Who are they?"--"The Arch-chancellor and M. Molé." "For
+M. Molé, I rely upon him, and am glad of his support; I know his worth.
+As to M. Cambacérès, he is one of those whom I neither ought nor wish to
+hear named." I paused there. I was not ignorant that at that time the
+King was in communication with Fouché, a much more objectionable
+regicide than Cambacérès; but I was a little surprised that the secret
+relations caused by pressing emergency did not prevent him from
+maintaining aloud, and as a general theory, a line of conduct most
+natural under his circumstances. He was certainly far from foreseeing
+the disgust that would ensue from his connection with the Duke of
+Otranto. He dismissed me with some commonplace words of kindness,
+leaving on me the impression of a sensible and liberal mind, outwardly
+imposing, shrewd with individuals, careful of appearances, thinking
+little, and not profoundly informed, and almost as incapable of the
+errors which destroy, as of the great strokes which establish the future
+of royal dynasties.
+
+I then visited M. de Blacas. He had evinced some prepossession against
+me. "What brings this young man here?" said he to Baron d'Eckstein,
+Commissary-General of Police to the King of the Netherlands, at Ghent.
+"He comes from I know not who, with some mission that I am ignorant of,
+to the King." He was fully acquainted both with my mission and my
+friends. However, he received me with perfect civility, and I must add
+with honourable frankness, inquiring what they said at Paris, and why
+they were so incensed against him. He spoke to me even of his
+differences with the Abbé de Montesquiou, complaining of the sallies and
+whims which had embroiled them to the detriment of the King's service. I
+replied with equal candour; and his bearing during the whole of our
+interview was dignified, with a slight degree of reserve, expressing
+more surprise than irritation. I find in some notes written after I left
+him, this sentence:--"I am much mistaken if his mistakes do not chiefly
+proceed from the mediocrity of his intellect."
+
+The situation of M. de Châteaubriand at Ghent was singular. A member of
+the King's Council, he brilliantly exposed its policy in official
+publications, and defended them in the 'Moniteur of Ghent' with the same
+attractive power; but he was dissatisfied with everybody, and no one
+placed much confidence in him. I believe that neither then nor later did
+the King or the different Cabinets understand M. de Châteaubriand, or
+sufficiently appreciate his concurrence or hostility. He was, I admit, a
+troublesome ally; for he aspired to all things, and complained of all.
+On a level with the rarest spirits and most exalted imaginations, it was
+his chimera to fancy himself equal to the greatest masters in the art of
+government, and to feel bitterly hurt if he were not looked upon as the
+rival of Napoleon as well as of Milton. Prudent men did not lend
+themselves to this complaisant idolatry; but they forgot too much what,
+either as friend or enemy, he to whom they refused it was worth. They
+might, by paying homage to his genius and satisfying his vanity, have
+lulled to rest his ambitious dreams; and if they had not the means of
+contenting him, they ought in either case, from prudence as well as from
+gratitude, not only to have humoured, but to have gained him over
+completely to their side. He was one of those towards whom ingratitude
+was as dangerous as unjust; for they resent passionately, and know how
+to revenge without treachery. He lived at Ghent in great intimacy with
+M. Bertin, and assumed thenceforward that influence over the 'Journal
+des Débats' which he afterwards so powerfully employed. Notwithstanding
+the cordiality of our first acquaintance, there had been for some time a
+considerable coolness between us. In 1814 he was discontented with, and
+spoke ill of the Abbé de Montesquiou and his friends. I was nevertheless
+equally surprised at and sorry for the injustice and error committed in
+thinking so little of one they used so much, and I regretted not meeting
+him oftener, and on a more amicable footing.
+
+In the midst of these discussions, not only of principles and parties,
+but of private interests and coteries, we waited, at a distance from
+France, and scarcely knowing how to occupy our minds or time, the issue
+of the struggle between Napoleon and Europe;--a most painful situation,
+which I endured to serve the cause I believed and have never ceased to
+believe just, though I hourly felt its complicated vexations. I shall
+not linger here to describe them; nothing is more repugnant to my
+nature than to volunteer a display of my own feelings, especially when I
+am well aware that many, who listen, cannot or will not understand or
+believe me. I care little for mistake or invective; either is the
+natural condition of public life: but I do not feel called upon to enter
+into useless controversies in my own defence; I know how to wait for
+justice without demanding it.
+
+The battle of Waterloo terminated our passive anxiety. The King quitted
+Ghent on the 22nd of June, urged by his trustiest friends, and by his
+own judgment, not to lose a moment in placing himself between divided
+France and foreign invasion. I set out the next day with M. Mounier, and
+on the same evening we rejoined the King at Mons, where he had paused in
+his journey.
+
+Then burst forth, through the agency of new actors, and by contrivances
+still unexplained, the _dénoûment_ that I had been despatched to
+accomplish--the fall of M. de Blacas. I am not disposed to discuss the
+various accounts given by several who were witnesses of or interested in
+the event; I shall simply relate what I myself saw on the spot, as I
+find it detailed in a letter written at Cambray, six days
+afterwards,[10] to the person to whom, in the absence of immediate
+communication, I had the pleasure of relating all that occurred:--
+
+"As we entered Mons (M. Mounier and I), we were told that M. de Blacas
+had been dismissed, and was going as ambassador to Naples; but our
+surprise was great when we also learned that M. de Talleyrand, who had
+lately left Vienna for Brussels, to be within reach of coming events,
+and had arrived at Mons a few hours after the King, had at the same time
+tendered his resignation; that the King, while refusing to accept it,
+had received M. de Talleyrand himself coldly, and that he had set out
+again for Brussels, while, contrary to his advice, the King repaired to
+Cateau-Cambresis, at that moment the head-quarters of the English army.
+We understood nothing whatever of these conflicting incidents, and our
+uneasiness equalled our surprise. We have since been everywhere, we have
+seen everybody,--those of our friends who preceded us to Mons, and the
+foreign ministers who followed the King--MM. de Jaucourt, Louis,
+Beugnot, de Châteaubriand, Pozzo di Borgo, de Vincent;--and, between
+half confidences, restrained anger, deceptive smiles, and sincere
+regrets, we have arrived at last at a tolerably clear understanding of
+the whole matter. The little court of the Count d'Artois, knowing that
+M. de Talleyrand advised the King not to hurry, and that the Duke of
+Wellington, on the contrary, recommended him to advance rapidly into
+France, thought nothing could be better than to drive away both
+M. de Blacas and M. de Talleyrand, and to separate the King from his
+constitutional advisers, as well as from his favourite, by inducing him
+to set out quickly for the head-quarters of the English army, surrounded
+only by the partisans of _Monsieur_, from whom they hoped he would
+select his ministers.
+
+"Our friends were much excited, and the foreigners greatly displeased.
+The latter demanded in whom they could have confidence with regard to
+the French question, and with whom they should treat in such a crisis?
+M. de Talleyrand had returned from Vienna with a great reputation for
+ability and success; in the eyes of Europe he represented France and the
+King. The Austrian Minister had just said to him at Brussels, 'I am
+ordered to consult you on every occasion, and to be guided entirely by
+your advice.' He himself haughtily maintained his discontent, and
+sharply repulsed those who would have persuaded him to rejoin the King.
+After six hours of rather stormy conversation, it was agreed that Pozzo
+di Borgo should repair to Cateau, and persuade the Duke of Wellington to
+take some step which should put an end to this strange misunderstanding;
+and that MM. de Jaucourt, Louis, and Beugnot should at the same time say
+to the King, that the men in whom he appeared to confide entertained
+ideas and projects so diametrically opposed to theirs, that it was
+impossible they could serve him usefully, and therefore requested
+permission to retire. It is probable that reflections and measures in
+conformity with these resolutions had already taken place at Cateau; for
+on the morning of the 25th, at the same time that we received news of
+the occurrences at Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and the embassy of
+the Commissioners to the Allied Sovereigns, a letter arrived at Mons,
+from the Duke of Wellington to M. de Talleyrand, couched, as I have been
+assured, in these exact terms:--
+
+"'I regret much that you have not accompanied the King to this place; it
+is I who have earnestly requested him to enter France at the same time
+with ourselves. If I could have told you the motives which sway me in
+this matter, I have no doubt that you would have given the King the
+same advice. I trust that you will come to hear them.' M. de Talleyrand
+decided upon setting out instantly; and we determined to accompany him.
+We rejoined the King here on the 26th. It was high time; for already a
+proclamation, dated from Cateau, drawn up, it is said, by M. Dambray,
+gave a false colouring to the re-entrance of his Majesty. We have
+hastened to substitute another, of which M. Beugnot is the principal
+author, and which prognosticates a wholesome policy. The King signed it
+without hesitation. It appeared yesterday, to the great satisfaction of
+the public of Cambray. I hope it may produce a similar effect in all
+other quarters."
+
+We indeed hoped and believed that the end of the great crisis which had
+overthrown France, as well as the smaller one which had agitated the
+immediate circle of royalty, was at hand. On all sides affairs appeared
+to tend towards the same issue. The King was in France; a moderate and
+national line of policy prevailed in his councils, and animated his
+words. A feeling of loyalty displayed itself everywhere during his
+progress, not only with his old party, but amongst the masses; every
+hand was raised towards him, as to a plank of safety in a shipwreck. The
+people care little for consistency. At this time I saw, in the northern
+departments, the same popularity surround the exiled King and the
+vanquished army. Napoleon had abdicated in Paris, and, notwithstanding a
+few unworthy alternations of dejection and feverish excitement, of
+resignation and momentary energy, he was evidently incapable of renewing
+the struggle. The Chamber of Representatives, which, from its first
+institution, had shown itself unfavourable to the Imperial system, and
+opposed to revolutionary excesses, appeared to be earnestly occupied in
+threading a perilous defile, by avoiding all violence and every
+irrevocable engagement. Popular passion sometimes murmured, but suffered
+itself to be easily restrained, and even stopped voluntarily, as if
+unaccustomed to action or dominion. The army, the scattered corps of
+which had successively re-united round Paris, had given itself up to
+patriotic fervour, and, together with France, had plunged into an abyss
+to prove its devotion and avenge its injuries: but amongst its oldest
+and most illustrious chiefs, some--such as Gouvion St. Cyr, Macdonald,
+and Oudinot--had refused to join Napoleon, and openly espoused the Royal
+cause; others--like Ney, Davoust, Soult, and Masséna--protested with
+stern candour against fatal delusions, considering that their well-tried
+courage entitled them to utter melancholy truths, to offer sage advice,
+and to repress, even by the sacrifice of party credit, military
+excitement or popular disorder; others, in fine, like Drouot, with an
+influence conferred by true courage and virtue, maintained discipline in
+the army in the midst of the mortifications of the retreat behind the
+Loire, and secured its obedience to the authority of a detested civil
+power. After so many mistakes and misfortunes, and in the midst of all
+differences of opinion and situation, there existed still a spontaneous
+desire and a general effort to preserve France from irreparable errors
+and total ruin.
+
+But tardy wisdom does not avail, and, even when they wish to become
+prudent, political genius is wanting to those nations who are not
+accustomed to decide their own affairs or their own destiny. In the
+deplorable state into which the enterprise of an heroic and chimerical
+egotism had thrown France, there was evidently only one line of conduct
+to pursue,--to recognize Louis XVIII., to accept his liberal
+concessions, and to act in concert with him while treating with the
+foreign Powers. This was absolutely necessary; for the most limited mind
+could foresee that the return of the House of Bourbon was an inevitable,
+and all but an accomplished fact. Such a course became also a duty, to
+promote peace and to afford the best means of counteracting the evils of
+invasion; for Louis XVIII. could alone repel them with any show of
+authority. An auspicious future was thus opened to liberty; for reason
+whispered, and experience demonstrated, that, after what had passed in
+France since 1789, despotism could never more be attempted by the
+princes of the House of Bourbon--an insurmountable necessity compelled
+them to adopt defined and constitutional government,--if they resorted
+to extremes, their strength would prove unequal to success. To accept
+without hesitation or delay the second restoration, and to place the
+King, of his own accord, between France and the rest of Europe, became
+the self-evident dictate of patriotism and sound policy.
+
+Not only was this left undone, but every endeavour was used to make it
+appear that the Restoration was exclusively the work of foreign
+interference, and to bring upon France, in addition to her military
+defeat, a political and diplomatic overthrow. It was not independence of
+the Empire, or good intentions towards the country, that were wanting
+in the Chamber of the Hundred Days, but intelligence and resolution. It
+neither lent itself to imperial despotism nor revolutionary violence; it
+was not the instrument of either of the extreme parties,--it applied
+itself honestly to preserve France, on the brink of that abyss towards
+which they had driven her; but it could only pursue a line of negative
+policy, it tacked timidly about before the harbour, instead of boldly
+entering,--closing its eyes when it approached the narrow channel,
+submitting, not from confidence, but from imbecility, to the blindness
+or infatuation of the old or new enemies by whom the King was
+surrounded, and appearing sometimes, from weakness itself, to consent to
+combinations which in reality it tried to elude;--at one moment
+proclaiming Napoleon II., and at another any monarch whom the sovereign
+people might please to select.
+
+To this fruitless vacillation of the only existing public authority, one
+of the most fatally celebrated actors of the worst times of the
+Revolution, Fouché, owed his importance and ephemeral success.
+
+When honest men fail to understand or execute the designs of Providence,
+dishonesty undertakes the task. Under the pressure of circumstances, and
+in the midst of general weakness, corrupt, sagacious, and daring spirits
+are ever at hand, who perceive at once what may happen, or what may be
+attempted, and make themselves the instruments of a triumph to which
+they have no natural claim, but of which they assume the credit, to
+appropriate the fruits. Such a man was the Duke of Otranto during the
+Hundred Days,--a revolutionist transformed into a grandee; and desirous
+of being consecrated in this double character by the ancient royalty of
+France, he employed, to accomplish his end, all the cleverness and
+audacity of a reckless intriguer more clear-sighted and sensible than
+his associates. Perhaps also--for justice ought to retain its scruples
+even towards those who have none themselves--perhaps a desire to save
+his country from violence and useless suffering may have had some share
+in the series of treasons and imperturbable changes of side, by means of
+which, while deceiving and playing alternately with Napoleon, La
+Fayette, and Carnot, the Empire, the Republic, and the regicidal
+Convention, Fouché gained the time that he required to open for himself
+the doors of the King's cabinet, while he opened the gates of Paris to
+the King.
+
+Louis XVIII. offered some resistance, but, notwithstanding what he had
+said to me at Ghent respecting Cambacérès, I doubt whether he objected
+strongly. He was one of those who are dignified from habit and decorum
+rather than from a real and powerful emotion of the soul; and propriety
+disappeared before emergency. He had, as vouchers for the necessities of
+the case, two authorities who were the best calculated to influence his
+decision and uphold his honour; the Duke of Wellington and the Count
+d'Artois both urged him to accept Fouché as a minister:--Wellington, to
+secure an easy return for the King, and also that he himself, and
+England with him, might remain the principal author of the Restoration
+by promptly terminating the war before Paris, where he feared to be
+compromised through the violent hatred of the Prussians; the Count
+d'Artois, with impatient levity, always ready to promise and agree, and
+already entangled through his most active confidant, M. de Vitrolles, in
+the snare which Fouché had spread for the Royalists on every side.
+
+I do not believe in the necessity which they urged upon the King. Fouché
+had no control over Paris; the army had retired; the Federates were more
+noisy than powerful; the Chamber of Representatives consoled themselves,
+by discussing a constitution, for not having dared or known how to form
+a government; no party was either able or disposed to arrest effectually
+the tide which carried the King along. A little less eagerness, and a
+little more determination, would have spared him a sad dishonour. By
+waiting a few days he would have incurred the risk, not of fatal
+resolutions or violence, but merely of the temporary continuance of
+disorder and alarm. Necessity presses upon people as well as on kings:
+that with which Fouché armed himself to become minister to Louis XVIII.
+was factitious and ephemeral; that which brought Louis XVIII. back to
+the Tuileries was real, and became hourly more urgent. There was no
+occasion for him to receive the Duke of Otranto into his cabinet at
+Arnouville; he might have remained there patiently, for they would soon
+have sought him. I thought thus at the time, after having passed two
+days in Paris, where I arrived on the 3rd of July, when the manoeuvres
+of Fouché were following their course. All that I subsequently saw and
+heard tended to confirm me in this opinion.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 9: I owe it to myself to repeat here the retractation of an
+error (I am not disposed to use any other word) entertained in regard to
+my connection with the Hundred Days, and the part I took at that period.
+This retractation, which appeared thirteen years ago in the 'Moniteur
+Universel' of the 4th of February, 1844, is couched in the following
+terms:--"Several journals have recently said or implied that M. Guizot,
+the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was Secretary-General to
+the Ministry of the Interior in 1814 and 1815, had retained his office
+during the Hundred Days, under General Count Carnot, appointed Minister
+of the Interior by the Imperial decree of the 20th of March, 1815; that
+he had signed the Additional Act, and that he had been subsequently
+dismissed. One of these journals has invoked the testimony of the
+'Moniteur.' These assertions are utterly false. M. Guizot, now Minister
+of Foreign Affairs, had, on the 20th of March, 1815, quitted the
+department of the Interior; and by an Imperial decree of the 23rd of the
+same month, his office of Secretary-General was conferred upon Baron
+Basset de Châteaubourg, formerly Prefect (see the 'Bulletin des Lois,'
+no. v. p. 34). The notice in the 'Moniteur' of the 14th of May, 1815,
+page 546, did not refer to M. François Guizot, but to M. Jean-Jacques
+Guizot, head-clerk at that time in the Ministry of the Interior, who was
+actually dismissed from his office in the course of May 1815."
+
+Notwithstanding this official refutation, founded on official acts, and
+published in 1844 in the 'Moniteur,' where the error had originated, the
+same mis-statement appeared in 1847, in the 'History of the Two
+Restorations,' by M. Vaulabelle (2nd edition, vol. ii. p. 276), and
+again in 1851, in the 'History of the Restoration,' by M. de Lamartine
+(vol. iv. p. 15).]
+
+[Footnote 10: June 29th, 1815.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE CHAMBER OF 1815.
+
+1815-1816.
+
+     FALL OF M. DE TALLEYRAND AND FOUCHÉ.--FORMATION OF THE DUKE DE
+     RICHELIEU'S CABINET.--MY CONNECTION AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE
+     ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE WITH M. DE MARBOIS, KEEPER OF THE GREAT
+     SEAL.--MEETING AND ASPECT OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--INTENTIONS
+     AND ATTITUDE OF THE OLD ROYALIST FACTION.--FORMATION AND
+     COMPOSITION OF A NEW ROYALIST PARTY.--STRUGGLE OF CLASSES UNDER
+     THE CLOAK OF PARTIES.--PROVISIONAL LAWS.--BILL OF AMNESTY.--THE
+     CENTRE BECOMES THE GOVERNMENT PARTY, AND THE RIGHT THE
+     OPPOSITION.--QUESTIONS UPON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE STATE
+     AND THE CHURCH.--STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT BEYOND THE
+     CHAMBERS.--INSUFFICIENCY OF ITS RESISTANCE TO THE SPIRIT OF
+     REACTION.--THE DUKE OF FELTRI AND GENERAL BERNARD.--TRIAL OF
+     MARSHAL NEY.--CONTROVERSY BETWEEN M. DE VITROLLES AND ME.--CLOSING
+     OF THE SESSION.--MORTIFICATIONS IN THE CABINET.--M. LAINÉ MINISTER
+     OF THE INTERIOR.--I LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND ENTER THE
+     STATE COUNCIL AS MASTER OF REQUESTS.--THE CABINET ENTERS INTO
+     CONTESTS WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--M. DECAZES.--POSITION OF
+     MESSRS. ROYER-COLLARD AND DE SERRE.--OPPOSITION OF M. DE
+     CHÂTEAUBRIAND.--THE COUNTRY RISES AGAINST THE CHAMBER OF
+     DEPUTIES.--EFFORTS OF M. DECAZES TO BRING ABOUT A DISSOLUTION.--THE
+     KING DETERMINES ON IT.--DECREE OF THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1816.
+
+
+Three months had scarcely elapsed and neither Fouché nor
+M. de Talleyrand were any longer in the Ministry. They had fallen, not
+under the pressure of any new or unforeseen event, but by the evils
+connected with their personal situation, and their inaptitude for the
+parts they had undertaken to play. M. de Talleyrand had effected a
+miracle at Vienna; by the treaty of alliance concluded on the 3rd
+January, 1815, between France, England, and Austria, he had put an end
+to the coalition formed against us in 1813, and separated Europe into
+two parties, to the advantage of France. But the event of the 20th of
+March had destroyed his work; the European coalition was again formed
+against the Emperor and against France, who had made herself, or had
+permitted herself to be made, the instrument of Napoleon. There was no
+longer a chance of breaking up this formidable alliance. The same
+feeling of uneasiness and mistrust of our faith, the same desire for a
+firm and lasting union, animated the sovereigns and the nations. They
+had speedily arranged at Vienna the questions which had threatened to
+divide them. In this fortified hostility against France the Emperor
+Alexander participated, with extreme irritation towards the House of
+Bourbon and M. de Talleyrand, who had sought to deprive him of his
+allies. The second Restoration was no longer like the first, the
+personal glory and work of M. de Talleyrand; the honour was chiefly due
+to England and the Duke of Wellington. Instigated by self-love and
+policy, the Emperor Alexander arrived at Paris on the 10th of July,
+1815, stern and angrily disposed towards the King and his advisers.
+
+France and the King stood, nevertheless, in serious need of the goodwill
+of the Russian Emperor, encompassed as they were by the rancorous and
+eager ambition of Germany. Her diplomatists drew up the geographical
+chart of our territory, leaving out the provinces of which they desired
+to deprive us. Her generals undermined, to blow into the air, the
+monuments which recalled their defeats in the midst of their victories.
+Louis XVIII. resisted with much dignity these acts of foreign barbarism;
+he threatened to place his chair of state upon the bridge of Jena, and
+said publicly to the Duke of Wellington, "Do you think, my Lord, that
+your Government would consent to receive me if I were again to solicit a
+refuge?" Wellington restrained to the utmost of his power the violence
+of Blücher, and remonstrated with him by arguments equally urgent and
+politic; but neither the dignity of the King, nor the amicable
+intervention of England were sufficient to curb the overweening
+pretensions of Germany. The Emperor Alexander alone could keep them
+within bounds. M. de Talleyrand sought to conciliate him by personal
+concessions. In forming his cabinet, he named the Duke de Richelieu, who
+was still absent, Minister of the Royal Household, while the Ministry of
+the Interior was held in reserve for Pozzo di Borgo, who would willingly
+have left the official service of Russia to take part in the Government
+of France. M. de Talleyrand placed much faith in the power of
+temptations; but, in this instance, they were of no avail. The
+Duke de Richelieu, probably in concert with the King himself, refused;
+Pozzo di Borgo did not obtain, or dared not to solicit, the permission
+of his master to become, once more, a Frenchman. I saw him frequently,
+and that mind, at once quick and decisive, bold and restless, felt
+keenly its doubtful situation, and with difficulty concealed its
+perplexities. The Emperor Alexander maintained his cold reserve, leaving
+M. de Talleyrand powerless and embarrassed in this arena of negotiation,
+ordinarily the theatre of his success.
+
+The weakness of Fouché was different, and sprang from other causes. It
+was not that the foreign sovereigns and their ministers regarded him
+more favourably than they did M. de Talleyrand, for his admission into
+the King's cabinet had greatly scandalized monarchical Europe; the Duke
+of Wellington alone persisted in still upholding him; but none amongst
+the foreigners either attacked him or appeared anxious for his downfall.
+It was from within that the storm was raised against him. With a
+strangely frivolous presumption, he had determined to deliver up the
+Revolution to the King, and the King to the Revolution, relying upon his
+dexterity and boldness to assist him in passing and repassing from camp
+to camp, and in governing one by the other, while alternately betraying
+both. The elections which took place at this period throughout France,
+signally falsified his hopes. In vain did he profusely employ agents,
+and circular addresses; neither obtained for him the slightest
+influence; the decided Royalists prevailed in nearly every quarter,
+almost without a struggle. It is our misfortune and our weakness, that
+in every great crisis the vanquished become as the dead. The Chamber of
+1815 as yet appeared only in the distance, and already the Duke of
+Otranto trembled as though thunderstruck by the side of the tottering
+M. de Talleyrand. In this opposite and unequal peril, but critical for
+both, the conduct of these two men was very different. M. de Talleyrand
+proclaimed himself the patron of constitutional monarchy, boldly and
+greatly organized as in England. Modifications conformable to the views
+of the Liberal party were in some instances immediately acceded to, and
+in others promised by the Charter. Young men were permitted to enter
+the Chamber of Deputies. Fourteen Articles relative to the constitution
+of this Chamber were submitted for the inspection of the next
+Legislative Assembly. The Peerage was made hereditary. The censorship,
+to which works under twenty printed sheets had been subjected, was
+abolished. A grand Privy Council, on important occasions, united the
+principal men of every party. It was neither the urgent necessity of the
+moment, nor prevailing public opinion, that imposed on restored royalty
+these important reforms: they were enacted by the Cabinet from a desire
+of encouraging free institutions, and of giving satisfaction to the
+party,--I ought rather to say to the small section of enlightened and
+impatient spirits.
+
+The real intentions and measures of Fouché were of a more personal
+nature. Violently menaced by the reaction in favour of royalty, he at
+first endeavoured to appease by feeding it. He consented to make himself
+the instrument of proscription against the very men who, but a short
+time before, were his agents, his confederates, his accomplices, his
+colleagues, and his friends. At the same time that he published
+memorials and circulars showing the necessity of clemency and
+forgetfulness of the past, he placed before the Royal Council a list of
+one hundred and ten names, to be excluded from all amnesty; and when
+strict inquiry had reduced this number to eighteen, subject to
+courts-martial, and to thirty-eight provisionally banished, he
+countersigned without hesitation the decree which condemned them. A few
+days afterwards, and upon his request, another edict revoked all the
+privileges hitherto accorded to the daily papers, imposed upon them the
+necessity of a new license, and subjected them to the censorship of a
+commission, in which several of the principal royalist writers, amongst
+others Messieurs Auger and Fiévée, refused to sit under his patronage.
+As little did the justice or national utility of his acts affect the
+Duke of Otranto in 1815, as in 1793; he was always ready to become, no
+matter at what cost, the agent of expediency. But when he saw that his
+severe measures did not protect himself, and perceived the rapidly
+approaching danger, he changed his tactics; the minister of the
+monarchical reaction became again the factious revolutionist. He caused
+to be secretly published and circulated, "Reports to the King," and the
+"Notes to the Foreign Ministers," less calculated to enlighten the
+authorities he addressed, than to prepare for himself arms and allies
+against the Government and the party, from which he saw that he was
+about to be excluded. He was of the number of those who try to make
+themselves feared, by striving to injure when they are no longer
+permitted to serve.
+
+Neither the liberal reforms of M. de Talleyrand, nor the revolutionary
+menaces of the Duke of Otranto, warded off the danger which pressed on
+them. Notwithstanding their extraordinary abilities and long experience,
+both mistook the new aspect of the times, either not seeing, or not
+wishing to see, how little they were in unison with the contests which
+the Hundred Days had revived. The election of a Chamber decidedly
+Royalist, surprised them as an unexpected phenomenon; they both fell at
+its approach, and within a few days of each other; left, nevertheless,
+after their common downfall, in opposite positions. M. de Talleyrand
+retained credit; the King and his new Cabinet loaded him with gifts and
+royal favours; his colleagues during his short administration, Messieurs
+de Jaucourt, Pasquier, Louis and Gouvion St. Cyr, received signal marks
+of royal esteem, and retired from the scene of action as if destined to
+return. Having accepted the trifling and distant embassy to Dresden,
+Fouché hastened to depart, and left Paris under a disguise which he only
+changed when he reached the frontier, fearful of being seen in his
+native land, which he was fated never again to behold.
+
+The Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu entered upon office warmly welcomed
+by the King, and even by the party which had gained the ascendency
+through the present elections. It was indeed a new and thoroughly
+royalist Ministry. Its head, recently arrived in France, honoured by all
+Europe, and beloved by the Emperor Alexander, was to King Louis XVIII.
+what the king himself was to France, the pledge of a more advantageous
+peace. Two of his colleagues, Messieurs Decazes and Dubouchage, had
+taken no part in public affairs previous to the Restoration. The four
+others, Messieurs Barbé-Marbois, de Vaublanc, Coretto, and the Duke of
+Feltri, had recently given proofs of strong attachment to the regal
+cause. Their union inspired hope without suspicion, in the public mind,
+as well as in that of the triumphant party. I was intimately acquainted
+with M. de Marbois; I had frequently met him at the houses of
+Madame de Rumford and Madame Suard. He belonged to that old France
+which, in a spirit of generous liberality, had adopted and upheld, with
+enlightened moderation, the principles most cherished by the France of
+the day. I held under him, in the capacity of a confidential friend, the
+post of Secretary-General to the Ministry of Justice, to which
+M. Pasquier, then keeper of the great seal, had nominated me under the
+Cabinet of M. de Talleyrand. Hardly was the new minister installed in
+office, when the Chamber of Deputies assembled, and in its turn
+established itself. It was almost exclusively Royalist. With
+considerable difficulty, a few men, members of other parties, had
+obtained entrance into its ranks. They found themselves in a state of
+perpetual discomfort, isolated and ill at ease, as though they were
+strangers of suspicious character; and when they endeavoured to declare
+themselves and explain their sentiments, they were roughly driven back
+into impotent silence. On the 23rd of October, 1815, in the debate on
+the Bill presented by M. Decazes for the temporary suspension of
+personal liberty, M. d'Argenson spoke of the reports which had been
+spread abroad respecting the massacre of Protestants in the south. A
+violent tumult arose in contradiction of his statements; he explained
+himself with great reserve. "I name no facts," replied he, "I bring
+forward no charges; I merely say that vague and contradictory rumours
+have reached me; ... the very vagueness of these rumours calls for a report
+from the minister, on the state of the kingdom." M. d'Argenson was not
+only defeated in his object, and interrupted in his speech, but he was
+expressly called to order for having alluded to facts unfortunately too
+certain, but which the Government wished to smother up by silencing all
+debate on the question.
+
+For the first time in five-and-twenty years, the Royalists saw
+themselves in the ascendant. Thoroughly believing that they had obtained
+a legitimate triumph, they indulged unreservedly in the enjoyment of
+power, with a mixture of aristocratic arrogance and new-born zeal, as
+men do when little accustomed to victory, and doubtful of the strength
+they are so eager to display.
+
+Very opposite causes plunged the Chamber of 1815 into the extreme
+reaction which has stamped its historical character. In the first place,
+and above all others, may be named, the good and evil passions of the
+Royalists, their moral convictions and personal resentments, their love
+of order and thirst for vengeance, their pride in the past and their
+apprehensions for the future, their determination to re-establish honour
+and respect for holy observances, their old attachments, their sworn
+pledges, and the gratification of lording it over their conquerors. To
+the violence of passion was joined a prudent calculation of advantage.
+To strengthen their party, and to advance individual fortunes, it was
+essential for the new rulers of France to possess themselves everywhere
+of place and power; therein lay the field to be worked, and the
+territory to be occupied, in order to reap the entire fruits of victory.
+Finally must be added, the empire of ideas, more influential than is
+commonly supposed, and often exercising more power over men, without
+their being conscious of it, than prejudice or interest. After so many
+years of extraordinary events and disputes, the Royalists had, on all
+political and social questions, systematic views to realize, historical
+reminiscences to act upon, requirements of the mind to satisfy. They
+hastened to apply their hands to the work, believing the day at last
+arrived when they could, once more, assume in their own land, morally as
+well as physically, in thought and deed, the superiority which had so
+long been wrested from them.
+
+As it happens in every great crisis of human associations, these
+opposing principles in the reaction of 1815, had each its special and
+exclusively effective representative in the ranks of the Royalists. The
+party had their fighting champion, their political advocate, and their
+philosopher. M. de la Bourdonnaye led their passions, M. de Villèle
+their interests, and M. de Bonald their ideas; three men well suited to
+their parts, for they excelled respectively, the first in fiery attack,
+the second in prudent and patient manoeuvring, and the third in
+specious, subtle, and elevated exposition; and all three, although
+unconnected by any previous intimacy, applied their varied talents with
+unflinching perseverance to the common cause.
+
+And what, after all, was the cause? What was, in reality, the end which
+the leaders of the party, apparently on the very verge of success,
+proposed to themselves? Had they been inclined to speak sincerely, they
+would have found it very difficult to answer the question. It has been
+said and believed by many, and probably a great portion of the Royalists
+imagined, in 1815, that their object was to abolish the Charter, and
+restore the old system: a commonplace supposition of puerile credulity;
+the battle-cry of the enemies, whether able or blind, of the
+Restoration. In the height of its most sanguine hopes, the Chamber of
+1815 had formed no idea so extreme or audacious. Replaced as conquerors
+upon the field, not by themselves, but by the errors of their
+adversaries and the course of European events, the old Royalist party
+expected that the reverses of the Revolution and the Empire would bring
+them enormous advantages, and restitution; but they were yet undecided
+as to the use they should make of victory in the government of France,
+when they found themselves in the undisturbed possession of power. Their
+views were as unsettled and confused as their passions were violent;
+above all things, they coveted victory, for the haughty pleasure of
+triumph itself, for the definitive establishment of the Restoration, and
+for their own predominance, by holding power at the centre of
+government, and throughout the departments by administration.
+
+But in those social shocks there are deeper questions involved than the
+actors are aware of. The Hundred Days inflicted on France a much heavier
+evil than the waste of blood and treasure it had cost her; they lit up
+again the old quarrel which the Empire had stifled and the Charter was
+intended to extinguish,--the quarrel between old and new France, between
+the emigrants and the revolutionists. It was not alone between two
+political parties, but between two rival classes, that the struggle
+recommenced in 1815, as it originally exploded in 1789.
+
+An unfavourable position for founding a Government, and, above all, a
+free Government. A certain degree of excitement and emulation invariably
+exists between the people and the political parties, which constitutes
+the very life of the social body, and encourages its energetic and
+wholesome development. But if this agitation is not confined to
+questions of legislature and the conduct of public affairs,--if it
+attacks society in its very basis,--if, instead of emulation between
+parties, there arises hostility amongst classes, the movement ceases to
+be healthy, and changes to a destroying malady, which leads on to the
+most lamentable disorders, and may end in the dissolution of the State.
+The undue ascendency of one class over another, whether of the
+aristocracy or the people, becomes tyranny. The bitter and continued
+struggle of either to obtain the upper hand, is in fact revolution,
+imminently impending or absolutely declared. The world has witnessed, in
+two great examples, the diametrically opposite results to which this
+formidable fact may lead. The contest between the Patricians and
+Plebeians held Rome for ages between the cruel alternations of despotism
+and anarchy, which had no variety but war. As long as either party
+retained public virtue, the republic found grandeur, if not social
+peace, in their quarrel; but when Patricians and Plebeians became
+corrupted by dissension, without agreeing on any fixed principle of
+liberty, Rome could only escape from ruin by falling under the despotism
+and lingering decline of the Empire. England presents to modern Europe a
+different spectacle. In England also, the opposing parties of nobles and
+democrats long contended for the supremacy; but, by a happy combination
+of fortune and wisdom, they came to a mutual compromise, and united in
+the common exercise of power: and England has found, in this amicable
+understanding between the different classes, in this communion of their
+rights and mutual influence, internal peace with greatness, and
+stability with freedom.
+
+I looked forward to an analogous result for my own country, from the
+form of government established by the Charter. I have been accused of
+desiring to model France upon the example of England. In 1815, my
+thoughts were not turned towards England; at that time I had not
+seriously studied her institutions or her history. I was entirely
+occupied with France, her destinies, her civilization, her laws, her
+literature, and her great men. I lived in the heart of a society
+exclusively French, more deeply impregnated with French tastes and
+sentiments than any other. I was immediately associated with that
+reconciliation, blending, and intercourse of different classes, and even
+of parties, which seemed to me the natural condition of our new and
+liberal system. People of every origin, rank, and calling, I may almost
+say of every variety of opinion,--great noblemen, magistrates,
+advocates, ecclesiastics, men of letters, fashion, or business, members
+of the old aristocracy, of the Constituent Assembly, of the Convention,
+of the Empire,--lived in easy and hospitable intercourse, adopting
+without hesitation their altered positions and views, and all apparently
+disposed to act together in goodwill for the advantage of their country.
+A strange contradiction in our habits and manners! When social
+relations, applicable to mental or worldly pleasures, are alone
+involved, there are no longer distinctions of classes, or contests;
+differences of situation and opinion cease to exist; we have no thought
+but to enjoy and contribute in common our mutual possessions,
+pretensions, and recommendations. But let political questions and the
+positive interests of life once more spring up,--let us be called upon,
+not merely to assemble for enjoyment or recreation, but to assume each
+his part in the rights, the affairs, the honours, the advantages, and
+the burdens of the social system,--on the instant, all dissensions
+re-appear; all pretences, prejudices, susceptibilities, and oppositions
+revive; and that society which had seemed so single and united, resumes
+all its former divisions and differences.
+
+This melancholy incoherence between the apparent and actual state of
+French society revealed itself suddenly in 1815. The reaction provoked
+by the Hundred Days destroyed in the twinkling of an eye the work of
+social reconciliation carried on in France for sixteen years, and caused
+the abrupt explosion of all the passions, good or evil, of the social
+system, against all the works, beneficial or mischievous, of the
+Revolution.
+
+Attacked also by another difficulty, the party which prevailed at the
+opening of the session, in the Chamber of 1815, fell into another
+mistake. The aristocratic classes in France, although generously
+devoted, in public dangers, to the king and the country, knew not how to
+make common cause either with the crown or the people; they have
+alternately blamed and opposed, royal power and public liberty.
+Isolating themselves in the privileges which satisfied their vanity
+without giving them real influence in the State, they had not assumed,
+for three centuries, either with the monarch, or at the head of the
+nation, the position which seemed naturally to belong to them. After all
+they had lost, and in spite of all they ought to have learned at the
+Revolution, they found themselves in 1815, when power reverted to their
+hands, in the same undefined and shifting position. In its relations
+with the great powers of the State, in public discussion, in the
+exercise of its peculiar rights, the Chamber of 1815 had the merit of
+carrying into vigorous practice the constitutional system, which, in
+1814, had scarcely emerged from its torpor under the Empire; but in its
+new work it lost sight of equity, moderation, and the favourable moment.
+It wished at the same time to control France and the King. It was
+independent and haughty, often revolutionary in its conduct towards the
+monarch, and equally violent and contra-revolutionary as regarded the
+people. This was to attempt too much; it ought to have chosen between
+the two, and to have declared itself either monarchical or popular. The
+Chamber of 1815 was neither the one nor the other. It appeared to be
+deeply imbued with the spirit of the old system, envenomed by the ideas
+or examples of the spirit of the revolution; but the spirit of
+government, even more essential under constitutional than under absolute
+power, was wanting altogether.
+
+Thus, an opposition was seen to spring up quickly within its own
+bosom,--an opposition which became at once popular and monarchical, for
+it equally defended against the ruling party, the crown they had so
+rashly insulted, and the country they had profoundly disturbed. After
+some sharp contests, sustained with acrimonious determination on both
+sides, this opposition, strong in the royal support as in public
+sympathy, frequently obtained a majority, and became the party of the
+Government.
+
+I had no seat at that time in the Chamber of Deputies. It has often been
+said that I took a more important share in the Government of the day
+than could be attributed to me with truth. I have never complained of
+this, nor shall I complain now. I accept the responsibility, not only of
+my own actions, but of those of the friends I selected and supported.
+The monarchical and constitutional party formed in 1815, became on the
+instant my own. I shall acknowledge frankly what experience has taught
+me of their mistakes, while I feel proud of having been enrolled in
+their ranks.
+
+This party was formed abruptly and spontaneously, without premeditated
+object, without previous or personal concert, under the simple necessity
+of the moment, to meet a pressing evil, and not to establish any
+particular system, or any specific combination of ideas, resolutions, or
+designs. Its sole policy was at first confined to the support of the
+Restoration against the reaction: a thankless undertaking, even when
+most salutary; for it is useless to contend with a headlong
+counter-current. While you are supporting the power whose flag serves as
+a cloak to reaction, it is impossible to arrest the entire mischief you
+desire to check; and you seem to adopt that which you have been unable
+to subdue. This is one of the inevitable misconstructions which honest
+men, who act conscientiously, in stormy days, must be prepared to
+encounter.
+
+Neither in its composition nor plans had the new Royalist party any
+special or decided character. Amongst its rising leaders, as in its more
+undistinguished ranks, there were men of every origin and position,
+collected from all points of the social and political horizon.
+M. de Serre was an emigrant, and had been a lieutenant in the army of
+Condé; MM. Pasquier, Beugnot, Siméon, Barante and St. Aulaire, had
+possessed influence under Napoleon; MM. Royer-Collard and Camille Jordan
+were opposed to the Imperial system. The same judgment, the same opinion
+upon the events of the day and the chances of the morrow, upon the
+rights and legitimate interests of the throne and country, suddenly
+united these men, hitherto unknown to each other. They combined, as the
+inhabitants of the same quarter run from all sides and, without
+acquaintance and never having met before, work in concert to extinguish
+a great fire.
+
+A fact, however, disclosed itself, which characterized already the new
+royalist party in the impending struggle. Equally disturbed by the
+pretensions of the old aristocrats, the monarchy and the citizens formed
+a close league for mutual support. Louis XVIII. and young France resumed
+together the policy of their fathers. It is fruitless for a people to
+deny or forget the past; they cannot either annihilate or abstract
+themselves from it; situations and emergencies will soon arise to force
+them back into the road on which they have travelled for ages.
+
+Selected as President by the Chamber itself, and also by the King,
+M. Lainé, while preserving, with a dignity at the same time natural and
+slightly studied, the impartiality which his situation required,
+inclined nevertheless towards the opinions of the moderate minority, and
+supported them by his moral influence, sometimes even by his words. The
+ascendency of his character, the gravity of his manners, and, at
+certain moments, the passionate overflowing of his soul, invested him
+with an authority which his abilities and knowledge would scarcely have
+sufficed to command.
+
+The Session had not been many days open, and already, from conversation,
+from the selection of the officials, from the projects of interior
+movement which were announced, the Deputies began to know and arrange
+themselves, but still with doubt and confusion; as, in a battalion
+unexpectedly called together, the soldiers assemble in disorder, looking
+for their arms and colours. The Government propositions soon brought the
+different parties to broad daylight, and placed them in contest. The
+Session commenced, as might be expected, with measures arising from
+incidental circumstances. Of the four bills evidently bearing this
+character, two--the suspension of personal liberty, and the
+establishment of prevôtal courts--were proposed as exceptional and
+purely temporary; the others--for the suppression of seditious acts, and
+for a general amnesty--were intended to be definitive and permanent.
+
+Measures of expediency, and exceptional laws, have been so often and so
+peremptorily condemned in France, that their very name and aspect
+suffice to render them suspicious and hateful,--a natural impression,
+after so much and such bitter experience! They supply notwithstanding,
+and particularly under a constitutional government, the least dangerous
+as well as the most efficacious method of meeting temporary and urgent
+necessities. It is better to suspend openly, and for a given time, a
+particular privilege, than to pervert, by encroachment and subtlety,
+the fixed laws, so as to adapt them to the emergency of the hour. The
+experience of history, in such cases, confirms the suggestions of
+reason. In countries where political liberty is finally established, as
+in England, it is precisely after it has obtained a signal triumph, that
+the temporary suspension of one or more of its special securities has,
+under pressing circumstances, been adopted as a Government measure. In
+ruder and less intelligent times, under the dominion of momentary
+danger, and as an immediate defence, those rigorous and artful statutes
+were enacted in perpetuity, in which all tyrannies have found arms ready
+made, without the odium of forging them, and from which a more advanced
+civilization, at a later period, has found it so difficult to escape.
+
+It is necessary, I admit, to enable these exceptional laws to accomplish
+their end without too much danger, that, beyond the scope of their
+operation and during their continuance, the country should retain enough
+general liberty, and the authorities sufficient real responsibility, to
+confine these measures within their due limits, and to control their
+exercise. But, in spite of the blindness and rage of the beaten parties,
+we have only to read the debates in the Chambers of 1815, and the
+publications of the time, to be convinced that at that epoch liberty was
+far from having entirely perished; and the history of the ministers who
+were then in power unanswerably demonstrates that they sustained the
+weight of a most effective responsibility.
+
+Of the two temporary bills introduced into the Chamber in 1815, that
+respecting the prevôtal courts met with the least opposition. Two very
+superior men, MM. Royer-Collard and Cuvier, had consented to become its
+official advocates, in the character of Royal Commissioners; and during
+the discussion, M. Cuvier took the lead. The debate was a very short
+one; two hundred and ninety members voted for the bill, ten only
+rejected it. The division may create surprise. The bill, in principle,
+comprised the heaviest possible infringement on common right, and the
+most formidable in practical application, by the suppression, in these
+courts, of the greater part of the privileges accorded in the ordinary
+modes of jurisdiction. A clause in the bill went almost to deprive the
+King of his prerogative of pardon, by ordering the immediate execution
+of the condemned criminals, unless the prevôtal court itself assumed the
+functions of grace by recommending them to royal clemency. One of
+the most enthusiastic Royalists of the right-hand party,
+M. Hyde de Neuville, objected energetically, but without effect, to a
+clause so harsh and anti-monarchical. The two most intractable of
+passions, anger and fear, prevailed in the Chamber; it had its own
+cause, as well as that of the King, to defend and avenge, and persuaded
+itself that it could neither strike too soon nor too strongly when both
+were attacked.
+
+On this occasion, as well as on others, the memory of M. Cuvier has been
+unjustly treated. He has been accused of pusillanimity and servile
+ambition. The charge indicates little knowledge of human nature, and
+insults a man of genius on very slight grounds. I lived much with
+M. Cuvier. Firmness in mind and action was not his most prominent
+quality; but he was neither servile, nor governed by fear in opposition
+to his conscience. He loved order, partly for his own personal security,
+but much more for the cause of justice, civilization, the advantage of
+society, and the progress of intellect. In his complaisance for power,
+he was more governed by sincere inclination than egotism. He was one of
+those who had not learned from experience to place much confidence in
+liberty, and whom the remembrance of revolutionary anarchy had rendered
+easily accessible to honest and disinterested apprehensions. In times of
+social disturbance, men of sense and probity often prefer drifting
+towards the shore, to running the risk of being crushed, with many dear
+objects, on the rocks upon which the current may carry them.
+
+In the debate on the bill which suspended for a year the securities for
+personal liberty, M. Royer-Collard, while supporting the Government,
+marked the independence of his character, and the mistrustful foresight
+of the moralist with regard to the power which the politician most
+desired to establish. He demanded that the arbitrary right of
+imprisonment should be entrusted only to a small number of functionaries
+of high rank, and that the most exalted of all, the Ministers, should in
+every case be considered distinctly responsible. But these amendments,
+which would have prevented many abuses without interfering with the
+necessary power, were rejected. Inexperience and precipitation were
+almost universal at the moment. The Cabinet and its most influential
+partisans in the Chambers had scarcely any knowledge of each other;
+neither had yet learned to conceive plans in combination, to settle the
+limits or bearing of their measures, or to enter on a combat with
+preconcerted arrangements.
+
+A combined action and continued understanding, however, between the
+Government and the moderate Royalists, became every day more
+indispensable; for the divergence of several new parties which began to
+be formed, and the extent of their disagreements, manifested themselves
+with increasing strength from hour to hour. In proposing the act
+intended to repress sedition, M. de Marbois, a gentle and liberal
+nature, inclined to mild government, and little acquainted with the
+violent passions that fermented around him, had merely looked upon these
+acts as ordinary offences, and had sent the criminals before the
+tribunals of correctional police, to be punished by imprisonment only.
+Better informed as to the intentions of a portion of the Chamber, the
+committee appointed to examine the bill, of which M. Pasquier was the
+chairman, endeavoured to restrain the dissentients, while satisfying
+them to a certain extent. Amongst seditious acts, the committee drew a
+line between crimes and offences, assigning crimes to the Court of
+Assizes, to be punished by transportation, and prescribing for simple
+offences fine and imprisonment. This was still too little for the
+ultra-members of the party. They demanded the penalty of death, hard
+labour, and confiscation of property. These additions were refused, and
+the Chamber, by a large majority, passed the bill as amended by the
+committee. Undoubtedly there were members of the right-hand party who
+would not have dared to contest the propositions of MM. Piet and
+de Salaberry, but who rejoiced to see them thrown out, and voted for the
+bill. How many errors would men escape, and how many evils would they
+avoid, if they had the courage to act as they think right, and to do
+openly what they desire!
+
+All these debates were but preludes to the great battle ready to
+commence, on the most important of the incidental questions before the
+Chamber. It is with regret that I use the word _question_. The amnesty
+was no longer one. On returning to France, the King, by his proclamation
+from Cambray, had promised it; and, with kings, to promise is to
+perform. What sovereign could refuse the pardon, of which he has given a
+glimpse to the condemned criminal? The royal word is not less pledged to
+a nation than to an individual. But in declaring, on the 28th of June,
+1815, that he would only except from pardon "the authors and instigators
+of the plot which had overturned the throne," the King had also
+announced "that the two Chambers would point them out to the punishment
+of the laws;" and when, a month later, the Cabinet had, upon the report
+of the Duke of Otranto, arrested the individuals excepted in the two
+lists, the decree of the 24th of July again declared that "the Chambers
+should decide upon those amongst them who should be expatriated or
+brought to trial." The Chambers were therefore inevitably compromised.
+The amnesty had been declared, and yet it still remained a question, a
+bill was still considered necessary.
+
+Four members of the Chamber of Deputies hastened to take the
+initiative in this debate, three of them with extreme violence,
+M. de la Bourdonnaye being the most vehement of the three. He had
+energy, enthusiasm, independence, political tact as a partisan, and a
+frank and impassioned roughness, which occasionally soared to eloquence.
+His project, it was said, would have brought eleven hundred persons
+under trial. Whatever might be the correctness of this calculation, the
+three propositions were tainted with two capital errors: they assumed,
+in fact, that the catastrophe of the 20th of March had been the result
+of a widely-spread conspiracy, the authors of which ought to be punished
+as they would have been in ordinary times, and by the regular course of
+law, if they had miscarried; they assigned to the Chambers the right of
+indicating, by general categories, and without limit as to number, the
+conspirators to be thus dealt with, although the King, by his decree of
+the 24th of July preceding, had merely conferred on them the power of
+deciding, amongst the thirty-eight individuals specially excepted by
+name, which should be banished and which should be brought to trial.
+There was thus, in these projects, at the same time, an act of
+accusation under the name of amnesty, and an invasion of the powers
+already exercised, as well as of the limits already imposed, by the
+royal authority.
+
+The King's Government by no means mistook the bearing of such
+resolutions, and maintained its rights, its acts, and promises with
+suitable dignity. It hastened to check at once the attempt of the
+Chamber. The bill introduced by the Duke de Richelieu on the 8th of
+December, was a real act of amnesty, with no other exceptions than the
+fifty-six persons named in the two lists of the decree of the 24th of
+July, and belonging to the family of the Emperor Napoleon. A single
+additional clause, the fatal consequences of which were assuredly not
+foreseen, had been introduced into the preamble: the fifth article
+excepted from the amnesty all persons against whom prosecutions had been
+ordered or sentences passed before the promulgation of the law,--a
+lamentable reservation, equally contrary to the principle of the measure
+and the object of its framers. The character and essential value of an
+amnesty consist in assigning a term to trials and punishments, in
+arresting judicial action in the name of political interest, and in
+re-establishing confidence in the public mind, with security in the
+existing state of things, at once producing a cessation of sanguinary
+scenes and dangers. The King's Government had already, by the first list
+of exceptions in the decree of the 24th of July, imposed on itself a
+heavy burden. Eighteen generals had been sent before councils of war.
+Eighteen grand political prosecutions, after the publication of the
+amnesty, would have been much even for the strongest and
+best-established government to bear. The Duke de Richelieu's Cabinet, by
+the fifth article of the bill, imposed on itself, in addition, the
+prospective charge of an indefinite number of political prosecutions,
+which might rise up in an indefinite time; and no one could possibly
+foresee in what part of the kingdom, or under what circumstances. The
+evil of this short-sightedness continued, with repeated instances
+rapidly succeeding each other, for more than two years. It was the
+prolonged application of this article which destroyed the value and
+almost the credit of the amnesty, and compromised the royal Government
+in that reaction of 1815 which has left such lamentable reminiscences.
+
+A member of the right-hand party, who was soon destined to become its
+leader, and who until then had taken no share in the debate,
+M. de Villèle, alone foresaw the danger of the fifth article, and
+hesitated not to oppose it. "This article," said he, "seems to me too
+vague and expansive; exceptions to amnesty, after such a rebellion as
+that which has taken place in our country, deliver over inevitably to
+the rigour of the laws all the excepted individuals. Now rigorous
+justice demands that, in such cases, none should be excepted but the
+most guilty and the most dangerous. Having no pledge or certain proof
+that the individuals attainted by the fifth article have deserved this
+express exception, I vote that the article be struck out." Unfortunately
+for the Government, this vote of the leader of the opposition passed
+without effect.
+
+Independently of the question itself, this discussion produced an
+important result: it settled the division of the Chamber into two great
+parties, the right-hand side and the centre; the one the opponent, and
+the other the ally of the Cabinet. The differences of opinion which
+manifested themselves on this occasion were too keen, and were
+maintained on both sides with too much animosity, not to become the
+basis of a permanent classification. The right-hand party persisted in
+requiring several categories of exceptions to the amnesty, confiscations
+under the name of indemnity for injuries done to the State, and the
+banishment of the regicides who had been implicated during the Hundred
+Days. The centre, and the Cabinet in union, firmly resisted these
+propositions. M. Royer-Collard and M. de Serre, amongst others,
+exhibited in the course of this debate as much political intelligence
+as moral rectitude and impassioned eloquence. "It is not always the
+number of executions that saves empires," said M. Royer-Collard; "the
+art of governing men is more difficult, and glory is acquired at a
+loftier price. If we are prudent and skilful, we shall find that we have
+punished enough; never, if we are not so." M. de Serre applied himself
+chiefly to oppose the confiscations demanded under the title of
+indemnities. "The revolutionists have acted thus," said he; "they would
+do the same again if they could recover power. It is precisely for this
+reason that you ought not to imitate their detestable example; and by a
+distorted interpretation of an expression which is not open and sincere,
+by an artifice scarcely worthy of the theatre.... Gentlemen, our
+treasury may be low, but let it be pure." The categories and the
+indemnities were definitively rejected. At the last moment, and in the
+midst of almost universal silence, the banishment of the regicides was
+alone inscribed upon the act. Under the advice of his ministers, the
+King felt that he could not, in obedience to the will of Louis XVI.,
+refuse his sanction to the amnesty, and leave this formidable question
+in suspense. There are Divine judgments which human authority ought not
+to forestall; neither is it called upon to reject them when they are
+declared by the course of events.
+
+To the differences on the questions of expediency, every day were added
+the disagreements on the questions of principle. The Government itself
+excited but few. A bill on elections, introduced by the Minister of the
+Interior, M. de Vaublanc, was the only one which assumed this
+character. The debate was long and animated. The leading men on the
+opposite sides of the Chamber, MM. de Villèle, de la Bourdonnaye,
+de Bonald, Royer-Collard, Pasquier, de Serre, Beugnot, and Lainé,
+entered into it anxiously. But the ministerial plan was badly conceived,
+based upon incompatible foundations, and giving to the elections more of
+an administrative than of a political character. The principal orators
+of the Centre rejected it, as well as a counter-project proposed by the
+committee, in which the right-hand party prevailed, and which the
+Cabinet also disapproved. The last proposal was ultimately carried, but
+with important amendments, and vehemently opposed to the last. The
+Chamber of Deputies passed it by a weak majority, and in the Chamber of
+Peers it was thrown out. Although the different parties had clearly
+indicated their impressions and desires on the electoral system, the
+details were as yet obscure and unsettled. The question remained in
+abeyance. From the Chamber itself emanated the other propositions which
+involved matters of principle; they sprang from the right-hand party,
+and all tended to the same point--the position of the Church in the
+State. M. de Castelbajac proposed that the bishops and ministers should
+be authorized to receive and hold in perpetuity, without requiring the
+sanction of Government, all donations of property, real or personal, for
+the maintenance of public worship or ecclesiastical establishments.
+M. de Blangy demanded that the condition of the clergy should be
+materially improved, and that the married priests should no longer enjoy
+the pensions which had been given to them in their clerical character.
+M. de Bonald called for the abolition of the law of divorce.
+M. Lachèze-Murel insisted that the custody of the civil records should
+be given back to the ministers of religion. M. Murard de St. Romain
+attacked the University, and argued that public education should be
+confided to the clergy. The zeal of the new legislators was, above all
+other considerations, directed towards the re-establishment of religion
+and the Church, as the true basis of social power.
+
+At the outset, the uneasiness and opposition excited by these proposals
+were less animated than we can at present imagine. More immediate
+dangers occupied the adversaries of Government and the public mind. A
+general sentiment in favour of religion as a necessary principle of
+order and morality, prevailed throughout the country; a sentiment
+revived even by the crisis of the Hundred Days, the moral wounds which
+that crisis had revealed, and the social dangers it had partially
+disclosed. The Catholic Church had not yet become the mark of the
+reaction which a little later was raised against it. The clergy took no
+direct part in these debates. The University had been, under the Empire,
+an object of suspicion and hostility on the part of the Liberals. The
+movement in favour of religious influences scarcely astonished those
+whom it displeased. But in the very bosom of the Chamber whence this
+movement emanated, there were enlightened understandings, who at once
+perceived its full range, and I foresaw the angry dissensions which
+sooner or later would be stirred up in the new social system by some of
+these propositions, so utterly opposed to its most fundamental and
+cherished principles. They applied themselves, with resolute good
+sense, to extract from the measures introduced, a selection conformable
+to the true interests of society and the Church. The law of divorce was
+abolished. The position of the parish priests, of the assistant
+ministers, and of several ecclesiastical establishments received
+important amelioration. The scandal of married clergymen still receiving
+official pensions ceased. But the proposal of assigning to the clergy
+the care of the civil records, and the control of public instruction,
+fell to the ground. The University, well defended and directed by
+M. Royer-Collard, remained intact. And with regard to the privilege
+demanded for the clergy, of receiving every kind of donation without the
+interference of the civil authorities, the Chamber of Peers, on a
+report, as judicious as it was elegantly composed, by the
+Abbé de Montesquiou, reduced it to these conditions,--that none but
+religious establishments recognized by law should exercise this right,
+and that in every individual instance the authority of the King should
+be indispensable. The Chamber of Deputies adopted the measure thus
+amended, and from this movement, which threatened to disturb so
+completely the relations of the Church and State, nothing eventuated to
+infringe seriously either on the old maxims or the modern principles of
+French society.
+
+The Cabinet co-operated loyally in these debates and wise resolutions,
+but with less decision and ascendency than that evinced by the moderate
+Royalists in the Chambers. It brought into the question neither the
+depth of thought, nor the power of eloquence, which give a Government
+the control over legislative assemblies, and raise it, even in spite of
+its deficiencies, in public estimation. The Duke de Richelieu was
+universally respected. Amongst his colleagues, all men of high character
+and loyalty, there were several who were endowed with rare knowledge,
+ability, and courage. But the Cabinet wanted unity and brilliant
+reputation; important conditions under any system, but pre-eminently so
+under a free government.
+
+Outside the Chambers, the Ministry had to sustain a still more weighty
+load than the pressure from within, and one which they were not better
+able to encounter. France had become a prey, not to the most tyrannical
+or the most sanguinary, but to the most vexatious and irritating of all
+the passing influences which the vicissitudes of frequent revolutions
+impose upon a nation. A party long vanquished, trampled on, and finally
+included in a general amnesty, the party of the old Royalty, suddenly
+imagined that they had become masters, and gave themselves up
+passionately to the enjoyment of a new power which they looked upon as
+an ancient right. God forbid that I should revive the sad remembrances
+of this reaction! I only desire to explain its true character. It was,
+in civil society, in internal administration, in local affairs, and
+nearly throughout the entire land of France, a species of foreign
+invasion, violent in certain places, offensive everywhere, and which
+occasioned more evil to be dreaded than it actually inflicted; for these
+unexpected victors threatened and insulted even where they refrained
+from striking. They seemed inclined to indemnify themselves by arrogant
+temerity, for their impotence to recover all that they had lost; and to
+satisfy their own consciences in the midst of their revenge, they tried
+to persuade themselves that they were far from inflicting on their
+enemies the full measure of what they had themselves suffered.
+
+Strangers to the passions of this party, impressed with the mischief
+they inflicted on the Royal cause, and personally wounded by the
+embarrassments they occasioned to the Government, the Duke de Richelieu
+and the majority of his colleagues contended with honest sincerity
+against them. Even by the side of the most justly condemned proceedings
+during the reaction of 1815, and which remained entirely unpunished, we
+find traces of the efforts of the existing authorities either to check
+them, prevent their return, or at least to repel the sad responsibility
+of permitting them. When the outrages against the Protestants broke out
+in the departments of the south, and more than six weeks before
+M. d'Argenson spoke of them in the Chamber of Deputies, a royal
+proclamation, countersigned by M. Pasquier, vehemently denounced them,
+and called upon the magistrates for their suppression. After the
+scandalous acquittal, by the Court of Assize at Nismes, of the assassin
+of General Lagarde, who had protected the free worship of the
+Protestants, M. Pasquier demanded and obtained, from the Court of
+Appeal, the annulment of this sentence, in the name of the law, and as a
+last protestation of discarded justice. In spite of every possible
+intervention of delay and impediment, the proceedings commenced at
+Toulouse, and ended in a decree of the prevôtal court at Pau, which
+inflicted five years' imprisonment on two of the murderers of General
+Ramel. Those of Marshal Brune had never been seriously pursued; but
+M. de Serre, being appointed Chancellor, compelled justice to resume its
+course; and the Court of Assize at Riom condemned to death, in default
+of appearance, the assassins they were unable to apprehend. Tardy and
+insufficient amends, which reveal the weakness of authority, as well as
+the resistance with which it was opposed! Even the ministers most
+subservient to the extreme royalist party endeavoured to check while
+supporting them, and took care to contribute less assistance than they
+had promised. At the very time when the Government divided the old army
+into classes, to get rid of all the suspected officers, the Minister of
+War, the Duke of Feltri, summoned to the direction of the staff of his
+department General de Meulan, my brother-in-law, a brave soldier, who
+had entered the service as a private in 1797, and had won his promotion
+on the field of battle by dint of wounds. M. de Meulan was a royalist,
+but extremely attached to the army and his comrades, and deeply grieved
+by the severities with which they were oppressed. I witnessed his
+constant efforts to obtain justice for them, and to secure the
+continuance in the ranks, or re-admission, of all those whom he believed
+to be disposed to serve the King with honest loyalty. The undertaking
+was difficult. In 1816, one of our most able and distinguished officers
+of engineers, General Bernard, had been placed on half-pay, and lived in
+exile at Dôle. The United States of America offered him the command of
+that branch of service in the Republic, with considerable advantages. He
+accepted the proposal, and asked the permission of his minister. The
+Duke of Feltri summoned him to his presence, and tried to induce him to
+abandon this design, by offering to appoint him to any situation in
+France which he considered suitable. "You promise me," said Bernard,
+"what you are unable to perform; place me as you intend, and in a
+fortnight I shall be so denounced that you will have no power to support
+me, and so harassed that I should voluntarily resign. While the
+Government has no more strength than at present, it can neither employ
+nor protect me. In my corner, I am at the mercy of a sub-prefect and
+police magistrate, who can arrest and imprison me; who sends for me
+every day, and compels me to wait in his ante-chamber to be ill received
+at last. Suffer me to go to America. The United States are the natural
+allies of France. I have decided, and, unless imprisoned, I shall
+certainly take my departure." His passport was then given to him. The
+Duke de Berry complained to General Haxo of the course adopted by
+General Bernard. "After the manner in which he has been treated,"
+replied Haxo, "I am only surprised that he has not gone before; it is by
+no means certain that I shall not some day follow his example."
+
+Nothing can explain, better than this simple fact, the situation of the
+King's ministers at that time, and the sincerity as well as the timidity
+of their wishes to be prudent and just.
+
+A great act, resolutely conceived and accomplished, on a great occasion,
+was necessary to raise the executive authority from the reputation as
+well as the actual mischief of this weakness, and to emancipate it from
+the party under which it succumbed while resisting. Today, so long
+removed as we are from that time, the more I reflect on it in the calm
+freedom of my judgment, the more I am convinced that the trial of
+Marshal Ney afforded a most propitious opportunity for such an act as
+that to which I now allude. There were undoubtedly weighty reasons for
+leaving justice to its unfettered course. Society and the royal power
+both required that respect for, and a salutary dread of, the law should
+repossess men's minds. It was important that generations formed during
+the vicissitudes of the Revolution and the triumphs of the Empire,
+should learn, by startling examples, that all does not depend on the
+strength and success of the moment; that there are certain inviolable
+duties; that we cannot safely sport with the fate of governments and the
+peace of nations; and that, in this momentous game, the most powerful
+and the most eminent risk their honour and their lives. In a political
+and moral sense these considerations were of the greatest importance.
+But another prominent truth, equally moral and political, ought to have
+weighed heavily in the balance against an extreme decision. The Emperor
+Napoleon had reigned long and brilliantly, acknowledged and admired by
+France and Europe, and supported by the devotion of millions of men,--by
+the people as well as by the army. Ideas of right and duty, sentiments
+of respect and fidelity, were confused and antagonistic in many minds.
+There were two actual and natural governments in presence of each other;
+and many, without perversity, might have hesitated which to choose. The
+King, Louis XVIII. and his advisers might in their turn, without
+weakness, have taken into consideration this moral confusion, of which
+Marshal Ney presented the most illustrious example. The greater his
+offence against the King, with the more safety could they place clemency
+by the side of justice, and display, over his condemned head, that
+greatness of mind and heart which has also its full influence in
+establishing power and commanding fidelity. The very violence of the
+reaction in favour of royalty, the bitterness of party passions, their
+thirst for punishment and vengeance, would have imparted to this act a
+still greater brilliancy of credit and effect; for boldness and liberty
+would have sprung from it as natural consequences. I heard at that
+time a lady of fashion, usually rational and amiable, call
+Mademoiselle de Lavalette "a little wretch," for aiding her mother in
+the escape of her father. When such extravagancies of feeling and
+language are indulged in the hearing of kings and their advisers, they
+should be received as warnings to resist, and not to submit.
+Marshal Ney, pardoned and banished after condemnation, by royal letters
+deliberately promulgated, would have given to kingly power the aspect of
+a rampart raising itself above all, whether friends or enemies, to stay
+the tide of blood; it would have been, in fact, the reaction of 1815
+subdued and extinguished, as well as that of the Hundred Days.
+
+I do not pretend to have thought and said then, all that I say and think
+at present. I was sorrowful and perplexed. The King's ministers were in
+a similar predicament. They believed that they neither could nor ought
+to recommend clemency. In this momentous contingency, power knew not how
+to be great, sometimes the only method of becoming strong. Controlled
+but not overthrown, and irritated while defeated, by these alternations
+of concession and resistance, the Right-hand party, now become decidedly
+the Opposition, sought, while complaining and hesitating, some channel
+of escape from their position at once powerful and impotent,--some
+breach through which they might give the assault to the Government,
+enter the citadel, and establish themselves firmly there. A man of mind
+and courage, ambitious, restless, clever, and discontented, as well on
+his own account as for the sake of his party, ventured an attack
+extremely daring in reality, but circumspect in form, and purely
+theoretical in appearance. M. de Vitrolles, in a short pamphlet entitled
+'Of the Ministry under a Representative Government,' said:--"France in
+every quarter expresses the necessity, profoundly acknowledged, of
+sterner action in the Government. I have examined the causes of this
+universal feeling, and the reasons which could explain why the different
+Administrations that have succeeded each other within the last eighteen
+months have not given the King's Cabinet the character of strength and
+unity which the Ministers themselves feel to be so essential. I believe
+that I have found them in the incoherence which existed between the
+nature of the adopted government and the ministerial organization, which
+it had not been considered necessary to modify, while at the same time
+we received a new division of power, and that power assumed an entirely
+new character of action." Appealing at every sentence to the practice
+and example of England, M. de Vitrolles argued that the Ministry, which
+he called _an institution_, should have perfect unity in itself, a
+predominant majority in the Chambers, and an actual responsibility in
+the conduct of affairs, which would ensure for it, with the Crown, the
+requisite influence and dignity. On these three conditions alone could
+the Government be effective. A strange reminiscence to refer to at the
+present day! By the most confidential intimate of the Count d'Artois,
+and to establish the old royalist party in power, parliamentary
+legislation was for the first time recommended and demanded for France,
+as a necessary consequence of representative government.
+
+I undertook to repulse this attack by unmasking it.[11] I explained, in
+reply, the essential principles of representative government, their true
+meaning, their real application, and the conditions under which they
+could be usefully developed, in the state in which France had been
+plunged by our revolutions and dissensions. Above all, I endeavoured to
+expose the bitterness of party spirit which lay behind this polished and
+erudite tilting-match between political rhetoricians, and the underhand
+blows which, in the insufficiency of their public weapons, they secretly
+aimed at each other. I believe my ideas were sound enough to satisfy
+intelligent minds who looked below the surface and onwards to the
+future; but they had no immediate and practical efficacy. When the great
+interests of nations and the contending passions of men are at stake,
+the most ingenious speculative arguments are a mere war of display,
+which has no influence on the course of events. As soon as the budget
+was voted, and on the very day of its announcement, the session was
+closed, and the Chambers of 1815 retired, having strenuously exercised,
+both in defence and attack, the free privileges conferred on France by
+the Charter; but divided into two Royalist parties: the one wavering and
+uneasy, although in the possession of power; the other full of
+expectation, and looking forward, with the opening of the next session,
+to a more decisive success, and both in a state of mutual irritation.
+
+Notwithstanding their doubts and weaknesses, the advantage remained with
+the Cabinet and its adherents. For the first time since France had been
+a prey to the Revolution, the struggles of liberty assisted the
+advocates of a moderate policy, and essentially checked, if not
+completely subdued, their opponents. The waves of reaction murmured, but
+rose no more. The Cabinet, strongly supported in the Chambers, possessed
+the confidence of the King, who entertained a high esteem for the Duke
+de Richelieu, and a friendly disposition, becoming daily more warm,
+towards his young Minister of Police, M. Decazes. Eight days after the
+closing of the session, the Cabinet gained an important accession to its
+internal strength, and an eloquent interpreter of its public policy.
+M. Lainé replaced M. de Vaublanc as Minister of the Interior. As a slight
+compensation to the right-hand party, M. de Marbois, who had rendered
+himself very objectionable to them, was dismissed from the Ministry of
+Justice, and the Chancellor, M. Dambray, resumed the seals.
+M. de Marbois was one of those upright and well-informed men, but at the
+same time neither quick-sighted nor commanding, who assist power by
+opinion rather than force. He had opposed the reaction with more
+integrity than energy, and served the King with dignity, without
+acquiring personal influence. In October 1815, at a moment of the most
+violent agitation, the King expressed much anxiety for the introduction
+of the bill respecting the prevôtal courts. It was settled in council
+that the Chancellor and the Minister of War should prepare it together.
+A few days after, the King asked for it rather impatiently. "Sire,"
+answered M. de Marbois, "I am ashamed to tell your Majesty that it is
+ready." He resigned office honourably, although with some regret. At the
+same time I left the post of Secretary-General to the Ministry of
+Justice. While there, M. de Marbois had treated me with confidence
+inspired by sympathy. Finding it disagreeable to remain under
+M. Dambray, to whom my Protestant extraction and opinions were equally
+unsuited, I re-assumed the place of Master of Requests in the State
+Council.
+
+The Chambers had scarcely adjourned, when the conspiracy of Grenoble,
+planned by Didier, and that called the plot of the patriots, at Paris,
+in 1816, came, one upon the other, to put the moderation of the Cabinet
+to the proof. The details forwarded by the magistrates of the department
+of the Isère were full of exaggeration and declamatory excitement. The
+mode of repression ordered by the Government was precipitately rigorous.
+Grenoble had been the cradle of the Hundred Days. It was thought
+expedient to strike Bonapartism heavily, in the very place where it had
+first exploded. A natural opportunity presented itself here of dealing
+firmly with the abettors of treason, while in another quarter strong
+resistance was opposed to the advocates of reaction. Moderation
+sometimes becomes impatient of its name, and yields to the temptation of
+forgetting it for the moment.
+
+The Government nevertheless continued to be moderate, and the public
+were not deceived as to the course adopted. Although M. Decazes, from
+the nature of his department, was the minister on whom measures of
+inquiry and suppression devolved, he was at the same time looked upon,
+and truly, as the protector of the oppressed, and of all who were
+suspected without cause. By natural disposition and magisterial habit,
+he loved justice in his heart. A stranger to all party antipathies,
+penetrating, fearless, indefatigably active, and as prompt in
+benevolence as in duty, he exercised the power which the special laws
+conferred on him with measure and discretion; enforcing them as much
+against the spirit of reaction and persecution as against detected
+conspiracy, and continually occupied himself in preventing or repairing
+the abuses in which the inferior authorities indulged. Thus he advanced
+equally in the good opinion of the country and the favour of the King.
+People and parties have an infallible instinct by which they recognize,
+under the most complicated circumstances, those who attack and those who
+defend them, their friends and their enemies. The ultra-royalists soon
+began to look upon M. Decazes as their chief adversary, and the
+moderates to regard him as their most valuable ally.
+
+At the same time, and during the silence of the tribune, the chief
+representatives of moderate policy in the Chambers eagerly sought
+opportunities of bringing their views before the public, of proclaiming
+their principles, and of rallying, round the King and the constitutional
+government, the still hesitating support of the nation at large. It
+affords me much gratification to recall here the words, perhaps
+forgotten, of three justly celebrated men, all personal friends of my
+own; they demonstrate (as I think, with some brilliancy) the spirit of
+the monarchical party attached to the state of society which the times
+had engendered in France, and the opinions and sentiments they were
+anxious to disseminate.
+
+On the 6th of July, 1816, M. de Serre, in establishing, as first
+President, the Royal Court at Colmar, spoke as follows:--"Liberty, that
+pretext of all seditious ambition,--liberty, which is nothing more than
+the reign of law, has ever been the first privilege buried with the laws
+under the ruins of the throne. Religion itself is in danger when the
+throne and laws are attacked; for everything on earth is derived from
+heaven, and there is perfect harmony between all divine and human
+institutions. If the latter are overturned, the former cannot be
+respected. Let all our efforts, then, be exerted to combine, purify, and
+strengthen that monarchical and Christian spirit which inspires the
+sentiment of every sacrifice to duty! Let our first care be to obtain
+universal respect for the Charter which the King has granted to us.
+Undoubtedly our laws, our Charter, may be improved; and we neither
+require to interdict regret for the past nor hope for the future. But
+let us commence by submitting heartily and without reserve to the laws
+as they exist; let us place this first check on the impatient
+restlessness to which we have been surrendered for twenty-five years;
+let us teach ourselves this primary conviction, that we know how to
+adopt and to be satisfied with a defined system. The rest may be left to
+time."
+
+Six weeks later, on the 19th of August, M. Royer-Collard, when presiding
+over the distribution of prizes at the general meeting of the
+University, addressed these words to the young students:--"Today, when
+the reign of falsehood has ceased, and the legitimacy of power, which is
+truth in government, permits a more unshackled play to all salutary and
+generous doctrines, public instruction beholds its destinies elevated
+and expanded. Religion demands from it pure hearts and disciplined
+minds; the State looks for habits profoundly monarchical; science,
+philosophy, and literature expect new brilliancy and distinction. These
+will be the benefits bestowed by a prince to whom his people already owe
+so much gratitude and love. He, who has made public liberty flourish
+under the shadow of his hereditary throne, will know well how to base,
+on the tutelary principles of empires, a system of teaching worthy of
+the enlightened knowledge of the age, and such as France demands from
+him, that she may not descend from the glorious rank she occupies
+amongst nations."
+
+At the expiration of eight days more, in an assembly exclusively
+literary, a man who had never held public office, but for half or more
+than half a century a sincere and steady friend to liberty, M. Suard,
+perpetual secretary of the French Academy, in giving an account to that
+body of the examination in which he had decreed the prize to
+M. Villemain for his 'Panegyric on Montesquieu,' expressed himself in
+these terms:--"The instability of governments generally proceeds from
+indecision as to the principles which ought to regulate the exercise of
+power. A prince enlightened by the intelligence of the age, by
+experience, and a superior understanding, bestows on royal authority a
+support which no other can replace, in that Charter which protects the
+rights of the monarch, while it guarantees to the nation all those that
+constitute true and legitimate liberty. Let us rally under this signal
+of alliance between the people and their king. Their union is the only
+certain pledge for the happiness of both. Let the Charter be for us what
+the holy ark that contained the tables of the law was for the Hebrews of
+old. If the shade of the great publicist who has shed light on the
+principles of constitutional monarchies could be present at the triumph
+which we now award him, he would confirm with his sanction the
+sentiments I venture to express."
+
+An assembly so unanimous in opinion and intention, composed of such men,
+representing so many important sections of society, and voluntarily
+grouped round the King and his ministers, constituted in themselves a
+great political fact. A certain index was supplied, that, in the opinion
+of the moderate party, enlightened minds were not wanting to comprehend
+the conditions of the new system, or serious dispositions for its
+support. As yet, however, they only formed the scattered elements and
+seeds of a great conservative party under a free government. Time was
+necessary for this party to unite, to consolidate its natural strength,
+and to render itself acceptable to the country. Would time be given for
+this difficult undertaking? The question was doubtful. A formidable
+crisis approached; the Chamber of 1815 was on the point of re-opening,
+and undoubtedly still more ardent and aggressive than during the
+preceding session. The party which prevailed there had not only to
+retrieve their checks, and pursue their designs, but they had also
+recent insults to avenge. During the recess they had been the objects of
+animated attack. The Government everywhere opposed their influence; the
+public loudly manifested towards them mistrust and antipathy; they were
+alternately charged with fanaticism and hypocrisy, with incapacity and
+vindictive obstinacy. Popular-anger and ridicule assailed them with
+unrestrained license. From notes collected at the time, I quote
+literally a few specimens of the sarcastic hostility with which they
+were pursued:--
+
+"April 10th, 1816.--Before adjourning, the Chamber of Deputies has
+organized itself into a chapel. Treasurer and secretary, M. Laborie.
+Contractor for burials, M. de La Bourdonnaye. Grave-digger,
+M. Duplessis-Grénédan. Superintendent, M. de Bouville, and in his
+capacity of vice-president--rattlesnake. Dispenser of holy water
+(promise-maker), M. de Vitrolles. General of the Capuchins,
+M. de Villèle; and he deserves the post for his voice. Grand almoner,
+M. de Marcellus, who gives a portion of his own estate to the poor.
+Bellringers, M. Hyde de Neuville," etc. etc.
+
+"May, 1816.--Here is the Charter which a majority of the Chamber
+proposes to confer upon us.--_Article._ The fundamental principles of
+the constitution may be changed as often as we wish; nevertheless,
+seeing that stability is desirable, they shall not be changed more than
+three times a year.--_Art._ Every law emanates from the King; this is
+the first evidence of the right of petition accorded to all
+frenchmen.--_Art._ The laws shall be executed according to the pleasure
+of the Deputies, each in their respective departments.--_Art._ Every
+representative shall have the nomination to all posts within his
+district."
+
+"July 1816.--They say the King is slightly indisposed. He will be very
+ill indeed if he is obliged to keep his _Chamber_ for five years."
+
+Such were the public expressions respecting this assembly, one of the
+most honourable members of which, M. de Kergorlay, said, a few months
+before, "The Chamber had not yet whispered when the former Ministry
+already fell; let it speak, and the present Government will scarcely
+last eight days."
+
+The Ministry, however, had held its ground, and still continued to do
+so; but it was evidently impossible that it could stand firm against the
+Chamber, once more assembled with redoubled animosity. They well knew
+that the Opposition was determined to renew the most violent attacks
+upon the existing authorities. M. de Châteaubriand printed his 'Monarchy
+according to the Charter;' and although this able pamphlet was not yet
+published, everybody knew the superior skill with which the author could
+so eloquently blend falsehood with truth, how brilliantly he could
+compound sentiments and ideas, and with what power he could entangle the
+blinded and unsettled public in this dazzling chaos. Neither the
+Ministry nor the Opposition attempted to deceive themselves as to the
+nature and consequences of the struggle about to commence. The question
+of persons was merely the symbol and cloak of the great social and
+political topics in dispute between the two parties. The point to be
+decided was, whether power should pass over to the _Right-hand_ party,
+such as it had exhibited itself during the session lately terminated;
+that is, whether the theories of M. de Bonald and the passions of
+M. de La Bourdonnaye, feebly qualified by the prudence and influence, as
+yet unripened, of M. de Villèle, should become the rule of the King's
+policy.
+
+I am not now, neither was I in 1815, amongst those who considered the
+_Right-hand_ party unfit to govern France. On the contrary, I had
+already, although less profoundly and clearly than at present, adopted
+the opinion, that a concurrence of all the enlightened and independent
+classes, whether old or new, was absolutely necessary to rescue our
+country from the impending alternations of anarchy or despotism, and
+that without their union we could never long preserve order and liberty
+together. Perhaps too I might include this natural tendency amongst the
+reasons, not absolutely defined, which led me to desire the Restoration.
+Hereditary monarchy, become constitutional, presented itself to my mind
+both as a principle of stability, and as a natural and worthy means of
+reconciliation and conversion amongst the classes and parties who had
+been so long and continually at war. But in 1816, so soon after the
+revolutionary shock of the Hundred Days, and before the
+counter-revolutionary reaction of 1815 had subsided, the accession of
+the _Right-hand_ party to power, would have been very different from the
+victory of men capable of governing without social disturbance, although
+under an unpopular system. It would have been the Revolution and the
+Counter-revolution once more in active contest, under an attack of
+raging fever; and thus the Throne and the Charter, the internal peace
+and security of France as well as her liberties, would be endangered by
+this struggle, before the eyes of Europe encamped within our territory
+and in arms around the combatants.
+
+Under these menacing circumstances, M. Decazes had the rare merit of
+finding and applying a remedy to the gigantic evil. He was the first,
+and for some time the only one amongst the Ministers, who looked upon
+the dissolution of the Chamber of 1815 as equally necessary and
+possible. Undoubtedly personal interest had a share in his bold
+perspicuity; but I know him well enough to feel convinced, that his
+devotion to the country and the King powerfully contributed to his
+enlightened decision; and his conduct at this crisis displayed at least
+as much patriotism as ambition.
+
+He had a double labour of persuasion to accomplish; first to win over
+his two principal colleagues, the Duke de Richelieu and M. Lainé, and
+afterwards the King himself. Both sincerely attached to a moderate
+policy, the Duke and M. Lainé were undecided, timid under great
+responsibility, and more disposed to wait the progress of difficulties
+and dangers, than to surmount by confronting them. Amongst the Duke's
+immediate circle were many ultra-royalists, who exercised no influence
+over him, and whom he even treated rudely when they displayed their
+violence; but he was unwilling to declare open war against them.
+M. Lainé, scrupulous in his resolves and fearful for their consequences,
+was sensitive on the point of vanity, and disinclined to any measure not
+originating with himself.[12] The King's irresolution was perfectly
+natural. How could he dissolve the first Chamber, avowedly royalist,
+which had been assembled for twenty-five years,--a Chamber he had
+himself declared incomparable, and which contained so many of his oldest
+and most faithful friends? What dangers to himself and his dynasty might
+spring up on the day of such a decree! and even now, what discontent and
+anger already existed in his family and amongst his devoted adherents,
+and consequently what embarrassment and vexation thereby recoiled upon
+himself.
+
+But Louis XVIII. had a cold heart and an unfettered mind. The rage and
+ill-temper of his relatives affected him little, when he had once firmly
+resolved not to be influenced by them. It was his pride and pleasure to
+fancy himself a more enlightened politician than all the rest of his
+race, and to act in perfect independence of thought and will. On more
+than one occasion, the Chamber, if not in direct words, at least in act
+and manner, had treated him with disrespect almost amounting to
+contempt, after the fashion of a revolutionary assembly. It became
+necessary for him to show to all, that he would not endure the display
+of such feelings and principles either from his friends or enemies. He
+regarded the Charter as his own work, and the foundation of his glory.
+The right-hand party frequently insulted and sometimes threatened a
+direct attack upon the Charter. The defence lay with the King. This gave
+him an opportunity of re-establishing it in its original integrity.
+During the administration of M. de Talleyrand he had, reluctantly and
+against his own conviction, modified several articles, and submitted
+fourteen others to the revision of the legislative authorities. To cut
+short this revision, and to return to the pure Charter, was to restore
+it a second time to France, and thus to establish, for the country and
+himself, a new pledge of security and peace.
+
+During more than two months, M. Decazes handled all these points with
+much ability and address; determined, but not impatient, persevering,
+yet not obstinate, changing his topic according to the tempers he
+encountered, and day by day bringing before these wavering minds the
+facts and arguments best adapted to convince them. Without taking his
+principal friends unconnected with the Cabinet into the full and daily
+confidence of his labours, he induced them, under a promise of secrecy,
+to assist him by reasons and reflections which he might bring under the
+eyes of the King, while they gave variety to his own views. Several
+amongst them transmitted notes to him with this object; I contributed
+one also, particularly bearing on the hopes which those numerous middle
+classes placed in the King, who desired no more than to enjoy the
+productive repose they derived from him, and whom he alone could secure
+from the dangerous uncertainty to which the Chamber had reduced them.
+Different in origin and style, but all actuated by the same spirit and
+tending to the same end, these argumentative essays became gradually
+more and more efficacious. Having at last decided, the Duke de Richelieu
+and M. Lainé concurred with M. Decazes to bring over the King, who had
+already formed his resolution, but chose to appear undecided, it being
+his pleasure to have no real confidant but his favourite. The three
+ministers who were known to be friends of the right-hand party,
+M. Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M. Dubouchage, were not consulted;
+and it was said that they remained in total ignorance of the whole
+affair to the last moment. I have reason to believe that, either from
+respect to the King, or from reluctance to enter into contest with the
+favourite, they soon reconciled themselves to a result which they plainly
+foresaw.
+
+Be this as it may, on Wednesday, the 14th of August, the King held a
+cabinet council; the sitting was over, and the Duke of Feltri had
+already risen to take his departure. The King desired him to resume his
+place again. "Gentlemen," said he, "there is yet a question of immediate
+urgency,--the course to be taken with respect to the Chamber of
+Deputies. Three months ago I had determined to re-assemble it. Even a
+month since, I retained the same intention; but all that I have seen,
+and all that comes under my daily observation, proves so clearly the
+spirit of faction by which that Chamber is governed, the dangers which
+it threatens to France and to myself have become so apparent, that I
+have entirely changed my opinion. From this moment, then, you may
+consider the Chamber as dissolved. Start from that point, gentlemen,
+prepare to execute the measure, and in the meantime preserve the most
+inviolable secrecy on the subject. My decision is absolute." When Louis
+XVIII. had formed a serious resolution and intended to be obeyed, he had
+a tone of dignity and command which cut short all remonstrance. During
+three weeks, although the question deeply occupied all minds, and in
+spite of some returns of hesitation on the part of the King himself, the
+secret of the resolution adopted was so profoundly kept, that the Court
+believed the Chamber would re-assemble. It was only on the 5th of
+September, after the King had retired to bed, that _Monsieur_ received
+information through the Duke de Richelieu, from his Majesty, that the
+decree for the dissolution was signed, and would be published in the
+'Moniteur' on the following morning.
+
+The surprise and anger of _Monsieur_ were unbounded; he would have
+hastened at once to the King; the Duke de Richelieu withheld him, by
+saying that the King was already asleep, and had given peremptory orders
+that he should not be disturbed. The Princes, his sons, accustomed to
+extreme reserve in the King's presence, appeared to approve rather than
+condemn. "The King has acted wisely," said the Duke de Berry; "I warned
+those gentlemen of the Chamber that they had indulged in too much
+license." The Court was thrown into consternation, on hearing of a
+stroke so totally unexpected. The party against whom it was aimed,
+attempted some stir in the first instance. M. de Châteaubriand added an
+angry _Postscript_ to his 'Monarchy according to the Charter,' and
+evinced symptoms of resistance, more indignant than rational, to the
+measures decreed, in consequence of some infraction of the regulations
+of the press, to retard the publication of his work.[13] But the party,
+having reflected a little, prudently stifled their anger, and began
+immediately to contrive means for re-engaging in the contest. The
+public, or, I ought rather to say, the entire land, loudly proclaimed
+its satisfaction. For honest, peaceably disposed people, the measure was
+a signal of deliverance; for political agitators, a proclamation of
+hope. None were ignorant that M. Decazes had been its first and most
+effectual advocate. He was surrounded with congratulations, and promises
+that all men of sense and substance would rally round him; he replied
+with modest satisfaction, "This country must be very sick indeed for me
+to be of so much importance."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 11: In a publication entitled 'Of Representative Government,
+and the Actual Condition of France,' published in 1816.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I insert amongst the "Historic Documents" a note which he
+transmitted to the King, in the course of the month of August, on the
+question of the dissolution of the Chamber; and in which the
+fluctuations and fantasies of his mind, more ingenious than judicious,
+are revealed. (Historic Documents, No. VII.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: I have added to the "Historic Documents" the letters
+exchanged on this occasion between M. de Châteaubriand, M. Decazes, and
+the Chancellor Dambray, which characterize strongly the event and the
+individuals. (Historic Documents, No. VIII.)]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.
+
+1816-1821.
+
+     COMPOSITION OF THE NEW CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--THE CABINET IN A
+     MAJORITY.--ELEMENTS OF THAT MAJORITY, THE CENTRE PROPERLY SO
+     CALLED, AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.--TRUE CHARACTER OF THE CENTRE.--TRUE
+     CHARACTER OF THE DOCTRINARIANS, AND REAL CAUSE OF THEIR
+     INFLUENCE.--M. DE LA BOURDONNAYE AND M. ROYER-COLLARD AT THE
+     OPENING OF THE SESSION.--ATTITUDE OF THE DOCTRINARIANS IN THE
+     DEBATE ON THE EXCEPTIONAL LAWS.--ELECTORAL LAW OF FEBRUARY 5TH,
+     1817.--THE PART I TOOK ON THAT OCCASION.--OF THE ACTUAL AND
+     POLITICAL POSITION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES.--MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR,
+     AND HIS BILL FOR RECRUITING THE ARMY, OF THE 10TH OF MARCH,
+     1818.--BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS, OF 1819, AND M. DE
+     SERRE.--PREPARATORY DISCUSSION OF THESE BILLS IN THE STATE
+     COUNCIL.--GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.--MODIFICATION OF
+     THE CABINET FROM 1816 TO 1820.--IMPERFECTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL
+     SYSTEM.--ERRORS OF INDIVIDUALS.--DISSENSIONS BETWEEN THE CABINET
+     AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.--THE DUKE DE RICHELIEU NEGOCIATES, AT
+     AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, THE ENTIRE RETREAT OF FOREIGN TROOPS FROM
+     FRANCE.--HIS SITUATION AND CHARACTER.--HE ATTACKS THE BILL ON
+     ELECTIONS.--HIS FALL.--CABINET OF M. DECAZES.--HIS POLITICAL
+     WEAKNESS, NOTWITHSTANDING HIS PARLIAMENTARY SUCCESS.--ELECTIONS OF
+     1819.--ELECTION AND NON-ADMISSION OF M. GRÉGOIRE.--ASSASSINATION OF
+     THE DUKE DE BERRY.--FALL OF M. DECAZES.--THE DUKE DE RICHELIEU
+     RESUMES OFFICE.--HIS ALLIANCE WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--CHANGE IN
+     THE LAW OF ELECTIONS.--DISORGANIZATION OF THE CENTRE, AND PROGRESS
+     OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--SECOND FALL OF THE DUKE
+     DE RICHELIEU.--M. DE VILLÈLE AND THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY OBTAIN POWER.
+
+
+A violent outcry was raised, as there ever has been and always will be,
+against ministerial interference at the elections. This is the sour
+consolation of the beaten, who feel the necessity of accounting for
+their defeat. Elections, taken comprehensively, are almost always more
+genuine than interested and narrow-minded suspicion is disposed to
+allow. The desires and ability of the powers in office, exercise over
+them only a secondary authority. The true essence of elections lies in
+the way in which the wind blows, and in the impulse of passing events.
+The decree of the 5th of September, 1816, had given confidence to the
+moderate party, and a degree of hope to the persecuted of 1815. They all
+rallied round the Cabinet, casting aside their quarrels, antipathies,
+and private rancours, combining to support the power which promised
+victory to the one and safety to the other.
+
+The victory, in fact, remained with the Cabinet, but it was one of those
+questionable triumphs which left the conquerors still engaged in a
+fierce war. The new Chamber comprised, in the centre a ministerial
+majority, on the right a strong and active opposition, and on the left a
+very small section, in which M. d'Argenson and M. Lafitte were the only
+names recognized by the public.
+
+The ministerial majority was formed from two different although at that
+time closely-united elements,--the centre, properly called the grand
+army of power, and the very limited staff of that army, who soon
+received the title of _doctrinarians_.
+
+I shall say of the centre of our assemblies since 1814, what I have just
+said of M. Cuvier; it has been misunderstood and calumniated, when
+servility and a rabid desire for place have been named as its leading
+characteristics. With it, as with others, personal interests have had
+their weight, and have looked for their gratification; but one general
+and just idea formed the spirit and bond of union of the party,--the
+idea that, in the present day, after so many revolutions, society
+required established government, and that to government all good
+citizens were bound to render their support. Many excellent and
+honourable sentiments,--family affection, a desire for regular
+employment, respect for rank, laws, and traditions, anxieties for the
+future, religious habits,--all clustered round this conviction, and had
+often inspired its votaries with rare and trusting courage. I call these
+persevering supporters of Government, citizen Tories; their defamers are
+weak politicians and shallow philosophers, who neither understand the
+moral instincts of the soul, nor the essential interests of society.
+
+The _doctrinarians_ have been heavily attacked. I shall endeavour to
+explain rather than defend them. When either men or parties have once
+exercised an influence over events, or obtained a place in history, it
+becomes important that they should be correctly known; this point
+accomplished, they may rest in peace and submit to judgment.
+
+It was neither intelligence, nor talent, nor moral dignity--qualities
+which their acknowledged enemies have scarcely denied them--that
+established the original character and political importance of the
+_doctrinarians_.
+
+Other men of other parties have possessed the same qualities; and
+between the relative pretensions of these rivals in understanding,
+eloquence, and sincerity, public opinion will decide. The peculiar
+characteristic of the doctrinarians, and the real source of their
+importance in spite of their limited number, was that they maintained,
+against revolutionary principles and ideas, ideas and principles
+contrary to those of the old enemies of the Revolution, and with which
+they opposed it, not to destroy but to reform and purify it in the name
+of justice and truth. The great feature, dearly purchased, of the French
+revolution was, that it was a work of the human mind, its conceptions
+and pretensions, and at the same time a struggle between social
+interests. Philosophy had boasted that it would regulate political
+economy, and that institutions, laws, and public authorities should only
+exist as the creatures and servants of instructed reason,--- an insane
+pride, but a startling homage to all that is most elevated in man, to
+his intellectual and moral attributes! Reverses and errors were not slow
+in impressing on the Revolution their rough lessons; but even up to 1815
+it had encountered, as commentators on its ill-fortune, none but
+implacable enemies or undeceived accomplices,--the first thirsting for
+vengeance, the last eager for rest, and neither capable of opposing to
+revolutionary principles anything beyond a retrograde movement on the
+one side, and the scepticism of weariness on the other. "There was
+nothing in the Revolution but error and crime," said the first; "the
+supporters of the old system were in the right."--"The Revolution erred
+only in excess," exclaimed the second; "its principles were sound, but
+carried too far; it has abused its rights." The doctrinarians denied
+both these conclusions; they refused to acknowledge the maxims of the
+old system, or, even in a mere speculative sense, to adhere to the
+principles of the Revolution. While frankly adopting the new state of
+French society, such as our entire history, and not alone the year 1789,
+had made it, they undertook to establish a government on rational
+foundations, but totally opposed to the theories in the name of which
+the old system had been overthrown, or the incoherent principles which
+some endeavoured to conjure up for its reconstruction. Alternately
+called on to combat and defend the Revolution, they boldly assumed from
+the outset, an intellectual position, opposing ideas to ideas, and
+principles to principles, appealing at the same time to reason and
+experience, affirming rights instead of maintaining interests, and
+requiring France, not to confess that she had committed evil alone, or
+to declare her impotence for good, but to emerge from the chaos into
+which she had plunged herself, and to raise her head once more towards
+heaven in search of light.
+
+Let me readily admit that there was also much pride in this attempt; but
+a pride commencing with an act of humility, which proclaims the mistakes
+of yesterday with the desire and hope of not repeating them today. It
+was rendering homage to human intelligence while warning it of the
+limits of its power, respecting the past, without undervaluing the
+present or abandoning the future. It was an endeavour to bestow on
+politics sound philosophy, not as a sovereign mistress, but as an
+adviser and support.
+
+I shall state without hesitation, according to what experience has
+taught me, the faults which progressively mingled with this noble
+design, and impaired or checked its success. What I anxiously desire at
+present is to indicate its true character. It was to this mixture of
+philosophical sentiment and political moderation, to this rational
+respect for opposing rights and facts, to these principles, equally new
+and conservative, anti-revolutionary without being retrograde, and
+modest in fact although sometimes haughty in expression, that the
+doctrinarians owed their importance as well as their name.
+Notwithstanding the numerous errors of philosophy and human reason, the
+present age still cherishes reasoning and philosophical tastes; and the
+most determined practical politicians sometimes assume the air of acting
+upon general ideas, regarding them as sound methods of obtaining
+justification or credit. The doctrinarians thus responded to a profound
+and real necessity, although imperfectly acknowledged, of French minds:
+they paid equal respect to intellect and social order; their notions
+appeared well suited to regenerate, while terminating the Revolution.
+Under this double title they found, with partisans and adversaries,
+points of contact which drew them together, if not with active sympathy,
+at least with solid esteem: the right-hand party looked upon them as
+sincere royalists; and the left, while opposing them with acrimony,
+could not avoid admitting that they were neither the advocates of the
+old system, nor the defenders of absolute power.
+
+Such was their position at the opening of the session of 1816: a little
+obscure still, but recognized by the Cabinet as well as by the different
+parties. The Duke de Richelieu, M. Lainé, and M. Decazes, whether they
+liked the doctrinarians or not, felt that they positively required their
+co-operation, as well in the debates of the Chambers as to act upon
+public opinion. The left-hand party, powerless in itself, accorded with
+them from necessity, although their ideas and language sometimes
+produced surprise rather than sympathy. The right, notwithstanding its
+losses at the elections, was still very strong, and speedily assumed the
+offensive. The King's speech on opening the session was mild and
+somewhat indistinct, as if tending rather to palliate the decree of the
+5th of September, than to parade it with an air of triumph: "Rely," said
+he, in conclusion, "on my fixed determination to repress the outrages of
+the ill-disposed, and to restrain the exuberance of overheated zeal."
+"Is that all?" observed M. de Châteaubriand, on leaving the royal
+presence; "if so, the victory is ours:" and on that same day he dined
+with the Chancellor. M. de la Bourdonnaye was even more explicit. "The
+King," said he, with a coarse expression, "once more hands his
+ministers over to us!" During the session of the next day, meeting
+M. Royer-Collard, with whom he was in the habit of extremely free
+conversation, "Well," said he, "there you are, more rogues than last
+year." "And you not so many," replied M. Royer-Collard. The right-hand
+party, in their reviving hopes, well knew how to distinguish the
+adversaries with whom they would have to contend.
+
+As in the preceding session, the first debates arose on questions of
+expediency. The Cabinet judged it necessary to demand from the Chambers
+the prolongation, for another year, of the two provisional laws
+respecting personal liberty and the daily press. M. Decazes presented a
+detailed account of the manner in which, up to that period, the
+Government had used the arbitrary power committed to its hands, and also
+the new propositions which should restrain it within the limits
+necessary to remove all apprehended danger. The right-hand party
+vigorously rejected these propositions, upon the very natural ground
+that they had no confidence in the Ministers, but without any other
+reasoning than the usual commonplace arguments of liberalism. The
+doctrinarians supported the bills, but with the addition of commentaries
+which strongly marked their independence, and the direction they wished
+to give to the power they defended. "Every day," said M. de Serre, "the
+nature of our constitution will be better understood, its benefits more
+appreciated by the nation; the laws with which you co-operate, will
+place by degrees our institutions and habits in harmony with
+representative monarchy; the government will approach its natural
+perfection,--that unity of principle, design, and action which forms the
+condition of its existence. In permitting and even in protecting legal
+opposition, it will not allow that opposition to find resting-points
+within itself. It is because it can be, and ought to be, watched over
+and contradicted by independent men, that it should be punctually
+obeyed, faithfully seconded and served by those who have become and wish
+to remain its direct agents. Government will thus acquire a degree of
+strength which can dispense with the employment of extraordinary means:
+legal measures, restored to their proper energy, will be found
+sufficient." "There is," said M. Royer-Collard, "a strong objection
+against this bill; the Government may be asked, 'Before you demand
+excessive powers, have you employed all those which the laws entrust to
+you? have you exhausted their efficacy?' ... I shall not directly answer
+this question, but I shall say to those who put it, 'Take care how you
+expose your Government to too severe a trial, and one under which nearly
+all Governments have broken down; do not require from it perfection;
+consider its difficulties as well as its duties.' ... We wish to arrest
+its steps in the course it pursues at present, and to impose daily
+changes. We demand from it the complete development of institutions and
+constitutional enactments; above all, we require that vigorous unity of
+principles, system, and conduct without which it will never effectually
+reach the end towards which it advances. But what it has already done,
+is a pledge for what it will yet accomplish. We feel a just reliance
+that the extraordinary powers with which we invest it will be exercised,
+not by or for a party, but for the nation against all parties. Such is
+our treaty; such are the stipulations which have been spoken of: they
+are as public as our confidence, and we thank those who have occasioned
+their repetition, for proving to France that we are faithful to her
+cause, and neglect neither her interests nor our own duties."
+
+With a more gentle effusion of mind and heart, M. Camille Jordan held
+the same language; the bills passed; the right-hand party felt as blows
+directed against itself the advice suggested to the Cabinet, and the
+Cabinet saw that in that quarter, as necessary supporters, they had also
+haughty and exacting allies.
+
+Their demands were not fruitless. The Cabinet, uninfluenced either by
+despotic views or immoderate passions, had no desire to retain
+unnecessarily the absolute power with which it had been entrusted. No
+effort was requisite to deprive it of the provisional laws; they fell
+successively of themselves,--the suspension of the securities for
+personal liberty in 1817, the prevôtal courts in 1818, the censorship of
+the daily press in 1819; and four years after the tempest of the Hundred
+Days, the country was in the full enjoyment of all its constitutional
+privileges.
+
+During this interval, other questions, more and less important, were
+brought forward and decided. When the first overflowing of the reaction
+of 1815 had a little calmed down, when France, less disturbed with the
+present, began once more to think of the future, she was called upon to
+enter on the greatest work that can fall to the lot of a nation. There
+was more than a new government to establish; it was necessary that a
+free government should be imbued with vigour. It was written, and it
+must live,--a promise often made, but never accomplished. How often,
+from 1789 to 1814, had liberties and political rights been inscribed on
+our institutes and laws, to be buried under them, and held of no
+account. The first amongst the Governments of our day, the Restoration,
+took these words at their true meaning; whatever may have been its
+traditions and propensities, what it said, it did; the liberties and
+rights it acknowledged, were taken into real co-operation and action.
+From 1814 to 1830, as from 1830 to 1848, the Charter was a truth. For
+once forgetting it, Charles X. fell.
+
+When this work of organization, or, to speak more correctly, when this
+effectual call to political life commenced in 1816, the question of the
+electoral system, already touched upon, but without result, in the
+preceding session, was the first that came under notice. It was included
+in the scope of the fortieth article of the Charter, which ran
+thus:--"The electors who nominate the Deputies can have no right of
+voting, unless they pay a direct contribution of 300 francs, and have
+reached the age of thirty,"--an ambiguous arrangement, which attempted
+more than it ventured to accomplish. It evidently contained a desire of
+placing the right of political suffrage above the popular masses, and of
+confining it within the more elevated classes of society. But the
+constitutional legislator had neither gone openly to this point, nor
+attained it with certainty; for if the Charter required from the
+electors who were actually to name the Deputies, 300 francs of direct
+contribution, and thirty years of age, it did not forbid that these
+electors should be themselves chosen by preceding electoral assemblies;
+or rather it did not exclude indirect election, nor, under that form,
+what is understood by the term universal suffrage.
+
+I took part in drawing up the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, which
+comprised, at that time, the solution given to this important question.
+I was present at the conferences in which it was prepared. When ready,
+M. Lainé, whose business it was, as Minister of the Interior, to present
+it to the Chamber of Deputies, wrote to say that he wished to see me: "I
+have adopted," he said, "all the principles of this bill, the
+concentration of the right of suffrage, direct election, the equal
+privilege of voters, their union in a single college for each
+department; and I really believe these are the best that could be
+desired: still, upon some of these points, I have mental doubts and
+little time to solve them. Help me in preparing the exposition of our
+objects." I responded, as I was bound, to this confiding sincerity, by
+which I felt equally touched and honoured. The bill was brought in; and
+while my friends supported it in the Chamber, from whence my age for the
+present excluded me, I defended it, on behalf of the Government, in
+several articles inserted in the 'Moniteur.' I was well informed as to
+its intent and true spirit, and I speak of it without embarrassment in
+presence of the universal suffrage, as now established. If the electoral
+system of 1817 disappeared in the tempest of 1848, it conferred on
+France thirty years of regular and free government, systematically
+sustained and controlled; and amidst all the varying influences of
+parties, and the shock of a revolution, this system sufficed to maintain
+peace, to develop national prosperity, and to preserve respect for all
+legal rights. In this age of ephemeral and futile experiments, it is the
+only political enactment which has enjoyed a long and powerful life. At
+least it was a work which may be acknowledged, and which deserves to be
+correctly estimated, even after its overthrow.
+
+A ruling idea inspired the bill of the 5th of February, 1817,--to fix a
+term to the revolutionary system, and to give vigour to the
+constitutional Government. At that epoch, universal suffrage had ever
+been, in France, an instrument of destruction or deceit,--of
+destruction, when it had really placed political power in the hands of
+the multitude; of deceit, when it had assisted to annul political
+rights for the advantage of absolute power, by maintaining, through the
+vain intervention of the multitude, a false appearance of electoral
+privilege. To escape, in fine, from that routine of alternate violence
+and falsehood, to place political power in the region within which the
+conservative interests of social order naturally predominate with
+enlightened independence, and to secure to those interests, by the
+direct election of deputies from the country, a free and strong action
+upon its Government,--such were the objects, without reserve or
+exaggeration, of the authors of the electoral system of 1817.
+
+In a country devoted for twenty-five years, on the subject of political
+elections, whether truly or apparently, to the principle of the
+supremacy of number, so absurdly called the sovereignty of the people,
+the attempt was new, and might appear rash. At first, it confined
+political power to the hands of 140,000 electors. From the public, and
+even from what was already designated the liberal party, it encountered
+but slight opposition; some objections springing from the past, some
+apprehensions for the future, but no declared or active hostility. It
+was from the bosom of the classes specially devoted to conservative
+interests, and from their intestine discussions, that the attack and the
+danger emanated.
+
+During the session of 1815, the old royalist faction, in its moderated
+views, and when it renounced systematic and retrograding aspirations,
+had persuaded itself that, at least, the King's favour and the influence
+of the majority would give it power in the departments as at the seat of
+government. The decree of the 5th of September, 1816, abolished this
+double expectation. The old Royalists called upon the new electoral
+system to restore it, but at once perceived that the bill of the 5th of
+February was not calculated to produce such an effect; and forthwith
+commenced a violent attack, accusing the new plan of giving over all
+electoral power, and consequently all political influence, to the middle
+classes, to the exclusion of the great proprietors and the people.
+
+At a later period, the popular party, who neither thought nor spoke on
+the subject in 1817, adopted this argument in their turn, and charged,
+on this same accusation of political monopoly for the benefit of the
+middle classes, their chief complaint, not only against the electoral
+law, but against the entire system of government of which that law was
+the basis and guarantee.
+
+I collect my reminiscences, and call back my impressions. From 1814 to
+1848, under the government of the Restoration, and under that of July, I
+loudly supported and more than once had the honour of carrying this flag
+of the middle classes, which was naturally my own. What did we
+understand by it? Have we ever conceived the design, or even admitted
+the thought, that the citizens should become a newly privileged order,
+and that the laws intended to regulate the exercise of suffrage should
+serve to found the predominance of the middle classes by taking, whether
+in right or fact, all political influence, on one side from the relics
+of the old French aristocracy, and on the other from the people?
+
+Such an attempt would have been strangely ignorant and insane. It is
+neither by political theories nor articles in laws, that the privileges
+and superiority of any particular class are established in a State.
+These slow and pedantic methods are not available for such a purpose; it
+requires the force of conquest or the power of faith. Society is
+exclusively controlled by military or religious ascendency; never by the
+influence of the citizens. The history of all ages and nations is at
+hand to prove this to the most superficial observer.
+
+In our day, the impossibility of such a predominance of the middle
+classes is even more palpable. Two ideas constitute the great features
+of modern civilization, and stamp it with its formidable activity; I sum
+them up in these terms:--There are certain universal rights inherent in
+man's nature, and which no system can legitimately withhold from any
+one; there are individual rights which spring from personal merit alone,
+without regard to the external circumstances of birth, fortune, or rank,
+and which every one who has them in himself should be permitted to
+exercise. From the two principles of legal respect for the general
+rights of humanity, and the free development of natural gifts, ill or
+well understood, have proceeded, for nearly a century, the advantages
+and evils, the great actions and crimes, the advances and wanderings
+which revolutions and Governments have alternately excited in the bosom
+of every European community. Which of these two principles provokes or
+even permits the exclusive supremacy of the middle classes? Assuredly
+neither the one nor the other. One opens to individual endowments every
+gate; the other demands for every human being his place and his portion:
+no greatness is unattainable; no condition, however insignificant, is
+counted as nothing. Such principles are irreconcilable with exclusive
+superiority; that of the middle classes, as of every other, would be in
+direct contradiction to the ruling tendencies of modern society.
+
+The middle classes have never, amongst us, dreamed of becoming
+privileged orders; and no rational mind has ever indulged in such dreams
+for them. This idle accusation is but an engine of war, erected under
+cover of a confusion of ideas, sometimes by the hypocritical dexterity,
+and at others by the blind infatuation of party spirit. But this does
+not prevent its having been, or becoming again, fatal to the peace of
+our social system; for men are so constructed that chimerical dangers
+are the most formidable they can encounter: we fight boldly with
+tangible substances, but we lose our heads, either from fear or anger,
+when in presence of phantoms.
+
+It was with real dangers that we had to cope in 1817, when we discussed
+the electoral system of France. We saw the most legitimate principles
+and the most jealous interests of the new state of society indistinctly
+menaced by a violent reaction. We felt the spirit of revolution spring
+up and ferment around us, arming itself, according to old practice, with
+noble incentives, to cover the march and prepare the triumph of the most
+injurious passions. By instinct and position, the middle classes were
+the best suited to struggle with the combined peril. Opposed to the
+pretensions of the old aristocracy, they had acquired, under the Empire,
+ideas and habits of government. Although they received the Restoration
+with some mistrust, they were not hostile to it; for under the rule of
+the Charter, they had nothing to ask from new revolutions. The Charter
+was for them the Capitol and the harbour; they found in it the security
+of their conquests, and the triumph of their hopes. To turn to the
+advantage of the ancient monarchy, now become constitutional, this
+anti-revolutionary state of the middle classes, to secure their
+co-operation with that monarchy by giving them confidence in their own
+position, was a line of policy clearly indicated by the state of facts
+and opinions. Such was the bearing of the electoral bill of 1817. In
+principle this bill cut short the revolutionary theories of the
+supremacy of numbers, and of a specious and tyrannical equality; in
+fact, it brought the new society under shelter from the threats of
+counter-revolution. Assuredly, in proposing it, we had no intention of
+establishing any antagonism between the great and small proprietors; but
+when the question was so laid down, we evinced no hesitation; we
+supported the bill firmly, by maintaining that the influence, not
+exclusive but preponderating, of the middle classes was confirmed, on
+one side by the spirit of free institutions, and on the other in
+conformity with the interests of France as the Revolution had changed
+her, and with the Restoration itself as the Charter had defined when
+proclaiming it.
+
+The election bill occupied the session of 1816. The bill for recruiting
+was the great subject and work of the session of 1817. The right-hand
+party opposed it with vehement hostility: it disputed their traditions
+and disturbed their monarchical tendencies. But the party had to contest
+with a minister as imperturbable in his convictions and will as in his
+physiognomy. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr had a powerful, original, and
+straightforward mind, with no great combination of ideas, but
+passionately wedded to those which emanated from himself. He had
+resolved to give back to France what she no longer possessed--an army.
+And an army in his estimate was a small nation springing from the large
+one, strongly organized, formed of officers and soldiers closely united,
+mutually knowing and respecting each other, all having defined rights
+and duties, and all well trained by solid study or long practice to
+serve their country effectually when called upon.
+
+Upon this idea of an army, according to the conception of Marshal St.
+Cyr, the principles of his bill were naturally framed. Every class in
+the State was required to assist in the formation of this army. Those
+who entered in the lowest rank were open to the highest, with a certain
+advantage in the ascending movement of the middle classes. Those who
+were ambitious of occupying at once a higher step, were compelled in the
+first instance to pass certain examinations, and then to acquire by
+close study the particular knowledge necessary to their post. The term
+of service, active or in reserve, was long, and made military life in
+reality a career. The obligations imposed, the privileges promised, and
+the rights recognized for all, were guaranteed by the bill.
+
+Besides these general principles, the bill had an immediate result which
+St. Cyr ardently desired. It enrolled again in the new army, under the
+head of veterans and reserve, the remains of the old discharged legions,
+who had so heroically endured the penalty of the errors committed by
+their crowned leader. It effaced also, in their minds, that reminiscence
+of a distasteful past, while by a sort of special Charter it secured
+their future.
+
+No one can deny that this plan for the military organization of France,
+embraced grand ideas and noble sentiments. Such a bill accorded with the
+moral nature and political conduct of Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, who
+possessed an upright soul, a proud temperament, monarchical opinions,
+and republican manners; and who, since 1814, had given equal proofs of
+loyalty and independence. When he advocated it in the tribune, when,
+with the manly solemnity and disciplined feeling of an experienced
+warrior, at once a sincere patriot and a royalist, he recapitulated the
+services and sufferings of that nation of old soldiers which he was
+anxious for a few years longer to unite with the new army of France, he
+deeply moved the public and the Chambers; and his powerful language, no
+less than the excellent propositions of his bill, consecrated it on the
+instant in the affectionate esteem of the country.
+
+Violently attacked in 1818, Marshal St. Cyr's recruiting bill has been
+since that date several times criticised, revised, and modified. Its
+leading principles have resisted assault, and have survived alteration.
+It has done more than last, through soundness of principle; it has
+given, by facts, an astounding denial to its adversaries. It was accused
+of striking a blow at the monarchy; on the contrary, it has made the
+army more devotedly monarchical than any that France had ever known,--an
+army whose fidelity has never been shaken, either in 1830 or 1848, by
+the influence of popular opinion, or the seduction of a revolutionary
+crisis. Military sentiment, that spirit of obedience and respect, of
+discipline and devotion, one of the chief glories of human nature, and
+the necessary pledge of the honour as of the safety of nations, had been
+powerfully fomented and developed in France by the great wars of the
+Revolution and the Empire. It was a precious inheritance of those rough
+times which have bequeathed to us so many burdens. There was danger of
+its being lost or enfeebled in the bosom of peaceful inaction, and
+during endless debates on liberty. It has been firmly maintained in the
+army which the law of 1818 established and incessantly recruits. This
+military sentiment is not only preserved; it has become purified and
+regulated. By the honesty of its promises and the justice of its
+arrangements in matters of privilege and promotion, the bill of Marshal
+St. Cyr has imbued the army with a permanent conviction of its rights,
+of its own legal and individual rights, and, through that feeling, with
+an instinctive attachment to public order, the common guarantee of all
+rights. We have witnessed the rare and imposing sight of an army capable
+of devotion and restraint, ready for sacrifices, and modest in
+pretension, ambitious of glory, without being athirst for war, proud of
+its arms, and yet obedient to civil authority. Public habits, the
+prevailing ideas of the time, and the general character of our
+civilization have doubtless operated much upon this great result; but
+the bill of Marshal St. Cyr has had its full part, and I rejoice in
+recording this honourable distinction, which, amongst so many others,
+belongs to my old and glorious friend.
+
+The session of 1818, which opened in the midst of a ministerial crisis,
+had to deal with another question not more important, but even more
+intricate and dangerous. The Cabinet determined to leave the press no
+longer under an exceptional and temporary law. M. de Serre, at that time
+Chancellor, introduced three bills on the same day, which settled
+definitively the penalty, the method of prosecution, and the
+qualification for publishing, in respect to the daily papers, while at
+the same time they liberated them from all censorship.
+
+I am one of those who have been much assisted and fiercely attacked by
+the press. Throughout my life, I have greatly employed this engine. By
+placing my ideas publicly before the eyes of my country, I first
+attracted her attention and esteem. During the progress of my career, I
+have ever had the press for ally or opponent; and I have never hesitated
+to employ its weapons, or feared to expose myself to its blows. It is a
+power which I respect and recognize willingly, rather than compulsorily,
+but without illusion or idolatry. Whatever may be the form of
+government, political life is a constant struggle; and it would give me
+no satisfaction--I will even say more--I should feel ashamed of finding
+myself opposed to mute and fettered adversaries. The liberty of the
+press is human nature displaying itself in broad daylight, sometimes
+under the most attractive, and at others under the most repelling
+aspect; it is the wholesome air that vivifies, and the tempest that
+destroys, the expansion and impulsive power of steam in the intellectual
+system. I have ever advocated a free press; I believe it to be, on the
+whole, more useful than injurious to public morality; and I look upon it
+as essential to the proper management of public affairs, and to the
+security of private interests. But I have witnessed too often and too
+closely its dangerous aberrations as regards political order, not to
+feel convinced that this liberty requires the restraint of a strong
+organization of effective laws and of controlling principles. In 1819,
+my friends and I clearly foresaw the necessity of these conditions; but
+we laid little stress upon them, we were unable to bring them all into
+operation, and we thought, moreover, that the time had arrived when the
+sincerity as well as the strength of the restored monarchy was to be
+proved by removing from the press its previous shackles, and in risking
+the consequences of its enfranchisement.
+
+The greater part of the laws passed with reference to the press, in
+France or elsewhere, have either been acts of repression, legitimate or
+illegitimate, against liberty, or triumphs over certain special
+guarantees of liberty successively won from power, according to the
+necessity or opportunity of gaining them. The legislative history of the
+press in England supplies a long series of alternations and arrangements
+of this class.
+
+The bills of 1819 had a totally different character. They comprised a
+complete legislation, conceived together and beforehand, conformable
+with certain general principles, defining in every degree liabilities
+and penalties, regulating all the conditions as well as the forms of
+publication, and intended to establish and secure the liberty of the
+press, while protecting order and power from its licentiousness;--an
+undertaking very difficult in its nature, as all legislative enactments
+must be which spring from precaution more than necessity, and in which
+the legislator is inspired and governed by ideas rather than commanded
+and directed by facts. Another danger, a moral and concealed danger,
+also presented itself. Enactments thus prepared and maintained become
+works of a philosopher and artist, the author of which is tempted to
+identify himself with them through an impulse of self-love, which
+sometimes leads him to lose sight of the external circumstances and
+practical application he ought to have considered. Politics require a
+certain mixture of indifference and passion, of freedom of thought and
+restrained will, which is not easily reconciled with a strong adhesion
+to general ideas, and a sincere intent to hold a just balance between
+the many principles and interests of society.
+
+I should be unwilling to assert that in the measures proposed and passed
+in 1819, on the liberty of the press, we had completely avoided these
+rocks, or that they were in perfect harmony with the state of men's
+minds, and the exigencies of order at that precise epoch. Nevertheless,
+after an interval of nearly forty years, and on reconsidering these
+measures now with my matured judgment, I do not hesitate to look on them
+as grand and noble efforts of legislation, in which the true points of
+the subject were skilfully embraced and applied, and which, in spite of
+the mutilation they were speedily doomed to undergo, established an
+advance in the liberty of the press, properly understood, which sooner
+or later cannot fail to extend itself.
+
+The debate on these bills was worthy of their conception. M. de Serre
+was gifted with eloquence singularly exalted and practical. He supported
+their general principles in the tone of a magistrate who applies, and
+not as a philosopher who explains them. His speech was profound without
+abstraction, highly coloured but not figurative; his reasoning resolved
+itself into action. He expounded, examined, discussed, attacked, or
+replied without literary or even oratorical preparation, carrying up the
+strength of his arguments to the full level of the questions, fertile
+without exuberance, precise without dryness, impassioned without a
+shadow of declamation, always ready with a sound answer to his
+opponents, as powerful on the impulse of the moment as in prepared
+reflection, and, when once he had surmounted a slight hesitation and
+slowness at the first onset, pressing on directly to his end with a firm
+and rapid step, and with the air of a man deeply interested, but
+careless of personal success, and only anxious to win his cause by
+communicating to his listeners his own sentiments and convictions.
+
+Different adversaries presented themselves during the debate, from those
+who had opposed the bills for elections and recruiting the army. The
+right-hand party attacked the two latter propositions; the left assailed
+the measures regarding the press. MM. Benjamin Constant, Manuel,
+Chauvelin, and Bignon, with more parliamentary malice than political
+judgment, overwhelmed them with objections and amendments slightly
+mingled with very qualified compliments. Recent elections had lately
+readmitted into the assembly these leaders of the Liberals in the
+Chamber of the Hundred Days. They seemed to think of nothing but how to
+bring once more upon the scene their party, for three years beaten down,
+and to re-establish their own position as popular orators. Some of the
+most prominent ideas in the drawing up of these three bills, were but
+little in conformity with the philosophic and legislative traditions
+which since 1791 had become current on the subject. They evidently
+comprised a sincere wish to guarantee liberty, and a strong desire not
+to disarm power. It was a novel exhibition to see Ministers frankly
+recognizing the liberty of the press, without offering up incense on its
+shrine, and assuming that they understood its rights and interests
+better than its old worshippers. In the opposition of the left-hand
+party at this period, there was much of routine, a great deal of
+complaisance for the prejudices and passions of the press attached to
+their party, and a little angry jealousy of a cabinet which permitted
+liberal innovation. The public, unacquainted with political factions,
+were astonished to see bills so vehemently opposed which diminished the
+penalties in force against the press, referred to a jury all offences of
+that class, and liberated the journals from the censorship,--measures
+which in their eyes appeared too confident. The right-hand party held
+dexterously aloof, rejoicing to see the Ministers at issue with reviving
+opponents who were likely soon to become their most formidable enemies.
+
+It was during this debate that I ascended the tribune for the first
+time. M. Cuvier and I had been appointed, as Royal Commissioners, to
+support the proposed measures,--a false and weak position, which
+demonstrates the infancy of representative government. We do not argue
+politics as we plead a cause or maintain a thesis. To act effectively in
+a deliberative assembly, we must ourselves be deliberators; that is to
+say, we must be members, and hold our share with others in free
+thought, power, and responsibility. I believe that I acquitted myself
+with propriety, but coldly, of the mission I had undertaken. I
+sustained, against M. Benjamin Constant, the general responsibility for
+the correctness of the accounts given of the proceedings of the
+Chambers, and, against M. Daunou, the guarantees required by the bill
+for the establishment of newspapers. The Chamber appeared to appreciate
+my arguments, and listened to me with attention. But I kept on the
+reserve, and seldom joined in the debate; I have no turn for incomplete
+positions and prescribed parts. When we enter into an arena in which the
+affairs of a free country are discussed, it is not to make a display of
+fine thoughts and words; we are bound to engage in the struggle as true
+and earnest actors.
+
+As the recruiting bill had established a personal and political
+reputation for Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, so the bills on the press
+effected the same for M. de Serre. Thus, at the issue of a violent
+crisis of revolution and war, in presence of armed Europe, and within
+the short space of three sessions, the three most important questions of
+a free system--the construction of elective power, the formation of a
+national army, and the interference of individual opinions in public
+affairs through the channel of the press--were freely proposed, argued,
+and resolved; and their solution, whatever might be the opinion of
+parties, was certainly in harmony with the habits and wishes of that
+honest and peaceably disposed majority of France who had sincerely
+received the King and the Charter, and had adopted their government on
+mature consideration.
+
+During this time, many other measures of constitutional organization,
+or general legislation, had been accomplished or proposed. In 1818, an
+amendment of M. Royer-Collard settled the addition to the budget of an
+annual law for the supervision of public accounts; and in the course of
+the following year, two ministers of finance, the Baron Louis and
+M. Roy, brought into operation that security for the honest
+appropriation of the revenue. By the institution of smaller
+"Great-books" of the national debt, the state of public credit became
+known in the departments. Other bills, although laid before the
+Chambers, produced no result; three, amongst the rest, may be named: on
+the responsibility of Ministers, on the organization of the Chamber of
+Peers into a court of justice, and on the alteration of the financial
+year to avoid the provisional vote of the duty. Others again, especially
+applicable to the reform of departmental and parochial administrations,
+and to public instruction, were left in a state of inquiry and
+preliminary discussion. Far from eluding or allowing important questions
+to linger, the Government laboriously investigated them, and forestalled
+the wishes of the public, determined to submit them to the Chambers as
+soon as they had collected facts and arranged their own plans.
+
+I still preserve a deep remembrance of the State Council in which these
+various bills were first discussed. This Council had not then any
+defined official existence or prescribed action in the constitution of
+the country; politics nevertheless were more prominently argued there,
+and with greater freedom and effect, than at any other time; every
+shade, I ought rather to say every variation, of the royalist party,
+from the extreme right to the edge of the left, were there represented;
+the politicians most in repute, the leaders of the majority in the two
+Assemblies, were brought into contact with the heads of administration,
+the old senators of the Empire, and with younger men not yet admissible
+to the Chambers, but introduced by the Charter into public life.
+MM. Royer-Collard, de Serre, and Camille Jordan sat there by the side of
+MM. Siméon, Portalis, Molé, Bérenger, Cuvier, and Allent; and
+MM. de Barante, Mounier, and myself deliberated in common with
+MM. de Ballainvilliers, Laporte-Lalanne, and de Blaire, unswerving
+representatives of the old system. When important bills were examined by
+the Council, the Ministers never failed to attend. The Duke de Richelieu
+often presided at the general sittings. The discussion was perfectly
+free, without oratorical display or pretension, but serious, profound,
+varied, detailed, earnest, erudite, and at the same time practical. I
+have heard Count Bérenger, a man of disputatious and independent temper,
+and a quasi-republican under the Empire, maintain there, with ingenious
+and imposing subtlety, universal suffrage, and distinctions of
+qualification for voting, against direct election and the concentrated
+right of suffrage. MM. Cuvier, Siméon, and Allent were the constant
+defenders of traditional and administrative influence. My friends and I
+argued strongly for the principles and hopes of liberty strongly based,
+which appeared to us the natural consequences of the Charter and the
+necessary conditions for the prosperity of the Restoration. Reforms in
+criminal legislation, the application of trial by jury to offences of
+the press, the introduction of the elective principle into the
+municipal system, were argued in the Council of State before they were
+laid before the Chambers. The Government looked to the Council, not only
+for a study of all questions, but for a preparatory and amicable
+experience of the ideas, desires, and objections it was destined to
+encounter at a later period, in a rougher contest, and a more tumultuous
+theatre.
+
+The Cabinet, composed as it was at the time when the decree of the 5th
+of September, 1816, appeared, was not equal to that line of policy,
+continually increasing in moderation, sometimes resolutely, liberal,
+and, if not always provident, at least perpetually active. But the same
+progress which accompanied events, affected individuals. During the
+course of the year 1817, M. Pasquier, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and
+M. Molé replaced M. Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M. Dubouchage in
+the departments of justice, war, and the marine. From that time the
+Ministers were not deficient either in internal unity, or in
+parliamentary and administrative talent. They endeavoured to infuse the
+same qualities into all the different branches and gradations of
+government, and succeeded tolerably in the heart of the State. Without
+reaction or any exclusive spirit, they surrounded themselves with men
+sincerely attached to a constitutional policy, and who by their
+character and ability had already won public esteem. They were less firm
+and effective in local administration; although introducing more changes
+than are generally believed, they were unable to reconcile them with
+their general policy. In many places, acts of violence, capricious
+temper, haughty inexperience, offensive pretension and frivolous alarm,
+with all the great and little party passions which had possessed the
+Government of 1815, continued to weigh upon the country. These
+proceedings kept up amongst the tranquil population a strong sentiment
+of uneasiness, and sometimes excited active malcontents to attempts at
+conspiracy and insurrection, amplified at first with interested or
+absurd credulity, repressed with unmitigated rigour, and subsequently
+discussed, denied, extenuated, and reduced almost to nothing by
+never-ending explanations and counter-charges. From thence arose the
+mistakes, prejudices, and false calculations of the local authorities;
+while the supreme powers assumed alternately airs of levity or weakness,
+which made them lose, in the eyes of the multitude, the credit of that
+sound general policy from which they, the masses, experienced little
+advantage. The occurrences at Lyons in June 1817, and the long debates
+of which they became the subject after the mission of redress of the
+Duke of Ragusa, furnish a lamentable example of the evils which France
+at this period had still to endure, although at the head of government
+the original cause had disappeared.
+
+Things are more easily managed than men. These same Ministers, who were
+not always able to compel the prefects and mayors to adopt their policy,
+and who hesitated to displace them when they were found to be obstinate
+or incapable, were ever prompt and effective when general administration
+was involved, and measures not personal were necessary for the public
+interest. On this point, reflection tells me that justice has not been
+rendered to the Government of the day; religious establishments, public
+instruction, hospital and prison discipline, financial and military
+administration, the connection of power with industry and commerce, all
+the great public questions, received from 1816 to 1820 much salutary
+reform and made important advances. The Duke de Richelieu advocated an
+enlightened policy and the public good; he took pride in contributing to
+both. M. Lainé devoted himself with serious and scrupulous anxiety to
+the superintendence of the many establishments included in his
+department, and laboured to rectify existing abuses or to introduce
+salutary limitations. The Baron Louis was an able and indefatigable
+minister, who knew to a point how regularity could be established in the
+finances of the State, and who employed for that object all the
+resources of his mind and the unfettered energy of his will. Marshal
+Gouvion St. Cyr had, on every branch of military organization, on the
+formation and internal system of the different bodies, on the scientific
+schools as well as on the material supplies, ideas at once systematic
+and practical, derived either from his general conception of the army or
+from long experience; and these he carried into effect in a series of
+regulations remarkable for the unity of their views and the profound
+knowledge of their details. M. Decazes was endowed with a singularly
+inquiring and inventive mind in seeking to satisfy doubts, to attempt
+improvements, to stimulate emulation and concord for the advantage of
+all social interests, of all classes of citizens, in connection with the
+Government; and these combined objects he invariably promoted with
+intelligent, amiable, and eager activity. In a political point of view,
+the Administration left much to regret and to desire; but in its proper
+sphere it was liberal, energetic, impartial, economical from probity and
+regularity, friendly to progress at the same time that it was careful of
+order, and sincerely impressed with the desire of giving universal
+prevalence to justice and the public interest.[14]
+
+Here was undoubtedly a sensible and sound Government, in very difficult
+and lamentable circumstances; and under such rule the country had no
+occasion to lament the present or despair of the future. Nevertheless
+this Government gained no strength by permanence; its enemies felt no
+discouragement, while its friends perceived no addition to their power
+or security. The Restoration had given peace to France, and laboured
+honestly and successfully to restore her independence and rank in
+Europe. Under this flag of stability and order, prosperity and liberty
+sprang up again together. Still the Restoration was always a disputed
+question.
+
+If we are to believe its enemies, this evil was inherent and inevitable.
+According to them the old system, the emigrants, the foreigners, the
+hatreds and suspicions of the Revolution devoted the House of Bourbon to
+their obstinately precarious situation. Without disputing the influence
+of such a fatal past, I cannot admit that it exercised complete empire
+over events, or that it suffices in itself to explain why the
+Restoration, even in its best days, always was and appeared to be in a
+tottering state. The mischief sprang from more immediate and more
+personal causes. In the Government of that date there were organic and
+accidental infirmities, vices of the political machine and errors of the
+actors, which contributed much more than revolutionary remembrances to
+prevent its firm consolidation.
+
+A natural and important disagreement exists between the representative
+government instituted by the Charter, and the administrative monarchy
+founded by Louis XIV. and Napoleon. Where administration and policy are
+equally free, when local affairs are discussed and decided by local
+authorities or influences, and neither derive their impulse nor solution
+from the central power, which never interferes except when the general
+interest of the State absolutely requires it to do so,--as in England,
+and in the United States of America, in Holland and Belgium, for
+instances,--the representative system readily accords with an
+administrative Government which never appeals to its co-operation except
+on important and rare occasions. But when the supreme authority
+undertakes at the same time to govern with freedom, and to administer by
+centralization,--when it has to contend, at the seat of power, for the
+great affairs of the State, and to regulate, under its own
+responsibility, in all the departments, the minor business of every
+district,--two weighty objections immediately present themselves: either
+the central power, absorbed by the care of national questions, and
+occupied with its own defence, neglects local affairs, and suffers them
+to fall into disorder and inaction; or it connects them closely with
+general questions, making them subservient to its own interests; and
+thus the whole system of administration, from the hamlet to the palace,
+degenerates into an implement of government in the hands of political
+parties who are mutually contending for power.
+
+I am certainly not called upon today to dwell on this evil; it has
+become the hackneyed theme of the adversaries of representative
+government, and of political liberty. It was felt long before it was
+taken advantage of; but instead of employing it against free
+institutions, an attempt was made to effect its cure. To achieve this
+end, a double work was to be accomplished; it was necessary to infuse
+liberty into the administration of local affairs, and to second the
+development of the local forces capable of exercising authority within
+their own circle. An aristocracy cannot be created by laws, either at
+the extremities or at the fountain-head of the State; but the most
+democratic society is not stripped of natural powers ready to display
+themselves when called into action. Not only in the departments, but in
+the divisions, in the townships and villages, landed property, industry,
+employments, professions, and traditions have their local influences,
+which, if adopted and organized with prudence, constitute effectual
+authority. From 1816 to 1848, under each of the two constitutional
+monarchies, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, the different cabinets
+have acted under this conviction; they have studied to relieve the
+central Government, by remitting a portion of its functions, sometimes
+to the regular local agents, and at others to more independent
+auxiliaries. But, as it too often happens, the remedy was not rapid
+enough in operation; mistrust, timidity, inexperience, and routine
+slackened its progress; neither the authorities nor the people knew how
+to employ it with resolution, or to wait the results with patience. Thus
+compelled to sustain the burden of political liberty with that of
+administrative centralization, the newly-born constitutional monarchy
+found itself compromised between difficulties and contradictory
+responsibilities, exceeding the measure of ability and strength which
+could be reasonably expected from any Government.
+
+Another evil, the natural but not incurable result of these very
+institutions, weighed also upon the Restoration. The representative
+system is at the bottom, and on close analysis, a system of mutual
+sacrifices and dealings between the various interests which coexist in
+society. At the same time that it places them in antagonism, it imposes
+on them the absolute necessity of arriving at an intermediate term, a
+definite measure of reciprocal understanding and toleration which may
+become the basis of laws and government. But also, at the same time, by
+the publicity and heat of the struggle, it throws the opposing parties
+into an unseemly exaggeration of vehemence and language, and compromises
+the self-love and personal dignity of human nature. Thus, by an
+inconsistency teeming with embarrassment, it daily renders more
+difficult that agreement or submission which, in the end, it has also
+made indispensable. Herein is comprised an important difficulty for this
+system of government, which can only be surmounted by a great exercise
+of tact and conciliation on the part of the political actors
+themselves, and by a great preponderance of good sense on that of the
+public, which in the end recalls parliamentary factions and their
+leaders to that moderation after defeat, from which the inflated passion
+of the characters they have assumed too often tends to estrange them.
+
+This necessary regulator, always difficult to find or institute, was
+essentially wanting to us under the Restoration; on entering the course,
+we were launched, without curb, on this precipice of extreme
+demonstrations and preconceived ideas, the natural vice of parties in
+every representative government. How many opportunities presented
+themselves from 1816 to 1830, when the different elements of the
+monarchical party could, and in their struggle ought to have paused on
+this brink, at the point where the danger of revolution commenced for
+all! But none had the good sense or courage to exercise this provident
+restraint; and the public, far from imposing it on them, excited them
+still more urgently to the combat,--as at a play, in which people
+delight to trace the dramatic reflection of their own passions.
+
+A mischievous, although inevitable, distribution of parts between the
+opposing parties aggravated still more, from 1816 to 1820, this want of
+forecast in men, and this extravagance of public passions. Under the
+representative system, it is usually to one of the parties distinctly
+defined and firmly resolved in their ideas and desires, that the
+government belongs: sometimes the systematic defenders of power, at
+others the friends of liberty, then the conservatives, and lastly the
+innovators, direct the affairs of the country; and between these
+organized and ambitious parties are placed the unclassed opinions and
+undecided wishes, that political chorus which is ever present watching
+the conduct of the actors, listening to their words, and ready to
+applaud or condemn them according as they satisfy or offend their
+unfettered judgment. This is, in fact, the natural bias and true order
+of things under free institutions. It is well for Government to have a
+public and recognized standard, regulated on fixed principles, and
+sustained in action by steady adherents; it derives from that position,
+not only the strength and consistent coherence that it requires, but the
+moral dignity which renders power more easy and gentle by placing it
+higher in the estimation of the people. It is not the chance of events
+or the personal ambition of men alone, but the interests and inclination
+of the public, which have produced, in free countries, the great,
+acknowledged, permanent, and trusty political parties, and have usually
+confided power to their hands. At the Restoration it was impossible,
+from 1816 to 1820, to fulfil this condition of a Government at once
+energetic and restrained. The two great political parties which it found
+in action, that of the old system and of the revolution, were both at
+the time incapable of governing by maintaining internal peace with
+liberty; each had ideas and passions too much opposed to the established
+and legal order they would have had to defend; they accepted with great
+reluctance, and in a very undefined sense, the one the Charter, and the
+other the old Monarchy. Through absolute necessity, power returned to
+the hands of the political choir; the floating and impartial section of
+the Chambers, the centre, was called to the helm. Under a free system,
+the Centre is the habitual moderator and definitive judge of Government,
+but not the party naturally pretending to govern. It gives or withholds
+the majority, but its mission is not to conquer it. And it is much more
+difficult for the centre than for strongly organized parties to win or
+maintain a majority; for when it assumes government, it finds before it,
+not undecided spectators who wait its acts to pass judgment on them, but
+inflamed adversaries resolved to combat them beforehand;--a weak and
+dangerous position, which greatly aggravates the difficulties of
+Government, whether engaged in the display of power, or the protection
+of liberty.
+
+Not only was this the situation of the King's Government from 1816 to
+1820, but even this was not regularly and powerfully established. Badly
+distributed amongst the actors, the characters were doubtfully filled in
+the interior of this new and uncertain party of the centre, on whom the
+government, through necessity, devolved. The principal portion of the
+heads of the majority in the Chambers held no office. From 1816 to 1819,
+several of those who represented and directed the centre, who addressed
+and supported it with prevailing influence, who defended it from the
+attacks of the right and left-hand parties, who established its power in
+debate and its credit with the public, MM. Royer-Collard, Camille
+Jordan, Beugnot, and de Serre, were excluded from the Cabinet. Amongst
+the eminent leaders of the majority, two only, M. Lainé and M. Pasquier
+were ministers. The Government, therefore, in the Chambers, relied on
+independent supporters who approved of their policy in general, but
+neither bore any part in the burden, nor acknowledged any share in the
+responsibility.
+
+The doctrinarians had acquired their parliamentary influence and moral
+weight by principles and eloquence rather than by deeds; they maintained
+their opinions without applying them to practice; the flag of thought
+and the standard of action were in different hands. In the Chambers, the
+Ministers often appeared as the clients of the orators; the orators
+never looked upon their cause as identical with that of the Ministers;
+they preserved this distinction while supporting them; they had their
+own demands to make before they assented; they qualified their approval,
+and even sometimes dissented altogether. As the questions increased in
+importance and delicacy, so much the more independence and discord
+manifested themselves in the bosom of the ministerial party, with
+dangerous notoriety. During the session of 1817, M. Pasquier, then
+Chancellor, presented a bill to the Chamber of Deputies, which, while
+temporarily maintaining the censorship of the daily papers, comprised in
+other respects some modifications favourable to the liberty of the
+press. M. Camille Jordan and M. Royer-Collard demanded much greater
+concessions, particularly the application of trial by jury to press
+offences; and the bill, reluctantly passed by the Chamber of Deputies,
+was thrown out by the Chamber of Peers, when the Duke de Broglie urged
+the same amendments on similar principles. In 1817 also, a new Concordat
+had been negotiated and concluded at Rome by M. de Blacas. It contained
+the double and contradictory defect of invading by some of its
+specifications the liberties of the old Gallican Church; while, by the
+abolition of the Concordat of 1801, it inspired the new French society
+with lively alarms for its civil liberties. Little versed in such
+matters, and almost entirely absorbed in the negotiations for relieving
+France from the presence of foreigners, the Duke de Richelieu had
+confided this business to M. de Blacas, who was equally ignorant and
+careless of the importance of the old or new liberties of France,
+whether civil or religious. When this Concordat, respecting which the
+Ministers themselves were discontented and doubtful when they had
+carefully examined it, was presented to the Chamber of Deputies by
+M. Lainé, with the measures necessary for carrying it into effect, it
+was received with general disfavour. In committee, in the board
+appointed to report on it, in the discussions in the hall of conference,
+all the objections, political and historical, of principle or
+circumstance, that the bill could possibly excite, were argued and
+explained beforehand, so as to give warning of the most obstinate and
+dangerous debate. The doctrinarians openly declared for this premature
+opposition; and their support produced a strong effect, as they were
+known to be sincere friends to religion and its influences. It is true,
+M. Royer-Collard was accused of being a Jansenist; and thus an attempt
+was made to depreciate him in the eyes of the true believers of the
+Catholic Church. The reproach was frivolous. M. Royer-Collard had
+derived, from family traditions and early education, serious habits,
+studious inclinations, and an affectionate respect for the exalted minds
+of Port-Royal, for their virtue and genius; but he neither adopted their
+religious doctrines nor their systematic conclusions on the relative
+ties between Church and State. On all these questions he exercised a
+free and rational judgment, as a stranger to all extreme passion or
+sectarian prejudice, and not in the least disposed, either as Catholic
+or philosopher, to engage in obscure and endless quarrels with the
+Church. "I seek not to quibble with religion," he was wont to say; "it
+has enough to do to defend itself and us from impiety." The opposition
+of M. Royer-Collard to the Concordat of 1817 was the dissent of a
+politician and enlightened moralist, who foresaw the mischief which the
+public discussion, and adoption or rejection of this bill, would inflict
+on the influence of the Church, the credit of the Restoration, and the
+peace of the country. The Cabinet had prudence enough not to brave a
+danger which it had created, or suffered to grow on its steps. The
+report on the bill was indefinitely adjourned, and a fresh negotiation
+was opened with Rome by sending Count Portalis on a special mission,
+which ended in 1819 by the tacit withdrawal of the Concordat of 1817.
+The Duke de Richelieu, pressed by his colleagues, and his own tardy
+reflections, coincided in this retrograde movement; but he maintained a
+feeling of displeasure at the opposition of the doctrinarians and others
+on this occasion, which he sometimes gratified himself by indulging. In
+the month of March, 1818, some one, whose name I have forgotten,
+demanded of him a trifling favour. "It is impossible," replied he
+sharply; "MM. Royer-Collard, de Serre, Camille Jordan, and Guizot will
+not suffer it."
+
+I had no reason to complain that my name was included in this
+ebullition. Although not a member of the Chamber, I openly adopted the
+opinions and conduct of my friends; I had both the opportunity and the
+means, in the discussions of the Council of State, in the drawing-room,
+and through the press,--channels which all parties employed with equal
+ardour and effect. In spite of the shackles which restrained the papers
+and periodical publications, they freely exercised the liberty which the
+Government no longer attempted to dispute, and to which the most
+influential politicians had recourse, to disseminate far and wide the
+brilliant flames or smouldering fire of their opposition.
+M. de Châteaubriand, M. de Bonald, M. de Villèle, in the 'Conservative,'
+and M. Benjamin Constant in the 'Minerva,' maintained an incessant
+assault on the Cabinet. The Cabinet in its defence, multiplied similar
+publications, such as the 'Moderator,' the 'Publicist,' and the
+'Political and Literary Spectator.' But, for my friends and our cause,
+the defences of the Cabinet were not always desirable or sufficient; we
+therefore, from 1817 to 1820, had our own journals and periodical
+miscellanies,--the 'Courier,' the 'Globe,' the 'Philosophical,
+Political, and Literary Archives,' and the 'French Review;' and in these
+we discussed, according to our principles and hopes, sometimes general
+questions, and at others the incidental subjects of current policy, as
+they alternately presented themselves. I contributed much to these
+publications. Between our different adversaries and ourselves the
+contest was extremely unequal: whether they came from the right or the
+left, they represented old parties; they expressed ideas and sentiments
+long in circulation; they found a public predisposed to receive them.
+We were intruders in the political arena, officers seeking to recruit an
+army, moderate innovators. We attacked, in the name of liberty, theories
+and passions long popular under the same denomination. We defended the
+new French society according to its true rights and interests, but not
+in conformity with its tastes or habits. We had to conquer our public,
+while we combated our enemies. In this difficult attempt our position
+was somewhat doubtful: we were at the same time with and against the
+Government, royalists and liberals, ministerialists and independents; we
+acted sometimes in concert with the Administration, sometimes with the
+Opposition, and we were unable to avail ourselves of all the weapons of
+either power or liberty. But we were full of faith in our opinions, of
+confidence in ourselves, of hope in the future; and we pressed forward
+daily in our double contest, with as much devotion as pride, and with
+more pride than ambition.
+
+All this has been strenuously denied; my friends and I have often been
+represented as deep plotters, greedy for office, eager and shrewd in
+pushing our fortunes through every opening, and more intent on our own
+ascendency than on the fate or wishes of the country,--a vulgar and
+senseless estimate, both of human nature and of our contemporary
+history. If ambition had been our ruling principle, we might have
+escaped many efforts and defeats. In times when the most brilliant
+fortunes, political or otherwise, were easily within reach of those who
+thought of nothing else, we only desired to achieve ours on certain
+moral conditions, and with the object of not caring for ourselves.
+Ambition we had, but in the service of a public cause; and one which,
+either in success or adversity, has severely tried the constancy of its
+defenders.
+
+The most clear-sighted of the cabinet ministers in 1817, M. Decazes and
+M. Pasquier, whose minds were more free and less suspicious than those
+of the Duke de Richelieu and M. Lainé, were not deceived on this point:
+they felt the necessity of our alliance, and cultivated it with anxiety.
+But when it becomes a question of how to govern in difficult times,
+allies are not enough; intimate associates are necessary, devoted
+adherents in labour and peril. In this character, the doctrinarians, and
+particularly M. Royer-Collard, their leader in the Chambers, were
+mistrusted. They were looked upon as at once imperious and undecided,
+and more exacting than effective. Nevertheless, in November, 1819, after
+the election of M. Grégoire and in the midst of their projected reforms
+in the electoral law, M. Decazes, at the strong instigation of
+M. de Serre, proposed to M. Royer-Collard to join the Cabinet with one
+or two of his friends. M. Royer-Collard hesitated at first, then acceded
+for a moment, and finally declined. "You know not what you would do,"
+said he to M. Decazes; "my method of dealing with affairs would differ
+entirely from yours: you elude questions, you shift and change them, you
+gain time, you settle things by halves; I, on the contrary, should
+attack them in front, bring them into open view, and dissect them before
+all the world. I should compromise instead of assisting you."
+M. Royer-Collard was in the right, and defined himself admirably,
+perhaps more correctly than he imagined. He was more calculated to
+advise and contest than to exercise power. He was rather a great
+spectator and critic than an eminent political actor. In the ordinary
+course of affairs he would have been too absolute, too haughty, and too
+slow. In a crisis, I question whether his mental reservations, his
+scruples of conscience, his horror of all public excitement, and his
+prevailing dread of responsibility, would have permitted him to preserve
+the cool self-possession, with the firm and prompt determination, which
+circumstances might have required. M. Decazes pressed him no further.
+
+Even at this moment, after all I have seen and experienced, I am not
+prone to be discouraged, or inclined to believe that difficult
+achievements are impossible. However defective may be the internal
+constitution and combinations of the different parties who co-operate in
+carrying on public affairs, the upright conduct of individuals may
+remedy them; history furnishes more than one example of vicious
+institutions and situations, the evil results of which have been
+counteracted by the ability of political leaders and the sound sense of
+the public. But when to the evils of position, the errors of men are
+added,--when, instead of recognizing dangers in their true tendency, and
+opposing firm resistance, the chiefs and followers of parties either
+yield to or accelerate them, then the mischievous effects of pernicious
+courses inevitably and rapidly develop themselves. Errors were not
+wanting from 1816 to 1820 in every party, whether of Government or
+Opposition, of the centre, the right, or the left, of the ministers or
+doctrinarians. I make no parade of impartiality; in spite of their
+faults and misfortunes, I continue, with a daily increasing conviction,
+to look upon the Government I served, and the party I supported, to have
+been the best; but, for our own credit, let leisure and reflection teach
+us to acknowledge the mistakes we committed, and to prepare for our
+cause--which assuredly will not die with us--a more auspicious future.
+
+The centre, in its governing mission, had considerable advantages; it
+suffered neither from moral embarrassments nor external clogs, it was
+perfectly free and unshackled,--essential qualifications in a great
+public career, and which at that time belonged neither to the right nor
+to the left-hand party.
+
+The right had only accepted the Charter on the eve of its promulgation,
+and after strenuous resistance; a conspicuous and energetic section of
+the party still persisted in opposing it. That division which had seats
+in the Chambers, sided from day to day with the constitutional
+system,--the officers as intelligent and reflecting men, the soldiers as
+staunch and contented royalists; but neither, in these recognized
+capacities, inspired confidence in the country, which looked upon their
+adhesion to the Charter as constrained or conditional, always insincere
+and covering other views. The right, even while honestly accepting the
+Charter, had also party interests to satisfy; when it aspired to power,
+it was not solely to govern according to its principles, and to place
+the restored monarchy on a solid basis: it had private misfortunes to
+repair and positions to re-assume. It was not a pure and regular party
+of Tory royalists. The emigrants, the remains of the old court and
+clergy, were still influential amongst them, and eagerly bent on
+carrying out their personal expectations. By its composition and
+reminiscences, the party was condemned to much reserve and imprudence,
+to secret aspirations and indiscreet ebullitions, which, even while it
+professed to walk in constitutional paths, embarrassed and weakened its
+action at every step.
+
+The situation of the left was no less confused. It represented, at that
+exact epoch, not the interests and sentiments of France in general, but
+the interests and sentiments of that portion of France which had
+ardently, indistinctly, and obstinately promoted and sustained the
+Revolution, under its republican or imperial form. It cherished against
+the House of Bourbon and the Restoration an old habit of hostility,
+which the Hundred Days had revived, which the most rational of the party
+could scarcely throw off, the most skilful with difficulty concealed,
+and the gravest considered it a point of honour to display as a protest
+and corner-stone. In November 1816, a man of probity, as sincere in the
+renunciation of his opinions of 1789 as he had formerly been in their
+profession, the Viscount Matthieu de Montmorency, complained, in a
+drawing-room of the party, that the Liberals had no love for legitimacy.
+A person present defended himself from this reproach. "Yes," said
+M. de Montmorency, with thoughtless candour, "you love legitimacy as we
+do the Charter." A keen satire on the false position of both parties
+under the government of the Charter and of legitimacy!
+
+But if the right-hand party or the left, if the members of either in the
+Chambers, had followed only their sincere convictions and desires, the
+greater portion, I am satisfied, would have frankly accepted and
+supported the Restoration with the Charter, the Charter with the
+Restoration. When men are seriously engaged in a work and feel the
+weight of responsibility, they soon discover the true course, and would
+willingly follow it. But, both in the right and left, the wisest and
+best-disposed feared to proclaim the truth which they saw, or to adopt
+it as their rule of conduct; both were under the yoke of their external
+party, of its passions as of its interests, of its ignorance as of its
+passions. It has been one of the sorest wounds of our age, that few men
+have preserved sufficient firmness of mind and character to think
+freely, and act as they think. The intellectual and moral independence
+of individuals disappeared under the pressure of events and before the
+heat of popular clamours and desires. Under such a general slavery of
+thought and action, there are no longer just or mistaken minds, cautious
+or rash spirits, officers or soldiers; all yield to the same controlling
+passion, and bend before the same wind; common weakness reduces all to
+one common level; hierarchy and discipline vanish; the last lead the
+first; for the last press and drive onwards, being themselves impelled
+by that tyranny from without, of which they have been the most blind and
+ready instruments.
+
+As a political party, the centre, in the Chambers from 1816 to 1820, was
+not tainted by this evil. Sincere in its adoption of the Restoration and
+the Charter, no external pressure could disturb or falsify its position.
+It remained unfettered in thought and deed. It openly acknowledged its
+object, and marched directly towards it; selecting, within, the leaders
+most capable of conducting it there, and having no supporters without
+who looked for any other issue. It was thus that, in spite of its other
+deficiencies for powerful government, the centre was at that time the
+fittest party to rule, the only one capable of maintaining order in the
+State, while tolerating the liberty of its rivals.
+
+But to reap the full fruits of this advantage, and to diminish at the
+same time the natural defects of the centre in its mission, it was
+necessary that it should adopt a fixed idea, a conviction that the
+different elements of the party were indispensable to each other; and
+that, to accomplish the object pursued by all with equal sincerity,
+mutual concessions and sacrifices were called for, to maintain this
+necessary union. When Divine wisdom intended to secure the power of a
+human connection, it forbade divorce. Political ties cannot admit this
+inviolability; but if they are not strongly knit, if the contracting
+parties are not firmly resolved to break them only in the last extremity
+and under the most imperious pressure, they soon end, not only in
+impotence, but in disorder; and by their too easy rupture, policy
+becomes exposed to new difficulties and disturbances. I have thus
+pointed out the discrepancies and different opinions which, from the
+beginning, existed between the two principal elements of the centre: the
+Ministers, with their pure adherents, on the one side, and the
+doctrinarians on the other. From the second session after the decree of
+the 5th of September, 1816, these differences increased until they grew
+into dissensions.
+
+While acknowledging the influence of the doctrinarians in the Chambers,
+and the importance of their co-operation, neither the Ministers nor
+their advocates measured correctly the value of this alliance, or the
+weight of the foundation from which that value was derived. Philosophers
+estimate too highly the general ideas with which they are prepossessed;
+politicians withhold from general ideas the attention and interest they
+are entitled to demand. Intelligence is proud and sensitive; it looks
+for consideration and respect, even though its suggestions may be
+disallowed; and those who treat it lightly or coldly sometimes pay
+heavily for their mistake. It is, moreover, an evidence of narrow
+intellect not to appreciate the part which general principles assume in
+the government of men, or to regard them as useless or hostile because
+we are not disposed to adopt them as guides. In our days, especially,
+and notwithstanding the well-merited disrepute into which so many
+theories have fallen, philosophic deduction, on all the leading
+questions and facts of policy, is a sustaining power, on which the
+ablest and most secure ministers would do wisely to rely. The
+doctrinarians at that period represented this power, and employed it
+fearlessly against the spirit of revolution, as well as in favour of the
+constitutional system. The Cabinet of 1816 undervalued the part they
+played, and paid too little attention to their ideas and desires. The
+application of trial by jury to offences of the press was not, I admit,
+unattended by danger; but it was much better to try that experiment, and
+by so doing to maintain union in the Government party, than to divide
+it by absolutely disregarding, on this question, M. Camille Jordan,
+M. Royer-Collard, and their friends.
+
+All power, and, above all, recent power, demands an impression of
+grandeur in its acts and on its insignia. Order, and the regular
+protection of private interests, that daily bread of nations, will not
+long satisfy their wants. To secure these is an inseparable care of
+Government, but they do not comprise the only need of humanity. Human
+nature finds the other enjoyments for which it thirsts in opposite
+distinctions, moral or physical, just or unjust, solid or ephemeral. It
+has neither enough of virtue nor wisdom to render absolute greatness
+indispensable; but in every position it requires to see, conspicuously
+displayed, something exalted, which may attract and occupy the
+imagination. After the Empire, which had accustomed France to all the
+delights of national pre-eminence and glory, the spectacle of free and
+lofty thought displaying itself with moral dignity, and some show of
+talent, was not deficient in novelty or attraction, while the chance of
+its success outweighed the value of the cost.
+
+The Ministers were not more skilful in dealing with the personal tempers
+than with the ideas of the doctrinarians, who were as haughty and
+independent in character as they were elevated in mind, and ready to
+take offence when any disposition was evinced to apply their opinions
+and conduct without their own consent. Nothing is more distasteful to
+power than to admit, to any great extent, the independence of its
+supporters; it considers them treated with sufficient respect if taken
+into confidence, and is readily disposed to view them as servants.
+M. Lainé, then Minister of the Interior, wrote one morning to M. Cuvier
+to say that the King had just named him Royal Commissioner, to second a
+bill which would be presented on the following day to the Chamber of
+Deputies. He had not only neglected to apprise him before of the duty he
+was to undertake, but he did not even mention in the note the particular
+bill he instructed him to support. M. Cuvier, more subservient than
+susceptible, with power, made no complaint of this treatment, but
+related it with a smile. A few days before, the Minister of Finance,
+M. Corvetto, had also appointed M. de Serre Commissioner for the defence
+of the budget, without asking whether this appointment was agreeable to
+him, or holding any conference even on the fundamental points of the
+budget he was expected to carry through. On receiving notice of this
+nomination, M. de Serre felt deeply offended. "It is either an act of
+folly or impertinence," said he loudly; "perhaps both." M. de Serre
+deceived himself; it was neither the one nor the other. M. Corvetto was
+an extremely polite, careful, and modest person; but he was of the
+Imperial school, and more accustomed to give orders to agents than to
+concert measures with members of the Chambers. By habits as well as
+ideas, the doctrinarians belonged to a liberal system,--troublesome
+allies of power, on the termination of a military and administrative
+monarchy.
+
+I know not which is the most difficult undertaking,--to transform the
+functionaries of absolute power into the supporters of a free
+Government, or to organize and discipline the friends of liberty into a
+political party. If the Ministers sometimes disregarded the humour of
+the doctrinarians, the doctrinarians in their turn too lightly
+estimated the position and task of the Ministers. They had in reality,
+whatever has been said of sectarian passions and ideas, neither the
+ambition nor the vanity of a coterie; they possessed open, generous, and
+expanded minds, extremely accessible to sympathy; but, too much
+accustomed to live alone and depend on themselves, they scarcely thought
+of the effect which their words and actions produced beyond their own
+circle; and thus social faults were laid to their charge which they had
+not the least desire to commit. Their political mistakes were more real.
+In their relations with power, they were sometimes intemperate and
+offensive in language, unnecessarily impatient, not knowing how to be
+contented with what was possible, or how to wait for amelioration
+without too visible an effort. These causes led them to miscalculate the
+impediments, necessities, and practicable resources of the Government
+they sincerely wished to establish. In the Chambers, they were too
+exclusive and pugnacious, more intent on proving their opinions than on
+gaining converts, despising rather than desiring recruits, and little
+gifted with the talent of attraction and combination so essential to the
+leaders of a party. They were not sufficiently acquainted with the
+difficulties of carrying out a sound scheme of policy, nor with the
+infinite variety of efforts, sacrifices, and cares which are comprised
+in the art of governing.
+
+From 1816 to 1818 the vices of their position and the mistakes
+committed, infused into the Government and its party a continual
+ferment, and the seeds of internal discord which prevented them from
+acquiring the necessary strength and consistency. The mischief burst
+forth towards the end of 1818, when the Duke de Richelieu returned from
+the conferences of Aix-la-Chapelle, reporting the withdrawal of the
+foreign armies, the complete evacuation of our territory, and the
+definitive settlement of the financial burdens which the Hundred Days
+had imposed on France. On his arrival he saw his Cabinet on the point of
+dissolution, and vainly attempted to form a new one, but was finally
+compelled to abandon the power he had never sought or enjoyed, but
+which, assuredly, he was unwilling to lose by compulsion in the midst of
+his diplomatic triumph, and to see it pass into hands determined to
+employ it in a manner totally opposed to his own intentions.
+
+A check like this, at such a moment, and to such a man, was singularly
+unjust and unseasonable. Since 1815, the Duke de Richelieu had rendered
+valuable services to France and to the King. He alone had obtained some
+mitigation to the conditions of a very harsh treaty of peace, which
+nothing but sincere and sad devotion had induced him to sign, while
+feeling the full weight of what he sacrificed in attaching to it his
+illustrious name, and seeking no self-glorification from an act of
+honest patriotism. No man was ever more free from exaggeration or
+quackery in the display of his sentiments. Fifteen months after the
+ratification of peace, he induced the foreign powers to consent to a
+considerable reduction in the army of occupation. A year later, he
+limited to a fixed sum the unbounded demands of the foreign creditors of
+France. Finally, he had just signed the entire emancipation of the
+national soil four years before the term rigorously prescribed by
+treaties. The King, on his return, thanked him in noble words:
+"Duke de Richelieu," he said, "I have lived long enough, since, thanks
+to you, I have seen the French flag flying over every town in France."
+The sovereigns of Europe treated him with esteem and confidence. A rare
+example of a statesman, who, without great actions or superior
+abilities, had, by the uprightness of his character and the unselfish
+tenor of his life, achieved such universal and undisputed respect!
+Although the Duke de Richelieu had only been engaged in foreign affairs,
+he was better calculated than has been said, not so much to direct
+effectively as to preside over the internal government of the
+Restoration. A nobleman of exalted rank, and a tried Royalist, he was
+neither in mind or feeling a courtier nor an Emigrant; he had no
+preconceived dislike to the new state of society or the new men; without
+thoroughly understanding free institutions, he had no prejudice against
+them, and submitted to their exercise without an effort. Simple in his
+manners, true and steady in his words, and a friend to the public good,
+if he failed to exercise a commanding influence in the Chambers, he
+maintained full authority near the King; and a constitutional
+Government, resting on the parliamentary centre, could not, at that
+period, have possessed a more worthy or more valuable president.
+
+But at the close of 1818 the Duke de Richelieu felt himself compelled,
+and evinced that he was resolved, to engage in a struggle in which the
+considerations of gratitude and prosperity I have here reverted to
+proved to be ineffective weapons on his side. In virtue of the Charter,
+and in conformity with the electoral law of the 5th of February, 1817,
+two-fifths of the Chamber of Deputies had been renewed since the
+formation of his Cabinet. The first trial of votes, in 1817, had proved
+satisfactory to the Restoration and its friends; not more than two or
+three recognized names were added to the left-hand party, which, even
+after this reinforcement, only amounted to twenty members. At the second
+trial in 1818, the party acquired more numerous and much more
+distinguished recruits; about twenty-five new members, and amongst them
+MM. de La Fayette, Benjamin Constant, and Manuel, were enrolled in its
+ranks. The number was still weak, but important as a rallying point, and
+prognostic. An alarm, at once sincere and interested, exhibited itself
+at court and in the right-hand party; they found themselves on the eve
+of a new revolution, but their hopes were also excited: since the
+enemies of the House of Bourbon were forcing themselves into the
+Chamber, the King would at length feel the necessity of replacing power
+in the hands of his friends. The party had not waited the issue of these
+last elections to attempt a great enterprise. _Secret notes_, drawn up
+under the eye of the Count d'Artois, and by his most intimate
+confidants, had been addressed to the foreign sovereigns, to point out
+to them this growing mischief, and to convince them that a change in the
+advisers of the crown was the only safe measure to secure monarchy in
+France, and to preserve peace in Europe. The Duke de Richelieu, in
+common with his colleagues, and with a feeling of patriotism far
+superior to personal interest, felt indignant at these appeals to
+foreign intervention for the internal government of the country.
+M. de Vitrolles was struck off from the Privy Council, as author of the
+principal of the three _Secret notes_. The European potentates paid
+little attention to such announcements, having no faith either in the
+sound judgment or disinterested views of the men from whom they
+emanated. Nevertheless, after the elections of 1818, they also began to
+feel uneasy. It was from prudence, and not choice, that they had
+sanctioned and maintained the constitutional system in France; they
+looked upon it as necessary to close up the Revolution. If, on the
+contrary, it once again opened its doors, the peace of Europe would be
+more compromised than ever; for then the Revolution would assume the
+semblance of legality. But neither in France nor in Europe did any one
+at that time, even amongst the greatest alarmists and the most
+intimidated, dream of interfering with the constitutional system; in
+universal opinion it had acquired with us the privileges of citizenship.
+The entire evil was imputed to the law of elections. It was at
+Aix-la-Chapelle, while surrounded by the sovereigns and their ministers,
+that the Duke de Richelieu was first apprised of the newly-elected
+members whom this law had brought upon the scene. The Emperor Alexander
+expressed to him his amazement; the Duke of Wellington advised Louis
+XVIII. "to unite himself more closely with the Royalists." The
+Duke de Richelieu returned to France with a determination to reform the
+electoral law, or no longer to incur the responsibility of its results.
+
+Institutions attacked have no voice in their own defence, and men
+gladly charge on them their individual errors. I shall not commit this
+injustice, or abandon a sound idea because it has been compromised or
+perverted in application. The principle of the electoral law of the 5th
+of February, 1817, was good in itself, and still remains good, although
+it was insufficient to prevent the evil of our own want of foresight and
+intemperate passions.
+
+When a free government is seriously desired, we must choose between the
+principle of the law of the 5th of February, 1817, and universal
+suffrage,--between the right of voting confined to the higher classes of
+society and that extended to the popular masses. I believe the direct
+and defined right of suffrage to be alone effectual in securing the
+action of the country upon the Government. On this common condition, the
+two systems may constitute a real control over power, and substantial
+guarantees for liberty. Which is to be preferred?--this is a question of
+epoch, of situation, of degree of civilization, and of form of
+government. Universal suffrage is well suited to republican
+associations, small or federative, newly instituted or mature in wisdom
+and political virtue. The right of voting confined to a more elevated
+class, and exercised in a strong assumption of the spirit of order, of
+independence, and intelligence, is more applicable to great single and
+monarchical states. This was our reason for making it the basis of the
+law of 1817. We dreaded republican tendencies, which with us, and in our
+days, are nearly synonymous with anarchy; we regarded monarchy as
+natural, and constitutional monarchy as necessary, to France; we wished
+to organize it sincerely and durably, by securing under this system, to
+the conservative elements of French society as at present constituted,
+an influence which appeared to us as much in conformity with the
+interests of liberty as with those of power.
+
+It was the disunion of the monarchical party that vitiated the electoral
+system of 1817, and took away its strength with its truth. By placing
+political power in the hands of property, intelligence, independent
+position, and great interests naturally conservative, the system rested
+on the expectation that these interests would be habitually united, and
+would defend, in common accord, order and right against the spirit of
+license and revolution, the fatal bias of the age. But, from their very
+first steps, the different elements of the great royalist party, old or
+new, aristocratic or plebeian, plunged into discord, equally blind to
+the weakness with which it infected them all, and thus opening the door
+to the hopes and efforts of their common enemies, the revolutionists.
+From thence, and not from the electoral law of 1817, or from its
+principle, came the mischief which in 1818 it was considered desirable
+to check by repealing that enactment.
+
+I am ready to admit in express terms, for it may be alleged with
+justice, that, when in 1816 and 1817 we prepared and defended the law of
+elections, we might have foreseen the state of general feeling under
+which it was to be applied. Discord between the components of the
+monarchical party was neither a strange nor a sudden fact; it existed at
+that time; the Royalists of old and new France were already widely
+separated. I incline to think that, even had we attached more
+importance to their future contests, we should still have pursued the
+same course. We were in presence of an imperative necessity: new France
+felt that she was attacked, and required defence; if she had not found
+supporters amongst the Royalists, she would have sought for them, as she
+has too often done, in the camp of the Revolution. But what may explain
+or even excuse a fault cannot effect its suppression. Our policy in 1816
+and 1817 regarded too lightly the disagreements of the monarchical
+party, and the possible return of the Revolutionists; we miscalculated
+the extent of both dangers. It is the besetting error of men
+entrammelled in the fetters of party, to forget that there are many
+opposite facts which skilful policy should turn to profitable account,
+and to pass over all that are not inscribed with brilliancy on their
+standard.
+
+On leaving Aix-la-Chapelle, where he had been so fortunate, the
+Duke de Richelieu, although far from presumptuous, expected, I have no
+doubt, to be equally successful in his design of repealing the law of
+elections. Success deceives the most unassuming, and prevents them from
+foreseeing an approaching reverse. On his arrival, he found the
+undertaking much more difficult than he had anticipated. In the Cabinet,
+M. Molé alone fully seconded his intentions. M. Decazes and Marshal
+Gouvion St. Cyr declared strongly for the law as it stood. M. Lainé,
+while fully admitting that it ought to be modified, refused to take any
+part in the matter, having been, as he said, the first to propose and
+maintain it. M. Roy, who had lately superseded M. Corvetto in the
+department of finance, cared little for the electoral question, but
+announced that he would not remain in the Cabinet without M. Decazes,
+whom he considered indispensable, either in the Chambers or near the
+King's person. Discord raged within and without the Ministry. In the
+Chambers, the centre was divided; the left defended the law vehemently;
+the right declared itself ready to support any minister who proposed its
+reform, but at the same time repudiated M. Decazes, the author of the
+decree of the 5th of September, 1816, and of all its consequences. The
+public began to warm into the question. Excitement and confusion went on
+increasing. It was evidently not the electoral law alone, but the
+general policy of the Restoration and the Government of France, that
+formed the subject of debate.
+
+In a little work which the historians of this period, M. de Lamartine
+amongst others, have published, the King, Louis XVIII. himself has
+related the incidents and sudden turns of this ministerial crisis, which
+ended, as is well known, in the retirement of the Duke de Richelieu,
+with four of his colleagues, and in the promotion of M. Decazes, who
+immediately constructed a new Cabinet, of which he was the head, without
+appearing to preside, while M. de Serre, appointed to the seals, became
+the powerful organ in the Chambers, and the maintenance of the law of
+elections was adopted as the symbol. Two sentiments, under simple forms,
+pervade this kingly recital: first, a certain anxiety, on the part of
+the author, that no blame should be attached to him in his royal
+character, or in his conduct towards the Duke de Richelieu, and a desire
+to exculpate himself from these charges; secondly, a little of that
+secret pleasure which kings indulge in, even under heavy embarrassments,
+when they see a minister fall whose importance was not derived from
+themselves, and who has served them without expecting or receiving
+favours.
+
+"If I had only consulted my own opinion," says the King, in concluding
+his statement, "I should have wished M. Decazes, uniting his lot, as he
+had always intended, with that of the Duke de Richelieu, to have left
+the Ministry with him." It would have been happy for M. Decazes if this
+desire of the King had prevailed. Not that he erred in any point of duty
+or propriety by surviving the Duke de Richelieu in office, and in
+forming a Cabinet without him; an important misunderstanding on a
+pressing question had already separated them. M. Decazes, after
+tendering his resignation, had raised no obstacle to the Duke's efforts
+at finding new colleagues; it was only on the failure of those attempts,
+frankly avowed by the Duke himself, and at the formal request of the
+King, that he had undertaken to form a ministry. As a friend of
+M. de Richelieu, and the day before his colleague, there were certainly
+unpleasant circumstances and appearances attached to this position; but
+M. Decazes was free to act, and could scarcely refuse to carry out the
+policy he had recommended in council, when that which he had opposed
+acknowledged itself incapable. Yet the new Cabinet was not strong enough
+for the enterprise it undertook; with the centre completely shaken and
+divided, it had to contend against the right-hand party more irritated
+than ever, and the left evidently inimical, although through decency it
+lent to Government a precarious support. The Cabinet of M. Decazes, as
+a ministerial party, retained much inferior forces to those which had
+surrounded the Duke de Richelieu, and had to contest with two bitter
+enemies, the one inaccessible to peace or truce, the other sometimes
+appearing friendly, but suddenly turning round and attacking the
+Ministry with eager malevolence, when an opportunity offered, and with
+hesitating hostility when compelled to dissemble.
+
+The doctrinarians, who, in co-operation with M. Decazes, had defended
+the law of elections, energetically supported the new Cabinet, in which
+they were brilliantly represented by M. de Serre. Success was not
+wanting at the commencement. By a mild and active administration, by
+studied care of its partisans, by frequent and always favourably
+received appeals to the royal clemency in behalf of the exiles still
+excepted from amnesty, even including the old regicides, M. Decazes
+sought and won extensive popularity; Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr satisfied
+the remnants of the old army, by restoring to the new the ablest of its
+former leaders; M. de Serre triumphantly defended the Ministry in the
+Chambers; his bills, boldly liberal, and his frank opposition to
+revolutionary principles, soon acquired for him, even with his
+adversaries, a just reputation for eloquence and sincerity. In the
+parliamentary arena it was an effective and upright Ministry; with the
+country it was felt to be a Government loyally constitutional. But it
+had more brilliancy than strength; and neither its care of individual
+interests, nor its successes in the tribune, were sufficient to rally
+round it the great Government party which its formation had divided.
+Discord arose between the Chambers themselves. The Chamber of Peers, by
+adopting the proposition of the Marquis Barthélemy, renewed the struggle
+against the electoral law. In vain did the Chamber of Deputies repel
+this attack; in vain did the Cabinet, by creating sixty new Peers, break
+down the majority in the palace of the Luxembourg; these half triumphs
+and legal extremes decided nothing. Liberal governments are condemned to
+see the great questions perpetually revived which revolutions bequeath
+to society, and which even glorious despotism suspends without solving.
+The right-hand party was passionately bent on repossessing the power
+which had recently escaped them. The left defended, at any cost, the
+Revolution, more insulted than in danger. The centre, dislocated and
+doubtful of the future, wavered between the hostile parties, not feeling
+itself in a condition to impose peace on all, and on the point of being
+confounded in the ranks of one side or the other. The Cabinet, ever
+victorious in daily debate, and supported by the King's favour, felt
+itself nevertheless feebly surrounded and precariously placed, with the
+air of expecting a favourable or a hostile incident, to bring the
+security it wanted, or to overthrow it altogether.
+
+The events which men call accidents are never wanting in such
+situations. During the space of a few months the Cabinet of 1819
+experienced two,--the election of M. Grégoire, and the assassination of
+the Duke de Berry; and these two decided its fate.
+
+It is difficult to look upon the election of M. Grégoire as an accident;
+it was proposed and settled beforehand in the central committee
+established at Paris to superintend elections in general, and which was
+called the managing committee. This particular election was decided on
+at Grenoble in the college assembled on the 11th of September, 1819, by
+a certain number of votes of the right-hand party, which at the second
+round of balloting were carried to the credit of the left-hand
+candidate, and gave him a majority which otherwise he could not have
+obtained. To excuse this scandal, when it became known, some apologists
+pretended that M. Grégoire was not in fact a regicide, because, even
+though he had approved of the condemnation of Louis XVI. in his letters
+to the Convention, his vote at least had not been included in the fatal
+list. Again, when the admission of the deputy was disputed in the
+Chamber, the left-hand party, to get rid of him, while eluding the true
+cause of refusal, eagerly proposed to annul the election on the ground
+of irregularity. When improvident violence fails, men gladly shelter
+themselves under pusillanimous subtlety. It was unquestionably in the
+character of a Conventional regicide, and with premeditated reflection,
+not by any local or sudden accident, that M. Grégoire had been elected.
+No act was ever more deliberately arranged and accomplished by party
+feelings. Sincere in the perverse extravagancies of his mind, and
+faithful to his avowed principles, although forgetful and weak in their
+application, openly a Christian, and preaching tolerance under the
+Convention, while he sanctioned the most unrelenting persecution of the
+priests who refused to submit to the yoke of its new church; a
+republican and oppositionist under the Empire, while consenting to be a
+senator and a Count, this old man, as inconsistent as obstinate, was
+the instrument of a signal act of hostility against the Restoration, to
+become immediately the pretext for a corresponding act of weakness. A
+melancholy end to a sad career!
+
+The assassination of the Duke de Berry might with much more propriety be
+called an accident. On the trial it was proved by evidence that Louvel
+had no accomplices, and that he was alone in the conception as in the
+execution of his crime. But it was also evident that hatred against the
+Bourbons had possessed the soul and armed the hand of the murderer.
+Revolutionary passions are a fire which is kindled and nourished afar
+off; the orators of the right obtained credit with many timid and
+horror-stricken minds, when they called this an accident;--as it is also
+an accident if a diseased constitution catches the plague when it
+infects the air, or if a powder-magazine explodes when you strike fire
+in its immediate neighbourhood.
+
+M. Decazes endeavoured to defend himself against these two heavy blows.
+After the election of M. Grégoire, he undertook to accomplish alone what
+at the close of the preceding year he had refused to attempt in concert
+with the Duke de Richelieu. He determined to alter the law of elections.
+It was intended that this change should take place in a great
+constitutional reform meditated by M. de Serre, liberal on certain
+points, monarchical on others, and which promised to give more firmness
+to royalty by developing representative government. M. Decazes made a
+sincere effort to induce the Duke de Richelieu, who was then travelling
+in Holland, to return and reassume the presidency of the Council, and to
+co-operate with him in the Chambers for the furtherance of this bold
+undertaking. The King himself applied to the Duke de Richelieu, who
+positively declined, more from disgust with public affairs and through
+diffidence of his own power, than from any remains of ill-humour or
+resentment. Three actual members of the Cabinet of 1819, General
+Dessoles, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and Baron Louis, declared that they
+would not co-operate in any attack on the existing law of elections.
+M. Decazes determined to do without them, as he had dispensed with the
+Duke de Richelieu, and to form a new Cabinet, of which he became the
+president, and in which M. Pasquier, General Latour-Maubourg, and M. Roy
+replaced the three retiring ministers. On the 29th of November the King
+opened the session. Two months passed over, and the new electoral system
+had not yet been presented to the Chamber. Three days after the
+assassination of the Duke de Berry, M. Decazes introduced it suddenly,
+with two bills to suspend personal liberty, and re-establish the
+censorship of the daily press. Four days later he fell, and the
+Duke de Richelieu, standing alone before the King and the danger,
+consented to resume power. M. Decazes would have acted more wisely had
+he submitted to his first defeat, and induced the King after the
+election of M. Grégoire, to take back the Duke de Richelieu as minister.
+He would not then have been compelled to lower with his own hand the
+flag he had raised, and to endure the burden of a great miscarriage.
+
+The fall of the Cabinet of 1819, brought on a new crisis, and a fresh
+progress of the evil which disorganized the great Government party
+formed during the session of 1815, and by the decree of the 5th of
+September, 1816. To the successive divisions of the centre, were now
+added the differences between the doctrinarians themselves. M. de Serre,
+who had joined the Cabinet with M. Decazes to defend the law of
+elections, now determined, although sick and absent, to remain there
+with the Duke de Richelieu to overthrow it, without any of the
+compensations, real or apparent, which his grand schemes of
+constitutional reform were intended to supply. I tried in vain to
+dissuade him from his resolution.[15] In the Chamber of Deputies,
+M. Royer-Collard and M. Camille Jordan vehemently attacked the new
+electoral plan; the Duke de Broglie and M. de Barante proposed serious
+amendments to it in the Chamber of Peers. All the political ties which
+had been cemented during five years appeared to be dissolved; every one
+followed his own private opinion, or returned to his old bias. In the
+parliamentary field, all was uncertainty and confused opposition; a
+phantom appeared at each extremity, revolution and counter-revolution,
+exchanging mutual menaces, and equally impatient to come to issue.
+
+Those who wish to give themselves a correct idea of parliamentary and
+popular excitement, pushed to their extreme limit, and yet retained
+within that boundary by legal authority and the good sense of the
+public,--sufficient to arrest the country on the brink of an abyss,
+although too weak to block up the road that leads to it,--should read
+the debate on the new electoral bill introduced into the Chamber of
+Deputies on the 17th of April, 1820, by the second Cabinet of the Duke
+de Richelieu, and discussed for twenty-six days in that Chamber,
+accompanied with riotous gatherings without, thoughtlessly aggressive
+and sternly repressed. If we are to believe the orators of the left,
+France and her liberties, the Revolution and its conquests, the honour
+of the present, and the security of the future, were all lost if the
+ministerial bill should pass. The right, on the other hand, looked upon
+the bill as scarcely strong enough to save the monarchy for the moment,
+and declared its resolution to reject every amendment which might
+diminish its powers. On both sides, pretensions and claims were equally
+ungovernable. Attracted and excited by this legal quarrel, the students,
+the enthusiastic young Liberals, the old professional disturbers, the
+idlers and oppositionists of every class, were engaged daily with the
+soldiers and the agents of police, in conflicts sometimes sanguinary,
+and the accounts of which redoubled the acrimony of the debate
+withindoors. In the midst of this general commotion, the Cabinet of 1820
+had the merit of maintaining, while repressing all popular movement, the
+freedom of legislative deliberation, and of acting its part in these
+stormy discussions with perseverance and moderation. M. Pasquier, their
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, endowed with rare self-command and
+presence of mind, was on this occasion the principal parliamentary
+champion of the Cabinet; and M. Mounier, Director-General of the
+Police, controlled the street riots with as much prudence as active
+firmness. The charge so often brought against so many ministers, against
+M. Casimir Perrier in 1831, as against the Duke de Richelieu in 1820, of
+exciting popular commotions only to repress them, does not deserve the
+notice of sensible men. At the end of a month, all these debates and
+scenes, within and without, ended in the adoption, not of the
+ministerial bill, but of an amendment which, without destroying in
+principle the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, so materially vitiated
+it, to the advantage of the right, that the party felt themselves bound
+to be satisfied. The greater portion of the centre, and the more
+moderate members of the left, submitted for the sake of public
+peace. The extreme left and the extreme right, M. Manuel and
+M. de la Bourdonnaye entered a protest. The new electoral system was
+clearly destined to shift the majority, and, with the majority, power,
+from the left to the right; but the liberties of France, and the
+advantages gained by the Revolution, were not endangered by the change.
+
+This question once settled, the Cabinet had to pay its debts to the
+right-hand party,--rewards to those who had supported it, and
+punishments to its opposers. In spite of old friendships, the
+doctrinarians figured of necessity in the last category. If I had
+desired it, I might have escaped. Not being a member of either Chamber,
+and beyond the circle of constrained action, I could in my capacity of
+State Councillor have maintained reserve and silence after giving my
+advice to the Government; but on entering public life, I had resolved on
+one uniform course,--to express my true thoughts on every occasion, and
+never to separate myself from my friends. M. de Serre included me, with
+good reason, in the measure which removed them from the Council; on the
+17th of June, 1820, he wrote to MM. Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan,
+Barante, and myself, to inform us that we were no longer on the list.
+The best men readily assume the habits and style of absolute power.
+M. de Serre was certainly not deficient in self-respect or confidence in
+his own opinions; he felt surprised that in this instance I should have
+obeyed mine, without any other more coercive necessity, and evinced this
+feeling by communicating my removal with unqualified harshness. "The
+evident hostility," he said to me, "which, without the shadow of a
+pretext, you have lately exhibited towards the King's Government, has
+rendered this step inevitable." My answer was simply this:--"I expected
+your letter. I might have foreseen, and I did anticipate it, when I
+openly evinced my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of the
+Ministry. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to alter in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as yesterday, I shall belong only and entirely to
+myself."[16]
+
+The decisive step was taken; power had changed its course with its
+friends. After having turned it to this new direction, the
+Duke de Richelieu and his colleagues made sincere efforts during two
+years to arrest its further progress. They tried all methods of
+conciliation or resistance; sometimes they courted the right, at others
+the remains of the centre, and occasionally even the left, by
+concessions of principle, and more frequently of a personal nature.
+M. de Châteaubriand was sent as Ambassador to Berlin, and General
+Clauzel was declared entitled to the amnesty. M. de Villèle and
+M. Corbière obtained seats in the Cabinet, the first as minister without
+a portfolio, and the other as president of the Royal Council of Public
+Instruction; they left it, however, at the expiration of six months,
+under frivolous pretexts, but foreseeing the approaching fall of the
+Ministry, and not wishing to be there at the last moment. They were not
+deceived. The elections of 1821 completed the decimation of the weak
+battalion which still endeavoured to stand firm round tottering power.
+The Duke de Richelieu, who had only resumed office on a personal promise
+from the Count d'Artois of permanent support, complained loudly, with
+the independent spirit of a nobleman of high rank and of a man of
+honour, that the word of a gentleman, pledged to him, had not been kept.
+Vain complaints, and futile efforts! The Cabinet obtained time with
+difficulty; but the right-hand party alone gained ground. At length, on
+the 19th of December, 1821, the last shadow of the Government of the
+Centre vanished with the ministry of the Duke de Richelieu. The right
+and M. de Villèle seized the reins of power. "The counter-revolution is
+approaching!" exclaimed the left, in a mingled burst of satisfaction and
+alarm. M. de Villèle thought differently; a little before the decisive
+crisis, and after having, in his quality of vice-president, directed for
+some days the deliberations of the Chamber of Deputies, he wrote as
+follows to one of his friends:--"You will scarcely believe how my four
+days of presidency have succeeded. I received compliments on every side,
+but particularly, I own it to my shame, from the left, whom I have never
+conciliated. They expected, without doubt, to be eaten up alive by an
+_ultra_. They are inexhaustible in eulogium. Finally, those to whom I
+never speak, now address me with a thousand compliments. I think in this
+there is a little spite against M. Ravez. But, be that as it may, if a
+president were just now to be elected, I should have almost every vote
+in the Chamber.... For myself, impartiality costs me nothing. I look
+only to the success of the affairs I have undertaken, and have not the
+slightest prejudice against individuals. I am born for the end of
+revolutions."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 14: I have recapitulated amongst the "Historic Documents" the
+chief measures of general administration, which were adopted by
+M. Lainé, M. Decazes and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, in their respective
+departments, during this period. These short tables clearly exhibit the
+spirit of improvement and the rational care of public interests which
+animated the Cabinet. (Historic Documents, No. IX.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: I insert in the "Historic Documents" the letter I
+addressed to him, with this object, on the 12th of April, 1820, to Nice,
+whither he had repaired towards the middle of the month of January, to
+seek relief from a crisis of the chest complaint which finally caused
+his death. I am struck today, as undoubtedly all will be who read this
+letter with attention, by the mixture of truth and error, of foresight
+and improvidence therein contained. Subsequent events alternately
+verified and disproved what I then wrote. (Historic Documents, No. X.)]
+
+[Footnote 16: I insert at length amongst the "Historic Documents" the
+correspondence interchanged on this occasion between M. de Serre,
+M. Pasquier, and myself. (Historic Documents, No. XI)]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.
+
+1822-1827.
+
+     POSITION OF M. DE VILLÈLE ON ASSUMING POWER.--HE FINDS HIMSELF
+     ENGAGED WITH THE LEFT AND THE CONSPIRACIES.--CHARACTER OF THE
+     CONSPIRACIES.--ESTIMATE OF THEIR MOTIVES.--THEIR CONNECTION WITH
+     SOME OF THE LEADERS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.--M. DE LA
+     FAYETTE.--M. MANUEL.--M. D'ARGENSON.--THEIR ATTITUDE IN THE CHAMBER
+     OF DEPUTIES.--FAILURE OF THE CONSPIRACIES, AND CAUSES
+     THEREOF.--M. DE VILLÈLE ENGAGED WITH HIS RIVALS WITHIN AND BY THE
+     SIDE OF THE CABINET.--THE DUKE DE MONTMORENCY.--M. DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND
+     AMBASSADOR AT LONDON.--CONGRESS OF VERONA.--M. DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND
+     BECOMES MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.--SPANISH WAR.--EXAMINATION OF
+     ITS CAUSES AND RESULTS.--RUPTURE BETWEEN M. DE VILLÈLE AND
+     M. DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.--FALL OF M. DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.--M. DE VILLÈLE
+     ENGAGED WITH AN OPPOSITION SPRINGING FROM THE RIGHT-HAND
+     PARTY.--THE "JOURNAL DES DÉBATS" AND THE MESSRS.
+     BERTIN.--M. DE VILLÈLE FALLS UNDER THE YOKE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY
+     MAJORITY.--ATTITUDE AND INFLUENCE OF THE ULTRA-CATHOLIC
+     PARTY.--ESTIMATE OF THEIR CONDUCT.--ATTACKS TO WHICH THEY ARE
+     EXPOSED.--M. DE MONTLOSIER.--M. BÉRANGER.--ACUTENESS OF
+     M. DE VILLÈLE.--HIS DECLINE.--HIS ENEMIES AT THE COURT.--REVIEW AND
+     DISBANDING OF THE NATIONAL GUARD OF PARIS.--ANXIETY OF
+     CHARLES X.--DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--THE ELECTIONS
+     ARE HOSTILE TO M. DE VILLÈLE.--HE RETIRES.--SPEECH OF THE
+     DAUPHINISTS TO CHARLES X.
+
+
+I now change position and point of view. It was no longer as an actor
+within, but as a spectator without, that I watched the right-hand party,
+and am enabled to record my impressions,--a spectator in opposition,
+who has acquired light, and learned to form a correct judgment, from
+time.
+
+In December 1821, M. de Villèle attained power by the natural highroad.
+He reached his post through the qualities he had displayed and the
+importance he had acquired in the Chambers, and at the head of his
+party, which he brought in with himself. After a struggle of five years,
+he accomplished the object prematurely conceived by M. de Vitrolles in
+1815,--that the leader of the parliamentary majority should become the
+head of the Government. Events are marked by unforeseen contradictions.
+The Charter conducted to office the very individual who, before its
+promulgation, had been its earliest opponent.
+
+Amongst the noted men of our time, it is a distinctive feature in the
+career of M. de Villèle, that he became minister as a partisan, and
+retained that character in his official position, while at the same time
+endeavouring to establish, amongst his supporters, general principles of
+government in preference to the spirit of party. This moderator of the
+right was ever strictly faithful to the interests of that side. Very
+often unacquainted with the ideas, passions, and designs of his party,
+he opposed them indirectly and without positive disavowal, resolved
+never to desert his friends, even though he might be unable to control
+their course. Not from any general and systematic conviction, but from a
+sound practical instinct, he readily perceived the necessity of a strong
+attachment from the leader to his army, to secure a reciprocal feeling
+from the army to its chief. He paid dearly for this pertinacity; for it
+justly condemned him to bear the weight of errors which, had he been
+unfettered, he would never in all probability have committed; but
+through this sacrifice he held power for six years, and saved his party,
+during that period, from the extreme mistakes which, after his
+secession, led rapidly to their ruin. As minister of a constitutional
+monarchy, M. de Villèle has furnished France with one of the first
+examples of that fixity of political ties which, in spite of many
+inconveniences and objections, is essential to the great and salutary
+effects of representative government.
+
+When M. de Villèle was called on to form a Cabinet, he found the country
+and the Government under the influence of a violent excitement. There
+were not alone storms in the Chamber and tumults in the streets; secret
+societies, plots, insurrections, and a strong effort to overthrow
+established order, fermented and burst forth in every quarter,--in the
+departments of the east, west, and south, at Béfort, Colmar, Toulon,
+Saumur, Nantes, La Rochelle, and even at Paris itself, under the very
+eyes of the Ministers, in the army as well as in the civil professions,
+in the royal guards as in the regiments of the line. In less than three
+years, eight serious conspiracies attacked and endangered the
+Restoration.
+
+Today, after the lapse of more than thirty years, after so many events
+of greater importance, when an honest and rational man asks himself what
+motives could have excited such fierce anger and rash enterprises, he
+can find none either sufficient or legitimate. Neither the acts of power
+nor the probabilities of the future had so wounded or threatened the
+rights and interests of the country as to justify these attempts at
+utter subversion. The electoral system had been artfully changed; power
+had passed into the hands of an irritating and suspected party; but the
+great institutions were still intact; public liberty, though disputed,
+still displayed itself vigorously; legal order had received no serious
+blow; the country prospered and regularly advanced in strength. The new
+society was disturbed, but not disarmed; it was in a condition to wait
+and defend itself. There were just grounds for an animated and public
+opposition, but none for conspiracy or revolution.
+
+Nations that aspire to be free incur a prominent danger,--the danger of
+deceiving themselves on the question of tyranny. They readily apply that
+name to any system of government that displeases or alarms them, or
+refuses to grant all that they desire. Frivolous caprices, which entail
+their own punishment! Power must have inflicted on a country many
+violations of right, with repeated acts of injustice and oppression
+bitter and prolonged, before revolution can be justified by reason, or
+crowned with triumph in the face of its inherent faults. When such
+causes are wanting to revolutionary attempts, they either fail miserably
+or bring with them the reaction which involves their own punishment.
+
+But from 1820 to 1823 the conspirators never dreamed of asking
+themselves if their enterprises were legitimate; they entertained no
+doubt on the subject. Very different although simultaneous passions,
+past alarms and prospective temptations, influenced their minds and
+conduct. The hatreds and apprehensions that attached themselves to the
+words emigration, feudal system, old form of government, aristocracy,
+and counter-revolution, belonged to bygone times; but these fears and
+antipathies were in many hearts as intense and vivid as if they were
+entertained towards existing and powerful enemies. Against these
+phantoms, which the folly of the extreme right had conjured up, without
+the power of giving them substantial vitality, war in any shape was
+considered allowable, urgent, and patriotic. It was believed that
+liberty could best be served and saved by rekindling against the
+Restoration all the slumbering revolutionary fires. The conspirators
+flattered themselves that they could at the same time prepare a fresh
+revolution, which should put an end, not only to the restored monarchy,
+but to monarchy altogether, and by the re-establishment of the Republic
+lead to the absolute triumph of popular rights and interests. To the
+greater part of these young enthusiasts, descended from families who had
+been engaged in the old cause of the first Revolution, dreams of the
+future united with traditions of the domestic hearth; while maintaining
+the struggles of their fathers, they indulged their own Utopian
+chimeras.
+
+Those who conspired from revolutionary hatred or republican hope, were
+joined by others with more clearly defined but not less impassioned
+views. I have elsewhere said, in speaking of Washington, "It is the
+privilege, often corruptive, of great men, to inspire attachment and
+devotion without the power of reciprocating these feelings." No one ever
+enjoyed this privilege more than the Emperor Napoleon. He was dying at
+this very moment upon the rock of St. Helena; he could no longer do
+anything for his partisans; and he found, amongst the people as well as
+in the army, hearts and arms ready to do all and risk all for his
+name,--a generous infatuation for which I am at a loss to decide whether
+human nature should be praised or pitied.
+
+All these passions and combinations would in all probability have
+remained futile and unnoticed, had they not found exponents and chiefs
+in the highest political circles and in the bosom of the great bodies of
+the State. The popular masses are never sufficient for themselves; their
+desires and designs must be represented by visible and important
+leaders, who march at their head and accept the responsibility of the
+means and end. The conspirators of from 1820 to 1823 knew this well; and
+upon the most widely separated points, at Béfort as at Saumur, and at
+each fresh enterprise, they declared that they would not act unless
+well-known political leaders and Deputies of reputation were associated
+with them. Everybody knows, at the present day, that the co-operation
+they required was not withheld.
+
+In the Chamber of Deputies, the opposition to the Government of the
+Right was comprised of three sections united against it, but differing
+materially in their views and in their means of hostility. I shall only
+name the principal members of this confederacy, and who have themselves
+clearly defined their respective positions. M. de La Fayette and
+M. Manuel acknowledged and directed the conspiracies. Without ignoring
+them, General Foy, M. Benjamin Constant, and M. Casimir Perrier,
+disapproved of their proceedings and declined association.
+M. Royer-Collard and his friends were absolutely unacquainted with them,
+and stood entirely aloof.
+
+When my thoughts revert to M. de La Fayette, I am saddened by
+affectionate regret. I never knew a character more uniformly sincere,
+generous, and kind, or more ready to risk everything for his pledged
+faith and cause; his benevolence, although rather indiscriminate in
+particular cases, was not the less true and expanded towards humanity in
+general. His courage and devotedness were natural and earnest, serious
+under an exterior sometimes light, and as genuine as they were
+spontaneous. Throughout his life he maintained consistency in sentiments
+and ideas; and he had his days of vigorous resolution, which would have
+reflected honour on the truest friend of order and resistance to
+anarchy. In 1791, he opened fire, in the Champ de Mars, on the revolt
+set up in the name of the people; in 1792, he came in person to demand,
+on behalf of his army, the suppression of the Jacobins; and he held
+himself apart and independent under the Empire. But, taking all points
+into account, he failed in political judgment, in discernment, in a just
+estimate of circumstances and men; and he had a yielding towards his
+natural bent, a want of foresight as to the probable results of his
+actions, with a constant but indistinct yearning after popular favour,
+which led him on much further than he intended, and subjected him to the
+influence of men of a very inferior order, directly against his moral
+nature and political situation. At the first moment, in 1814, he seemed
+to be well disposed towards the Restoration; but the tendencies of
+power, and the persevering rancour of the Royalists, soon threw him back
+into the ranks of opposition. At the close of the Hundred Days, his
+hostility to the House of Bourbon became declared and active; a
+republican in soul, without being sufficiently strong or daring to
+proclaim the Republic, he opposed as obstinately as vainly the return of
+royalty; and before the Chamber of 1815, excited but not dismayed, he
+pledged himself, while the Restoration lasted, to enter and never to
+desert the ranks of its most inveterate enemies. From 1820 to 1823 he
+was, not the ostensible head, but the instrument and ornament, of every
+secret society, of every plot and project of revolution; even of those
+the results of which he would inevitably have denounced and resisted,
+had they been crowned with success.
+
+No two people could less resemble each other than M. Manuel and M. de La
+Fayette. While one was open, improvident, and rash in his hostility, the
+other was in an equal degree reserved, calculating, and prudent even in
+his violence, although in real character bold and determined. M. de La
+Fayette was not exactly a high and mighty lord,--that expression does
+not apply to him,--but a noble gentleman, liberal and popular, not
+naturally a revolutionist, but one who by enthusiasm or example might be
+led and would himself lead to repeated revolutions. M. Manuel was the
+obedient child and able defender of the past revolution, capable of
+joining Government for its interest--a liberal Government, if animated
+with revolutionary objects, an absolute Government if unlimited power
+should be necessary to their supremacy,--but determined to uphold
+revolution in every case and at any price. His mind was limited and
+uncultivated, and, either in his general life or in parliamentary
+debate, without any impress of great political views, or of sympathetic
+or lofty emotions of the soul, beyond the firmness of his attitude and
+the lucid strength of his language. Although no advocate, and a little
+provincial in his style, he spoke and acted as a man of party, calmly
+persevering and resolved, immovable in the old revolutionary arena, and
+never disposed to leave it either to become a convert to new measures or
+to adopt new views. The Restoration, in his opinion, was in fact the old
+system and the counter-revolution. After having confronted it in the
+Chambers with all the opposition which that theatre permitted, he
+encouraged, without, every plot and effort of subversion; less ready
+than M. de La Fayette to place himself at their head, less confident in
+their success, but still determined to keep alive by these means hatred
+and war against the Restoration, watching at the same time for a
+favourable opportunity of launching a decisive blow.
+
+M. d'Argenson had less weight with the party than either of his
+colleagues, although perhaps the most impassioned of the three. He was a
+sincere and melancholy visionary, convinced that all social evils spring
+from human laws, and bent on promoting every kind of reform, although he
+had little confidence in the reformers. By his position in society, the
+generous tone of his sentiments, the seriousness of his convictions, the
+attraction of an affectionate although reserved disposition, and the
+charm of a refined and elegant mind, which extracted from his false
+philosophy bold and original views, he held, in the projects and
+preliminary deliberations of the conspiring opposition, a tolerably
+important place; but he was little suited for action, and ready to
+discourage it, although always prepared for personal engagement. A
+chimerical but not hopeful fanaticism is not a very promising
+temperament for a conspirator.
+
+The issue of all these vain but tragical plots is well known. Dogged at
+every step by authority, sometimes even persecuted by the interested
+zeal of unworthy agents, they produced, in the space of two years, in
+various parts of France, nineteen capital condemnations, eleven of which
+were carried into effect. When we look back on these gloomy scenes, the
+mind is bewildered, and the heart recoils from the spectacle of the
+contrast which presents itself between sentiments and actions, efforts
+and results; we contemplate enterprises at the same time serious and
+harebrained, patriotic ardour joined to moral levity, enthusiastic
+devotion combined with indifferent calculation, and the same blindness,
+the same perseverance, united to similar impotence in old and young, in
+the generals and the soldiers. On the 1st of January, 1822, M. de La
+Fayette arrived in the vicinity of Béfort to place himself at the head
+of the insurrection in Alsace. He found the plot discovered, and several
+of the leaders already in arrest; but he also met others, MM. Ary
+Scheffer, Joubert, Carrel, and Guinard, whose principal anxiety was to
+meet and warn him by the earliest notice, and to save him and his son
+(who accompanied him) by leading them away through unfrequented roads.
+Nine months later, on the 21st of September in the same year, four young
+non-commissioned officers, Bories, Raoulx, Goubin, and Pommier,
+condemned to death for the conspiracy of Rochelle, were on the point of
+undergoing their sentence; M. de La Fayette and the head committee of
+the _Carbonari_ had vainly endeavoured to effect their escape. The poor
+sergeants knew they were lost, and had reason to think they were
+abandoned. A humane magistrate urged them to save their lives by giving
+up the authors of their fatal enterprise. All four answered, "We have
+nothing to reveal," and then remained obstinately silent. Such devotion
+merited more thoughtful leaders and more generous enemies.
+
+In presence of such facts, and in the midst of the warm debates they
+excited in the Chamber, the situation of the conspiring Deputies was
+awkward; they neither avowed their deeds nor supported their friends.
+The violence of their attacks against the Ministry and the Restoration
+in general, supplied but a poor apology for this weakness. Secret
+associations and plots accord ill with a system of liberty; there is
+little sense or dignity in conspiring and arguing at the same time. It
+was in vain that the Deputies who were not implicated endeavoured to
+shield their committed and embarrassed colleagues; it was in vain that
+General Foy, M. Casimir Perrier, M. Benjamin Constant, and M. Lafitte,
+while protesting with vehemence against the accusations charged upon
+their party, endeavoured to cast the mantle of their personal innocence
+over the actual conspirators, who sat by their sides. This manoeuvre,
+more blustering than formidable, deceived neither the Government nor the
+public; and the conspiring Deputies lost more reputation than they
+gained security, by being thus defended while they were disavowed, in
+their own ranks. M. de La Fayette became impatient of this doubtful and
+unworthy position. During the sitting of the 1st of August, 1822, with
+reference to the debate on the budget, M. Benjamin Constant complained
+of a phrase in the act of accusation drawn up by the Attorney-General of
+Poictiers, against the conspiracy of General Berton, and in which the
+names of five Deputies were included without their being prosecuted.
+M. Lafitte sharply called upon the Chamber to order an inquiry into
+transactions "which," said he, "as far as they affect myself are
+infamous falsehoods." M. Casimir Perrier and General Foy supported the
+motion for inquiry. The Cabinet and the right-hand party rejected it,
+while defending the Attorney-General and his statements. The Chamber
+appeared perplexed. M. de La Fayette demanded to be heard, and, with a
+rare and happy expression of ironical pride, said, "Whatever may be my
+habitual indifference to party accusations and enmities, I feel called
+upon to add a few words to what has been said by my honourable friends.
+Throughout the course of a career entirely devoted to the cause of
+liberty, I have constantly desired to be a mark for the malevolence of
+the adversaries of that cause, under whatever forms, whether despotic,
+aristocratic, or monarchical, which they may please to select, to
+contest or pervert it. I therefore make no complaint, although I may
+claim the right of considering the word _proved_, which the
+Attorney-General has thought proper to apply to me, a little free; but I
+join with my friends by demanding, as far as we can, the utmost
+publicity, both within the walls of this Chamber and in the face of the
+entire nation. Thus I and my accusers, in whatever rank they may be
+placed, can say to each other, without restraint, all that we have had
+mutually to reproach ourselves with during the last thirty years."
+
+The challenge was as transparent as it was fierce. M. de Villèle felt
+the full range of it, which extended even to the King himself; and
+taking up the glove at once, with a moderation which in its turn was not
+deficient in dignity, "The orator I follow," said he, "placed the
+question on its true footing when he said, in speaking of the Chamber,
+'as far as we can.' Yes, it is of the utmost importance that, on the
+subject under discussion, the truth or falsehood should be correctly
+known; but do we adopt the true method of ascertaining either? Such is
+not my opinion; if it were, I should at once vote for the inquiry. The
+proper mode of proceeding appears to me to be, to leave justice to its
+ordinary course, which no one has a right to arrest.... If members of
+this Chamber have been compromised in the act of accusation, do they not
+find their acquittal in the very fact that the Chamber has not been
+called upon to give them up to be added to the list of the accused? For,
+gentlemen, it is maintaining a contradiction to say, on the one hand,
+'You have placed our names in the requisition for indictment,' and on
+the other, 'The minister in office has not dared to prosecute, since the
+Chamber has not been required to surrender us.' And the demand has not
+been made, because the nature of the process neither imposed it as a
+duty nor a necessity on the part of the minister to adopt that course. I
+declare openly, before France, we do not accuse you, because there was
+nothing in the process which rendered it either incumbent or essential
+that we should do so. And we should the more readily have fulfilled that
+duty, since you cannot suppose us so little acquainted with the human
+heart as not to know that there would be less danger in subjecting you
+to direct prosecution than in following simply and openly the line
+marked out by the ordinary course of justice."
+
+At the close of this sitting, M. de Villèle assuredly had good reason to
+be satisfied with his position and himself. He had exhibited, at the
+same time, firmness and moderation; by confining himself within the
+ordinary resources of justice, by disclaiming prosecution to extremity,
+he had exhibited the arm of power restrained, but ready to strike if
+necessity should require; he had thus, to a certain extent, defied while
+he tranquillized the patrons of the conspirators, and had satisfied his
+own party without irritating their passions. On that day he combined the
+minister with the tactician of the Chamber.
+
+At the time of which we are speaking, M. de Villèle stood in the first
+and best phase of his power; he defended monarchy and order against
+conspiracy and insurrection; in the Chamber of Deputies he had to repel
+the furious attacks of the left-hand party, and in the Chamber of Peers
+the more temperate but vigilant illwill of the friends of the
+Duke de Richelieu. The danger and acrimony of the contest united his
+whole party around him. Before such a situation, the rivalries and
+intrigues of the Chamber and the Court hesitated to show themselves;
+unreasonable expectations were held in check; fidelity and discipline
+were evidently necessary; the associates of the chief could not desert,
+and dared not to assail him with their importunities.
+
+But during the course of the year 1822 the conspiracies were subdued,
+the perils of the monarchy dissipated, the parliamentary combats,
+although always bitter, had ceased to be questions of life and death,
+and the preponderance of the right-hand party appeared to be firmly
+established in the country as in the Chambers. Other difficulties and
+dangers then began to rise up round M. de Villèle. He had no longer
+menacing enemies to hold his friends in check; disagreements, demands,
+enmities, and intrigues beset him on every side. The first attacks
+sprang from questions of internal policy, and originated in the bosom of
+his own Cabinet.
+
+I have no desire to pronounce severe judgment on the revolutions which
+agitated Southern Europe from 1820 to 1822. It is hard to say to nations
+badly governed, that they are neither wise nor strong enough to remedy
+their own evils. Above all, in our days, when the desire for good
+government is intense, and none believe themselves too weak to
+accomplish what they wish, unrestrained truth on this subject offends
+many sincere friends of justice and humanity. Experience, however, has
+supplied numerous inferences. Of the three revolutions which occurred in
+1820, those of Naples and Turin evaporated in a few months, without any
+blow being struck, before the sole appearance of the Austrian troops.
+The Spanish revolution alone survived, neither abandoned nor
+established, pursuing its course by violent but uncertain steps,
+incapable of founding a regular government and of suppressing the
+resistance with which it was opposed, but still strong enough to keep
+alive anarchy and civil war. Spain, under the influence of such
+commotions, was a troublesome neighbour to France, and might become
+dangerous. The conspirators, defeated at home, found shelter there, and
+began to weave new plots from that place of refuge. In their turn, the
+Spanish counter-revolutionists found an asylum in France, and prepared
+arms on both sides of the Pyrenees. A sanatory line of troops, stationed
+on our frontier to preserve France from the contagion of the
+yellow-fever which had broken out in Catalonia, soon grew into an army
+of observation. The hostile feeling of Europe, much more decided and
+systematic, co-operated with the mistrust of France. Prince Metternich
+dreaded a new fit of Spanish revolutionary contagion in Italy; the
+Emperor Alexander imagined himself called upon to maintain the security
+of all thrones and the peace of the world; England, without caring much
+for the success of the Spanish revolution, was extremely anxious that
+Spain should continue entirely independent, and that French influence
+should not prevail in the Peninsula. The French Government had to deal
+with a question not only delicate and weighty in itself, but abounding
+with still more important complications, and which might lead to a
+rupture with some, if not with the whole of her allies.
+
+M. de Villèle on succeeding to office, had no very defined ideas as to
+foreign affairs, or any decidedly arranged plans beyond an unbiassed
+mind and sensible predilections. During his short association with the
+Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu, he had closely observed the policy
+adopted towards Spain and Italy,--a peaceful policy of non-intervention,
+and of sound advice to kings and liberals, to liberals as to kings, but
+of little efficacy in act, and tending, above all other considerations,
+to keep France beyond the vortex of revolutions and counter-revolutions,
+and to prevent a European conflagration. In the main, M. de Villèle
+approved of this policy, and would have desired nothing better than to
+continue it. He was more occupied with internal government than external
+relations, and more anxious for public prosperity than diplomatic
+influence; but, in the accomplishment of his views, he had to contend
+against the prepossessions of his party, and in this struggle his two
+principal associates, M. de Montmorency, as Minister for Foreign
+Affairs, and M. de Châteaubriand, as ambassador at London, contributed
+more embarrassment than assistance.
+
+On the formation of the Cabinet, he proposed to the King to give
+M. de Montmorency the portfolio of foreign affairs. "Take care," replied
+Louis XVIII. "He has a very little mind, somewhat prejudiced and
+obstinate; he will betray you, against his will, through weakness. When
+present, he will say he agrees with you, and may perhaps think so at the
+time; when he leaves you, he will suffer himself to be led by his own
+bias, contrary to your views, and, instead of being aided, you will be
+thwarted and compromised." M. de Villèle persevered; he believed that,
+with the right-hand party, the name and influence of M. de Montmorency
+were of importance. Not long after, he had an opportunity of satisfying
+himself that the King had judged correctly. M. de Serre having refused
+to hold office in the new Cabinet, M. de Villèle, to remove him with the
+semblance of a compliment, requested the King to appoint him ambassador
+at Naples. M. de Montmorency, who wanted this post for his cousin the
+Duke de Laval, went so far as to say that he should resign if it were
+refused to him. The King and M. de Villèle kept their resolution;
+M. de Serre went to Naples, and M. de Montmorency remained in the
+Ministry, but not without discontent at the preponderance of a colleague
+who had treated him with so little complaisance.
+
+M. de Châteaubriand, by accepting the embassy to London, relieved
+M. de Villèle from many little daily annoyances; but he was not long
+satisfied with his new post. He wished to reign in a coterie, and to
+receive adulation without constraint. He produced less effect in English
+society than he had anticipated; he wanted more success and of a more
+varied character; he was looked upon as a distinguished writer, rather
+than as a great politician; they considered him more opinionated than
+profound, and too much occupied with himself. He excited curiosity, but
+not the admiration he coveted; he was not always the leading object of
+attention, and enjoyed less freedom, while he called forth little of the
+enthusiastic idolatry to which he had been accustomed elsewhere. London,
+the English court and drawing-rooms, wearied and displeased him; he has
+perpetuated the impression in his Memoirs:--"Every kind of reputation,"
+he says, "travels rapidly to the banks of the Thames, and leaves them
+again with the same speed. I should have worried myself to no purpose by
+endeavouring to acquire any knowledge of the English. What a life is a
+London season! I should prefer the galleys a hundred times."
+
+An opportunity soon presented itself, which enabled him to seek in
+another direction more worldly excitement and popularity. Revolution and
+civil war went on increasing in Spain from day to day; tumults, murders,
+sanguinary combats between the people and the royal guards, the troops
+of the line and the militia, multiplied in the streets of Madrid. The
+life of Ferdinand VII. appeared to be in question, and his liberty was
+actually invaded.
+
+M. de Metternich, whose importance and influence in Europe had greatly
+increased ever since he had so correctly foreseen the weakness, and so
+rapidly stifled the explosion, of the Italian revolutions, applied his
+entire attention to the affairs of the Spanish Peninsula, and urged the
+sovereigns and their ministers to deliberate on them in common accord.
+As soon as it was settled that a Congress should assemble with this
+object, at Verona, M. de Châteaubriand made powerful applications,
+directly and indirectly, to M. de Montmorency and M. de Villèle, to be
+included in the mission. M. de Montmorency had no idea of acceding to
+this, fearing to be opposed or eclipsed by such a colleague. The King,
+Louis XVIII., who had no confidence either in the capacity of
+M. de Montmorency or the judgment of M. de Châteaubriand, was desirous
+that M. de Villèle himself should repair to Verona, to maintain the
+prudent policy which circumstances required. M. de Villèle objected. It
+would be, he said to the King, too decided an affront to his minister of
+foreign affairs and his ambassador in London, who were naturally called
+to this duty; it would be better to send them both, that one might
+control the other, and to give them specific instructions which should
+regulate their attitude and language. The King adopted this advice. The
+instructions, drawn up by M. de Villèle's own hand, were discussed and
+settled in a solemn meeting of the Cabinet; M. de Châteaubriand knew to
+a certainty that he owed the accomplishment of his desires to
+M. de Villèle alone; and eight days after the departure of
+M. de Montmorency, the King, to secure the preponderance of
+M. de Villèle, by a signal mark of favour, appointed him President of
+the Council.
+
+The instructions were strictly defined; they prescribed to the French
+plenipotentiaries to abstain from appearing, when before the Congress,
+as reporters of the affairs of Spain, to take no initiative and enter
+into engagement as regarded intervention, and, in every case, to
+preserve the total independence of France, either as to act or future
+resolve. But the inclinations of M. de Montmorency accorded ill with his
+orders; and he had to treat with sovereigns and ministers who wished
+precisely to repress the Spanish revolution by the hand of France,--in
+the first place, to accomplish this work without taking it upon
+themselves, and also to compromise France with England, who was
+evidently much averse to French interference. The Prince de Metternich,
+versed in the art of suggesting to others his own views, and of urging
+with the air of co-operation, easily obtained influence over
+M. de Montmorency, and induced him to take with the other Powers the
+precise initiative, and to enter into the very engagements, he had been
+instructed to avoid. M. de Châteaubriand, who filled only a secondary
+post in the official negotiation, kept at first a little on the
+reserve: "I do not much like the general position in which he has
+placed himself here," wrote M. de Montmorency to Madame Recamier;[17]
+"he is looked upon as singularly sullen; he assumes a stiff and uncouth
+manner, which makes others feel ill at ease in his presence. I shall use
+every effort, before I go, to establish a more congenial intercourse
+between him and his colleagues." M. de Montmorency had no occasion to
+trouble himself much to secure this result. As soon as he had taken his
+departure, M. de Châteaubriand assumed a courteous and active demeanour
+at the Congress. The Emperor Alexander, alive to the reputation of the
+author of the 'Genius of Christianity,' and to his homage to the founder
+of the 'Holy Alliance,' returned him compliment for compliment, flattery
+for flattery, and confirmed him in his desire of war with the Spanish
+revolution, by giving him reason to rely, for that course of policy and
+for himself, upon his unlimited support. Nevertheless, in his
+correspondence with M. de Villèle, M. de Châteaubriand still expressed
+himself very guardedly: "We left," said he, "our determination in doubt;
+we did not wish to appear impracticable; we were apprehensive that, if
+we discovered ourselves too much, the President of the Council would not
+listen to us."
+
+I presume that M. de Villèle fell into no mistake as to the pretended
+doubt in which M. de Châteaubriand endeavoured to envelop himself. I
+also incline to think that he himself, at that epoch, looked upon a war
+with Spain as almost inevitable. But he was still anxious to do all in
+his power to avoid it, if only to preserve with the moderate spirits,
+and the interests who dreaded that alternative, the attitude and
+reputation of an advocate for peace. Sensible men are unwilling to
+answer for the faults they consent to commit. As soon as he ascertained
+that M. de Montmorency had promised at Verona that his Government would
+take such steps at Madrid, in concert with the three Northern Powers, as
+would infallibly lead to war, M. de Villèle submitted to the King in
+council these premature engagements, declaring at the same time that,
+for his part, he did not feel that France was bound to adopt the same
+line of conduct with Austria, Prussia, and Russia, or to recall at once,
+as they wished to do, her Minister at Madrid, and thus to give up all
+renewed attempts at conciliation. It was said that, while using this
+language, he had his resignation already prepared and visible in his
+portfolio. Powerful supporters were not wanting to this policy. The Duke
+of Wellington, recently arrived in Paris, had held a conversation with
+M. de Villèle, and also with the King, on the dangers of an armed
+intervention in Spain, and proposed a plan of mediation, to be concerted
+between France and England, to induce the Spaniards to introduce into
+their constitution the modifications which the French Cabinet itself
+should indicate as sufficient to maintain peace. Louis XVIII. placed
+confidence in the judgment and friendly feeling of the Duke of
+Wellington; he closed the debate in the Council by saying, "Louis XIV.
+levelled the Pyrenees; I shall not allow them to be raised again. He
+placed my family on the throne of Spain; I cannot let them fall. The
+other sovereigns have not the same duties to fulfil. My ambassador
+ought not to quit Madrid, until the day when a hundred thousand
+Frenchmen are in march to replace him." The question thus decided
+against the promises he had made at Verona, M. de Montmorency, on whom a
+few days before, and at the suggestion of M. de Villèle, the King had
+conferred the title of Duke, suddenly tendered his resignation. The
+'Moniteur,' in announcing it, published a despatch which M. de Villèle,
+while holding _ad interim_ the portfolio of foreign affairs, addressed
+to Count de Lagarde, the King's minister at Madrid, prescribing to him
+an attitude and language which still admitted some chance of
+conciliation; and three days later M. de Châteaubriand, after some
+display of appropriate hesitation, replaced M. de Montmorency as Foreign
+Minister.
+
+Three weeks had scarcely passed over, when the Spanish Government,
+controlled by a sentiment of national dignity more magnanimous than
+enlightened, by popular enthusiasm, and by its own passions, refused all
+constitutional modification whatever. The ambassadors of the three
+Northern Powers had already quitted Madrid. The Count de Lagarde
+remained there. On the refusal of the Spaniards, M. de Châteaubriand
+recalled him, on the 18th of January, 1823, instructing him at the same
+time, in a confidential despatch, to suggest the possibility of amicable
+measures; and of this he also apprised the English Cabinet. These last
+overtures proved as futile as the preceding ones. At Madrid they had no
+confidence in the French Ministry; and the Government of London placed
+too little dependence either on the power or discretion of that of
+Madrid, to commit itself seriously by engaging the latter, through the
+weight of English influence, to submit to the concessions, otherwise
+reasonable, which France required. Affairs had reached the point at
+which the ablest politicians, without faith in the efficacy of their own
+views, were unwilling to adopt decided measures.
+
+On the 28th of January, 1823, M. de Villèle determined on war, and the
+King announced this decision in his speech on opening the session of
+both Chambers. Nevertheless eight days later, M. de Châteaubriand
+declared to Sir Charles Stuart, the English ambassador at Paris, that,
+far from dreaming of establishing absolute power in Spain, France was
+still ready to entertain the constitutional modifications she had
+proposed to the Spanish Government, "as sufficient to induce her to
+suspend hostile preparations, and to renew friendly intercourse between
+the two countries on the old footing." At the very moment of engaging in
+war, M. de Châteaubriand, who desired, and M. de Villèle, who was averse
+to, these extreme measures, equally endeavoured to escape from the
+responsibility attached to them.
+
+I have nothing to say on the war itself and the course of its incidents.
+In principle it was unjust, for it was unnecessary. The Spanish
+revolution, in spite of its excesses, portended no danger to France or
+the Restoration. The differences to which it gave rise between the two
+Governments might have been easily arranged without violating peace. The
+revolution of Paris, in February, 1848, produced much more serious and
+better-founded alarms to Europe in general, than the Spanish revolution
+in 1823 could have occasioned to France. Nevertheless Europe, with
+sound policy, respected towards France the tutelary principle of the
+internal independence of nations, which can never be justly invaded
+except under an absolute and most urgent necessity. Neither do I think
+that in 1823 the throne and life of Ferdinand VII. were actually in
+danger. All that has since occurred in Spain justifies the conclusion,
+that regicide has no accomplices there, and revolution very few
+partisans. The great and legitimate reasons for war were therefore
+wanting. In fact, and notwithstanding its success, it led to no
+profitable result either for Spain or France. It surrendered up Spain to
+the incapable and incurable tyranny of Ferdinand VII., without putting
+an end to revolutions; and substituted the barbarities of popular
+absolutism for popular anarchy. Instead of securing the influence of
+France beyond the Pyrenees, it compromised and annulled it to such an
+extent that, towards the close of 1823, it was found necessary to have
+recourse to the mediation of Russia, and to send M. Pozzo di Borgo to
+Madrid to compel Ferdinand VII. to select more moderate advisers. The
+Northern Powers and England alone retained any credit in Spain,--the
+first with the King and the Absolutists, the latter with the Liberals;
+victorious France was there politically vanquished. In the eyes of
+clear-sighted judges, the advantageous and permanent effects of the war
+were of no more value than the causes.
+
+As an expedient of restless policy, as a mere _coup-de-main_ of dynasty
+or party, the Spanish war fully succeeded. The sinister predictions of
+its opponents were falsified, and the hopes of its advocates surpassed.
+Brought under proof together, the fidelity of the army and the impotence
+of the conspiring refugees were clearly manifested. The expedition was
+easy but not inglorious, and added much to the personal credit of the
+Duke d'Angoulême. The prosperity and tranquillity of France received no
+check. The House of Bourbon exhibited a strength and resolution which
+the Powers who urged it on scarcely expected; and England, who would
+have restrained the effort, submitted to it patiently, although with
+some dissatisfaction. Regarding matters in this light only,
+M. de Châteaubriand was correct in writing to M. de Villèle from Verona,
+"It is for you, my dear friend, to consider whether you ought not to
+seize this opportunity, which may never occur again, of replacing France
+in the rank of military powers, and of re-establishing the white
+cockade, in a short war almost without danger, and in favour of which
+the opinion of the Royalists and of the army so strongly impels you at
+this moment." M. de Villèle was mistaken in his answer: "May God grant,"
+said he, "for my country and for Europe, that we may not persist in an
+intervention which I declare beforehand, with the fullest conviction,
+will compromise the safety of France herself."
+
+After such an event, in which they had taken such unequal shares, the
+relative positions of these two statesmen became sensibly changed; but
+the alteration did not yet appear for some time. M. de Châteaubriand
+endeavoured to triumph with modesty, and M. de Villèle, not very
+sensitive to the wounds of personal vanity, treated the issue of the war
+as a general success of the Cabinet, and prepared to turn it to his own
+advantage, without considering to whom the principal honour might be
+due. Accustomed to power, he exercised it without noise or parade, and
+was careful not to clash with his adversaries or rivals, who thus felt
+themselves led to admit his preponderance as a necessity, rather than
+humiliated to endure it as a defeat. The dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies became his fixed idea and immediate object. The liberal
+Opposition was too strong there to allow him to hope that he could carry
+the great measures necessary to satisfy his party. The Spanish war had
+led to debates, continually increasing in animosity, which in time
+produced violence in the stronger, and anger in the weaker party, beyond
+all previous example. After the expulsion of M. Manuel on the 3rd of
+March, 1823, and the conduct of the principal portion of the left-hand
+party, who left the hall with him when he was removed by the gendarmes,
+it was almost impossible to expect that the Chamber could resume its
+regular place or share in the government. On the 24th of December, 1823,
+it was in fact dissolved, and M. de Villèle, putting aside the
+differences of opinion on the Spanish war, applied his whole attention
+to ensure the success of the elections and the formation of a new
+Chamber, from which he could demand with confidence what the right-hand
+party expected from him, and which, according to his expectation, should
+secure a long duration of his influence both with that party and with
+the Court.
+
+M. de Châteaubriand had no such objects to contemplate or effect.
+Unacquainted with the internal government of the country, and the daily
+management of the Chambers, he enjoyed the success of _his_ Spanish
+war, as he called it, with tranquil pride,--ready, on provocation, to
+become active and bitter. He wanted exactly the qualities which
+distinguished M. de Villèle, and he possessed those, or rather the
+instinct and inclination of those, in which M. de Villèle was deficient.
+Entering late on public life, and until then unknown, with a mind but
+slightly cultivated, and little distracted from business by the force or
+variety of his imaginative ideas, M. de Villèle had ever one leading
+object,--to reach power by faithfully serving his party; and, power once
+obtained, to hold it firmly, while exercising it with discretion.
+
+Launched on the world almost from infancy, M. de Châteaubriand had
+traversed the whole range of ideas, attempted every career, aspired to
+every renown, exhausted some, and approached others; nothing satisfied
+him. "My capital defect," said he himself, "has been _ennui_, disgust
+with everything, perpetual doubt." A strange temperament in a man
+devoted to the restoration of religion and monarchy! Thus the life of
+M. de Châteaubriand had been a constant and a perpetual combat between
+his enterprises and his inclinations, his situation and his nature. He
+was ambitious, as the leader of a party, and independent, as a volunteer
+of the forlorn hope; captivated by everything great, and sensitive even
+to suffering in the most trifling matters, careless beyond measure of
+the common interests of life, but passionately absorbed, on the stage of
+the world, in his own person and reputation, and more annoyed by the
+slightest check than gratified by the most brilliant triumph; in public
+life, more jealous of success than power, capable in a particular
+emergency, as he had just proved, of conceiving and carrying out a great
+design, but unable to pursue in government, with energy and patience, a
+well-cemented and strongly-organized line of policy. He possessed a
+sympathetic understanding of the moral impressions of his age and
+country; more able however, and more inclined, to win their favour by
+compliance than to direct them to important and lasting advantages; a
+noble and expanded mind, which, whether in literature or politics,
+touched all the exalted chords of the human soul, but more calculated to
+strike and charm the imagination than to govern men; greedy, to an
+excess, of praise and fame, to satisfy his pride, and of emotion and
+novelty, as resources from constitutional weariness.
+
+At the very moment when he was achieving a triumph in Spain for the
+House of Bourbon, he received disappointments from the latter quarter,
+the remembrance of which he has thought proper to perpetuate
+himself:--"In our ardour," said he, "after the arrival of the
+telegraphic despatch which announced the deliverance of the King of
+Spain, we Ministers hastened to the palace. There I received a warning
+of my fall,--a pailful of cold water which recalled me to my usual
+humility. The King and _Monsieur_ took no notice of us. The Duchess
+d'Angoulême, bewildered with the glory of her husband, distinguished no
+one.... On the Sunday following, before the Council met, I returned to
+pay my duty to the royal family. The august Princess said something
+complimentary to each of my colleagues; to me she did not deign to
+address a single word: undoubtedly I had no claim to such an honour. The
+silence of the Orphan of the Temple can never be considered
+ungrateful." A more liberal sovereign undertook to console
+M. de Châteaubriand for this royal ingratitude; the Emperor Alexander,
+with whom he had continued in intimate correspondence, being anxious to
+signalize his satisfaction, conferred on him and M. de Montmorency, and
+on them alone, the great riband of the Order of St. Andrew.
+
+M. de Villèle was not insensible to this public token of imperial favour
+bestowed on himself and his policy; and the King, Louis XVIII., showed
+that he was even more moved by it. "Pozzo and La Ferronays," said he to
+M. de Villèle, "have made me give you, through the Emperor Alexander, a
+slap on the cheek; but I shall be even with him, and mean to pay for it
+in coin of a better stamp. I name you, my dear Villèle, a knight of my
+Orders; they are worth more than his." And M. de Villèle received from
+the King the Order of St. Esprit. It was in vain that a little later,
+and on the mutual request of the two rivals, the Emperor Alexander
+conferred on M. de Villèle the Grand Cross of St. Andrew, and the King,
+Louis XVIII., gave the Saint Esprit to M. de Châteaubriand; favours thus
+extorted cannot efface the original disappointments.
+
+To these courtly slights were soon added causes of rupture more serious.
+The dissolution of the Chamber had succeeded far beyond the expectations
+of the Cabinet. The elections had not returned from the left, or the
+left centre, more than seventeen oppositionists. Much more exclusively
+than that of 1815, the new Chamber belonged to the right-hand party; the
+day had now arrived to give them the satisfaction they had long looked
+for. The Cabinet immediately brought in two bills, which appeared to be
+evident preparatives and effectual pledges for the measures most
+ardently desired. By one, the integral remodelling of the Chamber of
+Deputies every seven years was substituted for the partial and annual
+reconstruction as at present in force. This was bestowing on the new
+Chamber a guarantee of power as of durability. The second bill proposed
+the conversion of the five per cent. annuities into three per cents;
+that is to say, a reimbursement, to the holders of stock, of their
+capital at par, or the reduction of interest. To this great financial
+scheme was joined a political measure of equal importance,--indemnity to
+the Emigrants, with preparations for carrying it into effect. The two
+bills had been discussed and approved in council. On the question of the
+septennial renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, M. de Châteaubriand
+proposed the reduction of age necessary for electors; he failed in this
+object, but still supported the bill. With respect to the conversion
+of the funds, the friends of M. de Villèle asserted that
+M. de Châteaubriand warmly expressed his approbation of the measure, and
+was even anxious that, by a previous arrangement with the bankers,
+M. de Villèle should secure the means of carrying it, as a preface to
+that which was intended to heal the most festering wound of the
+Revolution.
+
+But the debate in the Chambers soon destroyed the precarious harmony of
+the Cabinet. The conversion of the funds was vigorously opposed, not
+only by the numerous interests thereby injured, but by the unsatisfied
+feeling of the public on a new measure extremely complicated and
+ill understood. In both Chambers, the greater portion of
+M. de Châteaubriand's friends spoke against the bill; it was said that
+he was even hostile to it himself. Some observations were attributed to
+him on the imprudence of a measure which no one desired, no public
+necessity called for, and was merely an invention of the bankers,
+adopted by a Minister of Finance, who hoped to extract reputation from
+what might lead to his ruin. "I have often seen," he was accused of
+saying, "people break their heads against a wall; but I have never,
+until now, seen people build a wall for the express purpose of running
+their heads against it." M. de Villèle listened to these reports, and
+expressed his surprise at them; his supporters inquired into the cause.
+Hints were uttered of jealousy, of ambition, of intrigues to depose the
+President of the Council, and to occupy his place. When the bill had
+passed the Chamber of Deputies, the debate in the Chamber of Peers, and
+the part that M. de Châteaubriand would take in it, were looked forward
+to with considerable misgivings. He maintained profound silence, not
+affording the slightest support; and when the bill was thrown out,
+approaching M. de Villèle, he said to him, "If you resign, we are ready
+to follow you." He adds, while relating this proposal himself,
+"M. de Villèle, for sole answer, honoured us with a look which we still
+have before us. This look, however, made no impression."
+
+It is well known how M. de Châteaubriand was dismissed two days after
+the sitting. From whence proceeded the rudeness of this dismissal? It is
+difficult to decide. M. de Châteaubriand attributed it to M. de Villèle
+alone. "On Whit Sunday, the 6th of June, 1824," says he, "at half-past
+ten in the morning I repaired to the palace. My principal object was to
+pay my respects to _Monsieur_. The first saloon of the Pavillon Marsan
+was nearly empty; a few persons entered in succession, and seemed
+embarrassed. An aide-de-camp of _Monsieur_ said to me, 'Viscount, I
+scarcely hoped to see you here; have you received no communication?' I
+answered, 'No; what am I likely to receive?' He replied, 'I fear you
+will soon learn.' Upon this, as no one offered to introduce me to
+_Monsieur_, I went to hear the music in the chapel. I was quite absorbed
+in the beautiful anthems of the service, when an usher told me some one
+wished to speak with me. It was Hyacinth Pilorge, my secretary. He
+handed to me a letter and a royal ordinance, saying at the same time,
+'Sir, you are no longer a minister.' The Duke de Rauzan, Superintendent
+of Political Affairs, had opened the packet in my absence, and had not
+ventured to bring it to me. I found within, this note from
+M. de Villèle; 'Monsieur le Vicomte,--I obey the orders of the King, in
+transmitting without delay to your Excellency a decree which his Majesty
+has just placed in my hand:--The Count de Villèle, President of our
+Ministerial Council, is charged, _ad interim_, with the portfolio of
+Foreign Affairs, in place of the Viscount de Châteaubriand.'"
+
+The friends of M. de Villèle assert that it was the King himself, who in
+his anger dictated the rude form of the communication. "Two days after
+the vote," say they, "as soon as M. de Villèle entered the royal
+cabinet, Louis XVIII. said to him: 'Châteaubriand has betrayed us like
+a----; I do not wish to receive him after Mass; draw up the order for
+his dismissal, and let it be sent to him in time; I will not see him.'
+All remonstrances were useless; the King insisted that the
+decree should be written at his own desk and immediately forwarded.
+M. de Châteaubriand was not found at home, and his dismissal was only
+communicated to him at the Tuileries, in the apartments of _Monsieur_."
+
+Whoever may have been the author of the measure, the blame rests with
+M. de Villèle. If it was contrary to his desire, assuredly he had credit
+enough with the King to prevent it. Contrary to his usual habit, he
+exhibited more temper on this occasion than coolness or foresight. There
+are allies who are necessary, although extremely troublesome; and
+M. de Châteaubriand, despite his pretensions and his whims, was less
+dangerous as a rival than as an enemy.
+
+Although without connection in the Chambers, and with no control as an
+orator, he immediately became a brilliant and influential leader of the
+Opposition, for opposition was his natural bent as well as the
+excitement of the moment. He excelled in unravelling the instincts of
+national discontent, and of continually exciting them against authority
+by supplying them with powerful motives, real or specious, and always
+introduced with effect. He also possessed the art of depreciating and
+casting odium on his adversaries, by keen and polished insults
+constantly repeated, and at the same time of bringing over to his side
+old opponents, destined soon to resume their former character, but for
+the moment attracted and overpowered by the pleasure and profit of the
+heavy blows he administered to their common enemy. Through the favour
+of the MM. Bertin, he found on the instant, in the 'Journal des Débats,'
+an important avenue for his daily attacks. As enlightened and
+influential in politics as in literature, these two brothers possessed
+the rare faculty of collecting round themselves by generous and
+sympathetic patronage, a chosen cohort of clever writers, and of
+supporting their opinions and those of their friends with manly
+intelligence. M. Bertin de Veaux, the more decided politician of the
+two, held M. de Villèle in high esteem, and lived in familiar intimacy
+with him. "Villèle," said he to me one day, "is really born for public
+business; he has all the necessary disinterestedness and capacity; he
+cares not to shine, he wishes only to govern; he would be a Minister of
+Finance in the cellar of his hotel, as willingly as in the drawing-rooms
+of the first story." It was no trifling matter which could induce the
+eminent journalist to break with the able minister. He sought an
+interview with M. de Villèle, and requested him, for the preservation of
+peace, to bestow on M. de Châteaubriand the embassy to Rome. "I shall
+not risk such a proposition to the King," replied M. de Villèle. "In
+that case," retorted M. Bertin, "you will remember that the 'Débats'
+overthrew the ministries of Decazes and Richelieu, and will do the same
+by the ministry of Villèle."--"You turned out the two first to establish
+royalism," said M. de Villèle; "to destroy mine you must have a
+revolution."
+
+There was nothing in this prospect to inspire M. de Villèle with
+confidence, as the event proved; but thirteen years later,
+M. Bertin de Veaux remembered the caution. When, in 1837, under
+circumstances of which I shall speak in their proper place, I separated
+from M. Molé, he said to me with frankness, "I have certainly quite as
+much friendship for you as I ever had for M. de Châteaubriand, but I
+decline following you into Opposition. I shall not again try to sap the
+Government I wish to establish. One experiment of that nature is
+enough."
+
+At Court, as in the Chamber, M. de Villèle was triumphant; he had not
+only conquered, but he had driven away his rivals, M. de Montmorency and
+M. de Châteaubriand, as he had got rid of M. de La Fayette and
+M. Manuel. Amongst the men whose voices, opinions, or even presence
+might have fettered him, death had already stepped in, and was again
+coming to his aid. M. Camille Jordan, the Duke de Richelieu, and
+M. de Serre were dead; General Foy and the Emperor Alexander were not
+long in following them. There are moments when death seems to delight,
+like Tarquin, in cutting down the tallest flowers. M. de Villèle
+remained sole master. At this precise moment commenced the heavy
+difficulties of his position, the weak points of his conduct, and his
+first steps towards decline.
+
+In place of having to defend himself against a powerful opposition of
+the Left, which was equally to be feared and resisted by the Right and
+the Cabinet, he found himself confronted by an Opposition emanating from
+the right itself, and headed, in the Chamber of Deputies, by
+M. de la Bourdonnaye, his companion during the session of 1815; in the
+Chamber of Peers and without, by M. de Châteaubriand, so recently his
+colleague in the Council. As long as he had M. de Châteaubriand for an
+ally, M. de Villèle had only encountered as adversaries, in the interior
+of his party, the ultra-royalists of the extreme right,
+M. de la Bourdonnaye, M. Delalot, and a few others, whom the old
+counter-revolutionary spirit, intractable passions, ambitious
+discontent, or habits of grumbling independence kept in a perpetual
+state of irritation against a power, moderate without ascendency, and
+clever without greatness. But when M. de Châteaubriand and the 'Journal
+des Débats' threw themselves into the combat, there was then seen to
+muster round them an army of anti-ministerialists of every origin and
+character, composed of royalists and liberals, of old and young France,
+of the popular and the aristocratic throng. The weak remains of the
+left-hand party, beaten in the recent elections, the seventeen old
+members of the Opposition, liberals or doctrinarians, drew breath when
+they looked on such allies; and, without confounding their ranks, while
+each party retained its own standard and arms, they combined for mutual
+support, and united their forces against M. de Villèle.
+M. de Châteaubriand has gratified himself by inserting in his Memoirs
+the testimonies of admiration and sympathy proffered to him at that time
+by M. Benjamin Constant, General Sebastiani, M. Étienne, and other heads
+of the liberal section. In the Parliamentary struggle, the left-hand
+party could only add to the opposers of the right a very small number of
+votes; but they brought eminent talents, the support of their journals,
+their influence throughout the country; and, in a headlong, confused
+attack,--some under cover of the mantle of Royalism, others shielded by
+the popularity of their allies,--they waged fierce war against the
+common enemy.
+
+In presence of such an Opposition, M. de Villèle fell into a more
+formidable danger than that of the sharp contests he had to encounter to
+hold ground against it: he was given over without protection or refuge
+to the influence and views of his own friends. He could no longer awe
+them by the power of the left-hand party, nor find occasionally in the
+unsettled position of the Chamber a bulwark against their demands. There
+had ceased to be a formidable balance of oppositionists or waverers; the
+majority, and a great majority, was ministerial and determined to
+support the Cabinet; but it had no real apprehension of the
+adversaries by whom it was attacked. It preferred M. de Villèle to
+M. de la Bourdonnaye and M. de Châteaubriand, believing him more capable
+of managing with advantage the interests of the party; but if
+M. de Villèle went counter to the wishes of that majority, if it ceased
+to hold a perfect understanding with him, it could then fall back on
+MM. de Châteaubriand and de la Bourdonnaye. M. de Villèle had no
+resource against the majority; he was a minister at the mercy of his
+partisans.
+
+Amongst these were some of opposite pretensions, and who lent him their
+support on very unequal conditions. If he had only had to deal with
+those I shall designate as the politicals and laymen of the party, he
+might have been able to satisfy and govern in concert with them.
+Notwithstanding their prejudices, the greater part of the
+country-gentlemen and royalist citizens were neither over-zealous nor
+exacting; they had fallen in with the manners of new France, and had
+either found or recovered their natural position in present society,
+reconciling themselves to constitutional government, since they were no
+longer considered as the vanquished side. The indemnity to the
+emigrants, some pledges of local influence, and the distribution of
+public functions, would have long sufficed to secure their support to
+M. de Villèle; but another portion of his army, numerous, important, and
+necessary, the religious department, was much more difficult to satisfy
+and control.
+
+I am not disposed to revive any of the particular expressions which were
+then used as weapons of war, and have now become almost insulting. I
+shall neither speak of the _priestly_, nor of the _congregational
+party_, nor even of the _Jesuits_. I should reproach myself for reviving
+by such language and reminiscences the evil, heavy in itself, which
+France and the Restoration were condemned at that time, the one to fear,
+and the other to endure.
+
+This evil, which glimmered through the first Restoration, through the
+session of 1815, and still exists, in spite of so many storms and such
+increasing intelligence, is, in fact a war declared by a considerable
+portion of the Catholic Church of France, against existing French
+society, its principles, its organization, political and civil, its
+origin and its tendencies. It was during the ministry of M. de Villèle,
+and above all when he found himself alone and confronted with his party,
+that the mischief displayed its full force.
+
+Never was a similar war more irrational or inopportune. It checked the
+reaction, which had commenced under the Consulate, in favour of creeds
+and the sentiment of religion. I have no desire to exaggerate the value
+of that reaction; I hold faith and true piety in too much respect to
+confound them with the superficial vicissitudes of human thought and
+opinion. Nevertheless the movement which led France back towards
+Christianity was more sincere and serious than it actually appeared to
+be. It was at once a public necessity and an intellectual taste.
+Society, worn out with commotion and change, sought for fixed points on
+which it could rely and repose; men, disgusted with a terrestrial and
+material atmosphere, aspired to ascend once more towards higher and
+purer horizons; the inclinations of morality concurred with the
+instincts of social interest. Left to its natural course, and supported
+by the purely religious influence of a clergy entirely devoted to the
+re-establishment of faith and Christian life, this movement was likely
+to extend and to restore to religion its legitimate empire.
+
+But instead of confining itself to this sphere of action, many members
+and blind partisans of the Catholic clergy descended to worldly
+questions, and showed themselves more zealous to recast French society
+in its old mould, and so to restore their church to its former place
+there, than to reform and purify the moral condition of souls. Here was
+a profound mistake. The Christian Church is not like the pagan Antæus,
+who renews his strength by touching the earth; it is on the contrary, by
+detaching itself from the world, and re-ascending towards heaven, that
+the Church in its hours of peril regains its vigour. When we saw it
+depart from its appropriate and sublime mission, to demand penal laws
+and to preside over the distribution of offices; when we beheld its
+desires and efforts prominently directed against the principles and
+institutions which constitute today the essence of French society; when
+liberty of conscience, publicity, the legal separation of civil and
+religious life, the laical character of the State, appeared to be
+attacked and compromised,--on that instant the rising tide of religious
+reaction stopped, and yielded way to a contrary current. In place of the
+movement which thinned the ranks of the unbelievers to the advantage of
+the faithful, we saw the two parties unite together; the eighteenth
+century appeared once more in arms; Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and
+their worst disciples once more spread themselves abroad and recruited
+innumerable battalions. War was declared against society in the name of
+the Church, and society returned war for war:--a deplorable chaos, in
+which good and evil, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice, were
+confounded together, and blows hurled at random on every side.
+
+I know not whether M. de Villèle thoroughly estimated, in his own
+thoughts, the full importance of this situation of affairs, and the
+dangers to which he exposed religion and the Restoration. His was not a
+mind either accustomed or disposed to ponder long over general facts and
+moral questions, or to sound them deeply. But he thoroughly
+comprehended, and felt acutely, the embarrassment which might accrue
+from these causes to his own power; and he tried to diminish them by
+yielding to clerical influence in the government, imposing though
+limited sacrifices, flattering himself that by these means he should
+acquire allies in the Church itself, who would aid him to restrain the
+overweening and imprudent pretensions of their own friends. Already, and
+shortly after his accession to the ministry, he had appointed an
+ecclesiastic in good estimation, and whom the Pope had named Bishop of
+Hermopolis, the Abbé Frayssinous, to the head-mastership of the
+University. Two months after the fall of M. de Châteaubriand, the Abbé
+Frayssinous entered the Cabinet as Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs
+and Public Instruction--a new department created expressly for him. He
+was a man of sense and moderation, who had acquired, by Christian
+preaching without violence, and conduct in which prudence was blended
+with dignity, a reputation and importance somewhat superior to his
+actual merits, and which he had no desire to compromise. In 1816 he had
+been a member of the Royal Commission of Public Education, over which
+M. Royer-Collard at that time presided; but soon retired from it, not
+wishing either to share the responsibility of his superior or to act in
+opposition to him. He generally approved of the policy of M. de Villèle;
+but although binding himself to support it, and while lamenting the
+blind demands of a portion of the clergy, he endeavoured, when
+opportunity offered, to excuse and conceal rather than reject them
+altogether. Without betraying M. de Villèle, he afforded him little aid,
+and committed him repeatedly by his language in public, which invariably
+tended more to maintain his own position in the Church than to serve the
+Cabinet.
+
+Three months only had elapsed since M. de Villèle, separated from his
+most brilliant colleagues and an important portion of his old friends,
+had sustained the entire weight of government, when the King Louis
+XVIII. died. The event had long been foreseen, and M. de Villèle had
+skilfully prepared for it: he was as well established in the esteem and
+confidence of the new monarch as of the sovereign who had just passed
+from the Tuileries to St. Denis; Charles X., the Dauphin, and the
+Dauphiness, all three looked upon him as the ablest and most valuable of
+their devoted adherents. But M. de Villèle soon discovered that he had
+changed masters, and that little dependence could be placed on the mind
+or heart of a king, even though sincere, when the surface and the
+interior were not in unison. Men belong, much more than is generally
+supposed, or than they believe themselves, to their real convictions.
+Many comparisons, for the sake of contrast, have been drawn between
+Louis XVIII. and Charles X.; the distinction between them was even
+greater than has been stated. Louis XVIII. was a moderate of the old
+system, and a liberal-minded inheritor of the eighteenth century;
+Charles X. was a true emigrant and a submissive bigot. The wisdom of
+Louis XVIII. was egotistic and sceptical, but serious and sincere; when
+Charles X. acted like a sensible king, it was through propriety, from
+timid and short-sighted complaisance, from being carried away, or from
+the desire of pleasing,--not from conviction or natural choice. Through
+all the different Cabinets of his reign, whether under the
+Abbé de Montesquiou, M. de Talleyrand, the Duke de Richelieu,
+M. Decazes, and M. de Villèle, the government of Louis XVIII. was ever
+consistent with itself; without false calculation or premeditated
+deceit, Charles X. wavered from contradiction to contradiction, from
+inconsistency to inconsistency, until the day when, given up to his own
+will and belief, he committed the error which cost him his throne.
+
+During three years, from the accession of Charles X. to his own fall,
+M. de Villèle not only made no stand against the inconsiderate
+fickleness of the King, but even profited by it to strengthen himself
+against his various enemies. Too clear-sighted to hope that Charles X.
+would persevere in the voluntary course of premeditated and steady
+moderation which Louis XVIII. had followed, he undertook to make him at
+least pursue, when circumstances allowed, a line of policy sufficiently
+temperate and popular to save him from the appearance of being
+exclusively in the hands of the party to whom in fact his heart and
+faith were devoted. Skilful in varying his advice according to the
+necessities and chances of the moment, and aptly availing himself of the
+inclination of Charles X. for sudden measures, whether lenient or
+severe, M. de Villèle at one time abolished, and at another revived, the
+censorship of the journals, occasionally softened or aggravated the
+execution of the laws, always endeavouring, and frequently with success,
+to place in the mouth or in the name of the King, liberal demonstrations
+and effusions, by the side of words and tendencies which recalled the
+old system and the pretensions of absolute power. The same spirit
+governed him in the Chambers. His bills were so conceived and presented,
+as we may say, to the address of the different parties, that all
+influential opinions were conciliated to a certain extent. The
+indemnity to the emigrants satisfied the wishes and restored the
+position of the entire lay party of the right. The recognition of the
+Republic of Hayti pleased the Liberals. Judicious reforms in the
+national budget and an administration friendly to sound regulations and
+actual services, obtained for M. de Villèle the esteem of enlightened
+men and the general approbation of all public functionaries. The bill on
+the system of inheritance and the right of primogeniture afforded hope
+to those who were prepossessed with aristocratic regrets. The bill on
+sacrilege fostered the passions of the fanatics, and the views of their
+theorists. Parallel with the spirit of reaction which predominated in
+these legislative deliberations, as in the enactments of power, an
+intelligent effort was ever visible to contrive something to the
+advantage of the spirit of progress. While faithfully serving his
+friends, M. de Villèle sought for and availed himself of every
+opportunity that offered of making some compensation to his adversaries.
+
+It was not that the state of his mind was changed in principle, or that
+he had identified himself with the new and liberally-disposed society
+which he courted with so much solicitude. After all, M. de Villèle
+continued ever to be a follower of the old system, true to his party
+from feeling as well as on calculation. But his ideas on the subject of
+social and political organization were derived from tradition and habit,
+rather than from personal and well-meditated conviction. He preserved,
+without making them his sole rule of conduct, and laid them aside
+occasionally, without renunciation. A strong practical instinct, and
+the necessity of success, were his leading characteristics; he had the
+peculiar tact of knowing what would succeed and what would not, and
+paused in face of obstacles, either judging them to be insurmountable,
+or to demand too much time for removal. I find, in a letter which he
+wrote on the 31st of October, 1824, to Prince Julius de Polignac, at
+that time ambassador in London, on the projected re-establishment of the
+law of primogeniture, the strong expression of his inward thought, and
+of his clear-sighted prudence in an important act. "You would be wrong
+to suppose," said he, "that it is because entailed titles and estates
+are perpetual, we do not create any. You give us too much credit; the
+present generation sets no value on considerations so far removed from
+their own time. The late King named Count K---- a peer, on the proviso
+of his investing an estate with the title; he gave up the peerage,
+rather than injure his daughter to the advantage of his son. Out of
+twenty affluent families, there is scarcely one inclined to place the
+eldest son so much above the rest. Egotism prevails everywhere. People
+prefer to live on good terms with all their children, and, when
+establishing them in the world, to show no preference. The bonds of
+subordination are so universally relaxed, that parents, I believe, are
+obliged to humour their own offspring. If the Government were to propose
+the re-establishment of the law of primogeniture, it would not have a
+majority on that question; the difficulty is more deeply seated; it lies
+in our habits, still entirely impressed with the consequences of the
+Revolution. I do not wish to say that nothing can be done to ameliorate
+this lamentable position; but I feel that, in a state of society so
+diseased, we require time and management, not to lose in a day the
+labour and fruit of many years. To know how to proceed, and never to
+swerve from that path, to make a step towards the desired end whenever
+it can be made, and never to incur the necessity of retreat,--this
+course appears to me to be one of the necessities of the time in which I
+have arrived at power, and one of the causes which have led me to the
+post I occupy."
+
+M. de Villèle spoke truly; it was his rational loyalty to the interests
+of his party, his patient perseverance in marching step by step to his
+object, his calm and correct distinction between the possible and
+impossible, which had made and kept him minister. But in the great
+transformations of human society, when the ideas and passions of nations
+have been powerfully stirred up, good sense, moderation, and cleverness
+will not long suffice to control them; and the day will soon return
+when, either to promote good or restrain evil, defined convictions and
+intentions, strongly and openly expressed, are indispensable to the
+heads of government. M. de Villèle was not endowed with these qualities.
+His mind was accurate, rather than expanded; he had more ingenuity than
+vigour, and he yielded to his party when he could no longer direct it.
+"I am born for the end of revolutions," he exclaimed when arriving at
+power, and he judged himself well; but he estimated less correctly the
+general state of society: the Revolution was much further from its end
+than he believed; it was continually reviving round him, excited and
+strengthened by the alternately proclaimed and concealed attempts of
+the counter-principle. People had ceased to conspire; but they
+discussed, criticized, and contended with undiminished ardour in the
+legitimate field. There were no longer secret associations, but opinions
+which fermented and exploded on every side. And, in this public
+movement, impassioned resistance was chiefly directed against the
+preponderance and pretensions of the fanatically religious party. One of
+the most extraordinary infatuations of our days has been the blindness
+of this party to the fact that the conditions under which they acted,
+and the means they employed, were directly opposed to the end in view,
+and leading from rather than conducting to it. They desired to restrain
+liberty, to control reason, to impose faith; they talked, wrote, and
+argued; they sought and found arms in the system of inquiry and
+publicity which they denounced. Nothing could be more natural or
+legitimate on the part of believers who have full confidence in their
+creed, and consider it equal to the conversion of its adversaries. The
+latter are justified in recurring to the discussion and publicity which
+they expect to serve their cause. But those who consider publicity and
+free discussion as essentially mischievous, by appealing to these
+resources, foment themselves the movement they dread, and feed the fire
+they wish to extinguish. To prove themselves not only consistent, but
+wise and effective, they should obtain by other means the strength on
+which they rely: they should gain the mastery; and then, when they have
+silenced all opposition, let them speak alone, if they still feel the
+necessity of speaking. But until they have arrived at this point, let
+them not deceive themselves; by adopting the weapons of liberty, they
+serve liberty much more than they injure it, for they warn and place it
+on its guard. To secure victory to the system of order and government to
+which they aspire, there is but one road;--the Inquisition and Philip
+II. were alone acquainted with their trade.
+
+As might naturally be expected, the resistance provoked by the attempts
+of the fanatical party soon transformed itself into an attack. One
+royalist gentleman raised the flag of opposition against the policy of
+M. de Villèle; another assailed the religious controllers of his
+Cabinet, and not only dragged them before public opinion, but before the
+justice of the country, which disarmed and condemned them, without
+inflicting any other sentence than that of its disapprobation in the
+name of the law.
+
+No one was less a philosopher of the eighteenth century, or a liberal of
+the nineteenth, than the Count de Montlosier. In the Constituent
+Assembly he had vehemently defended the Church and resisted the
+Revolution; he was sincerely a royalist, an aristocrat, and a Catholic.
+People called him, not without reason, the feudal publicist. But,
+neither the ancient nobility nor the modern citizens were disposed to
+submit to ecclesiastical dominion. M. de Montlosier repulsed it, equally
+in the name of old and new France, as he would formerly have denied its
+supremacy from the battlements of his castle, or in the court of Philip
+the Handsome. The early French spirit re-appeared in him, free, while
+respectful towards the Church, and as jealous of the laical independence
+of the State and crown, as it was possible for a member of the Imperial
+State Council to show himself.
+
+At the same moment, a man of the people, born a poet and rendered still
+more poetical by art, celebrated, excited, and expanded, through his
+songs, popular instincts and passions in opposition to everything that
+recalled the old system, and above all against the pretensions and
+supremacy of the Church. M. Béranger, in his heart, was neither a
+revolutionist nor an unbeliever; he was morally more honest, and
+politically more rational, than his songs; but, a democrat by conviction
+as well as inclination, and carried away into license and want of
+forethought by the spirit of democracy, he attacked indiscriminately
+everything that was ungracious to the people, troubling himself little
+as to the range of his blows, looking upon the success of his songs as a
+victory achieved by liberty, and forgetting that religious faith and
+respect for things holy are nowhere more necessary than in the bosom of
+democratic and liberal associations. I believe he discovered this a
+little too late, when he found himself individually confronted by the
+passions which his ballads had fomented, and the dreams he had
+transformed to realities. He then hastened, with sound sense and
+dignity, to escape from the political arena, and almost from the world,
+unchanged in his sentiments, but somewhat regretful and uneasy for the
+consequences of the war in which he had taken such a prominent part.
+Under the Restoration, he was full of confidence and zeal, enjoying his
+popularity with modesty, and more seriously hostile and influential than
+any sonneteer had ever been before him.
+
+Thus, after six years of government by the right-hand party, and three
+of the reign of Charles X., matters had arrived at this point--that two
+of the chief royalist leaders marched at the head of an opposition, one
+against the Cabinet, and the other against the Clergy, both becoming
+from day to day more vigorous and extended, and that the Restoration
+enumerated a ballad-maker in the first rank of its most dangerous
+enemies.
+
+This entire mischief and danger was universally attributed to
+M. de Villèle; on the right or on the left, in the saloons and the
+journals, amongst the Moderates and the extreme Radicals, he became more
+and more an object of attack and reproach. As the judicial bodies had
+acted in affairs which regarded religion, so the literary institutions,
+on questions which concerned their competence, eagerly seized the
+opportunity of manifesting their opposition. The University, compressed
+and mutilated, was in a state of utter discontent. The French Academy
+made it a duty of honour to protest, in an address which the King
+refused to receive, but which was nevertheless voted, against the new
+bill on the subject of the press, introduced to the Chamber in 1826, and
+withdrawn by the Cabinet three months afterwards. In his own Chamber of
+Peers, M. de Villèle found neither general goodwill nor a certain
+majority. Even at the Palais Bourbon and the Tuileries, his two
+strongholds, he visibly lost ground; in the Chamber of Deputies, the
+ministerial majority declined, and became sad even in triumph; at the
+court, several of the King's most trusty adherents, the
+Dukes de Rivière, de Fitz-James, and de Maillé, the Count de Glandères,
+and many others,--some through party spirit, and some from monarchical
+uneasiness,--desired the fall of M. de Villèle, and were already
+preparing his successors. Even the King himself, when any fresh
+manifestation of public feeling reached him, exclaimed pettishly, on
+entering his closet, "Always Villèle! always against Villèle!"
+
+In truth, the injustice was shameful. If the right-hand party had held
+office for six years, and had used power so as to maintain it, if
+Charles X. had not only peaceably succeeded Louis XVIII., but had ruled
+without trouble, and even with some increase of popularity, it was to
+M. de Villèle, above all others, that they were indebted for these
+advantages. He had accomplished two difficult achievements, which might
+have been called great had they been more durable: he had disciplined
+the old royalist party, and from a section of the court, and a class
+which had never been really active except in revolutionary contests, he
+had established during six years a steady ministerial support; he had
+restrained his party and his power within the general limits of the
+Charter, and had exercised constitutional government for six years under
+a prince and with friends who were generally considered to understand it
+little, and to adopt it with reluctance. If the King and the right-hand
+party felt themselves in danger, it was themselves, and not
+M. de Villèle, whom they ought to have accused.
+
+Nevertheless M. de Villèle, on his part, had no right to complain of the
+injustice to which he was exposed. For six years he had been the head of
+the Government; by yielding to the King and his partisans when he
+disapproved their intentions, and by continuing their minister when he
+could no longer prevent what he condemned, he had admitted the
+responsibility of the faults committed under his name and with his
+sanction, although in spite of himself. He endured the penalty of his
+weakness in the exercise of power, and of his obstinacy in retaining it
+under whatever sacrifices it might cost him. We cannot govern under a
+free system, to enjoy the merit and reap the fruit of success, while we
+repudiate the errors which lead to reverse.
+
+Justice to M. de Villèle requires the acknowledgment that he never
+attempted to withdraw himself from the responsibility of his government,
+whether as regarded his own acts or his concessions to his friends. He
+was never seen to reproach the King or his party with the errors to
+which he became accessory. He knew how to preserve silence and endure
+the blame, even while he had the power of justification. In 1825, after
+the Spanish war, and during the financial debates to which it had given
+rise, M. de la Bourdonnaye accused him of having been the author of the
+contracts entered into in 1823, with M. Ouvrard, at Bayonne, for
+supplying the army, and which had been made the subject of violent
+attacks. M. de Villèle might have closed his adversary's mouth; for on
+the 7th of April, 1823, he had written to the Duke d'Angoulême expressly
+to caution him against M. Ouvrard and his propositions. He took no
+advantage of this, but contented himself with explaining to the King in
+a Council, when the Dauphin was present, the situation in which he was
+placed.
+
+The Dauphin at once authorized him to make use of his letter. "No,
+Monseigneur," replied M. de Villèle; "let anything happen to me that
+Heaven pleases, it will be of little consequence to the country; but I
+should be guilty towards the King and to France, if, to exculpate myself
+from an accusation, however serious it may be, I should give utterance,
+beyond the walls of this cabinet, to a single word which could
+compromise the name of your Royal Highness."
+
+When, notwithstanding his obstinate and confiding disposition, he saw
+himself seriously menaced, when the cries of "Down with the Ministers!
+Down with Villèle!" uttered by several battalions of the National Guard,
+both before and after the review by the King in the Champ-de-Mars on the
+29th of April, 1827, had led to their disbanding, and had equally
+excited the public and disturbed the King himself,--when M. de Villèle
+felt distinctly that, both in the Chambers and at the Court, he was too
+much attacked and shaken to govern with efficiency, he resolutely
+adopted the course prescribed by the Charter and called for by his
+position; he demanded of the King the dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies, and a new general election, which should either re-establish
+or finally overthrow the Cabinet.
+
+Charles X. hesitated; he dreaded the elections, and, although not
+disposed to support his Minister with more firmness, the chance of his
+fall, and doubt in the selection of his successors, disturbed him, as
+much as it was possible for his unreflecting nature to be disturbed.
+M. de Villèle persisted, the King yielded, and, in defiance of the
+electoral law which, in 1820, M. de Villèle and the right-hand party had
+enacted, in spite of their six years of power, in spite of all the
+efforts of Government to influence the elections, they produced a result
+in conformity with the state of general feeling,--a majority composed of
+different elements, but decidedly hostile to the Cabinet. After having
+carefully examined this new ground, and after having received from
+various quarters propositions of accommodation and alliance,
+M. de Villèle, having clearly estimated his chances of strength and
+durability, retired from office, and recommended the King to return
+towards the centre, and to call together a moderate Ministry, which he
+assisted him to construct. Charles X. received his new councillors as he
+quitted his old ones, with sadness and apprehension, not acting as he
+wished, and scarcely knowing whether what he did would tend to his
+advantage. More decided, not through superiority of mind, but by natural
+courage, the Dauphiness said to him, when she ascertained his
+resolution, "In abandoning M. de Villèle, you have descended the first
+step of your throne."
+
+The political party of which M. de Villèle was the head, and which had
+its own peculiar destinies, with which those of royalty had never been
+closely allied, might indulge in more gloomy anticipations on their own
+account; they had employed and lost the only man, belonging to their own
+ranks, who was capable of showing them legitimately how to acquire and
+how to exercise power.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote 17: On the 17th October, and the 22nd of November, 1822.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MY OPPOSITION.
+
+1820-1829.
+
+     MY RETIREMENT AT THE MAISONNETTE.--I PUBLISH FOUR INCIDENTAL ESSAYS
+     ON POLITICAL AFFAIRS: 1. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE SINCE THE
+     RESTORATION, AND OF THE MINISTRY IN OFFICE (1820); 2. OF
+     CONSPIRACIES AND POLITICAL JUSTICE (1821); 3. OF THE RESOURCES OF
+     THE GOVERNMENT AND THE OPPOSITION IN THE ACTUAL STATE OF FRANCE
+     (1821); 4. OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR POLITICAL OFFENCES
+     (1822).--CHARACTER AND EFFECT OF THESE PUBLICATIONS.--LIMITS OF MY
+     OPPOSITION.--THE CARBONARI.--VISIT OF M. MANUEL.--I COMMENCE MY
+     COURSE OF LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF REPRESENTATIVE
+     GOVERNMENT.--ITS DOUBLE OBJECT.--THE ABBÉ FRAYSSINOUS ORDERS ITS
+     SUSPENSION.--MY HISTORICAL LABOURS.--ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND; ON
+     THE HISTORY OF FRANCE; ON THE RELATIONS AND MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF
+     FRANCE AND ENGLAND; ON THE PHILOSOPHIC AND LITERARY TENDENCIES OF
+     THAT EPOCH.--THE FRENCH REVIEW.--THE GLOBE.--THE ELECTIONS OF
+     1827.--MY CONNECTIONS WITH THE SOCIETY, 'HELP THYSELF AND HEAVEN
+     WILL HELP THEE.'--MY RELATIONS WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF M. DE
+     MARTIGNAC; HE AUTHORIZES THE REOPENING OF MY COURSE OF LECTURES,
+     AND RESTORES MY TITLE AS A STATE-COUNCILLOR.--MY LECTURES
+     (1828-1830) ON THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE AND IN
+     FRANCE.--THEIR EFFECT.--I AM ELECTED DEPUTY FOR LISIEUX (DECEMBER,
+     1829).
+
+
+When I was struck from the list of State-Councillors, with
+MM. Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan, and Barante, I received from all
+quarters testimonies of ardent sympathy. Disgrace voluntarily
+encountered, and which imposes some sacrifices, flatters political
+friends and interests indifferent spectators. I determined to resume, in
+the Faculty of Letters, my course of modern history. We were then at the
+end of July. Madame de Condorcet offered to lend me for several months a
+country-house, ten leagues from Paris, near Meulan. My acquaintance with
+her had never been intimate; her political sentiments differed
+materially from mine; she belonged thoroughly and enthusiastically to
+the eighteenth century and the Revolution: but she possessed an elevated
+character, a strong mind, and a generous heart, capable of warm
+affection; a favour offered by her sincerely, and for the sole pleasure
+of conferring it, might be received without embarrassment. I accepted
+that which she tendered me, and with the beginning of August I
+established myself at the Maisonnette, and there recommenced my literary
+labours.
+
+At that time I was strongly attached, and have ever since remained so,
+to public life. Nevertheless I have never quitted it without
+experiencing a feeling of satisfaction mixed with my regret, as that of
+a man who throws off a burden which he willingly sustained, or who
+passes from a warm and exciting atmosphere into a light and refreshing
+temperature. From the first moment, my residence at the Maisonnette
+pleased me. Situated halfway up a hill, immediately before it was the
+little town of Meulan, with its two churches, one lately restored for
+worship, the other partly in ruins and converted into a magazine; on the
+right of the town the eye fell upon L'Ile Belle, entirely parcelled out
+into green meadows and surrounded by tall poplar-trees; in front was
+the old bridge of Meulan, and beyond it the extensive and fertile
+valley of the Seine. The house, not too small, was commodious and neatly
+arranged; on either side, as you left the dining-hall, were large trees
+and groves of shrubs; behind and above the mansion was a garden of
+moderate extent, but intersected by walks winding up the side of the
+hill and bordered by flowers. At the top of the garden was a small
+pavilion well suited for reading alone, or for conversation with a
+single companion. Beyond the enclosure, and still ascending, were woods,
+fields, other country-houses and gardens scattered on different
+elevations. I lived there with my wife and my son Francis, who had just
+reached his fifth year. My friends often came to visit me. In all that
+surrounded me, there was nothing either rare or beautiful. It was nature
+with her simplest ornaments, and family life in the most unpretending
+tranquillity. But nothing was wanting. I had space, verdure, affection,
+conversation, liberty, and employment,--the necessity of occupation,
+that spur and bridle which human indolence and mutability so often
+require. I was perfectly content. When the soul is calm, the heart full,
+and the mind active, situations the most opposite to those we have been
+accustomed to possess their charms, which speedily become happiness.
+
+I sometimes went to Paris on affairs of business. I find, in a letter
+which I wrote to Madame Guizot during one of these journeys, the
+impressions I experienced. "At the first moment I feel pleasure at
+mixing again and conversing with the world, but soon grow weary of
+unprofitable words. There is no repetition more tiresome than that
+which bears upon popular matters. We are eternally listening to what we
+know already; we are perpetually telling others what they are as well
+acquainted with as we are: this is, at the same time, insipid and
+agitating. In my inaction, I prefer talking to the trees, the flowers,
+the sun, and the wind. Man is infinitely superior to nature; but nature
+is always equal, and inexhaustible in her monotony; we know that she
+remains and must remain what she is; we never feel in her presence that
+necessity of moving in advance, which makes us impatient or weary of the
+society of men when they fail to satisfy this imperative demand. Who has
+ever fancied that the trees ought to be red instead of green, or found
+fault with the sun of today for resembling the sun of yesterday? We
+demand of nature neither progress nor novelty; and this is why nature
+draws us from the weariness of the world, while she brings repose from
+its excitement. It is her attribute to please for ever without changing;
+but immovable man becomes tiresome, and he is not strong enough to be
+perpetually in motion."
+
+In the bosom of this calm and satisfying life, public affairs, the part
+I had begun to take in them, the ties of mutual opinion and friendship I
+had formed, the hopes I had entertained for my country and myself,
+continued nevertheless to occupy much of my attention. I became anxious
+to declare aloud my thoughts on the new system under which France was
+governed; on what that system had become since 1814, and what it ought
+to be to keep its word and accomplish its object. Still a stranger to
+the Chambers, it was there alone that I could enter personally into the
+field of politics, and assume my fitting place. I was perfectly
+unfettered, and at an age when disinterested confidence in the empire of
+truth blends with the honest aspirations of ambition; I pursued the
+success of my cause, while I hoped for personal distinction. After
+residing for two months at the Maisonnette, I published, under this
+title, 'On the Government of France since the Restoration, and the
+Ministry now in Office,' my first oppositional treatise against the
+policy which had been followed since the Duke de Richelieu, by allying
+himself with the right-hand party to change the electoral law, had also
+changed the seat and tendency of power.
+
+I took up the question, or, to speak more truly, I entered into the
+contest, on the ground on which the Hundred Days and the Chamber of 1815
+had unfortunately placed it:--Who are to exercise, in the government of
+France, the preponderating influence? the victors or the vanquished of
+1789? the middle classes, elevated to their rights, or the privileged
+orders of earlier times? Is the Charter the conquest of the newly
+constituted society, or the triumph of the old system, the legitimate
+and rational accomplishment, or the merited penalty of the revolution?
+
+I borrow from a preface which I added last year to a new edition of my
+'Course of Lectures on the History of Civilization in France,' some
+lines which today, after more than forty years of experience and
+reflection, convey the faithful impress of my thoughts.
+
+"It is the blind rivalry of the high social classes, which has
+occasioned the miscarriage of our efforts to establish a free
+government. Instead of uniting either in defence against despotism, or
+to establish practical liberty, the nobility and the citizens have
+remained separate, intent on mutually excluding or supplanting each
+other, and both refusing to admit equality or superiority. Pretensions
+unjust in principal, and vain in fact! The somewhat frivolous pride of
+the nobility has not prevented the citizens of France from rising, and
+taking their place on a level with the highest in the State. Neither
+have the rather puerile jealousies of the citizens hindered the nobility
+from preserving the advantages of family celebrity and the long tenure
+of situation. In every arranged society which lives and increases there
+is an internal movement of ascent and acquisition. In all systems that
+are destined to endure, a certain hierarchy of conditions and ranks
+establishes and perpetuates itself. Justice, common sense, public
+advantage, and private interest, when properly understood, all require a
+reciprocal acknowledgment of these natural facts of social order. The
+different classes in France have not known how to adopt this skilful
+equity. Thus they have endured, and have also inflicted on their
+country, the penalty of their irrational egotism. For the vulgar
+gratification of remaining, on the one side insolent, on the other
+envious, nobles and citizens have continued much less free, less
+important, less secure in their social privileges, than they might have
+been with a little more justice, foresight, and submission to the divine
+laws of human associations. They have been unable to act in concert, so
+as to become free and powerful together; and consequently they have
+given up France and themselves to successive revolutions."
+
+In 1820, we were far from this free and impartial appreciation of our
+political history and the causes of our disasters. Re-engaged for five
+years in the track of the old rivalries of classes and the recent
+struggles of revolution, we were entirely occupied with the troubles and
+dangers of the moment, and anxious to conquer, without bestowing much
+thought on the price or future embarrassments of victory. I upheld with
+enthusiasm the cause of the new society, such as the Revolution had made
+it, holding equality in the eye of the law as the first principle, and
+the middle classes as the fundamental element. I elevated this cause,
+already so great, by carrying it back to the past, and by discovering
+its interests and vicissitudes in the entire series of our history. I
+have no desire to palliate my thoughts or words. "For more than thirteen
+centuries," I said, "France has comprised two races, the victors and the
+vanquished. For more than thirteen centuries, the beaten race has
+struggled to throw off the yoke of its conquerors. Our history is the
+history of this contest. In our own days, a decisive battle has been
+fought. That battle is called the Revolution.... The result was not
+doubtful. Victory declared for those who had been so long subdued. In
+turn they conquered France, and in 1814 were in possession beyond
+dispute. The Charter acknowledged this fact, proclaimed that it was
+founded on right, and guaranteed that right by the pledge of
+representative government. The King, by this single act, established
+himself as the chief of the new conquerors. He placed himself in their
+ranks and at their head, engaging himself to defend with them, and for
+them, the conquests of the Revolution, which were theirs. The Charter
+implied such an engagement, beyond all question; for war was on the
+point of recommencing. It was easy to foresee that the vanquished party
+would not tamely submit to their defeat. Not that it reduced them to the
+condition to which they had formerly humiliated their adversaries; they
+found rights, if they lost privileges, and, while falling from high
+supremacy, might repose on equality; but great masses of men will not
+thus abdicate human weakness, and their reason ever remains far in the
+rear of their necessity. All that preserved or restored to the ancient
+possessors of privilege a gleam of hope, urged and tempted them to grasp
+it. The Restoration could not fail to produce this effect. The fall of
+privilege had entrained the subversion of the throne; it might be hoped
+that the throne would restore privilege with its own re-establishment.
+How was it possible not to cherish this hope? Revolutionary France held
+it in dread. But even if the events of 1814 had not effected the
+Restoration, if the Charter had been given to us from another source and
+by a different dynasty, the mere establishment of the representative
+system, the simple return to liberty, would have sufficed to inflame and
+rouse up once more to combat the old race, the privileged orders. They
+exist amongst us; they live, speak, circulate, act, and influence from
+one end of France to the other. Decimated and scattered by the
+Convention, seduced and kept under by Napoleon, as soon as terror and
+despotism cease (and neither are durable) they re-appear, resume
+position, and labour to recover all that they have lost.... We have
+conquered the old system, we shall always conquer it; but for a long
+time still we shall have to combat with it. Whoever wishes to see
+constitutional order established in France, free elections, independent
+Chambers, a tribune, liberty of the press, and all other public
+liberties, must abandon the idea that, in this perpetual and animated
+manifestation of all society, the counter-revolution can remain mute and
+inactive."
+
+At the very moment when I recapitulated, in terms so positive and
+forcible, the situation in which the Revolution, the Restoration, and
+the Charter had placed France, I foresaw that my words and ideas might
+be perverted to the advantage of revolutionary passions; and to confine
+them within their just interpretation, I hastened to add, "In saying
+that, since the origin of our monarchy, the struggle between two races
+has agitated France, and that the Revolution has been merely the triumph
+of new conquerors over the ancient possessors of power and territory, I
+have not sought to establish any historical filiation, or to maintain
+that the double fact of conquest and servitude was perpetual, constant,
+and identical through all ages. Such an assertion would be evidently
+falsified by realities. During this long progression of time, the
+victors and the vanquished, the possessors and the possessions--the two
+races, in fact--have become connected, displaced, and confounded; in
+their existence and relations they have undergone innumerable
+vicissitudes. Justice, the total absence of which would speedily
+annihilate all society, has introduced itself into the effects of power.
+It has protected the weak, restrained the strong, regulated their
+intercourse, and has progressively substituted order for violence, and
+equality for oppression. It has rendered France, in fact, such as the
+world has seen her, with her immeasurable glory and her intervals of
+repose. But it is not the less true that throughout thirteen centuries,
+by the result of conquest and feudalism, France has always retained two
+positions, two social classes, profoundly distinct and unequal, which
+have never become amalgamated or placed in a condition of mutual
+understanding and harmony; which have never ceased to combat, the one to
+conquer right, the other to retain privilege. In this our history is
+comprised; and in this sense I have spoken of two races, victors and
+vanquished, friends and enemies; and of the war, sometimes open and
+sanguinary, at others internal and purely political, which these two
+conflicting interests have mutually waged against each other."
+
+On reading over these pages at the present day, and my entire work of
+1820, I retain the impression, which I still desire to establish. On
+examining things closely and by themselves, as an historian and
+philosopher, I scarcely find any passage to alter. I continue to think
+that the general ideas therein expressed are just, the great social
+facts properly estimated, the political personages well understood and
+drawn with fidelity. As an incidental polemic, the work is too positive
+and harsh; I do not sufficiently consider difficulties and clouds; I
+condemn situations and parties too strongly; I require too much from
+men; I have too little temperance, foresight, and patience. At that time
+I was too exclusively possessed by the spirit of opposition.
+
+Even then I suspected this myself; and perhaps the success I obtained
+inspired the doubt. I am not naturally disposed to opposition; and the
+more I have advanced in life, the more I have become convinced that it
+is a part too easy and too dangerous. Success demands but little merit,
+while considerable virtue is requisite to resist the external and innate
+attractions. In 1820, I had as yet only filled an indirect and secondary
+position under the Government; nevertheless I fully understood the
+difficulty of governing, and felt a degree of repugnance in adding to it
+by attacking those to whom power was delegated. Another conviction began
+also from that time to impress itself upon me. In modern society, when
+liberty is displayed, the strife becomes too unequal between the party
+that governs and those who criticize Government. With the one rests all
+the burden and unlimited responsibility; nothing is looked over or
+forgiven: with the others there is perfect liberty and no
+responsibility; everything that they say or do is accepted and
+tolerated. Such is the public disposition, at least in France as soon as
+we become free. At a later period, and when in office, I endured the
+weight of this myself; but I may acknowledge without any personal
+reluctance, that while in Opposition I first perceived the unjust and
+injurious tendency of this feeling.
+
+By instinct, rather than from any reflective or calculated intention, I
+conceived the desire, as soon as I had committed an act of declared
+hostility, of demonstrating what spirit of government was not foreign to
+my own views. Many sensible men inclined to think that from the
+representative system, in France at least, and in the state in which
+the Revolution had left us, no sound plan could emanate, and that our
+ardent longings for free institutions were only calculated to enervate
+power and promote anarchy. The Revolutionary and Imperial eras had
+naturally bequeathed this idea; France had only become acquainted with
+political liberty by revolutions, and with order by despotism; harmony
+between them appeared to be a chimera. I undertook to prove, not only
+that this chimera of great minds might become a reality, but that the
+realization depended upon ourselves; for the system founded by the
+Charter alone contained, for us, the essential means of regular
+government and of effective opposition, which the sincere friends of
+power and liberty could desire. My work, entitled, 'On the Means of
+Government and Opposition in the Actual State of France,' was entirely
+dedicated to this object.
+
+In that treatise I entered into no general or theoretic exposition of
+policy, the idea of which I expressly repudiated. "Perhaps," I said, in
+my preface, "I may on some future occasion discuss more general
+questions of predominant interest in regard to the nature and principles
+of constitutional government, although their solution has nothing to do
+with existing politics, with the events and actors of the moment. I wish
+now to speak only of power as it is, and of the best method of governing
+our great and beautiful country." Entirely a novice and doctrinarian as
+I then was, I forgot that the same maxims and arts of government must be
+equally good everywhere, and that all nations and ages are, at the same
+moment, cast in a similar mould. I confined myself sedulously to my own
+time and country, endeavouring to show what effective means of
+government were included in the true principles and regular exercise of
+the institutions which France held from the Charter, and how they might
+be successfully put in practice for the legitimate advantage and
+strengthening of power. With respect to the means of opposition, I
+followed the same line of argument, convinced myself, and anxious to
+persuade the adversaries of the then dominant policy, that authority
+might be controlled without destroying it, and that the rights of
+liberty might be exercised without shaking the foundations of
+established order. It was my strong desire and prepossession to elevate
+the political arena above the revolutionary track, and to imbue the
+heart of the constitutional system with ideas of strong and legal
+conservatism.
+
+Thirty-six years have since rolled on. During this long interval I
+participated, for eighteen of those years, in the efforts of my
+generation for the establishment of a free government. For some time I
+sustained the weight of this labour. That government has been
+overthrown. Thus I have myself experienced the immense difficulty, and
+endured the painful failure, of this great enterprise. Nevertheless, and
+I say it without sceptical hesitation or affected modesty, I read over
+again today what I wrote in 1821, upon the means of government and
+opposition in the actual state of France, with almost unmingled
+satisfaction. I required much from power, but nothing, I believe, that
+was not both capable and necessary of accomplishment. And
+notwithstanding my young confidence, I remembered, even then, that other
+conditions were essential to success. "I have no intention," I wrote,
+"to impute everything to, and demand everything from, power itself. I
+shall not say to it, as has often been said, 'Be just, wise, firm, and
+fear nothing;' power is not free to exercise this inherent and
+individual excellence. It does not make society, it finds it; and if
+society is impotent to second power, if the spirit of anarchy prevails,
+if the causes of dissolution exist in its own bosom, power will operate
+in vain; it is not given to human wisdom to rescue a people who refuse
+to co-operate in their own safety."
+
+When I published these two attacks upon the attitude and tendencies of
+the Cabinet, conspiracies and political prosecutions burst forth from
+day to day, and entailed their tragical consequences. I have already
+said what I thought on the plots of that epoch, and why I considered
+them as ill based, as badly conducted, without legitimate motives or
+effectual means. But while I condemned them, I respected the sincere and
+courageous devotion of so many men, the greater part of whom were very
+young, and who, though mistaken, lavished the treasures of their minds
+and lives upon a cause which they believed to be just. Amongst the
+trials of our time, I scarcely recognize any more painful than that of
+these conflicting feelings, these perplexities between esteem and
+censure, condemnation and sympathy, which I have so often been compelled
+to bestow on the acts of so many of my contemporaries. I love harmony
+and light in the human soul as well as in human associations; and we
+live in an epoch of confusion and obscurity, moral as well as social.
+
+How many men have I known, who, gifted with noble qualities, would in
+other times have led just and simple lives, but who, in our days,
+confounded in the problems and shadows of their own thoughts, have
+become ambitious, turbulent, and fanatical, not knowing either how to
+attain their object or how to continue in repose!
+
+In 1820, although still young myself, I lamented this agitation of minds
+and destinies, almost as sad to contemplate as fatal to be engaged in;
+but while deploring it, I was divided between severe judgment and
+lenient emotion, and, without seeking to disarm power in its legitimate
+defence, I felt a deep anxiety to inspire it with generous and prudent
+equity towards such adversaries.
+
+A true sentiment does not readily believe itself impotent. The two works
+which I published in 1821 and 1822, entitled, the first, 'On
+Conspiracies and Political Justice,' and the second, 'On Capital
+Punishment for Political Offences,' were not, on my part, acts of
+opposition; I endeavoured to divest them of this character. To mark
+distinctly their meaning and object, it will suffice for me to repeat
+their respective epigraphs. On the title-page of the first I inscribed
+this passage from the prophet Isaiah: "Say ye not, _a confederacy_, to
+all them to whom this people shall say, _a confederacy_;" and on that of
+the second, the words of St. Paul: "O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory?" What I chiefly desired was to convince
+power itself that sound policy and true justice called for very rare
+examples of trial and execution in political cases; and that in
+exercising against all offenders the utmost severity of the laws, it
+created more perils than it subdued. Public opinion was in accordance
+with mine; sensible and independent men, taking no part in the passions
+of the parties engaged in this struggle, found, as I did, that there was
+excess in the action of the police with reference to these plots, excess
+in the number and severity of the prosecutions, excess in the
+application of legal penalties. I carefully endeavoured to restrain
+these complaints within their just limits, to avoid all injurious
+comparisons, all attempts at sudden reforms, and to concede to power its
+necessary weapons. While discussing these questions, which had sprung up
+in the bosom of the most violent storms, I sought to transfer them to an
+elevated and temperate region, convinced that by that course alone my
+ideas and words would acquire any permanent efficacy. They obtained the
+sanction of a much more potent ally than myself. The Court of Peers,
+which at that time had assumed the place assigned to it by the Charter,
+in judgment on political prosecutions, immediately began to exercise
+sound policy and true discrimination. It was a rare and imposing sight,
+to behold a great assembly, essentially political in origin and
+composition,--a faithful supporter of authority; and at the same time
+sedulously watchful, not only to elevate justice above the passions of
+the moment, and to administer it with perfect independence, but also to
+apply, in the appreciation and punishment of political offences, that
+intelligent equity which alone could satisfy the reason of the
+philosopher and the charity of the Christian. A part of the honour due
+to this grand exhibition belongs to the authorities the time, who not
+only made no attempt to interfere with the unshackled impartiality of
+the Court of Peers, but refrained even from objection or complaint.
+Next to the merit of being themselves, and through their own
+convictions, just and wise, it is a real act of wisdom on the part of
+the great ones of the earth, when they adopt without murmur or
+hesitation the good which has not originated with themselves.
+
+I have lived in an age of political plots and outrages, directed
+alternately against the authorities to whom I was in opposition and
+those I supported with ardour. I have seen conspiracies occasionally
+unpunished, and at other times visited by the utmost rigour of the law.
+I feel thoroughly convinced that in the existing state of feelings,
+minds, and manners, the punishment of death in such cases is an
+injurious weapon which heavily wounds the power that uses it for safety.
+It is not that this penalty is without denunciatory and preventive
+efficacy; it terrifies and holds back from conspiracies many who would
+otherwise be tempted to engage in them. But by the side of this salutary
+consequence, it engenders others which are most injurious. Drawing no
+line of distinction between the motives and dispositions which have
+incited men to the acts it punishes, it stifles in the same manner the
+reprobate and the dreamer, the criminal and the enthusiast, the wildly
+ambitious and the devotedly fanatical. By this gross indifference, it
+offends more than it satisfies moral feeling, irritates more than it
+restrains, moves indifferent spectators to pity, and appears to those
+who are interested an act of war falsely invested with the forms of a
+decree of justice. The intimidation which it conveys at first,
+diminishes from day to day; while the hatred and thirst of vengeance it
+inspires become hourly more intense and expansive; and at last the time
+arrives when the power which fancies itself saved is exposed to the
+attacks of enemies infinitely more numerous and formidable than those
+who have been previously disposed of.
+
+A day will also come, I confidently feel, when, for offences exclusively
+political, the penalties of banishment and transportation, carefully
+graduated and applied, will be substituted in justice as well as in fact
+for the punishment of death. Meanwhile I reckon, amongst the most
+agreeable reminiscences of my life, the fact of my having strenuously
+directed true justice and good policy to this subject, at a moment when
+both were seriously compromised by party passions and the dangers to
+which power was exposed.
+
+These four works, published successively within the space of two years,
+attracted a considerable share of public attention. The leading members
+of Opposition in the two Chambers thanked me as for a service rendered
+to the cause of France and free institutions. "You win battles for us
+without our help," said General Foy to me. M. Royer-Collard, in pointing
+out some objections to the first of these Essays ('On the Government of
+France since the Restoration'), added, "Your book is full of truths; we
+collect them with a shovel." I repeat without hesitation these
+testimonies of real approbation. When we seriously undertake to advocate
+political measures, either in speeches or publications, it becomes most
+essential to attain our object. Praise is doubly valuable when it
+conveys the certainty of success. This certainty once established, I
+care little for mere compliments, from which a certain degree of
+puerility and ridicule is inseparable; sympathy without affected words
+has alone a true and desirable charm. I had a right to set some value on
+that which the Opposition evinced towards me; for I had done nothing to
+gratify the passions or conciliate the prejudices and after-thoughts
+which fermented in the extreme ranks of the party.
+
+I had as frankly supported royalty, as I had opposed the Cabinet; and it
+was evident that I had no desire to consign either the House of Bourbon
+or the Charter to their respective enemies.
+
+Two opportunities soon presented themselves of explaining myself on this
+point in a more personal and precise manner. In 1821, a short time after
+the publication of my 'Essay on Conspiracies and Political Justice,' one
+of the leaders of the conspiring faction, a man of talent and honour,
+but deeply implicated in secret societies, that inheritance of
+tyrannical times which becomes the poison of freedom, came to see me,
+and expressed with much warmth his grateful acknowledgments. The boldest
+conspirators feel gratified, when danger threatens, by shielding
+themselves under the principles of justice and moderation professed by
+men who take no part in their plots. We conversed freely on all topics.
+As he was about to leave me, my visitor, grasping me by the arm,
+exclaimed, "Become one of ours!"--"Who do you call yours?"--"Enter with
+us into the _Charbonnerie_; it is the only association capable of
+overthrowing the Government by which we are humiliated and
+oppressed."--I replied, "You deceive yourself, as far as I am concerned;
+I do not feel humiliation or oppression either for myself or my
+country."--"What can you hope from the people now in power?"--"It is not
+a question of hope; I wish to preserve what we possess; we have all we
+require to establish a free government for ourselves. Actual power
+constantly calls for resistance. In my opinion it does so at this
+moment, but not to the extent of being subverted. It is very far from
+having done anything to give us either the right or the means of
+proceeding to that extremity. We have legal and public arms in abundance
+to produce reform by opposition. I neither desire your object nor your
+method of attaining it; you will bring much mischief on all, yourselves
+included, without success; and if you should succeed, matters would be
+still worse."
+
+He went away without anger, for he felt a friendship for me; but I had
+not in the slightest degree shaken his passion for plots and secret
+societies. It is a fever which admits of no cure, when the soul is once
+given up to it, and a yoke not to be thrown off when it has been long
+endured.
+
+A little later, in 1822, when the publications I have spoken of had
+produced their effect, I received one day a visit from M. Manuel. We had
+occasionally met at the houses of mutual friends, and lived on terms of
+good understanding without positive intimacy. He evidently came to
+propose closer acquaintanceship, with an openness in which perhaps the
+somewhat restricted character of his mind was as much displayed as the
+firmness of his temperament; he passed at once from compliments to
+confidence, and, after congratulating me on my opposition, opened to me
+the full bearing of his own. He neither believed in the Restoration nor
+the Charter, held the House of Bourbon to be incompatible with the
+France of the Revolution, and looked upon a change of dynasty as a
+necessary consequence of the total alteration in the social system. He
+introduced, in the course of our interview, the recent death of the
+Emperor Napoleon, the security which thence resulted to the peace of
+Europe, and the name of Napoleon II. as a possible and perhaps the best
+solution of the problems involved in our future. All this was expressed
+in guarded but sufficiently definite terms, equally without passion or
+circumlocution, and with a marked intention of ascertaining to what
+extent I should admit or reject the prospects on which he enlarged. I
+was unprepared, both for the visit and the conversation; but I stood on
+no reserve, not expecting to convert M. Manuel to my own views, and with
+no desire to conceal mine from him. "Far from thinking," I said in
+reply, "that a change of dynasty is necessary for France, I should look
+upon it as a great misfortune and a formidable peril. I consider the
+Revolution of 1789 to be satisfied as well as finished. In the Charter
+it possesses all the guarantees that its interests and legitimate
+objects require. I have no fear of a counter-revolution. We hold against
+it the power of right as well as of fact; and if people were ever mad
+enough to attempt it, we should always find sufficient strength to
+arrest their progress. What France requires at present is to expel the
+revolutionary spirit which still torments her, and to exercise the free
+system of which she is in full possession. The House of Bourbon is
+extremely well suited to this double exigence of the country. Its
+government is anti-revolutionary by nature, and liberal through
+necessity. I should much dread a power which, while maintaining order,
+would either in fact or appearance be sufficiently revolutionary to
+dispense with being liberal. I should be apprehensive that the country
+would too easily lend itself to such a rule. We require to be a little
+uneasy as regards our interests, that we may learn how to maintain our
+rights. The Restoration satisfies while it keeps us on our guard. It
+acts at the same time as a spur and a bridle. Both are good for us. I
+know not what would happen if we were without either." M. Manuel pressed
+me no longer; he had too much sense to waste time in useless words. We
+continued to discourse without further argument, and parted thinking
+well, I believe, of each other, but both thoroughly satisfied that we
+should never act in concert.
+
+While engaged in the publication of these different treatises, I was
+also preparing my course of lectures on Modern History, which I
+commenced on the 7th of December, 1820. Determined to make use of the
+two influential organs with which public instruction and the press
+supplied me, I used them nevertheless in a very different manner. In my
+lectures, I excluded all reference to the circumstances, system, or acts
+of the Government; I checked every inclination to attack or even to
+criticize, and banished all remembrance of the affairs or contests of
+the moment. I scrupulously restrained myself within the sphere of
+general ideas and by-gone facts. Intellectual independence is the
+natural privilege of science, which would be lost if converted into an
+instrument of political opposition. For the effective display of
+different liberties, it is necessary that each should be confined within
+its own domain; their strength and security depend on this prudent
+restraint.
+
+While imposing on myself this line of conduct, I did not evade the
+difficulty. I selected for the subject of my course the history of the
+old political institutions of Christian Europe, and of the origin of
+representative government, in the different forms in which it had been
+formerly attempted, with or without success. I touched very closely, in
+such a subject, on the flagrant embarrassments of that contemporaneous
+policy to which I was determined to make no allusion. But I also found
+an obvious opportunity of carrying out, through scientific paths alone,
+the double object I had in view. I was anxious to combat revolutionary
+theories, and to attach interest and respect to the past history of
+France. We had scarcely emerged from the most furious struggle against
+that old French society, our secular cradle; our hearts, if not still
+overflowing with anger, were indifferent towards it, and our minds were
+confusedly imbued with the ideas, true or false, under which it had
+fallen. The time had come for clearing out that arena covered with
+ruins, and for substituting, in thought as in fact, equity for
+hostility, and the principles of liberty for the arms of the Revolution.
+An edifice is not built with machines of war; neither can a free system
+be founded on ignorant prejudices and inveterate antipathies. I
+encountered, at every step throughout my course, the great problems of
+social organization, under the name of which parties and classes
+exchanged such heavy blows,--the sovereignty of the people and the
+right divine of kings, monarchy and republicanism, aristocracy and
+democracy, the unity or division of power, the various systems of
+election, constitution, and action of the assemblies called to
+co-operate in government. I entered upon all these questions with a firm
+determination to sift thoroughly the ideas of our own time, and to
+separate revolutionary excitement and fantasies from the advances of
+justice and liberty, reconcilable with the eternal laws of social order.
+By the side of this philosophic undertaking, I pursued another,
+exclusively historical; I endeavoured to demonstrate the intermitting
+but always recurring efforts of French society to emerge from the
+violent chaos in which it had been originally formed, sometimes produced
+by the conflict, and at others by the accordance of its different
+elements--royalty, nobility, clergy, citizens, and people,--throughout
+the different phases of that harsh destiny, and the glorious although
+incomplete development of French civilization, such as the Revolution
+had compiled it after so many combats and vicissitudes. I particularly
+wished to associate old France with the remembrance and intelligence of
+new generations; for there was as little sense as justice in decrying or
+despising our fathers, at the very moment when, equally misled in our
+time, we were taking an immense step in the same path which they had
+followed for so many ages.
+
+I expounded these ideas before an audience little disposed to adopt or
+even to take any interest in them. The public who at that time attended
+my lectures were much less numerous and varied than they became some
+years later. They consisted chiefly of young men, pupils of the
+different scientific schools, and of a few curious amateurs of great
+historical disquisitions. The one class were not prepared for the
+questions I proposed, and wanted the preparatory knowledge which would
+have rendered them acceptable. With many of the rest, preconceived ideas
+of the eighteenth century and the Revolution, in matters of historical
+and political philosophy, had already acquired that strength, derived
+from inveterate habit, which rejects discussion, and listens coldly and
+distrustfully to all that differs from their own opinions. Others again,
+and amongst these were the most active and accessible dispositions, were
+more or less engaged in the secret societies, hostile intrigues and
+plots. With these, my opposition was considered extremely supine. I had
+thus many obstacles to surmount, and many conversions to effect, before
+I could bring over to my own views the small circle that listened to my
+arguments.
+
+But there is always, in a French audience, whatever may be their
+prejudices, an intellectual elasticity, a relish for efforts of the mind
+and new ideas boldly set forward, and a certain liberal equity, which
+disposes them to sympathize, even though they may hesitate to admit
+conviction. I was at the same time liberal and anti-revolutionary,
+devoted to the fundamental principles of the new French social system,
+and animated by an affectionate respect for our ancient reminiscences. I
+was opposed to the ideas which constituted the political faith of the
+greater portion of my auditors. I propounded others which appeared
+suspicious to them, even while they seemed just; they considered me as
+made up of obscurities, contradictions, and prospective views, which
+astonished and made them hesitate to follow me. At the same time they
+felt that I was serious and sincere; they became gradually convinced
+that my historic impartiality was not indifference, nor my political
+creed a leaning towards the old system, nor my opposition to every kind
+of subversive plot a truckling complaisance for power. I gained ground
+in the estimation of my listeners: some amongst the most distinguished
+came decidedly over to my views; others began to entertain doubts on the
+soundness of their theories and the utility of their conspiring
+practices; nearly all agreed with my just appreciation of the past, and
+my recommendation of patient and legal opposition to the mistakes of the
+present. The revolutionary spirit in this young and ardent section of
+the public was visibly on the decline, not from scepticism and apathy,
+but because other ideas and sentiments occupied its place in their
+hearts, and drove it out to make room for their own admission.
+
+The Cabinet of 1822 thought differently. It looked upon my lectures as
+dangerous; and on the 12th of October in that year, the Abbé
+Frayssinous, who a few months before had been appointed by M. de Villèle
+Head Master of the University, commanded me to suspend them. I made no
+complaint at the time, and I am not now astonished at the measure. My
+opposition to the Ministry was unconcealed, and although not in the
+slightest degree mixed up with my course of public instruction, many
+persons were unable to separate as distinctly as I did, in their
+impressions, my lectures on the history of past ages from my writings
+against the policy of the day. I am equally convinced that the
+Government, by sanctioning this proceeding, deceived itself to its own
+detriment. In the struggle which it maintained with the spirit of
+revolution, the ideas I propagated in my teaching were more salutary
+than the opposition I carried on through the press was injurious; they
+added more strength to the monarchy, than my criticisms on incidental
+questions and situations could abstract from the Cabinet. But my free
+language disturbed the blind partisans of absolute power in the Church
+and State, and the Abbé Frayssinous, short-witted and weak though
+honest, obeyed with inquietude rather than reluctance the influences
+whose extreme violence he dreaded without condemning their exercise.
+
+In the division of the monarchical parties, that which I had opposed
+plunged more and more into exclusive and extreme measures. My lectures
+being interdicted, all immediate political influence became impossible
+to me. To struggle, beyond the circle of the Chambers, against the
+existing system, it was necessary either to conspire, or to descend to a
+blind, perverse, and futile opposition. Neither of these courses were
+agreeable; I therefore completely renounced all party contentions, even
+philosophical and abstracted, to seek elsewhere the means of still
+mentally serving my cause with reference to the future.
+
+There is nothing more difficult and at the same time more important in
+public life, than to know how at certain moments to resign ourselves to
+inaction without renouncing final success, and to wait patiently without
+yielding to despair.
+
+It was at this epoch that I applied myself seriously to the study of
+England, her institutions, and the long contests on which they were
+founded. Enthusiastically devoted to the political future of my own
+country, I wished to learn accurately through what realities and
+mistakes, by what persevering efforts and prudent acts, a great nation
+had succeeded in establishing and preserving a free government. When we
+compare attentively the history and social development of France and
+England, we find it difficult to decide by which we ought to be most
+impressed,--the differences or the resemblances. Never have two
+countries, with origin and position so totally distinct, been more
+deeply associated in their respective destinies, or exercised upon each
+other, by the alternate relations of peace and war, such continued
+influence. A province of France conquered England; England for a long
+time held possession of several provinces of France; and on the
+conclusion of this national strife, already the institutions and
+political wisdom of the English were, with the most political spirits of
+the French, with Louis XI. and Philip de Comines, for example, subjects
+of admiration. In the bosom of Christianity the two nations have served
+under different religious standards; but this very distinction has
+become between them a new cause of contact and intermixture. In England
+the French Protestants, and in France the persecuted English Catholics,
+have sought and found an asylum. And when kings have been proscribed in
+their turn, in France the monarch of England, and in England the
+sovereign of France, was received and protected. From these respective
+havens of safety, Charles II., in the seventeenth century, and Louis
+XVIII. in the nineteenth, departed to resume their dominions. The two
+nations, or, to speak more correctly, the high classes of the two
+nations, have mutually adopted ideas, manners, and fashions from each
+other. In the seventeenth century, the court of Louis XIV. gave the tone
+to the English aristocracy. In the eighteenth, Paris went to London in
+search of models. And when we ascend above these historical incidents to
+consider the great phases of civilization in the two countries, we find
+that, after considerable intervals in the course of ages, they have
+followed nearly the same career; and that similar attempts and
+alternations of order and revolution, of absolute power and liberty,
+have occurred in both, with singular coincidences and equally remarkable
+distinctions.
+
+It is, therefore, on a very superficial and erroneous survey that some
+persons look upon French and English society as so essentially
+different, that the one could not draw political examples from the other
+except by factitious and barren imitations. Nothing is more completely
+falsified by true history, and more opposed to the natural bias of the
+two countries. Their very rivalries have never broken the ties, apparent
+or concealed, that exist between them; and, whether they know or are
+ignorant of it, whether they acknowledge or deny the fact, they cannot
+avoid being powerfully acted upon, by each other; their ideas, their
+manners, and their institutions intermingle and modify mutually, as if
+by an amicable necessity.
+
+Let me at the same time admit, without hesitation, that we have
+sometimes borrowed from England too completely and precipitately. We
+have not sufficiently calculated the true character and social condition
+of French society. France has increased and prospered under the
+influence of royalty seconding the ascending movement of the middle
+classes; England, by the action of the landed aristocracy, taking under
+its charge the liberties of the people. These distinctions are too
+marked to disappear, even under the controlling uniformity of modern
+civilization. We have too thoroughly forgotten them. It is the rock and
+impediment in the way of innovations accomplished under the name of
+general ideas and great examples, that they do not assume their
+legitimate part in real and national facts. But how could we have
+escaped this rock? In the course of her long existence, ancient France
+has made, at several regular intervals, great efforts to obtain free
+government. The most powerful influences have either resisted, or failed
+in the attempt; her best institutions have not co-operated with the
+necessary changes, or have remained politically ineffective;
+nevertheless, by a just sentiment of her honour as of her interest,
+France has never ceased to aspire to a true and permanent system of
+political guarantees and liberties. She demanded and desired this system
+in 1789. Through what channels was it sought? From what institution was
+it expected? So often deceived in her hopes and attempts within, she
+looked beyond home for lessons and models,--a great additional obstacle
+to a work already so difficult, but an inevitable one imposed by
+necessity.
+
+In 1823, I was far from estimating the obstacles which beset us in our
+labour of constitutional organization as correctly as I do now. I was
+impressed with the idea that our predecessors of 1789 had held old
+France, her social traditions and her habits, in too much contempt; and
+that to bring back harmony with liberty into our country, we ought to
+lay more stress on our glorious past. At the same moment, therefore,
+when I placed before the eyes of the French public the history and
+original monuments of the institutions and revolutions of England, I
+entered with ardour into the study and exposition of the early state of
+French society, its origin, laws, and different gradations of
+development. I was equally desirous to give to my readers information on
+a great foreign history, and to revive amongst them a taste and
+inclination for the study of our own.
+
+My labours were certainly in accord with the instincts and requirements
+of the time; for they were received and seconded by the general movement
+which then manifested itself in the public mind, and with reference to
+the Government so much a subject of dispute. It is the happy tendency of
+the French temperament to change the direction of its course without
+slackening speed. It is singularly flexible, elastic, and prolific. An
+obstacle impedes it, it opens another path; if burdened by fetters, it
+still walks on while bearing them; if restrained on a given point, it
+leaves it, and rebounds elsewhere. The Government of the right-hand
+party restrained political life and action within a narrow circle, and
+rendered them more difficult; the generation which was then beginning to
+stir in the world, sought, not entirely independent of, but side by side
+with politics, the employment of its strength and the gratification of
+its desires: literature, philosophy, history, policy, and criticism
+assumed a new and powerful flight. While a natural and unfortunate
+reaction brought back into the field of combat the eighteenth century
+with its old weapons, the nineteenth displayed itself with its original
+ideas, tendencies, and features.
+
+I do not quote particular names; those which deserve to be remembered
+require no repetition; it is the general character of the intellectual
+movement of the period that I wish to bring into light. This movement
+was neither exclusively nor directly applied to politics, yet it was
+from politics that it emanated; it was both literary and philosophic:
+the human mind, disengaging itself from the interests and disputes of
+the day, pressed forward through every path that presented itself, in
+the search and enjoyment of the true and beautiful; but the first
+impulse came from political liberty, and the hope of contributing to the
+establishment of a free system was plainly perceptible in the most
+abstract labours as in the most poetic flights. My friends and I, while
+originating in 1827 one of the leading periodicals of the age, the
+'Revue Française,' selected for its motto this verse of Ovid,--
+
+   "Et quod nunc ratio est, impetus ante fuit:"--
+
+"What is now reason, was at first an impulse of passion."
+
+We thus truly conveyed the prevailing spirit around us, and our own
+personal conviction. The 'Revue Française' was devoted to philosophy,
+history, literary criticism, and moral and scientific lucubrations; at
+the same time it was impregnated with the grand political inspirations
+which for forty years had agitated France. We declared ourselves
+distinct from our precursors of 1789, strangers to their passions, and
+not enslaved to their ideas, but inheritors and continuators of their
+work. We undertook to bring back the new French society to purer
+principles, to more elevated and equitable sentiments, and to firmer
+foundations; to that great subject of interest, to the accomplishment of
+its legitimate hopes and the assurance of its liberties, our efforts and
+desires were incessantly directed.
+
+Another miscellany, commenced in 1824, and more popular than the
+'Revue'--the 'Globe'--bore the same features in a polemic of greater
+animation and variety. Some young doctrinarians, associated with other
+writers of the same class, and animated by the same spirit, although
+with primary ideas and ultimate tendencies of a very different
+character, were the ordinary editors. Their distinguishing symbols were,
+in philosophy, spiritualism; in history, intelligent inquiry, impartial
+and even sympathetic as regarded ancient times and the progressive
+conditions of human society; in literature, a taste for novelty,
+variety, liberty, and truth, even under the strangest forms and the most
+incongruous associations. They defended, or rather advanced their banner
+with the ardour and pride of youth; enjoying, in their attempts at
+philosophical, historical, poetical, and critical reform, the
+satisfaction, at once personal and disinterested, which forms the
+sweetest reward of intellectual activity; and promising themselves, as
+always happens, a too extensive and too easy success. Two faults were
+mingled with these generous aspirations: the ideas developed in the
+'Globe' were deficient in a fixed basis and a defined limit; their form
+was more decided than their foundation; they exhibited minds animated by
+a noble impulse, but not directed to any single or certain end; and open
+to an easy, unrestricted course, which excited apprehension that they
+might themselves drift towards the rocks they cautioned others to avoid.
+At the same time the spirit of partisanship, inclining men to be wrapped
+up and isolated in the narrow circle of their immediate associates,
+without remembering the general public for whom they labour and to whom
+they speak, exercised too much influence in the pages of the 'Globe.'
+Turgot intended to write several articles for the 'Encyclopædia.'
+D'Alembert came one day to ask him for them. Turgot declined: "You
+incessantly say _we_," he replied; "the public will soon say _you_; I do
+not wish to be so enrolled and classed." But these faults of the
+'Globe,' apparent today, were concealed, thirty years ago, by the merit
+of its opposition; for political opposition was at the bottom of this
+miscellany, and obtained favour for it with many in the party opposed to
+the Restoration, to whom its philosophical and literary opinions were
+far from acceptable. In February, 1830, under the ministry of
+M. de Polignac, the 'Globe,' yielding to its inclination, became
+decidedly a great political journal; and from his retirement at
+Carquerannes, near Hyères, where he had gone to reconcile his labour
+with his health, M. Augustine Thierry wrote to me as follows:--"What
+think you of the 'Globe' since it has changed its character? I know not
+why I am vexed to find in it all those trifling points of news and daily
+discussion. Formerly we concentrated our thoughts to read it, but now
+that is no longer possible; the attention is distracted and divided.
+There are still the same spirit and the same articles, but it is
+disagreeable to encounter by their side these commonplace and every-day
+matters." M. Augustine Thierry was right. The 'Globe' sank materially by
+becoming a political journal, like so many others; but it had not been
+the less essentially political from its commencement, in tendency and
+inspiration. Such was the general spirit of the time; and, far from
+avoiding this, the 'Globe' was deeply impregnated with it.
+
+Even under the controlling influence of the right-hand party, the
+Restoration made no attempt to stifle this actual but indirect
+opposition, which they felt to be troublesome though not openly hostile:
+justice requires that we should remember this to the credit of that
+epoch. In the midst of the constant alarms excited by political liberty
+and the efforts of power to restrain it, intellectual freedom maintained
+itself and commanded respect. This freedom does not supply all the rest;
+but it prepares them, and, while their accomplishment is suspended,
+preserves the honour of nations who have not yet learned to conquer or
+preserve their rights.
+
+While this movement of the mind developed itself and gained strength
+from day to day, the Government of M. de Villèle pursued its course,
+more and more perplexed by the pretensions and quarrels of the party
+which its leader vainly endeavoured to restrain. One of my friends,
+endowed with penetrating and impartial judgment, thus wrote to me in
+December, 1826, from the interior of his department:--"Men who are at
+the head of a faction are really destined to tremble before their own
+shadow. I cannot recollect any time when this nullity of the ruling
+party was more complete. They do not propound a single doctrine or
+conviction, or a hope for the future. Even declamation itself seems to
+be exhausted and futile. Surely M. de Villèle must be allowed the merit
+of being well acquainted with their helplessness; his success springs
+from that cause; but this I look upon as an instinctive knowledge: he
+represents without correctly estimating these people. Otherwise he would
+discover that he might refuse them everything except places and
+appointments; provided also that he lends himself to no connection with
+opposite opinions." When the party, proceeding from exigence to
+exigence, and the Cabinet from weakness to weakness, found themselves
+unable to act longer together,--when M. de Villèle, in November 1827,
+appealed to an election for defence against his rivals in the Chamber
+and at Court,--we resolutely encountered our share in the contest. Every
+opposition combined. Under the motto, _Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera_,
+"Help thyself, and Heaven will help thee," a public association was
+formed, in which was comprised men of very different general ideas and
+definitive intentions, who acted in concert with the sole design of
+bringing about, by legal measures, a change of the majority in the
+Chamber of Deputies, and the fall of the Cabinet. I as readily joined
+them, with my friends, as in 1815 I had repaired alone to Ghent to
+convey to the King, Louis XVIII., the wishes of the constitutional
+Royalists. Long revolutions engender two opposite vices, rashness and
+pusillanimity; men learn from them either to plunge blindly into mad
+enterprises, or to abstain timidly from the most legitimate and
+necessary actions. We had openly opposed the policy of the Cabinet; it
+now challenged us to the electoral field to decide the quarrel: we
+entered it with the same frankness, resolved to look for nothing beyond
+fair elections, and to accept the difficulties and chances, at first of
+the combat, and afterwards of the success, if success should attend our
+efforts.
+
+In the 'Biography' which Béranger has written of himself, I find this
+paragraph:--"At all times I have relied too much on the people, to
+approve of secret associations, in reality permanent conspiracies, which
+uselessly compromise many persons, create a host of inferior rival
+ambitions, and render questions of principle subordinate to private
+passions. They rapidly produce suspicion, an infallible cause of
+defection and even of treachery, and end, when the labouring classes are
+called in to co-operate, by corrupting instead of enlightening them....
+The society, _Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera_, which acted openly, has alone
+rendered true service to our cause." The cause of M. Béranger and ours
+were totally distinct. Which of the two would profit most by the
+electoral services derived from the society of _Aide-toi, le Ciel
+t'aidera_? The question was to be speedily solved by the King, Charles
+X.
+
+The results of the election of 1827 were enormous; they greatly exceeded
+the fears of the Cabinet and the hopes of the Opposition. I was still in
+the country when these events became known. One of my friends wrote to
+me from Paris, "The consternation of the Ministers, the nervous attack
+of M. de Villèle, who sent for his physician at three o'clock in the
+morning, the agony of M. de Corbières,[18] the retreat of M. de Polignac
+to the country, from whence he has no intention to return, although he
+may be vehemently requested to do so, the terror at the palace, the ever
+brilliant shooting-parties of the King, the elections so completely
+unexpected, surprising, and astounding,--here are more than subjects
+enough to call for prophecies, and to give rise to false predictions on
+every consequence that may be anticipated." The Duke de Broglie, absent,
+like myself, from Paris, looked towards the future with more confident
+moderation. "It will be difficult," he wrote to me, "for the general
+sound sense which has presided at these elections not to react, to a
+certain extent, on the parties elected. The Ministry which will be
+formed during the first conflict, will be poor enough; but we must
+support it, and endeavour to suppress all alarm. It has already reached
+me here, that the elections have produced great apprehensions; if I am
+not deceived, this terror is nothing more than a danger of the moment.
+If, after the fall of the present Ministry, we are able to get through
+the year quietly, we shall have won the victory."
+
+When the Ministry of M. de Villèle fell, and the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac was installed, a new attempt at a Government of the
+Centre commenced, but with much less force, and inferior chances of
+success, than that which in 1816 and 1821, under the combined and
+separate directions of the Duke de Richelieu and M. Decazes, had
+defended France and the crown against the supremacy of the right and
+left-hand parties. The party of the centre, formed at that time under a
+pressing danger of the country, had drawn much strength from that very
+circumstance, and either from the right or the left had encountered
+nothing but animated opposition, but still raw and badly organized, and
+such as in public estimation was incapable of government. In 1828, on
+the contrary, the right hand-party, only just ejected from power, after
+having held it for six years, believed that they were as near recovering
+as they were capable of exercising office, and attacked with exuberant
+hope the suddenly created successors who had stepped into their places.
+In other quarters, the left and the left centre, brought into contact
+and almost confounded by six years of common opposition, reciprocated
+mutual understanding in their relations with a Cabinet which they were
+called on to support, although not emanating from their ranks. As it
+happens in similar cases, the violent and extravagant members of the
+party, paralyzed or committed the more moderate and rational to a much
+greater extent than the latter were able to restrain and guide their
+troublesome associates. Thus assailed in the Chambers by ambitious and
+influential rivals, the rising power found there only lukewarm or
+restrained allies. While from 1816 to 1821 the King, Louis XVIII., gave
+his sincere and active co-operation to the Government of the Centre, in
+1828 the King, Charles X., looked upon the Cabinet which replaced
+immediately round him the leaders of the right-hand party as an
+unpleasant trial he was doomed to undergo; but to which he submitted
+with uneasy reluctance, not believing in its success, and fully
+determined to endure it no longer than strict necessity compelled.
+
+In this weak position, two individuals, M. de Martignac, as actual head
+of the Cabinet, without being president, and M. Royer-Collard, as
+president of the Chamber of Deputies, alone contributed a small degree
+of strength and reputation to the new Ministry; but they were far from
+being equal to its difficulties or dangers.
+
+M. de Martignac has left on the minds of all who were acquainted with
+him, either in public or private life, whether friends or adversaries, a
+strong impression of esteem and goodwill. His disposition was easy,
+amiable, and generous; his mind just, quick, and refined, at once calm
+and liberal; he was endowed with natural, persuasive, clear, and
+graceful eloquence; he pleased even those from whom he differed. I have
+heard M. Dupont de l'Eure whisper gently from his place, while listening
+to him, "Be silent, Siren!" In ordinary times, and under a well-settled
+constitutional system, he would have been an effective and popular
+minister; but either in word or act he had more seduction than
+authority, more charm than power. Faithful to his cause and his friends,
+he was unable to carry either into government or political debate that
+simple, fervent, and persevering energy, that insatiable desire and
+determination to succeed, which rises before obstacles and under
+defeats, and often controls wills without absolutely converting
+opinions. On his own account, more honest and epicurean than ambitious,
+he held more to duty and pleasure than to power. Thus, although well
+received by the King and the Chambers, he neither exercised at the
+Tuileries nor at the Palais Bourbon the authority, nor even the
+influence, which his sound mind and extraordinary talent ought to have
+given to him.
+
+M. Royer-Collard, on the contrary, had reached and occupied the chair of
+the Chamber of Deputies through the importance derived from twelve years
+of parliamentary contest, recently confirmed by seven simultaneous
+elections, and by the distinguished mark of esteem which the Chamber and
+the King had conferred on him. But this importance, real in moral
+consideration, was politically of little weight. Since the failure of
+the system of government he had supported, and his own dismissal from
+the State Council by M. de Serre in 1820, M. Royer-Collard had, I will
+not say fallen, but entered into a state of profound despondency. Some
+sentences in letters written to me from his estate at Château-vieux,
+where he had passed the summer, will more readily explain the condition
+of his mind at that time. I select the shortest:--
+
+"_Aug. 1, 1823._--There is no trace of man here, and I am ignorant of
+what can be found in the papers; but I do not believe there is anything
+more to hear. At all events, I am careless on the subject. I have no
+longer any curiosity, and I well know the reason. I have lost my cause,
+and I much fear you will lose yours also; for you assuredly will as soon
+as it becomes a bad one. In these sad reflections the heart closes
+itself up, but without resignation."
+
+"_Aug. 27, 1826._--There cannot be a more perfect or innocent solitude
+than that in which I have lived until this last week, which has brought
+M. de Talleyrand to Valençay. It is only through your letter and his
+conversation, that I am again connected with the world. I have never
+before so thoroughly enjoyed this kind of life,--some hours devoted to
+study, the meditations they occasion, a family walk, and the care of a
+small, domestic administration. Nevertheless, in the midst of this
+profound tranquillity, on observing what passes, and what we have to
+expect, the fatigue of a long life entirely wasted in wishes
+unaccomplished and hopes deceived, makes itself sensibly felt. I hope I
+shall not give way under it; in the place of illusions, there are still
+duties which assert their claims."
+
+"_Oct. 22, 1826._--After having thoroughly enjoyed this year of the
+country and of solitude, I shall return with pleasure to the society of
+living minds. At this moment that society is extremely calm; but without
+firing cannon, it gains ground, and insensibly establishes its power. I
+have formed no idea of the coming session. I believe it to be merely
+through habit and remembrance, that any attention is yet paid to the
+Chamber of Deputies. It belongs to another world; our time is still
+distant, fortune has thrown you into the only course of life which has
+now either dignity or utility. It has done well for you and for us."
+
+M. Royer-Collard was too ambitious and too speedily cast down. Human
+affairs do not permit so many expectations, and supply greater
+resources. We should expect less, and not so soon give way to despair.
+The elections of 1827, the advent of the Martignac Ministry, and his
+own situation in the chair of the Chamber of Deputies, drew
+M. Royer-Collard a little from his despondency, but without much
+restoring his confidence. Satisfied with his personal position, he
+supported and seconded the Cabinet in the Chamber, but without warmly
+adopting its policy; preserving carefully the attitude of a gracious
+ally who wishes to avoid responsibility. In his intercourse with the
+King he held the same reserve, speaking the truth, and offering sage
+advice, but without in the slightest degree conveying the idea that he
+was ready to put in practice the energetic and consistent policy he
+recommended. Charles X. listened to him with courtesy and surprise,
+confiding in his loyalty, but scarcely understanding his words, and
+regarding him as an honest man tainted with inapplicable or even
+dangerous ideas. Sincerely devoted to the King, and friendly to the
+Cabinet, M. Royer-Collard served them advantageously in their daily
+affairs and perils, but held himself always apart from their destiny as
+from their acts, and without bringing to them, through his co-operation,
+the strength which ought to have attached to the superiority of his mind
+and the influence of his name.
+
+I did not at that time return to public office. The Cabinet made no such
+proposition to me, and I refrained from suggesting it; on either side we
+were right. M. de Martignac came from the ranks of M. de Villèle's
+party, and was obliged to keep measures with them; it would not have
+been consistent in him to hold intimate relations with their
+adversaries. For my own part, even though I should consider it
+necessary, I am badly adapted to serve a floating system of policy,
+which resorts to uncertain measures and expedients instead of acting on
+fixed and declared ideas. At a distance, I was both able and willing to
+support the new Ministry. In a close position I should have compromised
+them. I had, however, my share in the triumph. Without calling me back
+to exercise the functions of State-Councillor, the title was restored to
+me; and the Minister of Public Instruction, M. de Vatimesnil, authorized
+the reopening of my course.
+
+I retain a deep impression of the Sorbonne which I then entered, and of
+the lectures I delivered there during two years. This was an important
+epoch in my life, and perhaps I may be permitted to add, a moment of
+influence on my country. With more care even than in 1821, I kept my
+lectures free of politics. Not only did I abstain from opposition to the
+Martignac Ministry, but I scrupulously avoided embarrassing them in the
+slightest degree. In other respects, I proposed an object to myself
+sufficiently important, as I thought, to occupy my entire attention. I
+was anxious to study and describe, in their parallel development and
+reciprocal action, the various elements of our French society, the Roman
+world, the Barbarians, the Christian Church, the Feudal System, the
+Papacy, Chivalry, Monarchy, the Commonalty, the Third Estate, and
+Reform. I desired not only to satisfy the scientific or philosophic
+curiosity of the public, but to accomplish a double end, real and
+practical. I proposed to demonstrate that the efforts of our time to
+establish a system of equal and legal justice in society, and also of
+political guarantees and liberties in the State, were neither new nor
+extraordinary,--that in the course of her history, more or less
+obscurely or unfortunately, France had at several intervals embraced
+this design, and that the generation of 1789, grasping it with
+enthusiasm, had committed both good and evil,--good, in resuming the
+glorious attempt of their ancestors,--evil in attributing to themselves
+the invention and the honour, and in believing that they were called
+upon to create, through their own ideas and wishes, a world entirely
+new. Thus, while promoting the interests of existing society, I was
+desirous of bringing back amongst us a sentiment of justice and sympathy
+for our early recollections and ancient customs; for that old French
+social system which had lived actively and gloriously for fifteen
+centuries, to accumulate the inheritance of civilization which we have
+gathered. It is a lamentable mistake, and a great indication of
+weakness, in a nation, to forget and despise the past. It may in a
+revolutionary crisis rise up against old and defective institutions; but
+when this work of destruction is accomplished, if it still continues to
+treat its history with contempt, if it persuades itself that it has
+completely broken with the secular elements of its civilization, it is
+not a new state of society which it can then form, it is the disorder of
+revolution that it perpetuates. When the generation who possess their
+country for a moment, indulge in the absurd arrogance of believing that
+it belongs to them, and them alone; and that the past, in face of the
+present, is death opposed to life; when they reject thus the sovereignty
+of tradition and the ties which mutually connect successive races, they
+deny the distinction and pre-eminent characteristic of human nature, its
+honour and elevated destiny; and the people who resign themselves to
+this flagrant error, also fall speedily into anarchy and decline; for
+God does not permit that nature and the laws of His works should be
+forgotten and outraged to such an extent with impunity.
+
+During my course of lectures from 1828 to 1830, it was my prevailing
+idea to contend against this injurious tendency of the public mind, to
+bring it back to an intelligent and impartial appreciation of our old
+social system, to inspire an affectionate respect for the early history
+of France; and thus to contribute, as far as I could, to establish
+between the different elements of our ancient and modern society,
+whether monarchical, aristocratic, or popular, that mutual esteem and
+harmony which an attack of revolutionary fever may suspend, but which
+soon becomes once more indispensable to the liberty as well as to the
+prosperity of the citizens, to the strength and tranquillity of the
+State.
+
+I had some reason to think that I succeeded to a great extent in my
+design. My audience, numerous and diversified, youths and experienced
+men, natives and foreigners, appeared to take a lively interest in the
+ideas I expounded. These notions assimilated with the general
+impressions of their minds, without demanding complete subservience, so
+as to combine the charms of sympathy and novelty. My listeners found
+themselves, not thrown back into retrograding systems, but urged forward
+in the path of just and liberal reflection. By the side of my historical
+lessons, but without concert, and in spite of wide differences of
+opinion between us, literary and philosophic instruction received from
+my two friends, MM. Villemain and Cousin, a corresponding character and
+impulse. Opposite breezes produced the same movement; we bestowed no
+thought on the events and questions of the day, and we felt no desire to
+bring them to the attention of the public by whom we were surrounded. We
+were openly and freely devoted to great general interests, great
+recollections, and great hopes for man and human associations; caring
+only to propagate our ideas, not indifferent as to their possible
+results, but not impatient to attain them; gratified by the intellectual
+advance in the midst of which we lived, and confident in the ultimate
+ascendency of the truth which we flattered ourselves we should possess
+and in the liberty we hoped to enjoy.
+
+It would certainly have been profitable for us, and as I also believe
+for the country, if this intention could have been prolonged, and if our
+minds could have fortified themselves in their calm meditations before
+being once more engaged in the passions and trials of active life. But,
+as it happens almost invariably, the errors of men stepped in to
+interrupt the progress of ideas by precipitating the course of events.
+The Martignac Ministry adopted a moderate and constitutional policy. Two
+bills, honestly intended and ably discussed, had given effectual
+guarantees, the one, to the independence of elections, and the other, to
+the liberty of the press. A third, introduced at the opening of the
+session of 1829, secured to the elective principle a share in the
+administration of the departments and townships, and imposed on the
+central Government new rules and limitations for local affairs. These
+concessions might be considered too extensive or too narrow; but in
+either case they were real, and the advocates of public liberty could do
+nothing better than accept and establish them. But in the Liberal party
+who had hitherto supported the Cabinet, two feelings, little politic in
+their character, the spirit of impatience and the love of system, the
+desire for popularity and the severity of reason, were indisposed to be
+satisfied with those slow and imperfect conquests. The right-hand party,
+by refusing to vote, left the Ministry in contest with the wants of
+their allies. Despite the efforts of M. de Martignac, an amendment, more
+formidable in appearance than in reality, attacked in some measure the
+plan of the bill upon departmental administration. With the King, and
+also with the Chambers, the Ministry had reached the term of its credit;
+unable to obtain from the King what would give confidence to the
+Chambers, or from the Chambers what would satisfy the King, it
+voluntarily declared its impotence by hastily withdrawing the two bills,
+and still remained standing, although struck by a mortal wound.
+
+How could it be replaced? The question remained in suspense for three
+months. Three men alone, M. Royer-Collard, M. de Villèle, and
+M. de Châteaubriand seemed capable of forming a new Cabinet that might
+last, although compounded of very different shades. The two first were
+entirely out of the question. Neither the King nor the Chambers
+contemplated the idea of making a Prime Minister of M. Royer-Collard. He
+perhaps had thought of it himself, more than once, for nothing was too
+bold to cross his mind in his solitary reveries; but these were merely
+inward lucubrations, not actually ambitious designs; if power had been
+offered to him he would assuredly have refused it; he had too little
+confidence in the future, and too much personal pride, to encounter
+such a risk of failure.
+
+M. de Villèle, still suffering from the accusations first whispered
+against him in 1828, and which had remained in abeyance in the Chamber
+of Deputies, had formally refused to attend the session of 1829, and
+held himself in retirement at his estate near Toulouse; it was evident
+that he could not return to power, and act with the Chamber that had
+thrown him out. Neither the King nor himself would have consented, as I
+think, to encounter at that time the hazard of a new dissolution.
+
+M. de Châteaubriand was at Rome. On the formation of the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac he had accepted that embassy, and from thence, with a
+mixture of ambition and contempt he watched the uncertain policy and
+wavering position of the Ministers at Paris. When he learned that they
+were beaten, and would in all probability be compelled to retire, he
+immediately commenced an active agitation. "You estimate correctly my
+surprise," he wrote to Madame Recamier, "at the news of the _withdrawal_
+of the two bills. Wounded self-love makes men children, and gives them
+very bad advice. What will be the end of all this? Will the Ministers
+endeavour to hold place? Will they retire partially or all together? Who
+will succeed them? How is a Cabinet to be composed? I assure you that,
+were it not for the pain of losing your society, I should rejoice at
+being here, out of the way, and at not being mixed up in all these
+enmities and follies, for I find that all are equally in the wrong....
+Attend well to this; here is something more explicit: if by chance the
+portfolio of Foreign Affairs should be offered to me (and I have no
+reason to expect it), I should not refuse. I should come to Paris, I
+should speak to the King, I should arrange a Ministry without being
+included in it; for myself, I should propose, to attach me to my own
+work, a suitable position. I think, as you know, that it belongs to my
+ministerial reputation, as well as to revenge me for the injury I
+sustained from Villèle, that the portfolio of Foreign Affairs should be
+given to me for the moment. This is the only honourable mode in which I
+could rejoin the Administration. But that done, I should immediately
+retire, to the great satisfaction of all new aspirants, and pass the
+remainder of my life near you in perfect repose."[19]
+
+M. de Châteaubriand was not called to enjoy this haughty vengeance, or
+to exhibit such a demonstration of generosity. While he still dreamed of
+it in the Pyrenees, whither he had repaired to rest from the labours of
+the Conclave which gave Pius VIII. as successor to Leo X., the
+Prince de Polignac, brought over from London by the King, arrived in
+Paris on the 27th of July; and on the 9th of August, eight days after
+the closing of the session, his Cabinet was officially announced in the
+'Moniteur.' What course would he propose to himself? What measures would
+he adopt? No one could tell; not even M. de Polignac and the King
+themselves any more than the public. But Charles X. had hoisted upon the
+Tuileries the flag of the Counter-Revolution.
+
+Politics soon became the absorbing consideration of every mind. From all
+quarters a fierce struggle was foreseen in the approaching session; all
+parties hastened to congregate beforehand round the scene of action,
+seeking to draw some anticipation as to what would occur, and how to
+secure a place. On the 19th of October, 1829, the death of the learned
+chemist, M. Vauquelin, left open a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, in
+which he had represented the division of Lisieux and Pont-l'Évêque,
+which formed the fourth electoral district in the department of
+Calvados. Several influential persons of the country proposed to
+substitute me in his place. I had never inhabited or even visited that
+province. I had no property there of any kind. But since 1820, my
+political writings and lectures had given popularity to my name. The
+young portions of the community were everywhere favourably disposed
+towards me. The Moderates and active Liberals mutually looked to me to
+defend them, and their cause, should occasion arrive. As soon as the
+proposition became known at Lisieux and Pont-l'Évêque, it was cordially
+received. All the different shades of the Opposition, M. de La Fayette
+and M. de Châteaubriand, M. Dupont de l'Eure and the Duke de Broglie,
+M. Odillon Barrot and M. Bertin de Veaux, seconded my candidateship.
+Absent, but supported by a strong display of opinion in the district, I
+was elected on the 23rd of February, 1830, by a large majority.
+
+At the same moment M. Berryer, whose age, as in my own case, had until
+then excluded him from the Chamber of Deputies, was elected by the
+department of the Higher Loire, where a seat had also become vacant.
+
+On the day following that on which my election was known in Paris, I
+had to deliver my lecture at the Sorbonne. As I entered the hall, the
+entire audience rose and received me with a burst of applause. I
+immediately checked them, and said: "I thank you for your kind
+reception, by which I am sensibly affected. I request two favours of
+you; the first is to preserve always the same feelings towards me; the
+second is, never to evince them again in this manner. Nothing that
+passes without should resound within these walls. We come here to treat
+of pure, unmingled science, which is essentially impartial,
+disinterested, and estranged from all external occurrences, important or
+insignificant. Let us always maintain for learning this exclusive
+character. I hope that your sympathy will accompany me in the new career
+to which I am called; I will even presume to say that I reckon upon it.
+Your silent attention here is the most convincing proof I can receive."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: He was, in fact, extremely ill at the moment of this
+crisis.]
+
+[Footnote 19: February 23rd, and April 20th, 1829.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.
+
+1830.
+
+     MENACING, AND AT THE SAME TIME INACTIVE ATTITUDE OF THE
+     MINISTRY.--LAWFUL EXCITEMENT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.--ASSOCIATION
+     FOR THE ULTIMATE REFUSAL OF THE NON-VOTED TAXES.--CHARACTER AND
+     VIEWS OF M. DE POLIGNAC.--MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MINISTERIAL
+     PARTY.--NEW ASPECT OF THE OPPOSITION.--OPENING OF THE
+     SESSION.--SPEECH OF THE KING.--ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+     PEERS.--PREPARATION OF THE ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+     DEPUTIES.--PERPLEXITY OF THE MODERATE PARTY AND OF
+     M. ROYER-COLLARD.--DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.--THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY
+     M. BERRYER AND MYSELF.--PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE
+     KING.--PROROGATION OF THE SESSION.--RETIREMENT OF MM. DE CHABROL
+     AND COURVOISIER.--DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--MY
+     JOURNEY TO NISMES FOR THE ELECTIONS.--TRUE CHARACTER OF THE
+     ELECTIONS.--INTENTIONS OF CHARLES X.
+
+
+Whether, attention is arrested by the life of an individual or the
+history of a nation, there is no spectacle more imposing than that of a
+great contrast between the surface and the interior, the appearance and
+the reality of matters. To be excited under the semblance of immobility,
+to do nothing while we expect much, to look on the calm while we
+anticipate the tempest,--this, perhaps, of all human situations, is the
+most oppressive for the mind to endure, and the most difficult to
+sustain for any length of time.
+
+At the commencement of the year 1830, such was the common position of
+all,--of the Government and the nation, of the ministers and citizens,
+of the supporters and opponents of power. No one acted directly, and all
+prepared themselves for unknown chances. We pursued our ordinary course
+of life, while we felt ourselves on the brink of a convulsion.
+
+I proceeded quietly with my course at the Sorbonne. There, where
+M. de Villèle and the Abbé Frayssinous had silenced me, M. de Polignac
+and M. de Guernon-Ranville permitted me to speak freely. While enjoying
+this liberty, I scrupulously preserved my habitual caution, keeping
+every lecture entirely divested of all allusion to incidental questions,
+and not more solicitous of winning popular favour, than apprehensive of
+losing ministerial patronage. Until the meeting of the Chamber, my new
+title of Deputy called for no step or demonstration, and I sought not
+for any factitious opportunity. In some paragraphs of town and court
+gossip, several of the papers in the interest of the extreme right
+asserted that meetings of Deputies had been held at the residence of the
+late President of the Chamber. M. Royer-Collard, upon this, wrote
+immediately to the 'Moniteur:'--"It is positively false that any meeting
+of Deputies has taken place at my residence since the closing of the
+session of 1829. This is all I have to say; I should feel ashamed of
+formally denying absurd reports, in which the King is not more respected
+than the truth." Without feeling myself restricted to the severe
+abstinence of M. Royer-Collard, I sedulously avoided all demonstrative
+opposition; my friends and I were mutually intent on furnishing no
+pretext for the mistakes of power.
+
+But in the midst of this tranquil and reserved life, I was deeply
+occupied in reflecting on my new position, and on the part I was
+henceforward to assume in the uncertain fortune of my country. I
+revolved over in my mind every opposite chance, looking upon all as
+possible, and wishing to be prepared for all, even for those I was most
+desirous to avert. Power cannot commit a greater error than that of
+plunging imaginations into darkness. A great public terror is worse than
+a great positive evil; above all, when obscure perspectives of the
+future excite the hopes of enemies and blunderers, as well as the alarms
+of honest men and friends. I lived in the midst of both classes.
+Although no longer interested in the electoral object which had
+occasioned its institution in 1827, the society called, "Help thyself
+and Heaven will help thee" existed still, and I still continued to be a
+member. Under the Martignac Ministry I considered it advisable to remain
+amongst them, that I might endeavour to moderate a little the wants and
+impatience of the external opposition, which operated so powerfully on
+the opposition in Parliament. Since the formation of the Polignac
+Cabinet, from which everything was to be apprehended, I endeavoured to
+maintain a certain degree of interest in this assembly of all opposing
+parties, Constitutionalists, Republicans, and Buonapartists, which, in
+the moment of a crisis, might exercise itself such preponderating
+influence on the destiny of the country. At the moment, I possessed
+considerable popularity, especially with the younger men, and the ardent
+but sincere Liberals. I felt gratified at this, and resolved to turn it
+to profitable use, let the future produce what it might.
+
+The temper of the public resembled my own, tranquil on the surface but
+extremely agitated at the heart. There was neither conspiracy, nor
+rising, nor tumultuous assembly; but all were on the alert, and prepared
+for anything that might happen. In Brittany, in Normandy, in Burgundy,
+in Lorraine, and in Paris, associations were publicly formed to resist
+payment of the taxes, if the Government should attempt to collect them
+without a legal vote of the legal Chambers. The Government prosecuted
+the papers which had advertised these meetings; some tribunals acquitted
+the responsible managers, others, and amongst them the Royal Court of
+Paris, condemned them, but to a very slight punishment, "for exciting
+hatred and contempt against the King's government, in having imputed to
+them the criminal intention either of levying taxes which had not been
+voted by the two Chambers, or of changing illegally the mode of
+election, or even of revoking the constitutional Charter which has been
+granted and confirmed in perpetuity, and which regulates the rights and
+duties of every public authority." The ministerial journals felt their
+position, and saw that their patrons were so reached by this sentence,
+that, in publishing it, they suppressed all observations.
+
+In presence of this opposition, at once so decided and restrained, the
+Ministry remained timid and inactive. Evidently doubtful of themselves,
+they feared the opinion in which they were held by others. A year before
+this time, at the opening of the session of 1829, when the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac still held power, and the department of Foreign Affairs
+had fallen vacant by the retirement of M. de la Ferronnays,
+M. de Polignac had endeavoured, in the debate on the address in the
+Chamber of Peers, to dissipate, by a profession of constitutional faith,
+the prejudices entertained against him. His assurances of attachment to
+the Charter were not, on his part, a simply ambitious and hypocritical
+calculation; he really fancied himself a friend to constitutional
+government, and was not then meditating its overthrow; but in the
+mediocrity of his mind, and the confusion of his ideas, he neither
+understood thoroughly the English society he wished to imitate, nor the
+French system he desired to reform. He believed the Charter to be
+compatible with the political importance of the old nobility, and with
+the definitive supremacy of the ancient Royalty; and he flattered
+himself that he could develop new institutions by making them assist in
+the preponderance of influences which it was his distinct object to
+limit or abolish. It is difficult to measure the extent of conscientious
+illusions in a mind weak but enthusiastic, ordinary, but with some
+degree of elevation, and mystically vague and subtle. M. de Polignac
+felt honestly surprised at not being acknowledged as a minister devoted
+to constitutional rule; but the public, without troubling themselves to
+inquire into his sincerity, had determined to regard him as the champion
+of the old system, and the standard-bearer of the counter-revolution.
+Disturbed by this reputation, and fearing to confirm it by his acts,
+M. de Polignac did nothing. His Cabinet, sworn to conquer the Revolution
+and to save the Monarchy, remained motionless and sterile. The
+Opposition insultingly taxed them with their impotence: they were
+christened "the Braggadocio Ministry," "the most helpless of Cabinets;"
+and to all this they gave no answer, except by preparing the expedition
+to Algiers, and by convoking the assembly of the Chambers, ever
+protesting their fidelity to the Charter, and promising themselves, as
+means of escape from their embarrassments, a conquest and a majority.
+
+M. de Polignac was ignorant that a minister does not entirely govern by
+his own acts, and that he is responsible for others besides himself.
+While he endeavoured to escape from the character assigned to him, by
+silence and inaction,--his friends, his functionaries, his writers, his
+entire party, masters and servants, spoke and moved noisily around him.
+He expressed his anger when they discussed, as an hypothesis, the
+collection of taxes not voted by the Chambers; and at that same moment
+the Attorney-General of the Royal Court at Metz, M. Pinaud, said, in a
+requisition, "Article 14 of the Charter secures to the King a method of
+resisting electoral or elective majorities. If then, renewing the days
+of 1792 and 1793, the majority should refuse the taxes, would the King
+be called upon to deliver up his crown to the spectre of the Convention?
+No; but in that case he ought to maintain his right, and save himself
+from the danger by means respecting which it is proper to keep silence."
+On the 1st of January, the Royal Court of Paris, who had just given a
+proof of their firm adherence to the Charter, presented themselves,
+according to custom, at the Tuileries; the King received and spoke to
+them with marked dryness; and when arriving in front of the Dauphiness,
+the first President prepared to address his homage to her, "Pass on,
+pass on," exclaimed she brusquely; and while complying with her words,
+M. Seguier said to the Master of the Ceremonies, M. de Rochemore, "My
+Lord Marquis, do you think that the Court ought to inscribe the answer
+of the Princess in its records?" A magistrate high in favour with the
+Minister, M. Cotta, an honest but a light and credulous individual,
+published a work entitled, 'On the Necessity of a Dictatorship.' A
+publicist, a fanatical but sincere reasoner, M. Madrolle, dedicated to
+M. de Polignac a memorial, in which he maintained the necessity of
+remodelling the law of elections by a royal decree. "What are called
+_coups d'état_," said some important journals, and avowed friends of the
+Cabinet, "are social and regular in their nature when the King acts for
+the general good of the people, even though in appearance he may
+contravene the existing laws." In fact France was tranquil, and legal
+order in full vigour; neither on the part of authority nor on that of
+the people had any act of violence called for violence in return; and
+yet the most extreme measures were openly discussed. In all quarters
+people proclaimed the imminence of revolution, the dictatorship of the
+King, and the legitimacy of _coups d'état_.
+
+In a moment of urgent danger, a nation may accept an isolated _coup
+d'état_ as a necessity; but it cannot, without dishonour and decline,
+admit the principle of such measures as the permanent basis of its
+public rights and government. Now this was precisely what M. de Polignac
+and his friends pretended to impose on France. According to them, the
+absolute power of the old Royalty remained always at the bottom of the
+Charter; and to expand and display this absolute power, they selected a
+moment when no active plot, no visible danger, no great public
+disturbance, threatened either the Government of the King or the order
+of the State. The sole question at issue was, whether the Crown could,
+in the selection and maintenance of its advisers, hold itself entirely
+independent of the majority in the Chambers, or the country; and
+whether, in conclusion, after so many constitutional experiments, the
+sole governing power was to be concentrated in the Royal will. The
+formation of the Polignac Ministry had been, on the part of the King,
+Charles X., an obstinate idea even more than a cry of alarm, an
+aggressive challenge as much as an act of suspicion. Uneasy, not only
+for the security of his throne, but for what he considered the
+unalienable rights of his crown, he placed himself, to maintain them, in
+the most offensive of all possible attitudes towards the nation. He
+assumed defiance rather than defence. It was no longer a struggle
+between the different parties and systems of government, but a question
+of political dogma, and an affair of honour between France and her King.
+
+In presence of a subject under this aspect, passions and intentions
+hostile to established order could not fail to resume hope and appear
+once more upon the stage. The sovereignty of the people was always at
+hand, available to be invoked in opposition to the sovereignty of the
+Monarch. Popular strokes of policy were to be perceived, ready to reply
+to the attempts of royal power. The party which had never seriously put
+faith in or adhered to the Restoration, had now new interpreters,
+destined speedily to become new leaders, and younger, as well as more
+rational and skilful than their predecessors. There were no
+conspiracies, no risings in any quarter; secret machinations and noisy
+riots were equally abandoned; everywhere a bolder and yet a more
+moderate line of conduct was adopted, more prudent, and at the same time
+more efficacious. In public discussion, appeal was made to examples from
+history and to the probabilities of the future. Without directly
+attacking the reigning power, lawful freedom in opposition was pushed to
+its extremest limits, too clearly to be taxed with hypocrisy, and too
+ingeniously to be arrested in this hostile proceeding. In the more
+serious and intelligent organs of the party, such as the 'National,'
+they did not absolutely propound anarchical theories, or revolutionary
+constitutions; they confined themselves to the Charter from which
+Royalty seemed on the point of escaping, either by carefully explaining
+the import, or by peremptorily demanding the complete and sincere
+execution; by making it clearly foreseen that compromising the national
+right would also compromise the reigning dynasty. They avowed themselves
+decided and prepared, not to anticipate, but to accept without
+hesitation the last trial evidently approaching, and the rapid progress
+of which they clearly indicated to the public from day to day.
+
+The conduct to be held by the constitutional Royalists who had laboured
+in honest sincerity to establish the Restoration with the Charter,
+although less dangerous, was even more complex and difficult. How could
+they repulse the blow with which Royalty menaced the existing
+institutions, without inflicting on Royalty a mortal wound in return?
+Should they remain on the defensive, wait until the Cabinet committed
+acts, or introduced measures really hostile to the interests and
+liberties of France, and reject them when their character and object had
+been clearly developed in debate? Or should they take a bolder
+initiative, and check the Cabinet in its first steps, and thus prevent
+the unknown struggles which at a later period it would be impossible to
+direct or restrain? This was the great practical question, which, when
+the Chambers were convened, occupied, above all other considerations,
+those minds which were strangers to all preconcerted hostility, and to
+every secret desire of encountering new hazards.
+
+Two figures have remained, since 1830, impressed on my memory; the King,
+Charles X., at the Louvre on the 2nd of March, opening the session of
+the Chambers; and the Prince de Polignac at the Palais Bourbon on the
+15th and 16th of March, taking part in the discussion on the address of
+the Two Hundred and Twenty-One Deputies. The demeanour of the King was,
+as usual, noble and benevolent, but mingled with restrained agitation
+and embarrassment. He read his speech mildly, although with some
+precipitation, as if anxious to finish; and when he came to the sentence
+which, under a modified form, contained a royal menace,[20] he
+accentuated it with more affectation than energy. As he placed his hand
+upon the passage, his hat fell; the Duke d'Orléans raised and presented
+it to him, respectfully bending his knee. Amongst the Deputies, the
+acclamations of the right-hand party were more loud than joyful, and it
+was difficult to decide whether the silence of the rest of the Chamber
+proceeded from sadness or apathy. Fifteen days later, at the Chamber of
+Deputies, and in the midst of the secret committee in which the address
+was discussed, in that vast hall, void of spectators, M. de Polignac was
+on his bench, motionless, and little attended even by his friends, with
+the air of a stranger surprised and out of place, thrown into a world
+with which he is scarcely acquainted, where he feels that he is
+unwelcome, and charged with a difficult mission, the issue of which he
+awaits with inert and impotent dignity. In the course of the debate, he
+was reproached with an act of the Ministry in reference to the
+elections, to which he replied awkwardly by a few short and confused
+words, as if not thoroughly understanding the objection, and anxious to
+resume his seat. While I was in the tribune, my eyes encountered his,
+and I was struck by their expression of astonished curiosity. It was
+manifest that at the moment when they ventured on an act of voluntary
+boldness, neither the King nor his minister felt at their ease; in the
+two individuals, in their respective aspects as in their souls, there
+was a mixture of resolution and weakness, of confidence and uncertainty,
+which at the same moment testified blindness of the mind and the
+presentiment of coming evil.
+
+We waited with impatience the address from the Chamber of Peers. Had it
+been energetic, it would have added strength to ours. Whatever has been
+said, their address was neither blind nor servile, but it was far from
+forcible. It recommended respect for institutions and national
+liberties, and protested equally against despotism and anarchy.
+Disquietude and censure were perceptible through the reserve of words;
+but these impressions were dimly conveyed and stripped of all
+power. Their unanimity evinced nothing beyond their nullity.
+M. de Châteaubriand alone, while signifying his approbation, considered
+them insufficient. The Court declared itself satisfied. The Chamber
+seemed more desirous of discharging a debt of conscience, and of
+escaping from all responsibility in the evils which it foresaw, than of
+making a sound effort to prevent them. "If the Chamber of Peers had
+spoken out more distinctly," said M. Royer-Collard to me, shortly after
+the Revolution, "it might have arrested the King on the brink of the
+abyss, and have prevented the Decrees." But the Chamber of Peers had
+little confidence in their own power to charm away the danger, and
+feared to aggravate it by a too open display. The entire weight of the
+situation fell upon the Chamber of Deputies.
+
+The perplexity was great,--great in the majority of sincere Royalists,
+in the Committee charged to draw up the Address, and in the mind of
+M. Royer-Collard who presided, both in the Committee and the Chamber,
+and exercised on both a preponderating influence. One general sentiment
+prevailed,--a desire to stay the King in the false path on which he had
+entered, and a conviction that there was no hope of succeeding in this
+object, but by placing before him an impediment which it would be
+impossible for him personally to misunderstand. It was evident, when he
+dismissed M. de Martignac and appointed M. de Polignac to succeed him,
+that he was not alone influenced by his fears as a King. In this act
+Charles X. had, above all considerations, been swayed by his passions of
+the old system. It became indispensable that the peril of this tendency
+should be clearly demonstrated to him, and that where prudence had not
+sufficed, impossibility should make itself felt. By expressing, without
+delay or circumlocution, its want of confidence in the Cabinet, the
+Chamber in no way exceeded its privilege; it expressed its own judgment,
+without denying to the King the free exercise of his, and his right of
+appealing to the country by a dissolution. The Chamber acted
+deliberately and honestly; it renounced empty or ambiguous words, to
+assert the frank and strong measures of the constitutional system. There
+was no other method of remaining in harmony with the public feeling so
+strongly excited, and of restraining it by legitimate concessions. There
+was reason to hope that language at once firm and loyal would prove as
+efficacious as it was necessary; already, under similar circumstances,
+the King had not shown himself intractable, for two years before, in
+January, 1828, he had dismissed M. de Villèle, almost without a
+struggle, after the elections had produced a majority decidedly opposed
+to his Cabinet.
+
+During five days, the Committee, in their sittings, and M. Royer-Collard
+in his private reflections, as well as in his confidential intercourse
+with his friends, scrupulously weighed all these considerations, as well
+as all the phrases and words of the Address. M. Royer-Collard was not
+only a staunch Royalist, but his mind was disposed to doubt and
+hesitation; he became bewildered in his resolves as he looked on the
+different aspects of a question, and always shrank from important
+responsibility. For two years he had observed Charles X. closely, and
+more than once during the Martignac Administration he had said to some
+of the more rational oppositionists, "Do not press the King too closely;
+no one can tell to what follies he might have recourse." But at the
+point which matters had now reached, called upon as he was to represent
+the sentiments and maintain the honour of the Chamber, M. Royer-Collard
+felt that he could not refuse to carry the truth to the foot of the
+throne; and he flattered himself that on appearing there, with a
+respectful and affectionate demeanour, he would be in 1830, as in 1828,
+if not well received, at least listened to without any fatal explosion.
+
+The Address in fact bore this double character: never had language more
+unpresuming in its boldness, and more conciliating in its freedom, been
+held to a monarch in the name of his people.[21] When the President read
+it to the Chamber for the first time, a secret satisfaction faction of
+dignity mingled in the most moderate hearts with the uneasiness they
+experienced. The debate was short and extremely reserved, almost even to
+coldness. On all sides, the members feared to commit themselves by
+speaking; and there was an evident desire to come to a conclusion. Four
+of the Ministers, MM. de Montbel, de Guernon-Ranville, de Chantelauze,
+and d'Haussez took part in the discussion, but almost exclusively on the
+general question. In the Chamber of Deputies, as in the Chamber of
+Peers, the leader of the Cabinet remained mute. It is on more lofty
+conditions that political aristocracies maintain or raise themselves.
+When they came to the last paragraphs, which contained the decisive
+phrases, the individual members of the different parties maintained the
+contest alone. It was then that M. Berryer and I ascended the tribune
+for the first time, both new to the Chamber, he as a friend and I as an
+opponent of the Ministry; he to attack and I to defend the Address. It
+gives me pleasure, I confess, to retrace and repeat today, the ideas and
+arguments by which I supported it at the time. "Under what auspices," I
+asked the Chamber, "and in the name of what principles and interests has
+the present Ministry been formed? In the name of power menaced, of the
+Royal prerogative compromised, of the interests of the Crown ill
+understood and sustained by their predecessors. This is the banner under
+which they have entered the lists, the cause they have promised to make
+triumphant. We had a right to expect from their entrance on office that
+authority should be exercised with vigour, the Royal prerogative in
+active operation, the principles of power not only proclaimed but
+practised, perhaps at the expense of the public liberty, but at least
+for the advantage of that power itself. Gentlemen, has this happened?
+Has power strengthened itself within the last seven months? Has it been
+exercised with activity, energy, confidence, and efficacy? Either I
+grossly deceive myself, or during these seven months power has suffered
+in confidence and energy, to the full extent of what the public have
+lost in security."
+
+"But power has lost more than this. It is not entirely comprised in the
+positive acts it commits or the materials it employs; it does not always
+end in decrees and circulars. The authority over minds, the moral
+ascendency, that ascendency so suitable to free countries, for it
+directs without controlling public will,--in this is comprised an
+important component of power, perhaps the first of all in efficiency.
+But beyond all question, it is the re-establishment of this moral
+ascendency which is at this moment the most essential need of our
+country. We have known power extremely active and strong, capable of
+great and difficult undertakings; but whether from the inherent vice of
+its nature, or by the evil of its position, moral ascendency, that easy,
+regular, and imperceptible empire, has been almost entirely wanting. The
+King's government, more than any other, is called upon to possess this.
+It does not extract its right from force. We have not witnessed its
+birth; we have not contracted towards it those familiar associations,
+some of which always remain attached to the authorities at the infancy
+of which those who obey them were present. What has the actual Ministry
+done with that moral ascendency which belongs naturally, without
+premeditation or labour, to the King's government? Has it exercised it
+skilfully, and increased it in the exercise? Has it not, on the
+contrary, seriously compromised this great element, by placing it at
+issue with the fears to which it has given rise, and the passions it has
+excited?...
+
+"Gentlemen, your entire mission is not to control, or at the least to
+oppose power; you are not here solely to retrieve its errors or injuries
+and to make them known to the country; you are also sent here to
+surround the government of the King--to enlighten it while you surround,
+and to support it while you enlighten.... Well, then, what is at this
+moment the position in the Chamber of the members who are the most
+disposed to undertake the character of those who are the greatest
+strangers to the spirit of faction, and unaccustomed to the habits of
+opposition? They are compelled to become oppositionists; they are made
+so in spite of themselves; they desire to remain always united to the
+King's government, and now they are forced to separate from it; they
+wish to support, and are driven to attack. They have been propelled from
+their proper path. The perplexity which disturbs them has been created
+by the Ministry in office; it will continue and redouble as long as they
+continue where they are."
+
+I pointed out the analogous perturbation which existed everywhere, in
+society as in the Chambers; I showed how the public authorities, in
+common with the good citizens, were thrown out of their natural duties
+and position; the tribunals, more intent on restraining the Government
+itself than in repressing disorders and plans directed against it; the
+papers, exercising with the tolerance, and even with the approbation of
+the public, an unlimited and disorderly influence. I concluded by
+saying: "They tell us that France is tranquil, that order is not
+disturbed. It is true; material order is not disturbed; everything
+circulates freely and peaceably; no commotion deranges the current of
+affairs.... The surface of society is calm,--so calm that the Government
+may well be tempted to believe that the interior is perfectly secure,
+and to consider itself sheltered from all peril. Our words, gentlemen,
+the frankness of our words, comprises the sole warning that power can at
+this moment receive, the only voice that can reach it and dissipate its
+illusions. Let us take care not to diminish their force or to enervate
+our expressions; let them be respectful and even gentle, but let them at
+the same time be neither timid nor ambiguous. Truth already finds it
+difficult enough to penetrate into the palaces of kings; let us not send
+her there weak and trembling; let it be as impossible to misunderstand
+what we say, as to mistake the loyalty of our sentiments."
+
+The Address passed as it was drawn up, with uneasy sadness, but with a
+profound conviction of its necessity. Two days after the vote, on the
+18th of March, we repaired to the Tuileries to present it to the King.
+Twenty-one members alone joined the official deputation of the Chamber.
+Amongst those who had voted for the Address, some were little anxious of
+supporting by their presence, under the eyes of the King, such an act
+of opposition; others, from respect for the Crown, had no wish to give
+to this presentation additional solemnity and effect. Our entire
+number amounted only to forty-six. We waited some time in the
+"Salon de la Paix," until the King returned from Mass. We stood there in
+silence; opposite to us, in the recesses of the windows, were the King's
+pages and some members of the royal establishment, inattentive and
+almost intentionally rude. The Dauphiness crossed the saloon on her way
+to the chapel, rapidly and without noticing us. She might have been much
+colder still before I could have felt that I had any right either to be
+surprised or indignant at her demeanour. There are crimes whose
+remembrance silences all other thoughts, and misfortunes before which we
+bow with a respect almost resembling repentance, as if we ourselves had
+been the author of them.
+
+When we were introduced into the hall of the throne, M. Royer-Collard
+read the address naturally and suitably, with an emotion which his voice
+and features betrayed. The King listened to him with becoming dignity
+and without any air of haughtiness or ill humour; his answer was brief
+and dry, rather from royal habit than from anger, and, if I am not
+mistaken, he felt more satisfied with his own firmness than uneasy for
+the future. Four days before, on the eve of the debate on the address,
+in his circle at the Tuileries, to which many Deputies were invited, I
+saw him bestow marked intention on three members of the Commission,
+MM. Dupin, Étienne, and Gautier. In two such opposite situations, it was
+the same man and almost the same physiognomy, identical in his manners
+as in his ideas, careful to please although determined to quarrel, and
+obstinate from want of foresight and mental routine, rather than from
+the passion of pride or power.
+
+On the day after the presentation of the address, the 19th of March, the
+session was prorogued to the 1st of September. Two months later, on the
+16th of May, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; the two most
+moderate members of the Cabinet, the Chancellor and the Minister of
+Finance, M. Courvoisier and M. de Chabrol, left the Council; they had
+refused their concurrence to the extreme measures already debated there,
+in case the elections should falsify the expectations of power. The most
+compromised and audacious member of the Villèle Cabinet,
+M. de Peyronnet, became Minister of the Interior. By the dissolution,
+the King appealed to the country, and at the same moment he took fresh
+steps to separate himself from his people.
+
+Having returned to the private life from which he never again emerged,
+M. Courvoisier wrote to me on the 29th of September 1831, from his
+retirement at Baume-les-Dames: "Before resigning the Seals, I happened
+to be in conversation with M. Pozzo di Borgo on the state of the
+country, and the perils with which the throne had surrounded itself.
+What means, said he to me, are there of opening the King's eyes, and of
+drawing him from a system which may once again overturn Europe and
+France?--I see but one, replied I, and that is a letter from the hand of
+the Emperor of Russia.--He shall write it, said he; he shall write it
+from Warsaw, whither he is about to repair.--We then conversed together
+on the substance of the letter. M. Pozzo di Borgo often said to me that
+the Emperor Nicholas saw no security for the Bourbons, but in the
+fulfilment of the Charter."
+
+I much doubt whether the Emperor Nicholas ever wrote himself to the
+King, Charles X.; but what his ambassador at Paris had said to the
+Chancellor of France, he himself repeated to the Duke de Mortemart, the
+King's ambassador at St. Petersburg:--"If they deviate from the Charter,
+they will lead direct to a catastrophe; if the King attempts a
+_coup-d'état_, the responsibility will fall on himself alone." The
+councils of monarchs were not more wanting to Charles X., than the
+addresses of nations, to detach him from his fatal design.
+
+As soon as the electoral glove was thrown down, my friends wrote to me
+from Nismes that my presence was necessary to unite them all, and to
+hold out in the College of the department any prospect of success. It
+was also desired that I should go, of my own accord, to Lisieux; but
+they added that if I was required elsewhere, they thought, even in my
+absence, they could guarantee my election. I trusted to this assurance,
+and set out for Nismes on the 15th June, anxious to sound myself, and on
+the spot, the real dispositions of the country; which we so soon forget
+when confined to Paris.
+
+I have no desire to substitute for my impressions of that epoch my ideas
+of the present day, or to attribute to my own political conduct and to
+that of my friends an interpretation which neither could assume. I
+republish, without alteration, what I find in the confidential letters I
+wrote or received during my journey. These supply the most
+unobjectionable evidences of what we thought and wished at the time.
+
+On the 26th of June, some days after my arrival at Nismes, I wrote as
+follows:--
+
+"The contest is very sharp, more so than you can understand at a
+distance. The two parties are seriously engaged, and hourly oppose each
+other with increasing animosity. An absolute fever of egotism and
+stupidity possesses and instigates the administration. The opposition
+struggles, with passionate ardour, against the embarrassments and
+annoyances of a situation, both in a legal and moral sense, of extreme
+difficulty. It finds in the laws means of action and defence, which
+impart the courage necessary to sustain the combat, but without
+inspiring the confidence of success; for almost everywhere, the last
+guarantee is wanting, and after having fought long and bravely, we
+always run the risk of finding ourselves suddenly disarmed, and
+helpless. A similar anxiety applies to the moral position: the
+opposition despises the ministry, and at the same time looks upon it as
+its superior; the functionaries are in disrepute, but still they take
+precedence; a remembrance of imperial greatness and power yet furnishes
+them with a pedestal; they are looked on disdainfully, with a mingled
+sensation of fear and anger. In this state of affairs there are many
+elements of agitation, and even of a crisis. Nevertheless, no sooner
+does an explosion appear imminent, or even possible, than every one
+shrinks from it in apprehension. In conclusion, all parties at present
+look for their security in order and peace. There is no confidence
+except in legitimate measures."
+
+On the 9th of July, I received the following from Paris:--
+
+"The elections of the great colleges have commenced. If we gain any
+advantage there, it will be excellent; above all, for the effect it may
+produce on the King's mind, who can expect nothing more favourable to
+him than the great colleges. At present, there are no indications of a
+_coup d'état_. The 'Quotidienne' announces this morning that it looks
+upon the session as opened, admitting at the same time that the Ministry
+will not have a majority. It appears delighted at there being no
+prospect of an address exactly similar to that of the Two Hundred and
+Twenty-one."
+
+And again, on the 12th of July:--
+
+"Today the 'Universel'[22] exclaims against the report of a _coup
+d'état_, and seems to guarantee the regular opening of the session by a
+speech from the King. This speech, which will annoy you, will have the
+advantage of opening the session on a better understanding. But the
+great point is to have a session; violent extremes become much more
+improbable when we are constitutionally employed. But you will find it
+very difficult to draw up a new address; whatever it may be, the right
+and the extreme left will look upon it in the light of a
+retractation,--the right as a boast, the left as a complaint. You will
+have to defend yourselves against those who wish purely and simply a
+repetition of the former address, and who hold to it as the last words
+of the country. Having acquired a victory at the elections, and the
+alternative of dissolution being no longer available to the King, we
+shall have evidently a new line of conduct to adopt. Besides, what
+interest have we in compelling the King to make a stand? France has
+every thing to gain by years of regular government; let us be careful
+not to precipitate events."
+
+I replied on the 16th of July:--"I scarcely know how we are to extricate
+ourselves from the new address. It will be an extremely difficult
+matter, but in any case we are bound to meet this difficulty, for
+evidently we must have a session. We should be looked upon as children
+and madmen if we were merely to recommence what we have taken in hand
+for four months. The new Chamber ought not to retreat; but it should
+adopt a new course. Let us have no _coup d'état_, and let constitutional
+order be regularly preserved. Whatever may be the ministerial
+combinations, real and ultimate success will be with us."
+
+"Amongst the electors by whom I am surrounded here, I have met with
+nothing but moderate, patient, and loyal dispositions. M. de Daunant has
+just been elected, on the 13th of July instant, by the Divisional
+College of Nismes; he had 296 votes against 241 given in favour of
+M. Daniel Murjas, president of the college. When the result was
+announced, the official secretary proposed to the assembly to pass a
+vote of thanks to the president, who, notwithstanding his own
+candidateship, had presided with most complete impartiality and loyalty.
+The vote was carried on the instant, in the midst of loud cries of "Long
+live the King!" and the electors, as they retired, found in all quarters
+the same tranquillity and gravity which they had themselves preserved in
+the discharge of their own duties."
+
+On the 12th of July, when news of the capture of Algiers arrived, I
+wrote thus:--"And so the African campaign is over, and well over; ours,
+which must commence in about two months, will be rather more difficult;
+but no matter; I hope this success will not stimulate power to the last
+madness, and I prefer our national honour to all parliamentary
+considerations."
+
+I do not pretend to assert that the foregoing sentiments were those of
+all who, whether in the Chambers or in the country, had approved the
+Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one, and who, at the elections,
+voted for its support. The Restoration had not achieved such complete
+conquests in France. Inactive, but not resigned, the secret societies
+were ever in existence; ready, when opportunity occurred, to resume
+their work of conspiracy and destruction. Other adversaries, more
+legitimate but not less formidable, narrowly watched every mistake of
+the King and his Government, and sedulously brought them under public
+comment, expecting and prognosticating still more serious errors, which
+would lead to extreme consequences. Amongst the popular masses, a deeply
+rooted instinct of suspicion and hatred to all that recalled the old
+system and the invasion of the foreigners, continued to supply arms and
+inexhaustible hopes to the enemies of the Restoration. The people
+resemble the ocean, motionless and almost immutable at the bottom,
+however violent may be the storms which agitate the surface.
+Nevertheless, the spirit of legality and sound political reason had made
+remarkable progress; even during the ferment of the elections, public
+feeling loudly repudiated all idea of a new revolution. Never was the
+situation of those who sincerely wished to support the King and the
+Charter more favourable or powerful; they had given evidences of
+persevering firmness by legitimate opposition, they had lately
+maintained with reputation the principles of representative government,
+they enjoyed the esteem and even the favour of the public; the more
+violent party, through necessity, and the country, with some hesitation,
+mingled with honest hope, followed in their rear. If at this critical
+moment they could have succeeded with the King as with the Chambers and
+the country,--if Charles X., after having by the dissolution pushed his
+royal prerogative to the extreme verge, had listened to the strongly
+manifested wishes of France, and selected his advisers from amongst
+those of the constitutional Royalists who stood the highest in public
+consideration, I say, with a feeling of conviction which may appear
+foolhardy, but which I maintain to this hour, that there was every
+reasonable hope of surmounting the last decisive trial; and that the
+country taking confidence at once in the King and in the Charter, the
+Restoration and constitutional government would have been established
+together.
+
+But the precise quality in which Charles X. was deficient, was that
+expansive freedom of mind which conveys to a monarch a perfect
+intelligence of the age in which he lives, and endows him with a sound
+appreciation of its resources and necessities. "There are only M. de La
+Fayette and I who have not changed since 1789," said he, one day; and he
+spoke truly. Through all the vicissitudes of his life he ever remained
+what his youthful training had made him at the Court of Versailles and
+in the aristocratic society of the eighteenth century--sincere and
+light, confident in himself and in his own immediate circle, unobservant
+and irreflective, although of an active spirit, attached to his ideas
+and his friends of the old system as to his faith and his standard.
+Under the reign of his brother Louis XVIII., and during the scission of
+the monarchical party, he became the patron and hope of that Royalist
+opposition which boldly availed itself of constitutional liberties, and
+presented in his own person a singular mixture of persevering intimacy
+with his old companions, and of a taste for the new popularity of a
+Liberal. When he found himself on the throne, he made more than one
+coquettish advance to this popular disposition, and sincerely flattered
+himself that he governed according to the Charter, with his old friends
+and his ideas of earlier times. M. de Villèle and M. de Martignac lent
+themselves to his views in this difficult work; and after their fall,
+which he scarcely opposed, Charles X. found himself left to his natural
+tendencies, in the midst of advisers little disposed to contradict, and
+without the power of restraining him. Two fatal mistakes then
+established themselves in his mind; he fancied that he was menaced by
+the Revolution, much more than was really the fact; and he ceased to
+believe in the possibility of defending himself, and of governing by the
+legal course of the constitutional system. France had no desire for a
+new revolution. The Charter contained, for a prudent and patient
+monarch, certain means of exercising the royal authority and of securing
+the Crown. But Charles X. had lost confidence in France and in the
+Charter. When the Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one Deputies
+came triumphant through the elections, he believed that he was driven to
+his last entrenchment, and reduced to save himself without the Charter,
+or to perish by a revolution.
+
+A few days before the Decrees of July, the Russian ambassador, Count
+Pozzo di Borgo, had an audience of the King. He found him seated before
+his desk, with his eyes fixed on the Charter, opened at Article 14.
+Charles X. read and re-read that article, seeking with honest inquietude
+the interpretation he wanted to find there. In such cases, we always
+discover what we are in search of; and the King's conversation, although
+indirect and uncertain, left little doubt on the Ambassador's mind as to
+the measures in preparation.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 20: "Peers of France, Deputies of Departments, I have no doubt
+of your co-operation in carrying out the good measures I propose. You
+will repulse with contempt the perfidious insinuations which malevolence
+seeks to propagate. If criminal manoeuvres were to place obstacles in
+the way of my government, which I neither can, nor wish to, foresee, I
+should find the power of surmounting them in a resolution to maintain
+the public peace, in the just confidence of the French people, and in
+the devotion which they have always demonstrated for their King."]
+
+[Footnote 21: I think no one who reads the six concluding paragraphs of
+this Address, which alone formed the subject of debate, can fail to
+appreciate, in the present day, the profound truth of the sentiments and
+the apt propriety of the language.
+
+"Assembled at your command from all points of the kingdom, we bring to
+you, Sire, from every quarter, the homage of a faithful people, still
+further inspired by having found you the most beneficent of all, in the
+midst of universal beneficence, and which reveres in your person the
+accomplished model of the most exemplary virtues. Sire, this people
+cherishes and respects your authority; fifteen years of peace and
+liberty which it owes to your august brother and to yourself, have
+deeply rooted in its heart the gratitude due to your august family: its
+reason, matured by experience and freedom of discussion, tells it that
+in questions of authority, above all others, antiquity of possession is
+the holiest of titles, and that it is as much for the happiness of
+France as for your personal glory, that ages have placed your throne in
+a region inaccessible to storms. The conviction of the nation accords
+then with its duty in representing to it the sacred privileges of your
+crown as the surest guarantee of its own liberties, and the integrity of
+your prerogatives as necessary to the preservation of public rights."
+
+"Nevertheless, Sire, in the midst of these unanimous sentiments of
+respect and affection with which your people surround you, there has
+become manifest in the general mind a feeling of inquietude which
+disturbs the security France had begun to enjoy, affects the sources of
+her prosperity, and might, if prolonged, become fatal to her repose. Our
+conscience, our honour, the fidelity we have pledged and which we shall
+ever maintain, impose on us the duty of unveiling to you the cause."
+
+"Sire, the Charter which we owe to the wisdom of your august
+predecessor, and the benefits of which your Majesty has declared a firm
+determination to consolidate, consecrate as a right the intervention of
+the country in the deliberation of public interests. This intervention
+ought to be, and is in fact, indirect, wisely regulated, circumscribed
+within limits minutely defined, and which, we shall never suffer any one
+to exceed; but it is also positive in its result; for it establishes a
+permanent concurrence between the political views of your government,
+and the wishes of your people, as an indispensable condition of the
+regular progress of public affairs. Sire, our loyalty and devotion
+compel us to declare that this concurrence does not exist."
+
+"An unjust suspicion of the sentiments and ideas of France forms the
+fundamental conviction of the present Ministry; your people look on this
+with sorrow, as injurious to the Government itself, and with uneasiness,
+as it appears to menace public liberty."
+
+"This suspicion could find no entrance in your own noble heart. No,
+Sire, _France is not more desirous of anarchy than you are of
+despotism_.[23] She is worthy of your having faith in her loyalty, as
+she relies implicitly on your promises."
+
+"Between those who misrepresent a nation so calm and loyal, and we, who
+with a deep conviction deposit in your bosom the complaints of an entire
+people, jealous of the esteem and confidence of their King, let the
+exalted wisdom of your Majesty decide! Your royal prerogatives have
+placed in your hands the means of establishing between the authorities
+of the State, that constitutional harmony, the first and most essential
+condition for the security of the Throne and the greatness of the
+country."]
+
+[Footnote 22: One of the ministerial journals of the time.]
+
+[Footnote 23: The words used by the Chamber of Peers in their address.]
+
+
+
+
+HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.
+
+
+No. I.
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, May 12th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+I return you a thousand thanks. I have read your articles with extreme
+pleasure. You praise me with so much grace, and bestow on me so many
+commendations, that you may easily afford to diminish the latter. Enough
+will always remain to satisfy my vanity as an author, and assuredly more
+than I deserve.
+
+I find your criticisms extremely just; one in particular has struck me
+by its refined taste. You say that the Catholics cannot, like the
+Protestants, admit a Christian mythology, because we have not been
+trained and accustomed to it by great poets. This is most ingenious; and
+if my work should be considered good enough to induce people to say that
+I am the first to commence this mythology, it might be replied that I
+come too late, that our taste is formed upon other models, etc. etc.
+etc.... Nevertheless there will always be Tasso, and all the Latin
+Catholic poems of the Middle Ages. This appears to me the only solid
+objection that can be raised against your remark.
+
+In truth, and I speak with perfect sincerity, the criticisms which,
+before yours, have appeared on my work, make me feel to a certain extent
+ashamed of the French. Have you observed that no one seems to have
+comprehended its design? That the rules of epic composition are so
+generally forgotten, that a work of thought and immense labour is judged
+as if it were the production of a day, or a mere romance? And all this
+outcry is against the marvellous! Would it not imply that I am the
+inventor of this style? that it has been hitherto unheard of, and is
+singular and new? And yet we have Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, Gessner, and
+even Voltaire! And if we are not to employ the marvellous in a Christian
+subject, there can no longer be an epic in modern poetry, for the
+marvellous is essential to that style of composition, and I believe no
+one would be inclined to introduce Jupiter in a subject taken from our
+own history. All this, like every thing else in France, is insincere.
+The question to be decided was, whether my work was good or bad as an
+epic poem; all was comprised in this point, without attempting to
+ascertain whether it was or was not contrary to religion; and a thousand
+other arguments of the same kind.
+
+I cannot deliver an opinion on my own work; I can only convey to you
+that of others. M. Fontanes is entirely in favour of 'The Martyrs.' He
+finds this production much superior to what I have written before, in
+plan, style, and characters.
+
+What appears singular to me is, that the third Book, which you condemn,
+seems to him one of the best of the whole! With regard to style, he
+thinks that I have never before reached so high a point as in the
+description of the happiness of the just, in that of the light of
+Heaven, and in the passage on the Virgin. He tolerates the length of the
+two dialogues between the Father and Son, on the necessity of
+establishing the epic machinery. Without these dialogues there could be
+no more narrative or action; the narrative and action are accounted for
+by the conversation of the uncreated beings.
+
+I mention this, Sir, not to convince, but to show you how sound
+judgments can see the same object under different aspects. With you I
+dislike the description of torture, but I consider it absolutely
+necessary in a work upon Martyrs. It has been consecrated by all history
+and every art. Christian painting and sculpture have selected these
+subjects; herein lies the real controversy of the question. You, Sir,
+who are well acquainted with the details, know to what extent I have
+softened the picture, and how much I have suppressed of the _Acta
+Martyrum_, particularly in holding back physical agony, and in opposing
+agreeable images to harrowing torments. You are too just not to
+distinguish between the objections of the subject and the errors of the
+poet.
+
+For the rest, you, Sir, well know the tempest raised against my work,
+and the source from whence they proceed. There is another sore not
+openly displayed, and which lies at the root of all this anger. It is
+that _Hierocles_ massacres the Christians in the name of _philosophy_
+and _liberty_. Time will do me justice if my book deserves it, and you
+will greatly accelerate this judgment by publishing your articles, if
+you could be induced to modify them to a certain extent. Show me my
+faults and I will correct them. I only despise those writers, who are as
+contemptible in their language as in the secret reasons which prompt
+them to speak. I can neither find reason nor honour in the mouths of
+those literary mountebanks in the hire of the Police, who dance in the
+kennels for the amusement of lacqueys.
+
+I am in my cottage, where I shall be delighted to hear from you. It
+would give me the greatest pleasure to receive you here, if you would be
+so kind as to visit me. Accept the assurance of my profound esteem and
+high consideration.
+
+DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, May 30th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+Far from troubling me, you have given me the greatest pleasure in doing
+me the favour to communicate your ideas. This time I shall condemn the
+introduction of the marvellous in a Christian subject, and am willing to
+believe with you, that it will never be adopted in France. But I cannot
+admit that 'The Martyrs' are founded on a heresy. The question is not of
+a _redemption_, which would be absurd, but of an _expiation_, which is
+entirely consistent with faith. In all ages, the Church has held that
+the blood of a martyr could efface the sins of the people, and deliver
+them from their penalties. Undoubtedly you know, better than I do, that
+formerly, in times of war and calamity, a monk was confined in a tower
+or a cell, where he fasted and prayed for the salvation of all. I have
+not left my intention in doubt, for in the third Book I have caused it
+to be positively declared to the Eternal that Eudore will draw the
+blessings of Heaven upon the Christians through the merits of the blood
+of the Saviour. This, as you see, is precisely the orthodox phrase, and
+the exact lesson of the catechism. The doctrine of expiation, so
+consolatory in other respects, and consecrated by antiquity, has been
+acknowledged in our religion: its mission from Christ has not destroyed
+it. And I may observe, incidentally, that I hope the sacrifice of some
+innocent victim, condemned in the Revolution, will obtain from Heaven
+the pardon of our guilty country. Those whom we have slaughtered are,
+perhaps, praying for us at this very moment. Surely you cannot wish to
+renounce this sublime hope, which springs from the tears and blood of
+Christians.
+
+In conclusion, the frankness and sincerity of your conduct make me
+forget for a moment the baseness of the present age. What can we think
+of a time when an honest man is told, "You will pronounce on such a
+work, such an opinion; you will praise or blame it, not according to
+your conscience, but according to the spirit of the journal in which you
+write"! We are too happy to find critics like you, who stand up against
+such conventional baseness, and preserve the tradition of honour for
+human nature. As a conclusive estimate, if you carefully examine 'The
+Martyrs,' undoubtedly you will find much to reprehend; but taking all
+points into consideration, you will see that in plan, characters, and
+style, it is the best and least defective of my feeble writings.
+
+I have a nephew in Russia, named Moreau, the grandson of a sister of my
+mother; I am scarcely acquainted with him, but I believe him to be an
+honourable man. His father, who was also in Russia, returned to France
+about a year ago. I have been delighted with the opportunity which
+has procured for me the honour of becoming acquainted with
+Mademoiselle de Meulan; she has appeared to me, as in all that she
+writes, full of mind, good taste, and sense. I much fear that I
+inconvenienced her by the length of my visit; I have the fault of
+remaining wherever I find amiable acquaintances, and especially when I
+meet exalted characters and noble sentiments.
+
+I repeat most sincerely the assurance of my high esteem, gratitude, and
+devotion. I look forward with impatience to the moment when I can either
+receive you in my hermitage, or visit you in your solitude.
+
+   Accept, I pray you, my sincerest compliments.
+   DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, June 12th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+I happened to be absent from my valley for several days, which has
+prevented me from replying sooner to your letters. Behold me thoroughly
+convinced of heresy. I admit that the word _redeemed_ escaped me
+inadvertently, and in truth contrary to my intention. But there it is,
+and I shall efface it from the next edition.
+
+I have read your first two articles, and repeat my thanks for them. They
+are excellent, and you praise me far beyond what I deserve. What has
+been said with respect to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is quite
+correct. The description could only have been given by one who knows the
+localities. But the Holy Sepulchre itself might easily have escaped the
+fire without a special miracle. It forms, in the middle of the circular
+nave of the church, a kind of catafalque of white marble: the cupola of
+cedar, in falling, might have crushed it, but could not have set it on
+fire. It is nevertheless a very extraordinary circumstance, and one
+worthy of much longer details than can be confined within the limits of
+a letter.
+
+I wish much that I could relate these particulars to you, personally, in
+your retirement. Unfortunately, Madame de Châteaubriand is ill, and I
+cannot leave her. But I do not give up the idea of paying you a visit,
+nor of receiving you here in my hermitage. Honourable men ought,
+particularly at present, to unite for mutual consolation. Generous ideas
+and exalted sentiments become every day so rare that we ought to be too
+happy when we encounter them. I should be delighted if my society could
+prove agreeable to you, as also to M. Stapfer, to whom I beg you will
+convey my warmest thanks.
+
+Accept once more, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration and
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit me to add, of a friendship
+which is commenced under the auspices of frankness and honour.
+
+DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+The best description of Jerusalem is that of Danville; but his little
+treatise is very scarce. In general, all travellers are very exact as to
+Palestine; there is a letter in the 'Lettres Édifiantes' ('Missions to
+the Levant'), which leaves nothing to be desired. With regard to
+M. de Volney, he is valuable on the government of the Turks, but it is
+evident that he has not been at Jerusalem. It is probable that he never
+went beyond Ramleh or Rama, the ancient Arimathea. You may also consult
+the 'Theatrum Terræ Sanctæ' of Adrichomius.
+
+
+
+
+No. II.
+
+
+COUNT DE LALLY-TOLENDAL TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Brussels, April 27th, 1811._
+
+Sir,
+
+You will be unable to account for my silence, as I found it difficult to
+understand the tardy arrival of the prospectuses you had promised me in
+your letter of the fourth of this month. I must explain to you that the
+porter here had confounded that packet with the files of unimportant
+printed papers addressed to a Prefecture, and if the want of a book had
+not induced me to visit the private study of the Prefect, I should
+perhaps have not yet discovered the mistake. I thank you for the
+confidence with which you have treated me on this occasion. You are
+aware that no one renders you more than I do, the full justice to which
+you are entitled, and you also know that I accord it equally from
+inclination and conviction. My generation has passed away, yours is in
+full action, and a third is on the point of rising. I see you placed
+between two, to console the first, to do honour to the second, and to
+form the third. Endeavour to make the last like yourself; by which I do
+not mean that I wish all the little boys to know as much as you do, or
+all the little girls to resemble in everything, your more than amiable
+partner. We must not desire what we cannot obtain, and I should too much
+regret my own decline if such an attractive age were about to commence.
+But restrain my idea within its due limits, and dictate like Solon the
+best laws which the infancy of the nineteenth century can bear or
+receive; this will abundantly suffice. Today the _mox progeniem daturos
+vitiosiorem_ would make one's hair stand on end.
+
+Madame de la Tour du Pin, a Baroness of the Empire for two years, a
+Prefectess of the Dyle for three, and a religious mother for twenty,
+will recommend your journal with all the influence of her two first
+titles, and subscribes to it with all the interest that the last can
+inspire. I, who have no other pretension, and desire no other, than that
+of a father and a friend, request your permission to subscribe for my
+daughter, who, commencing the double education of a little Arnaud and a
+little Léontine, will be delighted to profit by your double instruction.
+I believe also that the grandfather himself will often obtain knowledge,
+and always pleasure, from the same source. It seems to me that no
+association could be more propitious to the union of the _utile dulci_.
+If I were to allow free scope to my pen, I feel assured that I should
+write thus like a madman to one of the two authors: "Not being able to
+make myself once more young, to adore your merits, I become an old
+infant, to receive your lessons. I kiss from a distance the hand of my
+youthful nurse, with the most profound respect, but not sufficiently
+abstracted from some of those emotions which have followed my first
+childhood, and which my second education ought to correct. Is it
+possible to submit to your rod with more ingenuousness? At least I
+confess my faults. As I am bound to speak the truth, I dare not yet add,
+_this can never happen to me again_. But the strong resolution will come
+with weak age; and the more I can transform myself, the nearer I shall
+approach perfection."
+
+Will you be so kind as to present my respects to Madame and Mademoiselle
+de Meulan. Have you not a very excellent and amiable young man (another
+of the few who are consoled by elevation and purity of mind), the nephew
+of M. Hocher, residing under the same roof with yourself? If so, I beg
+you to recall me to his remembrance, and through him to that of his
+uncle, from whom I expect, with much anxiety, an answer upon a matter of
+the greatest interest to the uncle of my son-in-law, in the installation
+of the Imperial Courts. But nothing has arrived by the post.
+
+I shall say nothing to you of our good and estimable friends of the
+Place Louis Quinze, for I am going to write to them directly.
+
+But it has just occurred to me to entreat a favour of you before I close
+my letter. When, in your precepts to youth, you arrive at the chapter
+and age which treats of the choice of a profession, I implore you to
+insert something to this effect: "If your vocation leads you to be a
+publisher or editor of any work, moral, political, or historical, it
+matters not which, do not consider yourself at liberty to mutilate an
+author without his previous knowledge, and above all, one who is
+tenacious of the inviolability of his text more from conscience than
+self-love. If you mutilate him on your own responsibility, which is
+tolerably bold, do not believe that you are permitted to substitute a
+fictitious member of your own construction for the living one you have
+lopped off; and be cautious lest, without being aware of it, you replace
+an arm of flesh by a wooden leg. But break up all your presses rather
+than make him say, under the seal of his own signature, the contrary of
+what he has written, thought, or felt. To do this is an offence almost
+amounting to a moral crime." I write more at length on this topic to my
+friends of the Place Louis Quinze, and I beg you to speak to none but
+them of my enigma, which assuredly you have already solved; I hope that
+what has now offended and vexed me will not happen again. In saying what
+was necessary, I used very guarded expressions. I do not wish a rupture,
+the vengeance of which might fall on cherished memories or living
+friends. My letter has taken a very serious turn; I little thought, when
+I began, that it would lead me to this conclusion. I feel that I am in
+conversation with you, and carried away by full confidence. It is most
+gratifying to me to have added an involuntary proof of this sentiment to
+the spontaneous expression of all those with which you have so deeply
+inspired me, and the assurance of which I have the honour to repeat,
+accompanied by my sincere salutations.
+
+LALLY-TOLENDAL.
+
+P.S. Allow me to enclose the addresses for the two subscriptions.
+
+
+
+
+No. III.
+
+
+_Discourse delivered by M. GUIZOT, on the opening of his first Course of
+Lectures on Modern History. December 11th, 1812._
+
+A statesman equally celebrated for his character and misfortunes, Sir
+Walter Raleigh, had published the first part of a 'History of the
+World;' while confined in the Tower, he employed himself in finishing
+the second. A quarrel arose in one of the courts of the prison; he
+looked on attentively at the contest, which became sanguinary, and left
+the window with his imagination strongly impressed by the scene that had
+passed under his eyes. On the morrow a friend came to visit him, and
+related what had occurred. But great was his surprise when this friend,
+who had been present at and even engaged in the occurrence of the
+preceding day, proved to him that this event, in its result as well as
+in its particulars, was precisely the contrary of what he had believed
+he saw. Raleigh, when left alone, took up his manuscript and threw it in
+the fire; convinced that, as he had been so completely deceived with
+respect to the details of an incident he had actually witnessed, he
+could know nothing whatever of those he had just described with his pen.
+
+Are we better informed or more fortunate than Sir Walter Raleigh? The
+most confident historian would hesitate to answer this question directly
+in the affirmative. History relates a long series of events, and depicts
+a vast number of characters; and let us recollect, gentlemen, the
+difficulty of thoroughly understanding a single character or a solitary
+event. Montaigne, after having passed his life in self-study, was
+continually making new discoveries on his own nature; he has filled a
+long work with them, and ends by saying, "Man is a subject so
+diversified, so uncertain and vain, that it is difficult to pronounce
+any fixed and uniform opinion on him." He is, in fact, an obscure
+compound of an infinity of ideas and sentiments, which change and modify
+themselves reciprocally, and of which it is as difficult to disentangle
+the sources as to foresee the results. An uncertain produce of a
+multiplicity of circumstances, sometimes impenetrable, always
+complicated, often unknown to the person influenced by them, and not
+even suspected by those who surround him, man scarcely learns how to
+know himself, and is never more than guessed at by others. The simplest
+mind, if it attempted to examine and describe itself, would impart to us
+a thousand secrets, of which we have not the most remote suspicion. And
+how many different men are comprised in an event! how many whose
+characters have influenced that event, and have modified its nature,
+progress, and effects! Bring together circumstances in perfect
+accordance; suppose situations exactly similar: let a single actor
+change, and all is changed. He is urged by fresh motives, and desires
+new objects. Take the same actors, and alter but one of those
+circumstances independent of human will, which are called chance or
+destiny; and all is changed again. It is from this infinity of details,
+where everything is obscure, and nothing isolated, that history is
+composed; and man, proud of what he knows, because he forgets to think
+of how much he is ignorant, believes that he has acquired a full
+knowledge of history when he has read what some few have told him, who
+had no better means of understanding the times in which they lived, than
+we possess of justly estimating our own.
+
+What then are we to seek and find in the darkness of the past, which
+thickens as it recedes from us? If Cæsar, Sallust, or Tacitus have only
+been able to transmit doubtful and imperfect notions, can we rely on
+what they relate? And if we are not to trust them, how are we to supply
+ourselves with information? Shall we be capable of disembarrassing our
+minds of those ideas and manners, and of that new existence, which a new
+order of things has produced, to adopt momentarily in our thoughts other
+manners and ideas, and a different character of being? Must we learn to
+become Greeks, Romans, or Barbarians, in order to understand these
+Romans, Barbarians, or Greeks, before we venture to judge them? And even
+if we could attain this difficult abnegation of an actual and imperious
+reality, should we become then as well acquainted with the history of
+the times of which they tell us, as were Cæsar, Sallust, or Tacitus?
+After being thus transported to the midst of the world they describe, we
+should find gaps in their delineations, of which we have at present no
+conception, and of which they were not always sensible themselves. That
+multiplicity of facts which, grouped together and viewed from a
+distance, appear to fill time and space, would present to us, if we
+found ourselves placed on the ground they occupy, as voids which we
+should find it impossible to fill up, and which the historians leave
+there designedly, because he who relates or describes what he sees, to
+others who see equally with himself, never feels called upon to
+recapitulate all that he knows.
+
+Let us therefore refrain from supposing that history can present to us,
+in reality, an exact picture of the past; the world is too extensive,
+the night of time too obscure, and man too weak for such a portrait to
+be ever a complete reflection.
+
+But can it be true that such important knowledge is entirely interdicted
+to us?--that in what we can acquire, all is a subject of doubt and
+error? Does the mind only enlighten itself to increase its wavering?
+Does it develope all its strength, merely to end in a confession of
+ignorance?--a painful and disheartening idea, which many men of superior
+intellect have encountered in their course, but by which they ought
+never to have been impeded!
+
+Man seldom asks himself what he really requires to know, in his ardent
+pursuit of knowledge; he need only cast a glance upon his studies, to
+discover two divisions, the difference between which is striking,
+although we may be unable to assign the boundaries that separate them.
+Everywhere we perceive a certain innocent but futile labour, which
+attaches itself to questions and inquiries equally inaccessible and
+without results--which has no other object than to satisfy the restless
+curiosity of minds, the first want of which is occupation; and
+everywhere, also, we observe useful, productive, and interesting
+inquiry, not only advantageous to those who indulge in it, but
+beneficial to human nature at large. What time and talent have men
+wasted in metaphysical lucubrations! They have sought to penetrate the
+internal nature of things, of the mind, and of matter; they have taken
+purely vague combinations of words for substantial realities; but these
+very researches, or others which have arisen out of them, have
+enlightened us upon the order of our faculties, the laws by which they
+are governed, and the progress of their development; we have acquired
+from thence a history, a statistic of the human mind; and if no one has
+been able to tell us what it is, we have at least learned how it acts,
+and how we ought to act to strengthen its justice and extend its range.
+
+Was not the study of astronomy for a long time directed to the dreams of
+astrology? Gassendi himself began to investigate it with that view; and
+when science cured him of the prejudices of superstition, he repented
+that he so openly declared his conversion, because, he said, many
+persons formerly studied astronomy to become astrologers, and he now
+perceived that they ceased to learn astronomy, since he had condemned
+astrology. Who then can prove to us that, without the restlessness of
+anticipation which had led men to seek the future in the stars, the
+science, by which today our ships are directed, would ever have reached
+its present perfection?
+
+It is thus that we shall ever find, in the labours of man, one half
+fruitless, by the side of another moiety profitable; we shall then no
+longer condemn the curiosity which leads to knowledge; we shall
+acknowledge that, if the human mind often wanders in its path, if it has
+not always selected the most direct road, it has finally arrived, by the
+necessity of its nature, at the discovery of important truths; but, with
+progressive enlightenment, we shall endeavour not to lose time, to go
+straight to the end by concentrating our strength on fruitful inquiries
+and profitable results; and we shall soon convince ourselves that what
+man cannot do is valueless, and that he can achieve all that is
+necessary.
+
+The application of this idea to history will soon remove the difficulty
+which its uncertainty raised at the outset. For example, it is of little
+consequence to us to know the exact personal appearance or the precise
+day of the birth of Constantine; to ascertain what particular motives or
+individual feelings may have influenced his determination or conduct on
+any given occasion; to be acquainted with all the details of his wars
+and victories in the struggles with Maxentius or Licinius: these minor
+points concern the monarch alone; and the monarch exists no longer. The
+anxiety some scholars display in hunting them out is merely a
+consequence of the interest which attaches to great names and important
+reminiscences. But the results of the conversion of Constantine, his
+administrative system, the political and religious principles which he
+established in his empire,--these are the matters which it imports the
+present generation to investigate; for they do not expire with a
+particular age, they form the destiny and glory of nations, they confer
+or take away the use of the most noble faculties of man; they either
+plunge them silently into a state of misery alternately submissive and
+rebellious, or establish for them the foundation of a lasting
+happiness.
+
+It may be said, to a certain extent, that there are two pasts, the one
+entirely extinct and without real interest, because its influence has
+not extended beyond its actual duration; the other enduring for ever by
+the empire it has exercised over succeeding ages, and by that alone
+preserved to our knowledge, since what remains of it is there to
+enlighten us upon what has perished. History presents us, at every
+epoch, with some predominant ideas, some great events which have decided
+the fortune and character of a long series of generations. These ideas
+and events have left monuments which still remain, or which long
+remained, on the face of the world; an extended trace, in perpetuating
+the memory and effect of their existence, has multiplied the materials
+suitable for our guidance in the researches of which they are the
+object; reason itself can here supply us with its positive data to
+conduct us through the uncertain labyrinth of facts. In a past event
+there may have been some particular circumstance at present unknown,
+which would completely alter the idea we have formed of it. Thus, we
+shall never discover the reason which delayed Hannibal at Capua, and
+saved Rome; but in an effect which has endured for a long time, we
+easily ascertain the nature of its cause. The despotic authority which
+the Roman Senate exercised for ages over the people, explains to us the
+ideas of liberty within which the Senators restricted themselves when
+they expelled their kings. Let us then follow the path in which we can
+have reason for our guide; let us apply the principles, with which she
+furnishes us, to the examples borrowed from history. Man, in the
+ignorance and weakness to which the narrow limits of his life and
+faculties condemn him, has received reason to supply knowledge, as
+industry is given to him in place of strength.
+
+Such, gentlemen, is the point of view under which we shall endeavour to
+contemplate history. We shall seek, in the annals of nations, a
+knowledge of the human race; we shall try to discover what, in every age
+and state of civilization, have been the prevailing ideas and
+principles in general adoption, which have produced the happiness or
+misery of the generations subjected to their power, and have influenced
+the destiny of those which succeeded them. The subject is one of the
+most abundant in considerations of this nature. History presents to us
+periods of development, during which man, emerging from a state of
+barbarism and ignorance, arrives gradually at a condition of science and
+advancement, which may decline, but can never perish, for knowledge is
+an inheritance that always finds heirs. The civilization of the
+Egyptians and Phoenicians prepared that of the Greeks; while that of
+the Romans was not lost to the barbarians who established themselves
+upon the ruins of the Empire. No preceding age has ever enjoyed the
+advantage we possess, of studying this slow but real progression: while
+looking back on the past, we can recognize the route which the human
+race has followed in Europe for more than two thousand years. Modern
+history alone, from its vast scope, from the variety and extent of its
+duration, offers us the grandest and most complete picture which we
+could possibly possess of the civilization of a certain portion of the
+globe. A rapid glance will suffice to indicate the character and
+interest of the subject.
+
+Rome had conquered what her pride delighted to call the world. Western
+Asia, from the frontiers of Persia, the North of Africa, Greece,
+Macedonia, Thrace, all the countries situated on the right bank of the
+Danube, from its source to its mouth, Italy, Gaul, Great Britain, and
+Spain, acknowledged her authority. That authority extended over more
+than a thousand leagues in breadth, from the Wall of Antoninus and the
+southern boundaries of Dacia, to Mount Atlas;--and beyond fifteen
+hundred leagues in length, from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. But
+if the immense extent of these conquests at first surprises the
+imagination, the astonishment diminishes when we consider how easy they
+were of accomplishment, and how uncertain of duration. In Asia, Rome
+had only to contend with effeminate races; in Europe, with ignorant
+savages, whose governments, without union, regularity, or vigour, were
+unable to contend with the strong constitution of the Roman aristocracy.
+Let us pause a moment to reflect on this. Rome found it more difficult
+to defend herself against Hannibal than to subjugate the world; and as
+soon as the world was subdued, Rome began to lose, by degrees, all that
+she had won by conquest. How could she maintain her power? The
+comparative state of civilization between the victors and the vanquished
+had prevented union or consolidation into one substantial and
+homogeneous whole; there was no extended and regular administration, no
+general and safe communication; the provinces were only connected with
+Rome by the tribute they paid; Rome was unknown in the provinces, except
+by the tribute she exacted. Everywhere, in Asia Minor, in Africa, in
+Spain, in Britain, in the North of Gallia, small colonies defended and
+maintained their independence; all the power of the Emperors was
+inadequate to compel the submission of the Isaurians. The whole formed a
+chaos of nations half vanquished and semi-barbarous, without interest or
+existence in the State of which they were considered a portion, and
+which Rome denominated the Empire.
+
+No sooner was this Empire conquered, than it began to dissolve, and that
+haughty city which looked upon every region as subdued where she could,
+by maintaining an army, appoint a proconsul, and levy imposts, soon saw
+herself compelled to abandon, almost voluntarily, the possessions she
+was unable to retain. In the year of Christ 270, Aurelian retired from
+Dacia, and tacitly abandoned that territory to the Goths; in 412,
+Honorius recognized the independence of Great Britain and Armorica; in
+428, he wished the inhabitants of Gallia Narbonensis to govern
+themselves. On all sides we see the Romans abandoning, without being
+driven out, countries whose obedience, according to the expression of
+Montesquieu, _weighed upon them_, and which, never having been
+incorporated with the Empire, were sure to separate from it on the first
+shock.
+
+The shock came from a quarter which the Romans, notwithstanding their
+pride, had never considered one of their provinces. Even more barbarous
+than the Gauls, the Britons, and the Spaniards, the Germans had never
+been conquered, because their innumerable tribes, without fixed
+residences or country, ever ready to advance or retreat, sometimes threw
+themselves, with their wives and flocks, upon the possessions of Rome,
+and at others retired before her armies, leaving nothing for conquest
+but a country without inhabitants, which they re-occupied as soon as the
+weakness or distance of the conquerors afforded them the opportunity. It
+is to this wandering life of a hunting nation, to this facility of
+flight and return, rather than to superior bravery, that the Germans
+were indebted for the preservation of their independence. The Gauls and
+Spaniards had also defended themselves courageously; but the one,
+surrounded by the ocean, knew not where to fly from enemies they could
+not expel; and the other, in a state of more advanced civilization,
+attacked by the Romans, to whom the Narbonnese province afforded, in the
+very heart of Gaul itself, an impregnable base, and repulsed by the
+Germans from the land into which they might have escaped, were also
+compelled to submit. Drusus and Germanicus had long before penetrated
+into Germany; they withdrew, because the Germans always retreating
+before them, they would, by remaining, have only occupied territory
+without subjects.
+
+When, from causes not connected with the Roman Empire, the Tartar tribes
+who wandered through the deserts of Sarmatia and Scythia, from the
+northern frontiers of China, marched upon Germany, the Germans, pressed
+by these new invaders, threw themselves upon the Roman provinces, to
+conquer possessions where they might establish themselves in
+perpetuity. Rome then fought in defence; the struggle was protracted;
+the skill and courage of some of the Emperors for a long time opposed a
+powerful barrier; but the Barbarians were the ultimate conquerors,
+because it was imperative on them to win the victory, and their swarms
+of warriors were inexhaustible. The Visigoths, the Alani, and the Suevi
+established themselves in the South, of Gaul and Spain; the Vandals
+passed over into Africa; the Huns occupied the banks of the Danube; the
+Ostrogoths founded their kingdom in Italy; the Franks in the North of
+Gaul; Rome ceased to call herself the mistress of Europe; Constantinople
+does not apply to our present subject.
+
+Those nations of the East and the North who transported themselves in a
+mass into the countries where they were destined to found States, the
+more durable because they conquered not to extend but to establish
+themselves, were barbarians, such as the Romans themselves had long
+remained. Force was their law, savage independence their delight; they
+were free because none of them had ever thought or believed that men as
+strong as themselves would submit to their domination; they were brave
+because courage with them was a necessity; they loved war because war
+brings occupation without labour; they desired lands because these new
+possessions supplied them with a thousand novel sources of enjoyment,
+which they could indulge in while giving themselves up to idleness. They
+had chiefs because men leagued together always have leaders, and because
+the bravest, ever held in high consideration, soon become the most
+powerful, and bequeath to their descendants a portion of their own
+personal influence. These chiefs became kings; the old subjects of Rome,
+who at first had only been called upon to receive, to lodge, and feed
+their new masters, were soon compelled to surrender to them a portion of
+their estates; and as the labourer, as well as the plant, attaches
+himself to the soil that nourishes him, the lands and the labourers
+became the property of these turbulent and lazy owners. Thus feudalism
+was established,--not suddenly, not by an express convention between the
+chief and his followers, not by an immediate and regular division of the
+conquered country amongst the conquerors, but by degrees, after long
+years of uncertainty, by the simple force of circumstances, as must
+always happen when conquest is followed by transplantation and continued
+possession.
+
+We should be wrong in supposing that the barbarians were destitute of
+all moral convictions. Man, in that early epoch of civilization, does
+not reflect upon what we call duties; but he knows and respects, amongst
+his fellow-beings, certain rights, some traces of which are discoverable
+even under the empire of the most absolute force. A simple code of
+justice, often violated, and cruelly avenged, regulates the simple
+intercourse of associated savages. The Germans, unacquainted with any
+other laws or ties, found themselves suddenly transported into the midst
+of an order of things founded on different ideas, and demanding
+different restrictions. This gave them no trouble; their passage was too
+rapid to enable them to ascertain and supply what was deficient in their
+legislature and policy. Bestowing little thought on their new subjects,
+they continued to follow the same principles and customs which recently,
+in the forests of Germany, had regulated their conduct and decided their
+quarrels. Thus the conquered people were, at first, more forgotten than
+vanquished, more despised than oppressed; they constituted the mass of
+the nation, and this mass found itself controlled without being reduced
+to servitude, because they were not thought of, and because the
+conquerors never suspected that they could possess rights which they
+feared to defend. From thence sprang, in the sequel, that long disorder
+at the commencement of the Middle Ages, during which everything was
+isolated, fortuitous, and partial; hence also proceeded the absolute
+separation between the nobles and the people, and those abuses of the
+feudal system which only became portions of a system when long
+possession had caused to be looked upon as a right, what at first was
+only the produce of conquest and chance.
+
+The clergy alone, to whom the conversion of the victors afforded the
+means of acquiring a power so much the greater that its force and extent
+could only be judged by the opinion it directed, maintained their
+privileges, and secured their independence. The religion which the
+Germans embraced became the only channel through which they derived new
+ideas, the sole point of contact between them and the inhabitants of
+their adopted country. The clergy, at first, thought only of their own
+interest; in this mode of communication, all the immediate advantages of
+the invasion of the barbarians were reaped by them for themselves. The
+liberal and beneficent influences of Christianity expanded slowly; that
+of religious animosity and theological dispute was the first to make
+itself felt. It was only in the class occupied by those dissensions, and
+excited by those rancorous feelings, that energetic men were yet to be
+found in the Roman Empire; religious sentiments and duties had revived,
+in hearts penetrated with their importance, a degree of zeal long
+extinguished. St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose had alone resisted
+Constantine and Theodosius; their successors were the sole opponents who
+withstood the barbarians. This gave rise to the long empire of spiritual
+power, sustained with devotion and perseverance, and so weakly or
+fruitlessly assailed. We may say now, without fear, that the noblest
+characters, the men most distinguished by their ability or courage,
+throughout this period of misfortune and calamity, belonged to the
+ecclesiastical order; and no other epoch of history supplies, in such a
+remarkable manner, the confirmation of this truth, so honourable to
+human nature, and perhaps the most instructive of all others,--that the
+most exalted virtues still spring up and develope themselves in the
+bosom of the most pernicious errors.
+
+To these general features, intended to depict the ideas, manners, and
+conditions of men during the Middle Ages, it would be easy to add
+others, not less characteristic, and infinitely more minute. We should
+find poetry and literature, those beautiful and delightful emanations of
+the mind, the seeds of which have never been choked by all the follies
+and miseries of humanity, take birth in the very heart of barbarism, and
+charm the barbarians themselves by a new species of enjoyment. We should
+find the source and true character of that poetical, warlike, and
+religious enthusiasm which created chivalry and the crusades. We should
+probably discover, in the wandering lives of the knights and crusaders,
+the reflected influence of the roving habits of the German hunters, of
+that propensity to remove, and that superabundance of population, which
+ever exist where social order is not sufficiently well regulated for man
+to feel satisfied with his condition and locality; and before laborious
+industry has taught him to compel the earth to supply him with certain
+and abundant subsistence. Perhaps, also, that principle of honour which
+inviolably attached the German barbarians to a leader of their own
+choice, that individual liberty of which it was the fruit, and which
+gives man such an elevated idea of his own individual importance; that
+empire of the imagination which obtains such control over all young
+nations, and induces them to attempt the first steps beyond physical
+wants and purely material incitements, might furnish us with the causes
+of the elevation, enthusiasm, and devotion which, sometimes detaching
+the nobles of the Middle Ages from their habitual rudeness, inspired
+them with the noble sentiments and virtues that even in the present day
+command our admiration. We should then feel little surprised at seeing
+barbarity and heroism united, so much energy combined with so much
+weakness, and the natural coarseness of man in a savage state blended
+with the most sublime aspirations of moral refinement.
+
+It was reserved for the latter half of the fifteenth century to witness
+the birth of events destined to introduce new manners and a fresh order
+of politics into Europe, and to lead the world towards the direction it
+follows at present. Italy, we may say, discovered the civilization of
+the Greeks; the letters, arts, and ideas of that brilliant antiquity
+inspired universal enthusiasm. The long quarrels of the Italian
+Republics, after having forced men to display their utmost energy, made
+them also feel the necessity of a period of repose ennobled and charmed
+by the occupations of the mind. The study of classic literature supplied
+the means; they were seized with ardour. Popes, cardinals, princes,
+nobles, and men of genius gave themselves up to learned researches; they
+wrote to each other, they travelled to communicate their mutual labours,
+to discover, to read, and to copy ancient manuscripts. The discovery of
+printing came to render these communications easy and prompt; to make
+this commerce of the mind extended and prolific. No other event has so
+powerfully influenced human civilization. Books became a tribune from
+which the world was addressed. That world was soon doubled. The compass
+opened safe roads across the monotonous immensity of the seas. America
+was discovered; and the sight of new manners, the agitation of new
+interests which were no longer the trifling concerns of one town or
+castle with another, but the great transactions of mighty powers,
+changed entirely the ideas of individuals and the political intercourse
+of States.
+
+The invention of gunpowder had already altered their military relations;
+the issue of battles no longer depended on the isolated bravery of
+warriors, but on the power and skill of leaders. It has not yet been
+sufficiently investigated to what extent this discovery has secured
+monarchical authority, and given rise to the balance of power.
+
+Finally, the Reformation struck a deadly blow against spiritual
+supremacy, the consequences of which are attributable to the bold
+examination of the theological questions and political shocks which led
+to the separation of religious sects, rather than to the new dogmas
+adopted by the Reformers as the foundation of their belief.
+
+Figure to yourselves, gentlemen, the effect which these united causes
+were calculated to produce in the midst of the fermentation by which the
+human species was at that time excited, in the progress of the
+superabundant energy and activity which characterized the Middle Ages.
+From that time, this activity, so long unregulated, began to organize
+itself and advance towards a defined object; this energy submitted to
+laws; isolation disappeared; the human race formed itself into one great
+body; public opinion assumed influence; and if an age of civil wars, of
+religious dissensions, presents the lengthened echo of that powerful
+shock which towards the end of the fifteenth century staggered Europe,
+under so many different forms, it is not the less to the ideas and
+discoveries which produced that blow that we are indebted for the two
+centuries of splendour, order, and peace during which civilization has
+reached the point where we find it in the present day.
+
+This is not the place to follow the march of human nature during these
+two centuries. That history is so extensive, and composed of so many
+relations, alternately vast and minute, but always important; of so many
+events closely connected, brought about by causes so mixed together, and
+causes in their turn productive of such numerous effects, of so many
+different labours, that it is impossible to recapitulate them within a
+limited compass. Never have so many powerful and neighbouring States
+exercised upon each other such constant and complicated influence; never
+has their interior structure presented so many ramifications to study;
+never has the human mind advanced at once upon so many different roads;
+never have so many events, actors, and ideas been engaged in such an
+extended space, or produced such interesting and instructive results.
+Perhaps on some future occasion we may enter into this maze, and look
+for the clew to guide us through it. Called upon, at present, to study
+the first ages of modern history, we shall seek for their cradle in the
+forests of Germany, the country of our ancestors; after having drawn a
+picture of their manners, as complete as the number of facts which have
+reached our knowledge, the actual state of our information, and my
+efforts to reach that level will permit, we shall then cast a glance
+upon the condition of the Roman Empire at the moment when the barbarians
+invaded it to attempt establishment; after that we shall investigate the
+long struggles which ensued between them and Rome, from their irruption
+into the West and South of Europe, down to the foundation of the
+principal modern monarchies. This foundation will thus become for us a
+resting-point, from whence we shall depart again to follow the course of
+the history of Europe, which is in fact our own; for if unity, the fruit
+of the Roman dominion, disappeared with it, there are always,
+nevertheless, between the different nations which rose upon its ruins,
+relations so multiplied, so continued, and so important, that from them,
+in the whole of modern history taken together, an actual unity results
+which we shall be compelled to acknowledge. This task is enormous; and
+when we contemplate its full extent, it is impossible not to recoil
+before the difficulty. Judge then, gentlemen, whether I ought not to
+tremble at such an undertaking; but your indulgence and zeal will make
+up for the weakness of my resources: I shall be more than repaid if I am
+able to assist you in advancing even a few steps on the road which leads
+to truth!
+
+
+
+
+No. IV.
+
+THE ABBÉ DE MONTESQUIOU TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_March 31st, 1815._
+
+
+I am not, my dear Sir, so lost to my friends that I have forgotten their
+friendship: yours has had many charms for me. I do not reproach myself
+with the poor trick I have played you. Your age does not run a long
+lease with mine. We can only show the public the objects worthy of their
+confidence; and I congratulate myself with having left them an
+impression of you which will not readily be effaced. I have been less
+fortunate on my own account, and can only deplore that fatality which
+has triumphed over my convictions, my repugnances, and the immeasurable
+consolations which friendship has bestowed on me. Let my example be
+profitable to you on some future occasion. Give to public affairs the
+period of your strength, but not that which requires repose alone; the
+interval will be long enough, at your time of life, to enable you to
+arrive at much distinction. I shall enjoy it with the interest which you
+know I feel, and with all the warm feelings with which your attachment
+has inspired me. Present my respects to Madame Guizot; it is to her I
+offer my apologies for having disturbed her tranquillity. But I hope her
+infant will profit by the strong food we have already administered to
+it. Allow me to request some token of remembrance from her as well as
+from yourself, for all the sentiments of respect and friendship I have
+vowed to you for life.
+
+
+THE ABBÉ DE MONTESQUIOU TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Plaisance, June 8th, 1816._
+
+I was expecting to hear from you, my dear friend, with much impatience,
+and I now thank you sincerely for having written to me. It was not that
+I doubted your philosophy; you know that those who precede their age
+learn too soon the uncertainty of all human affairs; but I feared lest
+your taste for your early avocations might induce you to abandon public
+affairs, for which you have evinced such ready ability; and we are not
+rich enough to make sacrifices. I feel very happy at being satisfied on
+this point, and leave the rest to the caprices of that destiny which can
+scarcely be harsh towards you. You will be distinguished at the Council,
+as you have been in all other situations; and it must naturally follow,
+that the better you are known, your career will become the more
+brilliant and secure. Youth, which feels its power, ought always to say,
+with the Cardinal de Bernis, "My Lord, I shall wait." The more I see of
+France, the more I am impressed with the truth, that those who believe
+they have secured the State by compromising the royal authority in these
+distant departments, have committed a mistake. All that are honest and
+rational are royalists; but, thanks to our own dissensions, they no
+longer know how to show themselves such. They thought until then, that
+to serve the King was to do what he required through the voice of his
+ministers, and they have been lately told that this was an error, but
+they have been left in ignorance as to who are his Majesty's real
+organs. The enemies to our repose profit by this. The most absurd
+stories are propagated amongst the people, and all are the people at so
+great a distance. I can imagine that the character of these disturbers
+varies in our different provinces. In this, where we have no large
+towns, and no aristocracy, we lie at the mercy of all who pretend to
+know more than ourselves. Great credit thus attaches to the Half-pays,
+who, belonging more to the people than to any other class, and not being
+able to digest their last disappointment, trade upon it in every
+possible manner, and are always believed because they are the richest in
+their immediate locality. The gentlemen Deputies come next upon the
+list, estimating themselves as little proconsuls, disposing of all
+places, and setting aside prefects. Thus you see how little authority
+remains with the King, whose agents are masters and do nothing in his
+name. As to the administration of justice, you may readily suppose that
+no one thinks of it. The people are in want of bread; their harvest rots
+under continual rains; the roads are horrible, the hospitals in the
+greatest misery; nothing remains but dismissals, accusations, and
+deputations. If you could change them for a little royal authority, we
+might still see the end of our sufferings; but make haste, for when the
+month of October has arrived it will be too late.
+
+Adieu, my dear friend, present my respects to Madame Guizot, and receive
+the fullest assurance of my good wishes.
+
+
+
+
+No. V.
+
+_Fragments selected from a Pamphlet by_ M. GUIZOT, _entitled 'Thoughts
+upon the Liberty of the Press,' 1814._
+
+
+Many of the calamities of France, calamities which might be indefinitely
+prolonged if they were not attacked at their source, arise, as I have
+just said, from the ignorance to which the French people have been
+condemned as to the affairs and position of the State, to the system of
+falsehood adopted by a Government which required everything to be
+concealed, and to the indifference and suspicion with which this
+habitual deceit and falsehood had inspired the citizens. It is truth,
+therefore, which ought to appear in broad daylight; it is obscurity
+which ought to be dissipated, if we wish to re-establish confidence and
+revive zeal. It will not suffice that the intentions of Government
+should be good, or its words sincere; it is requisite that the people
+should be convinced of this, and should be supplied with the means of
+satisfying themselves. When we have been for a long time tricked by an
+impostor, we become doubtful even of an honest man; and all our proverbs
+on the melancholy suspicion of old age are founded on this truth ...
+
+The nation, so long deceived, expects the truth from every quarter; at
+present, it has a hope of accomplishing this object. It demands it with
+anxiety from its representatives, its administrators, and from all who
+are believed capable of imparting it. The more it has been withheld up
+to this period, the more precious it will be considered. There will be
+this advantage, that it will be hailed with transport by the people as
+soon as they satisfy themselves that it may be trusted; and there will
+be a corresponding evil,--they will listen to it without fear, when they
+discover that they are left in freedom to deliver their opinions, and to
+labour openly in its support. No one questions the embarrassments which
+truth will dissipate, or the references it will supply. A nation from
+whom it has been sedulously withheld, soon believes that something
+hostile is in agitation, and recoils back into mistrust. But when the
+truth is openly manifested, when a Government displays a noble
+confidence in its own sentiments and in the good feeling of its
+subjects, this confidence excites theirs in return, and calls up all
+their zeal.... The French, certain to understand, and quick to utter
+truth, will soon abandon that injurious tendency to suspicion which
+leads them from all esteem for their head, and all devotion to the
+State. The most indifferent spirits will resume an interest in public
+affairs, when they discover that they can take a part in them; the most
+apprehensive will cease their fears when they cease to live in clouds;
+they will no longer be continually occupied in calculating how much they
+should reject out of the speeches that are addressed to them, the
+recitals delivered and the portions presented for investigation; or how
+much artifice, dangerous intention, or afterthought remains hidden in
+all that proceeds from the throne.... An extended liberty of the press
+can alone, while restoring confidence, give back that energy to the King
+and the people which neither can dispense with: it is the life of the
+soul that requires to be revived in the nation in which it has been
+extinguished by despotism; that life lies in the free action of the
+press, and thought can only expand and develope itself in full
+publicity. No one in France can longer dread the oppression under which
+we have lived for ten years; but if the want of action which weakness
+engenders were to succeed that which tyranny imposes;--if the weight of
+a terrible and mute agitation should be replaced only by the languor of
+repose, we should never witness a renewal in France of that national
+activity, that brave and generous disposition which makes many
+sacrifices to duty;--finally, of that confidence in the sovereign, the
+necessity of which will be more acknowledged every day. We should merely
+obtain from the nation a barren tranquillity, the insufficiency of which
+would compel recourse to measures evil in themselves, and very far
+removed from the paternal intentions of the King.
+
+Let us, on the contrary, adopt a system of liberty and frankness; let
+truth circulate freely from the throne to the people, and from the
+people to the throne; let the paths be opened to those who ought to
+speak freely, and to others who desire to learn; we shall then see
+apathy dissipate, suspicion vanish, and loyalty become general and
+spontaneous, from the certainty of its necessity and usefulness.
+
+Unfortunately, during the twenty-five years which have recently elapsed,
+we have so deplorably abused many advantages, that, at present, to name
+them suffices to excite the most deplorable apprehensions. We are not
+inclined to take into consideration the difference of the times, of
+situation, of the march of opinion, or of the temperament of men's
+minds: we look upon as always dangerous what has once proved fatal; we
+think and act as mothers might do, who, because they saw the infant
+fall, would prevent the youth from walking.... This inclination is
+general; we retrace it under every form; and those who have closely
+observed it will have little trouble in satisfying themselves that
+perfect liberty of the press, at least with regard to political
+questions, would, in the present day, be almost without danger. Those
+who fear it fancy themselves still at the beginning of the
+Revolution--at that epoch when all passions sought only to display
+themselves, when violence was the popular characteristic, and reason
+obtained only a contemptuous smile. Nothing can be more dissimilar than
+that time and the present; and, from the very cause that unlicensed
+freedom then gave rise to the most disastrous evils, we may infer,
+unless I deceive myself, that very few would now spring from the same
+source.
+
+Nevertheless, as many people appear to dread such a result; as I am
+unwilling to affirm that the experiment might not be followed by certain
+inconveniences, more mischievous from the fear they would inspire than
+from the actual consequences they might introduce;--as in the state in
+which we find ourselves, without a guide in the experience of the past,
+or certain data for the future, it is natural that we should advance
+cautiously; and as the spirit of the nation seems to indicate that in
+every respect circumspection is necessary, the opinions of those who
+think that some restrictions should be imposed, ought, perhaps, to
+prevail. For twenty-five years the nation has been so utterly a stranger
+to habits of true liberty, it has passed through so many different forms
+of despotism, and the last was felt to be so oppressive, that, in
+restoring freedom, we may dread inexperience more than impetuosity; it
+would not dream of attack, but it might prove unequal to defence; in the
+midst of the necessity for order and peace which is universally felt, in
+the midst of a collision of opposing interests which must be carefully
+dealt with, Government may wish, and with reason, to avoid the
+appearance of clashing and disturbance, which might probably be without
+importance, but the danger of which would be exaggerated by imagination.
+
+The question then reduces itself to this:--What are, under existing
+circumstances, the causes which call for a certain restraint in the
+liberty of the press? and by what restrictions, conformable to the
+nature of these causes, can we modify without destroying its freedom?
+and how shall we gradually remove these qualifications, for the present
+considered necessary?
+
+All liberty is placed between oppression and license: the liberty of man
+in the social state is necessarily restrained by certain laws, the abuse
+or oblivion of which are equally dangerous; but the circumstances which
+expose society to either of these perils are different. In a
+well-established government, solidly constituted, the danger against
+which the friends of liberty have to contend is oppression: all is there
+combined for the maintenance of law; all tends to support vigorous
+discipline, against which every individual labours to retain the share
+of freedom which is his due; the function of government is to support
+order; that of the governed to watch over liberty.
+
+The state of things is entirely different in a government only
+commencing. If it follows a period of misfortune and disturbance, during
+which morality and reason have been equally perverted,--when passions
+have been indulged without curb, when private interests have been
+paraded without shame,--then oppression falls within the number of
+dangers which are only to be anticipated, while license is that which
+must be directly opposed. Our Government has not yet attained its full
+strength; it is not yet possessed of all the means which are to be
+placed at its disposal to maintain order and rule: before acquiring all,
+it will be careful not to abuse any; and the governed, who are still
+without some of the advantages of order, wish to possess all those of
+confusion. They are not yet sufficiently sure of their own tranquillity,
+to abstain from attacking that of others. Every one is ready to inflict
+the blow he is exposed to receive; we offend with impunity the laws
+which have not yet foreseen all the methods that may be adopted to elude
+them; we brave without danger the authorities which cannot yet appeal,
+in their own support, to the experience of the happiness enjoyed under
+their auspices. It is, then, against particular attempts that constant
+watch should be kept; thus it becomes necessary to protect liberty from
+the outrages of license, and sometimes to prevent a strong government
+from being reduced to defence when uncertain of commanding obedience.
+
+Thus, unrestricted liberty of the press, without detrimental
+consequences in a state of government free, happy, and strongly
+constituted, might prove injurious under a system only commencing, and
+in which the citizens have still to acquire liberty and prosperity. In
+the first case there is no danger in allowing freedom of thought and
+utterance to all, because, if the order of things is good, the great
+majority of the members of society will be disposed to support it, and
+also because the nation, enlightened by its actual happiness, will not
+be easily drawn to the pursuit of something always represented as
+better, but ever uncertain of acquirement. In the second case, on the
+contrary, the passions and interests of many individuals, differing in
+themselves, and all, more or less, abstracted from any feeling for the
+public good, are neither instructed by prosperity nor enlightened by
+experience; there exist therefore in the nation very few barriers
+against the plotters of evil, while in the government there are many
+gaps through which disorder may introduce itself: every species of
+ambition revives, and none can tell on what point to settle; all seek
+their place, without being sure of finding it; common sense, which
+invents nothing, but knows how to select, has no fixed rule upon which
+to act; the bewildered multitude, who are directed by nothing and have
+not yet learned to direct themselves, know not what guide to follow; and
+in the midst of so many contradictory ideas, and incapable of separating
+truth from falsehood, the least evil that can happen is, that they may
+determine to remain in their ignorance and stupidity. While information
+is still so sparingly disseminated, the license of the press becomes an
+important obstacle to its progress; men, little accustomed to reason
+upon certain matters, and poor in positive knowledge, adopt too readily
+the errors which are propagated from every quarter, and find it
+difficult to distinguish readily the truth when presented to them;
+thence originate a host of false and crude notions, a multiplicity of
+judgments adopted without examination, and a pretended acquirement, the
+more mischievous as, occupying the place which reason alone should hold,
+it for a long time interdicts her approach.
+
+The Revolution has proved to us the danger arising from knowledge so
+erroneously obtained. From this danger we are now called on to protect
+ourselves. It is better to confess the fact: we have learned wisdom from
+misfortune; but the despotism of the last ten years has extinguished,
+for the greater part of the French people, the light we might thence
+have derived. Some individuals, undoubtedly, have continued to reflect,
+to observe, and to study--they have been instructed by the very
+despotism which oppressed them; but the nation in general, crushed and
+unfortunate, has found itself arrested in the development of its
+intellectual faculties. When we look closely into the fact, we feel
+surprised and almost ashamed of our national thoughtlessness and
+ignorance; we feel the necessity of emerging from it. The most
+oppressive yoke alone was able to reduce, and could again reduce it for
+a certain time to silence and inaction; but it requires to be propped
+and guided, and, after so much experimental imprudence, for the interest
+even of reason and knowledge, the liberty of the press, which we have
+never yet enjoyed, ought to be attempted with caution.
+
+Regarded in this point of view, the restrictions which may be applied
+will less startle the friends of truth and justice; they will see in
+them nothing more than a concession to existing circumstances, dictated
+solely by the interest of the nation; and if care is taken to limit this
+concession so that it may never become dangerous; if, in establishing a
+barrier against license, a door is always left open for liberty; if the
+object of these restrictions is evidently to prepare the French people
+to dispense with them, and to arrive hereafter at perfect freedom; if
+they are so combined and modified that the liberty may go on
+increasing until the nation becomes more capable of enjoying it
+profitably;--finally, if, instead of impeding the progress of the human
+mind, they are only calculated to assure it, and to direct the course of
+the most enlightened spirits;--so far from considering them as an attack
+upon the principles of justice, we shall see in them a measure of
+prudence, a guarantee for public order, and a new motive for hoping that
+the overthrow of that order will never again occur to disturb or retard
+the French nation in the career of truth and reason.
+
+
+
+
+No. VI.
+
+_Report to the King, and Royal Decree for the Reform of Public
+Instruction, February 17th, 1815._
+
+
+Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all who may
+receive these presents, they come greeting.
+
+Having had an account delivered to us, of the state of public
+instruction in our kingdom, we have observed that it rested upon
+institutions destined to advance the political views of the Government
+which had formed them, rather than to extend to our subjects the
+advantages of moral education, conformable with the necessities of the
+age. We have rendered justice to the wisdom and zeal of all who were
+appointed to watch over and direct instruction. We have seen with
+satisfaction that they have never ceased to struggle against the
+obstacles which the times opposed to them, and also to the institutions
+which they were called to put in force. But we have felt the necessity
+of reforming these institutions, and of bringing back national education
+to its true object; which is, to disseminate sound doctrines, to
+maintain good manners, and to train men who, by their knowledge and
+virtue, may communicate to society the profitable lessons and wise
+examples they have received from their masters.
+
+We have maturely considered these institutions, which we now propose to
+reform; and it appears to us that a system of single and absolute
+authority is incompatible with our paternal intentions and with the
+liberal spirit of our government;
+
+That this authority, essentially occupied in the direction of the whole,
+was to a certain extent condemned to be in ignorance or neglectful of
+those details of daily examination, which can only be intrusted to local
+supervisors better informed as to the necessities, and more directly
+interested in the prosperity of the establishments committed to their
+charge;
+
+That the right of nomination to all these situations, concentrated in
+the hands of a single person, left too much opening for error, and too
+much influence to favour, weakening the impulse of emulation, and
+reducing the teachers to a state of dependence ill suited to the
+honourable post they occupied, and to the importance of their functions;
+
+That this dependence and the too frequent removals which are the
+inevitable result, rendered the position of the teachers uncertain and
+precarious; was injurious to the consideration they ought to enjoy to
+induce them to work zealously in their laborious vocations; and
+prevented, between them and the relations of their pupils, that
+confidence which results from long service and old habits; and thus
+deprived them of the most gratifying reward they could attain--the
+respect and affection of the countries to which they have dedicated
+their talents and their lives;
+
+Finally, that the tax of one-twentieth of the costs of instruction,
+levied upon all the pupils of the lyceums, colleges, and schools, and
+applied to expenses from which those who pay it derive no immediate
+advantage, and which charges may be considerably reduced, are in
+opposition to our desire of favouring good and profitable studies, and
+of extending the benefits of education to all classes of our subjects.
+
+Wishing to enable ourselves, as soon as possible, to lay before the two
+Chambers the bills which are intended to establish the system of public
+instruction throughout France, and to provide for the necessary
+expenses, we have resolved to establish provisionally the reforms best
+adapted to supply the experience and information which we still require,
+to accomplish this object; and in place of the tax of one-twentieth on
+the costs of instruction, the abolition of which we are not inclined to
+defer, it has pleased us to appropriate, from our Civil List, the sum of
+one million, which will be employed during the present year, 1815, for
+the use of public instruction in this our kingdom.
+
+For these reasons, and on the report of our Minister the Secretary of
+State for the Department of the Interior, and by and with the advice of
+our Council of State, we have decreed, and do decree, as follows:--
+
+
+TITLE I.
+
+_General Arrangements._
+
+Article 1. The divisions arranged under the name of _Academies_ by the
+decree of the 17th of May, 1808, are reduced to seventeen, conformably
+to the table at present annexed. They will assume the title of
+_Universities_.
+
+The Universities will be named after the Head Town assigned to each.
+
+The Lyceums at present established will be called _Royal Colleges_.
+
+2. Each University will be composed, first, of a council, presided over
+by a rector; secondly, of faculties; thirdly, of colleges; fourthly, of
+district colleges.
+
+3. The mode of teaching and discipline in all the Universities will be
+regulated and superintended by a Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+4. The Normal School of Paris will be common to all the Universities; it
+will provide, at the expense of the State, the number of professors and
+masters which may be required to give instruction in science and
+literature.
+
+
+TITLE II.
+
+_Respecting the Universities._
+
+
+Section 1.
+
+_The Councils of the Universities._
+
+5. The Council of each University will consist of a presiding rector, of
+the deans of faculty, of the provost of the royal college of the Head
+Town, or of the oldest provost if there are more than one royal college;
+and of at least three of the principal inhabitants, selected by our
+Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+6. The bishop and prefect will be members of this council, and will have
+votes in the meetings, above the rector.
+
+7. The council of the University can visit, whenever they consider it
+proper to do so, the royal and district colleges, the institutes,
+boarding-schools, and other seminaries of instruction, through two
+appointed inspectors; who will report on the state of teaching and
+discipline within the jurisdiction of the University, according to the
+instructions delivered to them.
+
+The number of inspectors for the University of Paris may amount to six.
+
+8. The council will select each of these inspectors from two candidates
+recommended by the rector.
+
+9. The council will also select, each from two candidates recommended by
+the rector, the provosts, the censors or inspectors of studies, the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and higher mathematics, the
+chaplains, and bursars of the royal colleges.
+
+10. The inspectors of the Universities will be selected from the
+provosts, the superintendent-masters, the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and mathematics of the royal colleges, and from the head
+masters of the district colleges; the superintendent-masters in the
+royal colleges will be chosen from the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, or superior mathematics in the same colleges.
+
+11. The council of the University can revoke, if they see cause, any
+appointment they may make: in these cases their resolutions must be
+notified and accounted for, and cannot take effect until sanctioned by
+our Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+12. No one can establish an institution or a boarding-school, or become
+head of an institution or a boarding-school already established,
+without having been previously examined and duly qualified by the
+council of the University, and unless their qualification has been
+approved of by the Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+13. The council of the University will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the faculties, and of the royal colleges; they will also
+examine the accounts of general expenditure handed in by the rector,
+and, after having decided on them, will transmit the same to our Royal
+Council of Public Instruction.
+
+14. The council will keep a registry of its proceedings, and will
+forward a copy once a month to our Royal Council.
+
+15. In public ceremonies, the council will rank after the Council of
+Prefecture.
+
+
+Section 2.
+
+_Of the Rectors of Universities._
+
+16. The rectors of the Universities are appointed by us, each selected
+from three candidates presented by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, and chosen from rectors already appointed, from
+inspectors-general of study, of whom we shall speak hereafter, from the
+professors of faculty, the professors of the Universities, the provosts,
+the censors, and the professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior
+mathematics in the royal colleges.
+
+17. The rectors of the Universities appoint the professors, doctors of
+faculty, and masters in all the colleges, with the exception of the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the
+royal colleges, who are appointed as already named in Article 9.
+
+18. The rectors will select the candidates from amongst the professors,
+doctors of faculty, and masters already employed in the old or new
+establishments of education, or from the pupils of the Normal School,
+who, having completed their courses, have received the degree of
+Professor-Substitute.
+
+19. The professors and doctors of faculty thus appointed can only be
+removed by the council of the University upon the explained proposition
+of the rector.
+
+20. The professors and doctors of faculty, appointed by one or more
+rectors, not being those of the Universities in which they are actually
+employed, can choose the University and select the employment they may
+prefer; but they are bound to notify their decision, one month before
+the commencement of the scholastic year, to the rector of the University
+to which they belong.
+
+21. The pupils of the Normal School selected by rectors not belonging to
+the University from whence they were sent, have the same privilege of
+option, on giving similar notice.
+
+22. The rector of the University will preside, whenever he thinks
+proper, at the examinations which precede the conferring of degrees in
+the different faculties.
+
+23. The rector has the entire charge of correspondence.
+
+24. He will lay before the council of the University all matters that
+require to be submitted to them, appoint the reporters, if necessary,
+regulate the order of discussion, and sign the resolutions.
+
+25. If opinions are equally divided, he has the casting vote.
+
+
+Section 3.
+
+_Of the Faculties._
+
+26. The number and composition of the Faculties in each University are
+settled by us, on the proposition of our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.
+
+27. The faculties are placed immediately under the authority, direction,
+and supervision of that Council.
+
+28. The Council appoints their deans, each from two candidates, who will
+be nominated for selection.
+
+29. It appoints the professors for life, each from four candidates, two
+of whom must be presented by the faculty in which a chair has become
+vacant, and the other two by the council of the University.
+
+30. Over and above the special teaching with which they are charged, the
+faculties will confer, after examination, and according to the
+established rules, the degrees which are or may become necessary for the
+various ecclesiastical, political, and civil functions and professions.
+
+31. The diplomas of degrees are issued in our name, signed by the dean,
+and countersigned by the rector, who can refuse his _visa_ if he has
+reason to think that the prescribed conditions have not been correctly
+observed.
+
+32. In the Universities which as yet have no faculties of science or
+literature, the degree of Bachelor in Letters may be conferred after the
+prescribed examinations by the provost, the inspector of studies, and
+the professors of philosophy and rhetoric of the royal college of the
+Head Town of the district. The inspector of studies will perform the
+functions of dean; he will sign the diplomas, and will take his place in
+the sittings of the councils of the University, after the provost.
+
+
+Section 4.
+
+_Of the Royal and District Colleges._
+
+33. The Royal Colleges are governed by a provost, and the District
+Colleges by a principal.
+
+34. The provosts and principals will execute and cause to be executed
+the regulations regarding instruction, discipline, and compatibility.
+
+35. The administration of the royal college of the Head Town is placed
+under the immediate superintendence of the rector and the council of the
+University.
+
+36. All the other colleges, royal or provincial, are placed under the
+immediate superintendence of a committee of administration composed of
+the sub-prefect, the mayor, and at least three of the principal
+inhabitants of the place, appointed by the council of the University.
+
+37. This committee will propose, in each case, two candidates to the
+rector, who will select from them the principals of the local colleges.
+
+38. The principals, thus appointed, can only be removed by the council
+of the University, upon the proposition of the committee, and by the
+decision of the rector.
+
+39. The Committee of Administration will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the local colleges.
+
+40. The Committee will also examine and decide on the accounts of the
+royal colleges, except only on those of the royal college of the Head
+Town, and will transmit them to the council of the University.
+
+41. The Committee will also keep a register of its proceedings, and
+transmit the same once in every month to the council of the University.
+
+42. The president of this Committee will be the sub-prefect, or, in his
+absence, the mayor.
+
+43. The bishops and prefects are members of all the Committees in their
+diocese or department; and when present they will have votes above the
+presidents.
+
+44. The heads of institutions and masters of boarding-schools
+established within the boundaries of cities or towns in which there are
+either royal or local colleges, are required to send their boarders as
+day-scholars to the classes of the said colleges.
+
+45. The second Ecclesiastical School which has been or may be
+established in each department, in virtue of our decree of ..., is
+excepted from this obligation: but the said school cannot receive
+day-scholars of any description.
+
+
+TITLE III.
+
+_Of the Normal School._
+
+46. Each University will send, every year, to the Normal School at
+Paris, a number of pupils proportioned to the necessities of education.
+
+This number will be regulated by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.
+
+47. The council of the University will select these pupils from those
+who, having finished their courses in rhetoric and philosophy, are
+intended, with the consent of their relatives, for public teachers.
+
+48. The pupils sent to the Normal School will remain there three years,
+after which they will be examined by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will deliver to them, on approbation, the brevet of
+Professor-Substitute.
+
+49. The pupils who have received this brevet, if not summoned by the
+rector of other Universities, will return to that to which they
+originally belonged, where they will be placed by the rector, and
+advanced according to their capacity and services.
+
+50. The head master of the Normal School will hold the same rank, and
+exercise the same prerogatives, with the rectors of the Universities.
+
+
+TITLE IV.
+
+_Of the Royal Council of Public Instruction._
+
+51. Our Royal Council of Public Instruction will be composed of a
+president and eleven councillors appointed by us.
+
+52. Two of this number will be selected from the clergy, two from our
+State Council, or from the Courts, and the seven others from individuals
+who have become eminent for their talents or services in the cause of
+public instruction.
+
+53. The president of our Royal Council is alone charged with the
+correspondence; he will introduce all subjects of discussion to the
+Council, name the reporters, if necessary, establish the order of
+debate, sign and despatch the resolutions, and see them carried into
+effect.
+
+54. In case of an equal division of opinions, he will have the casting
+vote.
+
+55. Conformably with Article 3 of the present decree, our Royal Council
+will prepare, arrange, and promulgate the general regulations concerning
+instruction and discipline.
+
+56. The Council will prescribe the execution of these rules to all the
+Universities, and will watch over them through the Inspectors-General of
+Studies, who will visit the Universities whenever directed by the
+Council to do so, and will report on the state of all the schools.
+
+57. The number of the Inspectors will be twelve; that is to say, two for
+the faculties of law, two for those of medicine, and the remaining eight
+for the faculties of science and literature and for the royal and local
+colleges.
+
+58. The Inspectors-General of Studies will be appointed by us, each
+being selected from three candidates proposed by our Royal Council of
+Public Instruction, and who will have been chosen from amongst the
+rectors and inspectors of the Universities, the deans of faculty, the
+provosts, the censors of study, and the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the royal colleges.
+
+59. On the report of the Inspectors-General of Studies, our Royal
+Council will give such instructions to the councils of the Universities
+as may appear essential; they will detect abuses, and provide the
+necessary reforms.
+
+60. The Council will furnish us with an annual account of the state of
+public instruction throughout our kingdom.
+
+61. It will propose all such measures as may be considered suitable to
+advance instruction, and for which it may be requisite to appeal to our
+authority.
+
+62. It will induce and encourage the production of such books as may
+still be wanting for general purposes of education, and will decide on
+those which are to be preferred.
+
+63. It will remove, if necessary, the deans of faculty, and will propose
+to us the removal of the rectors of Universities.
+
+64. It will examine and decide on the accounts of the general
+administration of the Universities.
+
+65. The Normal School is placed under the special authority of the Royal
+Council; the Council can either appoint or remove the administrators and
+masters of that establishment.
+
+66. The Council holds the same rank with our Court of Appeal and Court
+of Accounts, and will take place, in all public ceremonies, immediately
+after the last-named.
+
+67. It will keep a registry of all its proceedings, and will deposit a
+copy with our Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the
+Interior, who will furnish us with an account of the same, and on whose
+report we shall exercise the right of reforming or annulling them.
+
+
+TITLE V.
+
+_Of Receipts and Expenses._
+
+68. The tax of one-twentieth on the expenses of studies, imposed upon
+the pupils of colleges and schools, is abolished from the date of the
+publication of the present decree.
+
+69. Excepting always: 1. The charges for terms, examinations, and
+degrees, applied to the benefit of the faculties; 2. The subscriptions
+paid by the pupils of the royal and local colleges for the advantage of
+those establishments; 3. The annual contributions of the heads of
+seminaries and boarding-schools, for the use of the Universities.
+
+70. The townships will continue to supply the funds for scholars on the
+foundation, and the sums they have hitherto contributed under the title
+of help to their colleges: with this object, the total of these sums, as
+also of the burses, will be included in their respective budgets with
+the fixed expenses; and no deviation whatever from this will take place,
+unless previously submitted to our Royal Council of Instruction.
+
+71. The townships will also continue to supply and keep in repair the
+buildings requisite for the Universities, the faculties, and colleges.
+
+72. The councils of the Universities will settle the budgets for the
+colleges and faculties.
+
+73. The faculties and royal colleges, of which the receipts exceed the
+expenses, will apply the surplus to the treasury of the University.
+
+74. The councils of the universities will receive the annual
+contributions of the heads of seminaries and boarding schools.
+
+75. They will manage the property belonging to the University of France
+situated in the district of each provincial university, and will collect
+the revenue.
+
+76. In case the receipts of the faculties, or those assigned for the
+expenses of general administration, should prove inadequate, the
+councils of the universities will make a distinct requisition, and will
+state the sums required to replace each deficiency.
+
+77. This requisition will be addressed to our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will transmit it, with suggestions, to our Minister the
+Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
+
+78. The expenses of the faculties and Universities, as settled by our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior, will
+be paid on his order from our Royal Treasury.
+
+79. There will also be paid from our Royal Treasury, in like manner--1,
+the expenses of our Royal Council of Public Instruction; 2, those of the
+Normal School; 3, the Royal donations.
+
+80. For these purposes the annual income of 400,000 francs, forming the
+appanage of the University of France, is placed at the disposal of our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
+
+81. Further, and in provisional replacement of the tax abolished by Art.
+68 of this present Decree, our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior, is authorized by us for the promotion of
+public instruction in our kingdom, during the year 1815, to apply to the
+Minister of our Household, who will place at his disposal the sum of one
+million, to be deducted from the funds of our Civil List.
+
+82. The funds proceeding from the reduction of one twenty-fifth of the
+appointments in the University of France, will be applied to retiring
+pensions; our Royal Council is charged to propose to us the most
+eligible mode of appropriating this fund, and also to suggest the means
+of securing a new one for the same purpose, in all the universities.
+
+
+TITLE VI.
+
+_Temporary Arrangements._
+
+83. The members of our Royal Council of Public Instruction, who are to
+be selected in conformity with Art. 52, the inspectors-general of
+studies, the rectors and inspectors of universities, will be appointed
+by us, in the first instance, from amongst all those who have been or
+are now actually employed in the different educational establishments.
+
+The conditions of eligibility settled by that Article, as also by
+Articles 10, 16, and 58, apply to situations which may hereafter become
+vacant.
+
+84. The members of suppressed universities and societies, who have taken
+degrees as professors in the old faculties, or who have filled the posts
+of superiors and principals of colleges, or chairs of philosophy or
+rhetoric, as also councillors, inspectors-general, rectors and
+inspectors of academies, and professors of faculties in the University
+of France, who may find themselves out of employment by the effect of
+the present decree, are eligible to all places whatever.
+
+85. The fixed salaries of the deans and professors of faculties, and
+those of the provosts, inspectors of studies, and professors in the
+Royal colleges are not to be altered.
+
+86. The deans and professors of the faculties that will be continued,
+the provosts and doctors of faculty of the district colleges at present
+in office, are to retain the same rights and privileges, and will be
+subject to the same regulations of repeal, as if they had been appointed
+in pursuance of the present decree.
+
+We hereby inform and command our courts, tribunals, prefects, and
+administrative bodies to publish and register these presents wherever
+they may deem it necessary to do so. Moreover we direct our
+attorneys-general and prefects to see that this is done, and to certify
+the same; that is to say, the courts and tribunals to our Chancellor,
+and the prefects to our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior.
+
+Given at Paris, in our Castle of the Tuileries, February 17, in the year
+of grace 1815, and in the twentieth of our reign.
+
+   (Signed)  LOUIS.
+
+By the King; the Minister Secretary of State for the Interior.
+
+   (Signed)  THE ABBÉ DE MONTESQUIOU.
+
+
+
+
+No. VII.
+
+_Note drawn up and laid before the King and Council in August 1816, on
+the question of dissolving the Chamber of 1815; by M. Lainé, Minister of
+the Interior._
+
+
+It being considered probable that the King may be obliged to dissolve
+the Chamber after its assembly, let us consider what will be the
+consequences.
+
+Dissolution during the session is an extreme measure. It is a sort of
+appeal made in the midst of passions in full conflict. The causes which
+lead to it, the feelings of resentment to which it will give rise, will
+spread throughout France.
+
+The convocation of a new Chamber will require much time, and will render
+it almost impossible to introduce a budget this year. To hold back the
+budget until the first month of the year ensuing, is to run the risk of
+seeing the deficit increase and the available resources disappear.
+
+This would in all probability render us incapable of paying the
+foreigners.
+
+After such an unusual dissolution, justified by the danger which the
+Chamber may threaten, it is difficult to suppose that the electoral
+assemblies would be tranquil. And if agitation should exhibit itself,
+the return of the foreigners is to be apprehended from that cause. The
+dread of this consequence, in either case, will induce the King to
+hesitate; and whatever attempts may be made to disturb the public peace
+or to assail the Royal authority, his Majesty's heart, in the hope that
+such evils would be merely transitory, will decide with reluctance on
+such an extreme remedy as dissolution.
+
+If then, the necessity of dissolving the Chamber becomes pressing, will
+it not be better, before it meets, to adopt means of preserving us from
+this menacing disaster?
+
+The renewal of one-fifth of the members, which, under any circumstances,
+seems to me indispensable to carry out the Charter, and which I regret
+to say we too much neglected in the month of July 1815, will scarcely
+diminish the probable necessity of dissolution.
+
+The members returned for the fourth series are, with a few exceptions,
+moderate; they have no disposition whatever to disturb public repose, or
+interfere with the Royal prerogative, which alone can maintain order by
+giving confidence to all classes. The other four-fifths remain
+unchanged; the apprehended dangers are consequently as imminent.
+
+This consideration induces me to recommend the adoption of a measure
+which might facilitate a complete return to the Charter, by recalling
+the decree of the 13th of July, which infringed it in the articles of
+age and number, and has also reduced to problems many more of its
+conditions.
+
+This measure would be to summon, by royal letters, only such deputies as
+have reached the age of forty, and according to the number stipulated in
+the Charter.
+
+To effect this, we should choose the deputies who have been first named
+in each electoral college. We should thus pay a compliment to the
+electors by summoning those who appear to hold the most distinguished
+places in their confidence.
+
+It is true it will be said that the Chamber not being dissolved, the
+present deputies have a kind of legal possession.
+
+But the electors and the deputies they have chosen, only hold their
+power from the Decree.
+
+The same authority which conferred that power can recall it by revoking
+the Decree.
+
+The King in his opening speech appeared to say that it was only owing to
+an extraordinary circumstance that he had assembled round the throne a
+greater number of deputies. That extraordinary circumstance has passed
+away. Peace is made, order is re-established, the Allies have retired
+from the heart of France and from the Capital.
+
+This idea furnishes an answer to the objection that the operations of
+the Chamber are nullified.
+
+The King had the power of making it what it is, in consequence of
+existing circumstances.
+
+The Chamber of Deputies does not alone make the laws. The Chamber of
+Peers, and the King, who in France is the chief branch of the
+legislative body, have co-operated in that enactment.
+
+If this objection could hold good in the present case, it would equally
+hold good in all the rest. In fact, either after the dissolution, or
+under any other circumstances, the King will return to the Charter, in
+regard to age and number. On this hypothesis, it might be said that the
+operations of the existing Chamber are nullified. Article 14 of the
+Charter could always be explained by the extraordinary circumstances,
+and its complete re-establishment by the most sacred motives. To return
+to the Charter without dissolution is not then to nullify the operations
+of the Chamber more than to return to the Charter after dissolution.
+
+Will it be said that the King is not more certain of a majority after
+the proposed reduction than at present? I reply that the probability is
+greatly increased.
+
+An assembly less numerous will be more easily managed; reason will be
+more readily attended to. The Royal authority which is exercised in the
+reduction will be increased and secured.
+
+Again, in the event of a dissolution, would the King be more certain of
+a majority? How many chances are against this! On one side the ultras,
+whose objection to transfer a portion of the Royal authority to what
+they call the aristocracy, occupy nearly all the posts which influence
+the operations of the electoral assemblies. On the other, they will be
+vehemently opposed by the partisans of a popular liberty not less
+hostile to the Kingly power. The struggles which will take place at the
+electoral assemblies, will be repeated in the Chamber, and what
+description of majority will emanate from such a contest?
+
+If the plan of reduction appears inadmissible;--if on the other hand, it
+should be decided that the hostile spirit of the Chamber compels the
+dissolution after convocation;--I should not hesitate to prefer
+immediate dissolution to the danger which seems so likely to arise from
+dissolution after assembly.
+
+But if immediate dissolution were to lead to the forming of a new
+Chamber animated by the same spirit and views, it would then become
+necessary to find remedies, to preserve the Royal authority, and to save
+France from the presence of foreigners.
+
+The first method would be to sacrifice the Ministers, who are ready to
+lay down their places and their lives to preserve the King and France.
+
+The above notes are exclusively founded on the probable necessity of
+dissolution after the Chamber is convoked.
+
+This measure will become necessary if, under the pretext of amendments,
+the King's wishes are trifled with; if the budget should be thrown out,
+or too long delayed; or if the amendments or propositions are of a
+nature to alarm the country, and in consequence to call in the
+foreigners.
+
+The customs adopted during the last session, the bills announced, the
+acrimony exhibited, the evidences we have thence derived, the hostility
+already prepared by ambitious disturbers, the determination evinced to
+weaken the Kingly authority by declaiming against the modified
+centralization of government, all supply powerful reasons for expecting
+the probable occurrences which will necessitate the dissolution of the
+Chamber.
+
+Taking another view, it ought not to be easily believed that a few
+misguided Frenchmen, compromising the fortune of their country by
+continuing to oppose the Royal authority, may go the length of exposing
+themselves to the double scourge of foreign invasion and civil war, or
+that they be content with the loss of certain provinces through
+imprudent propositions, legally unjust, or....
+
+Are we permitted to hope that in presenting such bills as religion and
+devotion to the King and the country may inspire us to frame, these
+bills will not be rejected?
+
+Shall we be enabled to draw up these bills in such a manner as to
+convince the Session and the world that malevolent opposition alone can
+defeat them?
+
+Notwithstanding the great probabilities that the dissolution may become
+necessary, the danger would be less formidable, if the King, at the
+opening of the session, were to express his wishes energetically; if he
+were to issue previous decrees, revoking all that has not been yet
+carried out in the Decrees of July 1815; if, above all, after having
+declared his will by solemn acts, his Majesty would firmly repeat those
+acts in the the immediate vicinity of the throne, by removing from his
+person all those who might be inclined to misrepresent or oppose his
+wishes.
+
+To avoid resistance and contest, would the following plan be available?
+
+When the bills, the decrees, and the other regulations are ready, would
+it be suitable for the King to hold an Extraordinary Council, to which
+he should summon the Princes of the Royal family, the Archbishop of
+Rheims, etc. Let all the bills to be brought forward be discussed and
+settled in that Council, and let the Princes and the chief Bishops
+declare which of these are to be adopted by unanimous consent. If, after
+this Council, all the great and influential personages summoned by his
+Majesty were to announce that such was the common wish of the King and
+the whole of the Royal family, France would perhaps be saved.
+
+But the great remedy lies in the King's pleasure. Let that once be
+manifested, and let its execution be recommended by his Majesty to all
+who surround him, and the danger disappears.
+
+"Domine dic tantum verbum, et sanabitur Gallia tua!"
+
+
+
+
+No. VIII.
+
+_Correspondence between the Viscount de Châteaubriand, the Count
+Decazes, Minister of General Police, and M. Dambray, Chancellor of
+France, on occasion of the seizure of 'Monarchy according to the
+Charter,' in consequence of an infraction of the laws and regulations
+relative to printing. September, 1816._
+
+
+1. OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE SEIZURE.
+
+_October 19th, 1816._
+
+On the 18th of September, in execution of the warrant of his Excellency,
+dated on that day, authorizing the seizure of a work entitled, 'Of
+Monarchy according to the Charter,' by M. de Châteaubriand, printed by
+Le Normant, Rue de Seine, No. 8, and which work had been on sale without
+the deposit of five copies having been made at the office for the
+general regulation of the book-trade, I went, with Messrs. Joly and
+Dussiriez, peace-officers and inspectors, to the house of the abovenamed
+M. Le Normant, where we arrived before ten o'clock in the morning.
+
+M. Le Normant admitted to us that he had given notice of the work of
+M. de Châteaubriand, but that he had not yet deposited the five copies.
+He affirmed that on the same morning, at nine o'clock, he had sent to
+the office for the general regulation of bookselling, but that he was
+told that the office was not open. Of this he produced no proof.
+
+He admitted that he had printed two thousand copies of this work,
+intending to make a fresh declaration, the first having only been for
+fifteen hundred copies; that he had delivered several hundreds copies to
+the author; that, finally, he had transmitted others on sale to the
+principal booksellers of the Palais-Royal, Delaunay, Petit, and Fabre.
+
+While I was drawing up a report of these facts and statements,
+M. de Wilminet, peace-officer, came in with an individual in whose hands
+he had seen, near the Bridge of the Arts, the work now in question, at
+the moment when the person, who says his name is Derosne, was looking
+over the title. M. Derosne has admitted that he bought it for four
+francs, on the same day, the 18th, at about nine and a half in the
+morning. This copy has been deposited in our hands, and M. Le Normant
+has reimbursed the cost to M. Derosne.
+
+We seized, in the second warehouse on the first floor, thirty stitched
+copies which we added to that of M. Derosne. In the workshops on the
+ground-floor, I seized a considerable quantity of printed sheets of the
+same work, which M. Le Normant estimates at nine thousand sheets; and
+thirty-one printing-forms which had been used for printing these sheets.
+
+As it was sufficiently proved, both by facts and the admissions of the
+printer, that the work had been offered for sale before the five copies
+were deposited, we took possession of the stitched copies, the sheets,
+and the forms. The sheets were subsequently piled up in a carriage in
+the courtyard, and the stitched volumes made into a parcel, were
+deposited at the foot of the staircase at the entrance of the house. The
+forms, to the number of thirty-one, were placed under the steps of the
+garden, tied together with cord. Our seal had been already placed on the
+top, and M. de Wilminet prepared to affix it also on the lower parts.
+All this was done without the slightest disturbance or opposition, and
+with a perfect respect for the authorities.
+
+Suddenly tumultuous cries were heard at the bottom of the entrance
+court. M. de Châteaubriand arrived at that moment, and questioned some
+workmen who surrounded him. His words were interrupted by cries of "Here
+is M. de Châteaubriand!" The workshops resounded with his name; all the
+labouring men came out in a crowd and ran towards the court, exclaiming,
+"Here is M. de Châteaubriand! M. de Châteaubriand!" I myself distinctly
+heard the cry of "Long live M. de Châteaubriand!"
+
+At the same instant a dozen infuriated workmen arrived at the gate of
+the garden, where I then was with M. de Wilminet and two inspectors,
+engaged in finishing the seals on the forms. They broke the seals and
+prepared to carry off the forms; they cried loudly and with a
+threatening air, "Long live the liberty of the press! Long live the
+King!" We took advantage of a moment of silence to ask if any order had
+arrived to suspend our work. "Yes, yes, here is our order. Long live the
+liberty of the press!" cried they with violent insolence: "Long live the
+King!" They approached close to us to utter these cries. "Well" said I
+to them, "if there is such an order, so much the better; let it be
+produced;" and we all said together, "You shall not touch these forms,
+until we have seen the order." "Yes, yes," cried they again, "there is
+an order; it comes from M. de Châteaubriand, he is a Peer of France. An
+order from M. de Châteaubriand is worth more than one from the
+Minister." Then they repeated violently the cries of "Long live the
+liberty of the press! Long live the King!"
+
+In the meantime, the peace-officers and inspectors continued to guard
+the articles seized or sequestered, and prevented their being carried
+off. They took the parcel of stitched copies from the hands of a workman
+who was bearing it away.
+
+The peace-officer who was affixing the seals, being compelled by
+violence to suspend the operation, addressed M. de Châteaubriand, and
+asked him if he had an order from the Minister. He replied, with
+passion, that an order from the Minister was nothing to him; he came to
+oppose what was going on; he was a Peer of France, the defender of the
+Charter, and particularly forbade anything to be taken away. "Moreover,"
+he added, "this proceeding is useless and without object; I have
+distributed fifteen thousand copies of this work through all the
+different departments." The workmen then repeated that the order of
+M. de Châteaubriand was worth more than that of the Minister, and
+renewed, more violently than before, their cries of "Long live the
+liberty of the press! M. de Châteaubriand for ever! Long live the King!"
+
+The peace-officer was surrounded. A man of colour, appearing much
+excited, said to him violently, "The order of M. de Châteaubriand is
+worth more than that of the Minister." Tumultuous cries were renewed
+round the peace-officer. I left the garden, leaving the forms in charge
+of the inspectors, to advance towards that side. During my passage,
+several workmen shouted violently, "Long live the King!" I held out my
+hand as a sign of peace, to keep at a respectful distance those who were
+disposed to come too near; and replied by the loyal cry of "Long live
+the King!" to the same shout uttered in a seditious spirit by the
+bewildered workmen.
+
+M. de Châteaubriand was at this time in the entrance court, apparently
+intent on preventing the carriage laden with the sheets of his work from
+departing for its destination. I ascended the staircase for the purpose
+of signifying to M. Le Normant that it would be better for him to second
+my orders by using whatever influence he might possess over his workmen,
+so as to induce them to return to their workshops; and to let him know
+before them that he would be held responsible for what might happen.
+M. de Châteaubriand appeared at the foot of the staircase, and uttered,
+in a very impassioned tone, with his voice vehemently raised, in the
+midst of the workmen, who appeared to second him enthusiastically,
+nearly the following words:--
+
+"I am a Peer of France. I do not acknowledge the order of the Ministry;
+I oppose it in the name of the Charter, of which I am the defender, and
+the protection of which every citizen may claim. I oppose the removal of
+my work. I forbid the transport of these sheets. I will only yield to
+force, and when I see the gendarmes."
+
+Immediately, raising my voice to a loud tone, and extending my arm from
+the first landing-place of the staircase on which I then stood, I
+replied to him who had just manifested to myself formally and personally
+his determined resistance to the execution of the orders of his
+Majesty's minister, and had thereby shown that he was the real exciter
+of the movements that had taken place; I said--
+
+"And I, in the name and on the part of the King, in my quality of
+Commissary of Police, appointed by his Majesty, and acting under the
+orders of his Excellency the Minister of General Police, demand respect
+for constituted authority. Let everything remain untouched; let all
+tumult cease, until the arrival of fresh orders which I expect from his
+Excellency."
+
+While I uttered these words, profound silence was maintained. Calm had
+succeeded to tumult. Soon after, the gendarmes arrived. I then ordered
+the workmen to return to their workshops. M. de Châteaubriand, as soon
+as the gendarmes entered, retired into the apartments of M. Le Normant,
+and appeared no more. We then finished our work and prepared the report
+of all that had occurred, after having despatched to the Ministry of
+Police the articles seized, and committed the forms to the guard, and
+under the responsibility of M. Le Normant.
+
+At the moment of the disturbance one of the stitched copies disappeared.
+Subsequently we seized, at the house of M. Le Marchand, a book-stitcher,
+and formerly a bookseller, in the Rue de la Parcheminerie, seven parcels
+of copies of the same work; and at No. 17, Rue des Prêtres, in a
+wareroom belonging to M. Le Normant, we placed eight forms under seal,
+and seized four thousand sheets of the same work.
+
+I have forwarded to the Ministry of Police reports of these different
+operations, with the sheets and copies seized of the work of
+M. de Châteaubriand.
+
+M. Le Normant appeared to me to conduct himself without blame during
+these transactions, which were carried into effect at his
+dwelling-place, and during the tumult which M. de Châteaubriand promoted
+on the occasion of the seizure of his work. But it is sufficiently
+proved by his own admission and by facts, that he has issued for sale to
+various booksellers, and has sold himself copies of this work before he
+had deposited the five as required by the laws.
+
+As to M. de Châteaubriand, I am astonished that he should have so
+scandalously compromised the dignity of the titles with which he is
+decorated, by exhibiting himself under these circumstances, as if he had
+been nothing more than the leader of a troop of workmen, whom he had
+stirred up to commotion.
+
+He was the cause of the workmen profaning the sacred cry of "Long live
+the King!" by using it in an act of rebellion against the authority of
+the Government, which is the same as that of the King.
+
+He has excited these misguided men against a Commissary of Police, a
+public functionary appointed by his Majesty, and against three
+peace-officers in the execution of their duty, and without arms against
+a multitude.
+
+He has committed an offence against the Royal government, by saying that
+he would acknowledge force alone, in a system based upon quite a
+different force from that of bayonets, and which only uses such coercive
+measures against persons who are strangers to every sentiment of honour.
+
+Finally, this scene might have led to serious consequences if, imitating
+the conduct of M. de Châteaubriand, we had forgotten for a moment that
+we were acting by the orders of a Government as moderate as firm, and
+as strong in its wisdom as in its legitimacy.
+
+
+2. THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Count,
+
+I called at your residence this morning to express my surprise. At
+twelve this day, I found at the house of M. Le Normant, my bookseller,
+some men who said they were sent by you to seize my new work, entitled
+'Of Monarchy according to the Charter.'
+
+Not seeing any written order, I declared that I would not allow the
+removal of my property unless gendarmes seized it by force. Some
+gendarmes arrived, and I then ordered my bookseller to allow the work to
+be carried away.
+
+This act of deference to authority has not allowed me to forget what I
+owe to my rank as a Peer. If I had only considered my personal
+interests, I should not have interfered; but the privileges of the
+Peerage having been compromised, I have thought it right to enter a
+protest, a copy of which I have now the honour of forwarding to you. I
+demand, in the name of justice, the restitution of my work; and I
+candidly add, that if I do not receive it back, I shall employ every
+possible means that the political and civil laws place within my reach.
+
+   I have the honour to be, etc. etc.,
+
+   (Signed)   COUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+3. THE COUNT DECAZES TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Viscount,
+
+The Commissary of Police and the peace-officers, against whom you have
+thought proper to excite the rebellion of M. Le Normant's workmen, were
+the bearers of an order signed by one of the King's ministers, and in
+accordance with a law. That order was shown to the printer named, who
+read it several times, and felt that he had no right to oppose its
+execution, demanded in the King's name. Undoubtedly it never occurred to
+him that your rank as a Peer could place you above the operation of the
+laws, release you from the respect due by all citizens to public
+functionaries in the execution of their duty, and, above all, justify a
+revolt of his work-people against a Commissary of Police, and officers
+appointed by the King, invested with the distinctive symbols of their
+office, and acting under legal instructions.
+
+I have seen with regret that you have thought otherwise, and that you
+have preferred, as you now require of me, to yield to force rather than
+to obey the law. That law, which M. Le Normant had infringed, is
+extremely distinct; it requires that no work whatever shall be published
+clandestinely, and that no publication or sale shall take place before
+the necessary deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of
+printing. None of these conditions have been fulfilled by M. Le Normant.
+If he has given notice, it was informal; for he has himself signed the
+Report drawn up by the Commissary of Police, to the effect that he
+proposed to strike off 1500 copies, and that he had already printed
+2000.
+
+From another quarter I have been informed that, although no deposit has
+been made at the office for the regulation of printing, several hundred
+copies have been despatched this morning before nine o'clock, from the
+residence of M. Le Normant, and sent to you, and to various booksellers;
+that other copies have been sold by M. Le Normant at his own house, for
+the price of four francs; and two of these last copies were in my hands
+this morning by half-past eight o'clock.
+
+I have considered it my duty not to allow this infraction of the law,
+and to interdict the sale of a work thus clandestinely and illegally
+published; I have therefore ordered its seizure, in conformity with
+Articles 14 and 15 of the Law of the 21st of October, 1814.
+
+No one in France, my Lord Viscount, is above the law; the Peers would be
+offended, on just grounds, if I thought they could set up such a
+pretension. Still less would they assume that the works which they feel
+disposed to publish and sell as private individuals and men of letters,
+when they wish to honour the literary profession with their labours,
+should enjoy exclusive privileges; and if these works are submitted to
+public criticism in common with those of other writers, they are not in
+any respect liberated from the control of justice, or the supervision of
+the Police, whose duty it is to take care that the laws, which are
+equally binding upon all classes of society, should be executed with
+equal impartiality.
+
+I must also observe, in addition, that it was at the residence and
+printing-office of M. Le Normant, who is not a Peer of France, that the
+order constitutionally issued for the seizure of a work published by him
+in contravention to the law, was carried into effect; that the execution
+of the order had been completed when you presented yourself; and upon
+your declaration that you would not suffer your work to be taken away,
+the workmen broke the seals that had been affixed on some articles, and
+placed themselves in open rebellion against the King's authority. It can
+scarcely have escaped you, that by invoking that august name they have
+been guilty of a crime of which, no doubt, they did not perceive the
+extent; and to which they could not have been led, had they been more
+impressed with the respect due to the act of the King and his
+representatives, and if it could so happen that they did not read what
+they print.
+
+I have felt these explanations due to your character; they will, I
+trust, convince you that if the dignity of the Peerage has been
+compromised in this matter, it has not been through me.
+
+     I have the honour to be,
+             My Lord Viscount,
+   Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
+         (Signed)  THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+
+4. THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September 19th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Count,
+
+I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to address
+to me on the 18th of this month. It contains no answer to mine of the
+same day.
+
+You speak to me of works _clandestinely_ published (in the face of the
+sun, with my name and titles). You speak of revolt and rebellion, when
+there has been neither revolt nor rebellion. You say that there were
+cries of "Long live the King!" That cry has not yet been included in the
+law of seditious exclamations, unless the Police are empowered to decree
+in opposition to the Chambers. For the rest, all will appear in due time
+and place. There will be no longer a pretence to confound the cause of
+the bookseller with mine; we shall soon know whether, under a free
+government, a police order, which I have not even seen, is binding on a
+Peer of France; we shall learn whether, in my case, all the rights
+secured to me by the charter, have not been violated, both as a Citizen
+and a Peer. We shall learn, through the laws themselves, which you have
+the extreme kindness to quote for me (a little incorrectly, it may be
+observed), whether I have not the right to publish my opinions; we shall
+learn, finally, whether France is henceforward to be governed by the
+Police or by the Constitution.
+
+On the subject of my respect and loyalty to the King, my Lord Count, I
+require no lessons, and I might supply an example. With respect to my
+rank as a Peer, I shall endeavour to make it respected, equally with my
+dignity as a man; and I perfectly well knew, before you took the trouble
+to inform me, that it will never be compromised either by you or any one
+else. I have demanded at your hands the restitution of my work: am I to
+hope that it will be restored? This is the immediate question.
+
+   I have the honour to be,
+   My Lord Count,
+   Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
+   (Signed) THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+5. THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND TO THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Chancellor,
+
+I have the honour to forward to you a copy of the protest I have
+entered, and the letter I have just written to the Minister of Police.
+
+Is it not strange, my Lord Chancellor, that in open day, by force, and
+in defiance of my remonstrances, the work of a Peer of France, to which
+my name is attached, and printed publicly in Paris, should have been
+carried off by the Police, as if it were a seditious or clandestine
+publication, such as the 'Yellow Dwarf,' or the 'Tri-coloured Dwarf'?
+Beyond what was due to my prerogative as a Peer of France, I may venture
+to say that I deserved _personally_ a little more respect. If my work
+were objectionable, I might have been summoned before the competent
+tribunals: I should have answered the appeal.
+
+I have protested for the honour of the Peerage, and I am determined to
+follow up this matter to the last extremity. I call for your support as
+President of the Chamber of Peers, and for your interference as the head
+of justice.
+
+   I am, with profound respect, etc. etc.,
+   (Signed) THE VISCOUNT CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+6. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September, 19th, 1816._
+
+I send you confidentially, my dear colleague, a letter which I received
+yesterday from M. de Châteaubriand, with the informal Protest of which
+he has made me the depository. I beg you will return these documents,
+which ought not to be made public. I enclose also a copy of my answer,
+which I also request you to return after reading; for I have kept no
+other. I hope it will meet your approbation.
+
+I repeat the expression of my friendly sentiments.
+
+   DAMBRAY.
+
+
+7. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND.
+
+   _Paris, September 19th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Viscount,
+
+I have received with the letter you have addressed to me, the
+declaration relative to the seizure which took place at the residence of
+your bookseller; I find it difficult to understand the use you propose
+to make of this document, which cannot extenuate in any manner the
+infraction of law committed by M. Le Normant. The Law of the 21st of
+October, 1814, is precise on this point. No printer can publish or offer
+for sale any work, in any manner whatever, before having deposited the
+prescribed number of copies. There is ground for seizure, the Article
+adds, and for sequestrating a work, if the printer does not produce the
+receipts of the deposit ordered by the preceding Article.
+
+All infractions of this law (Art. 20) will be proved by the reports of
+the inspectors of the book-trade, and the Commissaries of Police.
+
+You were probably unacquainted with these enactments when you fancied
+that your quality as a Peer of France gave you the right of personally
+opposing an act of the Police, ordered and sanctioned by the law, which
+all Frenchmen, whatever may be their rank, are equally bound to respect.
+
+I am too much attached to you, Viscount, not to feel deep regret at the
+part you have taken in the scandalous scene which seems to have occurred
+with reference to this matter, and I regret sincerely that you have
+added errors of form to the real mistake of a publication which you
+could not but feel must be unpleasant to his Majesty. I know nothing of
+your work beyond the dissatisfaction which the King has publicly
+expressed with it; but I am grieved to notice the impression it has
+made upon a monarch who, on every occasion, has condescended to evince
+as much esteem for your person as admiration for your talents.
+
+Receive, Viscount, the assurance of my high consideration, and of my
+inviolable attachment.
+
+   The Chancellor of France,
+
+   DAMBRAY.
+
+
+
+
+No. IX.
+
+TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL REFORMS EFFECTED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF FRANCE
+FROM 1816 TO 1820.
+
+
+MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR (M. LAINÉ).
+
+_From May, 1816, to December, 1818._
+
+_Sept. 4th, 1816._--Decree for the reorganization of the Polytechnic
+School.
+
+_Sept. 25th, 1816._--Decree to authorize the Society of French Missions.
+
+_Dec. 11th, 1816._--Decree for the organization of the National Guards
+of the Department of the Seine.
+
+_Dec. 23rd, 1816._--Decree for the institution of the Royal Chapter of
+St. Denis.
+
+_Feb. 26th, 1817._--Decree relative to the administration of the Public
+Works of Paris.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the organization of the Schools of Arts and
+Trades at Châlons and Angers.
+
+_March 12th, 1817._--Decree on the administration and funds of the Royal
+Colleges.
+
+_March 26th, 1817._--Decree authorizing the presence of the Prefects and
+Sub-Prefects at the General Councils of the Department or District.
+
+_April 2nd, 1817._--Decree to regulate Central Houses of Confinement.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree to regulate the conditions and mode of carrying
+out the royal authority for legacies or donations to Religious
+Establishments.
+
+_April 9th, 1817._--Decree for the assessment of 3,900,000 francs,
+destined to improve the condition of the Catholic Clergy.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the suppression of the Secretaries-General
+of the Prefectures, except only for the Department of the Seine.
+
+_April 16th, 1817._--Three Decrees to regulate the organization of, and
+persons employed in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
+
+_Sept. 10th, 1817._--Decree upon the system of the Port of Marseilles,
+with regard to Custom-house Duties and Storehouses.
+
+_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree to regulate the progressive reduction of the
+number of Councillors in each Prefecture.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Decree to increase Ecclesiastical Salaries,
+particularly those of the Curates.
+
+_June 9th, 1818._--Decree on the discontinuance of Compositions for
+Taxes payable at the Entrance of Towns.
+
+_July 29th, 1818._--Decree for the establishment of Savings Banks, and
+Provident Banks, in Paris.
+
+_Sept. 30th, 1818._--Decree which removes from his Royal Highness
+_Monsieur_, while leaving him the honorary privileges, the actual
+command of the National Guard of the Kingdom, to give it back to the
+Minister of the Interior, and the Municipal Authorities.
+
+_Oct. 7th, 1818._--Decree respecting the use and administration of
+Commons, or Town property.
+
+_Oct. 21st, 1818._--Decree respecting the premiums for the encouragement
+of the Maritime Fisheries.
+
+_Dec. 17th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and
+administration of the Educational Establishments called _Britannic_.
+
+
+COUNT DECAZES.
+
+_From December, 1818, to February, 1820._
+
+_Jan. 13th, 1819._--Decree to arrange public exhibitions of products of
+industry.--The first, to take place on the 25th of August, 1819.
+
+_Jan. 27th, 1819._--Decree for creating a Council of Agriculture.
+
+_Feb. 14th, 1819._--Decree for the encouragement of the Whale Fishery.
+
+_March 24th, 1819._--Decree introducing various reforms and improvements
+in the School of Law, at Paris.
+
+_April 9th, 1819._--Decree appointing a Jury of Manufacturers to select
+for reward the artists who have made the greatest progress in their
+respective trades.
+
+_April 10th, 1819._--Decree relative to the institution of the
+Council-General of Prisons.
+
+_April 19th, 1819._--Decree to facilitate the public sale of merchandise
+by auction.
+
+_June 23rd, 1819._--Decree to reduce the period of service of the
+National Guard of Paris.
+
+_June 29th, 1819._--Decree relative to holding Jewish Consistories.
+
+_Aug. 23rd, 1819._--Two Decrees upon the organization and privileges of
+the General Council of Commerce and Manufacture.
+
+_Aug. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the erection of 500 new Chapels
+of Ease.
+
+_Nov. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+teaching of the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
+
+_Dec. 22nd, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+the Public Treasury of Poissy.
+
+_Dec. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the mode of Collation, and the
+system of public Bursaries in the Royal Colleges.
+
+_Dec. 29th, 1819._--Decree authorizing the foundation of a permanent
+asylum for old men and invalids, in the Quartier du gros Caillon.
+
+_Feb. 4th, 1820._--Decree for the regulation of public carriages
+throughout the Kingdom.
+
+
+MINISTRY OF WAR (MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR).
+
+_From September, 1817, to November, 1819._
+
+_Oct. 22nd, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Corps of
+Geographic Engineers of War.
+
+_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Staff of the
+military division of the Royal Guard.
+
+_Dec. 10th, 1817._--Decree respecting the system of administration of
+military supplies.
+
+_Dec. 17th. 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Engineers.
+
+_Dec. 17th, 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Artillery.
+
+_Dec. 24th, 1817._--Decree upon the organization of Military Schools.
+
+_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and sale of gunpowder
+for purposes of war, mining, or the chase.
+
+_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and organization of
+the Companies of Discipline.
+
+_April 8th, 1818._--Decree for the formation of Departmental Legions in
+three battalions.
+
+_May 6th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization of the Corps and
+School of the Staff.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Decree relative to the position and allowances of
+those not in active service, or on half-pay.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Instructions approved by the King relative to
+voluntary engagements.
+
+_June 10th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization, system, and
+teaching of the Military Schools.
+
+_July 8th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+Regimental Schools in the Artillery.
+
+_July 15th, 1818._--Decree relative to the supply of gunpowder and
+saltpetre.
+
+_July 23rd, 1818._--Decree respecting the selection of the General Staff
+of the Army.
+
+_Aug. 3rd, 1818._--Decree relative to the military hierarchy, and the
+order of promotion, in conformity with the Law of the 10th of March,
+1818.
+
+_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the allowances of Staff Officers.
+
+_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and expenses of
+Barracks.
+
+_Sept. 2nd, 1818._--Decree relative to the Corps of Gendarmes of Paris.
+
+_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the organization and system of the
+Body-guard of the King.
+
+_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the allowances to Governors of
+Military Divisions.
+
+_Feb. 17th, 1819._--Decree on the composition and strength of the
+eighty-six regiments of Infantry.
+
+
+
+
+No. X.
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
+
+   _Paris, April 12th, 1820._
+
+   My dear Friend,
+
+I have not written to you in all our troubles. I knew that you would
+hear from this place a hundred different opinions, and a hundred
+opposite statements on the position of affairs; and, although I had not
+entire confidence in any of those who addressed you, as you are not
+called upon, according to my judgment, to form any important resolution,
+I abstained from useless words. Today all has become clearer and more
+mature; the situation assumes externally the character it had until now
+concealed; I feel the necessity of telling you what I think of it, for
+the advantage of our future proceedings in general, and yours in
+particular.
+
+The provisional bills have passed:--you have seen how: fatal to those
+who have gained them, and with immense profit to the Opposition. The
+debate has produced this result in the Chamber, that the right-hand
+party has extinguished itself, to follow in the suite of the
+right-centre; while the left-centre has consented to assume the same
+position with respect to the extreme left, from which, however, it has
+begun to separate within the last fifteen days. So much for the interior
+of the Chamber.
+
+Without, you may be assured that the effect of these two debates upon
+the popular masses has been to cause the right-hand party to be looked
+upon as less haughty and exacting; the left, as more firm and more
+evenly regulated than was supposed: so that, at present, in the
+estimation of many worthy citizens, the fear of the right and the
+suspicion of the left are diminished in equal proportions. A great evil
+is comprised in this double fact. Last year we gained triumphs over the
+left, without and within the Chamber; at present the left triumphs over
+us! Last year we still remained, and were considered, as ever since
+1815, a necessary and safe rampart against the _Ultras_, who were
+greatly dreaded, and whose rule seemed possible; today the _Ultras_ are
+less feared, because their arrival at power is scarcely believed. The
+conclusion is, that we are less wanted than formerly.
+
+Let us look to the future. The election bill, which Decazes presented
+eight days before his fall, is about to be withdrawn. This is certain.
+It is well known that it could never pass; that the discussions on its
+forty-eight articles would be interminable; the _Ultras_ are very
+mistrustful of this its probable results; it is condemned; they will
+frame, and are already framing, another. What will this new bill be? I
+cannot tell. What appears to me certain is, that, if no change takes
+place in the present position, it will have for object, not to complete
+our institutions, not to correct the vices of the bill of the 5th of
+February, 1817, but to bring back exceptional elections; to restore, as
+is loudly proclaimed, something analogous to the Chamber of 1815. This
+is the avowed object, and, what is more, the natural and necessary end.
+This end will be pursued without accomplishment; such a bill will either
+fail in the debate, or in the application. If it passes, and after the
+debate which it cannot fail to provoke, the fundamental question, the
+question of the future, will escape from the Chamber, and seek its
+solution without, in the intervention of the masses. If the bill is
+rejected, the question may be confined within the Chamber; but it will
+no longer be the Ministry in office who will have the power and mission
+of solving it. If a choice is left to us, which I am far from despairing
+of, it will lie between a lamentable external revolution and a
+ministerial revolution of the most complete character. And this last
+chance, which is our only one, will vanish if we do not so manage as to
+offer the country, for the future, a ministry boldly constitutional.
+
+In this position of affairs, what it is indispensable that you should be
+made acquainted with, and what you would discover in five minutes if you
+could pass five minutes here, is, that you are no longer a Minister, and
+that you form no portion of the Ministry in office. It would be
+impossible to induce you to speak with them as they speak, or as they
+are compelled to speak. The situation to which they are reduced has been
+imposed by necessity; they could only escape from it by completely
+changing their ground and their friends, by recovering eighty votes from
+the one hundred and fifteen of the actual Opposition, or by an appeal to
+a new Chamber. This last measure it will never adopt; and by the side of
+the powerlessness of the existing Cabinet, stands the impossibility of
+escaping from it by the aid of the right-hand party. An _ultra_ ministry
+is impossible. The events in Spain, whatever they may ultimately lead
+to, have mortally wounded the governments of _coups d'état_ and
+ordinances.
+
+I have looked closely into all this, my dear friend; I have thought much
+on the subject when alone, more than I have communicated to others. You
+cannot remain indefinitely in a situation so critical and weak, so
+destitute of power for immediate government, and so hopeless for the
+future. I see but one thing to do at present; and that is, to prepare
+and hold back those who may save the Monarchy. I cannot see, in the
+existing state of affairs, any possibility of labouring effectively for
+its preservation. You can only drag yourselves timidly along the
+precipice which leads to its ruin. You may possibly not lose in the
+struggle your reputation for honest intentions and good-faith; but this
+is the maximum of hope which the present Cabinet can reasonably expect
+to preserve. Do not deceive yourself on this point; of all the plans of
+reform, at once monarchical and liberal, which you contemplated last
+year, nothing now remains. It is no longer a bold remedy which is sought
+for against the old revolutionary spirit; it is a miserable expedient
+which is adopted without confidence. It is not fit for you, my dear
+friend, to remain garotted under this system. Thank Heaven! you were
+accounted of some importance in the exceptional laws. As to the
+constitutional projects emanating from you, there are several--the
+integral renewing of the Chamber, for example--which have rather gained
+than lost ground, and which have become possible in another direction
+and with other men. I know that nothing happens either so decisively or
+completely as has been calculated, and that everything is, with time, an
+affair of arrangement and treaty. But as power is situated at present,
+you can do nothing, you are nothing; or rather, at this moment, you have
+not an inch of ground on which you can either hold yourself erect, or
+fall with honour. If you were here, either you would emerge, within a
+week, from this impotent position, or you would be lost with the rest,
+which Heaven forbid!
+
+You see, my dear friend, that I speak to you with the most unmeasured
+frankness. It is because I have a profound conviction of the present
+evil and of the possibility of future safety. In this possibility you
+are a necessary instrument. Do not suffer yourself, while at a distance,
+to be compromised in what is neither your opinion nor your desire.
+Regulate your own destiny, or at least your position in the common
+destiny of all; and if you must fall, let it be for your own cause, and
+in accordance with your own convictions.
+
+I add to this letter the Bill prepared by M. de Serre in November, 1819,
+and which he intended to present to the Chambers, to complete the
+Charter, and at the same time to reform the electoral law. It will be
+seen how much this Bill differed from that introduced in April, 1820,
+with reference to the law of elections alone, and which M. de Serre
+supported as a member of the second Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu.
+
+
+BILL FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATURE.
+
+Art. 1. The Legislature assumes the name of Parliament of France.
+
+Art. 2. The King convokes the Parliament every year.
+
+Parliament will be convoked extraordinarily, at the latest, within two
+months after the King attains his majority, or succeeds to the throne;
+or under any event which may cause the establishment of a Regency.
+
+
+_Of the Peerage._
+
+Art. 3. The Peerage can only be conferred on a Frenchman who has
+attained his majority, and is in the exercise of political and civil
+rights.
+
+Art. 4. The character of Peer is indelible; it can neither be lost nor
+abdicated, from the moment when it has been conferred by the King.
+
+Art. 5. The exercise of the rights and privileges of Peer can only be
+suspended under two conditions:--1. Condemnation to corporal punishment;
+2. Interdiction pronounced according to the forms prescribed by the
+Civil Code. In either case, by the Chamber of Peers alone.
+
+Art. 6. The Peers are admissible to the Chamber at the age of
+twenty-one, and can vote when they have completed their twenty-fifth
+year.
+
+Art. 7. In case of the death of a Peer, his successor in the Peerage
+will be admitted as soon as he has attained the required age, on
+fulfilling the forms prescribed by the decree of the 23rd of March,
+1816, which decree will be annexed to the present law.
+
+Art. 8. A Peerage created by the King cannot henceforward, during the
+life of the titulary, be declared transmissible, except to the real and
+legitimate male children of the created Peer.
+
+Art. 9. The inheritance of the Peerage cannot henceforward be conferred
+until a Majorat of the net revenue of twenty thousand francs, at least,
+shall be attached to the Peerage.
+
+
+_Dotation of the Peerage._
+
+Art. 10. The Peerage will be endowed--1, With three millions five
+hundred thousand francs of rent, entered upon the great-book of the
+public debt, which sum will be unalienable, and exclusively applied to
+the formation of Majorats; 2, With eight hundred thousand francs of
+rent, equally entered and inalienable, to be applied to the expenses of
+the Chamber of Peers.
+
+By means of this dotation, these expenses cease to be charged to the
+Budget of the State, and the domains, rents, and property of every kind,
+proceeding from the dotation of the former Senate, except the Palace of
+the Luxembourg and its dependencies, are reunited to the property of the
+State.
+
+Art. 11. Three millions five hundred thousand francs of rent, intended
+for the formation of Majorats, are divided into fifty majorats of thirty
+thousand francs, and one hundred majorats of twenty thousand francs
+each, attached to the same number of peerages.
+
+Art. 12. These Majorats will be conferred by the King exclusively upon
+lay Peers; they will be transmissible with the Peerage from male to
+male, in order of primogeniture, and in the real, direct, and legitimate
+line only.
+
+Art. 13. A Peer cannot unite in his own person several of these
+Majorats.
+
+Art. 14. Immediately on the endowment of a Majorat, and on the
+production of letters-patent, the titulary will be entered in the
+great-book of the public debt, for an unalienable revenue, according to
+the amount of his majorat.
+
+Art. 15. In case of the extinction of the successors to any one of these
+Majorats, it reverts to the King's gift, who can confer it again,
+according to the above-named regulations.
+
+Art. 16. The King can permit the titulary possessor of a Majorat to
+convert it into real property producing the same revenue, and which will
+be subject to the same reversion.
+
+Art. 17. The dotation of the Peerage is inalienable, and cannot under
+any pretext whatever, be applied to any other purpose than that
+prescribed by the present law. This dotation remains charged, even to
+extinction, with the pensions at present enjoyed by the former Senators,
+as also with those which have been or may hereafter be granted to their
+widows.
+
+
+_Of the Chamber of Deputies._
+
+Art. 18. The Chamber of Deputies to Parliament is composed of four
+hundred and fifty-six members.
+
+Art. 19. The Deputies to Parliament are elected for seven years.
+
+Art. 20. The Chamber is renewed integrally, either in case of
+dissolution, or at the expiration of the time for which the Deputies are
+elected.
+
+Art. 21. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is elected according
+to the ordinary forms for the entire duration of the Parliament.
+
+Art. 22. The rates which must be paid by an elector, or one eligible for
+an elector, consist of the principal of the direct taxes without regard
+to the additional hundredths. To this effect, the taxes for doors and
+windows will be separated from the the principal and additional
+hundredths, in such manner that two-thirds of the entire tax may be
+entered as principal and the remaining third as additional hundredths.
+For the future this plan will be permanent; the augmentations or
+diminutions of these two taxes will be made by the addition or
+reduction of the additional hundredths: the same rule will apply to the
+taxes on land, moveables, and other personal property, as soon as the
+principal of each is definitely settled. The tax on land and that on
+doors and windows will only be charged to the proprietor or temporary
+possessor, notwithstanding any contrary arrangement.
+
+Art. 23. A son is liable for the taxes of his father, and a son-in-law
+whose wife is alive, or who has children by her, for the taxes of his
+father-in-law, in all cases where the father or father-in-law have
+transferred to them their respective rights.
+
+The taxes of a widow, not re-married, are chargeable to whichever of her
+sons, or, in default of sons, to whichever of her sons-in-law, she may
+designate.
+
+Art. 24. To constitute the eligibility of an elector, these taxes must
+have been paid one year at least before the day of the election. The
+heir or legatee on the general title, is considered responsible for the
+taxes payable by the parties from whom he derives.
+
+Art. 25. Every elector and Deputy is bound to make affidavit, if
+required, that they pay really and personally, or that those whose
+rights they exercise pay really and personally, the rates required by
+the law; that they, or those whose rights they exercise, are the true
+and legitimate owners of the property on account of which the taxes are
+paid, or that they truly exercise the trade for the license of which the
+taxes are imposed.
+
+This affidavit is received by the Chamber, for the Deputies, and at the
+electoral offices for the electors. It is signed by them, without
+prejudice to contradictory evidence.
+
+Art. 26. Every Frenchman who has completed the age of thirty on the day
+of election, who is in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and
+who pays a direct tax amounting to six hundred francs in principal, is
+eligible to the Chamber of Deputies.
+
+Art. 27. The Deputies to Parliament are named partly by the electors of
+the department, and partly by the electors of the divisions into which
+each department is divided, in conformity with the table annexed to the
+present law.
+
+The electors of each electoral divisions nominate directly the number of
+Deputies fixed by the same table.
+
+This rule applies to the electors of each department.
+
+Art. 28. All Frenchmen who have completed the age of thirty years, who
+exercise political and civil rights, who have their residence in the
+department, and who pay a direct tax of four hundred francs in
+principal, are electors for the department.
+
+Art. 29. When the electors for the department are less than fifty in the
+department of Corsica, less than one hundred in the departments in the
+higher and lower Alps, of the Ardèche, of the Ariège, or the Corrèze, of
+the Creuse, of the Lozère, of the higher Marne, of the higher Pyrenees,
+of Vaucluse, of the Vosges; less than two hundred in the departments of
+the Ain, of the Ardennes, of the Aube, of the Aveyron, of the Central,
+of the Coasts of the North, of the Doubs, of the Drôme, of the Jura, of
+the Landes, of the Lot, of the Meuse, of the lower Pyrenees, of the
+lower and upper Rhine, of the upper Saône; and less than three hundred
+in the other departments; these numbers are to be completed by calling
+on those who are next in the ratio of taxation.
+
+Art. 30. All Frenchmen aged thirty years complete, who exercise
+political and civil rights, who dwell in the electoral division, and who
+pay a direct tax of two hundred francs in principal, are electors for
+the division.
+
+Art. 31. The electors of departments exercise their rights as electors
+of division, each in the division in which he dwells. To this effect,
+the elections for the departments will not take place till after those
+for the division.
+
+Art. 32. The Deputies to Parliament named by the electors of division
+ought to be domiciled in the department, or at least to be proprietors
+there for more than a year, of a property paying six hundred francs in
+principal, or to have exercised public functions there for three years
+at the least.
+
+The Deputies nominated by the electors of departments may be selected
+from all who are eligible throughout the kingdom.
+
+
+_Forms of Election._
+
+Art. 33. At the hour and on the day fixed for the election, the Board
+will repair to the hall selected for its sittings. The Board is to be
+composed of a President appointed by the King, of the Mayor, of the
+senior Justice of the Peace, and of the two chief Municipal Councillors
+of the head-towns in which the election is held. At Paris, the senior
+Mayor and Justice of the Peace of the electoral division, and two
+members of the general Council of the Department, taken according to the
+order of their appointment, are to co-operate with the President in the
+formation of the Board.
+
+The duties of secretary will be fulfilled by the Mayor's secretary.
+
+Art. 34. The votes are given publicly by the inscription which each
+elector makes himself, or dictates to a member of the Board, of the
+names of the candidates upon an open register. The elector inscribes the
+names of as many candidates as there are Deputies to elect.
+
+Art. 35. In order that any eligible person may become a candidate, and
+that the register may be opened in his favour, it is necessary that he
+should have been proposed to the Board by twenty electors at least, who
+inscribe his name upon the register.
+
+At Paris, no one can be proposed, at the same election, as a candidate
+in more than two electoral districts at the same time.
+
+Art. 36. At the opening of each sitting, the President announces the
+names of the candidates proposed, and the number of votes that each has
+obtained. The same announcement is printed and posted in the town after
+every sitting.
+
+Art. 37. The register for the first series of votes remains open for
+three days at least, and for six hours every day.
+
+No Deputy can be elected by the first series of votes, except by an
+absolute majority of the electors of the district and department, who
+have voted during the three days.
+
+Art. 38. The third day and the hour appointed for voting having expired,
+the register is declared closed; the votes are summed up; the total
+number and the number given to each candidate are published, and the
+candidates who have obtained an absolute majority are announced.
+
+If all the Deputies have not been elected by the first scrutiny of
+votes, the result is published and posted immediately; and after an
+interval of three days, a second series of votes is taken during the
+following days, in the same manner and under the same formalities and
+delays. The candidates who obtain a relative majority at the second
+voting are elected.
+
+Art. 39. Before closing the registers at each voting, the President
+demands publicly whether there is any appeal against the manner in which
+the votes have been inscribed. If objections are made, they are to be
+entered on the official report of the election, and the registers,
+closed and sealed, are forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, who will
+decide.
+
+If there are no appeals, the registers are destroyed on the instant, and
+the official report alone is forwarded to the Chamber.
+
+The official report and registers are signed by all the members of the
+Board.
+
+If there are grounds for a provisional decision, the Board has the power
+of pronouncing it.
+
+Art. 40. The President is invested with full power to maintain the
+freedom of the elections. The civil and military authorities are bound
+to obey his requisitions. The President maintains silence in the hall
+in which the election is held, and will not allow any individual to be
+present who is not an elector or a member of the Board.
+
+
+_Arrangements common to the two Chambers._
+
+Art. 41. No proposition can be sent to a committee until it has been
+previously decided on in the Chamber. The Chamber, on all occasions,
+appoints the number of the members of the committee, and selects them,
+either by a single ballot from the entire list, or on the proposition of
+their own board.
+
+Every motion coming from a Peer or Deputy must be announced at least
+eight days beforehand, in the Chamber to which he belongs.
+
+Art. 42. No motion can be passed by the Chamber until after three
+separate readings, each with an interval between them of eight days at
+the least. The debate follows after each reading. When the debate has
+concluded, the Chamber votes on a new reading. After the last debate, it
+votes on the definitive adoption of the measure.
+
+Art. 43. Every amendment must be proposed before the second reading. An
+amendment decided on after the second reading will of necessity demand
+another reading after the same interval.
+
+Art. 44. Every amendment that may be discussed and voted separately from
+the motion under debate, will be considered as a new motion, and will
+have to undergo the same forms.
+
+Art. 45. Written speeches, except the reports of committees and the
+first opening of a motion, are interdicted.
+
+Art. 46. The Chamber of Peers cannot vote unless fifty Peers, at least,
+are present; the Chamber of Deputies cannot vote unless one hundred
+Members, at least, are present.
+
+Art. 47. The vote in both Chambers is always public.
+
+Fifteen Members can call for a division.
+
+The division is made with closed doors.
+
+Art. 48. The Chamber of Peers can admit the public to its sittings. On
+the demand of five Peers, or on that of the proposer of the motion, the
+sitting becomes private.
+
+Art. 49. The Chamber of Deputies can only form itself into a secret
+committee to hear and discuss the propositions of one of its Members,
+when a secret committee is asked by the proposer of the motion, or by
+five Members at least.
+
+Art. 50. The arrangements of the laws now in operation, and particularly
+those of the law of 17th February, 1817, and which are not affected by
+the present law, will continue to be carried on according to their form
+and tenour.
+
+
+_Temporary Arrangements._
+
+Art. 51. The Chamber of Deputies, from this date until the Session of
+1820, will be carried to the full number of 456 Members.
+
+To this effect, the departments of the fourth series will each name the
+number of Deputies assigned to them by the present law; the other
+departments will also complete the number of Deputies, in the same
+manner assigned to them. The Deputies appointed in execution of the
+present article will be for seven years.
+
+Art. 52. If the number of Deputies to be named to complete the
+deputation of any department, does not exceed that which the electors of
+the department ought to elect, they will all be elected by these
+electors. Should the case be otherwise, each Deputy exceeding this
+number will be chosen by the electors of one of the electoral divisions
+of the department, in the order hereinafter named:--
+
+1. By such of the electoral divisions as have the right of naming more
+than one Deputy, unless one at least of the actual Deputies has his
+political residence in this division.
+
+2. By the first of the electoral divisions in which no actual Deputy has
+his political residence.
+
+3. By the first of the electoral divisions in which one or more of the
+actual Deputies have their political residence, in such manner that no
+single division shall name more Deputies than those assigned to it by
+the present law.
+
+Art. 53. At the expiration of the powers of the present Deputies of the
+5th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd series, a new election will be proceeded with for
+the election of an equal number of Deputies for each respective
+department, by such of the electoral divisions as have not, in execution
+of the preceding article, elected the full number of Deputies which are
+assigned to them by the present law.
+
+Art. 54. The Deputies to be named in execution of the preceding article
+will be; those of the 5th series, for six years;--those of the 1st, for
+five years; those of the 2nd, for four years; and those of the 3rd, for
+three years.
+
+Art. 55. The regulations prescribed by the above articles will be
+observed, if, between the present date and the integral renewing of the
+Chamber, a necessity should arise for replacing a Deputy.
+
+Art. 56. All the elections that may take place under these temporary
+regulations, must be in accordance with the forms and conditions
+prescribed by the present law.
+
+Art. 57. In case of a dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it must be
+integrally renewed within the term fixed by Article 50 of the Charter,
+and in conformity with the present law.
+
+
+
+
+No. XI.
+
+_Letters relative to my Dismissal from the Council of State, on the 17th
+July, 1820._
+
+
+M. DE SERRE (KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL) TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+
+   _Paris, July 17th, 1820._
+
+I regret being compelled to announce to you that you have ceased to
+belong to the Council of State. The violent hostility in which you have
+lately indulged, without the shadow of a pretext, against the King's
+government, has rendered this measure inevitable. You will readily
+understand how much it is personally distressing to myself. My friendly
+feelings towards you induce me to express a hope that you may reserve
+yourself for the future, and that you will not compromise by false steps
+the talents which may still advantageously serve the King and the
+country.
+
+You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. This allowance will be continued. Rest
+assured that I shall be happy, in all that is compatible with my duty,
+to afford you proofs of my sincere attachment.
+
+   DE SERRE.
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
+
+   _July 17th, 1820._
+
+I expected your letter; I had reason to foresee it, and I did foresee it
+when I so loudly declared my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of
+the Ministers. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to change in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as today, I shall belong to myself, and to myself
+alone.
+
+I have not and I never had any pension or allowance chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. I am therefore not necessitated to
+decline keeping it. I cannot comprehend how your mistake has arisen. I
+request you to rectify it, as regards yourself and the other Ministers,
+for I cannot suffer such an error to be propagated.
+
+Accept, I entreat you, the assurance of my respectful consideration.
+
+   GUIZOT.
+
+
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO THE BARON PASQUIER, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
+
+   _Paris, July 17th, 1820._
+
+Baron,
+
+The Keeper of the Seals, on announcing to me that, in common with
+several of my friends, I am removed from the Council of State, writes to
+me thus: "You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs,
+chargeable on the department of Foreign Affairs; this allowance will be
+continued." I have been extremely astonished by this mistake; I am
+completely ignorant of the cause. I have not and I never had any pension
+or allowance of any description chargeable on the department of Foreign
+Affairs. Consequently I am not called upon to refuse its continuance. It
+will be very easy for you, Baron, to verify this fact, and I request you
+to do so, as well for the Keeper of the Seals as for yourself, for I
+cannot suffer the slightest doubt to exist on this subject.
+
+Accept, etc.
+
+   GUIZOT.
+
+
+THE BARON PASQUIER TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+   _Paris, July 18th, 1820._
+
+Sir,
+
+I have just discovered the cause of the mistake against which you
+protest, and into which I myself led the Keeper of the Seals.
+
+Your name, in fact, appears in the list of expenses chargeable on my
+department, for a sum of 6000 francs. In notifying this charge to me, an
+error was committed in marking it as annual: I therefore considered it
+from that time in the light of a pension.
+
+I have now ascertained that it does not assume that character, and that
+it related only to a specified sum which had been allowed to you, to
+assist in the establishment of a Journal. It was supposed that this
+assistance was to be continued, in the form of an annuity, towards
+covering the expenses.
+
+I shall immediately undeceive the Keeper of the Seals by giving him the
+correct explanation.
+
+Receive, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration.
+
+   PASQUIER.
+
+
+
+
+No. XII.
+
+
+M. BÉRANGER TO M. GUIZOT, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
+
+
+M. Minister,
+
+Excuse the liberty I take in recommending to your notice the widow and
+children of Emile Debraux. You will undoubtedly ask who was this Emile
+Debraux. I can inform you, for I have written his panegyric in verse and
+in prose. He was a writer of songs. You are too polite to ask me at
+present what a writer of songs is; and I am not sorry, for I should be
+considerably embarrassed in answering the question. What I can tell you
+is, that Debraux was a good Frenchman, who sang against the old
+Government until his voice was extinguished, and that he died six months
+after the Revolution of July, leaving his family in the most abject
+poverty. He was influential with the inferior classes; and you may rest
+assured that, as he was not quite as particular as I am in regard to
+rhyme and its consequences, he would have sung the new Government, for
+his only directing compass was the tricoloured flag.
+
+For myself, I have always disavowed the title of a man of letters, as
+being too ambitious for a mere sonneteer; nevertheless, I am most
+anxious that you should consider the widow of Emile Debraux as the widow
+of a literary man, for it seems to me that it is only under that title
+she could have any claim to the relief distributed by your department.
+
+I have already petitioned the Commission of Indemnity for Political
+Criminals, in favour of this family. But under the Restoration, Debraux
+underwent a very slight sentence, which gives but a small claim to his
+widow. From that quarter I therefore obtained only a trifle.
+
+If I could be fortunate enough to interest you in the fate of these
+unfortunate people, I should applaud myself for the liberty I have taken
+in advocating their cause. I have been encouraged by the tokens of
+kindness you have sometimes bestowed on me.
+
+I embrace this opportunity of renewing my thanks, and I beg you to
+receive the assurance of the high consideration with which I have the
+honour to remain,
+
+   Your very humble Servant,
+
+   BÉRANGER.
+
+   _Passy, Feb. 13th, 1834._
+
+
+END OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+   JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, PRINTER,
+   LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+The following changes have been made to the text:
+
+The spelling of the name, Châteaubriand, was standardized.
+
+Page 1: "MM. LAINE" changed to "MM. LAINÉ".
+
+Page 27: "ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU" changed to "ABBÉ DE MONTESQUIOU".
+
+Page 126: "mained intact" changed to "remained intact".
+
+Page 126: "deremanded for the clergy" changed to "demanded for the
+clergy".
+
+Page 141: "pusue their designs" changed to "pursue their designs".
+
+Page 153: "not to detroy" changed to "not to destroy".
+
+Page 222 (in this version): In the footnote "Historic Illustrations"
+has been changed to "Historic Documents".
+
+Page 247: "he Pyrenees" changed to "the Pyrenees".
+
+Page 263: "spread themelves abroad" changed to "spread themselves
+abroad".
+
+Page 264: "share the reponsibility" changed to "share the
+responsibility".
+
+Page 272: "sonnetteer" changed to "sonneteer"
+
+Page 276: "at the C urt" changed to "at the Court".
+
+Page 312: "leader vainly eadeavoured" changed to "leader vainly
+endeavoured".
+
+Page 317: "often controlls wills" changed to "often controls wills".
+
+Page 326: "When be learned" changed to "When he learned".
+
+Page 342: "renouced empty or" changed to "renounced empty or".
+
+Page 349: "crossed the saloon in her way" changed to "crossed the saloon
+on her way".
+
+Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "people surrounds" changed
+to "people surround".
+
+Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "worthy your having faith"
+changed to "worthy of your having faith".
+
+Page 366: "my thanks or them" changed to "my thanks for them".
+
+Page 367: "descripion of Jerusalem" changed to "description of
+Jerusalem".
+
+Page 407: "through the the Inspectors-General" changed to "through the
+Inspectors-General".
+
+Page 412: "Council in in August" changed to "Council in August".
+
+Page 441: "three mile lions" changed to "three millions".
+
+Page 441: "five hundred francs of rent" changed to "five hundred
+thousand francs of rent".
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of
+My Time, by François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time, by 
+François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time
+       Volume 1
+
+Author: François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+Translator: John William Cole
+
+Release Date: February 24, 2009 [EBook #28169]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS--HISTORY OF MY TIME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, Carla Foust, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h3>Transcriber's note</h3>
+<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer
+errors have been changed, and they are indicated with
+a <a class="correction" title="like this" href="#tnotes">mouse-hover</a>
+and listed at the
+<a href="#tnotes">end of this book</a>. All other
+inconsistencies are as in the original.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1>MEMOIRS<br />
+
+TO ILLUSTRATE<br />
+
+THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.</h1>
+
+<p class="fm4">BY</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">F. GUIZOT,</p>
+
+<p class="fm4">AUTHOR OF 'MEMOIRS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL;' 'HISTORY OF OLIVER CROMWELL,' ETC. ETC.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm2">VOLUME I.<br /></p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="fm2">LONDON:<br />
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,</p>
+<p class="fm3">Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</p>
+<p class="fm2">1858.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class="fm4">PRINTED BY<br /><br />
+JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,<br />
+<br />
+LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p class="fm2">OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER I.<br />
+<br />
+FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.<br />
+<br />
+1807-1814.<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tdr">Page</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+My Reasons for publishing these Memoirs during my Life.&mdash;My
+Introduction into Society.&mdash;My First Acquaintance with M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Suard, Madame de&nbsp;Sta&euml;l, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes,
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard.&mdash;Proposal to appoint me Auditor in the Imperial
+State Council.&mdash;Why the Appointment did not take place.&mdash;I
+enter the University and begin my Course of Lectures on
+Modern History.&mdash;Liberal and Royalist Parties.&mdash;Characters of
+the different Oppositions towards the Close of the Empire.&mdash;Attempted
+resistance of the Legislative Body.&mdash;MM.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, Gallois,
+Maine-Biran, Raynouard, and Flaugergues.&mdash;I leave Paris for
+Nismes.&mdash;State of Paris and France in March, 1814.&mdash;The Restoration
+takes place.&mdash;I return to Paris, and am appointed Secretary-General
+to the Ministry of the Interior.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER II.<br />
+<br />
+THE RESTORATION.<br />
+<br />
+1814-1815.<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Sentiments with which I commenced Public Life.&mdash;True Cause and
+Character of the Restoration.&mdash;Capital Error of the Imperial
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span>
+Senate.&mdash;The Charter suffers from it.&mdash;Various Objections to the
+the Charter.&mdash;Why they were Futile.&mdash;Cabinet of King Louis
+XVIII.&mdash;Unfitness of the Principal Ministers for Constitutional
+Government.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand.&mdash;The Abb&eacute; de&nbsp;Montesquieu.&mdash;M.
+de&nbsp;Blacas.&mdash;Louis XVIII.&mdash;Principal Affairs in which I was
+concerned at that Epoch.&mdash;Account of the State of the Kingdom
+laid before the Chambers.&mdash;Bill respecting the Press.&mdash;Decree
+for the Reform of Public Instruction.&mdash;State of the Government
+and the Country.&mdash;Their Common Inexperience.&mdash;Effects of the
+Liberal System.&mdash;Estimate of Public Discontent and Conspiracies.&mdash;Saying
+of Napoleon on the Facility of his Return.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER III.<br />
+<br />
+THE HUNDRED DAYS.<br />
+<br />
+1815.<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+I immediately leave the Ministry of the Interior, to resume my
+Lectures.&mdash;Unsettled Feeling of the Middle Classes on the Return
+of Napoleon.&mdash;Its Real Causes.&mdash;Sentiments of Foreign
+Nations and Governments towards Napoleon.&mdash;Apparent Reconciliation,
+but Real Struggle, between Napoleon and the Liberals.&mdash;The
+Federates.&mdash;Carnot and Fouch&eacute;.&mdash;Demonstration of
+Liberty during the Hundred Days, even in the Imperial Palace.&mdash;Louis
+XVIII. and his Council at Ghent.&mdash;The Congress and
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand at Vienna.&mdash;I go to Ghent on the part of the
+Constitutional Royalist Committee at Paris.&mdash;My Notions and
+Opinions during this Journey.&mdash;State of Parties at Ghent.&mdash;My
+Conversation with Louis XVIII.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.&mdash;M.
+de&nbsp;Talleyrand returns from Vienna.&mdash;Louis XVIII.
+re-enters France.&mdash;Intrigue planned at Mons and defeated at
+Cambray.&mdash;Blindness and Imbecility of the Chamber of Representatives.&mdash;My
+Opinion respecting the Admission of Fouch&eacute;
+into the King's Cabinet.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER IV.<br />
+<br />
+THE CHAMBER OF 1815.<br />
+<br />
+1815-1816.<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Fall of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand and Fouch&eacute;.&mdash;Formation of the Duke de
+Richelieu's Cabinet.&mdash;My Connection as Secretary-General of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span>
+the Administration of Justice with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois, Keeper of the
+Great Seal.&mdash;Meeting and Aspect of the Chamber of Deputies.&mdash;Intentions
+and Attitude&nbsp;of the Old Royalist Faction.&mdash;Formation,
+and Composition of a New Royalist Party.&mdash;Struggle of
+Classes under the cloak of Parties.&mdash;Provisional Laws.&mdash;Bill of
+Amnesty.&mdash;The Centre becomes the Government Party, and the
+Right, the Opposition.&mdash;Questions upon the connection between
+the State and the Church.&mdash;State of the Government beyond the
+Chambers.&mdash;Insufficiency of its Resistance to the spirit of Re-action.&mdash;The
+Duke of Feltri and General Bernard.&mdash;Trial of
+Marshal Ney.&mdash;Controversy between M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles and Me.&mdash;Closing
+of the Session.&mdash;Modifications in the Cabinet.&mdash;M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;
+Minister of the Interior.&mdash;I leave the Ministry of Justice and
+enter the State Council as Master of Requests.&mdash;The Cabinet
+enters into Contests with the Right-hand Party.&mdash;M.&nbsp;Decazes.&mdash;Position
+of MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and De Serre.&mdash;Opposition of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.&mdash;The Country declares against the Chamber
+of Deputies.&mdash;Efforts of M.&nbsp;Decazes to bring about a Dissolution.&mdash;The
+King determines on it.&mdash;Decree of the 5th of September,
+1816.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER V.<br />
+<br />
+GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.<br />
+<br />
+1816-1821.<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Composition of the New Chamber of Deputies.&mdash;The Cabinet in a
+Majority.&mdash;Elements of that Majority, the Centre properly so
+called, and the Doctrinarians.&mdash;True character of the Centre.&mdash;True
+character of the Doctrinarians, and real cause of their Influence.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye and M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard at the
+Opening of the Session.&mdash;Attitude&nbsp;of the Doctrinarians in the
+Debate on the Exceptional Laws.&mdash;Electoral Law of February
+5th, 1817.&mdash;The part I took on that occasion.&mdash;Of the Actual
+and Political Position of the Middle Classes.&mdash;Marshal Gouvion
+St.&nbsp;Cyr, and his Bill for recruiting the Army, of the 10th of
+March, 1818.&mdash;Bill respecting the Press, of 1819, and M.&nbsp;de
+Serre.&mdash;Preparatory Discussion of these Bills in the State Council.&mdash;General
+Administration of the Country.&mdash;Modification of
+the Cabinet from 1816 to 1820.&mdash;Imperfections of the Constitutional
+System.&mdash;Errors of Individuals.&mdash;Dissensions between
+the Cabinet and the Doctrinarians.&mdash;The Duke de&nbsp;Richelieu
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>negotiates, at Aix-la-Chapelle, the entire Retreat of Foreign
+Troops from France.&mdash;His Situation and Character.&mdash;He attacks
+the Bill on Elections.&mdash;His Fall.&mdash;Cabinet of M.&nbsp;Decazes.&mdash;His
+Political Weakness, notwithstanding his Parliamentary Success.&mdash;Elections
+of 1819.&mdash;Election and Non-admission of M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire.&mdash;Assassination
+of the Duke de&nbsp;Berry.&mdash;Fall of M.&nbsp;Decazes.&mdash;The
+Duke de&nbsp;Richelieu resumes Office.&mdash;His Alliance
+with the Right-hand Party.&mdash;Change in the Law of Elections.&mdash;Disorganization
+of the Centre, and Progress of the Right-hand
+Party.&mdash;Second Fall of the Duke de&nbsp;Richelieu.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le and the Right-hand Party obtain Power.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER VI.<br />
+<br />
+GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.<br />
+<br />
+1822-1827.<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Position of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le on assuming Power.&mdash;He finds himself
+engaged with the Left and the Conspiracies.&mdash;Character of the
+Conspiracies.&mdash;Estimate of their Motives.&mdash;Their connection
+with some of the Leaders of the Parliamentary Opposition.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La&nbsp;Fayette.&mdash;M.&nbsp;Manuel.&mdash;M.&nbsp;D'Argenson.&mdash;Their Attitude
+in the Chamber of Deputies.&mdash;Failure of the Conspiracies, and
+Causes thereof.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le engaged with his Rivals within
+and by the side of the Cabinet.&mdash;The Duke de&nbsp;Montmorency.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand Ambassador at London.&mdash;Congress
+of Verona.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand becomes Minister of Foreign
+Affairs.&mdash;Spanish
+War.&mdash;Examination of its Causes and Results.&mdash;Rupture
+between M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.&mdash;Fall
+of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le engaged with an Opposition
+springing from the Right-hand Party.&mdash;The 'Journal des
+D&eacute;bats' and the Messrs. Bertin.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le falls under the
+Yoke of the Parliamentary Majority.&mdash;Attitude&nbsp;and Influence
+of the Ultra-Catholic Party.&mdash;Estimate of their conduct.&mdash;Attacks
+to which they are exposed.&mdash;M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montlosier.&mdash;M.&nbsp;B&eacute;ranger.&mdash;Acuteness
+of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le.&mdash;His decline.&mdash;His Enemies
+at the Court.&mdash;Review and Disbanding of the National Guard of
+Paris.&mdash;Anxiety of Charles X.&mdash;Dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies.&mdash;The Elections are Hostile to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le.&mdash;He retires.&mdash;Speech
+of the Dauphinists to Charles X.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_223">223</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER VII.<br />
+<br />
+MY OPPOSITION.<br />
+<br />
+1820-1829.<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+My Retirement at the Maisonnette.&mdash;I publish four incidental
+Essays on Political Affairs: 1. Of the Government of France
+since the Restoration, and of the Ministry in Office (1820); 2.
+Of Conspiracies and Political Justice (1821); 3. Of the Resources
+of the Government and the Opposition in the actual State of
+France (1821); 4. Of Capital Punishment for Political Offences
+(1822).&mdash;Character and Effects of these Publications.&mdash;Limits of
+my Opposition.&mdash;The Carbonari.&mdash;Visit of M.&nbsp;Manuel.&mdash;I commence
+my Course of Lectures on the History of the Origin of
+Representative Government.&mdash;Its double Object.&mdash;The Abb&eacute;
+Frayssinous orders its Suspension.&mdash;My Historical Labours&mdash;on
+the History of England; on the History of France; on the Relations
+and Mutual Influence of France and England; on the
+Philosophic and Literary Tendencies of that Epoch.&mdash;The French
+Review.&mdash;The Globe.&mdash;The Elections of 1827.&mdash;My Connection
+with the Society, 'Help thyself and Heaven will help thee.'&mdash;My
+Relations with the Administration of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac; he
+authorizes the Re-opening of my Course of Lectures, and restores
+my Title as a State-Councillor.&mdash;My Lectures (1828-1830) on
+the History of Civilization in Europe and in France.&mdash;Their
+Effect.&mdash;I am elected Deputy for Lisieux (December, 1829).</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+<br />
+ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.<br />
+<br />
+1830.<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Menacing, and at the same time inactive attitude of the Ministry.&mdash;Lawful
+Excitement throughout the Country.&mdash;Association for
+the ultimate Refusal of the non-voted Taxes.&mdash;Character and
+Views of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac.&mdash;Manifestations of the Ministerial
+Party.&mdash;New Aspect of the Opposition.&mdash;Opening of the Session.&mdash;Speech
+of the King.&mdash;Address of the Chamber of Peers.&mdash;Preparation
+of the Address of the Chamber of Deputies.&mdash;Perplexity
+of the Moderate Party, and of M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard.&mdash;Debate
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>on the Address.&mdash;The part taken in it by M.&nbsp;Berryer and
+myself.&mdash;Presentation of the Address to the King.&mdash;Prorogation
+of the Session.&mdash;Retirement of MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Chabrol and Courvoisier.&mdash;Dissolution
+of the Chamber of Deputies.&mdash;My Journey
+to Nismes for the Elections.&mdash;True Character of the Elections.&mdash;Intentions
+of Charles X.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Historic Documents</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> This Work has been translated by J. W. Cole, Esq., who also
+translated the 'Celebrated Characters' of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lamartine.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<p class="fm1">MEMOIRS</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">TO ILLUSTRATE</p>
+
+<p class="fm1">THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.</h3>
+
+<h3>1807-1814.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>MY REASONS FOR PUBLISHING THESE MEMOIRS DURING MY LIFE.&mdash;MY
+INTRODUCTION INTO SOCIETY.&mdash;MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH M.&nbsp;DE
+CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND, M.&nbsp;SUARD, MADAME&nbsp;DE&nbsp;STAEL, M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;FONTANES,
+M.&nbsp;ROYER-COLLARD.&mdash;PROPOSAL TO APPOINT ME AUDITOR IN THE IMPERIAL
+STATE COUNCIL.&mdash;WHY THE APPOINTMENT DID NOT TAKE PLACE.&mdash;I ENTER
+THE UNIVERSITY, AND BEGIN MY COURSE OF LECTURES ON MODERN
+HISTORY.&mdash;LIBERAL AND ROYALIST PARTIES.&mdash;CHARACTERS OF THE
+DIFFERENT OPPOSITIONS TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE EMPIRE.&mdash;ATTEMPTED
+RESISTANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY.&mdash;MM.&nbsp;<a name="corr1" id="corr1"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn1" title="changed from 'LAINE'">LAIN&Eacute;</a>,
+GALLOIS, MAINE-BIRAN, RAYNOUARD, AND FLAUGERGUES.&mdash;I LEAVE PARIS FOR
+NISMES.&mdash;STATE OF PARIS AND FRANCE IN MARCH, 1814.&mdash;THE RESTORATION
+TAKES PLACE.&mdash;I RETURN TO PARIS, AND AM APPOINTED SECRETARY-GENERAL
+TO THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>I adopt a course different from that recently pursued by several of my
+contemporaries; I publish my memoirs while I am still here to answer for
+what I write. I am not prompted to this by the weariness of inaction, or
+by any desire to re-open a limited field for old conten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>tions, in place
+of the grand arena at present closed. I have struggled much and ardently
+during my life; age and retirement, as far as my own feelings are
+concerned, have expanded their peaceful influence over the past. From a
+sky profoundly serene, I look back towards an horizon pregnant with many
+storms. I have deeply probed my own heart, and I cannot find there any
+feeling which envenoms my recollections. The absence of gall permits
+extreme candour. Personality alters or deteriorates truth. Being
+desirous to speak of my own life, and of the times in which I have
+lived, I prefer doing so on the brink, rather than from the depths of
+the tomb. This appears to me more dignified as regards myself, while,
+with reference to others, it will lead me to be more scrupulous in my
+words and opinions. If objections arise, which I can scarcely hope to
+escape, at least it shall not be said that I was unwilling to hear them,
+and that I have removed myself from the responsibility of what I have
+done.</p>
+
+<p>Other reasons, also, have induced this decision. Memoirs, in general,
+are either published too soon or too late. If too soon, they are
+indiscreet or unimportant; we either reveal what would be better held
+back for the present, or suppress details which it would be both
+profitable and curious to relate at once. If too late, they lose much of
+their opportunity and interest; contemporaries have passed away, and can
+no longer profit by the truths which are imparted, or participate in
+their recital with personal enjoyment. Such memoirs retain only a moral
+and literary value, and excite no feeling beyond idle curiosity.
+Although I well know how much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> experience evaporates in passing from one
+generation to another, I cannot believe that it becomes altogether
+extinct, or that a correct knowledge of the mistakes of our fathers, and
+of the causes of their failures, can be totally profitless to their
+descendants. I wish to transmit to those who may succeed me, and who
+also will have their trials to undergo, a little of the light I have
+derived from mine. I have, alternately, defended liberty against
+absolute power, and order against the spirit of revolution,&mdash;two leading
+causes which, in fact, constitute but one, for their disconnection leads
+to the ruin of both. Until liberty boldly separates itself from the
+spirit of revolution, and order from absolute power, so long will France
+continue to be tossed about from crisis to crisis, and from error to
+error. In this is truly comprised the cause of the nation. I am grieved,
+but not dismayed, at its reverses. I neither renounce its service, nor
+despair of its triumph. Under the severest disappointments, it has ever
+been my natural tendency, and for which I thank God as for a blessing,
+to preserve great desires, however uncertain or distant might be the
+hopes of their accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>In ancient and in modern times, the greatest of great historians,
+Thucydides, Xenophon, Sallust, C&aelig;sar, Tacitus, Macchiavelli, and
+Clarendon, have written, and some have themselves published, the annals
+of the passing age and of the events in which they participated. I do
+not venture on such an ambitious work; the day of history has not yet
+arrived for us, of complete, free, and unreserved history, either as
+relates to facts or men. But my own personal and inward history; what I
+have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> thought, felt, and wished in my connection with the public affairs
+of my country; the thoughts, feelings, and wishes of my political
+friends and associates, our minds reflected in our actions,&mdash;on these
+points I can speak freely, and on these I am most desirous to record my
+sentiments, that I may be, if not always approved, at least correctly
+known and understood. On this foundation, others will hereafter assign
+to us our proper places in the history of the age.</p>
+
+<p>I only commenced public life in the year 1814. I had neither served
+under the Revolution nor the Empire: a stranger to the first from youth,
+and to the second from disposition. Since I have had some share in the
+government of men, I have learned to do justice to the Emperor Napoleon.
+He was endowed with a genius incomparably active and powerful, much to
+be admired for his antipathy to disorder, for his profound instincts in
+ruling, and for his energetic rapidity in reconstructing the social
+framework. But this genius had no check, acknowledged no limit to its
+desires or will, either emanating from Heaven or man, and thus remained
+revolutionary while combating revolution: thoroughly acquainted with the
+general conditions of society, but imperfectly, or rather, coarsely
+understanding the moral necessities of human nature; sometimes
+satisfying them with the soundest judgment, and at others depreciating
+and insulting them with impious pride. Who could have believed that the
+same man who had established the Concordat, and re-opened the churches
+in France, would have carried off the Pope from Rome, and kept him a
+prisoner at Fontainebleau?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>It is going too far to apply the same ill-treatment to philosophers and
+Christians, to reason and faith. Amongst the great men of his class,
+Napoleon was by far the most necessary for the times. None but himself
+could have so quickly and effectually substituted order in place of
+anarchy; but no one was so chimerical as to the future, for after having
+been master of France and Europe, he suffered Europe to drive him even
+from France. His name is greater and more enduring than his actions, the
+most brilliant of which, his conquests, disappeared suddenly and for
+ever, with himself. In rendering homage to his exalted qualities, I feel
+no regret at not having appreciated them until after his death. For me,
+under the Empire, there was too much of the arrogance of power, too much
+contempt of right, too much revolution, and too little liberty.</p>
+
+<p>It is not that at that period I was much engaged in politics, or
+over-impatient for the freedom that should open to me the road I
+desired. I associated myself with the Opposition, but it was an
+Opposition bearing little resemblance to that which we have seen and
+created during the last thirty years. It was formed from the relics of
+the philosophic world and liberal aristocracy of the eighteenth century,
+the last representatives of the saloons in which all subjects whatever
+had been freely proposed and discussed, through the impulse of
+inclination, and the gratification of mental indulgence, rather than
+from any distinct object of interest or ambition. The errors and
+disasters of the Revolution had not led the survivors of that active
+generation to renounce their convictions or desires; they remained
+sincerely liberal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> but without practical or urgent pretension, and with
+the reserve of men who had suffered much and succeeded little in their
+attempts at legislative reform. They still held to freedom of thought
+and speech, but had no aspirations after power. They detested and warmly
+criticized despotism, but without any open attempt to repress or
+overthrow existing authority. It was the opposition of enlightened and
+independent lookers-on, who had neither the opportunity nor inclination
+to interfere as actors.</p>
+
+<p>After a long life of fierce contention, I recur with pleasure to the
+remembrance of this enchanting society. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand once said to
+me, "Those who were not living in and about the year 1789, know little
+of the enjoyments of life." In fact, nothing could exceed the pleasure
+of a great intellectual and social movement, which, at that epoch, far
+from suspending or disturbing the arrangements of the world, animated
+and ennobled them by mingling serious thoughts with frivolous
+recreations, and as yet called for no suffering, or no sacrifice, while
+it opened to the eyes of men a dazzling and delightful perspective. The
+eighteenth century was, beyond all question, the most tempting and
+seductive of ages, for it promised to satisfy at once the strength and
+weakness of human nature; elevating and enervating the mind at the same
+time; flattering alternately the noblest sentiments and the most
+grovelling propensities; intoxicating with exalted hopes, and nursing
+with effeminate concessions. Thus it has produced, in pellmell
+confusion, utopians and egotists, sceptics and fanatics, enthusiasts and
+incredulous scoffers, different offspring of the same period, but all
+enraptured with the age and with them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>selves, indulging together in one
+common drunkenness on the eve of the approaching chaos.</p>
+
+<p>When I first mixed with the world in 1807, the storm had for a long time
+burst; the infatuation of 1789 had completely disappeared. Society,
+entirely occupied with its own re-establishment, no longer dreamed of
+elevating itself in the midst of mere amusement; exhibitions of force
+had superseded impulses towards liberty. Coldness, absence of
+fellow-feeling, isolation of sentiment and interests,&mdash;in these are
+comprised the ordinary course and weary vexations of the world. France,
+worn out with errors and strange excesses, eager once more for order and
+common sense, fell back into the old track. In the midst of this general
+reaction, the faithful inheritors of the literary saloons of the
+eighteenth century held themselves aloof from its influence; they alone
+preserved two of the noblest and most amiable propensities of their
+age&mdash;a disinterested taste for pleasures of the mind, and that readiness
+of sympathy, that warmth and ardour of curiosity, that necessity for
+moral improvement and free discussion, which embellish the social
+relations with so much variety and sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>In my own case, I drew from these sources a profitable experience. Led
+into the circle I have named, by an incident in my private life, I
+entered amongst them very young, perfectly unknown, with no other title
+than a little presumed ability, some education, and an ardent taste for
+refined pleasures, letters, and good company. I carried with me no ideas
+harmonizing with those I found there. I had been brought up at Geneva,
+with extremely liberal notions, but in austere habits and reli<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>gious
+convictions entirely opposed to the philosophy of the eighteenth
+century, rather than in coincidence with or in admiration of its works
+and tendencies. During my residence in Paris, German metaphysics and
+literature had been my favourite study; I read Kant and Klopstock,
+Herder and Schiller, much more frequently than Condillac and Voltaire.
+M.&nbsp;Suard, the Abb&eacute; Morellet, the Marquis&nbsp;de&nbsp;Boufflers, the frequenters
+of the drawing-rooms of Madame d'Houdetot and of Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;Rumford, who
+received me with extreme complaisance, smiled, and sometimes grew tired
+of my Christian traditions and Germanic enthusiasm; but, after all, this
+difference of opinion established for me, in their circle, a plea of
+interest and favour instead of producing any feeling of illwill or even
+of indifference. They knew that I was as sincerely attached to liberty
+and the privileges of human intelligence as they were themselves, and
+they discovered something novel and independent in my turn of thought,
+which inspired both esteem and attraction. At this period, they
+constantly supported me with their friendship and interest, without ever
+attempting to press or control me on the points on which we disagreed.
+From them especially, I have learned to exercise in practical life, that
+expanded equity, joined to respect for the freedom of others, which
+constitute the character and duty of a truly liberal mind.</p>
+
+<p>This generous disposition manifested itself on every opportunity. In
+1809, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand published 'The Martyrs.' The success of this
+work was at first slow, and strongly disputed. Amongst the disciples of
+the eighteenth century and of Voltaire, a great majority<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> treated M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand as an enemy, while the more moderate section looked on him
+with little favour. They rejected his ideas even when they felt that
+they were not called upon to contest them. His style of writing offended
+their taste, which was divested of all imagination, and more refined
+than grand. My own disposition was entirely opposed to theirs. I
+passionately admired M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand in his ideas and language: that
+beautiful compound of religious sentiment and romantic imagination, of
+poetry and moral polemics, had so powerfully moved and subdued me, that,
+soon after my arrival at Paris in 1806, one of my first literary
+fantasies was to address an epistle, in very indifferent verse, to M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand, who immediately thanked me in prose, artistically
+polished and unassuming. His letter flattered my youth, and 'The
+Martyrs' redoubled my zeal. Seeing them so violently attacked, I
+resolved to defend them in the 'Publicist,' in which I occasionally
+wrote. M.&nbsp;Suard, who conducted that journal, although far from
+coinciding with the opinions I had adopted, lent himself most obligingly
+to my desire. I have met with very few men of a natural temperament so
+gentle and liberal, and with a mind at the same time scrupulously
+refined and fastidious. He was much more disposed to criticize than to
+admire the talent of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand; but he admitted the great
+extent of his ability, and on that ground dealt with him gently,
+although with delicate irony. Besides which, the talent was full of
+independence, and exerted in opposition to the formidable tendencies of
+Imperial power. These qualities won largely upon the esteem of M.&nbsp;Suard,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> who, in consequence, allowed me an unfettered course in the
+'Publicist,' of which I availed myself to espouse the cause of 'The
+Martyrs' against their detractors.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was deeply affected by this, and hastened to express
+his acknowledgments. My articles became the subject of a correspondence
+between us, which I still refer to with pleasure.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He explained to me
+his intentions and motives in the composition of his poem, discussed
+with susceptibility and even with some degree of temper concealed under
+his gratitude, the strictures mixed with my eulogiums, and finished by
+saying: "In conclusion, Sir, you know the tempests raised against my
+work, and from whence they proceed. There is another wound, not
+exhibited, which is the real source of all this rage. It is that
+<i>Hierocles</i> massacres the Christians in the name of <i>philosophy</i> and
+<i>liberty</i>. Time will do me justice, if my work deserves it, and you will
+greatly accelerate this justice by the publication of your articles,
+provided you could be induced to change and modify them to a certain
+point. Show me my faults, and I will correct them. I only despise those
+critics who are as base in their language as in the secret motives which
+induce them to speak. I can find neither reason nor principle in the
+mouths of those literary mountebanks hired by the police, who dance in
+the gutters for the amusement of lacqueys.... I do not give up the hope
+of calling to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> see you, or of receiving you in my hermitage. Honest men
+should, particularly at present, unite for mutual consolation; generous
+feelings and exalted sentiments become every day so rare, that we ought
+to consider ourselves too happy when we encounter them.... Accept, I
+entreat you, once more, the assurance of my high consideration, of my
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit, of a friendship which we
+commence under the auspices of frankness and honour."</p>
+
+<p>Between M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand and myself, frankness and honour, most
+certainly, have never been disturbed throughout our political
+controversies; but friendship has not been able to survive them. The
+word is too rare and valuable to be hastily pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>When we have lived under a system of real and serious liberty, we feel
+both an inclination and a right to smile when we consider what, in other
+times, has been classed as factious opposition by the one side, and
+courageous resistance by the other. In August, 1807, eighteen months
+before the publication of 'The Martyrs,' I stopped some days in
+Switzerland, on my way to visit my mother at Nismes; and with the
+confident enthusiasm of youth, as anxious to become acquainted with
+living celebrities as I was myself unknown, I addressed a letter to
+Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;Sta&euml;l, requesting the honour of calling upon her. She invited
+me to dinner at Ouchy, near Lausanne, where she then resided. I was
+placed next to her; I came from Paris; she questioned me as to what was
+passing there, how the public were occupied, and what were the topics of
+conversation in the saloons. I spoke of an article by M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> 'Mercury,' which was making some noise at the
+moment of my departure. A particular passage had struck me, which I
+quoted according to the text, as it had strongly impressed itself on my
+memory. "When, in the silence of abject submission, we hear only the
+chains of the slave and the voice of the informer, when all tremble
+before the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to incur favour as to merit
+disgrace, the historian appears to be charged with the vengeance of
+nations. It is in vain that Nero triumphs. Tacitus has been born in the
+Empire; he grows up unnoticed near the ashes of Germanicus, and already
+uncompromising Providence has handed over to an obscure child the glory
+of the master of the world." My tone of voice was undoubtedly excited
+and striking, as I was myself deeply moved and arrested by the words.
+Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;Sta&euml;l, seizing me by the arm, exclaimed, "I am sure you would
+make an excellent tragedian; remain with us and take a part in the
+'Andromache.'" Theatricals were at that time the prevailing taste and
+amusement in her house. I excused myself from her kind conjecture and
+proposal, and the conversation returned to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand and his
+article, which was greatly admired, while at the same time it excited
+some apprehension. The admiration was just, for the passage was really
+eloquent; neither was the alarm without grounds, for the 'Mercury' was
+suppressed precisely on account of this identical paragraph. Thus, the
+Emperor Napoleon, conqueror of Europe and absolute master of France,
+believed that he could not suffer it to be written that his future
+historian might perhaps be born under his reign, and held himself
+compelled to take the honour of Nero<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> under his shield. It was a heavy
+penalty attached to greatness, to have such apprehensions to exhibit,
+and such clients to protect!</p>
+
+<p>Exalted minds, who felt a little for the dignity of human nature, had
+sound reason for being discontented with the existing system; they saw
+that it could neither establish the happiness nor the permanent
+prosperity of France; but it seemed then so firmly established in
+general opinion, its power was so universally admitted, and so little
+was any change anticipated for the future, that even within the haughty
+and narrow circle in which the spirit of opposition prevailed, it
+appeared quite natural that young men should enter the service of
+Government, the only public career that remained open to them. A lady of
+distinguished talent and noble sentiments, who had conceived a certain
+degree of friendship for me, Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;R&eacute;musat, was desirous that I
+should be named Auditor in the State Council. Her cousin, M.&nbsp;Pasquier,
+Prefect of Police, whom I sometimes met at her house, interested himself
+in this matter with much cordiality, and, under the advice of my most
+intimate friends, I acceded to the proposition, although, at the bottom
+of my heart, it occasioned me some uneasiness. It was intended that I
+should be attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. M.&nbsp;Pasquier named
+me to the Duke of Bassano, then at the head of the department, and to
+Count d'Hauterive, Comptroller of the Archives. The Duke sent for me. I
+also had an interview with M.&nbsp;d'Hauterive, who possessed a fertile and
+ingenious mind, and was kindly disposed towards young men of studious
+habits. As a trial of ability, they ordered me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> to draw up a memorial on
+a question respecting which, the Emperor either was, or wished to
+appear, deeply interested&mdash;the mutual exchange of French and English
+prisoners. Many documents on the subject were placed in my hands. I
+completed the memorial; and, believing that the Emperor was sincere,
+carefully set forward those principles of the law of nations which
+rendered the measure desirable, and the mutual concessions necessary for
+its accomplishment. My work was duly submitted to the Duke of Bassano. I
+have reason to conclude that I had mistaken his object; and that the
+Emperor, looking upon the English detained in France as of more
+importance than the French confined in England, and believing also that
+the number of the latter pressed inconveniently on the English
+Government, had no serious intention of carrying out the proposed
+exchange. Whatever might be the cause, I heard nothing more either of my
+memorial or nomination, a result which caused me little regret.</p>
+
+<p>Another career soon opened to me, more suitable to my views, as being
+less connected with the Government. My first attempts at writing,
+particularly my Critical Notes on Gibbon's 'History of the Decline and
+Fall of the Roman Empire,' and the 'Annals of Education,' a periodical
+miscellany in which I had touched upon some leading questions of public
+and private instruction, obtained for me the notice of literary men.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+With gratuitous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> kindness, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes, Grand Master of the
+University, appointed me Assistant Professor to the Chair of History,
+occupied by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lacretelle, in the Faculty of Letters in the Academy
+of Paris. In a very short time, and before I had commenced my class, as
+if he thought he had not done enough to evince his esteem and to attach
+me strongly to the University, he divided the Chair, and named me
+Titular Professor of Modern History, with a dispensation on account of
+age, as I had not yet completed my twenty-fifth year. I began my
+lectures at the College of Plessis, in presence of the pupils of the
+Normal School, and of a public audience few in number but anxious for
+instruction, and with whom modern history, traced up to its remote
+sources, the barbarous conquerors of the Roman Empire, presented itself
+with an urgent and almost contemporaneous interest. In his conduct
+towards me, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes was not entirely actuated by some pages of
+mine he had read, or by a few friendly opinions he had heard expressed.
+This learned Epicurean, become powerful, and the intellectual favourite
+of the most potent Sovereign in Europe, loved literature for itself with
+a sincere and disinterested attachment. The truly beautiful touched him
+as sensibly as in the days of his early youth and poetical inspirations.
+What was still more extraordinary, this refined courtier of a despot,
+this official orator, who felt satisfied when he had embellished
+flattery with noble eloquence, never failed to acknowledge, and render
+due homage to independence. Soon after my appointment, he invited me to
+dinner at his country-house at Courbevoie. Seated near him at table, we
+talked of studies, of the different modes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> teaching, of ancient and
+modern classics, with the freedom of old acquaintances, and almost with
+the association of fellow-labourers. The conversation turned upon the
+Latin poets and their commentators. I spoke with warm praise of the
+great edition of Virgil by Heyne, the celebrated professor of the
+University of G&ouml;ttingen, and of the merit of his annotations. M.&nbsp;de
+Fontanes fiercely attacked the German scholars. According to him, they
+had neither discovered nor added anything to the earlier commentaries,
+and Heyne was no better acquainted with Virgil and the ancients than
+P&egrave;re La Rue. He fulminated against German literature in the mass,
+philosophers, poets, historians, or philologists, and pronounced them
+all unworthy of attention. I defended them with the confidence of
+conviction and youth; when M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes, turning to his neighbour on
+the other side, said to him, with a smile, "We can never make these
+Protestants give in." But, instead of taking offence at my obstinacy, he
+was cordially pleased with the frankness of this little debate. His
+toleration of my independence was, not long after, subjected to a more
+delicate trial.</p>
+
+<p>When I was about to commence my course, in December, 1812, he spoke to
+me of my opening address, and insinuated that I ought to insert in it a
+sentence or two in praise of the Emperor. It was the custom, he said,
+particularly on the establishment of a new professorship, and the
+Emperor sometimes demanded from him an account of these proceedings. I
+felt unwilling to comply, and told him, I thought this proposal scarcely
+consistent. I had to deal exclusively with science, before an audience
+of students; how then could I be expected to introduce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> politics, and,
+above all, politics in opposition to my own views? "Do as you please,"
+replied M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes, with an evident mixture of regard and
+embarrassment; "if you are complained of, it will fall upon me, and I
+must defend you and myself as well as I can."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>He displayed as much clear penetration and good sense as generosity, in
+so quickly and gracefully renouncing the proposition he had suggested.
+In regard to the master he served, the opposition of the society in
+which I lived had in it nothing of practical or immediate importance. It
+was purely an opposition of ideas and conversation, without defined plan
+or effective influence, earnest in philosophic inquiry, but passive in
+political action; disposed to be satisfied with tranquil life, in the
+unshackled indulgence of thought and speech.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the University, I found myself in contact with another
+opposition, less apparent but more serious, without being, at the
+moment, of a more active character. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, at that time
+Professor of the History of Philosophy, and Dean of the Faculty of
+Letters, attached himself to me with warm friendship. We had no previous
+acquaintanceship; I was much the younger man; he lived quite out of the
+world, within a small circle of selected associates; we were new to each
+other, and mutually attractive. He was a man, not of the old system, but
+of the old times, whose character had been developed, though not
+controlled, by the Revolution, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> principles, transactions, and
+leading promoters of which he judged with rigid independence, without
+losing sight of the primary and national cause. His mind, eminently
+liberal, highly cultivated, and supported by solid good sense, was more
+original than inventive, profound rather than expanded, more given to
+sift thoroughly a single idea than to combine many; too much absorbed
+within himself, but exercising a singular power over others by the
+commanding weight of his reason, and by an aptitude of imparting, with a
+certain solemnity of manner, the unexpected brilliancy of a strong
+imagination, continually under the excitement of very lively
+impressions. Before being called to teach philosophy, he had never made
+this particular branch of science the object or end of his special
+study, and throughout our political vicissitudes between 1789 and 1814
+he had never taken an important position, or connected himself
+prominently with any party. But, in youth, under the influence of the
+traditions of Port-Royal, he had received a sound classical and
+Christian education; and after the <i>Reign of Terror</i>, under the
+government of the Directory, he joined the small section of Royalists
+who corresponded with Louis XVIII., less to conspire, than to enlighten
+the exiled Prince on the true state of the country, and to furnish him
+with suggestions equally advantageous for France and the House of
+Bourbon, if it were destined that the House of Bourbon and France should
+be re-united on some future day. He was therefore decidedly a
+spiritualist in philosophy, and a royalist in politics. To restore
+independence of mind to man, and right to government, formed the
+prevailing desire of his unobtrusive life. "You cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> believe," he
+wrote to me in 1823, "that I have ever adopted the word <i>Restoration</i> in
+the restricted sense of an individual fact; but I have always regarded,
+and still look upon this fact as the expression of a certain system of
+society and government, and as the condition on which, under the
+circumstances of France, we are to look for order, justice, and liberty;
+while, without this condition, disorder, violence, and irremediable
+despotism, springing from things and not from men, will be the necessary
+consequence of the spirit and doctrines of the Revolution." Passionately
+imbued with this conviction, an aggressive philosopher and an expectant
+politician, he fought successfully in his chair against the
+materialistic school of the eighteenth century, and watched from the
+retirement of his study, with anxiety but not without hope, the chances
+of the perilous game on which Napoleon daily staked his empire.</p>
+
+<p>By his lofty and intuitive instincts, Napoleon was a spiritualist: men
+of his order have flashes of light and impulses of thought, which open
+to them the sphere of the most exalted truths. In his hours of better
+reflection, spiritualism, reviving under his reign, and sapping the
+materialism of the last century, was sympathetic with and agreeable to
+his own nature. But the principle of despotism quickly reminded him that
+the soul cannot be elevated without enfranchisement, and the
+spiritualistic philosophy of M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard then confused him as much
+as the sensual ideology of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Tracy. It was, moreover, one of the
+peculiarities of Napoleon's mind, that his thoughts constantly reverted
+to the forgotten Bourbons, well knowing that he had no other
+competitors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> for the throne of France. At the summit of his power he
+more than once gave utterance to this impression, which recurred to him
+with increased force when he felt the approach of danger. On this
+ground, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and his friends, with whose opinions and
+connections he was fully acquainted, became to him objects of extreme
+suspicion and disquietude. Not that their opposition (as he was also
+aware) was either active or influential; events were not produced
+through such agencies; but therein lay the best-founded presentiments of
+the future; and amongst its members were included the most rational
+partisans of the prospective Government.</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto they had ventured nothing beyond vague and half-indulged
+conversations, when the Emperor himself advanced their views to a
+consistence and publicity which they were far from assuming. On the 19th
+of December, 1813, he convened together the Senate and the Legislative
+Body, and ordered several documents to be laid before them relative to
+his negotiations with the Allied Powers, demanding their opinions on the
+subject. If he had then really intended to make peace, or felt seriously
+anxious to convince France, that the continuance of the war would not
+spring from the obstinacy of his own domineering will, there can be no
+doubt that he would have found in these two Bodies, enervated as they
+were, a strong and popular support. I often saw and talked
+confidentially with three of the five members of the Commission of the
+Legislative Body, MM.&nbsp;Maine-Biran, Gallois, and Raynouard, and through
+them I obtained a correct knowledge of the dispositions of the two
+others, MM.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; and Flaugergues.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> M.&nbsp;Maine-Biran, who,
+with M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and myself formed a small philosophical association, in
+which we conversed freely on all topics, kept us fully informed as to
+what passed in the Commission, and even in the Legislative Assembly
+itself. Although originally a Royalist (in his youth he had been
+enrolled amongst the bodyguards of Louis XVI.), he was unconnected with
+any party or intrigue, scrupulously conscientious, even timid when
+conviction did not call for the exercise of courage, little inclined to
+politics by taste, and, under any circumstances, one of the last men to
+form an extreme resolution, or take the initiative in action. M.&nbsp;Gallois, a man of the world and of letters, a moderate liberal of the
+philosophic school of the eighteenth century, occupied himself much more
+with his library than with public affairs. He wished to discharge his
+duty to his country respectably, without disturbing the peaceful tenor
+of his life. M.&nbsp;Raynouard, a native of Provence and a poet, had more
+vivacity of manner and language, without being of an adventurous
+temperament. It was said that his loud complaints against the tyrannical
+abuses of the Imperial Government, would not have prevented him from
+being contented with those moderate concessions which satisfy honour for
+the present, and excite hope for the future. M.&nbsp;Flaugergues, an honest
+Republican, who had put on mourning for the death of Louis XVI.,
+uncompromising in temper and character, was capable of energetic but
+solitary resolutions, and possessed little influence over his
+colleagues, although he talked much. M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, on the contrary, had a
+warm and sympathetic heart under a gloomy exterior, and an elevated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+mind, without much vigour or originality. He spoke imposingly and
+convincingly when moved by his subject; formerly a Republican, he had
+paused as a simple partisan of liberal tendencies, and being promptly
+acknowledged as the head of the Commission, consented without hesitation
+to become its organ. But, like his colleagues, he had no premeditated
+hostility or concealed engagement against the Emperor. All were desirous
+of conveying to him a true impression of the desires of France;
+externally for a pacific policy, and internally for a respect for public
+rights and the legal exercise of power. Their Report contained nothing
+beyond a guarded expression of these moderate sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>With such men, animated by such views, a perfect understanding was
+anything but difficult. Napoleon would not even listen to them. It is
+well known how he suddenly suppressed the Report and adjourned the
+Legislative Body, and with what rude but intentional violence he
+received the Deputies and their Commissioners on the 1st of January,
+1814. "Who are you who address me thus? I am the sole representative of
+the nation. We are one and inseparable. I have a title, but you have
+none.... M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, your mouthpiece, is a dishonest man who corresponds
+with England through the Advocate Des&egrave;ze. I shall keep my eye upon him.
+M.&nbsp;Raynouard is a liar." In communicating to the Commission the papers
+connected with the negotiation, Napoleon had forbidden his Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, the Duke of Vicenza, to include that which specified
+the conditions on which the Allied Powers were prepared to treat, not
+wishing to pledge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> himself to any recognized basis. His Minister of
+Police, the Duke of Rovigo, took upon himself to carry to extremity the
+indiscretion of his anger. "Your words are most imprudent," said he to
+the members of the Commission, "when there is a Bourbon in the field."
+Thus, in the very crisis of his difficulties, under the most emphatic
+warnings from heaven and man, the despot at bay made an empty parade of
+absolute power; the vanquished conqueror displayed to the world that the
+ostensible negotiations were only a pretext for still trying the chances
+of war; the tottering head of the new dynasty proclaimed himself that
+the old line was there, ready to supplant him.</p>
+
+<p>The day had arrived when glory could no longer repair the faults which
+it still covers. The campaign of 1814, that uninterrupted masterpiece of
+skill and heroism, as well on the part of the leader as of his
+followers, bore, nevertheless, the ineffaceable stamp of the false
+calculations and false position of the Emperor. He wavered continually
+between the necessity of protecting Paris, and the passion of
+reconquering Europe; anxious to save his throne without sacrificing his
+ambition, and changing his tactics at every moment, as a fatal danger or
+a favourable change alternately presented itself. God vindicated reason
+and justice, by condemning the genius which had so recklessly braved
+both, to sink in hesitation and uncertainty, under the weight of its own
+incompatible objects and impracticable desires.</p>
+
+<p>While Napoleon in this closing struggle wasted the last remnants of his
+fortune and power, he encountered no disappointment or obstacle from any
+quarter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> France, either from Paris or the departments, the party in
+opposition, or the public in general. There was no enthusiasm in his
+cause, and little confidence in his success, but no one rose openly
+against him; all hostility was comprised in a few unfavourable
+expressions, some preparatory announcements, and here and there a change
+of side as people began to catch a glimpse of the approaching issue. The
+Emperor acted in full liberty, with all the strength that still
+pertained to his isolated position, and the moral and physical
+exhaustion of the country. Such general apathy was never before
+exhibited in the midst of so much national anxiety, or so many
+disaffected persons abstaining from action under similar circumstances,
+with such numerous partisans ready to renounce the master they still
+served with implicit docility. It was an entire nation of wearied
+spectators who had long given up all interference in their own fate, and
+knew not what catastrophe they were to hope or fear to the terrible game
+of which they were the stake.</p>
+
+<p>I grew impatient of remaining a motionless beholder of the shifting
+spectacle; and not foreseeing when or how it would terminate, I
+determined, towards the middle of March, to repair to Nismes, and pass
+some weeks with my mother, whom I had not seen for a considerable time.
+I have still before my eyes the aspect of Paris, particularly of the Rue
+de Rivoli (then in progress of construction), as I passed along on the
+morning of my departure. There were no workmen and no activity;
+materials heaped together without being used, deserted scaffoldings,
+buildings abandoned for want of money,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> hands, or confidence, and in
+ruins before completion. Everywhere, amongst the people, a discontented
+air of uneasy idleness, as if they were equally in want of labour and
+repose. Throughout my journey, on the highways, in the towns, and in the
+fields, I noticed the same appearance of inactivity and agitation, the
+same visible impoverishment of the country; there were more women and
+children than men, many young conscripts marching mournfully to their
+battalions, sick and wounded soldiers returning to the interior; in
+fact, a mutilated and exhausted nation. Side by side with this physical
+suffering, I also remarked a great moral perplexity, the uneasiness of
+opposing sentiments, an ardent longing for peace, a deadly hatred of
+foreign invaders, with alternating feelings, as regarded Napoleon, of
+anger and sympathy. By some he was denounced as the author of all their
+calamities; by others he was hailed as the bulwark of the country, and
+the avenger of her injuries. What struck me as a serious evil, although
+I was then far from being able to estimate its full extent, was the
+marked inequality of these different expressions amongst the divided
+classes of the population. With the affluent and educated, the prominent
+feeling was evidently a strong desire for peace, a dislike of the
+exigencies and hazards of the Imperial despotism, a calculated
+foreshadowing of its fall, and the dawning perspective of another system
+of government. The lower orders, on the contrary, only roused themselves
+up from lassitude to give way to a momentary burst of patriotic rage, or
+to their reminiscences of the Revolution. The Imperial rule had given
+them discipline without reform. Appearances were tranquil,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> but in truth
+it might be said of the popular masses as of the emigrants, that they
+had forgotten nothing, and learned nothing. There was no moral unity
+throughout the land, no common thought or passion, notwithstanding the
+common misfortunes and experience. The nation was almost as blindly and
+completely divided in its apathy, as it had lately been in its
+excitement. I recognized these unwholesome symptoms; but I was young,
+and much more disposed to dwell on the hopes than on the perils of the
+future. While at Nismes, I soon became acquainted with the events that
+had taken place in Paris. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard wrote to press my return. I
+set out on the instant, and a few days after my arrival, I was appointed
+Secretary-General to the Ministry of the Interior, which department the
+King had just confided to the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> I have inserted, amongst the "Historic Documents" at the
+end of the Volume, three of the letters which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand
+addressed to me, at the time, on this subject. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_361">No.
+I.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+I have included a letter, addressed to me from Brussels, by the Count de
+Lally-Tolendal, on the 'Annals of Education,' in which the character of
+the writer and of the time are exhibited with agreeable frankness.
+(Hist. Documents, <a href="#Page_368">No. II.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Notwithstanding its imperfections, of which, no one is more
+sensible than I am, this address may be read, perhaps, with some little
+interest. It was my first historical lecture and first public discourse,
+and remains locked up in the Archives of the Faculty of Letters, from
+the day when it was delivered, now forty-five years ago. I have added it
+to the "Historic Documents" (<a href="#Page_372">No. III.</a>).</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RESTORATION.</h3>
+
+<h3>1814-1815.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>SENTIMENTS WITH WHICH I COMMENCED PUBLIC LIFE.&mdash;TRUE CAUSE AND
+CHARACTER OF THE RESTORATION.&mdash;CAPITAL ERROR OF THE IMPERIAL
+SENATE.&mdash;THE CHARTER SUFFERS FROM IT.&mdash;VARIOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE
+CHARTER.&mdash;WHY THEY WERE FUTILE.&mdash;CABINET OF KING LOUIS
+XVIII.&mdash;UNFITNESS OF THE PRINCIPAL MINISTERS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
+GOVERNMENT.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;TALLEYRAND.&mdash;THE
+<a name="corr2" id="corr2"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn2" title="changed from 'ABBE'">ABB&Eacute;</a>&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MONTESQUIOU.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE
+BLACAS.&mdash;LOUIS XVIII.&mdash;PRINCIPAL AFFAIRS IN WHICH I WAS CONCERNED
+AT THAT EPOCH.&mdash;ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE KINGDOM LAID BEFORE THE
+CHAMBERS.&mdash;BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS.&mdash;DECREE FOR THE REFORM OF
+PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.&mdash;STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE
+COUNTRY.&mdash;THEIR COMMON INEXPERIENCE.&mdash;EFFECTS OF THE LIBERAL
+SYSTEM.&mdash;ESTIMATE OF PUBLIC DISCONTENT AND CONSPIRACIES.&mdash;SAYING OF
+NAPOLEON ON THE FACILITY OF HIS RETURN.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Under these auspices, I entered, without hesitation, on public life. I
+had no previous tie, no personal motive to connect me with the
+Restoration; I sprang from those who had been raised up by the impulse
+of 1789, and were little disposed to fall back again. But if I was not
+bound to the former system by any specific interest, I felt no
+bitterness towards the old Government of France. Born a citizen and a
+Protestant, I have ever been unswervingly devoted to liberty of
+conscience, equality in the eye of the law, and all the acquired
+privileges of social<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> order. My confidence in these acquisitions is
+ample and confirmed; but, in support of their cause, I do not feel
+myself called upon to consider the House of Bourbon, the aristocracy of
+France, and the Catholic clergy, in the light of enemies. At present,
+none but madmen exclaim, "Down with the nobility! Down with the
+priests!" Nevertheless, many well-meaning and sensible persons, who are
+sincerely desirous that revolutions should cease, still cherish in their
+hearts some relics of the sentiments to which these cries respond. Let
+them beware of such feelings. They are essentially revolutionary and
+antisocial; order can never be thoroughly re-established as long as
+honourable minds encourage them with secret complaisance. I mean, that
+real and enduring order which every extended society requires for its
+prosperity and permanence. The interests and acquired rights of the
+present day have taken rank in France, and constitute henceforward the
+strength and vitality of the country; but because our social system is
+filled with new elements, it is not therefore new in itself; it can no
+more deny what it has been, than it can renounce what it has become; it
+would establish perpetual confusion and decline within itself, if it
+remained hostile to its true history. History is the nation, the
+country, viewed through ages. For myself, I have always maintained an
+affectionate respect for the great names and actions which have held
+such a conspicuous place in our destinies; and being as I am, a man of
+yesterday, when the King, Louis XVIII., presented himself with the
+Charter in his hand, I neither felt angry nor humiliated that I was
+compelled to enjoy or defend our liberties under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> ancient dynasty of
+the Sovereigns of France, and in common with all Frenchmen, whether
+noble or plebeian, even though their old rivalries might sometimes prove
+a source of mistrust and agitation.</p>
+
+<p>It was the remembrance of foreign intervention that constituted the
+wound and nightmare of France under the Government of the Restoration.
+The feeling was legitimate in itself. The jealous passion of national
+independence and glory doubles the strength of a people in prosperity,
+and saves their pride under reverses. If it had pleased Heaven to throw
+me into the ranks of Napoleon's soldiers, in all probability that single
+passion would also have governed my soul. But, placed as I was, in civil
+life, other ideas and instincts have taught me to look elsewhere than to
+predominance in war for the greatness and security of my country. I have
+ever prized, above all other considerations, just policy, and liberty
+restrained by law. I despaired of both under the Empire; I hoped for
+them from the Restoration. I have been sometimes reproached with not
+sufficiently associating myself with general impressions. Whenever I
+meet them sincerely and strongly manifested, I respect and hold them in
+account, but I cannot feel that I am called upon to abdicate my reason
+for their adoption, or to desert the real and permanent interest of the
+country for the sake of according with them. It is truly an absurd
+injustice to charge the Restoration with the presence of those
+foreigners which the mad ambition of Napoleon alone brought upon our
+soil, and which the Bourbons only could remove by a prompt and certain
+peace. The enemies of the Restoration, in their haste<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> to condemn it
+from the very first hour, have plunged into strange contradictions. If
+we are to put faith in their assertions, at one time they tell us that
+it was imposed on France by foreign bayonets; at another, that in 1814,
+no one, either in France or Europe, bestowed a thought upon the subject;
+and again, that a few old adherences, a few sudden defections, and a few
+egotistical intrigues alone enabled it to prevail. Puerile blindness of
+party spirit! The more it is attempted to prove that no general desire,
+no prevailing force, from within or without, either suggested or
+produced the Restoration, the more its inherent strength will be brought
+to light, and the controlling necessity which determined the event. I
+have ever been surprised that free and superior minds should thus fetter
+themselves within the subtleties and credulities of prejudice, and not
+feel the necessity of looking facts in the face, and of viewing them as
+they really exist. In the formidable crisis of 1814, the restoration of
+the House of Bourbon was the only natural and solid solution that
+presented itself; the only measure that could be reconciled to
+principles not dependent on the influence of force and the caprices of
+human will. Some alarm might thence be excited for the new interests of
+French society; but with the aid of institutions mutually accepted, the
+two benefits of which France stood most in need, and of which for
+twenty-five years she had been utterly deprived, peace and liberty,
+might also be confidently looked for. Under the influence of this double
+hope, the Restoration was accomplished, not only without effort, but in
+despite of revolutionary remembrances,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> and was received throughout
+France with alacrity and cheerfulness. And France did wisely in this
+adoption, for the Restoration, in fact, came accompanied by peace and
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Peace had never been more talked of in France than during the last
+quarter of a century. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, "No more
+conquests;" the National Convention had celebrated the union of nations;
+the Emperor Napoleon had concluded, in fifteen years, more pacific
+negotiations than any preceding monarch. Never had war so frequently
+ended and recommenced; never had peace proved such a transient illusion;
+a treaty was nothing but a truce, during which preparations were making
+for fresh combats.</p>
+
+<p>It was the same with liberty as with peace. Celebrated and promised, at
+first, with enthusiasm, it had quickly disappeared under civil discord,
+even before the celebration and the promise had ceased; thus, to
+extinguish discord, liberty had also been abolished. At one moment
+people became maddened with the word, without caring for the reality of
+the fact; at another, to escape a fatal intoxication, the fact and the
+word were equally proscribed and forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>True peace and liberty returned with the Restoration. War was not with
+the Bourbons a necessity or a passion; they could reign without having
+recourse every day to some new development of force, some fresh shock to
+the fixed principles of nations. Treating with them, foreign Governments
+could and did believe in a sincere and lasting peace. Neither was the
+liberty which France recovered in 1814, the triumph of any particular
+school in philoso<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>phy or party in politics. Turbulent propensities,
+obstinate theories and imaginations, at the same time ardent and idle,
+were unable to find in it the gratification of their irregular and
+unbounded appetites. It was, in truth, social liberty, the practical and
+legalized enjoyment of rights, equally essential to the active life of
+the citizens and to the moral dignity of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>What were to be the guarantees of liberty, and consequently of all the
+interests which liberty itself was intended to guarantee? By what
+institutions could the control and influence of the nation in its
+government be exercised? In these questions lay the great problem which
+the Imperial Senate attempted to solve by its project of a Constitution
+in April, 1814, and which, on the 4th of June following, the King, Louis
+XVIII., effectually decided by the Charter.</p>
+
+<p>The Senators of 1814 have been much and justly reproached for the
+selfishness with which, on overthrowing the Empire, they preserved for
+themselves, not only the integrity, but the perpetuity of the material
+advantages with which the Empire had endowed them;&mdash;a cynical error, and
+one of those which most depreciate existing authorities in the
+estimation of the people, for they are offensive, at the same time, to
+honest feelings and envious passions. The Senate committed another
+mistake less palpable, and more consistent with the prejudices of the
+country, but in my judgment more weighty, both as a political blunder,
+and as to the consequences involved. At the same moment when it
+proclaimed the return of the ancient Royal House, it blazoned forth the
+pretension of electing the King, disavowing the monarchical right,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> the
+supremacy of which it accepted, and thus exercising the privilege of
+republicanism in re-establishing the monarchy:&mdash;a glaring contradiction
+between principles and acts, a childish bravado against the great fact
+to which it was rendering homage, and a lamentable confounding of rights
+and ideas. It was from necessity, and not by choice, on account of his
+hereditary title, and not as the chosen candidate of the day, that Louis
+XVIII. was called to the throne of France. There was neither truth,
+dignity, nor prudence, but in one line of conduct,&mdash;to recognize openly
+the royal claim in the House of Bourbon, and to demand as openly in
+return the national privileges which the state of the country and the
+spirit of the time required. Such a candid avowal and mutual respect for
+mutual rights, form the very essence of free government. It is by this
+steady union that elsewhere monarchy and liberty have developed and
+strengthened themselves together; and by frank co-operation, kings and
+nations have extinguished those internal wars which are denominated
+revolutions. Instead of adopting this course, the Senate, at once
+obstinate and timid, while wishing to place the restored monarchy under
+the standard of republican election, succeeded only in evoking the
+despotic in face of the revolutionary principle, and in raising up as a
+rival to the absolute right of the people, the uncontrolled authority of
+the King.</p>
+
+<p>The Charter bore the impress of this impolitic conduct; timid and
+obstinate in its turn, and seeking to cover the retreat of royalty, as
+the Revolution had sought to protect its own, it replied to the
+pretensions of the revo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>lutionary system by the pretensions of the
+ancient form, and presented itself as purely a royal concession, instead
+of proclaiming its true character, such as it really was, a treaty of
+peace after a protracted war, a series of new articles added by common
+accord to the old compact of union between the nation and the King.</p>
+
+<p>In this point lay the complaint of the Liberals of the Revolution
+against the Charter, as soon as it appeared. Their adversaries, the
+supporters of the old rule, assailed it with other reproaches. The most
+fiery, such as the disciples of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Maistre, could scarcely tolerate
+its existence. According to them, absolute power, legitimate in itself
+alone, was the only form of government that suited France. The
+moderates, amongst whom were M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le in the reply he published at
+Toulouse to the declaration of Saint-Ouen, accused this plan for a
+constitution, which became the Charter, of being an importation from
+England, foreign to the history, the ideas, and the manners of France;
+and which, they said, "would cost more to establish than the ancient
+organization would require for repairs."</p>
+
+<p>I do not here propose to enter upon any discussion of principles, with
+the apostles of absolute power; as applied to France and our own time,
+experience, and a very overwhelming experience, has supplied an answer.
+Absolute power, amongst us, can only belong to the Revolution and its
+representatives, for they alone can (I do not say for how long) retain
+the masses in their interest, by withholding from them the securities of
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>For the House of Bourbon and its supporters, absolute power is
+impossible; under them France must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> free; it only accepts their
+government by supplying it with the eye and the hand.</p>
+
+<p>The objections of the moderate party were more specious. It must be
+admitted that the government established by the Charter had, in its
+forms at least, something of a foreign aspect. Perhaps too there was
+reason for saying that it assumed the existence of a stronger
+aristocratic element in France, and of a more trained and disciplined
+spirit of policy, than could, in reality, be found there. Another
+difficulty, less palpable but substantial, awaited it; the Charter was
+not alone the triumph of 1789 over the old institutions, but it was the
+victory of one of the Liberal sections of 1789 over its rivals as well
+as its enemies, a victory of the partisans of the English Constitution
+over the framers of the Constitution of 1791, and over the republicans
+as well as the supporters of the ancient monarchy,&mdash;a source teeming
+with offences to the self-love of many, and a somewhat narrow basis for
+the re-settlement of an old and extensive country.</p>
+
+<p>But these objections had little weight in 1814. The position of affairs
+was urgent and imperative; it was necessary that the old monarchy should
+be reformed when restored. Of all the measures of improvement proposed
+or attempted since 1789, the Charter comprised that which was the most
+generally recognized and admitted by the public at large, as well as by
+professed politicians. At such moments controversy subsides; the
+resolutions adopted by men of action, present an epitome of the ideas
+common to men of thought. A republic would be to revive the Revolution;
+the Constitution of 1791<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> would be government without power; the old
+French Constitution, if the name were applicable, had been found
+ineffective in 1789, equally incapable of self-maintenance or
+amelioration. All that it had once possessed of greatness or utility,
+the Parliaments, the different Orders, the various local institutions,
+were so evidently beyond the possibility of re-establishment, that no
+one thought seriously of such a proposition. The Charter was already
+written in the experience and reflection of the country. It emanated as
+naturally from the mind of Louis XVIII., returning from England, as from
+the deliberations of the Senate, intent on renouncing the yoke of the
+Empire. It was the produce of the necessities and convictions of the
+hour. Judged by itself, notwithstanding its inherent defects and the
+objections of opponents, the Charter was a very practicable political
+implement. Power and liberty found ample scope there for exercise and
+defence; the workmen were much less adapted to the machine than the
+machine to the work.</p>
+
+<p>Thoroughly distinguished from each other in ideas and character, and
+extremely unequal in mind and merit, the three leading Ministers of
+Louis XVIII. at that epoch, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou,
+and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas, were all specially unsuited to the government they
+were called on to found.</p>
+
+<p>I say only what I truly think; yet I do not feel myself compelled, in
+speaking of those with whom I have come in contact, to say all that I
+think. I owe nothing to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand; in my public career he
+thwarted rather than assisted me; but when we have been much associated
+with an eminent man, and have long recipro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>cated amicable intercourse,
+self-respect renders it imperative to speak of him with a certain degree
+of reserve. At the crisis of the Restoration, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+displayed, in a very superior manner, the qualities of sagacity, cool
+determination, and preponderating influence. Not long after, at Vienna,
+he manifested the same endowments, and others even more rare and
+apposite, when representing the House of Bourbon and the European
+interests of France. But except in a crisis or a congress, he was
+neither able nor powerful. A courtier and a politician, no advocate upon
+conviction, for any particular form of government, and less for
+representative government than for any other, he excelled in negotiating
+with insulated individuals, by the power of conversation, by the charm
+and skilful employment of social relations; but in authority of
+character, in fertility of mental resources, in promptitude of
+resolution, in command of language, in the sympathetic association of
+general ideas with public passions,&mdash;in all these great sources of
+influence upon collected assemblies, he was absolutely deficient.
+Besides which, he had neither the inclination nor habit of sustained,
+systematic labour, another important condition of internal government.
+He was at once ambitious and indolent, a flatterer and a scoffer, a
+consummate courtier in the art of pleasing and of serving without the
+appearance of servility; ready for everything, and capable of any
+pliability that might assist his fortune, preserving always the mien,
+and recurring at need to the attractions of independence; a diplomatist
+without scruples, indifferent as to means, and almost equally careless
+as to the end, provided only that the end advanced his personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+interest. More bold than profound in his views, calmly courageous in
+danger, well suited to the great enterprises of absolute government, but
+insensible to the true atmosphere and light of liberty, in which he felt
+himself lost and incapable of action. He was too glad to escape from the
+Chambers and from France, to find once more at Vienna a congenial sphere
+and associations.</p>
+
+<p>As completely a courtier as M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, and more thoroughly
+belonging to the old system, the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou was better suited
+to hold his ground under a constitutional government, and occupied a
+more favourable position for such a purpose, at this period of
+uncertainty. He stood high in the estimation of the King and the
+Royalists, having ever remained immovably faithful to his cause, his
+order, his friends, and his sovereign. He was in no danger of being
+taxed as a revolutionist, or of having his name associated with
+unpleasant reminiscences. Through a rare disinterestedness, and the
+consistent simplicity of his life, he had won the confidence of all
+honest men. His character was open, his disposition frank, his mind
+richly cultivated, and his conversation unreserved, without being
+exceptious as to those with whom he might be conversing. He could render
+himself acceptable to the middle classes, although indications of pride
+and aristocratic haughtiness might be occasionally detected in his words
+and manner. These symptoms were only perceptible to delicate
+investigators; by the great majority he was considered affable and
+unassuming. In the Chambers he spoke with ease and animation, if not
+with eloquence, and often indulged in an attractive play of fancy. He
+could have rendered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> good service to the constitutional government, had
+he either loved or trusted it; but he joined it without faith or
+preference, as a measure of necessity, to be evaded or restrained even
+during the term of endurance. Through habit, and deference for his
+party, or rather for his immediate coterie, he was perpetually recurring
+to the traditions and tendencies of the old system, and endeavouring to
+carry his listeners with him by shallow subtleties and weak arguments,
+which were sometimes retorted upon himself. One day, partly in jest, and
+partly in earnest, he proposed to M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard to obtain for him
+from the King the title of Count. "Count?" replied M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, in
+the same tone, "make yourself a Count?" The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquieu smiled,
+with a slight expression of disappointment, at this freak of citizen
+pride. He believed the old aristocracy to be beaten down, but he wished
+to revive and strengthen it by an infusion with the new orders. He
+miscalculated in supposing that none amongst the latter class would,
+from certain instinctive tendencies, think lightly of a title which
+flattered their interests, or that they could be won over by
+conciliation without sympathy. He was a thoroughly honourable man, with
+a heart more liberal than his ideas, of an enlightened and accomplished
+mind, naturally elegant, but volatile, inconsiderate, and absent; little
+suited for long and bitter contentions, formed to please rather than to
+control, and incapable of leading his party or himself in the course in
+which reason suggested that they should follow.</p>
+
+<p>In the character of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas there were no such apparent
+inconsistencies. Not that he was either an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> ardent, or a decided and
+stirring partisan of the contra-revolutionary reaction; he was moderate
+through coldness of temperament, and a fear of compromising the King, to
+whom he was sincerely devoted, rather than from clear penetration. But
+neither his moderation nor his loyalty gave him any insight into the
+true state of the country, or any desire to occupy himself with the
+subject. He remained at the Tuileries what he had been at Hartwell, a
+country gentleman, an emigrant, a courtier, and a steady and courageous
+favourite, not deficient in personal dignity or domestic tact, but with
+no political genius, no ambition, no statesmanlike activity, and almost
+as entirely a stranger to France as before his return. He impeded the
+Government more than he pretended to govern, taking a larger share in
+the quarrels and intrigues of the palace, than in the deliberations of
+the Council, and doing much more injury to public affairs by utter
+neglect, than by direct interference.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think it would have been impossible for an active, determined
+monarch to employ these three ministers profitably, and at the same
+time, however much they differed from one another. Neither of them
+aspired to the helm, and each, in his proper sphere, could have rendered
+good service. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand desired nothing better than to negotiate
+with Europe; the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou had no desire to rule at court, and
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas, calm, prudent, and faithful, might have been found a
+valuable confidant in opposition to the pretensions and secret intrigues
+of courtiers and princes. But Louis XVIII. was not in the least capable
+of governing his ministers. As a King he pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>sessed great negative or
+promissory qualities, but few that were active and immediate. Outwardly
+imposing, judicious, acute, and circumspect, he could reconcile,
+restrain, and defeat; but he could neither inspire, direct, nor give the
+impulse while he held the reins. He had few ideas, and no passion.
+Persevering application to business was as little suited to him, as
+active movement. He sufficiently maintained his rank, his rights, and
+his power, and seldom committed a glaring mistake; but when once his
+dignity and prudence were vindicated, he allowed things to take their
+own course; with too little energy of mind and body to control men, and
+force them to act in concert for the accomplishment of his wishes.</p>
+
+<p>From my inexperience, and the nature of my secondary post in a special
+department, I was far from perceiving the full mischief of this absence
+of unity and supreme direction in the Government. The Abb&eacute; de
+Montesquiou sometimes mentioned it to me with impatience and regret. He
+was amongst the few who had sufficient sense and honesty not to deceive
+themselves as to their own defects. He reposed great confidence in me,
+although even within his most intimate circle of associates, efforts had
+been made to check this disposition. With generous irony, he replied to
+those who objected to me as a Protestant, "Do you think I intend to make
+him Pope?" With his habitual unrestraint, he communicated to me his
+vexations at the Court, his differences with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas, his impotence
+to do what he thought good, or to prevent what he considered evil. He
+went far beyond this freedom of conversation, by consigning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> to me, in
+his department, many matters beyond the duties of my specific office,
+and would have allowed me to assume a considerable portion of his
+power.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Thus I became associated, during his administration, with
+three important circumstances, the only ones I shall dwell on, for I am
+not writing the history of the time; I merely relate what I did, saw,
+and thought myself, in the general course of events.</p>
+
+<p>The Charter being promulgated, and the Government settled, I suggested
+to the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou that it would be well for the King to place
+before the Chambers a summary of the internal condition of France, as he
+had found it, showing the results of the preceding system, and
+explaining the spirit of that which he proposed to establish. The
+Minister was pleased with the idea, the King adopted it, and I
+immediately applied myself to the work. The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou also
+assisted; for he wrote well, and took personal pleasure in the task. On
+the 12th of July, the statement was presented to the two Chambers, who
+thanked the King by separate addresses. It contained, without
+exaggeration or concealment, a true picture of the miseries which
+unlimited and incessant war had inflicted on France, and the moral and
+physical wounds which it had left to be healed,&mdash;a strange portrait,
+when considered with reference to those which Napoleon, under the
+Consulate and the dawning Empire, had also given to the world; and which
+eulogized, with good reason at the time, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> restoration of order, the
+establishment of rule, the revival of prosperity, with all the excellent
+effects of strong, able, and rational power. The descriptions were
+equally true, although immeasurably different; and precisely in this
+contrast lay the startling moral with which the history of the Imperial
+despotism had just concluded. The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou ought to have
+placed the glorious edifices of the Consulate side by side with the
+deserved ruins of the Empire. Instead of losing by this course, he would
+have added to the impression he intended to produce; but men are seldom
+disposed to praise their enemies, even though the effect should be to
+injure them. By alluding only to the disasters of Napoleon, and their
+fatal consequences, the exposition of the state of the kingdom in 1814
+was undignified, and appeared to be unjust. The points in which it
+reflected honour on the authority from whence it emanated, were the
+moral tone, the liberal spirit, and the absence of all quackery, which
+were its leading features. These recommendations had their weight with
+right-minded, sensible people; but they passed for little with a public
+accustomed to the dazzling noise and bustle of the power which had
+recently been extinguished.</p>
+
+<p>Another exposition, more special, but of greater urgency, was presented
+a few days after, by the Minister of Finance, to the Chamber of
+Deputies. This included the amount of debt bequeathed by the Empire to
+the Restoration, with the Ministerial plan for meeting the arrear, as
+well as providing for the exigencies of 1814 and 1815. Amongst all the
+Government officials of my time, I have never been acquainted with any
+one more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> completely a public servant, or more passionately devoted to
+the public interest, than the Baron Louis. Ever resolved to cast aside
+all other considerations, he cared neither for personal risk nor labour,
+in promoting the success of what that interest demanded. It was not only
+the carrying out of his financial measures that he so ardently desired;
+he made these subservient to the general policy of which they were a
+portion. In 1830, in the midst of the disturbances occasioned by the
+Revolution of July, I one day, as Minister of the Interior, demanded
+from the Council, in which the Baron Louis also had a seat as Minister
+of Finance, the allocation of a large sum. Objections were made by
+several of our colleagues, on account of the embarrassed state of the
+treasury. "Govern well," said the Baron Louis to me, "and you will never
+spend as much money as I shall be able to supply." A judicious speech,
+worthy of a frank, uncompromising disposition, controlled by a firm and
+consistent judgment. The Baron Louis's financial scheme was founded on a
+double basis,&mdash;constitutional order in the State, and probity in the
+Government. With these two conditions, he reckoned confidently on public
+prosperity and credit, without being dismayed by debts to be paid, or
+expenses incurred. His assertions as to the closing state of the
+finances under the Empire, drew from the Count Mollien, the last
+Minister of the Imperial treasury, a man as able as he was honest, some
+well-founded remonstrances, and his measures were in consequence
+severely opposed in the Chambers. He had to contend with dishonest
+traditions, the passions of the old system, and the narrow views of
+little minds. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> Baron Louis maintained the struggle with equal
+enthusiasm and perseverance. It was fortunate for him that M.&nbsp;de
+Talleyrand and the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou had been his associates in the
+Church in early youth, and had always maintained a close intimacy with
+him. Both having enlightened views on political economy, they supported
+him strongly in the Council and in the Chambers. The Prince de
+Talleyrand even undertook to present his bill to the Chamber of Peers,
+adopting boldly the responsibility and the principles. This sound policy
+was well carried through by the whole cabinet, and justly met with
+complete success, in spite of prejudiced or ignorant opposition.</p>
+
+<p>It was not exactly the same with another measure in which I took a more
+active part,&mdash;the bill relating to the press, presented to the Chamber
+of Deputies on the 5th of July by the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou, and which
+passed into law on the 21st of the following October, after having
+undergone, in both assemblies, animated debates and important
+amendments.</p>
+
+<p>In its first conception, this bill was reasonable and sincere. The
+object was to consecrate by legislative enactment the liberty of the
+press, both as a public right and as a general and permanent institution
+of the country; and at the same time, on the morrow of a great
+revolution and a long despotism, and on the advent of a free government,
+to impose some temporary and limited restrictions. The two persons who
+had taken the most active part in framing this bill, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard
+and myself, were actuated simply and solely by this double end. I may
+refer the reader to a short work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> which I published at the time,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> a
+little before the introduction of the bill, and in which its spirit and
+intention are stated without reserve.</p>
+
+<p>It must be evident that the King and the two Chambers had the right of
+prescribing in concert, temporarily, and from the pressure of
+circumstances, certain limitations to one of the privileges recognized
+by the Charter. This cannot be denied without repudiating constitutional
+government itself, and its habitual practice in those countries in which
+it is developed with the greatest vigour. Provisional enactments have
+frequently modified or suspended, in England, the leading constitutional
+privileges; and with regard to the liberty of the press in particular,
+it was not until five years after the Revolution of 1688 that, under the
+reign of William III. in 1693, it was relieved from the censorship.</p>
+
+<p>I recognize no greater danger to free institutions than that blind
+tyranny which the habitual fanaticism of partisanship, whether of a
+faction or a small segment, pretends to exercise in the name of liberal
+ideas. Are you a staunch advocate for constitutional government and
+political guarantees? Do you wish to live and act in co-operation with
+the party which hoists this standard? Renounce at once your judgment and
+your independence. In that party you will find upon all questions and
+under all circumstances, opinions ready formed, and resolutions settled
+beforehand, which assume the right of your entire control. Self-evident
+facts are in open contradiction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> to these opinions&mdash;you are forbidden to
+see them. Powerful obstacles oppose these resolutions&mdash;you are not
+allowed to think of them. Equity and prudence suggest
+circumspection&mdash;you must cast it aside. You are in presence of a
+superstitious <i>Credo</i>, and a popular passion. Do not argue&mdash;you would no
+longer be a Liberal. Do not oppose&mdash;you would be looked upon as a
+mutineer. Obey, advance&mdash;no matter at what pace you are urged, or on
+what road. If you cease to be a slave, you instantly become a deserter!</p>
+
+<p>My clear judgment and a little natural pride revolted invincibly against
+this yoke. I never imagined that even the best system of institutions
+could be at once imposed on a country without some remembrance of recent
+events and actual facts, both as regarded the dispositions of a
+considerable portion of the country itself and of its necessary rulers.
+I saw not only the King, his family, and a great number of the old
+Royalists, but even in new France, a crowd of well-meaning citizens and
+enlightened minds&mdash;perhaps a majority of the middle and substantial
+classes&mdash;extremely uneasy at the idea of the unrestricted liberty of the
+press, and at the dangers to which it might expose public peace, as well
+as moral and political order. Without participating to the same extent
+in their apprehensions, I was myself struck by the excesses in which the
+press had already begun to indulge; by the deluge of recriminations,
+accusations, surmises, predictions, animated invectives, or frivolous
+sarcasms, which threatened to rouse into hostility all parties, with all
+their respective errors, falsehoods, fears, and antipathies. With these
+feelings and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> facts before me, I should have considered myself a madman
+to have treated them lightly, and therefore I decided at once that a
+temporary limitation of liberty, in respect to journals and pamphlets
+alone, was not too great a sacrifice for the removal of such perils and
+fears, or at least to give the country time to overcome by becoming
+accustomed to them.</p>
+
+<p>But to ensure the success of a sound measure, open honesty is
+indispensable. Whether in the proposition or the debate, Government
+itself was called upon to proclaim the general right, as well as the
+limits and reasons for the partial restriction which it was about to
+introduce. It ought not to have evaded the principle of the liberty or
+the character of the restraining law. This course was not adopted.
+Neither the King nor his advisers had formed any fixed design against
+the freedom of the press; but they were more disposed to control it in
+fact than to acknowledge it in right, and wished rather that the new
+law, instead of giving additional sanction to the principle recorded in
+the Charter, should leave it in rather a vague state of doubt and
+hesitation. When the bill was introduced, its true intent and bearing
+were not clearly indicated. Weak himself, and yielding still more to the
+weaknesses of others, the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou endeavoured to give the
+debate a moral and literary, rather than a political turn. According to
+his view, the question before them was the protection of literature and
+science, of good taste and manners, and not the exercise and guarantee
+of an acknowledged public right. An amendment in the Chamber of Peers
+was necessary to invest the measure with the political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> and temporary
+character which it ought to have borne from the beginning, and which
+alone confined it to its real objects and within its legitimate limits.
+The Government accepted the amendment without hesitation, but its
+position had become embarrassed. Mistrust, the most credulous of all
+passions, spread rapidly amongst the Liberals. Those who were not
+enemies to the Restoration had, like it, their foibles. The love of
+popularity had seized them, but they had not yet acquired foresight.
+They gladly embraced this opportunity of making themselves, with some
+display, the champions of a Constitutional principle which in fact was
+in no danger, but which power had assumed the air of eluding or
+disavowing. Three of the five honourable members who had been the first
+to restrain the Imperial despotism&mdash;Messrs. Raynouard, Gallois, and
+Flaugergues&mdash;were the declared adversaries of the bill; and in
+consequence of not having been boldly presented, from the opening, under
+its real and legitimate aspect, the measure entailed more discredit on
+the Government than it afforded them security.</p>
+
+<p>The liberty of the press, that stormy guarantee of modern civilization,
+has already been, is, and will continue to be the roughest trial of free
+governments, and consequently of free people, who are greatly
+compromised in the struggles of their rulers; for in the event of
+defeat, they have no alternative but anarchy or tyranny. Free nations
+and governments have but one honourable and effective method of dealing
+with the liberty of the press,&mdash;to adopt it frankly, without undue
+complaisance. Let them not make it a martyr or an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> idol, but leave it in
+its proper place, without elevating it beyond its natural rank. The
+liberty of the press is neither a power in the State, nor the
+representative of the public mind, nor the supreme judge of the
+executive authorities; it is simply the right of all citizens to give
+their opinions upon public affairs and the conduct of Government,&mdash;a
+powerful and respectable privilege, but one naturally overbearing, and
+which, to be made salutary, requires that the constituted authorities
+should never humiliate themselves before it, and that they should impose
+on it that serious and constant responsibility which ought to weigh upon
+all rights, to prevent them from becoming at first seditious, and
+afterwards tyrannical.</p>
+
+<p>The third measure of importance in which I was concerned at this epoch,
+the reform of the general system of public instruction, by a Royal
+ordinance of the 17th of February, 1815, created much less sensation
+than the Law of the Press, and produced even less effect than noise; for
+its execution was entirely suspended by the catastrophe of the 20th of
+March, and not resumed after the Hundred Days. There were more important
+matters then under consideration. This measure was what is now called
+the de-centralization of the University.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Seventeen separate
+Universities, established in the principal cities of the kingdom, were
+to be substituted for the one general University of the Empire. Each of
+these local colleges was to have a complete and separate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> organization,
+both as regarded the different degrees of instruction and the various
+scholastic establishments within its jurisdiction. Over the seventeen
+Universities a Royal Council and a great Normal School were appointed,
+one to superintend the general course of public teaching, and the other
+to train up for professors the chosen scholars who had prepared
+themselves for that career, and who were to be supplied from the local
+Universities. There were two motives for this reform. The first was a
+desire to establish, in the departments, and quite independent of Paris,
+leading centres of learning and intellectual activity; the second, a
+wish to abolish the absolute power which, in the Imperial University,
+held sole control over the establishments and the masters, and to bring
+the former under a closer and more immediate authority, by giving the
+latter more permanence, dignity, and independence in their respective
+positions. These were sound ideas, to carry out which the decree of the
+17th of February, 1815, was but a timid rather than an extended and
+powerful application. The local Universities were too numerous. France
+does not supply seventeen natural centres of high learning. Four or five
+would have sufficed, and more could not have been rendered successful or
+productive. The forgotten reform which I am here recalling had yet
+another fault. It was introduced too soon, and was the result, at once
+systematic and incomplete, of the meditations of certain men long
+impressed with the deficiencies of the University system, and not really
+the fruit of public impulse and opinion. Another influence also appeared
+in it, that of the clergy, who silently commenced at that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> time their
+struggle with the University, and adroitly looked for the extension of
+their personal power in the progress of general liberty. The decree of
+the 17th of February, 1815, opened this arena, which has since been so
+fiercely agitated. The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou hastened to bestow on the
+clergy an early gratification, that of seeing one of their most justly
+esteemed members, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Beausset, formerly Bishop of Alais, at the head
+of the Royal Council. The Liberals of the University gladly seized this
+occasion of increasing their action and independence; and the King,
+Louis XVIII., voluntarily charged his civil list with an additional
+million for the immediate abolition of the University tax, until a new
+law, contained in the preamble of the decree, should come into operation
+to complete the reform, and provide from the public funds for all the
+requirements of the new system.</p>
+
+<p>It becomes my duty here to express my regret for an error which I ought
+to have endeavoured more urgently to prevent. In this reform, the
+opinion and situation of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fontanes were not sufficiently estimated.
+As head of the Imperial University, he had rendered such eminent
+services to public instruction, that the title of Grand Officer of the
+Legion of Honour was far from being a sufficient compensation for the
+retirement which the new system rendered, in his case, desirable and
+almost necessary.</p>
+
+<p>But neither reform in public education, nor any other reform, excited
+much interest at that moment, when France was entirely given up to
+different considerations. Having scarcely entered on the new system, a
+sudden impression<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> of alarm and mistrust began to rise and expand from
+day to day. This system was liberty, with its uncertainties, its
+contests, and its perils. No one was accustomed to liberty, and liberty
+contented no one. From the Restoration, the men of old France promised
+themselves the ascendency; from the Charter, new France expected
+security. Both were dissatisfied. They found themselves drawn up in
+presence of each other, with their opposing passions and pretensions. It
+was a sad disappointment for the Royalists to find the King victorious
+without their being included in the triumph; and it was a bitter
+necessity which reduced the men of the Revolution to the defensive after
+they had so long domineered. Both parties felt surprised and irritated
+at their position, as equally an insult to their dignity and an attack
+upon their rights. In their irritation, they gave themselves up, in
+words and projects, to all the fantasies and transports of their wishes
+and apprehensions. Amongst the rich and powerful of the old classes,
+many indulged, towards the influential members of the new, in menaces
+and insults. At the Court, in the drawing-rooms of Paris, and much more
+in the provinces, by newspapers, pamphlets, and conversation, and in the
+daily conduct of their private lives, the nobles and the citizens, the
+clergy and the laity, the emigrants and the purchasers of national
+property, allowed their animosities, their ill humour, their dreams of
+hope and fear, to exhibit themselves without disguise. This was nothing
+more than the natural and inevitable consequence of the extreme novelty
+of the system which the Charter, seriously interpreted and exercised,
+had suddenly introduced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> into France. During the Revolution there was
+contest; under the Empire silence; but the Restoration introduced
+liberty into the bosom of peace. In the general inexperience and
+susceptibility, the excitement and stir of freedom amounted to civil war
+on the eve of re-commencement.</p>
+
+<p>To meet the difficulties of such a state of things, to preserve at the
+same time liberty and peace, to cure the wounds without restraining the
+blows, no Government could have been too strong or too able. Louis
+XVIII. and his advisers were unequal to the task. With regard to a
+liberal system, they were neither more experienced nor inured than
+France herself. Their acts appeared to be regulated by no steady
+conviction: they believed that the Charter would check the birth of
+discontent; but when discontent manifested itself rather vehemently,
+they hastened to calm it down by abandoning or modifying the measures
+through which it had been excited. The celebrated rescript of Count
+Beugnot,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> on the observance of Sundays and religious festivals, ended
+in an abortive law which never came into operation. The offensive
+expressions of Count Ferrand, on introducing to the Chamber of Deputies
+the bill for the restitution of unsold estates to their old
+proprietors,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> was loudly disavowed, not only in the speeches, but in
+the resolutions and conduct of the Government in that matter. In
+reality, the interests which imagined themselves threatened were in no
+danger whatever; and in the midst of the alarms and remonstrances of
+France, the King and his principal ministers were much more inclined to
+yield than to contend. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>But having performed this act of constitutional
+wisdom, they believed themselves emancipated from all care, and relapsed
+back into their old tastes and habits, desirous also to live in peace
+with their ancient and familiar friends. It was indeed but a modified
+power, which attached importance to its oaths, and conceived no
+formidable designs against the new rights and interests of the country;
+but it was also an authority without leading vigour, isolated and a
+stranger in its own kingdom, divided and embarrassed within itself, weak
+with its enemies, weak with its friends, seeking only for personal
+security in repose, and called upon hourly to deal with a stubborn and
+restless people, who had suddenly passed from the rugged shocks of
+revolution and war to the difficult exercise of liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Under the prolonged influence of this liberty, such a Government,
+without obstinate prejudices, and disposed to follow public opinion when
+clearly expressed, might have corrected while strengthening itself, and
+from day to day have become more competent to its task. But this
+required time and the concurrence of the country. The country,
+discontented and unsettled, neither knew how to wait nor assist. Of all
+the knowledge necessary to a free people, the most essential point is to
+learn how to bear what displeases them, that they may preserve the
+advantages they possess, and acquire those they desire.</p>
+
+<p>There has been much discussion as to what plots and conspirators
+overthrew the Bourbons, and brought back Napoleon, on the 20th of March,
+1815,&mdash;a question of inferior importance, and interesting only as an
+historical curiosity. It is certain that from 1814 to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> 1815 there
+existed in the army and with the remnants of the Revolution, amongst
+generals and conventionalists, many plans and secret practices against
+the Restoration, and in favour of a new Government,&mdash;either the Empire,
+a regency, the Duke of Orleans, or a republic. Marshal Davoust promised
+his support to the Imperial party, and Fouch&eacute; offered his to all. But if
+Napoleon had remained motionless at the island of Elba, these
+revolutionary projects would, in all probability, have successively
+failed, as did those of the Generals d'Erlon, Lallemand, and Lef&egrave;vre
+Desnouettes, even so late as the month of March. The fatuity of the
+contrivers of conspiracy is incalculable; and when the event seems to
+justify them, they attribute to themselves the result which has been
+achieved by mightier and much more complicated causes than their
+machinations. It was Napoleon alone who dethroned the Bourbons in 1815,
+by calling up, in his own person, the fanatical devotion of the army,
+and the revolutionary instincts of the popular masses.</p>
+
+<p>However tottering might be the monarchy lately restored, it required
+that great man and a combination of these great social powers to subvert
+it. Stupefied and intimidated, France left events to their course,
+without opposition or confidence. Napoleon adopted this opinion, with
+his admirable penetration:&mdash;"They allowed me to arrive," he said to
+Count Mollien, "as they permitted the others to depart."</p>
+
+<p>Four times in less than half a century we have seen kings traverse their
+realms as fugitives. Different enemies have described, with evident
+pleasure, their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> helplessness and destitution in flight,&mdash;a mean and
+senseless gratification, which no one, in the present day, has a right
+to indulge. The retreats of Napoleon in 1814 and 1815 were neither more
+brilliant nor less bitter than those of Louis XVIII. on the 20th of
+March, 1815, of Charles X. in 1830, and of Louis Philippe in 1848. Each
+state of greatness endured the same degradation; every party has the
+same need of modesty and mutual respect. I myself, as much as any
+participator, was impressed, on the 20th of March, 1815, with the
+blindness, the hesitation, the imbecility, the misery of every
+description, to which that terrible explosion gave birth. It would
+afford me no pleasure, and would lead to no advantage, to repeat them.
+People are too much inclined at present to conceal their own weaknesses
+under a display of the deficiencies of royalty. I prefer recording that
+neither royal nor national dignity were wanting at that epoch in noble
+representatives. The Duchess d'Angoul&ecirc;me, at Bordeaux, evinced courage
+equal to her misfortunes, and M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, as president of the Chamber of
+Deputies, protested fearlessly on the 28th of March, in the name of
+justice and liberty, against the event at that time fully accomplished,
+and which no longer encountered, through the wide extent of France, any
+resistance beyond the solitary accents of his voice.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Included in the "Historic Documents," are two letters
+addressed to me by the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou in 1815 and 1816, which
+furnish an idea of my intimacy with him, and show the natural and
+amiable turn of his mind. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_388">No. IV.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 'Thoughts upon the Liberty of the Press,' 52 pages, 8vo,
+Paris, 1814. Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+some passages from this pamphlet are inserted, which indicate clearly
+its object and character. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_391">No. V.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Amongst the "Historic Documents" I include the text of this
+decree, and the report to the King which explains its object and
+bearing. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_398">No. VI.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> June 7th, 1814.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> September 13th, 1814.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HUNDRED DAYS.</h3>
+
+<h3>1815.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, TO RESUME MY
+LECTURES.&mdash;UNSETTLED FEELING OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES ON THE RETURN OF
+NAPOLEON.&mdash;ITS REAL CAUSES.&mdash;SENTIMENTS OF FOREIGN NATIONS AND
+GOVERNMENTS TOWARDS NAPOLEON.&mdash;APPARENT RECONCILIATION, BUT REAL
+STRUGGLE, BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND THE LIBERALS.&mdash;THE
+FEDERATES.&mdash;CARNOT AND FOUCH&Eacute;.&mdash;DEMONSTRATION OF LIBERTY DURING THE
+HUNDRED DAYS, EVEN IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE.&mdash;LOUIS XVIII. AND HIS
+COUNCIL AT GHENT.&mdash;THE CONGRESS AND M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;TALLEYRAND AT VIENNA.&mdash;I
+GO TO GHENT ON THE PART OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ROYALIST COMMITTEE AT
+PARIS.&mdash;MY MOTIONS AND OPINIONS DURING THIS JOURNEY.&mdash;STATE OF
+PARTIES AT GHENT.&mdash;MY CONVERSATION WITH LOUIS XVIII.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE
+BLACAS.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;TALLEYRAND RETURNS FROM
+VIENNA.&mdash;LOUIS XVIII. RE-ENTERS FRANCE.&mdash;INTRIGUE PLANNED AT MONS
+AND DEFEATED AT CAMBRAY.&mdash;BLINDNESS AND IMBECILITY OF THE CHAMBER
+OF REPRESENTATIVES.&mdash;MY OPINION RESPECTING THE ADMISSION OF FOUCH&Eacute;
+INTO THE KING'S CABINET.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>The King having quitted, and the Emperor having re-entered Paris, I
+resumed my literary pursuits, determined to keep aloof from all secret
+intrigue, all useless agitation, and to occupy myself with my historical
+labours and studies, not without a lively regret that the political
+career which had scarcely opened to me, should be so suddenly closed.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>
+It is true I did not believe that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> I was excluded beyond the possibility
+of return. Not but that the miraculous success of Napoleon had convinced
+me there was a power within him which, after witnessing his fall, I was
+far from believing. Never was personal greatness displayed with more
+astounding splendour; never had an act more audacious, or better
+calculated in its audacity, arrested the imagination of nations. Neither
+was external support wanting to the man who relied so much on himself,
+and on himself alone.</p>
+
+<p>The army identified itself with him, with an enthusiastic and blind
+devotion. Amongst the popular masses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> a revolutionary and warlike
+spirit, hatred of the old system and national pride, rose up at his
+appearance and rushed madly to his aid. Accompanied by fervent
+worshippers, he re-ascended a throne abandoned to him on his approach.
+But by the side of this overwhelming power, there appeared almost
+simultaneously a proportionate weakness. He who had traversed France in
+triumph, and who by personal influence had swept all with him, friends
+and enemies, re-entered Paris at night, exactly as Louis XVIII. had
+quitted that capital, his carriage surrounded by dragoons, and only
+encountering on his passage a scanty and moody populace. Enthusiasm had
+accompanied him throughout his journey; but at its termination he found
+coldness, doubt, widely disseminated mistrust, and cautious reserve;
+France divided, and Europe irrevocably hostile.</p>
+
+<p>The upper, and particularly the middle classes, have often been
+reproached with their indifference and selfishness. It has been said
+that they think only of their personal interests, and are incapable of
+public principle and patriotism. I am amongst those who believe that
+nations, and the different classes that constitute nations&mdash;and, above
+all, nations that desire to be free&mdash;can only live in security and
+credit under a condition of moral perseverance and energy; with feelings
+of devotion to their cause, and with the power of opposing courage and
+self-sacrifice to danger. But devotion does not exclude sound sense, nor
+courage intelligence. It would be too convenient for ambitious
+pretenders, to have blind and fearless attachment ever ready at their
+command. It is often the case with popular feeling, that the multitude,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+army or people, ignorant, unreflecting, and short-sighted, become too
+frequently, from generous impulse, the instruments and dupes of
+individual selfishness, much more perverse and more indifferent to their
+fate than that of which the wealthy and enlightened orders are so
+readily accused. Napoleon, perhaps more than any other eminent leader of
+his class, has exacted from military and civil devotion the most trying
+proofs; and when, on the 21st of June, 1815, his brother Lucien, in the
+Chamber of Representatives, reproached France with not having upheld him
+with sufficient ardour and constancy, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Fayette exclaimed, with
+justice: "By what right is the nation accused of want of devotion and
+energy towards the Emperor Napoleon? It has followed him to the burning
+sands of Egypt, and the icy deserts of Moscow; in fifty battle-fields,
+in disaster as well as in triumph, in the course of ten years, three
+millions of Frenchmen have perished in his service. We have done enough
+for him!"</p>
+
+<p>Great and small, nobility, citizens, and peasants, rich and poor,
+learned and ignorant, generals and private soldiers, the French people
+in a mass had, at least, done and suffered enough in Napoleon's cause to
+give them the right of refusing to follow him blindly, without first
+examining whether he was leading them, to safety or to ruin.</p>
+
+<p>The unsettled feeling of the middle classes in 1815 was a legitimate and
+patriotic disquietude. What they wanted, and what they had a right to
+demand, for the advantage of the entire nation as well as for their own
+peculiar interests, was that peace and liberty should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> secured to
+them; but they had good reason to question the power of Napoleon to
+accomplish these objects.</p>
+
+<p>Their doubts materially increased when they ascertained the Manifesto of
+the Allied Powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, their declaration
+of March 13th, and their treaty of the 25th. Every reflecting mind of
+the present day must see, that unless the nation had obstinately closed
+its eyes, it could not delude itself as to the actual situation of the
+Emperor Napoleon, and his prospects for the future. Not only did the
+Allied Powers, in proclaiming him the enemy and disturber of the peace
+of the whole world, declare war against him to the last extremity, and
+engage themselves to unite their strength in this common cause, but they
+professed themselves ready to afford to the King of France and the
+French nation the assistance necessary to re-establish public
+tranquillity; and they expressly invited Louis XVIII. to give his
+adhesion to their treaty of March 25th. They laid it down also as a
+principle, that the work of general pacification and reconstruction
+accomplished in Paris by the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814, between
+the King of France and confederated Europe, was in no degree nullified
+by the violent outbreak which had recently burst forth; and that they
+should maintain it against Napoleon, whose return and sudden
+success&mdash;the fruit of military and revolutionary excitement&mdash;could
+establish no European right whatever, and could never be considered by
+them as the prevailing and true desire of France:&mdash;a solemn instance of
+the implacable judgments that, assisted by God and time, great errors
+draw down upon their authors!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>The partisans of Napoleon might dispute the opinion of the Allied Powers
+as to the wishes of France; they might believe that, for the honour of
+her independence, she owed him her support; but they could not pretend
+that foreign nations should not also have their independence at heart,
+nor persuade them that, with Napoleon master of France, they could ever
+be secure. No promises, no treaties, no embarrassments, no reverses,
+could give them confidence in his future moderation. His character and
+his history deprived his word of all credit.</p>
+
+<p>It was not alone governments, kings, and ministers who showed themselves
+thus firmly determined to oppose Napoleon's return; foreign nations were
+even more distrustful and more violent against him. He had not alone
+overwhelmed them with wars, taxes, invasions, and dismemberments; he had
+insulted as much as he had oppressed them. The Germans, especially, bore
+him undying hatred. They burned to revenge the injuries of the Queen of
+Prussia, and the contempt with which their entire race had been treated.
+The bitter taunts in which he had often indulged when speaking of them
+were repeated in every quarter, spread abroad and commented on, probably
+with exaggeration readily credited. After the campaign in Russia, the
+Emperor was conversing, one day, on the loss sustained by the French
+army during that terrible struggle. The Duke of Vicenza estimated it at
+200,000 men. "No, no," interrupted Napoleon, "you are mistaken; it was
+not so much." But, after considering a moment, he continued, "And yet
+you can scarcely be wrong; but there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> a great many Germans amongst
+them." The Duke of Vicenza himself related this contemptuous remark to
+me; and the Emperor Napoleon must have been pleased both with the
+calculation and reply, for on the 28th of June, 1813, at Dresden, in a
+conversation which has since become celebrated, he held the same
+language to the Prime Minister of the first of the German Powers, to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Metternich himself. Who can estimate the extent of indignation roused
+by such words and actions, in the souls not only of the heads of the
+government and army&mdash;- amongst the Steins, Gneisenaus, Bl&uuml;chers, and
+M&uuml;fflings&mdash;but in those of the entire nation? The universal feeling of
+the people of Germany was as fully displayed at the Congress of Vienna
+as the foresight of their diplomatists and the will of their sovereigns.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon, in quitting Elba, deceived himself as to the disposition of
+Europe towards him. Did he entertain the hope of treating with and
+dividing the Coalition? This has been often asserted, and it may be
+true; for the strongest minds seldom recognize all the difficulties of
+their situation. But, once arrived at Paris, and informed of the
+proceedings of the Congress, he beheld his position in its true light,
+and his clear and comprehensive judgment at once grappled with it in all
+its bearings. His conversations with the thinking men who were then
+about him, M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute; and the Duke of Vicenza, confirm this opinion. He
+sought still to keep the public in the uncertainty that he himself no
+longer felt. The Manifesto of the Congress of the 13th of March was not
+published in the 'Moniteur' until the 5th of April, and the treaty of
+the 25th of March only on the 3rd of May.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> Napoleon added long
+commentaries to these documents, to prove that it was impossible they
+could express the final intentions of Europe. At Vienna, both by
+solemnly official letters and secret emissaries, he made several
+attempts to renew former relations with the Emperor Francis, his
+father-in-law, to obtain the return of his wife and son, to promote
+disunion, or at least mistrust, between the Emperor Alexander and the
+sovereigns of England and Austria, and to bring back to his side Prince
+Metternich, and even M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand himself. He probably did not
+expect much from these advances, and felt little surprise at not
+finding, in family ties and feelings, a support against political
+interests and pledges. He understood and accepted without a sentiment of
+anger against any one, and perhaps without self-reproach, the situation
+to which the events of his past life had reduced him. It was that of a
+desperate gamester, who, though completely ruined, still plays on,
+alone, against a host of combined adversaries, a desperate game, with no
+other chance of success than one of those unforeseen strokes that the
+most consummate talent could never achieve, but that Fortune sometimes
+bestows upon her favourites.</p>
+
+<p>It has been, pretended, even by some of his warmest admirers, that at
+this period the genius and energy of Napoleon had declined; and they
+sought in his tendency to corpulence, in his attacks of languor, in his
+long slumbers, the explanation of his ill fortune. I believe the
+reproach to be unfounded, and the pretext frivolous. I can discover in
+the mind or actions of Napoleon during the hundred days, no symptoms of
+infirmity; I find, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> both, his accustomed superiority. The causes of
+his ultimate failure were of a deeper cast: he was not then, as he had
+long been, upheld and backed by general opinion, and the necessity of
+security and order felt throughout a great nation; he attempted, on the
+contrary, a mischievous work, a work inspired only by his own passions
+and personal wants, rejected by the morality and good sense, as well as
+by the true interests of France. He engaged in this utterly egotistical
+enterprise with contradictory means, and in an impossible position. From
+thence came the reverses he suffered, and the evil he produced.</p>
+
+<p>It presented a strange spectacle to intelligent spectators, and one
+slightly tinged with the ridiculous, on both sides, to see Napoleon and
+the heads of the Liberal party arranged against each other, not to
+quarrel openly, but mutually to persuade, seduce, and control. A
+superficial glance sufficed to convince that there was little sincerity
+either in their dispute or reconciliation. Both well knew that the real
+struggle lay in other quarters, and that the question upon which their
+fate depended would be settled elsewhere than in these discussions.</p>
+
+<p>If Napoleon had triumphed over Europe, assuredly he would not long have
+remained the rival of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette and the disciple of Benjamin
+Constant; but when he lost the day of Waterloo, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette and his
+friends set themselves to work to complete his overthrow.</p>
+
+<p>From necessity and calculation, the true thoughts and passions of men
+are sometimes buried in the recesses of their hearts; but they quickly
+mount to the surface<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> as soon as an opportunity occurs for their
+reappearing with success. Frequently did Napoleon resign himself, with
+infinite pliability, shrewdness, and perception, to the farce that he
+and the Liberals were playing together; at one moment gently, though
+obstinately, defending his old policy and real convictions; and at
+another yielding them up with good grace, but without positive
+renunciation, as if out of complaisance to opinions which he hesitated
+to acknowledge. But now and then, whether from premeditation or
+impatience, he violently resumed his natural character; and the despot,
+who was at once the child and conqueror of the Revolution, reappeared in
+complete individuality.</p>
+
+<p>When an attempt was made to induce him to insert, in the Additional Act
+to the Constitutions of the Empire, the abolition of the confiscation
+proclaimed by the Charter of Louis XVIII., he exclaimed passionately,
+"They drive me into a path that is not my own; they enfeeble and enchain
+me. France will seek, and find me no longer. Her opinion of me was once
+excellent; it is now execrable. France demands what has become of the
+old arm of the Emperor, the arm which she requires to control Europe.
+Why talk to me of innate virtue, of abstract justice, of natural laws?
+The first law is necessity; the first principle of justice is public
+safety ... Every day has its evil, every circumstance its law, every man
+his own nature; mine is not that of an angel. When peace is made, we
+shall see." On another occasion, on this same question of preparing the
+Additional Act, and with reference to the institution of an hereditary
+peerage, he yielded to the excursive rapidity of his mind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> taking the
+subject by turns under different aspects, and giving unlimited vent to
+contradictory observations and opinions. "Hereditary peerage," said he,
+"is opposed to the present state of public opinion; it will wound the
+pride of the army, deceive the expectations of the partisans of
+equality, and raise against myself a thousand individual claims. Where
+do you wish me to look for the elements of that aristocracy which the
+peerage demands?... Nevertheless a constitution without an aristocracy
+resembles a balloon lost in the air. A ship is guided because there are
+two powers which balance each other; the helm finds a fulcrum. But a
+balloon is the sport of a single power; it has no fulcrum. The wind
+carries it where it will, and control is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>When the question of principle was decided, and the nomination of his
+hereditary house of peers came under consideration, Napoleon was anxious
+to include many names from amongst the old Royalists; but after mature
+reflection, he renounced this idea, "not," says Benjamin Constant,
+"without regret," and exclaimed, "We must have them sooner or later; but
+memories are too recent. Let us wait until after the battle&mdash;they will
+be with me if I prove the strongest."</p>
+
+<p>He would thus willingly have deferred all questions, and have done
+nothing until he came back a conqueror; but with the Restoration liberty
+once more re-entered France, and he himself had again woke up the
+Revolution. He found himself in conflict with these two forces,
+constrained to tolerate, and endeavouring to make use of them, until the
+moment should arrive when he might conquer both.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>He had no sooner adopted all the pledges of liberty that the Additional
+Act borrowed from the Charter, than he found he had still to deal with
+another ardent desire, another article of faith, of the Liberals, still
+more repugnant to his nature. They demanded an entirely new
+constitution, which should confer on him the Imperial crown by the will
+of the nation, and on the conditions which that will prescribed. This
+was, in fact, an attempt to remodel, in the name of the sovereign
+people, the entire form of government, institutional and dynastic; an
+arrogant and chimerical mania which, a year before, had possessed the
+Imperial Senate when they recalled Louis XVIII., and which has vitiated
+in their source nearly all the political theories of our time.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon, while incessantly proclaiming the supremacy of the people,
+viewed it in a totally different light. "You want to deprive me of my
+past," said he, to his physicians; "I desire to preserve it. What
+becomes then of my reign of eleven years? I think I have some right to
+call it mine; and Europe knows that I have. The new constitution must be
+joined to the old one; it will thus acquire the sanction of many years
+of glory and success."</p>
+
+<p>He was right: the abdication demanded of him was more humiliating than
+that of Fontainebleau; for, in restoring the throne to him, they at the
+same time compelled him to deny himself and his immortal history. By
+refusing this, he performed an act of rational pride; and in the
+preamble as well as in the name of the Additional Act, he upheld the old
+Empire, while he consented to modified reforms. When the day of
+promulgation arrived, on the 1st of June, at the Champ&nbsp;de&nbsp;Mai, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+fidelity to the Imperial traditions was less impressive and less
+dignified. He chose to appear before the people with all the outward
+pomp of royalty, surrounded by the princes of his family arrayed in
+garments of white taffeta, by the great dignitaries, in orange-coloured
+mantles, by his chamberlains and pages:&mdash;a childish attachment to
+palatial splendour, which accorded ill with the state of public affairs,
+and deeply disgusted public feeling, when, in the midst of this
+glittering pageant, twenty thousand soldiers were seen to march past and
+salute the Emperor, on their road to death.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before, a very different ceremony had revealed another
+embarrassing inconsistency in the revived Empire. While discussing with
+the Liberal aristocracy his new constitution, Napoleon endeavoured to
+win over and subdue, while he flattered, the revolutionary democrats.
+The population of the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau became
+excited, and conceived the idea of forming themselves into a federation,
+as their fathers had done, and of demanding from the Emperor leaders and
+arms. They obtained their desire; but they were no longer <i>Federates</i>,
+as in 1792; they were now called <i>Confederates</i>, in the hope that, by a
+small alteration of name, earlier reminiscences might be effaced. A
+police regulation minutely settled the order of their progress through
+the streets, provided against confusion, and arranged the ceremonial of
+their introduction to the Emperor, in the courtyard of the Tuileries.
+They presented an address, which was long and heavy to extreme
+tediousness. He thanked them by the name of "federated soldiers"
+(<i>soldats f&eacute;d&eacute;r&eacute;s</i>), carefully impressing upon them, himself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> the
+character in which it suited him to regard them. The next morning, the
+'Journal&nbsp;de&nbsp;l'Empire' contained the following paragraph:&mdash;"The most
+perfect order was maintained, from the departure of the Confederates
+until their return; but in several places we heard with pain the
+Emperor's name mingled with songs which recall a too memorable epoch."
+This was being rather severely scrupulous on such an occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Some days later, I happened to pass through the garden of the Tuileries.
+A hundred of these Federates, shabby enough in appearance, had assembled
+under one of the balconies of the palace, shouting, "<i>Long live the
+Emperor!</i>" and trying to induce him to show himself. It was long before
+he complied; but at length a window opened, the Emperor came forward,
+and waved his hand to them; but almost instantly the window was
+re-closed, and I distinctly saw Napoleon retire, shrugging his
+shoulders; vexed, no doubt, at being obliged to lend himself to
+demonstrations so repugnant in their nature, and so unsatisfactory in
+their limited extent.</p>
+
+<p>He was desirous of giving more than one pledge to the revolutionary
+party. Before reviewing their battalions in the court of his palace, he
+had taken into council the oldest and most celebrated of their leaders;
+but I scarcely think he expected from them any warm co-operation.
+Carnot, an able officer, a sincere republican, and as honest a man as an
+idle fanatic can possibly be, could not fail to make a bad Minister of
+the Interior; for he possessed neither of the two qualities essential to
+this important post,&mdash;knowledge of men, and the power of inspiring and
+directing them otherwise than by general maxims and routine.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>Napoleon knew better than anybody else how Fouch&eacute; regulated the
+police,&mdash;for himself first, and for his own personal power; next for the
+authority that employed him, and just as long as he found greater
+security or advantage in serving than in betraying that authority. I
+only met the Duke of Otranto twice, and had but two short conversations
+with him. No man ever so thoroughly gave me the idea of fearless,
+ironical, cynical indifference, of imperturbable self-possession
+combined with an inordinate love of action and prominence, and of a
+fixed resolution to stop at nothing that might promote success, not from
+any settled design, but according to the plan or chance of the moment.
+He had acquired from his long associations as a Jacobin proconsul, a
+kind of audacious independence; and remained a hardened pupil of the
+Revolution, while, at the same time, he became an unscrupulous implement
+of the Government and the Court. Napoleon assuredly placed no confidence
+in such a man, and knew well that, in selecting him as a minister, he
+would have to watch more than he could employ him. But it was necessary
+that the revolutionary flag should float clearly over the Empire under
+its proper name; and he therefore preferred to endure the presence of
+Carnot and Fouch&eacute; in his cabinet, rather than to leave them without, to
+murmur or conspire with certain sections of his enemies. At the moment
+of his return, and during the first weeks of the resuscitated Empire, he
+probably reaped from this double selection the advantage that he
+anticipated; but when the dangers and difficulties of his situation
+manifested themselves, when he came to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> action with the distrustful
+Liberals within, and with Europe without,&mdash;Carnot and Fouch&eacute; became
+additional dangers and difficulties in his path. Carnot, without
+absolute treachery, served him clumsily and coldly; for in nearly all
+emergencies and questions he inclined much more to the Opposition than
+to the Emperor; but Fouch&eacute; betrayed him indefinitely, whispering and
+arguing in an under tone, of his approaching downfall, with all who
+might by any possible chance happen to be his successors; just as an
+indifferent physician discourses by the bedside of a patient who has
+been given over.</p>
+
+<p>Even amongst his most trusted and most devoted adherents, Napoleon no
+longer found, as formerly, implicit faith and obedient temperaments,
+ready to act when and how he might please to direct. Independence of
+mind and a feeling of personal responsibility had resumed, even in his
+nearest circle, their scruples and their predominance. Fifteen days
+after his arrival in Paris, he summoned his Grand Marshal, General
+Bertrand, and presented to him, for his counter-signature, the decree
+dated from Lyons, in which he ordered the trials and sequestration of
+property of the Prince&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, the Duke of Ragusa, the Abb&eacute; de
+Montesquiou, M.&nbsp;Bellard, and nine other persons, who in 1814, before the
+abdication, had contributed to his fall. General Bertrand refused. "I am
+astonished," said the Emperor, "at your making such objections; this
+severity is necessary for the good of the State." "I do not believe it,
+Sire." "But I do, and I alone have the right to judge. I have not asked
+your concurrence, but your signature, which is a mere matter of form,
+and cannot compromise you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> in the least." "Sire, a minister who
+countersigns the decree of his sovereign becomes morally responsible.
+Your Majesty has declared by proclamation that you granted a general
+amnesty. I countersigned that with all my heart; I will not countersign
+the decree which revokes it."</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon urged and cajoled in vain; Bertrand remained inflexible, the
+decree appeared without his signature: and Napoleon might, even on the
+instant, have convinced himself that the Grand Marshal was not the only
+dissentient; for, as he crossed the apartment in which his aides-de-camp
+were assembled, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La B&eacute;doy&egrave;re said, loud enough to be overheard, "If
+the reign of proscriptions and sequestrations recommences, all will soon
+be at an end."</p>
+
+<p>When liberty reaches this point in the interior of the palace, it may be
+presumed that it reigns predominantly without. After several weeks of
+stupor, it became, in fact, singularly bold and universal. Not only did
+civil war spring up in the western departments, not only were flagrant
+acts of resistance or hostility committed in several parts of the
+country, and in important towns, by men of consequence,&mdash;but everywhere,
+and particularly in Paris, people thought, and uttered their thoughts
+without reserve; in public places as well as in private drawing-rooms,
+they went to and fro, expressing hopes and engaging in hostile plots, as
+if they were lawful and certain of success; journals and pamphlets,
+increased daily in number and virulence, and were circulated almost
+without opposition or restraint. The warm friends and attached servants
+of the Emperor testified their surprise and indignation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>Fouch&eacute; pointed out the mischief, in his official reports to Napoleon,
+and requested his concurrence in taking measures of repression. The
+'Moniteur' published these reports; and the measures were decreed.
+Several arrests and prosecutions took place, but without vigour or
+efficacy. From high to low, the greater portion of the agents of
+government had neither zeal in their cause, nor confidence in their
+strength. Napoleon was aware of this, and submitted, as to a necessity
+of the moment, to the unlicensed freedom of his opponents, maintaining,
+without doubt, in his own heart, the opinion he had declared aloud on a
+previous occasion,&mdash;"I shall have them all with me if I prove the
+strongest."</p>
+
+<p>I question whether he appreciated justly, and at its true value, one of
+the causes, a hidden but powerful one, of the feebleness that
+immediately succeeded his great success. Notwithstanding the
+widely-spread discontent, uneasiness, mistrust, and anger that the
+Government of the Restoration had excited, a universal feeling soon
+sprang up, that there was not enough to justify a revolution, the
+opposition of an armed force against authority legally established, or
+the involvement of the country in the dangers to which it was exposed.
+The army had been drawn towards its old chief by a strong sentiment of
+attachment and generous devotion, rather than from views of personal
+interest; the army, too, was national and popular; but nothing could
+change the nature of acts or the meaning of words. The violation of an
+oath, desertion with arms in their hands, the sudden passing over from
+one camp to another, have always been condemned by honour as well as
+duty, civil or military, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> denominated treason. Individuals, nations,
+or armies, men under the influence of a controlling passion, may
+contemn, at the first moment, or perhaps do not feel the moral
+impression which naturally attaches itself to their deeds; but it never
+fails to present itself, and, when seconded by the warnings of prudence
+or the blows of misfortune, it soon regains its empire.</p>
+
+<p>It was the evil destiny of the Government of the Hundred Days that the
+influence of moral opinion ranged itself on the side of its adversaries
+the Royalists; and that the conscience of the nation, clearly or
+obscurely, spontaneously or reluctantly, justified the severe judgments
+to which its origin had given rise.</p>
+
+<p>I and my friends attentively watched the progress of the Emperor's
+affairs and of the public temper. We soon satisfied ourselves that
+Napoleon would fall, and that Louis XVIII. would re-ascend the throne.
+While this was our impression of the future, we felt hourly more
+convinced that, from the deplorable state into which the enterprise of
+the Hundred Days had plunged France, abroad and at home, the return of
+Louis XVIII. would afford her the best prospect of restoring a regular
+government within, peace without, and the reassumption of her proper
+rank in Europe. In public life, duty and reason equally dictate to us to
+encourage no self-delusion as to what produces evil; but to adopt the
+remedy firmly, however bitter it may be, and at whatever sacrifice it
+may demand. I had taken no active part in the first Restoration; but I
+concurred, without hesitation, in the attempts of my friends to
+establish the second under the most favourable condi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>tions for
+preserving the dignity, liberty, and repose of France.</p>
+
+<p>Our tidings from Ghent gave us much uneasiness. Acts and institutions,
+all the problems of principle or expediency which we flattered ourselves
+had been solved in 1814, were again brought forward. The struggle had
+recommenced between the Constitutional Royalists and the partisans of
+absolute power, between the Charter and the old system. We often smile
+ourselves, and seek to make others smile, when we revert to the
+discussions, rival pretensions, projects, hopes, and fears which
+agitated this small knot of exiles, gathered round an impotent and
+throneless monarch. Such an indulgence is neither rational nor
+dignified. What matters it whether the theatre be great or small,
+whether the actors fail or succeed, or whether the casualties of human
+life are displayed with imposing grandeur or contemptible meanness? The
+true measurement lies in the subjects discussed and the future destinies
+prepared. The question in debate at Ghent was how France should be
+governed when this aged King, without state or army, should be called on
+a second time to interpose between her and Europe. The problem and the
+solution in perspective were sufficiently important to occupy the minds
+of reflecting men and honest citizens.</p>
+
+<p>The intelligence from Vienna was no less momentous. Not that in reality
+there was either doubt or hesitation in the plans or union of the Allied
+Powers. Fouch&eacute;, who had for some time been in friendly correspondence
+with Prince Metternich, made many overtures to him which the Chancellor
+of Austria did not absolutely reject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> Every possible modification which
+promised a government to France was permitted to suggest itself. All
+were discussed in the cabinets or drawing-rooms of the Ministers, and
+even in the conferences of the Congress. In these questions were
+included, Napoleon II. and a Regency, the Duke of Orleans, and the
+Prince of Orange. The English Ministry, speaking with the authority of
+Parliament, announced that they had no intention of carrying on war
+merely for the purpose of imposing any particular form of government or
+dynasty on France; and the Austrian Cabinet seconded this declaration.
+But these were only personal reserves, or an apparent compliance with
+circumstances, or methods of obtaining correct knowledge, or mere topics
+of conversation, or the anticipation of extreme cases to which the
+leaders of European politics never expected to be reduced. Diplomacy
+abounds in acts and propositions of little moment or value, which it
+neither denies nor acknowledges; but they exercise no real influence on
+the true convictions, intents, and labours of the directors of
+government.</p>
+
+<p>Without wishing to proclaim it aloud, or to commit themselves by formal
+and public declarations, the leading kingdoms of Europe, from principle,
+interest, or honour, looked upon their cause at this period as allied,
+in France, with that of the House of Bourbon. It was near Louis XVIII.
+in his exile, that their ambassadors continued to reside; and with all
+the European Governments, the diplomatic agents of Louis XVIII.
+represented France. By the example and under the guidance of M.&nbsp;de
+Talleyrand, all these agents, in 1815, remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> firm to the Royal
+cause, either from fidelity or foresight, and satisfied themselves, with
+him, that in that cause lay final success.</p>
+
+<p>But, side by side with this general disposition of Europe in favour of
+the House of Bourbon, a balancing danger presented itself,&mdash;an
+apprehension that the sovereigns and diplomatists assembled at Vienna
+had become convinced that the Bourbons were incapable of governing
+France. They had all, for twenty years, treated with and known France
+such as the Revolution and the Empire had made her. They still feared
+her, and deeply pondered over her position. The more uneasy they became
+at her leaning towards anarchy and war, the more they judged it
+indispensable that the ruling power should be placed in the hands of
+considerate, able, and prudent men, capable of understanding their
+functions, and of making themselves understood in their turn. For a
+considerable time they had ceased to retain any confidence in the
+companions of exile and courtiers of Louis XVIII.; and late experience
+had redoubled their mistrust. They looked upon the old Royalist party as
+infinitely more capable of ruining kings than of governing states.</p>
+
+<p>A personal witness to these conflicting doubts of the foreign Powers as
+to the future they were tracing themselves, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, at Vienna,
+had also his own misgivings. Amidst all the varied transformations of
+his life and politics, and although the last change had made him the
+representative of the ancient royalty, he did not desire, and never had
+desired, to separate himself entirely from the Revolution; he was linked
+to it by too many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> decided acts, and had acknowledged and served it
+under too many different forms, not to feel himself defeated when the
+Revolution was subdued. Without being revolutionary either by nature or
+inclination, it was in that camp that he had grown up and prospered, and
+he could not desert it with safety. There are certain defections which
+skilful egotism takes care to avoid; but the existing state of public
+affairs, and his own particular position, pressed conjointly and
+weightily upon him at this juncture. What would become of the
+revolutionary cause and its partisans under the second Restoration, now
+imminently approaching? What would even be the fate of this second
+Restoration if it could not govern and uphold itself better than its
+predecessor? Under the second, as under the first, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+played a distinguished part, and rendered important services to the
+Royal cause. What would be the fruit of this as regarded himself? Would
+his advice be taken, and his co-operation be accepted? Would the Abb&eacute; de
+Montesquiou and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas still be his rivals? I do not believe he
+would have hesitated, at this epoch, as to which cause he should
+espouse; but feeling his own power, and knowing that the Bourbons could
+scarcely dispense with him, he allowed his predilections for the past
+and his doubts for the future to betray themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Well informed of all these facts, and of the dispositions of the
+principal actors, the Constitutional Royalists who were then gathered
+round M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, considered it their duty to lay before Louis
+XVIII., without reserve, their opinions of the state of affairs, and of
+the line of conduct it behoved him to adopt. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> was not only desirable
+to impress on him the necessity of perseverance in a system of
+constitutional government, and in the frank acknowledgment of the state
+of social feeling in France, such as the new times had made it; but it
+was also essential to enter into the question of persons, and to tell
+the King that the presence of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas near him would militate
+strongly against his cause; to request the dismissal of that favourite,
+and to call for some explicit act or public declaration, clearly
+indicating the intentions of the monarch on the eve of re-assuming
+possession of his kingdom; and finally to induce him to attach much
+weight to the opinions and influence of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, with whom it
+must be observed that, at this period, none of those who gave this
+advice had any personal connection, and to the greater part of whom he
+was decidedly objectionable.</p>
+
+<p>Being the youngest and most available of this small assembly, I was
+called on to undertake a mission not very agreeable in itself. I
+accepted the duty without hesitation. Although I had then little
+experience of political animosities and their blind extremes, I could
+not avoid perceiving which party of opponents would one day be likely to
+turn on me for taking this step; but I should feel ashamed of myself if
+fear of responsibility and apprehensions for the future could hold me
+back when circumstances call upon me to act, within the limits of duty
+and conviction, as the good of my country demands.</p>
+
+<p>I left Paris on the 23rd of May. One circumstance alone is worthy of
+notice in my journey&mdash;the facility with which I accomplished it. It is
+true there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> many police restrictions on the roads and along the
+frontier; but the greater part of the agents were neither zealous nor
+particular in enforcing them. Their speech, their silence, and their
+looks, implied a kind of understood permission and tacit connivance.
+More than one official face appeared to say to the unknown traveller,
+"Pass on quickly," as if they dreaded making a mistake, or damaging a
+useful work by interfering with its supposed design. Having arrived at
+Ghent, I called first on the men I knew, and whose views corresponded
+with my own, MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Jaucourt, Louis, Beugnot,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lally-Tolendal, and
+Mounier. I found them all faithful to the cause of the Constitution, but
+sad as exiles, and anxious as advisers without repose in banishment; for
+they had to combat incessantly with the odious or absurd passions and
+plans of the spirit of reaction.</p>
+
+<p>The same facts furnish to different parties the most opposite
+conclusions and arguments; the catastrophe, which again attached some
+more firmly than ever to the principles and politics of the Charter, was
+to others the sentence of the Charter; and a convincing proof that
+nothing but a return to the old system could save the monarchy. I need
+not repeat the details, given to me by my friends, of the advice with
+which the counter-revolutionists and partisans of absolutism beset the
+King; for in the idleness that succeeds misfortune, men give themselves
+up to dreams, and helpless passion engenders folly. The King stood firm,
+and agreed with his constitutional advisers. The Report on the state of
+France presented to him by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand a few days before we
+arrived, in the name of the whole Council, and which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> had just been
+published in the 'Moniteur of Ghent,' contained an eloquent exposition
+of the liberal policy acknowledged by the monarch. But the party thus
+rejected were not disposed to yield; they surrounded the King they were
+unable to control, and found their strongest roots in his own family and
+bosom friends. The Count d'Artois was their ostensible chief, and M.&nbsp;de
+Blacas their discreet but steady ally. Through them they hoped to gain a
+victory as necessary as it was difficult.</p>
+
+<p>I requested the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Duras to demand for me a private audience of the
+King. The King received me the next day, June 1st, and detained me
+nearly an hour. I have no turn for the minute and settled parade of such
+interviews; I shall therefore only relate of this, and of the
+impressions which it produced on me, what still appears to be worthy of
+remembrance.</p>
+
+<p>Two points have remained strongly imprinted upon my memory&mdash;the
+impotence and dignity of the King. There was in the aspect and attitude
+of this old man, seated immovably and as if nailed to his arm-chair, a
+haughty serenity, and, in the midst of his feebleness, a tranquil
+confidence in the power of his name and rights, which surprised and
+touched me. What I had to say could not fail to be displeasing to him;
+and from respect, not calculation, I began with what was agreeable: I
+spoke of the royalist feeling which day by day exhibited itself more
+vehemently in Paris. I then related to him several anecdotes and
+couplets of songs, in corroboration of this. Such light passages
+entertained and pleased him, as men are gratified with humorous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+recitals, who have no sources of gaiety within themselves.</p>
+
+<p>I told him that the hope of his return was general. "But what is
+grievous, Sire, is that, while believing in the re-establishment of the
+monarchy, there is no confidence in its duration." "Why is this?" I
+continued; "when the great artisan of revolution is no longer there,
+monarchy will become permanent; it is clear that, if Bonaparte returns
+to Elba, it will only be to break out again; but let him be disposed of,
+and there will be an end to revolutions also.&mdash;People cannot thus
+flatter themselves, Sire; they fear something beyond Bonaparte, they
+dread the weakness of the royal government; its wavering between old and
+new ideas, between past and present interests, and they fear the
+disunion, or at least the incoherence of its ministers."</p>
+
+<p>The King made no reply. I persisted, and mentioned M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas. I said
+that I was expressly charged by men whom the King knew to be old,
+faithful, and intelligent servants, to represent to him the mistrust
+which attached itself to that name, and the evil that would result from
+it to himself. "I will fulfil all that I have promised in the Charter;
+names are not concerned with that; France has nothing to do with the
+friends I entertain in my palace, provided no act emanates from them
+injurious to the country? Speak to me of more serious causes of
+uneasiness." I entered into some details, and touched on various points
+of party intrigues and menaces. I also spoke to the King, of the
+Protestants in the south, of their alarms, of the violence even of
+which, in some instances, they had already been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> the objects. "This is
+very bad," said he: "I will do all I can to stop it; but I cannot
+prevent everything,&mdash;I cannot, at the same time, be a liberal and an
+absolute king." He questioned me upon several recent occurrences, and
+respecting some members of the Imperial Administration. "There are two,
+Sire, who, knowing that I was about to seek an audience of the King,
+have requested me to mention their names, and to assure him of their
+devotion." "Who are they?"&mdash;"The Arch-chancellor and M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute;." "For
+M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute;, I rely upon him, and am glad of his support; I know his worth. As
+to M.&nbsp;Cambac&eacute;r&egrave;s, he is one of those whom I neither ought nor wish to
+hear named." I paused there. I was not ignorant that at that time the
+King was in communication with Fouch&eacute;, a much more objectionable
+regicide than Cambac&eacute;r&egrave;s; but I was a little surprised that the secret
+relations caused by pressing emergency did not prevent him from
+maintaining aloud, and as a general theory, a line of conduct most
+natural under his circumstances. He was certainly far from foreseeing
+the disgust that would ensue from his connection with the Duke of
+Otranto. He dismissed me with some commonplace words of kindness,
+leaving on me the impression of a sensible and liberal mind, outwardly
+imposing, shrewd with individuals, careful of appearances, thinking
+little, and not profoundly informed, and almost as incapable of the
+errors which destroy, as of the great strokes which establish the future
+of royal dynasties.</p>
+
+<p>I then visited M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas. He had evinced some prepossession against
+me. "What brings this young man here?" said he to Baron d'Eckstein,
+Commissary-General<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> of Police to the King of the Netherlands, at Ghent.
+"He comes from I know not who, with some mission that I am ignorant of,
+to the King." He was fully acquainted both with my mission and my
+friends. However, he received me with perfect civility, and I must add
+with honourable frankness, inquiring what they said at Paris, and why
+they were so incensed against him. He spoke to me even of his
+differences with the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou, complaining of the sallies and
+whims which had embroiled them to the detriment of the King's service. I
+replied with equal candour; and his bearing during the whole of our
+interview was dignified, with a slight degree of reserve, expressing
+more surprise than irritation. I find in some notes written after I left
+him, this sentence:&mdash;"I am much mistaken if his mistakes do not chiefly
+proceed from the mediocrity of his intellect."</p>
+
+<p>The situation of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand at Ghent was singular. A member of
+the King's Council, he brilliantly exposed its policy in official
+publications, and defended them in the 'Moniteur of Ghent' with the same
+attractive power; but he was dissatisfied with everybody, and no one
+placed much confidence in him. I believe that neither then nor later did
+the King or the different Cabinets understand M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, or
+sufficiently appreciate his concurrence or hostility. He was, I admit, a
+troublesome ally; for he aspired to all things, and complained of all.
+On a level with the rarest spirits and most exalted imaginations, it was
+his chimera to fancy himself equal to the greatest masters in the art of
+government, and to feel bitterly hurt if he were not looked upon as the
+rival of Napoleon as well as of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> Milton. Prudent men did not lend
+themselves to this complaisant idolatry; but they forgot too much what,
+either as friend or enemy, he to whom they refused it was worth. They
+might, by paying homage to his genius and satisfying his vanity, have
+lulled to rest his ambitious dreams; and if they had not the means of
+contenting him, they ought in either case, from prudence as well as from
+gratitude, not only to have humoured, but to have gained him over
+completely to their side. He was one of those towards whom ingratitude
+was as dangerous as unjust; for they resent passionately, and know how
+to revenge without treachery. He lived at Ghent in great intimacy with
+M.&nbsp;Bertin, and assumed thenceforward that influence over the 'Journal
+des D&eacute;bats' which he afterwards so powerfully employed. Notwithstanding
+the cordiality of our first acquaintance, there had been for some time a
+considerable coolness between us. In 1814 he was discontented with, and
+spoke ill of the Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou and his friends. I was nevertheless
+equally surprised at and sorry for the injustice and error committed in
+thinking so little of one they used so much, and I regretted not meeting
+him oftener, and on a more amicable footing.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of these discussions, not only of principles and parties,
+but of private interests and coteries, we waited, at a distance from
+France, and scarcely knowing how to occupy our minds or time, the issue
+of the struggle between Napoleon and Europe;&mdash;a most painful situation,
+which I endured to serve the cause I believed and have never ceased to
+believe just, though I hourly felt its complicated vexations. I shall
+not linger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> here to describe them; nothing is more repugnant to my
+nature than to volunteer a display of my own feelings, especially when I
+am well aware that many, who listen, cannot or will not understand or
+believe me. I care little for mistake or invective; either is the
+natural condition of public life: but I do not feel called upon to enter
+into useless controversies in my own defence; I know how to wait for
+justice without demanding it.</p>
+
+<p>The battle of Waterloo terminated our passive anxiety. The King quitted
+Ghent on the 22nd of June, urged by his trustiest friends, and by his
+own judgment, not to lose a moment in placing himself between divided
+France and foreign invasion. I set out the next day with M.&nbsp;Mounier, and
+on the same evening we rejoined the King at Mons, where he had paused in
+his journey.</p>
+
+<p>Then burst forth, through the agency of new actors, and by contrivances
+still unexplained, the <i>d&eacute;no&ucirc;ment</i> that I had been despatched to
+accomplish&mdash;the fall of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas. I am not disposed to discuss the
+various accounts given by several who were witnesses of or interested in
+the event; I shall simply relate what I myself saw on the spot, as I
+find it detailed in a letter written at Cambray, six days
+afterwards,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> to the person to whom, in the absence of immediate
+communication, I had the pleasure of relating all that occurred:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"As we entered Mons (M.&nbsp;Mounier and I), we were told that M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas
+had been dismissed, and was going as ambassador to Naples; but our
+surprise was great when we also learned that M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, who had
+lately left Vienna for Brussels, to be within reach of coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> events,
+and had arrived at Mons a few hours after the King, had at the same time
+tendered his resignation; that the King, while refusing to accept it,
+had received M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand himself coldly, and that he had set out
+again for Brussels, while, contrary to his advice, the King repaired to
+Cateau-Cambresis, at that moment the head-quarters of the English army.
+We understood nothing whatever of these conflicting incidents, and our
+uneasiness equalled our surprise. We have since been everywhere, we have
+seen everybody,&mdash;those of our friends who preceded us to Mons, and the
+foreign ministers who followed the King&mdash;MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Jaucourt, Louis,
+Beugnot,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, Pozzo di Borgo,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vincent;&mdash;and, between
+half confidences, restrained anger, deceptive smiles, and sincere
+regrets, we have arrived at last at a tolerably clear understanding of
+the whole matter. The little court of the Count d'Artois, knowing that
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand advised the King not to hurry, and that the Duke of
+Wellington, on the contrary, recommended him to advance rapidly into
+France, thought nothing could be better than to drive away both M.&nbsp;de
+Blacas and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, and to separate the King from his
+constitutional advisers, as well as from his favourite, by inducing him
+to set out quickly for the head-quarters of the English army, surrounded
+only by the partisans of <i>Monsieur</i>, from whom they hoped he would
+select his ministers.</p>
+
+<p>"Our friends were much excited, and the foreigners greatly displeased.
+The latter demanded in whom they could have confidence with regard to
+the French question, and with whom they should treat in such a crisis?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand had returned from Vienna with a great reputation for
+ability and success; in the eyes of Europe he represented France and the
+King. The Austrian Minister had just said to him at Brussels, 'I am
+ordered to consult you on every occasion, and to be guided entirely by
+your advice.' He himself haughtily maintained his discontent, and
+sharply repulsed those who would have persuaded him to rejoin the King.
+After six hours of rather stormy conversation, it was agreed that Pozzo
+di Borgo should repair to Cateau, and persuade the Duke of Wellington to
+take some step which should put an end to this strange misunderstanding;
+and that MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Jaucourt, Louis, and Beugnot should at the same time say
+to the King, that the men in whom he appeared to confide entertained
+ideas and projects so diametrically opposed to theirs, that it was
+impossible they could serve him usefully, and therefore requested
+permission to retire. It is probable that reflections and measures in
+conformity with these resolutions had already taken place at Cateau; for
+on the morning of the 25th, at the same time that we received news of
+the occurrences at Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and the embassy of
+the Commissioners to the Allied Sovereigns, a letter arrived at Mons,
+from the Duke of Wellington to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, couched, as I have been
+assured, in these exact terms:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'I regret much that you have not accompanied the King to this place; it
+is I who have earnestly requested him to enter France at the same time
+with ourselves. If I could have told you the motives which sway me in
+this matter, I have no doubt that you would have given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> the King the
+same advice. I trust that you will come to hear them.' M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+decided upon setting out instantly; and we determined to accompany him.
+We rejoined the King here on the 26th. It was high time; for already a
+proclamation, dated from Cateau, drawn up, it is said, by M.&nbsp;Dambray,
+gave a false colouring to the re-entrance of his Majesty. We have
+hastened to substitute another, of which M.&nbsp;Beugnot is the principal
+author, and which prognosticates a wholesome policy. The King signed it
+without hesitation. It appeared yesterday, to the great satisfaction of
+the public of Cambray. I hope it may produce a similar effect in all
+other quarters."</p>
+
+<p>We indeed hoped and believed that the end of the great crisis which had
+overthrown France, as well as the smaller one which had agitated the
+immediate circle of royalty, was at hand. On all sides affairs appeared
+to tend towards the same issue. The King was in France; a moderate and
+national line of policy prevailed in his councils, and animated his
+words. A feeling of loyalty displayed itself everywhere during his
+progress, not only with his old party, but amongst the masses; every
+hand was raised towards him, as to a plank of safety in a shipwreck. The
+people care little for consistency. At this time I saw, in the northern
+departments, the same popularity surround the exiled King and the
+vanquished army. Napoleon had abdicated in Paris, and, notwithstanding a
+few unworthy alternations of dejection and feverish excitement, of
+resignation and momentary energy, he was evidently incapable of renewing
+the struggle. The Chamber of Representatives, which, from its first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+institution, had shown itself unfavourable to the Imperial system, and
+opposed to revolutionary excesses, appeared to be earnestly occupied in
+threading a perilous defile, by avoiding all violence and every
+irrevocable engagement. Popular passion sometimes murmured, but suffered
+itself to be easily restrained, and even stopped voluntarily, as if
+unaccustomed to action or dominion. The army, the scattered corps of
+which had successively re-united round Paris, had given itself up to
+patriotic fervour, and, together with France, had plunged into an abyss
+to prove its devotion and avenge its injuries: but amongst its oldest
+and most illustrious chiefs, some&mdash;such as Gouvion St. Cyr, Macdonald,
+and Oudinot&mdash;had refused to join Napoleon, and openly espoused the Royal
+cause; others&mdash;like Ney, Davoust, Soult, and Mass&eacute;na&mdash;protested with
+stern candour against fatal delusions, considering that their well-tried
+courage entitled them to utter melancholy truths, to offer sage advice,
+and to repress, even by the sacrifice of party credit, military
+excitement or popular disorder; others, in fine, like Drouot, with an
+influence conferred by true courage and virtue, maintained discipline in
+the army in the midst of the mortifications of the retreat behind the
+Loire, and secured its obedience to the authority of a detested civil
+power. After so many mistakes and misfortunes, and in the midst of all
+differences of opinion and situation, there existed still a spontaneous
+desire and a general effort to preserve France from irreparable errors
+and total ruin.</p>
+
+<p>But tardy wisdom does not avail, and, even when they wish to become
+prudent, political genius is wanting to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> those nations who are not
+accustomed to decide their own affairs or their own destiny. In the
+deplorable state into which the enterprise of an heroic and chimerical
+egotism had thrown France, there was evidently only one line of conduct
+to pursue,&mdash;to recognize Louis XVIII., to accept his liberal
+concessions, and to act in concert with him while treating with the
+foreign Powers. This was absolutely necessary; for the most limited mind
+could foresee that the return of the House of Bourbon was an inevitable,
+and all but an accomplished fact. Such a course became also a duty, to
+promote peace and to afford the best means of counteracting the evils of
+invasion; for Louis XVIII. could alone repel them with any show of
+authority. An auspicious future was thus opened to liberty; for reason
+whispered, and experience demonstrated, that, after what had passed in
+France since 1789, despotism could never more be attempted by the
+princes of the House of Bourbon&mdash;an insurmountable necessity compelled
+them to adopt defined and constitutional government,&mdash;if they resorted
+to extremes, their strength would prove unequal to success. To accept
+without hesitation or delay the second restoration, and to place the
+King, of his own accord, between France and the rest of Europe, became
+the self-evident dictate of patriotism and sound policy.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was this left undone, but every endeavour was used to make it
+appear that the Restoration was exclusively the work of foreign
+interference, and to bring upon France, in addition to her military
+defeat, a political and diplomatic overthrow. It was not independence of
+the Empire, or good intentions towards the country,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> that were wanting
+in the Chamber of the Hundred Days, but intelligence and resolution. It
+neither lent itself to imperial despotism nor revolutionary violence; it
+was not the instrument of either of the extreme parties,&mdash;it applied
+itself honestly to preserve France, on the brink of that abyss towards
+which they had driven her; but it could only pursue a line of negative
+policy, it tacked timidly about before the harbour, instead of boldly
+entering,&mdash;closing its eyes when it approached the narrow channel,
+submitting, not from confidence, but from imbecility, to the blindness
+or infatuation of the old or new enemies by whom the King was
+surrounded, and appearing sometimes, from weakness itself, to consent to
+combinations which in reality it tried to elude;&mdash;at one moment
+proclaiming Napoleon II., and at another any monarch whom the sovereign
+people might please to select.</p>
+
+<p>To this fruitless vacillation of the only existing public authority, one
+of the most fatally celebrated actors of the worst times of the
+Revolution, Fouch&eacute;, owed his importance and ephemeral success.</p>
+
+<p>When honest men fail to understand or execute the designs of Providence,
+dishonesty undertakes the task. Under the pressure of circumstances, and
+in the midst of general weakness, corrupt, sagacious, and daring spirits
+are ever at hand, who perceive at once what may happen, or what may be
+attempted, and make themselves the instruments of a triumph to which
+they have no natural claim, but of which they assume the credit, to
+appropriate the fruits. Such a man was the Duke of Otranto during the
+Hundred Days,&mdash;a revolutionist transformed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> into a grandee; and desirous
+of being consecrated in this double character by the ancient royalty of
+France, he employed, to accomplish his end, all the cleverness and
+audacity of a reckless intriguer more clear-sighted and sensible than
+his associates. Perhaps also&mdash;for justice ought to retain its scruples
+even towards those who have none themselves&mdash;perhaps a desire to save
+his country from violence and useless suffering may have had some share
+in the series of treasons and imperturbable changes of side, by means of
+which, while deceiving and playing alternately with Napoleon, La
+Fayette, and Carnot, the Empire, the Republic, and the regicidal
+Convention, Fouch&eacute; gained the time that he required to open for himself
+the doors of the King's cabinet, while he opened the gates of Paris to
+the King.</p>
+
+<p>Louis XVIII. offered some resistance, but, notwithstanding what he had
+said to me at Ghent respecting Cambac&eacute;r&egrave;s, I doubt whether he objected
+strongly. He was one of those who are dignified from habit and decorum
+rather than from a real and powerful emotion of the soul; and propriety
+disappeared before emergency. He had, as vouchers for the necessities of
+the case, two authorities who were the best calculated to influence his
+decision and uphold his honour; the Duke of Wellington and the Count
+d'Artois both urged him to accept Fouch&eacute; as a minister:&mdash;Wellington, to
+secure an easy return for the King, and also that he himself, and
+England with him, might remain the principal author of the Restoration
+by promptly terminating the war before Paris, where he feared to be
+compromised through the violent hatred of the Prussians; the Count
+d'Artois, with im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>patient levity, always ready to promise and agree, and
+already entangled through his most active confidant, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles, in
+the snare which Fouch&eacute; had spread for the Royalists on every side.</p>
+
+<p>I do not believe in the necessity which they urged upon the King. Fouch&eacute;
+had no control over Paris; the army had retired; the Federates were more
+noisy than powerful; the Chamber of Representatives consoled themselves,
+by discussing a constitution, for not having dared or known how to form
+a government; no party was either able or disposed to arrest effectually
+the tide which carried the King along. A little less eagerness, and a
+little more determination, would have spared him a sad dishonour. By
+waiting a few days he would have incurred the risk, not of fatal
+resolutions or violence, but merely of the temporary continuance of
+disorder and alarm. Necessity presses upon people as well as on kings:
+that with which Fouch&eacute; armed himself to become minister to Louis XVIII.
+was factitious and ephemeral; that which brought Louis XVIII. back to
+the Tuileries was real, and became hourly more urgent. There was no
+occasion for him to receive the Duke of Otranto into his cabinet at
+Arnouville; he might have remained there patiently, for they would soon
+have sought him. I thought thus at the time, after having passed two
+days in Paris, where I arrived on the 3rd of July, when the man&oelig;uvres
+of Fouch&eacute; were following their course. All that I subsequently saw and
+heard tended to confirm me in this opinion.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> I owe it to myself to repeat here the retractation of an
+error (I am not disposed to use any other word) entertained in regard to
+my connection with the Hundred Days, and the part I took at that period.
+This retractation, which appeared thirteen years ago in the 'Moniteur
+Universel' of the 4th of February, 1844, is couched in the following
+terms:&mdash;"Several journals have recently said or implied that M.&nbsp;Guizot,
+the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was Secretary-General to
+the Ministry of the Interior in 1814 and 1815, had retained his office
+during the Hundred Days, under General Count Carnot, appointed Minister
+of the Interior by the Imperial decree of the 20th of March, 1815; that
+he had signed the Additional Act, and that he had been subsequently
+dismissed. One of these journals has invoked the testimony of the
+'Moniteur.' These assertions are utterly false. M.&nbsp;Guizot, now Minister
+of Foreign Affairs, had, on the 20th of March, 1815, quitted the
+department of the Interior; and by an Imperial decree of the 23rd of the
+same month, his office of Secretary-General was conferred upon Baron
+Basset&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubourg, formerly Prefect (see the 'Bulletin des Lois,'
+no. v. p. 34). The notice in the 'Moniteur' of the 14th of May, 1815,
+page 546, did not refer to M.&nbsp;Fran&ccedil;ois Guizot, but to M.&nbsp;Jean-Jacques
+Guizot, head-clerk at that time in the Ministry of the Interior, who was
+actually dismissed from his office in the course of May 1815."
+</p><p>
+Notwithstanding this official refutation, founded on official acts, and
+published in 1844 in the 'Moniteur,' where the error had originated, the
+same mis-statement appeared in 1847, in the 'History of the Two
+Restorations,' by M.&nbsp;Vaulabelle (2nd edition, vol. ii. p. 276), and
+again in 1851, in the 'History of the Restoration,' by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lamartine
+(vol. iv. p. 15).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> June 29th, 1815.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CHAMBER OF 1815.</h3>
+
+<h3>1815-1816.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>FALL OF M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;TALLEYRAND AND FOUCH&Eacute;.&mdash;FORMATION OF THE DUKE DE
+RICHELIEU'S CABINET.&mdash;MY CONNECTION AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE
+ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE WITH M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MARBOIS, KEEPER OF THE GREAT
+SEAL.&mdash;MEETING AND ASPECT OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.&mdash;INTENTIONS
+AND ATTITUDE OF THE OLD ROYALIST FACTION.&mdash;FORMATION AND
+COMPOSITION OF A NEW ROYALIST PARTY.&mdash;STRUGGLE OF CLASSES UNDER THE
+CLOAK OF PARTIES.&mdash;PROVISIONAL LAWS.&mdash;BILL OF AMNESTY.&mdash;THE CENTRE
+BECOMES THE GOVERNMENT PARTY, AND THE RIGHT THE
+OPPOSITION.&mdash; QUESTIONS UPON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE STATE AND
+THE CHURCH.&mdash;STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT BEYOND THE
+CHAMBERS.&mdash;INSUFFICIENCY OF ITS RESISTANCE TO THE SPIRIT OF
+REACTION.&mdash;THE DUKE OF FELTRI AND GENERAL BERNARD.&mdash;TRIAL OF
+MARSHAL NEY.&mdash;CONTROVERSY BETWEEN M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VITROLLES AND ME.&mdash;CLOSING
+OF THE SESSION.&mdash;MORTIFICATIONS IN THE CABINET.&mdash;M.&nbsp;LAIN&Eacute; MINISTER
+OF THE INTERIOR.&mdash;I LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND ENTER THE
+STATE COUNCIL AS MASTER OF REQUESTS.&mdash;THE CABINET ENTERS INTO
+CONTESTS WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DECAZES.&mdash;POSITION OF
+MESSRS. ROYER-COLLARD AND&nbsp;DE&nbsp;SERRE.&mdash;OPPOSITION OF M.&nbsp;DE
+CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND.&mdash;THE COUNTRY RISES AGAINST THE CHAMBER OF
+DEPUTIES.&mdash;EFFORTS OF M.&nbsp;DECAZES TO BRING ABOUT A DISSOLUTION.&mdash;THE
+KING DETERMINES ON IT.&mdash;DECREE OF THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1816.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Three months had scarcely elapsed and neither Fouch&eacute; nor M.&nbsp;de
+Talleyrand were any longer in the Ministry. They had fallen, not under
+the pressure of any new or unforeseen event, but by the evils connected
+with their personal situation, and their inaptitude for the parts they
+had undertaken to play. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand had effected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> a miracle at
+Vienna; by the treaty of alliance concluded on the 3rd January, 1815,
+between France, England, and Austria, he had put an end to the coalition
+formed against us in 1813, and separated Europe into two parties, to the
+advantage of France. But the event of the 20th of March had destroyed
+his work; the European coalition was again formed against the Emperor
+and against France, who had made herself, or had permitted herself to be
+made, the instrument of Napoleon. There was no longer a chance of
+breaking up this formidable alliance. The same feeling of uneasiness and
+mistrust of our faith, the same desire for a firm and lasting union,
+animated the sovereigns and the nations. They had speedily arranged at
+Vienna the questions which had threatened to divide them. In this
+fortified hostility against France the Emperor Alexander participated,
+with extreme irritation towards the House of Bourbon and M.&nbsp;de
+Talleyrand, who had sought to deprive him of his allies. The second
+Restoration was no longer like the first, the personal glory and work of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand; the honour was chiefly due to England and the Duke of
+Wellington. Instigated by self-love and policy, the Emperor Alexander
+arrived at Paris on the 10th of July, 1815, stern and angrily disposed
+towards the King and his advisers.</p>
+
+<p>France and the King stood, nevertheless, in serious need of the goodwill
+of the Russian Emperor, encompassed as they were by the rancorous and
+eager ambition of Germany. Her diplomatists drew up the geographical
+chart of our territory, leaving out the provinces of which they desired
+to deprive us. Her generals undermined, to blow into the air, the
+monuments which recalled their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> defeats in the midst of their victories.
+Louis XVIII. resisted with much dignity these acts of foreign barbarism;
+he threatened to place his chair of state upon the bridge of Jena, and
+said publicly to the Duke of Wellington, "Do you think, my Lord, that
+your Government would consent to receive me if I were again to solicit a
+refuge?" Wellington restrained to the utmost of his power the violence
+of Bl&uuml;cher, and remonstrated with him by arguments equally urgent and
+politic; but neither the dignity of the King, nor the amicable
+intervention of England were sufficient to curb the overweening
+pretensions of Germany. The Emperor Alexander alone could keep them
+within bounds. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand sought to conciliate him by personal
+concessions. In forming his cabinet, he named the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, who
+was still absent, Minister of the Royal Household, while the Ministry of
+the Interior was held in reserve for Pozzo di Borgo, who would willingly
+have left the official service of Russia to take part in the Government
+of France. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand placed much faith in the power of
+temptations; but, in this instance, they were of no avail. The Duke de
+Richelieu, probably in concert with the King himself, refused; Pozzo di
+Borgo did not obtain, or dared not to solicit, the permission of his
+master to become, once more, a Frenchman. I saw him frequently, and that
+mind, at once quick and decisive, bold and restless, felt keenly its
+doubtful situation, and with difficulty concealed its perplexities. The
+Emperor Alexander maintained his cold reserve, leaving M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+powerless and embarrassed in this arena of negotiation, ordinarily the
+theatre of his success.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>The weakness of Fouch&eacute; was different, and sprang from other causes. It
+was not that the foreign sovereigns and their ministers regarded him
+more favourably than they did M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, for his admission into
+the King's cabinet had greatly scandalized monarchical Europe; the Duke
+of Wellington alone persisted in still upholding him; but none amongst
+the foreigners either attacked him or appeared anxious for his downfall.
+It was from within that the storm was raised against him. With a
+strangely frivolous presumption, he had determined to deliver up the
+Revolution to the King, and the King to the Revolution, relying upon his
+dexterity and boldness to assist him in passing and repassing from camp
+to camp, and in governing one by the other, while alternately betraying
+both. The elections which took place at this period throughout France,
+signally falsified his hopes. In vain did he profusely employ agents,
+and circular addresses; neither obtained for him the slightest
+influence; the decided Royalists prevailed in nearly every quarter,
+almost without a struggle. It is our misfortune and our weakness, that
+in every great crisis the vanquished become as the dead. The Chamber of
+1815 as yet appeared only in the distance, and already the Duke of
+Otranto trembled as though thunderstruck by the side of the tottering M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand. In this opposite and unequal peril, but critical for
+both, the conduct of these two men was very different. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+proclaimed himself the patron of constitutional monarchy, boldly and
+greatly organized as in England. Modifications conformable to the views
+of the Liberal party were in some instances immediately acceded to, and
+in others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> promised by the Charter. Young men were permitted to enter
+the Chamber of Deputies. Fourteen Articles relative to the constitution
+of this Chamber were submitted for the inspection of the next
+Legislative Assembly. The Peerage was made hereditary. The censorship,
+to which works under twenty printed sheets had been subjected, was
+abolished. A grand Privy Council, on important occasions, united the
+principal men of every party. It was neither the urgent necessity of the
+moment, nor prevailing public opinion, that imposed on restored royalty
+these important reforms: they were enacted by the Cabinet from a desire
+of encouraging free institutions, and of giving satisfaction to the
+party,&mdash;I ought rather to say to the small section of enlightened and
+impatient spirits.</p>
+
+<p>The real intentions and measures of Fouch&eacute; were of a more personal
+nature. Violently menaced by the reaction in favour of royalty, he at
+first endeavoured to appease by feeding it. He consented to make himself
+the instrument of proscription against the very men who, but a short
+time before, were his agents, his confederates, his accomplices, his
+colleagues, and his friends. At the same time that he published
+memorials and circulars showing the necessity of clemency and
+forgetfulness of the past, he placed before the Royal Council a list of
+one hundred and ten names, to be excluded from all amnesty; and when
+strict inquiry had reduced this number to eighteen, subject to
+courts-martial, and to thirty-eight provisionally banished, he
+countersigned without hesitation the decree which condemned them. A few
+days afterwards, and upon his request, another edict revoked all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> the
+privileges hitherto accorded to the daily papers, imposed upon them the
+necessity of a new license, and subjected them to the censorship of a
+commission, in which several of the principal royalist writers, amongst
+others Messieurs Auger and Fi&eacute;v&eacute;e, refused to sit under his patronage.
+As little did the justice or national utility of his acts affect the
+Duke of Otranto in 1815, as in 1793; he was always ready to become, no
+matter at what cost, the agent of expediency. But when he saw that his
+severe measures did not protect himself, and perceived the rapidly
+approaching danger, he changed his tactics; the minister of the
+monarchical reaction became again the factious revolutionist. He caused
+to be secretly published and circulated, "Reports to the King," and the
+"Notes to the Foreign Ministers," less calculated to enlighten the
+authorities he addressed, than to prepare for himself arms and allies
+against the Government and the party, from which he saw that he was
+about to be excluded. He was of the number of those who try to make
+themselves feared, by striving to injure when they are no longer
+permitted to serve.</p>
+
+<p>Neither the liberal reforms of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, nor the revolutionary
+menaces of the Duke of Otranto, warded off the danger which pressed on
+them. Notwithstanding their extraordinary abilities and long experience,
+both mistook the new aspect of the times, either not seeing, or not
+wishing to see, how little they were in unison with the contests which
+the Hundred Days had revived. The election of a Chamber decidedly
+Royalist, surprised them as an unexpected phenomenon; they both fell at
+its approach, and within a few days of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> each other; left, nevertheless,
+after their common downfall, in opposite positions. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand
+retained credit; the King and his new Cabinet loaded him with gifts and
+royal favours; his colleagues during his short administration, Messieurs
+de Jaucourt, Pasquier, Louis and Gouvion St. Cyr, received signal marks
+of royal esteem, and retired from the scene of action as if destined to
+return. Having accepted the trifling and distant embassy to Dresden,
+Fouch&eacute; hastened to depart, and left Paris under a disguise which he only
+changed when he reached the frontier, fearful of being seen in his
+native land, which he was fated never again to behold.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabinet of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu entered upon office warmly welcomed
+by the King, and even by the party which had gained the ascendency
+through the present elections. It was indeed a new and thoroughly
+royalist Ministry. Its head, recently arrived in France, honoured by all
+Europe, and beloved by the Emperor Alexander, was to King Louis XVIII.
+what the king himself was to France, the pledge of a more advantageous
+peace. Two of his colleagues, Messieurs Decazes and Dubouchage, had
+taken no part in public affairs previous to the Restoration. The four
+others, Messieurs Barb&eacute;-Marbois,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vaublanc, Coretto, and the Duke of
+Feltri, had recently given proofs of strong attachment to the regal
+cause. Their union inspired hope without suspicion, in the public mind,
+as well as in that of the triumphant party. I was intimately acquainted
+with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois; I had frequently met him at the houses of Madame de
+Rumford and Madame Suard. He belonged to that old France which, in a
+spirit of generous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> liberality, had adopted and upheld, with enlightened
+moderation, the principles most cherished by the France of the day. I
+held under him, in the capacity of a confidential friend, the post of
+Secretary-General to the Ministry of Justice, to which M.&nbsp;Pasquier, then
+keeper of the great seal, had nominated me under the Cabinet of M.&nbsp;de
+Talleyrand. Hardly was the new minister installed in office, when the
+Chamber of Deputies assembled, and in its turn established itself. It
+was almost exclusively Royalist. With considerable difficulty, a few
+men, members of other parties, had obtained entrance into its ranks.
+They found themselves in a state of perpetual discomfort, isolated and
+ill at ease, as though they were strangers of suspicious character; and
+when they endeavoured to declare themselves and explain their
+sentiments, they were roughly driven back into impotent silence. On the
+23rd of October, 1815, in the debate on the Bill presented by M.&nbsp;Decazes
+for the temporary suspension of personal liberty, M.&nbsp;d'Argenson spoke of
+the reports which had been spread abroad respecting the massacre of
+Protestants in the south. A violent tumult arose in contradiction of his
+statements; he explained himself with great reserve. "I name no facts,"
+replied he, "I bring forward no charges; I merely say that vague and
+contradictory rumours have reached me; ... the very vagueness of these
+rumours calls for a report from the minister, on the state of the
+kingdom." M.&nbsp;d'Argenson was not only defeated in his object, and
+interrupted in his speech, but he was expressly called to order for
+having alluded to facts unfortunately too certain, but which the
+Govern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>ment wished to smother up by silencing all debate on the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in five-and-twenty years, the Royalists saw
+themselves in the ascendant. Thoroughly believing that they had obtained
+a legitimate triumph, they indulged unreservedly in the enjoyment of
+power, with a mixture of aristocratic arrogance and new-born zeal, as
+men do when little accustomed to victory, and doubtful of the strength
+they are so eager to display.</p>
+
+<p>Very opposite causes plunged the Chamber of 1815 into the extreme
+reaction which has stamped its historical character. In the first place,
+and above all others, may be named, the good and evil passions of the
+Royalists, their moral convictions and personal resentments, their love
+of order and thirst for vengeance, their pride in the past and their
+apprehensions for the future, their determination to re-establish honour
+and respect for holy observances, their old attachments, their sworn
+pledges, and the gratification of lording it over their conquerors. To
+the violence of passion was joined a prudent calculation of advantage.
+To strengthen their party, and to advance individual fortunes, it was
+essential for the new rulers of France to possess themselves everywhere
+of place and power; therein lay the field to be worked, and the
+territory to be occupied, in order to reap the entire fruits of victory.
+Finally must be added, the empire of ideas, more influential than is
+commonly supposed, and often exercising more power over men, without
+their being conscious of it, than prejudice or interest. After so many
+years of extraordinary events and disputes, the Royalists had, on all
+political and social questions, sys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>tematic views to realize, historical
+reminiscences to act upon, requirements of the mind to satisfy. They
+hastened to apply their hands to the work, believing the day at last
+arrived when they could, once more, assume in their own land, morally as
+well as physically, in thought and deed, the superiority which had so
+long been wrested from them.</p>
+
+<p>As it happens in every great crisis of human associations, these
+opposing principles in the reaction of 1815, had each its special and
+exclusively effective representative in the ranks of the Royalists. The
+party had their fighting champion, their political advocate, and their
+philosopher. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye led their passions, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+their interests, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Bonald their ideas; three men well suited to
+their parts, for they excelled respectively, the first in fiery attack,
+the second in prudent and patient man&oelig;uvring, and the third in
+specious, subtle, and elevated exposition; and all three, although
+unconnected by any previous intimacy, applied their varied talents with
+unflinching perseverance to the common cause.</p>
+
+<p>And what, after all, was the cause? What was, in reality, the end which
+the leaders of the party, apparently on the very verge of success,
+proposed to themselves? Had they been inclined to speak sincerely, they
+would have found it very difficult to answer the question. It has been
+said and believed by many, and probably a great portion of the Royalists
+imagined, in 1815, that their object was to abolish the Charter, and
+restore the old system: a commonplace supposition of puerile credulity;
+the battle-cry of the enemies, whether able or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> blind, of the
+Restoration. In the height of its most sanguine hopes, the Chamber of
+1815 had formed no idea so extreme or audacious. Replaced as conquerors
+upon the field, not by themselves, but by the errors of their
+adversaries and the course of European events, the old Royalist party
+expected that the reverses of the Revolution and the Empire would bring
+them enormous advantages, and restitution; but they were yet undecided
+as to the use they should make of victory in the government of France,
+when they found themselves in the undisturbed possession of power. Their
+views were as unsettled and confused as their passions were violent;
+above all things, they coveted victory, for the haughty pleasure of
+triumph itself, for the definitive establishment of the Restoration, and
+for their own predominance, by holding power at the centre of
+government, and throughout the departments by administration.</p>
+
+<p>But in those social shocks there are deeper questions involved than the
+actors are aware of. The Hundred Days inflicted on France a much heavier
+evil than the waste of blood and treasure it had cost her; they lit up
+again the old quarrel which the Empire had stifled and the Charter was
+intended to extinguish,&mdash;the quarrel between old and new France, between
+the emigrants and the revolutionists. It was not alone between two
+political parties, but between two rival classes, that the struggle
+recommenced in 1815, as it originally exploded in 1789.</p>
+
+<p>An unfavourable position for founding a Government, and, above all, a
+free Government. A certain degree of excitement and emulation invariably
+exists between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> people and the political parties, which constitutes
+the very life of the social body, and encourages its energetic and
+wholesome development. But if this agitation is not confined to
+questions of legislature and the conduct of public affairs,&mdash;if it
+attacks society in its very basis,&mdash;if, instead of emulation between
+parties, there arises hostility amongst classes, the movement ceases to
+be healthy, and changes to a destroying malady, which leads on to the
+most lamentable disorders, and may end in the dissolution of the State.
+The undue ascendency of one class over another, whether of the
+aristocracy or the people, becomes tyranny. The bitter and continued
+struggle of either to obtain the upper hand, is in fact revolution,
+imminently impending or absolutely declared. The world has witnessed, in
+two great examples, the diametrically opposite results to which this
+formidable fact may lead. The contest between the Patricians and
+Plebeians held Rome for ages between the cruel alternations of despotism
+and anarchy, which had no variety but war. As long as either party
+retained public virtue, the republic found grandeur, if not social
+peace, in their quarrel; but when Patricians and Plebeians became
+corrupted by dissension, without agreeing on any fixed principle of
+liberty, Rome could only escape from ruin by falling under the despotism
+and lingering decline of the Empire. England presents to modern Europe a
+different spectacle. In England also, the opposing parties of nobles and
+democrats long contended for the supremacy; but, by a happy combination
+of fortune and wisdom, they came to a mutual compromise, and united in
+the common exercise of power: and England has found, in this amicable
+understanding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> between the different classes, in this communion of their
+rights and mutual influence, internal peace with greatness, and
+stability with freedom.</p>
+
+<p>I looked forward to an analogous result for my own country, from the
+form of government established by the Charter. I have been accused of
+desiring to model France upon the example of England. In 1815, my
+thoughts were not turned towards England; at that time I had not
+seriously studied her institutions or her history. I was entirely
+occupied with France, her destinies, her civilization, her laws, her
+literature, and her great men. I lived in the heart of a society
+exclusively French, more deeply impregnated with French tastes and
+sentiments than any other. I was immediately associated with that
+reconciliation, blending, and intercourse of different classes, and even
+of parties, which seemed to me the natural condition of our new and
+liberal system. People of every origin, rank, and calling, I may almost
+say of every variety of opinion,&mdash;great noblemen, magistrates,
+advocates, ecclesiastics, men of letters, fashion, or business, members
+of the old aristocracy, of the Constituent Assembly, of the Convention,
+of the Empire,&mdash;lived in easy and hospitable intercourse, adopting
+without hesitation their altered positions and views, and all apparently
+disposed to act together in goodwill for the advantage of their country.
+A strange contradiction in our habits and manners! When social
+relations, applicable to mental or worldly pleasures, are alone
+involved, there are no longer distinctions of classes, or contests;
+differences of situation and opinion cease to exist; we have no thought
+but to enjoy and contribute in common our mutual possessions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+pretensions, and recommendations. But let political questions and the
+positive interests of life once more spring up,&mdash;let us be called upon,
+not merely to assemble for enjoyment or recreation, but to assume each
+his part in the rights, the affairs, the honours, the advantages, and
+the burdens of the social system,&mdash;on the instant, all dissensions
+re-appear; all pretences, prejudices, susceptibilities, and oppositions
+revive; and that society which had seemed so single and united, resumes
+all its former divisions and differences.</p>
+
+<p>This melancholy incoherence between the apparent and actual state of
+French society revealed itself suddenly in 1815. The reaction provoked
+by the Hundred Days destroyed in the twinkling of an eye the work of
+social reconciliation carried on in France for sixteen years, and caused
+the abrupt explosion of all the passions, good or evil, of the social
+system, against all the works, beneficial or mischievous, of the
+Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Attacked also by another difficulty, the party which prevailed at the
+opening of the session, in the Chamber of 1815, fell into another
+mistake. The aristocratic classes in France, although generously
+devoted, in public dangers, to the king and the country, knew not how to
+make common cause either with the crown or the people; they have
+alternately blamed and opposed, royal power and public liberty.
+Isolating themselves in the privileges which satisfied their vanity
+without giving them real influence in the State, they had not assumed,
+for three centuries, either with the monarch, or at the head of the
+nation, the position which seemed naturally to belong to them. After all
+they had lost, and in spite of all they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> ought to have learned at the
+Revolution, they found themselves in 1815, when power reverted to their
+hands, in the same undefined and shifting position. In its relations
+with the great powers of the State, in public discussion, in the
+exercise of its peculiar rights, the Chamber of 1815 had the merit of
+carrying into vigorous practice the constitutional system, which, in
+1814, had scarcely emerged from its torpor under the Empire; but in its
+new work it lost sight of equity, moderation, and the favourable moment.
+It wished at the same time to control France and the King. It was
+independent and haughty, often revolutionary in its conduct towards the
+monarch, and equally violent and contra-revolutionary as regarded the
+people. This was to attempt too much; it ought to have chosen between
+the two, and to have declared itself either monarchical or popular. The
+Chamber of 1815 was neither the one nor the other. It appeared to be
+deeply imbued with the spirit of the old system, envenomed by the ideas
+or examples of the spirit of the revolution; but the spirit of
+government, even more essential under constitutional than under absolute
+power, was wanting altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, an opposition was seen to spring up quickly within its own
+bosom,&mdash;an opposition which became at once popular and monarchical, for
+it equally defended against the ruling party, the crown they had so
+rashly insulted, and the country they had profoundly disturbed. After
+some sharp contests, sustained with acrimonious determination on both
+sides, this opposition, strong in the royal support as in public
+sympathy, frequently obtained a majority, and became the party of the
+Government.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>I had no seat at that time in the Chamber of Deputies. It has often been
+said that I took a more important share in the Government of the day
+than could be attributed to me with truth. I have never complained of
+this, nor shall I complain now. I accept the responsibility, not only of
+my own actions, but of those of the friends I selected and supported.
+The monarchical and constitutional party formed in 1815, became on the
+instant my own. I shall acknowledge frankly what experience has taught
+me of their mistakes, while I feel proud of having been enrolled in
+their ranks.</p>
+
+<p>This party was formed abruptly and spontaneously, without premeditated
+object, without previous or personal concert, under the simple necessity
+of the moment, to meet a pressing evil, and not to establish any
+particular system, or any specific combination of ideas, resolutions, or
+designs. Its sole policy was at first confined to the support of the
+Restoration against the reaction: a thankless undertaking, even when
+most salutary; for it is useless to contend with a headlong
+counter-current. While you are supporting the power whose flag serves as
+a cloak to reaction, it is impossible to arrest the entire mischief you
+desire to check; and you seem to adopt that which you have been unable
+to subdue. This is one of the inevitable misconstructions which honest
+men, who act conscientiously, in stormy days, must be prepared to
+encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Neither in its composition nor plans had the new Royalist party any
+special or decided character. Amongst its rising leaders, as in its more
+undistinguished ranks, there were men of every origin and position,
+collected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> from all points of the social and political horizon. M.&nbsp;de
+Serre was an emigrant, and had been a lieutenant in the army of Cond&eacute;;
+MM.&nbsp;Pasquier, Beugnot, Sim&eacute;on, Barante and St. Aulaire, had possessed
+influence under Napoleon; MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and Camille Jordan were
+opposed to the Imperial system. The same judgment, the same opinion upon
+the events of the day and the chances of the morrow, upon the rights and
+legitimate interests of the throne and country, suddenly united these
+men, hitherto unknown to each other. They combined, as the inhabitants
+of the same quarter run from all sides and, without acquaintance and
+never having met before, work in concert to extinguish a great fire.</p>
+
+<p>A fact, however, disclosed itself, which characterized already the new
+royalist party in the impending struggle. Equally disturbed by the
+pretensions of the old aristocrats, the monarchy and the citizens formed
+a close league for mutual support. Louis XVIII. and young France resumed
+together the policy of their fathers. It is fruitless for a people to
+deny or forget the past; they cannot either annihilate or abstract
+themselves from it; situations and emergencies will soon arise to force
+them back into the road on which they have travelled for ages.</p>
+
+<p>Selected as President by the Chamber itself, and also by the King,
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, while preserving, with a dignity at the same time natural and
+slightly studied, the impartiality which his situation required,
+inclined nevertheless towards the opinions of the moderate minority, and
+supported them by his moral influence, sometimes even by his words. The
+ascendency of his character, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> gravity of his manners, and, at
+certain moments, the passionate overflowing of his soul, invested him
+with an authority which his abilities and knowledge would scarcely have
+sufficed to command.</p>
+
+<p>The Session had not been many days open, and already, from conversation,
+from the selection of the officials, from the projects of interior
+movement which were announced, the Deputies began to know and arrange
+themselves, but still with doubt and confusion; as, in a battalion
+unexpectedly called together, the soldiers assemble in disorder, looking
+for their arms and colours. The Government propositions soon brought the
+different parties to broad daylight, and placed them in contest. The
+Session commenced, as might be expected, with measures arising from
+incidental circumstances. Of the four bills evidently bearing this
+character, two&mdash;the suspension of personal liberty, and the
+establishment of prev&ocirc;tal courts&mdash;were proposed as exceptional and
+purely temporary; the others&mdash;for the suppression of seditious acts, and
+for a general amnesty&mdash;were intended to be definitive and permanent.</p>
+
+<p>Measures of expediency, and exceptional laws, have been so often and so
+peremptorily condemned in France, that their very name and aspect
+suffice to render them suspicious and hateful,&mdash;a natural impression,
+after so much and such bitter experience! They supply notwithstanding,
+and particularly under a constitutional government, the least dangerous
+as well as the most efficacious method of meeting temporary and urgent
+necessities. It is better to suspend openly, and for a given time, a
+particular privilege, than to pervert, by encroach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>ment and subtlety,
+the fixed laws, so as to adapt them to the emergency of the hour. The
+experience of history, in such cases, confirms the suggestions of
+reason. In countries where political liberty is finally established, as
+in England, it is precisely after it has obtained a signal triumph, that
+the temporary suspension of one or more of its special securities has,
+under pressing circumstances, been adopted as a Government measure. In
+ruder and less intelligent times, under the dominion of momentary
+danger, and as an immediate defence, those rigorous and artful statutes
+were enacted in perpetuity, in which all tyrannies have found arms ready
+made, without the odium of forging them, and from which a more advanced
+civilization, at a later period, has found it so difficult to escape.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary, I admit, to enable these exceptional laws to accomplish
+their end without too much danger, that, beyond the scope of their
+operation and during their continuance, the country should retain enough
+general liberty, and the authorities sufficient real responsibility, to
+confine these measures within their due limits, and to control their
+exercise. But, in spite of the blindness and rage of the beaten parties,
+we have only to read the debates in the Chambers of 1815, and the
+publications of the time, to be convinced that at that epoch liberty was
+far from having entirely perished; and the history of the ministers who
+were then in power unanswerably demonstrates that they sustained the
+weight of a most effective responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>Of the two temporary bills introduced into the Chamber in 1815, that
+respecting the prev&ocirc;tal courts met<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> with the least opposition. Two very
+superior men, MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and Cuvier, had consented to become its
+official advocates, in the character of Royal Commissioners; and during
+the discussion, M.&nbsp;Cuvier took the lead. The debate was a very short
+one; two hundred and ninety members voted for the bill, ten only
+rejected it. The division may create surprise. The bill, in principle,
+comprised the heaviest possible infringement on common right, and the
+most formidable in practical application, by the suppression, in these
+courts, of the greater part of the privileges accorded in the ordinary
+modes of jurisdiction. A clause in the bill went almost to deprive the
+King of his prerogative of pardon, by ordering the immediate execution
+of the condemned criminals, unless the prev&ocirc;tal court itself assumed the
+functions of grace by recommending them to royal clemency. One of the
+most enthusiastic Royalists of the right-hand party, M.&nbsp;Hyde de
+Neuville, objected energetically, but without effect, to a clause so
+harsh and anti-monarchical. The two most intractable of passions, anger
+and fear, prevailed in the Chamber; it had its own cause, as well as
+that of the King, to defend and avenge, and persuaded itself that it
+could neither strike too soon nor too strongly when both were attacked.</p>
+
+<p>On this occasion, as well as on others, the memory of M.&nbsp;Cuvier has been
+unjustly treated. He has been accused of pusillanimity and servile
+ambition. The charge indicates little knowledge of human nature, and
+insults a man of genius on very slight grounds. I lived much with
+M.&nbsp;Cuvier. Firmness in mind and action was not his most prominent quality;
+but he was neither servile,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> nor governed by fear in opposition to his
+conscience. He loved order, partly for his own personal security, but
+much more for the cause of justice, civilization, the advantage of
+society, and the progress of intellect. In his complaisance for power,
+he was more governed by sincere inclination than egotism. He was one of
+those who had not learned from experience to place much confidence in
+liberty, and whom the remembrance of revolutionary anarchy had rendered
+easily accessible to honest and disinterested apprehensions. In times of
+social disturbance, men of sense and probity often prefer drifting
+towards the shore, to running the risk of being crushed, with many dear
+objects, on the rocks upon which the current may carry them.</p>
+
+<p>In the debate on the bill which suspended for a year the securities for
+personal liberty, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, while supporting the Government,
+marked the independence of his character, and the mistrustful foresight
+of the moralist with regard to the power which the politician most
+desired to establish. He demanded that the arbitrary right of
+imprisonment should be entrusted only to a small number of functionaries
+of high rank, and that the most exalted of all, the Ministers, should in
+every case be considered distinctly responsible. But these amendments,
+which would have prevented many abuses without interfering with the
+necessary power, were rejected. Inexperience and precipitation were
+almost universal at the moment. The Cabinet and its most influential
+partisans in the Chambers had scarcely any knowledge of each other;
+neither had yet learned to conceive plans in combination, to settle the
+limits or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> bearing of their measures, or to enter on a combat with
+preconcerted arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>A combined action and continued understanding, however, between the
+Government and the moderate Royalists, became every day more
+indispensable; for the divergence of several new parties which began to
+be formed, and the extent of their disagreements, manifested themselves
+with increasing strength from hour to hour. In proposing the act
+intended to repress sedition, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois, a gentle and liberal
+nature, inclined to mild government, and little acquainted with the
+violent passions that fermented around him, had merely looked upon these
+acts as ordinary offences, and had sent the criminals before the
+tribunals of correctional police, to be punished by imprisonment only.
+Better informed as to the intentions of a portion of the Chamber, the
+committee appointed to examine the bill, of which M.&nbsp;Pasquier was the
+chairman, endeavoured to restrain the dissentients, while satisfying
+them to a certain extent. Amongst seditious acts, the committee drew a
+line between crimes and offences, assigning crimes to the Court of
+Assizes, to be punished by transportation, and prescribing for simple
+offences fine and imprisonment. This was still too little for the
+ultra-members of the party. They demanded the penalty of death, hard
+labour, and confiscation of property. These additions were refused, and
+the Chamber, by a large majority, passed the bill as amended by the
+committee. Undoubtedly there were members of the right-hand party who
+would not have dared to contest the propositions of MM.&nbsp;Piet and de
+Salaberry, but who rejoiced to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> them thrown out, and voted for the
+bill. How many errors would men escape, and how many evils would they
+avoid, if they had the courage to act as they think right, and to do
+openly what they desire!</p>
+
+<p>All these debates were but preludes to the great battle ready to
+commence, on the most important of the incidental questions before the
+Chamber. It is with regret that I use the word <i>question</i>. The amnesty
+was no longer one. On returning to France, the King, by his proclamation
+from Cambray, had promised it; and, with kings, to promise is to
+perform. What sovereign could refuse the pardon, of which he has given a
+glimpse to the condemned criminal? The royal word is not less pledged to
+a nation than to an individual. But in declaring, on the 28th of June,
+1815, that he would only except from pardon "the authors and instigators
+of the plot which had overturned the throne," the King had also
+announced "that the two Chambers would point them out to the punishment
+of the laws;" and when, a month later, the Cabinet had, upon the report
+of the Duke of Otranto, arrested the individuals excepted in the two
+lists, the decree of the 24th of July again declared that "the Chambers
+should decide upon those amongst them who should be expatriated or
+brought to trial." The Chambers were therefore inevitably compromised.
+The amnesty had been declared, and yet it still remained a question, a
+bill was still considered necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Four members of the Chamber of Deputies hastened to take the initiative
+in this debate, three of them with extreme violence, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la
+Bourdonnaye being the most vehement of the three. He had energy,
+enthusiasm,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> independence, political tact as a partisan, and a frank and
+impassioned roughness, which occasionally soared to eloquence. His
+project, it was said, would have brought eleven hundred persons under
+trial. Whatever might be the correctness of this calculation, the three
+propositions were tainted with two capital errors: they assumed, in
+fact, that the catastrophe of the 20th of March had been the result of a
+widely-spread conspiracy, the authors of which ought to be punished as
+they would have been in ordinary times, and by the regular course of
+law, if they had miscarried; they assigned to the Chambers the right of
+indicating, by general categories, and without limit as to number, the
+conspirators to be thus dealt with, although the King, by his decree of
+the 24th of July preceding, had merely conferred on them the power of
+deciding, amongst the thirty-eight individuals specially excepted by
+name, which should be banished and which should be brought to trial.
+There was thus, in these projects, at the same time, an act of
+accusation under the name of amnesty, and an invasion of the powers
+already exercised, as well as of the limits already imposed, by the
+royal authority.</p>
+
+<p>The King's Government by no means mistook the bearing of such
+resolutions, and maintained its rights, its acts, and promises with
+suitable dignity. It hastened to check at once the attempt of the
+Chamber. The bill introduced by the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu on the 8th of
+December, was a real act of amnesty, with no other exceptions than the
+fifty-six persons named in the two lists of the decree of the 24th of
+July, and belonging to the family of the Emperor Napoleon. A single
+additional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> clause, the fatal consequences of which were assuredly not
+foreseen, had been introduced into the preamble: the fifth article
+excepted from the amnesty all persons against whom prosecutions had been
+ordered or sentences passed before the promulgation of the law,&mdash;a
+lamentable reservation, equally contrary to the principle of the measure
+and the object of its framers. The character and essential value of an
+amnesty consist in assigning a term to trials and punishments, in
+arresting judicial action in the name of political interest, and in
+re-establishing confidence in the public mind, with security in the
+existing state of things, at once producing a cessation of sanguinary
+scenes and dangers. The King's Government had already, by the first list
+of exceptions in the decree of the 24th of July, imposed on itself a
+heavy burden. Eighteen generals had been sent before councils of war.
+Eighteen grand political prosecutions, after the publication of the
+amnesty, would have been much even for the strongest and
+best-established government to bear. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu's Cabinet, by
+the fifth article of the bill, imposed on itself, in addition, the
+prospective charge of an indefinite number of political prosecutions,
+which might rise up in an indefinite time; and no one could possibly
+foresee in what part of the kingdom, or under what circumstances. The
+evil of this short-sightedness continued, with repeated instances
+rapidly succeeding each other, for more than two years. It was the
+prolonged application of this article which destroyed the value and
+almost the credit of the amnesty, and compromised the royal Government
+in that reaction of 1815 which has left such lamentable reminiscences.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>A member of the right-hand party, who was soon destined to become its
+leader, and who until then had taken no share in the debate, M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le, alone foresaw the danger of the fifth article, and hesitated
+not to oppose it. "This article," said he, "seems to me too vague and
+expansive; exceptions to amnesty, after such a rebellion as that which
+has taken place in our country, deliver over inevitably to the rigour of
+the laws all the excepted individuals. Now rigorous justice demands
+that, in such cases, none should be excepted but the most guilty and the
+most dangerous. Having no pledge or certain proof that the individuals
+attainted by the fifth article have deserved this express exception, I
+vote that the article be struck out." Unfortunately for the Government,
+this vote of the leader of the opposition passed without effect.</p>
+
+<p>Independently of the question itself, this discussion produced an
+important result: it settled the division of the Chamber into two great
+parties, the right-hand side and the centre; the one the opponent, and
+the other the ally of the Cabinet. The differences of opinion which
+manifested themselves on this occasion were too keen, and were
+maintained on both sides with too much animosity, not to become the
+basis of a permanent classification. The right-hand party persisted in
+requiring several categories of exceptions to the amnesty, confiscations
+under the name of indemnity for injuries done to the State, and the
+banishment of the regicides who had been implicated during the Hundred
+Days. The centre, and the Cabinet in union, firmly resisted these
+propositions. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, amongst others,
+exhibited in the course of this debate as much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> political intelligence
+as moral rectitude and impassioned eloquence. "It is not always the
+number of executions that saves empires," said M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard; "the
+art of governing men is more difficult, and glory is acquired at a
+loftier price. If we are prudent and skilful, we shall find that we have
+punished enough; never, if we are not so." M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre applied himself
+chiefly to oppose the confiscations demanded under the title of
+indemnities. "The revolutionists have acted thus," said he; "they would
+do the same again if they could recover power. It is precisely for this
+reason that you ought not to imitate their detestable example; and by a
+distorted interpretation of an expression which is not open and sincere,
+by an artifice scarcely worthy of the theatre.... Gentlemen, our
+treasury may be low, but let it be pure." The categories and the
+indemnities were definitively rejected. At the last moment, and in the
+midst of almost universal silence, the banishment of the regicides was
+alone inscribed upon the act. Under the advice of his ministers, the
+King felt that he could not, in obedience to the will of Louis XVI.,
+refuse his sanction to the amnesty, and leave this formidable question
+in suspense. There are Divine judgments which human authority ought not
+to forestall; neither is it called upon to reject them when they are
+declared by the course of events.</p>
+
+<p>To the differences on the questions of expediency, every day were added
+the disagreements on the questions of principle. The Government itself
+excited but few. A bill on elections, introduced by the Minister of the
+Interior, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vaublanc, was the only one which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> assumed this
+character. The debate was long and animated. The leading men on the
+opposite sides of the Chamber, MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le,&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye, de
+Bonald, Royer-Collard, Pasquier,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, Beugnot, and Lain&eacute;, entered
+into it anxiously. But the ministerial plan was badly conceived, based
+upon incompatible foundations, and giving to the elections more of an
+administrative than of a political character. The principal orators of
+the Centre rejected it, as well as a counter-project proposed by the
+committee, in which the right-hand party prevailed, and which the
+Cabinet also disapproved. The last proposal was ultimately carried, but
+with important amendments, and vehemently opposed to the last. The
+Chamber of Deputies passed it by a weak majority, and in the Chamber of
+Peers it was thrown out. Although the different parties had clearly
+indicated their impressions and desires on the electoral system, the
+details were as yet obscure and unsettled. The question remained in
+abeyance. From the Chamber itself emanated the other propositions which
+involved matters of principle; they sprang from the right-hand party,
+and all tended to the same point&mdash;the position of the Church in the
+State. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Castelbajac proposed that the bishops and ministers should
+be authorized to receive and hold in perpetuity, without requiring the
+sanction of Government, all donations of property, real or personal, for
+the maintenance of public worship or ecclesiastical establishments. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blangy demanded that the condition of the clergy should be materially
+improved, and that the married priests should no longer enjoy the
+pensions which had been given to them in their clerical character. M.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+de Bonald called for the abolition of the law of divorce. M.&nbsp;Lach&egrave;ze-Murel insisted that the custody of the civil records should be
+given back to the ministers of religion. M.&nbsp;Murard&nbsp;de&nbsp;St. Romain
+attacked the University, and argued that public education should be
+confided to the clergy. The zeal of the new legislators was, above all
+other considerations, directed towards the re-establishment of religion
+and the Church, as the true basis of social power.</p>
+
+<p>At the outset, the uneasiness and opposition excited by these proposals
+were less animated than we can at present imagine. More immediate
+dangers occupied the adversaries of Government and the public mind. A
+general sentiment in favour of religion as a necessary principle of
+order and morality, prevailed throughout the country; a sentiment
+revived even by the crisis of the Hundred Days, the moral wounds which
+that crisis had revealed, and the social dangers it had partially
+disclosed. The Catholic Church had not yet become the mark of the
+reaction which a little later was raised against it. The clergy took no
+direct part in these debates. The University had been, under the Empire,
+an object of suspicion and hostility on the part of the Liberals. The
+movement in favour of religious influences scarcely astonished those
+whom it displeased. But in the very bosom of the Chamber whence this
+movement emanated, there were enlightened understandings, who at once
+perceived its full range, and I foresaw the angry dissensions which
+sooner or later would be stirred up in the new social system by some of
+these propositions, so utterly opposed to its most fundamental and
+cherished principles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> They applied themselves, with resolute good
+sense, to extract from the measures introduced, a selection conformable
+to the true interests of society and the Church. The law of divorce was
+abolished. The position of the parish priests, of the assistant
+ministers, and of several ecclesiastical establishments received
+important amelioration. The scandal of married clergymen still receiving
+official pensions ceased. But the proposal of assigning to the clergy
+the care of the civil records, and the control of public instruction,
+fell to the ground. The University, well defended and directed by
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard,
+<a name="corr3" id="corr3"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn3" title="changed from 'mained'">remained</a> intact. And with regard to the privilege
+<a name="corr4" id="corr4"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn4" title="changed from 'deremanded'">demanded</a>
+for the clergy, of receiving every kind of donation without the
+interference of the civil authorities, the Chamber of Peers, on a
+report, as judicious as it was elegantly composed, by the Abb&eacute; de
+Montesquiou, reduced it to these conditions,&mdash;that none but religious
+establishments recognized by law should exercise this right, and that in
+every individual instance the authority of the King should be
+indispensable. The Chamber of Deputies adopted the measure thus amended,
+and from this movement, which threatened to disturb so completely the
+relations of the Church and State, nothing eventuated to infringe
+seriously either on the old maxims or the modern principles of French
+society.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabinet co-operated loyally in these debates and wise resolutions,
+but with less decision and ascendency than that evinced by the moderate
+Royalists in the Chambers. It brought into the question neither the
+depth of thought, nor the power of eloquence, which give a Government
+the control over legislative assemblies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> and raise it, even in spite of
+its deficiencies, in public estimation. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu was
+universally respected. Amongst his colleagues, all men of high character
+and loyalty, there were several who were endowed with rare knowledge,
+ability, and courage. But the Cabinet wanted unity and brilliant
+reputation; important conditions under any system, but pre-eminently so
+under a free government.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the Chambers, the Ministry had to sustain a still more weighty
+load than the pressure from within, and one which they were not better
+able to encounter. France had become a prey, not to the most tyrannical
+or the most sanguinary, but to the most vexatious and irritating of all
+the passing influences which the vicissitudes of frequent revolutions
+impose upon a nation. A party long vanquished, trampled on, and finally
+included in a general amnesty, the party of the old Royalty, suddenly
+imagined that they had become masters, and gave themselves up
+passionately to the enjoyment of a new power which they looked upon as
+an ancient right. God forbid that I should revive the sad remembrances
+of this reaction! I only desire to explain its true character. It was,
+in civil society, in internal administration, in local affairs, and
+nearly throughout the entire land of France, a species of foreign
+invasion, violent in certain places, offensive everywhere, and which
+occasioned more evil to be dreaded than it actually inflicted; for these
+unexpected victors threatened and insulted even where they refrained
+from striking. They seemed inclined to indemnify themselves by arrogant
+temerity, for their impotence to recover all that they had lost; and to
+satisfy their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> consciences in the midst of their revenge, they tried
+to persuade themselves that they were far from inflicting on their
+enemies the full measure of what they had themselves suffered.</p>
+
+<p>Strangers to the passions of this party, impressed with the mischief
+they inflicted on the Royal cause, and personally wounded by the
+embarrassments they occasioned to the Government, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu
+and the majority of his colleagues contended with honest sincerity
+against them. Even by the side of the most justly condemned proceedings
+during the reaction of 1815, and which remained entirely unpunished, we
+find traces of the efforts of the existing authorities either to check
+them, prevent their return, or at least to repel the sad responsibility
+of permitting them. When the outrages against the Protestants broke out
+in the departments of the south, and more than six weeks before
+M.&nbsp;d'Argenson spoke of them in the Chamber of Deputies, a royal
+proclamation, countersigned by M.&nbsp;Pasquier, vehemently denounced them,
+and called upon the magistrates for their suppression. After the
+scandalous acquittal, by the Court of Assize at Nismes, of the assassin
+of General Lagarde, who had protected the free worship of the
+Protestants, M.&nbsp;Pasquier demanded and obtained, from the Court of
+Appeal, the annulment of this sentence, in the name of the law, and as a
+last protestation of discarded justice. In spite of every possible
+intervention of delay and impediment, the proceedings commenced at
+Toulouse, and ended in a decree of the prev&ocirc;tal court at Pau, which
+inflicted five years' imprisonment on two of the murderers of General
+Ramel. Those of Marshal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> Brune had never been seriously pursued;
+but M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, being appointed Chancellor, compelled justice to resume its
+course; and the Court of Assize at Riom condemned to death, in default
+of appearance, the assassins they were unable to apprehend. Tardy and
+insufficient amends, which reveal the weakness of authority, as well as
+the resistance with which it was opposed! Even the ministers most
+subservient to the extreme royalist party endeavoured to check while
+supporting them, and took care to contribute less assistance than they
+had promised. At the very time when the Government divided the old army
+into classes, to get rid of all the suspected officers, the Minister of
+War, the Duke of Feltri, summoned to the direction of the staff of his
+department General&nbsp;de&nbsp;Meulan, my brother-in-law, a brave soldier, who
+had entered the service as a private in 1797, and had won his promotion
+on the field of battle by dint of wounds. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Meulan was a royalist,
+but extremely attached to the army and his comrades, and deeply grieved
+by the severities with which they were oppressed. I witnessed his
+constant efforts to obtain justice for them, and to secure the
+continuance in the ranks, or re-admission, of all those whom he believed
+to be disposed to serve the King with honest loyalty. The undertaking
+was difficult. In 1816, one of our most able and distinguished officers
+of engineers, General Bernard, had been placed on half-pay, and lived in
+exile at D&ocirc;le. The United States of America offered him the command of
+that branch of service in the Republic, with considerable advantages. He
+accepted the proposal, and asked the permission of his minister. The
+Duke of Feltri summoned him to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> presence, and tried to induce him to
+abandon this design, by offering to appoint him to any situation in
+France which he considered suitable. "You promise me," said Bernard,
+"what you are unable to perform; place me as you intend, and in a
+fortnight I shall be so denounced that you will have no power to support
+me, and so harassed that I should voluntarily resign. While the
+Government has no more strength than at present, it can neither employ
+nor protect me. In my corner, I am at the mercy of a sub-prefect and
+police magistrate, who can arrest and imprison me; who sends for me
+every day, and compels me to wait in his ante-chamber to be ill received
+at last. Suffer me to go to America. The United States are the natural
+allies of France. I have decided, and, unless imprisoned, I shall
+certainly take my departure." His passport was then given to him. The
+Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Berry complained to General Haxo of the course adopted by
+General Bernard. "After the manner in which he has been treated,"
+replied Haxo, "I am only surprised that he has not gone before; it is by
+no means certain that I shall not some day follow his example."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing can explain, better than this simple fact, the situation of the
+King's ministers at that time, and the sincerity as well as the timidity
+of their wishes to be prudent and just.</p>
+
+<p>A great act, resolutely conceived and accomplished, on a great occasion,
+was necessary to raise the executive authority from the reputation as
+well as the actual mischief of this weakness, and to emancipate it from
+the party under which it succumbed while resisting. Today, so long
+removed as we are from that time, the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> I reflect on it in the calm
+freedom of my judgment, the more I am convinced that the trial of
+Marshal Ney afforded a most propitious opportunity for such an act as
+that to which I now allude. There were undoubtedly weighty reasons for
+leaving justice to its unfettered course. Society and the royal power
+both required that respect for, and a salutary dread of, the law should
+repossess men's minds. It was important that generations formed during
+the vicissitudes of the Revolution and the triumphs of the Empire,
+should learn, by startling examples, that all does not depend on the
+strength and success of the moment; that there are certain inviolable
+duties; that we cannot safely sport with the fate of governments and the
+peace of nations; and that, in this momentous game, the most powerful
+and the most eminent risk their honour and their lives. In a political
+and moral sense these considerations were of the greatest importance.
+But another prominent truth, equally moral and political, ought to have
+weighed heavily in the balance against an extreme decision. The Emperor
+Napoleon had reigned long and brilliantly, acknowledged and admired by
+France and Europe, and supported by the devotion of millions of men,&mdash;by
+the people as well as by the army. Ideas of right and duty, sentiments
+of respect and fidelity, were confused and antagonistic in many minds.
+There were two actual and natural governments in presence of each other;
+and many, without perversity, might have hesitated which to choose. The
+King, Louis XVIII. and his advisers might in their turn, without
+weakness, have taken into consideration this moral confusion, of which
+Marshal Ney presented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> the most illustrious example. The greater his
+offence against the King, with the more safety could they place clemency
+by the side of justice, and display, over his condemned head, that
+greatness of mind and heart which has also its full influence in
+establishing power and commanding fidelity. The very violence of the
+reaction in favour of royalty, the bitterness of party passions, their
+thirst for punishment and vengeance, would have imparted to this act a
+still greater brilliancy of credit and effect; for boldness and liberty
+would have sprung from it as natural consequences. I heard at that time
+a lady of fashion, usually rational and amiable, call Mademoiselle de
+Lavalette "a little wretch," for aiding her mother in the escape of her
+father. When such extravagancies of feeling and language are indulged in
+the hearing of kings and their advisers, they should be received as
+warnings to resist, and not to submit. Marshal Ney, pardoned and
+banished after condemnation, by royal letters deliberately promulgated,
+would have given to kingly power the aspect of a rampart raising itself
+above all, whether friends or enemies, to stay the tide of blood; it
+would have been, in fact, the reaction of 1815 subdued and extinguished,
+as well as that of the Hundred Days.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to have thought and said then, all that I say and think
+at present. I was sorrowful and perplexed. The King's ministers were in
+a similar predicament. They believed that they neither could nor ought
+to recommend clemency. In this momentous contingency, power knew not how
+to be great, sometimes the only method of becoming strong. Controlled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+but not overthrown, and irritated while defeated, by these alternations
+of concession and resistance, the Right-hand party, now become decidedly
+the Opposition, sought, while complaining and hesitating, some channel
+of escape from their position at once powerful and impotent,&mdash;some
+breach through which they might give the assault to the Government,
+enter the citadel, and establish themselves firmly there. A man of mind
+and courage, ambitious, restless, clever, and discontented, as well on
+his own account as for the sake of his party, ventured an attack
+extremely daring in reality, but circumspect in form, and purely
+theoretical in appearance. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles, in a short pamphlet entitled
+'Of the Ministry under a Representative Government,' said:&mdash;"France in
+every quarter expresses the necessity, profoundly acknowledged, of
+sterner action in the Government. I have examined the causes of this
+universal feeling, and the reasons which could explain why the different
+Administrations that have succeeded each other within the last eighteen
+months have not given the King's Cabinet the character of strength and
+unity which the Ministers themselves feel to be so essential. I believe
+that I have found them in the incoherence which existed between the
+nature of the adopted government and the ministerial organization, which
+it had not been considered necessary to modify, while at the same time
+we received a new division of power, and that power assumed an entirely
+new character of action." Appealing at every sentence to the practice
+and example of England, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles argued that the Ministry, which
+he called <i>an institution</i>, should have perfect unity in itself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> a
+predominant majority in the Chambers, and an actual responsibility in
+the conduct of affairs, which would ensure for it, with the Crown, the
+requisite influence and dignity. On these three conditions alone could
+the Government be effective. A strange reminiscence to refer to at the
+present day! By the most confidential intimate of the Count d'Artois,
+and to establish the old royalist party in power, parliamentary
+legislation was for the first time recommended and demanded for France,
+as a necessary consequence of representative government.</p>
+
+<p>I undertook to repulse this attack by unmasking it.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> I explained, in
+reply, the essential principles of representative government, their true
+meaning, their real application, and the conditions under which they
+could be usefully developed, in the state in which France had been
+plunged by our revolutions and dissensions. Above all, I endeavoured to
+expose the bitterness of party spirit which lay behind this polished and
+erudite tilting-match between political rhetoricians, and the underhand
+blows which, in the insufficiency of their public weapons, they secretly
+aimed at each other. I believe my ideas were sound enough to satisfy
+intelligent minds who looked below the surface and onwards to the
+future; but they had no immediate and practical efficacy. When the great
+interests of nations and the contending passions of men are at stake,
+the most ingenious speculative arguments are a mere war of display,
+which has no influence on the course of events.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> As soon as the budget
+was voted, and on the very day of its announcement, the session was
+closed, and the Chambers of 1815 retired, having strenuously exercised,
+both in defence and attack, the free privileges conferred on France by
+the Charter; but divided into two Royalist parties: the one wavering and
+uneasy, although in the possession of power; the other full of
+expectation, and looking forward, with the opening of the next session,
+to a more decisive success, and both in a state of mutual irritation.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding their doubts and weaknesses, the advantage remained with
+the Cabinet and its adherents. For the first time since France had been
+a prey to the Revolution, the struggles of liberty assisted the
+advocates of a moderate policy, and essentially checked, if not
+completely subdued, their opponents. The waves of reaction murmured, but
+rose no more. The Cabinet, strongly supported in the Chambers, possessed
+the confidence of the King, who entertained a high esteem for the Duke
+de Richelieu, and a friendly disposition, becoming daily more warm,
+towards his young Minister of Police, M.&nbsp;Decazes. Eight days after the
+closing of the session, the Cabinet gained an important accession to its
+internal strength, and an eloquent interpreter of its public policy.
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; replaced M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vaublanc as Minister of the Interior. As a slight
+compensation to the right-hand party, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois, who had rendered
+himself very objectionable to them, was dismissed from the Ministry of
+Justice, and the Chancellor, M.&nbsp;Dambray, resumed the seals. M.&nbsp;de
+Marbois was one of those upright and well-informed men, but at the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+time neither quick-sighted nor commanding, who assist power by opinion
+rather than force. He had opposed the reaction with more integrity than
+energy, and served the King with dignity, without acquiring personal
+influence. In October 1815, at a moment of the most violent agitation,
+the King expressed much anxiety for the introduction of the bill
+respecting the prev&ocirc;tal courts. It was settled in council that the
+Chancellor and the Minister of War should prepare it together. A few
+days after, the King asked for it rather impatiently. "Sire," answered
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois, "I am ashamed to tell your Majesty that it is ready." He
+resigned office honourably, although with some regret. At the same time
+I left the post of Secretary-General to the Ministry of Justice. While
+there, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marbois had treated me with confidence inspired by
+sympathy. Finding it disagreeable to remain under M.&nbsp;Dambray, to whom my
+Protestant extraction and opinions were equally unsuited, I re-assumed
+the place of Master of Requests in the State Council.</p>
+
+<p>The Chambers had scarcely adjourned, when the conspiracy of Grenoble,
+planned by Didier, and that called the plot of the patriots, at Paris,
+in 1816, came, one upon the other, to put the moderation of the Cabinet
+to the proof. The details forwarded by the magistrates of the department
+of the Is&egrave;re were full of exaggeration and declamatory excitement. The
+mode of repression ordered by the Government was precipitately rigorous.
+Grenoble had been the cradle of the Hundred Days. It was thought
+expedient to strike Bonapartism heavily, in the very place where it had
+first exploded. A natural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> opportunity presented itself here of dealing
+firmly with the abettors of treason, while in another quarter strong
+resistance was opposed to the advocates of reaction. Moderation
+sometimes becomes impatient of its name, and yields to the temptation of
+forgetting it for the moment.</p>
+
+<p>The Government nevertheless continued to be moderate, and the public
+were not deceived as to the course adopted. Although M.&nbsp;Decazes, from
+the nature of his department, was the minister on whom measures of
+inquiry and suppression devolved, he was at the same time looked upon,
+and truly, as the protector of the oppressed, and of all who were
+suspected without cause. By natural disposition and magisterial habit,
+he loved justice in his heart. A stranger to all party antipathies,
+penetrating, fearless, indefatigably active, and as prompt in
+benevolence as in duty, he exercised the power which the special laws
+conferred on him with measure and discretion; enforcing them as much
+against the spirit of reaction and persecution as against detected
+conspiracy, and continually occupied himself in preventing or repairing
+the abuses in which the inferior authorities indulged. Thus he advanced
+equally in the good opinion of the country and the favour of the King.
+People and parties have an infallible instinct by which they recognize,
+under the most complicated circumstances, those who attack and those who
+defend them, their friends and their enemies. The ultra-royalists soon
+began to look upon M.&nbsp;Decazes as their chief adversary, and the
+moderates to regard him as their most valuable ally.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, and during the silence of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> tribune, the chief
+representatives of moderate policy in the Chambers eagerly sought
+opportunities of bringing their views before the public, of proclaiming
+their principles, and of rallying, round the King and the constitutional
+government, the still hesitating support of the nation at large. It
+affords me much gratification to recall here the words, perhaps
+forgotten, of three justly celebrated men, all personal friends of my
+own; they demonstrate (as I think, with some brilliancy) the spirit of
+the monarchical party attached to the state of society which the times
+had engendered in France, and the opinions and sentiments they were
+anxious to disseminate.</p>
+
+<p>On the 6th of July, 1816, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, in establishing, as first
+President, the Royal Court at Colmar, spoke as follows:&mdash;"Liberty, that
+pretext of all seditious ambition,&mdash;liberty, which is nothing more than
+the reign of law, has ever been the first privilege buried with the laws
+under the ruins of the throne. Religion itself is in danger when the
+throne and laws are attacked; for everything on earth is derived from
+heaven, and there is perfect harmony between all divine and human
+institutions. If the latter are overturned, the former cannot be
+respected. Let all our efforts, then, be exerted to combine, purify, and
+strengthen that monarchical and Christian spirit which inspires the
+sentiment of every sacrifice to duty! Let our first care be to obtain
+universal respect for the Charter which the King has granted to us.
+Undoubtedly our laws, our Charter, may be improved; and we neither
+require to interdict regret for the past nor hope for the future. But
+let us commence by submitting heartily and without reserve to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> the laws
+as they exist; let us place this first check on the impatient
+restlessness to which we have been surrendered for twenty-five years;
+let us teach ourselves this primary conviction, that we know how to
+adopt and to be satisfied with a defined system. The rest may be left to
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks later, on the 19th of August, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, when presiding
+over the distribution of prizes at the general meeting of the
+University, addressed these words to the young students:&mdash;"Today, when
+the reign of falsehood has ceased, and the legitimacy of power, which is
+truth in government, permits a more unshackled play to all salutary and
+generous doctrines, public instruction beholds its destinies elevated
+and expanded. Religion demands from it pure hearts and disciplined
+minds; the State looks for habits profoundly monarchical; science,
+philosophy, and literature expect new brilliancy and distinction. These
+will be the benefits bestowed by a prince to whom his people already owe
+so much gratitude and love. He, who has made public liberty flourish
+under the shadow of his hereditary throne, will know well how to base,
+on the tutelary principles of empires, a system of teaching worthy of
+the enlightened knowledge of the age, and such as France demands from
+him, that she may not descend from the glorious rank she occupies
+amongst nations."</p>
+
+<p>At the expiration of eight days more, in an assembly exclusively
+literary, a man who had never held public office, but for half or more
+than half a century a sincere and steady friend to liberty, M.&nbsp;Suard,
+perpetual secretary of the French Academy, in giving an account to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+body of the examination in which he had decreed the prize to
+M.&nbsp;Villemain for his 'Panegyric on Montesquieu,' expressed himself in these
+terms:&mdash;"The instability of governments generally proceeds from
+indecision as to the principles which ought to regulate the exercise of
+power. A prince enlightened by the intelligence of the age, by
+experience, and a superior understanding, bestows on royal authority a
+support which no other can replace, in that Charter which protects the
+rights of the monarch, while it guarantees to the nation all those that
+constitute true and legitimate liberty. Let us rally under this signal
+of alliance between the people and their king. Their union is the only
+certain pledge for the happiness of both. Let the Charter be for us what
+the holy ark that contained the tables of the law was for the Hebrews of
+old. If the shade of the great publicist who has shed light on the
+principles of constitutional monarchies could be present at the triumph
+which we now award him, he would confirm with his sanction the
+sentiments I venture to express."</p>
+
+<p>An assembly so unanimous in opinion and intention, composed of such men,
+representing so many important sections of society, and voluntarily
+grouped round the King and his ministers, constituted in themselves a
+great political fact. A certain index was supplied, that, in the opinion
+of the moderate party, enlightened minds were not wanting to comprehend
+the conditions of the new system, or serious dispositions for its
+support. As yet, however, they only formed the scattered elements and
+seeds of a great conservative party under a free government. Time was
+necessary for this party to unite, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> consolidate its natural strength,
+and to render itself acceptable to the country. Would time be given for
+this difficult undertaking? The question was doubtful. A formidable
+crisis approached; the Chamber of 1815 was on the point of re-opening,
+and undoubtedly still more ardent and aggressive than during the
+preceding session. The party which prevailed there had not only to
+retrieve their checks, and
+<a name="corr5" id="corr5"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn5" title="changed from 'pusue'">pursue </a>
+their designs, but they had also
+recent insults to avenge. During the recess they had been the objects of
+animated attack. The Government everywhere opposed their influence; the
+public loudly manifested towards them mistrust and antipathy; they were
+alternately charged with fanaticism and hypocrisy, with incapacity and
+vindictive obstinacy. Popular-anger and ridicule assailed them with
+unrestrained license. From notes collected at the time, I quote
+literally a few specimens of the sarcastic hostility with which they
+were pursued:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"April 10th, 1816.&mdash;Before adjourning, the Chamber of Deputies has
+organized itself into a chapel. Treasurer and secretary, M.&nbsp;Laborie.
+Contractor for burials, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Bourdonnaye. Grave-digger,
+M.&nbsp;Duplessis-Gr&eacute;n&eacute;dan. Superintendent, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Bouville, and in his capacity
+of vice-president&mdash;rattlesnake. Dispenser of holy water (promise-maker),
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles. General of the Capuchins, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le; and he
+deserves the post for his voice. Grand almoner, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Marcellus, who
+gives a portion of his own estate to the poor. Bellringers, M.&nbsp;Hyde de
+Neuville," etc. etc.</p>
+
+<p>"May, 1816.&mdash;Here is the Charter which a majority of the Chamber
+proposes to confer upon us.&mdash;<i>Article.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> The fundamental principles of
+the constitution may be changed as often as we wish; nevertheless,
+seeing that stability is desirable, they shall not be changed more than
+three times a year.&mdash;<i>Art.</i> Every law emanates from the King; this is
+the first evidence of the right of petition accorded to all
+frenchmen.&mdash;<i>Art.</i> The laws shall be executed according to the pleasure
+of the Deputies, each in their respective departments.&mdash;<i>Art.</i> Every
+representative shall have the nomination to all posts within his
+district."</p>
+
+<p>"July 1816.&mdash;They say the King is slightly indisposed. He will be very
+ill indeed if he is obliged to keep his <i>Chamber</i> for five years."</p>
+
+<p>Such were the public expressions respecting this assembly, one of the
+most honourable members of which, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Kergorlay, said, a few months
+before, "The Chamber had not yet whispered when the former Ministry
+already fell; let it speak, and the present Government will scarcely
+last eight days."</p>
+
+<p>The Ministry, however, had held its ground, and still continued to do
+so; but it was evidently impossible that it could stand firm against the
+Chamber, once more assembled with redoubled animosity. They well knew
+that the Opposition was determined to renew the most violent attacks
+upon the existing authorities. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand printed his 'Monarchy
+according to the Charter;' and although this able pamphlet was not yet
+published, everybody knew the superior skill with which the author could
+so eloquently blend falsehood with truth, how brilliantly he could
+compound sentiments and ideas, and with what power he could entangle the
+blinded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> and unsettled public in this dazzling chaos. Neither the
+Ministry nor the Opposition attempted to deceive themselves as to the
+nature and consequences of the struggle about to commence. The question
+of persons was merely the symbol and cloak of the great social and
+political topics in dispute between the two parties. The point to be
+decided was, whether power should pass over to the <i>Right-hand</i> party,
+such as it had exhibited itself during the session lately terminated;
+that is, whether the theories of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Bonald and the passions of M.&nbsp;de
+La Bourdonnaye, feebly qualified by the prudence and influence, as yet
+unripened, of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, should become the rule of the King's
+policy.</p>
+
+<p>I am not now, neither was I in 1815, amongst those who considered the
+<i>Right-hand</i> party unfit to govern France. On the contrary, I had
+already, although less profoundly and clearly than at present, adopted
+the opinion, that a concurrence of all the enlightened and independent
+classes, whether old or new, was absolutely necessary to rescue our
+country from the impending alternations of anarchy or despotism, and
+that without their union we could never long preserve order and liberty
+together. Perhaps too I might include this natural tendency amongst the
+reasons, not absolutely defined, which led me to desire the Restoration.
+Hereditary monarchy, become constitutional, presented itself to my mind
+both as a principle of stability, and as a natural and worthy means of
+reconciliation and conversion amongst the classes and parties who had
+been so long and continually at war. But in 1816, so soon after the
+revolutionary shock of the Hundred Days, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> before the
+counter-revolutionary reaction of 1815 had subsided, the accession of
+the <i>Right-hand</i> party to power, would have been very different from the
+victory of men capable of governing without social disturbance, although
+under an unpopular system. It would have been the Revolution and the
+Counter-revolution once more in active contest, under an attack of
+raging fever; and thus the Throne and the Charter, the internal peace
+and security of France as well as her liberties, would be endangered by
+this struggle, before the eyes of Europe encamped within our territory
+and in arms around the combatants.</p>
+
+<p>Under these menacing circumstances, M.&nbsp;Decazes had the rare merit of
+finding and applying a remedy to the gigantic evil. He was the first,
+and for some time the only one amongst the Ministers, who looked upon
+the dissolution of the Chamber of 1815 as equally necessary and
+possible. Undoubtedly personal interest had a share in his bold
+perspicuity; but I know him well enough to feel convinced, that his
+devotion to the country and the King powerfully contributed to his
+enlightened decision; and his conduct at this crisis displayed at least
+as much patriotism as ambition.</p>
+
+<p>He had a double labour of persuasion to accomplish; first to win over
+his two principal colleagues, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu and M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, and
+afterwards the King himself. Both sincerely attached to a moderate
+policy, the Duke and M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; were undecided, timid under great
+responsibility, and more disposed to wait the progress of difficulties
+and dangers, than to surmount by confronting them. Amongst the Duke's
+immediate circle were many ultra-royalists, who exercised no influence
+over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> him, and whom he even treated rudely when they displayed their
+violence; but he was unwilling to declare open war against them.
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, scrupulous in his resolves and fearful for their consequences,
+was sensitive on the point of vanity, and disinclined to any measure not
+originating with himself.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The King's irresolution was perfectly
+natural. How could he dissolve the first Chamber, avowedly royalist,
+which had been assembled for twenty-five years,&mdash;a Chamber he had
+himself declared incomparable, and which contained so many of his oldest
+and most faithful friends? What dangers to himself and his dynasty might
+spring up on the day of such a decree! and even now, what discontent and
+anger already existed in his family and amongst his devoted adherents,
+and consequently what embarrassment and vexation thereby recoiled upon
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>But Louis XVIII. had a cold heart and an unfettered mind. The rage and
+ill-temper of his relatives affected him little, when he had once firmly
+resolved not to be influenced by them. It was his pride and pleasure to
+fancy himself a more enlightened politician than all the rest of his
+race, and to act in perfect independence of thought and will. On more
+than one occasion, the Chamber, if not in direct words, at least in act
+and manner, had treated him with disrespect almost amounting to
+contempt, after the fashion of a revolutionary assembly. It became
+necessary for him to show to all,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> that he would not endure the display
+of such feelings and principles either from his friends or enemies. He
+regarded the Charter as his own work, and the foundation of his glory.
+The right-hand party frequently insulted and sometimes threatened a
+direct attack upon the Charter. The defence lay with the King. This gave
+him an opportunity of re-establishing it in its original integrity.
+During the administration of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand he had, reluctantly and
+against his own conviction, modified several articles, and submitted
+fourteen others to the revision of the legislative authorities. To cut
+short this revision, and to return to the pure Charter, was to restore
+it a second time to France, and thus to establish, for the country and
+himself, a new pledge of security and peace.</p>
+
+<p>During more than two months, M.&nbsp;Decazes handled all these points with
+much ability and address; determined, but not impatient, persevering,
+yet not obstinate, changing his topic according to the tempers he
+encountered, and day by day bringing before these wavering minds the
+facts and arguments best adapted to convince them. Without taking his
+principal friends unconnected with the Cabinet into the full and daily
+confidence of his labours, he induced them, under a promise of secrecy,
+to assist him by reasons and reflections which he might bring under the
+eyes of the King, while they gave variety to his own views. Several
+amongst them transmitted notes to him with this object; I contributed
+one also, particularly bearing on the hopes which those numerous middle
+classes placed in the King, who desired no more than to enjoy the
+productive repose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> they derived from him, and whom he alone could secure
+from the dangerous uncertainty to which the Chamber had reduced them.
+Different in origin and style, but all actuated by the same spirit and
+tending to the same end, these argumentative essays became gradually
+more and more efficacious. Having at last decided, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu
+and M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; concurred with M.&nbsp;Decazes to bring over the King, who had
+already formed his resolution, but chose to appear undecided, it being
+his pleasure to have no real confidant but his favourite. The three
+ministers who were known to be friends of the right-hand party,
+M.&nbsp;Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M.&nbsp;Dubouchage, were not consulted; and
+it was said that they remained in total ignorance of the whole affair to
+the last moment. I have reason to believe that, either from respect to
+the King, or from reluctance to enter into contest with the favourite,
+they soon reconciled themselves to a result which they plainly foresaw.</p>
+
+<p>Be this as it may, on Wednesday, the 14th of August, the King held a
+cabinet council; the sitting was over, and the Duke of Feltri had
+already risen to take his departure. The King desired him to resume his
+place again. "Gentlemen," said he, "there is yet a question of immediate
+urgency,&mdash;the course to be taken with respect to the Chamber of
+Deputies. Three months ago I had determined to re-assemble it. Even a
+month since, I retained the same intention; but all that I have seen,
+and all that comes under my daily observation, proves so clearly the
+spirit of faction by which that Chamber is governed, the dangers which
+it threatens to France and to myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> have become so apparent, that I
+have entirely changed my opinion. From this moment, then, you may
+consider the Chamber as dissolved. Start from that point, gentlemen,
+prepare to execute the measure, and in the meantime preserve the most
+inviolable secrecy on the subject. My decision is absolute." When Louis
+XVIII. had formed a serious resolution and intended to be obeyed, he had
+a tone of dignity and command which cut short all remonstrance. During
+three weeks, although the question deeply occupied all minds, and in
+spite of some returns of hesitation on the part of the King himself, the
+secret of the resolution adopted was so profoundly kept, that the Court
+believed the Chamber would re-assemble. It was only on the 5th of
+September, after the King had retired to bed, that <i>Monsieur</i> received
+information through the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, from his Majesty, that the
+decree for the dissolution was signed, and would be published in the
+'Moniteur' on the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>The surprise and anger of <i>Monsieur</i> were unbounded; he would have
+hastened at once to the King; the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu withheld him, by
+saying that the King was already asleep, and had given peremptory orders
+that he should not be disturbed. The Princes, his sons, accustomed to
+extreme reserve in the King's presence, appeared to approve rather than
+condemn. "The King has acted wisely," said the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Berry; "I warned
+those gentlemen of the Chamber that they had indulged in too much
+license." The Court was thrown into consternation, on hearing of a
+stroke so totally unexpected. The party against whom it was aimed,
+attempted some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> stir in the first instance. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand added an
+angry <i>Postscript</i> to his 'Monarchy according to the Charter,' and
+evinced symptoms of resistance, more indignant than rational, to the
+measures decreed, in consequence of some infraction of the regulations
+of the press, to retard the publication of his work.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> But the party,
+having reflected a little, prudently stifled their anger, and began
+immediately to contrive means for re-engaging in the contest. The
+public, or, I ought rather to say, the entire land, loudly proclaimed
+its satisfaction. For honest, peaceably disposed people, the measure was
+a signal of deliverance; for political agitators, a proclamation of
+hope. None were ignorant that M.&nbsp;Decazes had been its first and most
+effectual advocate. He was surrounded with congratulations, and promises
+that all men of sense and substance would rally round him; he replied
+with modest satisfaction, "This country must be very sick indeed for me
+to be of so much importance."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> In a publication entitled 'Of Representative Government,
+and the Actual Condition of France,' published in 1816.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> I insert amongst the "Historic Documents" a note which he
+transmitted to the King, in the course of the month of August, on the
+question of the dissolution of the Chamber; and in which the
+fluctuations and fantasies of his mind, more ingenious than judicious,
+are revealed. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_412">No. VII.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> I have added to the "Historic Documents" the letters
+exchanged on this occasion between M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, M.&nbsp;Decazes, and
+the Chancellor Dambray, which characterize strongly the event and the
+individuals. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_417">No. VIII.</a>)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.</h3>
+
+<h3>1816-1821.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>COMPOSITION OF THE NEW CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.&mdash;THE CABINET IN A
+MAJORITY.&mdash;ELEMENTS OF THAT MAJORITY, THE CENTRE PROPERLY SO
+CALLED, AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.&mdash;TRUE CHARACTER OF THE CENTRE.&mdash;TRUE
+CHARACTER OF THE DOCTRINARIANS, AND REAL CAUSE OF THEIR
+INFLUENCE.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;LA BOURDONNAYE AND M.&nbsp;ROYER-COLLARD AT THE
+OPENING OF THE SESSION.&mdash;ATTITUDE OF THE DOCTRINARIANS IN THE
+DEBATE ON THE EXCEPTIONAL LAWS.&mdash;ELECTORAL LAW OF FEBRUARY 5TH,
+1817.&mdash;THE PART I TOOK ON THAT OCCASION.&mdash;OF THE ACTUAL AND
+POLITICAL POSITION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES.&mdash;MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR,
+AND HIS BILL FOR RECRUITING THE ARMY, OF THE 10TH OF MARCH,
+1818.&mdash;BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS, OF 1819, AND M.&nbsp;DE
+SERRE.&mdash;PREPARATORY DISCUSSION OF THESE BILLS IN THE STATE
+COUNCIL.&mdash;GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.&mdash;MODIFICATION OF
+THE CABINET FROM 1816 TO 1820.&mdash;IMPERFECTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL
+SYSTEM.&mdash;ERRORS OF INDIVIDUALS.&mdash;DISSENSIONS BETWEEN THE CABINET
+AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.&mdash;THE DUKE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;RICHELIEU NEGOCIATES, AT
+AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, THE ENTIRE RETREAT OF FOREIGN TROOPS FROM
+FRANCE.&mdash;HIS SITUATION AND CHARACTER.&mdash;HE ATTACKS THE BILL ON
+ELECTIONS.&mdash;HIS FALL.&mdash;CABINET OF M.&nbsp;DECAZES.&mdash;HIS POLITICAL
+WEAKNESS, NOTWITHSTANDING HIS PARLIAMENTARY SUCCESS.&mdash;ELECTIONS OF
+1819.&mdash;ELECTION AND NON-ADMISSION OF M.&nbsp;GR&Eacute;GOIRE.&mdash;ASSASSINATION OF
+THE DUKE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;BERRY.&mdash;FALL OF M.&nbsp;DECAZES.&mdash;THE DUKE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;RICHELIEU
+RESUMES OFFICE.&mdash;HIS ALLIANCE WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.&mdash;CHANGE IN
+THE LAW OF ELECTIONS.&mdash;DISORGANIZATION OF THE CENTRE, AND PROGRESS
+OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.&mdash;SECOND FALL OF THE
+DUKE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;RICHELIEU.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE AND THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY OBTAIN POWER.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>A violent outcry was raised, as there ever has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> and always will be,
+against ministerial interference at the elections. This is the sour
+consolation of the beaten, who feel the necessity of accounting for
+their defeat. Elections, taken comprehensively, are almost always more
+genuine than interested and narrow-minded suspicion is disposed to
+allow. The desires and ability of the powers in office, exercise over
+them only a secondary authority. The true essence of elections lies in
+the way in which the wind blows, and in the impulse of passing events.
+The decree of the 5th of September, 1816, had given confidence to the
+moderate party, and a degree of hope to the persecuted of 1815. They all
+rallied round the Cabinet, casting aside their quarrels, antipathies,
+and private rancours, combining to support the power which promised
+victory to the one and safety to the other.</p>
+
+<p>The victory, in fact, remained with the Cabinet, but it was one of those
+questionable triumphs which left the conquerors still engaged in a
+fierce war. The new Chamber comprised, in the centre a ministerial
+majority, on the right a strong and active opposition, and on the left a
+very small section, in which M.&nbsp;d'Argenson and M.&nbsp;Lafitte were the only
+names recognized by the public.</p>
+
+<p>The ministerial majority was formed from two different although at that
+time closely-united elements,&mdash;the centre, properly called the grand
+army of power, and the very limited staff of that army, who soon
+received the title of <i>doctrinarians</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I shall say of the centre of our assemblies since 1814, what I have just
+said of M.&nbsp;Cuvier; it has been misunderstood and calumniated, when
+servility and a rabid desire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> for place have been named as its leading
+characteristics. With it, as with others, personal interests have had
+their weight, and have looked for their gratification; but one general
+and just idea formed the spirit and bond of union of the party,&mdash;the
+idea that, in the present day, after so many revolutions, society
+required established government, and that to government all good
+citizens were bound to render their support. Many excellent and
+honourable sentiments,&mdash;family affection, a desire for regular
+employment, respect for rank, laws, and traditions, anxieties for the
+future, religious habits,&mdash;all clustered round this conviction, and had
+often inspired its votaries with rare and trusting courage. I call these
+persevering supporters of Government, citizen Tories; their defamers are
+weak politicians and shallow philosophers, who neither understand the
+moral instincts of the soul, nor the essential interests of society.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>doctrinarians</i> have been heavily attacked. I shall endeavour to
+explain rather than defend them. When either men or parties have once
+exercised an influence over events, or obtained a place in history, it
+becomes important that they should be correctly known; this point
+accomplished, they may rest in peace and submit to judgment.</p>
+
+<p>It was neither intelligence, nor talent, nor moral dignity&mdash;qualities
+which their acknowledged enemies have scarcely denied them&mdash;that
+established the original character and political importance of the
+<i>doctrinarians</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Other men of other parties have possessed the same qualities; and
+between the relative pretensions of these rivals in understanding,
+eloquence, and sincerity, public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> opinion will decide. The peculiar
+characteristic of the doctrinarians, and the real source of their
+importance in spite of their limited number, was that they maintained,
+against revolutionary principles and ideas, ideas and principles
+contrary to those of the old enemies of the Revolution, and with which
+they opposed it, not to
+<a name="corr6" id="corr6"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn6" title="changed from 'detroy'">destroy</a>
+but to reform and purify it in the name
+of justice and truth. The great feature, dearly purchased, of the French
+revolution was, that it was a work of the human mind, its conceptions
+and pretensions, and at the same time a struggle between social
+interests. Philosophy had boasted that it would regulate political
+economy, and that institutions, laws, and public authorities should only
+exist as the creatures and servants of instructed reason,&mdash;- an insane
+pride, but a startling homage to all that is most elevated in man, to
+his intellectual and moral attributes! Reverses and errors were not slow
+in impressing on the Revolution their rough lessons; but even up to 1815
+it had encountered, as commentators on its ill-fortune, none but
+implacable enemies or undeceived accomplices,&mdash;the first thirsting for
+vengeance, the last eager for rest, and neither capable of opposing to
+revolutionary principles anything beyond a retrograde movement on the
+one side, and the scepticism of weariness on the other. "There was
+nothing in the Revolution but error and crime," said the first; "the
+supporters of the old system were in the right."&mdash;"The Revolution erred
+only in excess," exclaimed the second; "its principles were sound, but
+carried too far; it has abused its rights." The doctrinarians denied
+both these conclusions; they refused to acknowledge the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> maxims of the
+old system, or, even in a mere speculative sense, to adhere to the
+principles of the Revolution. While frankly adopting the new state of
+French society, such as our entire history, and not alone the year 1789,
+had made it, they undertook to establish a government on rational
+foundations, but totally opposed to the theories in the name of which
+the old system had been overthrown, or the incoherent principles which
+some endeavoured to conjure up for its reconstruction. Alternately
+called on to combat and defend the Revolution, they boldly assumed from
+the outset, an intellectual position, opposing ideas to ideas, and
+principles to principles, appealing at the same time to reason and
+experience, affirming rights instead of maintaining interests, and
+requiring France, not to confess that she had committed evil alone, or
+to declare her impotence for good, but to emerge from the chaos into
+which she had plunged herself, and to raise her head once more towards
+heaven in search of light.</p>
+
+<p>Let me readily admit that there was also much pride in this attempt; but
+a pride commencing with an act of humility, which proclaims the mistakes
+of yesterday with the desire and hope of not repeating them today. It
+was rendering homage to human intelligence while warning it of the
+limits of its power, respecting the past, without undervaluing the
+present or abandoning the future. It was an endeavour to bestow on
+politics sound philosophy, not as a sovereign mistress, but as an
+adviser and support.</p>
+
+<p>I shall state without hesitation, according to what experience has
+taught me, the faults which progressively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> mingled with this noble
+design, and impaired or checked its success. What I anxiously desire at
+present is to indicate its true character. It was to this mixture of
+philosophical sentiment and political moderation, to this rational
+respect for opposing rights and facts, to these principles, equally new
+and conservative, anti-revolutionary without being retrograde, and
+modest in fact although sometimes haughty in expression, that the
+doctrinarians owed their importance as well as their name.
+Notwithstanding the numerous errors of philosophy and human reason, the
+present age still cherishes reasoning and philosophical tastes; and the
+most determined practical politicians sometimes assume the air of acting
+upon general ideas, regarding them as sound methods of obtaining
+justification or credit. The doctrinarians thus responded to a profound
+and real necessity, although imperfectly acknowledged, of French minds:
+they paid equal respect to intellect and social order; their notions
+appeared well suited to regenerate, while terminating the Revolution.
+Under this double title they found, with partisans and adversaries,
+points of contact which drew them together, if not with active sympathy,
+at least with solid esteem: the right-hand party looked upon them as
+sincere royalists; and the left, while opposing them with acrimony,
+could not avoid admitting that they were neither the advocates of the
+old system, nor the defenders of absolute power.</p>
+
+<p>Such was their position at the opening of the session of 1816: a little
+obscure still, but recognized by the Cabinet as well as by the different
+parties. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, and M.&nbsp;Decazes, whether they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+liked the doctrinarians or not, felt that they positively required their
+co-operation, as well in the debates of the Chambers as to act upon
+public opinion. The left-hand party, powerless in itself, accorded with
+them from necessity, although their ideas and language sometimes
+produced surprise rather than sympathy. The right, notwithstanding its
+losses at the elections, was still very strong, and speedily assumed the
+offensive. The King's speech on opening the session was mild and
+somewhat indistinct, as if tending rather to palliate the decree of the
+5th of September, than to parade it with an air of triumph: "Rely," said
+he, in conclusion, "on my fixed determination to repress the outrages of
+the ill-disposed, and to restrain the exuberance of overheated zeal."
+"Is that all?" observed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, on leaving the royal
+presence; "if so, the victory is ours:" and on that same day he dined
+with the Chancellor. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye was even more explicit. "The
+King," said he, with a coarse expression, "once more hands his ministers
+over to us!" During the session of the next day, meeting
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, with whom he was in the habit of extremely free
+conversation, "Well," said he, "there you are, more rogues than last
+year." "And you not so many," replied M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard. The right-hand
+party, in their reviving hopes, well knew how to distinguish the
+adversaries with whom they would have to contend.</p>
+
+<p>As in the preceding session, the first debates arose on questions of
+expediency. The Cabinet judged it necessary to demand from the Chambers
+the prolongation, for another year, of the two provisional laws
+respecting personal liberty and the daily press. M.&nbsp;Decazes presented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> a
+detailed account of the manner in which, up to that period, the
+Government had used the arbitrary power committed to its hands, and also
+the new propositions which should restrain it within the limits
+necessary to remove all apprehended danger. The right-hand party
+vigorously rejected these propositions, upon the very natural ground
+that they had no confidence in the Ministers, but without any other
+reasoning than the usual commonplace arguments of liberalism. The
+doctrinarians supported the bills, but with the addition of commentaries
+which strongly marked their independence, and the direction they wished
+to give to the power they defended. "Every day," said M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, "the
+nature of our constitution will be better understood, its benefits more
+appreciated by the nation; the laws with which you co-operate, will
+place by degrees our institutions and habits in harmony with
+representative monarchy; the government will approach its natural
+perfection,&mdash;that unity of principle, design, and action which forms the
+condition of its existence. In permitting and even in protecting legal
+opposition, it will not allow that opposition to find resting-points
+within itself. It is because it can be, and ought to be, watched over
+and contradicted by independent men, that it should be punctually
+obeyed, faithfully seconded and served by those who have become and wish
+to remain its direct agents. Government will thus acquire a degree of
+strength which can dispense with the employment of extraordinary means:
+legal measures, restored to their proper energy, will be found
+sufficient." "There is," said M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, "a strong objection
+against this bill; the Government may be asked, 'Before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> you demand
+excessive powers, have you employed all those which the laws entrust to
+you? have you exhausted their efficacy?' ... I shall not directly answer
+this question, but I shall say to those who put it, 'Take care how you
+expose your Government to too severe a trial, and one under which nearly
+all Governments have broken down; do not require from it perfection;
+consider its difficulties as well as its duties.' ... We wish to arrest
+its steps in the course it pursues at present, and to impose daily
+changes. We demand from it the complete development of institutions and
+constitutional enactments; above all, we require that vigorous unity of
+principles, system, and conduct without which it will never effectually
+reach the end towards which it advances. But what it has already done,
+is a pledge for what it will yet accomplish. We feel a just reliance
+that the extraordinary powers with which we invest it will be exercised,
+not by or for a party, but for the nation against all parties. Such is
+our treaty; such are the stipulations which have been spoken of: they
+are as public as our confidence, and we thank those who have occasioned
+their repetition, for proving to France that we are faithful to her
+cause, and neglect neither her interests nor our own duties."</p>
+
+<p>With a more gentle effusion of mind and heart, M.&nbsp;Camille Jordan held
+the same language; the bills passed; the right-hand party felt as blows
+directed against itself the advice suggested to the Cabinet, and the
+Cabinet saw that in that quarter, as necessary supporters, they had also
+haughty and exacting allies.</p>
+
+<p>Their demands were not fruitless. The Cabinet, unin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>fluenced either by
+despotic views or immoderate passions, had no desire to retain
+unnecessarily the absolute power with which it had been entrusted. No
+effort was requisite to deprive it of the provisional laws; they fell
+successively of themselves,&mdash;the suspension of the securities for
+personal liberty in 1817, the prev&ocirc;tal courts in 1818, the censorship of
+the daily press in 1819; and four years after the tempest of the Hundred
+Days, the country was in the full enjoyment of all its constitutional
+privileges.</p>
+
+<p>During this interval, other questions, more and less important, were
+brought forward and decided. When the first overflowing of the reaction
+of 1815 had a little calmed down, when France, less disturbed with the
+present, began once more to think of the future, she was called upon to
+enter on the greatest work that can fall to the lot of a nation. There
+was more than a new government to establish; it was necessary that a
+free government should be imbued with vigour. It was written, and it
+must live,&mdash;a promise often made, but never accomplished. How often,
+from 1789 to 1814, had liberties and political rights been inscribed on
+our institutes and laws, to be buried under them, and held of no
+account. The first amongst the Governments of our day, the Restoration,
+took these words at their true meaning; whatever may have been its
+traditions and propensities, what it said, it did; the liberties and
+rights it acknowledged, were taken into real co-operation and action.
+From 1814 to 1830, as from 1830 to 1848, the Charter was a truth. For
+once forgetting it, Charles X. fell.</p>
+
+<p>When this work of organization, or, to speak more correctly, when this
+effectual call to political life commenced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> in 1816, the question of the
+electoral system, already touched upon, but without result, in the
+preceding session, was the first that came under notice. It was included
+in the scope of the fortieth article of the Charter, which ran
+thus:&mdash;"The electors who nominate the Deputies can have no right of
+voting, unless they pay a direct contribution of 300 francs, and have
+reached the age of thirty,"&mdash;an ambiguous arrangement, which attempted
+more than it ventured to accomplish. It evidently contained a desire of
+placing the right of political suffrage above the popular masses, and of
+confining it within the more elevated classes of society. But the
+constitutional legislator had neither gone openly to this point, nor
+attained it with certainty; for if the Charter required from the
+electors who were actually to name the Deputies, 300 francs of direct
+contribution, and thirty years of age, it did not forbid that these
+electors should be themselves chosen by preceding electoral assemblies;
+or rather it did not exclude indirect election, nor, under that form,
+what is understood by the term universal suffrage.</p>
+
+<p>I took part in drawing up the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, which
+comprised, at that time, the solution given to this important question.
+I was present at the conferences in which it was prepared. When ready,
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, whose business it was, as Minister of the Interior, to present
+it to the Chamber of Deputies, wrote to say that he wished to see me: "I
+have adopted," he said, "all the principles of this bill, the
+concentration of the right of suffrage, direct election, the equal
+privilege of voters, their union in a single college for each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+department; and I really believe these are the best that could be
+desired: still, upon some of these points, I have mental doubts and
+little time to solve them. Help me in preparing the exposition of our
+objects." I responded, as I was bound, to this confiding sincerity, by
+which I felt equally touched and honoured. The bill was brought in; and
+while my friends supported it in the Chamber, from whence my age for the
+present excluded me, I defended it, on behalf of the Government, in
+several articles inserted in the 'Moniteur.' I was well informed as to
+its intent and true spirit, and I speak of it without embarrassment in
+presence of the universal suffrage, as now established. If the electoral
+system of 1817 disappeared in the tempest of 1848, it conferred on
+France thirty years of regular and free government, systematically
+sustained and controlled; and amidst all the varying influences of
+parties, and the shock of a revolution, this system sufficed to maintain
+peace, to develop national prosperity, and to preserve respect for all
+legal rights. In this age of ephemeral and futile experiments, it is the
+only political enactment which has enjoyed a long and powerful life. At
+least it was a work which may be acknowledged, and which deserves to be
+correctly estimated, even after its overthrow.</p>
+
+<p>A ruling idea inspired the bill of the 5th of February, 1817,&mdash;to fix a
+term to the revolutionary system, and to give vigour to the
+constitutional Government. At that epoch, universal suffrage had ever
+been, in France, an instrument of destruction or deceit,&mdash;of
+destruction, when it had really placed political power in the hands of
+the multitude; of deceit, when it had assisted to annul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> political
+rights for the advantage of absolute power, by maintaining, through the
+vain intervention of the multitude, a false appearance of electoral
+privilege. To escape, in fine, from that routine of alternate violence
+and falsehood, to place political power in the region within which the
+conservative interests of social order naturally predominate with
+enlightened independence, and to secure to those interests, by the
+direct election of deputies from the country, a free and strong action
+upon its Government,&mdash;such were the objects, without reserve or
+exaggeration, of the authors of the electoral system of 1817.</p>
+
+<p>In a country devoted for twenty-five years, on the subject of political
+elections, whether truly or apparently, to the principle of the
+supremacy of number, so absurdly called the sovereignty of the people,
+the attempt was new, and might appear rash. At first, it confined
+political power to the hands of 140,000 electors. From the public, and
+even from what was already designated the liberal party, it encountered
+but slight opposition; some objections springing from the past, some
+apprehensions for the future, but no declared or active hostility. It
+was from the bosom of the classes specially devoted to conservative
+interests, and from their intestine discussions, that the attack and the
+danger emanated.</p>
+
+<p>During the session of 1815, the old royalist faction, in its moderated
+views, and when it renounced systematic and retrograding aspirations,
+had persuaded itself that, at least, the King's favour and the influence
+of the majority would give it power in the departments as at the seat of
+government. The decree of the 5th of September,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> 1816, abolished this
+double expectation. The old Royalists called upon the new electoral
+system to restore it, but at once perceived that the bill of the 5th of
+February was not calculated to produce such an effect; and forthwith
+commenced a violent attack, accusing the new plan of giving over all
+electoral power, and consequently all political influence, to the middle
+classes, to the exclusion of the great proprietors and the people.</p>
+
+<p>At a later period, the popular party, who neither thought nor spoke on
+the subject in 1817, adopted this argument in their turn, and charged,
+on this same accusation of political monopoly for the benefit of the
+middle classes, their chief complaint, not only against the electoral
+law, but against the entire system of government of which that law was
+the basis and guarantee.</p>
+
+<p>I collect my reminiscences, and call back my impressions. From 1814 to
+1848, under the government of the Restoration, and under that of July, I
+loudly supported and more than once had the honour of carrying this flag
+of the middle classes, which was naturally my own. What did we
+understand by it? Have we ever conceived the design, or even admitted
+the thought, that the citizens should become a newly privileged order,
+and that the laws intended to regulate the exercise of suffrage should
+serve to found the predominance of the middle classes by taking, whether
+in right or fact, all political influence, on one side from the relics
+of the old French aristocracy, and on the other from the people?</p>
+
+<p>Such an attempt would have been strangely ignorant and insane. It is
+neither by political theories nor articles in laws, that the privileges
+and superiority of any parti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>cular class are established in a State.
+These slow and pedantic methods are not available for such a purpose; it
+requires the force of conquest or the power of faith. Society is
+exclusively controlled by military or religious ascendency; never by the
+influence of the citizens. The history of all ages and nations is at
+hand to prove this to the most superficial observer.</p>
+
+<p>In our day, the impossibility of such a predominance of the middle
+classes is even more palpable. Two ideas constitute the great features
+of modern civilization, and stamp it with its formidable activity; I sum
+them up in these terms:&mdash;There are certain universal rights inherent in
+man's nature, and which no system can legitimately withhold from any
+one; there are individual rights which spring from personal merit alone,
+without regard to the external circumstances of birth, fortune, or rank,
+and which every one who has them in himself should be permitted to
+exercise. From the two principles of legal respect for the general
+rights of humanity, and the free development of natural gifts, ill or
+well understood, have proceeded, for nearly a century, the advantages
+and evils, the great actions and crimes, the advances and wanderings
+which revolutions and Governments have alternately excited in the bosom
+of every European community. Which of these two principles provokes or
+even permits the exclusive supremacy of the middle classes? Assuredly
+neither the one nor the other. One opens to individual endowments every
+gate; the other demands for every human being his place and his portion:
+no greatness is unattainable; no condition, however insignificant, is
+counted as nothing. Such principles are irreconcilable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> with exclusive
+superiority; that of the middle classes, as of every other, would be in
+direct contradiction to the ruling tendencies of modern society.</p>
+
+<p>The middle classes have never, amongst us, dreamed of becoming
+privileged orders; and no rational mind has ever indulged in such dreams
+for them. This idle accusation is but an engine of war, erected under
+cover of a confusion of ideas, sometimes by the hypocritical dexterity,
+and at others by the blind infatuation of party spirit. But this does
+not prevent its having been, or becoming again, fatal to the peace of
+our social system; for men are so constructed that chimerical dangers
+are the most formidable they can encounter: we fight boldly with
+tangible substances, but we lose our heads, either from fear or anger,
+when in presence of phantoms.</p>
+
+<p>It was with real dangers that we had to cope in 1817, when we discussed
+the electoral system of France. We saw the most legitimate principles
+and the most jealous interests of the new state of society indistinctly
+menaced by a violent reaction. We felt the spirit of revolution spring
+up and ferment around us, arming itself, according to old practice, with
+noble incentives, to cover the march and prepare the triumph of the most
+injurious passions. By instinct and position, the middle classes were
+the best suited to struggle with the combined peril. Opposed to the
+pretensions of the old aristocracy, they had acquired, under the Empire,
+ideas and habits of government. Although they received the Restoration
+with some mistrust, they were not hostile to it; for under the rule of
+the Charter, they had nothing to ask from new revolutions. The Charter
+was for them the Capitol and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> harbour; they found in it the security
+of their conquests, and the triumph of their hopes. To turn to the
+advantage of the ancient monarchy, now become constitutional, this
+anti-revolutionary state of the middle classes, to secure their
+co-operation with that monarchy by giving them confidence in their own
+position, was a line of policy clearly indicated by the state of facts
+and opinions. Such was the bearing of the electoral bill of 1817. In
+principle this bill cut short the revolutionary theories of the
+supremacy of numbers, and of a specious and tyrannical equality; in
+fact, it brought the new society under shelter from the threats of
+counter-revolution. Assuredly, in proposing it, we had no intention of
+establishing any antagonism between the great and small proprietors; but
+when the question was so laid down, we evinced no hesitation; we
+supported the bill firmly, by maintaining that the influence, not
+exclusive but preponderating, of the middle classes was confirmed, on
+one side by the spirit of free institutions, and on the other in
+conformity with the interests of France as the Revolution had changed
+her, and with the Restoration itself as the Charter had defined when
+proclaiming it.</p>
+
+<p>The election bill occupied the session of 1816. The bill for recruiting
+was the great subject and work of the session of 1817. The right-hand
+party opposed it with vehement hostility: it disputed their traditions
+and disturbed their monarchical tendencies. But the party had to contest
+with a minister as imperturbable in his convictions and will as in his
+physiognomy. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr had a powerful, original, and
+straightforward mind, with no great combination of ideas,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> but
+passionately wedded to those which emanated from himself. He had
+resolved to give back to France what she no longer possessed&mdash;an army.
+And an army in his estimate was a small nation springing from the large
+one, strongly organized, formed of officers and soldiers closely united,
+mutually knowing and respecting each other, all having defined rights
+and duties, and all well trained by solid study or long practice to
+serve their country effectually when called upon.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this idea of an army, according to the conception of Marshal St.
+Cyr, the principles of his bill were naturally framed. Every class in
+the State was required to assist in the formation of this army. Those
+who entered in the lowest rank were open to the highest, with a certain
+advantage in the ascending movement of the middle classes. Those who
+were ambitious of occupying at once a higher step, were compelled in the
+first instance to pass certain examinations, and then to acquire by
+close study the particular knowledge necessary to their post. The term
+of service, active or in reserve, was long, and made military life in
+reality a career. The obligations imposed, the privileges promised, and
+the rights recognized for all, were guaranteed by the bill.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these general principles, the bill had an immediate result which
+St. Cyr ardently desired. It enrolled again in the new army, under the
+head of veterans and reserve, the remains of the old discharged legions,
+who had so heroically endured the penalty of the errors committed by
+their crowned leader. It effaced also, in their minds, that reminiscence
+of a distasteful past, while by a sort of special Charter it secured
+their future.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>No one can deny that this plan for the military organization of France,
+embraced grand ideas and noble sentiments. Such a bill accorded with the
+moral nature and political conduct of Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, who
+possessed an upright soul, a proud temperament, monarchical opinions,
+and republican manners; and who, since 1814, had given equal proofs of
+loyalty and independence. When he advocated it in the tribune, when,
+with the manly solemnity and disciplined feeling of an experienced
+warrior, at once a sincere patriot and a royalist, he recapitulated the
+services and sufferings of that nation of old soldiers which he was
+anxious for a few years longer to unite with the new army of France, he
+deeply moved the public and the Chambers; and his powerful language, no
+less than the excellent propositions of his bill, consecrated it on the
+instant in the affectionate esteem of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Violently attacked in 1818, Marshal St. Cyr's recruiting bill has been
+since that date several times criticised, revised, and modified. Its
+leading principles have resisted assault, and have survived alteration.
+It has done more than last, through soundness of principle; it has
+given, by facts, an astounding denial to its adversaries. It was accused
+of striking a blow at the monarchy; on the contrary, it has made the
+army more devotedly monarchical than any that France had ever known,&mdash;an
+army whose fidelity has never been shaken, either in 1830 or 1848, by
+the influence of popular opinion, or the seduction of a revolutionary
+crisis. Military sentiment, that spirit of obedience and respect, of
+discipline and devotion, one of the chief glories of human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> nature, and
+the necessary pledge of the honour as of the safety of nations, had been
+powerfully fomented and developed in France by the great wars of the
+Revolution and the Empire. It was a precious inheritance of those rough
+times which have bequeathed to us so many burdens. There was danger of
+its being lost or enfeebled in the bosom of peaceful inaction, and
+during endless debates on liberty. It has been firmly maintained in the
+army which the law of 1818 established and incessantly recruits. This
+military sentiment is not only preserved; it has become purified and
+regulated. By the honesty of its promises and the justice of its
+arrangements in matters of privilege and promotion, the bill of Marshal
+St. Cyr has imbued the army with a permanent conviction of its rights,
+of its own legal and individual rights, and, through that feeling, with
+an instinctive attachment to public order, the common guarantee of all
+rights. We have witnessed the rare and imposing sight of an army capable
+of devotion and restraint, ready for sacrifices, and modest in
+pretension, ambitious of glory, without being athirst for war, proud of
+its arms, and yet obedient to civil authority. Public habits, the
+prevailing ideas of the time, and the general character of our
+civilization have doubtless operated much upon this great result; but
+the bill of Marshal St. Cyr has had its full part, and I rejoice in
+recording this honourable distinction, which, amongst so many others,
+belongs to my old and glorious friend.</p>
+
+<p>The session of 1818, which opened in the midst of a ministerial crisis,
+had to deal with another question not more important, but even more
+intricate and dangerous.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> The Cabinet determined to leave the press no
+longer under an exceptional and temporary law. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, at that time
+Chancellor, introduced three bills on the same day, which settled
+definitively the penalty, the method of prosecution, and the
+qualification for publishing, in respect to the daily papers, while at
+the same time they liberated them from all censorship.</p>
+
+<p>I am one of those who have been much assisted and fiercely attacked by
+the press. Throughout my life, I have greatly employed this engine. By
+placing my ideas publicly before the eyes of my country, I first
+attracted her attention and esteem. During the progress of my career, I
+have ever had the press for ally or opponent; and I have never hesitated
+to employ its weapons, or feared to expose myself to its blows. It is a
+power which I respect and recognize willingly, rather than compulsorily,
+but without illusion or idolatry. Whatever may be the form of
+government, political life is a constant struggle; and it would give me
+no satisfaction&mdash;I will even say more&mdash;I should feel ashamed of finding
+myself opposed to mute and fettered adversaries. The liberty of the
+press is human nature displaying itself in broad daylight, sometimes
+under the most attractive, and at others under the most repelling
+aspect; it is the wholesome air that vivifies, and the tempest that
+destroys, the expansion and impulsive power of steam in the intellectual
+system. I have ever advocated a free press; I believe it to be, on the
+whole, more useful than injurious to public morality; and I look upon it
+as essential to the proper management of public affairs, and to the
+security of private interests. But I have witnessed too often and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> too
+closely its dangerous aberrations as regards political order, not to
+feel convinced that this liberty requires the restraint of a strong
+organization of effective laws and of controlling principles. In 1819,
+my friends and I clearly foresaw the necessity of these conditions; but
+we laid little stress upon them, we were unable to bring them all into
+operation, and we thought, moreover, that the time had arrived when the
+sincerity as well as the strength of the restored monarchy was to be
+proved by removing from the press its previous shackles, and in risking
+the consequences of its enfranchisement.</p>
+
+<p>The greater part of the laws passed with reference to the press, in
+France or elsewhere, have either been acts of repression, legitimate or
+illegitimate, against liberty, or triumphs over certain special
+guarantees of liberty successively won from power, according to the
+necessity or opportunity of gaining them. The legislative history of the
+press in England supplies a long series of alternations and arrangements
+of this class.</p>
+
+<p>The bills of 1819 had a totally different character. They comprised a
+complete legislation, conceived together and beforehand, conformable
+with certain general principles, defining in every degree liabilities
+and penalties, regulating all the conditions as well as the forms of
+publication, and intended to establish and secure the liberty of the
+press, while protecting order and power from its licentiousness;&mdash;an
+undertaking very difficult in its nature, as all legislative enactments
+must be which spring from precaution more than necessity, and in which
+the legislator is inspired and governed by ideas rather than commanded
+and directed by facts. Another danger,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> a moral and concealed danger,
+also presented itself. Enactments thus prepared and maintained become
+works of a philosopher and artist, the author of which is tempted to
+identify himself with them through an impulse of self-love, which
+sometimes leads him to lose sight of the external circumstances and
+practical application he ought to have considered. Politics require a
+certain mixture of indifference and passion, of freedom of thought and
+restrained will, which is not easily reconciled with a strong adhesion
+to general ideas, and a sincere intent to hold a just balance between
+the many principles and interests of society.</p>
+
+<p>I should be unwilling to assert that in the measures proposed and passed
+in 1819, on the liberty of the press, we had completely avoided these
+rocks, or that they were in perfect harmony with the state of men's
+minds, and the exigencies of order at that precise epoch. Nevertheless,
+after an interval of nearly forty years, and on reconsidering these
+measures now with my matured judgment, I do not hesitate to look on them
+as grand and noble efforts of legislation, in which the true points of
+the subject were skilfully embraced and applied, and which, in spite of
+the mutilation they were speedily doomed to undergo, established an
+advance in the liberty of the press, properly understood, which sooner
+or later cannot fail to extend itself.</p>
+
+<p>The debate on these bills was worthy of their conception. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre
+was gifted with eloquence singularly exalted and practical. He supported
+their general principles in the tone of a magistrate who applies, and
+not as a philosopher who explains them. His speech was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> profound without
+abstraction, highly coloured but not figurative; his reasoning resolved
+itself into action. He expounded, examined, discussed, attacked, or
+replied without literary or even oratorical preparation, carrying up the
+strength of his arguments to the full level of the questions, fertile
+without exuberance, precise without dryness, impassioned without a
+shadow of declamation, always ready with a sound answer to his
+opponents, as powerful on the impulse of the moment as in prepared
+reflection, and, when once he had surmounted a slight hesitation and
+slowness at the first onset, pressing on directly to his end with a firm
+and rapid step, and with the air of a man deeply interested, but
+careless of personal success, and only anxious to win his cause by
+communicating to his listeners his own sentiments and convictions.</p>
+
+<p>Different adversaries presented themselves during the debate, from those
+who had opposed the bills for elections and recruiting the army. The
+right-hand party attacked the two latter propositions; the left assailed
+the measures regarding the press. MM.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant, Manuel,
+Chauvelin, and Bignon, with more parliamentary malice than political
+judgment, overwhelmed them with objections and amendments slightly
+mingled with very qualified compliments. Recent elections had lately
+readmitted into the assembly these leaders of the Liberals in the
+Chamber of the Hundred Days. They seemed to think of nothing but how to
+bring once more upon the scene their party, for three years beaten down,
+and to re-establish their own position as popular orators. Some of the
+most prominent ideas in the drawing up of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> three bills, were but
+little in conformity with the philosophic and legislative traditions
+which since 1791 had become current on the subject. They evidently
+comprised a sincere wish to guarantee liberty, and a strong desire not
+to disarm power. It was a novel exhibition to see Ministers frankly
+recognizing the liberty of the press, without offering up incense on its
+shrine, and assuming that they understood its rights and interests
+better than its old worshippers. In the opposition of the left-hand
+party at this period, there was much of routine, a great deal of
+complaisance for the prejudices and passions of the press attached to
+their party, and a little angry jealousy of a cabinet which permitted
+liberal innovation. The public, unacquainted with political factions,
+were astonished to see bills so vehemently opposed which diminished the
+penalties in force against the press, referred to a jury all offences of
+that class, and liberated the journals from the censorship,&mdash;measures
+which in their eyes appeared too confident. The right-hand party held
+dexterously aloof, rejoicing to see the Ministers at issue with reviving
+opponents who were likely soon to become their most formidable enemies.</p>
+
+<p>It was during this debate that I ascended the tribune for the first
+time. M.&nbsp;Cuvier and I had been appointed, as Royal Commissioners, to
+support the proposed measures,&mdash;a false and weak position, which
+demonstrates the infancy of representative government. We do not argue
+politics as we plead a cause or maintain a thesis. To act effectively in
+a deliberative assembly, we must ourselves be deliberators; that is to
+say, we must be members, and hold our share with others in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> free
+thought, power, and responsibility. I believe that I acquitted myself
+with propriety, but coldly, of the mission I had undertaken. I
+sustained, against M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant, the general responsibility for
+the correctness of the accounts given of the proceedings of the
+Chambers, and, against M.&nbsp;Daunou, the guarantees required by the bill
+for the establishment of newspapers. The Chamber appeared to appreciate
+my arguments, and listened to me with attention. But I kept on the
+reserve, and seldom joined in the debate; I have no turn for incomplete
+positions and prescribed parts. When we enter into an arena in which the
+affairs of a free country are discussed, it is not to make a display of
+fine thoughts and words; we are bound to engage in the struggle as true
+and earnest actors.</p>
+
+<p>As the recruiting bill had established a personal and political
+reputation for Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, so the bills on the press
+effected the same for M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre. Thus, at the issue of a violent
+crisis of revolution and war, in presence of armed Europe, and within
+the short space of three sessions, the three most important questions of
+a free system&mdash;the construction of elective power, the formation of a
+national army, and the interference of individual opinions in public
+affairs through the channel of the press&mdash;were freely proposed, argued,
+and resolved; and their solution, whatever might be the opinion of
+parties, was certainly in harmony with the habits and wishes of that
+honest and peaceably disposed majority of France who had sincerely
+received the King and the Charter, and had adopted their government on
+mature consideration.</p>
+
+<p>During this time, many other measures of constitu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>tional organization,
+or general legislation, had been accomplished or proposed. In 1818, an
+amendment of M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard settled the addition to the budget of an
+annual law for the supervision of public accounts; and in the course of
+the following year, two ministers of finance, the Baron Louis and
+M.&nbsp;Roy, brought into operation that security for the honest appropriation
+of the revenue. By the institution of smaller "Great-books" of the
+national debt, the state of public credit became known in the
+departments. Other bills, although laid before the Chambers, produced no
+result; three, amongst the rest, may be named: on the responsibility of
+Ministers, on the organization of the Chamber of Peers into a court of
+justice, and on the alteration of the financial year to avoid the
+provisional vote of the duty. Others again, especially applicable to the
+reform of departmental and parochial administrations, and to public
+instruction, were left in a state of inquiry and preliminary discussion.
+Far from eluding or allowing important questions to linger, the
+Government laboriously investigated them, and forestalled the wishes of
+the public, determined to submit them to the Chambers as soon as they
+had collected facts and arranged their own plans.</p>
+
+<p>I still preserve a deep remembrance of the State Council in which these
+various bills were first discussed. This Council had not then any
+defined official existence or prescribed action in the constitution of
+the country; politics nevertheless were more prominently argued there,
+and with greater freedom and effect, than at any other time; every
+shade, I ought rather to say every variation, of the royalist party,
+from the extreme right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> to the edge of the left, were there represented;
+the politicians most in repute, the leaders of the majority in the two
+Assemblies, were brought into contact with the heads of administration,
+the old senators of the Empire, and with younger men not yet admissible
+to the Chambers, but introduced by the Charter into public life.
+MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, and Camille Jordan sat there by the side of
+MM.&nbsp;Sim&eacute;on, Portalis, Mol&eacute;, B&eacute;renger, Cuvier, and Allent; and MM.&nbsp;de
+Barante, Mounier, and myself deliberated in common with MM.&nbsp;de
+Ballainvilliers, Laporte-Lalanne, and&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blaire, unswerving
+representatives of the old system. When important bills were examined by
+the Council, the Ministers never failed to attend. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu
+often presided at the general sittings. The discussion was perfectly
+free, without oratorical display or pretension, but serious, profound,
+varied, detailed, earnest, erudite, and at the same time practical. I
+have heard Count B&eacute;renger, a man of disputatious and independent temper,
+and a quasi-republican under the Empire, maintain there, with ingenious
+and imposing subtlety, universal suffrage, and distinctions of
+qualification for voting, against direct election and the concentrated
+right of suffrage. MM.&nbsp;Cuvier, Sim&eacute;on, and Allent were the constant
+defenders of traditional and administrative influence. My friends and I
+argued strongly for the principles and hopes of liberty strongly based,
+which appeared to us the natural consequences of the Charter and the
+necessary conditions for the prosperity of the Restoration. Reforms in
+criminal legislation, the application of trial by jury to offences of
+the press, the in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>troduction of the elective principle into the
+municipal system, were argued in the Council of State before they were
+laid before the Chambers. The Government looked to the Council, not only
+for a study of all questions, but for a preparatory and amicable
+experience of the ideas, desires, and objections it was destined to
+encounter at a later period, in a rougher contest, and a more tumultuous
+theatre.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabinet, composed as it was at the time when the decree of the 5th
+of September, 1816, appeared, was not equal to that line of policy,
+continually increasing in moderation, sometimes resolutely, liberal,
+and, if not always provident, at least perpetually active. But the same
+progress which accompanied events, affected individuals. During the
+course of the year 1817, M.&nbsp;Pasquier, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and
+M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute; replaced M.&nbsp;Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M.&nbsp;Dubouchage in the
+departments of justice, war, and the marine. From that time the
+Ministers were not deficient either in internal unity, or in
+parliamentary and administrative talent. They endeavoured to infuse the
+same qualities into all the different branches and gradations of
+government, and succeeded tolerably in the heart of the State. Without
+reaction or any exclusive spirit, they surrounded themselves with men
+sincerely attached to a constitutional policy, and who by their
+character and ability had already won public esteem. They were less firm
+and effective in local administration; although introducing more changes
+than are generally believed, they were unable to reconcile them with
+their general policy. In many places, acts of violence, capricious
+temper, haughty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> inexperience, offensive pretension and frivolous alarm,
+with all the great and little party passions which had possessed the
+Government of 1815, continued to weigh upon the country. These
+proceedings kept up amongst the tranquil population a strong sentiment
+of uneasiness, and sometimes excited active malcontents to attempts at
+conspiracy and insurrection, amplified at first with interested or
+absurd credulity, repressed with unmitigated rigour, and subsequently
+discussed, denied, extenuated, and reduced almost to nothing by
+never-ending explanations and counter-charges. From thence arose the
+mistakes, prejudices, and false calculations of the local authorities;
+while the supreme powers assumed alternately airs of levity or weakness,
+which made them lose, in the eyes of the multitude, the credit of that
+sound general policy from which they, the masses, experienced little
+advantage. The occurrences at Lyons in June 1817, and the long debates
+of which they became the subject after the mission of redress of the
+Duke of Ragusa, furnish a lamentable example of the evils which France
+at this period had still to endure, although at the head of government
+the original cause had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Things are more easily managed than men. These same Ministers, who were
+not always able to compel the prefects and mayors to adopt their policy,
+and who hesitated to displace them when they were found to be obstinate
+or incapable, were ever prompt and effective when general administration
+was involved, and measures not personal were necessary for the public
+interest. On this point, reflection tells me that justice has not been
+rendered to the Government of the day; religious esta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>blishments, public
+instruction, hospital and prison discipline, financial and military
+administration, the connection of power with industry and commerce, all
+the great public questions, received from 1816 to 1820 much salutary
+reform and made important advances. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu advocated an
+enlightened policy and the public good; he took pride in contributing to
+both. M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; devoted himself with serious and scrupulous anxiety to
+the superintendence of the many establishments included in his
+department, and laboured to rectify existing abuses or to introduce
+salutary limitations. The Baron Louis was an able and indefatigable
+minister, who knew to a point how regularity could be established in the
+finances of the State, and who employed for that object all the
+resources of his mind and the unfettered energy of his will. Marshal
+Gouvion St. Cyr had, on every branch of military organization, on the
+formation and internal system of the different bodies, on the scientific
+schools as well as on the material supplies, ideas at once systematic
+and practical, derived either from his general conception of the army or
+from long experience; and these he carried into effect in a series of
+regulations remarkable for the unity of their views and the profound
+knowledge of their details. M.&nbsp;Decazes was endowed with a singularly
+inquiring and inventive mind in seeking to satisfy doubts, to attempt
+improvements, to stimulate emulation and concord for the advantage of
+all social interests, of all classes of citizens, in connection with the
+Government; and these combined objects he invariably promoted with
+intelligent, amiable, and eager activity. In a political point of view,
+the Administration left much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> to regret and to desire; but in its proper
+sphere it was liberal, energetic, impartial, economical from probity and
+regularity, friendly to progress at the same time that it was careful of
+order, and sincerely impressed with the desire of giving universal
+prevalence to justice and the public interest.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Here was undoubtedly a sensible and sound Government, in very difficult
+and lamentable circumstances; and under such rule the country had no
+occasion to lament the present or despair of the future. Nevertheless
+this Government gained no strength by permanence; its enemies felt no
+discouragement, while its friends perceived no addition to their power
+or security. The Restoration had given peace to France, and laboured
+honestly and successfully to restore her independence and rank in
+Europe. Under this flag of stability and order, prosperity and liberty
+sprang up again together. Still the Restoration was always a disputed
+question.</p>
+
+<p>If we are to believe its enemies, this evil was inherent and inevitable.
+According to them the old system, the emigrants, the foreigners, the
+hatreds and suspicions of the Revolution devoted the House of Bourbon to
+their obstinately precarious situation. Without disputing the influence
+of such a fatal past, I cannot admit that it exercised complete empire
+over events, or that it suffices in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> itself to explain why the
+Restoration, even in its best days, always was and appeared to be in a
+tottering state. The mischief sprang from more immediate and more
+personal causes. In the Government of that date there were organic and
+accidental infirmities, vices of the political machine and errors of the
+actors, which contributed much more than revolutionary remembrances to
+prevent its firm consolidation.</p>
+
+<p>A natural and important disagreement exists between the representative
+government instituted by the Charter, and the administrative monarchy
+founded by Louis XIV. and Napoleon. Where administration and policy are
+equally free, when local affairs are discussed and decided by local
+authorities or influences, and neither derive their impulse nor solution
+from the central power, which never interferes except when the general
+interest of the State absolutely requires it to do so,&mdash;as in England,
+and in the United States of America, in Holland and Belgium, for
+instances,&mdash;the representative system readily accords with an
+administrative Government which never appeals to its co-operation except
+on important and rare occasions. But when the supreme authority
+undertakes at the same time to govern with freedom, and to administer by
+centralization,&mdash;when it has to contend, at the seat of power, for the
+great affairs of the State, and to regulate, under its own
+responsibility, in all the departments, the minor business of every
+district,&mdash;two weighty objections immediately present themselves: either
+the central power, absorbed by the care of national questions, and
+occupied with its own defence, neglects local affairs, and suffers them
+to fall into disorder and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>action; or it connects them closely with
+general questions, making them subservient to its own interests; and
+thus the whole system of administration, from the hamlet to the palace,
+degenerates into an implement of government in the hands of political
+parties who are mutually contending for power.</p>
+
+<p>I am certainly not called upon today to dwell on this evil; it has
+become the hackneyed theme of the adversaries of representative
+government, and of political liberty. It was felt long before it was
+taken advantage of; but instead of employing it against free
+institutions, an attempt was made to effect its cure. To achieve this
+end, a double work was to be accomplished; it was necessary to infuse
+liberty into the administration of local affairs, and to second the
+development of the local forces capable of exercising authority within
+their own circle. An aristocracy cannot be created by laws, either at
+the extremities or at the fountain-head of the State; but the most
+democratic society is not stripped of natural powers ready to display
+themselves when called into action. Not only in the departments, but in
+the divisions, in the townships and villages, landed property, industry,
+employments, professions, and traditions have their local influences,
+which, if adopted and organized with prudence, constitute effectual
+authority. From 1816 to 1848, under each of the two constitutional
+monarchies, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, the different cabinets
+have acted under this conviction; they have studied to relieve the
+central Government, by remitting a portion of its functions, sometimes
+to the regular local agents, and at others to more independent
+auxiliaries. But, as it too often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> happens, the remedy was not rapid
+enough in operation; mistrust, timidity, inexperience, and routine
+slackened its progress; neither the authorities nor the people knew how
+to employ it with resolution, or to wait the results with patience. Thus
+compelled to sustain the burden of political liberty with that of
+administrative centralization, the newly-born constitutional monarchy
+found itself compromised between difficulties and contradictory
+responsibilities, exceeding the measure of ability and strength which
+could be reasonably expected from any Government.</p>
+
+<p>Another evil, the natural but not incurable result of these very
+institutions, weighed also upon the Restoration. The representative
+system is at the bottom, and on close analysis, a system of mutual
+sacrifices and dealings between the various interests which coexist in
+society. At the same time that it places them in antagonism, it imposes
+on them the absolute necessity of arriving at an intermediate term, a
+definite measure of reciprocal understanding and toleration which may
+become the basis of laws and government. But also, at the same time, by
+the publicity and heat of the struggle, it throws the opposing parties
+into an unseemly exaggeration of vehemence and language, and compromises
+the self-love and personal dignity of human nature. Thus, by an
+inconsistency teeming with embarrassment, it daily renders more
+difficult that agreement or submission which, in the end, it has also
+made indispensable. Herein is comprised an important difficulty for this
+system of government, which can only be surmounted by a great exercise
+of tact and conciliation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> on the part of the political actors
+themselves, and by a great preponderance of good sense on that of the
+public, which in the end recalls parliamentary factions and their
+leaders to that moderation after defeat, from which the inflated passion
+of the characters they have assumed too often tends to estrange them.</p>
+
+<p>This necessary regulator, always difficult to find or institute, was
+essentially wanting to us under the Restoration; on entering the course,
+we were launched, without curb, on this precipice of extreme
+demonstrations and preconceived ideas, the natural vice of parties in
+every representative government. How many opportunities presented
+themselves from 1816 to 1830, when the different elements of the
+monarchical party could, and in their struggle ought to have paused on
+this brink, at the point where the danger of revolution commenced for
+all! But none had the good sense or courage to exercise this provident
+restraint; and the public, far from imposing it on them, excited them
+still more urgently to the combat,&mdash;as at a play, in which people
+delight to trace the dramatic reflection of their own passions.</p>
+
+<p>A mischievous, although inevitable, distribution of parts between the
+opposing parties aggravated still more, from 1816 to 1820, this want of
+forecast in men, and this extravagance of public passions. Under the
+representative system, it is usually to one of the parties distinctly
+defined and firmly resolved in their ideas and desires, that the
+government belongs: sometimes the systematic defenders of power, at
+others the friends of liberty, then the conservatives, and lastly the
+innovators, direct the affairs of the country; and between these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+organized and ambitious parties are placed the unclassed opinions and
+undecided wishes, that political chorus which is ever present watching
+the conduct of the actors, listening to their words, and ready to
+applaud or condemn them according as they satisfy or offend their
+unfettered judgment. This is, in fact, the natural bias and true order
+of things under free institutions. It is well for Government to have a
+public and recognized standard, regulated on fixed principles, and
+sustained in action by steady adherents; it derives from that position,
+not only the strength and consistent coherence that it requires, but the
+moral dignity which renders power more easy and gentle by placing it
+higher in the estimation of the people. It is not the chance of events
+or the personal ambition of men alone, but the interests and inclination
+of the public, which have produced, in free countries, the great,
+acknowledged, permanent, and trusty political parties, and have usually
+confided power to their hands. At the Restoration it was impossible,
+from 1816 to 1820, to fulfil this condition of a Government at once
+energetic and restrained. The two great political parties which it found
+in action, that of the old system and of the revolution, were both at
+the time incapable of governing by maintaining internal peace with
+liberty; each had ideas and passions too much opposed to the established
+and legal order they would have had to defend; they accepted with great
+reluctance, and in a very undefined sense, the one the Charter, and the
+other the old Monarchy. Through absolute necessity, power returned to
+the hands of the political choir; the floating and impartial section of
+the Chambers, the centre, was called to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> helm. Under a free system,
+the Centre is the habitual moderator and definitive judge of Government,
+but not the party naturally pretending to govern. It gives or withholds
+the majority, but its mission is not to conquer it. And it is much more
+difficult for the centre than for strongly organized parties to win or
+maintain a majority; for when it assumes government, it finds before it,
+not undecided spectators who wait its acts to pass judgment on them, but
+inflamed adversaries resolved to combat them beforehand;&mdash;a weak and
+dangerous position, which greatly aggravates the difficulties of
+Government, whether engaged in the display of power, or the protection
+of liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was this the situation of the King's Government from 1816 to
+1820, but even this was not regularly and powerfully established. Badly
+distributed amongst the actors, the characters were doubtfully filled in
+the interior of this new and uncertain party of the centre, on whom the
+government, through necessity, devolved. The principal portion of the
+heads of the majority in the Chambers held no office. From 1816 to 1819,
+several of those who represented and directed the centre, who addressed
+and supported it with prevailing influence, who defended it from the
+attacks of the right and left-hand parties, who established its power in
+debate and its credit with the public, MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, Camille
+Jordan, Beugnot, and&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, were excluded from the Cabinet. Amongst
+the eminent leaders of the majority, two only, M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute; and M.&nbsp;Pasquier
+were ministers. The Government, therefore, in the Chambers, relied on
+independent supporters who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> approved of their policy in general, but
+neither bore any part in the burden, nor acknowledged any share in the
+responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrinarians had acquired their parliamentary influence and moral
+weight by principles and eloquence rather than by deeds; they maintained
+their opinions without applying them to practice; the flag of thought
+and the standard of action were in different hands. In the Chambers, the
+Ministers often appeared as the clients of the orators; the orators
+never looked upon their cause as identical with that of the Ministers;
+they preserved this distinction while supporting them; they had their
+own demands to make before they assented; they qualified their approval,
+and even sometimes dissented altogether. As the questions increased in
+importance and delicacy, so much the more independence and discord
+manifested themselves in the bosom of the ministerial party, with
+dangerous notoriety. During the session of 1817, M.&nbsp;Pasquier, then
+Chancellor, presented a bill to the Chamber of Deputies, which, while
+temporarily maintaining the censorship of the daily papers, comprised in
+other respects some modifications favourable to the liberty of the
+press. M.&nbsp;Camille Jordan and M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard demanded much greater
+concessions, particularly the application of trial by jury to press
+offences; and the bill, reluctantly passed by the Chamber of Deputies,
+was thrown out by the Chamber of Peers, when the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Broglie urged
+the same amendments on similar principles. In 1817 also, a new Concordat
+had been negotiated and concluded at Rome by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas. It contained
+the double and contra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>dictory defect of invading by some of its
+specifications the liberties of the old Gallican Church; while, by the
+abolition of the Concordat of 1801, it inspired the new French society
+with lively alarms for its civil liberties. Little versed in such
+matters, and almost entirely absorbed in the negotiations for relieving
+France from the presence of foreigners, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu had
+confided this business to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Blacas, who was equally ignorant and
+careless of the importance of the old or new liberties of France,
+whether civil or religious. When this Concordat, respecting which the
+Ministers themselves were discontented and doubtful when they had
+carefully examined it, was presented to the Chamber of Deputies by
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, with the measures necessary for carrying it into effect, it was
+received with general disfavour. In committee, in the board appointed to
+report on it, in the discussions in the hall of conference, all the
+objections, political and historical, of principle or circumstance, that
+the bill could possibly excite, were argued and explained beforehand, so
+as to give warning of the most obstinate and dangerous debate. The
+doctrinarians openly declared for this premature opposition; and their
+support produced a strong effect, as they were known to be sincere
+friends to religion and its influences. It is true, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard was
+accused of being a Jansenist; and thus an attempt was made to depreciate
+him in the eyes of the true believers of the Catholic Church. The
+reproach was frivolous. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard had derived, from family
+traditions and early education, serious habits, studious inclinations,
+and an affectionate respect for the exalted minds of Port-Royal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> for
+their virtue and genius; but he neither adopted their religious
+doctrines nor their systematic conclusions on the relative ties between
+Church and State. On all these questions he exercised a free and
+rational judgment, as a stranger to all extreme passion or sectarian
+prejudice, and not in the least disposed, either as Catholic or
+philosopher, to engage in obscure and endless quarrels with the Church.
+"I seek not to quibble with religion," he was wont to say; "it has
+enough to do to defend itself and us from impiety." The opposition of
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard to the Concordat of 1817 was the dissent of a politician
+and enlightened moralist, who foresaw the mischief which the public
+discussion, and adoption or rejection of this bill, would inflict on the
+influence of the Church, the credit of the Restoration, and the peace of
+the country. The Cabinet had prudence enough not to brave a danger which
+it had created, or suffered to grow on its steps. The report on the bill
+was indefinitely adjourned, and a fresh negotiation was opened with Rome
+by sending Count Portalis on a special mission, which ended in 1819 by
+the tacit withdrawal of the Concordat of 1817. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu,
+pressed by his colleagues, and his own tardy reflections, coincided in
+this retrograde movement; but he maintained a feeling of displeasure at
+the opposition of the doctrinarians and others on this occasion, which
+he sometimes gratified himself by indulging. In the month of March,
+1818, some one, whose name I have forgotten, demanded of him a trifling
+favour. "It is impossible," replied he sharply; "MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, de
+Serre, Camille Jordan, and Guizot will not suffer it."</p>
+
+<p>I had no reason to complain that my name was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> included in this
+ebullition. Although not a member of the Chamber, I openly adopted the
+opinions and conduct of my friends; I had both the opportunity and the
+means, in the discussions of the Council of State, in the drawing-room,
+and through the press,&mdash;channels which all parties employed with equal
+ardour and effect. In spite of the shackles which restrained the papers
+and periodical publications, they freely exercised the liberty which the
+Government no longer attempted to dispute, and to which the most
+influential politicians had recourse, to disseminate far and wide the
+brilliant flames or smouldering fire of their opposition. M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Bonald, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, in the 'Conservative,' and
+M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant in the 'Minerva,' maintained an incessant assault
+on the Cabinet. The Cabinet in its defence, multiplied similar
+publications, such as the 'Moderator,' the 'Publicist,' and the
+'Political and Literary Spectator.' But, for my friends and our cause,
+the defences of the Cabinet were not always desirable or sufficient; we
+therefore, from 1817 to 1820, had our own journals and periodical
+miscellanies,&mdash;the 'Courier,' the 'Globe,' the 'Philosophical,
+Political, and Literary Archives,' and the 'French Review;' and in these
+we discussed, according to our principles and hopes, sometimes general
+questions, and at others the incidental subjects of current policy, as
+they alternately presented themselves. I contributed much to these
+publications. Between our different adversaries and ourselves the
+contest was extremely unequal: whether they came from the right or the
+left, they represented old parties; they expressed ideas and sentiments
+long in circulation; they found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> a public predisposed to receive them.
+We were intruders in the political arena, officers seeking to recruit an
+army, moderate innovators. We attacked, in the name of liberty, theories
+and passions long popular under the same denomination. We defended the
+new French society according to its true rights and interests, but not
+in conformity with its tastes or habits. We had to conquer our public,
+while we combated our enemies. In this difficult attempt our position
+was somewhat doubtful: we were at the same time with and against the
+Government, royalists and liberals, ministerialists and independents; we
+acted sometimes in concert with the Administration, sometimes with the
+Opposition, and we were unable to avail ourselves of all the weapons of
+either power or liberty. But we were full of faith in our opinions, of
+confidence in ourselves, of hope in the future; and we pressed forward
+daily in our double contest, with as much devotion as pride, and with
+more pride than ambition.</p>
+
+<p>All this has been strenuously denied; my friends and I have often been
+represented as deep plotters, greedy for office, eager and shrewd in
+pushing our fortunes through every opening, and more intent on our own
+ascendency than on the fate or wishes of the country,&mdash;a vulgar and
+senseless estimate, both of human nature and of our contemporary
+history. If ambition had been our ruling principle, we might have
+escaped many efforts and defeats. In times when the most brilliant
+fortunes, political or otherwise, were easily within reach of those who
+thought of nothing else, we only desired to achieve ours on certain
+moral conditions, and with the object of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> not caring for ourselves.
+Ambition we had, but in the service of a public cause; and one which,
+either in success or adversity, has severely tried the constancy of its
+defenders.</p>
+
+<p>The most clear-sighted of the cabinet ministers in 1817, M.&nbsp;Decazes and
+M.&nbsp;Pasquier, whose minds were more free and less suspicious than those
+of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu and M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, were not deceived on this point:
+they felt the necessity of our alliance, and cultivated it with anxiety.
+But when it becomes a question of how to govern in difficult times,
+allies are not enough; intimate associates are necessary, devoted
+adherents in labour and peril. In this character, the doctrinarians, and
+particularly M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, their leader in the Chambers, were
+mistrusted. They were looked upon as at once imperious and undecided,
+and more exacting than effective. Nevertheless, in November, 1819, after
+the election of M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire and in the midst of their projected reforms
+in the electoral law, M.&nbsp;Decazes, at the strong instigation of M.&nbsp;de
+Serre, proposed to M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard to join the Cabinet with one or two
+of his friends. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard hesitated at first, then acceded for a
+moment, and finally declined. "You know not what you would do," said he
+to M.&nbsp;Decazes; "my method of dealing with affairs would differ entirely
+from yours: you elude questions, you shift and change them, you gain
+time, you settle things by halves; I, on the contrary, should attack
+them in front, bring them into open view, and dissect them before all
+the world. I should compromise instead of assisting you."
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard was in the right, and defined himself admirably, perhaps
+more correctly than he imagined.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> He was more calculated to advise and
+contest than to exercise power. He was rather a great spectator and
+critic than an eminent political actor. In the ordinary course of
+affairs he would have been too absolute, too haughty, and too slow. In a
+crisis, I question whether his mental reservations, his scruples of
+conscience, his horror of all public excitement, and his prevailing
+dread of responsibility, would have permitted him to preserve the cool
+self-possession, with the firm and prompt determination, which
+circumstances might have required. M.&nbsp;Decazes pressed him no further.</p>
+
+<p>Even at this moment, after all I have seen and experienced, I am not
+prone to be discouraged, or inclined to believe that difficult
+achievements are impossible. However defective may be the internal
+constitution and combinations of the different parties who co-operate in
+carrying on public affairs, the upright conduct of individuals may
+remedy them; history furnishes more than one example of vicious
+institutions and situations, the evil results of which have been
+counteracted by the ability of political leaders and the sound sense of
+the public. But when to the evils of position, the errors of men are
+added,&mdash;when, instead of recognizing dangers in their true tendency, and
+opposing firm resistance, the chiefs and followers of parties either
+yield to or accelerate them, then the mischievous effects of pernicious
+courses inevitably and rapidly develop themselves. Errors were not
+wanting from 1816 to 1820 in every party, whether of Government or
+Opposition, of the centre, the right, or the left, of the ministers or
+doctrinarians. I make no parade of impartiality; in spite of their
+faults and mis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>fortunes, I continue, with a daily increasing conviction,
+to look upon the Government I served, and the party I supported, to have
+been the best; but, for our own credit, let leisure and reflection teach
+us to acknowledge the mistakes we committed, and to prepare for our
+cause&mdash;which assuredly will not die with us&mdash;a more auspicious future.</p>
+
+<p>The centre, in its governing mission, had considerable advantages; it
+suffered neither from moral embarrassments nor external clogs, it was
+perfectly free and unshackled,&mdash;essential qualifications in a great
+public career, and which at that time belonged neither to the right nor
+to the left-hand party.</p>
+
+<p>The right had only accepted the Charter on the eve of its promulgation,
+and after strenuous resistance; a conspicuous and energetic section of
+the party still persisted in opposing it. That division which had seats
+in the Chambers, sided from day to day with the constitutional
+system,&mdash;the officers as intelligent and reflecting men, the soldiers as
+staunch and contented royalists; but neither, in these recognized
+capacities, inspired confidence in the country, which looked upon their
+adhesion to the Charter as constrained or conditional, always insincere
+and covering other views. The right, even while honestly accepting the
+Charter, had also party interests to satisfy; when it aspired to power,
+it was not solely to govern according to its principles, and to place
+the restored monarchy on a solid basis: it had private misfortunes to
+repair and positions to re-assume. It was not a pure and regular party
+of Tory royalists. The emigrants, the remains of the old court and
+clergy, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> still influential amongst them, and eagerly bent on
+carrying out their personal expectations. By its composition and
+reminiscences, the party was condemned to much reserve and imprudence,
+to secret aspirations and indiscreet ebullitions, which, even while it
+professed to walk in constitutional paths, embarrassed and weakened its
+action at every step.</p>
+
+<p>The situation of the left was no less confused. It represented, at that
+exact epoch, not the interests and sentiments of France in general, but
+the interests and sentiments of that portion of France which had
+ardently, indistinctly, and obstinately promoted and sustained the
+Revolution, under its republican or imperial form. It cherished against
+the House of Bourbon and the Restoration an old habit of hostility,
+which the Hundred Days had revived, which the most rational of the party
+could scarcely throw off, the most skilful with difficulty concealed,
+and the gravest considered it a point of honour to display as a protest
+and corner-stone. In November 1816, a man of probity, as sincere in the
+renunciation of his opinions of 1789 as he had formerly been in their
+profession, the Viscount Matthieu&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency, complained, in a
+drawing-room of the party, that the Liberals had no love for legitimacy.
+A person present defended himself from this reproach. "Yes," said M.&nbsp;de
+Montmorency, with thoughtless candour, "you love legitimacy as we do the
+Charter." A keen satire on the false position of both parties under the
+government of the Charter and of legitimacy!</p>
+
+<p>But if the right-hand party or the left, if the members of either in the
+Chambers, had followed only their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> sincere convictions and desires, the
+greater portion, I am satisfied, would have frankly accepted and
+supported the Restoration with the Charter, the Charter with the
+Restoration. When men are seriously engaged in a work and feel the
+weight of responsibility, they soon discover the true course, and would
+willingly follow it. But, both in the right and left, the wisest and
+best-disposed feared to proclaim the truth which they saw, or to adopt
+it as their rule of conduct; both were under the yoke of their external
+party, of its passions as of its interests, of its ignorance as of its
+passions. It has been one of the sorest wounds of our age, that few men
+have preserved sufficient firmness of mind and character to think
+freely, and act as they think. The intellectual and moral independence
+of individuals disappeared under the pressure of events and before the
+heat of popular clamours and desires. Under such a general slavery of
+thought and action, there are no longer just or mistaken minds, cautious
+or rash spirits, officers or soldiers; all yield to the same controlling
+passion, and bend before the same wind; common weakness reduces all to
+one common level; hierarchy and discipline vanish; the last lead the
+first; for the last press and drive onwards, being themselves impelled
+by that tyranny from without, of which they have been the most blind and
+ready instruments.</p>
+
+<p>As a political party, the centre, in the Chambers from 1816 to 1820, was
+not tainted by this evil. Sincere in its adoption of the Restoration and
+the Charter, no external pressure could disturb or falsify its position.
+It remained unfettered in thought and deed. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> openly acknowledged its
+object, and marched directly towards it; selecting, within, the leaders
+most capable of conducting it there, and having no supporters without
+who looked for any other issue. It was thus that, in spite of its other
+deficiencies for powerful government, the centre was at that time the
+fittest party to rule, the only one capable of maintaining order in the
+State, while tolerating the liberty of its rivals.</p>
+
+<p>But to reap the full fruits of this advantage, and to diminish at the
+same time the natural defects of the centre in its mission, it was
+necessary that it should adopt a fixed idea, a conviction that the
+different elements of the party were indispensable to each other; and
+that, to accomplish the object pursued by all with equal sincerity,
+mutual concessions and sacrifices were called for, to maintain this
+necessary union. When Divine wisdom intended to secure the power of a
+human connection, it forbade divorce. Political ties cannot admit this
+inviolability; but if they are not strongly knit, if the contracting
+parties are not firmly resolved to break them only in the last extremity
+and under the most imperious pressure, they soon end, not only in
+impotence, but in disorder; and by their too easy rupture, policy
+becomes exposed to new difficulties and disturbances. I have thus
+pointed out the discrepancies and different opinions which, from the
+beginning, existed between the two principal elements of the centre: the
+Ministers, with their pure adherents, on the one side, and the
+doctrinarians on the other. From the second session after the decree of
+the 5th of September, 1816, these differences increased until they grew
+into dissensions.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>While acknowledging the influence of the doctrinarians in the Chambers,
+and the importance of their co-operation, neither the Ministers nor
+their advocates measured correctly the value of this alliance, or the
+weight of the foundation from which that value was derived. Philosophers
+estimate too highly the general ideas with which they are prepossessed;
+politicians withhold from general ideas the attention and interest they
+are entitled to demand. Intelligence is proud and sensitive; it looks
+for consideration and respect, even though its suggestions may be
+disallowed; and those who treat it lightly or coldly sometimes pay
+heavily for their mistake. It is, moreover, an evidence of narrow
+intellect not to appreciate the part which general principles assume in
+the government of men, or to regard them as useless or hostile because
+we are not disposed to adopt them as guides. In our days, especially,
+and notwithstanding the well-merited disrepute into which so many
+theories have fallen, philosophic deduction, on all the leading
+questions and facts of policy, is a sustaining power, on which the
+ablest and most secure ministers would do wisely to rely. The
+doctrinarians at that period represented this power, and employed it
+fearlessly against the spirit of revolution, as well as in favour of the
+constitutional system. The Cabinet of 1816 undervalued the part they
+played, and paid too little attention to their ideas and desires. The
+application of trial by jury to offences of the press was not, I admit,
+unattended by danger; but it was much better to try that experiment, and
+by so doing to maintain union in the Government party, than to divide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+it by absolutely disregarding, on this question, M.&nbsp;Camille Jordan,
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, and their friends.</p>
+
+<p>All power, and, above all, recent power, demands an impression of
+grandeur in its acts and on its insignia. Order, and the regular
+protection of private interests, that daily bread of nations, will not
+long satisfy their wants. To secure these is an inseparable care of
+Government, but they do not comprise the only need of humanity. Human
+nature finds the other enjoyments for which it thirsts in opposite
+distinctions, moral or physical, just or unjust, solid or ephemeral. It
+has neither enough of virtue nor wisdom to render absolute greatness
+indispensable; but in every position it requires to see, conspicuously
+displayed, something exalted, which may attract and occupy the
+imagination. After the Empire, which had accustomed France to all the
+delights of national pre-eminence and glory, the spectacle of free and
+lofty thought displaying itself with moral dignity, and some show of
+talent, was not deficient in novelty or attraction, while the chance of
+its success outweighed the value of the cost.</p>
+
+<p>The Ministers were not more skilful in dealing with the personal tempers
+than with the ideas of the doctrinarians, who were as haughty and
+independent in character as they were elevated in mind, and ready to
+take offence when any disposition was evinced to apply their opinions
+and conduct without their own consent. Nothing is more distasteful to
+power than to admit, to any great extent, the independence of its
+supporters; it considers them treated with sufficient respect if taken
+into confidence, and is readily disposed to view them as servants. M.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+Lain&eacute;, then Minister of the Interior, wrote one morning to M.&nbsp;Cuvier to
+say that the King had just named him Royal Commissioner, to second a
+bill which would be presented on the following day to the Chamber of
+Deputies. He had not only neglected to apprise him before of the duty he
+was to undertake, but he did not even mention in the note the particular
+bill he instructed him to support. M.&nbsp;Cuvier, more subservient than
+susceptible, with power, made no complaint of this treatment, but
+related it with a smile. A few days before, the Minister of Finance,
+M.&nbsp;Corvetto, had also appointed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre Commissioner for the defence of
+the budget, without asking whether this appointment was agreeable to
+him, or holding any conference even on the fundamental points of the
+budget he was expected to carry through. On receiving notice of this
+nomination, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre felt deeply offended. "It is either an act of
+folly or impertinence," said he loudly; "perhaps both." M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre
+deceived himself; it was neither the one nor the other. M.&nbsp;Corvetto was
+an extremely polite, careful, and modest person; but he was of the
+Imperial school, and more accustomed to give orders to agents than to
+concert measures with members of the Chambers. By habits as well as
+ideas, the doctrinarians belonged to a liberal system,&mdash;troublesome
+allies of power, on the termination of a military and administrative
+monarchy.</p>
+
+<p>I know not which is the most difficult undertaking,&mdash;to transform the
+functionaries of absolute power into the supporters of a free
+Government, or to organize and discipline the friends of liberty into a
+political party. If the Ministers sometimes disregarded the humour of
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> doctrinarians, the doctrinarians in their turn too lightly
+estimated the position and task of the Ministers. They had in reality,
+whatever has been said of sectarian passions and ideas, neither the
+ambition nor the vanity of a coterie; they possessed open, generous, and
+expanded minds, extremely accessible to sympathy; but, too much
+accustomed to live alone and depend on themselves, they scarcely thought
+of the effect which their words and actions produced beyond their own
+circle; and thus social faults were laid to their charge which they had
+not the least desire to commit. Their political mistakes were more real.
+In their relations with power, they were sometimes intemperate and
+offensive in language, unnecessarily impatient, not knowing how to be
+contented with what was possible, or how to wait for amelioration
+without too visible an effort. These causes led them to miscalculate the
+impediments, necessities, and practicable resources of the Government
+they sincerely wished to establish. In the Chambers, they were too
+exclusive and pugnacious, more intent on proving their opinions than on
+gaining converts, despising rather than desiring recruits, and little
+gifted with the talent of attraction and combination so essential to the
+leaders of a party. They were not sufficiently acquainted with the
+difficulties of carrying out a sound scheme of policy, nor with the
+infinite variety of efforts, sacrifices, and cares which are comprised
+in the art of governing.</p>
+
+<p>From 1816 to 1818 the vices of their position and the mistakes
+committed, infused into the Government and its party a continual
+ferment, and the seeds of internal discord which prevented them from
+acquiring the neces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>sary strength and consistency. The mischief burst
+forth towards the end of 1818, when the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu returned from
+the conferences of Aix-la-Chapelle, reporting the withdrawal of the
+foreign armies, the complete evacuation of our territory, and the
+definitive settlement of the financial burdens which the Hundred Days
+had imposed on France. On his arrival he saw his Cabinet on the point of
+dissolution, and vainly attempted to form a new one, but was finally
+compelled to abandon the power he had never sought or enjoyed, but
+which, assuredly, he was unwilling to lose by compulsion in the midst of
+his diplomatic triumph, and to see it pass into hands determined to
+employ it in a manner totally opposed to his own intentions.</p>
+
+<p>A check like this, at such a moment, and to such a man, was singularly
+unjust and unseasonable. Since 1815, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu had rendered
+valuable services to France and to the King. He alone had obtained some
+mitigation to the conditions of a very harsh treaty of peace, which
+nothing but sincere and sad devotion had induced him to sign, while
+feeling the full weight of what he sacrificed in attaching to it his
+illustrious name, and seeking no self-glorification from an act of
+honest patriotism. No man was ever more free from exaggeration or
+quackery in the display of his sentiments. Fifteen months after the
+ratification of peace, he induced the foreign powers to consent to a
+considerable reduction in the army of occupation. A year later, he
+limited to a fixed sum the unbounded demands of the foreign creditors of
+France. Finally, he had just signed the entire emancipation of the
+national<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> soil four years before the term rigorously prescribed by
+treaties. The King, on his return, thanked him in noble words: "Duke de
+Richelieu," he said, "I have lived long enough, since, thanks to you, I
+have seen the French flag flying over every town in France." The
+sovereigns of Europe treated him with esteem and confidence. A rare
+example of a statesman, who, without great actions or superior
+abilities, had, by the uprightness of his character and the unselfish
+tenor of his life, achieved such universal and undisputed respect!
+Although the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu had only been engaged in foreign affairs,
+he was better calculated than has been said, not so much to direct
+effectively as to preside over the internal government of the
+Restoration. A nobleman of exalted rank, and a tried Royalist, he was
+neither in mind or feeling a courtier nor an Emigrant; he had no
+preconceived dislike to the new state of society or the new men; without
+thoroughly understanding free institutions, he had no prejudice against
+them, and submitted to their exercise without an effort. Simple in his
+manners, true and steady in his words, and a friend to the public good,
+if he failed to exercise a commanding influence in the Chambers, he
+maintained full authority near the King; and a constitutional
+Government, resting on the parliamentary centre, could not, at that
+period, have possessed a more worthy or more valuable president.</p>
+
+<p>But at the close of 1818 the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu felt himself compelled,
+and evinced that he was resolved, to engage in a struggle in which the
+considerations of gratitude and prosperity I have here reverted to
+proved to be ineffective weapons on his side. In virtue of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> Charter,
+and in conformity with the electoral law of the 5th of February, 1817,
+two-fifths of the Chamber of Deputies had been renewed since the
+formation of his Cabinet. The first trial of votes, in 1817, had proved
+satisfactory to the Restoration and its friends; not more than two or
+three recognized names were added to the left-hand party, which, even
+after this reinforcement, only amounted to twenty members. At the second
+trial in 1818, the party acquired more numerous and much more
+distinguished recruits; about twenty-five new members, and amongst them
+MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette, Benjamin Constant, and Manuel, were enrolled in its
+ranks. The number was still weak, but important as a rallying point, and
+prognostic. An alarm, at once sincere and interested, exhibited itself
+at court and in the right-hand party; they found themselves on the eve
+of a new revolution, but their hopes were also excited: since the
+enemies of the House of Bourbon were forcing themselves into the
+Chamber, the King would at length feel the necessity of replacing power
+in the hands of his friends. The party had not waited the issue of these
+last elections to attempt a great enterprise. <i>Secret notes</i>, drawn up
+under the eye of the Count d'Artois, and by his most intimate
+confidants, had been addressed to the foreign sovereigns, to point out
+to them this growing mischief, and to convince them that a change in the
+advisers of the crown was the only safe measure to secure monarchy in
+France, and to preserve peace in Europe. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, in
+common with his colleagues, and with a feeling of patriotism far
+superior to personal interest, felt indignant at these appeals to
+foreign in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>tervention for the internal government of the country. M.&nbsp;de
+Vitrolles was struck off from the Privy Council, as author of the
+principal of the three <i>Secret notes</i>. The European potentates paid
+little attention to such announcements, having no faith either in the
+sound judgment or disinterested views of the men from whom they
+emanated. Nevertheless, after the elections of 1818, they also began to
+feel uneasy. It was from prudence, and not choice, that they had
+sanctioned and maintained the constitutional system in France; they
+looked upon it as necessary to close up the Revolution. If, on the
+contrary, it once again opened its doors, the peace of Europe would be
+more compromised than ever; for then the Revolution would assume the
+semblance of legality. But neither in France nor in Europe did any one
+at that time, even amongst the greatest alarmists and the most
+intimidated, dream of interfering with the constitutional system; in
+universal opinion it had acquired with us the privileges of citizenship.
+The entire evil was imputed to the law of elections. It was at
+Aix-la-Chapelle, while surrounded by the sovereigns and their ministers,
+that the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu was first apprised of the newly-elected
+members whom this law had brought upon the scene. The Emperor Alexander
+expressed to him his amazement; the Duke of Wellington advised Louis
+XVIII. "to unite himself more closely with the Royalists." The Duke de
+Richelieu returned to France with a determination to reform the
+electoral law, or no longer to incur the responsibility of its results.</p>
+
+<p>Institutions attacked have no voice in their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> defence, and men
+gladly charge on them their individual errors. I shall not commit this
+injustice, or abandon a sound idea because it has been compromised or
+perverted in application. The principle of the electoral law of the 5th
+of February, 1817, was good in itself, and still remains good, although
+it was insufficient to prevent the evil of our own want of foresight and
+intemperate passions.</p>
+
+<p>When a free government is seriously desired, we must choose between the
+principle of the law of the 5th of February, 1817, and universal
+suffrage,&mdash;between the right of voting confined to the higher classes of
+society and that extended to the popular masses. I believe the direct
+and defined right of suffrage to be alone effectual in securing the
+action of the country upon the Government. On this common condition, the
+two systems may constitute a real control over power, and substantial
+guarantees for liberty. Which is to be preferred?&mdash;this is a question of
+epoch, of situation, of degree of civilization, and of form of
+government. Universal suffrage is well suited to republican
+associations, small or federative, newly instituted or mature in wisdom
+and political virtue. The right of voting confined to a more elevated
+class, and exercised in a strong assumption of the spirit of order, of
+independence, and intelligence, is more applicable to great single and
+monarchical states. This was our reason for making it the basis of the
+law of 1817. We dreaded republican tendencies, which with us, and in our
+days, are nearly synonymous with anarchy; we regarded monarchy as
+natural, and constitutional monarchy as necessary, to France; we wished
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> organize it sincerely and durably, by securing under this system, to
+the conservative elements of French society as at present constituted,
+an influence which appeared to us as much in conformity with the
+interests of liberty as with those of power.</p>
+
+<p>It was the disunion of the monarchical party that vitiated the electoral
+system of 1817, and took away its strength with its truth. By placing
+political power in the hands of property, intelligence, independent
+position, and great interests naturally conservative, the system rested
+on the expectation that these interests would be habitually united, and
+would defend, in common accord, order and right against the spirit of
+license and revolution, the fatal bias of the age. But, from their very
+first steps, the different elements of the great royalist party, old or
+new, aristocratic or plebeian, plunged into discord, equally blind to
+the weakness with which it infected them all, and thus opening the door
+to the hopes and efforts of their common enemies, the revolutionists.
+From thence, and not from the electoral law of 1817, or from its
+principle, came the mischief which in 1818 it was considered desirable
+to check by repealing that enactment.</p>
+
+<p>I am ready to admit in express terms, for it may be alleged with
+justice, that, when in 1816 and 1817 we prepared and defended the law of
+elections, we might have foreseen the state of general feeling under
+which it was to be applied. Discord between the components of the
+monarchical party was neither a strange nor a sudden fact; it existed at
+that time; the Royalists of old and new France were already widely
+separated. I incline to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> think that, even had we attached more
+importance to their future contests, we should still have pursued the
+same course. We were in presence of an imperative necessity: new France
+felt that she was attacked, and required defence; if she had not found
+supporters amongst the Royalists, she would have sought for them, as she
+has too often done, in the camp of the Revolution. But what may explain
+or even excuse a fault cannot effect its suppression. Our policy in 1816
+and 1817 regarded too lightly the disagreements of the monarchical
+party, and the possible return of the Revolutionists; we miscalculated
+the extent of both dangers. It is the besetting error of men
+entrammelled in the fetters of party, to forget that there are many
+opposite facts which skilful policy should turn to profitable account,
+and to pass over all that are not inscribed with brilliancy on their
+standard.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving Aix-la-Chapelle, where he had been so fortunate, the Duke de
+Richelieu, although far from presumptuous, expected, I have no doubt, to
+be equally successful in his design of repealing the law of elections.
+Success deceives the most unassuming, and prevents them from foreseeing
+an approaching reverse. On his arrival, he found the undertaking much
+more difficult than he had anticipated. In the Cabinet, M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute; alone
+fully seconded his intentions. M.&nbsp;Decazes and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr
+declared strongly for the law as it stood. M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, while fully
+admitting that it ought to be modified, refused to take any part in the
+matter, having been, as he said, the first to propose and maintain it.
+M.&nbsp;Roy, who had lately superseded M.&nbsp;Corvetto in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> department of
+finance, cared little for the electoral question, but announced that he
+would not remain in the Cabinet without M.&nbsp;Decazes, whom he considered
+indispensable, either in the Chambers or near the King's person. Discord
+raged within and without the Ministry. In the Chambers, the centre was
+divided; the left defended the law vehemently; the right declared itself
+ready to support any minister who proposed its reform, but at the same
+time repudiated M.&nbsp;Decazes, the author of the decree of the 5th of
+September, 1816, and of all its consequences. The public began to warm
+into the question. Excitement and confusion went on increasing. It was
+evidently not the electoral law alone, but the general policy of the
+Restoration and the Government of France, that formed the subject of
+debate.</p>
+
+<p>In a little work which the historians of this period, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lamartine
+amongst others, have published, the King, Louis XVIII. himself has
+related the incidents and sudden turns of this ministerial crisis, which
+ended, as is well known, in the retirement of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu,
+with four of his colleagues, and in the promotion of M.&nbsp;Decazes, who
+immediately constructed a new Cabinet, of which he was the head, without
+appearing to preside, while M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, appointed to the seals, became
+the powerful organ in the Chambers, and the maintenance of the law of
+elections was adopted as the symbol. Two sentiments, under simple forms,
+pervade this kingly recital: first, a certain anxiety, on the part of
+the author, that no blame should be attached to him in his royal
+character, or in his conduct towards the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, and a desire
+to exculpate himself from these charges;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> secondly, a little of that
+secret pleasure which kings indulge in, even under heavy embarrassments,
+when they see a minister fall whose importance was not derived from
+themselves, and who has served them without expecting or receiving
+favours.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had only consulted my own opinion," says the King, in concluding
+his statement, "I should have wished M.&nbsp;Decazes, uniting his lot, as he
+had always intended, with that of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, to have left
+the Ministry with him." It would have been happy for M.&nbsp;Decazes if this
+desire of the King had prevailed. Not that he erred in any point of duty
+or propriety by surviving the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu in office, and in
+forming a Cabinet without him; an important misunderstanding on a
+pressing question had already separated them. M.&nbsp;Decazes, after
+tendering his resignation, had raised no obstacle to the Duke's efforts
+at finding new colleagues; it was only on the failure of those attempts,
+frankly avowed by the Duke himself, and at the formal request of the
+King, that he had undertaken to form a ministry. As a friend of M.&nbsp;de
+Richelieu, and the day before his colleague, there were certainly
+unpleasant circumstances and appearances attached to this position; but
+M.&nbsp;Decazes was free to act, and could scarcely refuse to carry out the
+policy he had recommended in council, when that which he had opposed
+acknowledged itself incapable. Yet the new Cabinet was not strong enough
+for the enterprise it undertook; with the centre completely shaken and
+divided, it had to contend against the right-hand party more irritated
+than ever, and the left evidently inimical, although through decency it
+lent to Government a preca<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>rious support. The Cabinet of M.&nbsp;Decazes, as
+a ministerial party, retained much inferior forces to those which had
+surrounded the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, and had to contest with two bitter
+enemies, the one inaccessible to peace or truce, the other sometimes
+appearing friendly, but suddenly turning round and attacking the
+Ministry with eager malevolence, when an opportunity offered, and with
+hesitating hostility when compelled to dissemble.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrinarians, who, in co-operation with M.&nbsp;Decazes, had defended
+the law of elections, energetically supported the new Cabinet, in which
+they were brilliantly represented by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre. Success was not
+wanting at the commencement. By a mild and active administration, by
+studied care of its partisans, by frequent and always favourably
+received appeals to the royal clemency in behalf of the exiles still
+excepted from amnesty, even including the old regicides, M.&nbsp;Decazes
+sought and won extensive popularity; Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr satisfied
+the remnants of the old army, by restoring to the new the ablest of its
+former leaders; M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre triumphantly defended the Ministry in the
+Chambers; his bills, boldly liberal, and his frank opposition to
+revolutionary principles, soon acquired for him, even with his
+adversaries, a just reputation for eloquence and sincerity. In the
+parliamentary arena it was an effective and upright Ministry; with the
+country it was felt to be a Government loyally constitutional. But it
+had more brilliancy than strength; and neither its care of individual
+interests, nor its successes in the tribune, were sufficient to rally
+round it the great Government party which its formation had divided.
+Discord arose be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>tween the Chambers themselves. The Chamber of Peers, by
+adopting the proposition of the Marquis Barth&eacute;lemy, renewed the struggle
+against the electoral law. In vain did the Chamber of Deputies repel
+this attack; in vain did the Cabinet, by creating sixty new Peers, break
+down the majority in the palace of the Luxembourg; these half triumphs
+and legal extremes decided nothing. Liberal governments are condemned to
+see the great questions perpetually revived which revolutions bequeath
+to society, and which even glorious despotism suspends without solving.
+The right-hand party was passionately bent on repossessing the power
+which had recently escaped them. The left defended, at any cost, the
+Revolution, more insulted than in danger. The centre, dislocated and
+doubtful of the future, wavered between the hostile parties, not feeling
+itself in a condition to impose peace on all, and on the point of being
+confounded in the ranks of one side or the other. The Cabinet, ever
+victorious in daily debate, and supported by the King's favour, felt
+itself nevertheless feebly surrounded and precariously placed, with the
+air of expecting a favourable or a hostile incident, to bring the
+security it wanted, or to overthrow it altogether.</p>
+
+<p>The events which men call accidents are never wanting in such
+situations. During the space of a few months the Cabinet of 1819
+experienced two,&mdash;the election of M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire, and the assassination of
+the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Berry; and these two decided its fate.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to look upon the election of M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire as an accident;
+it was proposed and settled beforehand in the central committee
+established at Paris to super<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>intend elections in general, and which was
+called the managing committee. This particular election was decided on
+at Grenoble in the college assembled on the 11th of September, 1819, by
+a certain number of votes of the right-hand party, which at the second
+round of balloting were carried to the credit of the left-hand
+candidate, and gave him a majority which otherwise he could not have
+obtained. To excuse this scandal, when it became known, some apologists
+pretended that M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire was not in fact a regicide, because, even
+though he had approved of the condemnation of Louis XVI. in his letters
+to the Convention, his vote at least had not been included in the fatal
+list. Again, when the admission of the deputy was disputed in the
+Chamber, the left-hand party, to get rid of him, while eluding the true
+cause of refusal, eagerly proposed to annul the election on the ground
+of irregularity. When improvident violence fails, men gladly shelter
+themselves under pusillanimous subtlety. It was unquestionably in the
+character of a Conventional regicide, and with premeditated reflection,
+not by any local or sudden accident, that M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire had been elected.
+No act was ever more deliberately arranged and accomplished by party
+feelings. Sincere in the perverse extravagancies of his mind, and
+faithful to his avowed principles, although forgetful and weak in their
+application, openly a Christian, and preaching tolerance under the
+Convention, while he sanctioned the most unrelenting persecution of the
+priests who refused to submit to the yoke of its new church; a
+republican and oppositionist under the Empire, while consenting to be a
+senator and a Count, this old man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> as inconsistent as obstinate, was
+the instrument of a signal act of hostility against the Restoration, to
+become immediately the pretext for a corresponding act of weakness. A
+melancholy end to a sad career!</p>
+
+<p>The assassination of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Berry might with much more propriety be
+called an accident. On the trial it was proved by evidence that Louvel
+had no accomplices, and that he was alone in the conception as in the
+execution of his crime. But it was also evident that hatred against the
+Bourbons had possessed the soul and armed the hand of the murderer.
+Revolutionary passions are a fire which is kindled and nourished afar
+off; the orators of the right obtained credit with many timid and
+horror-stricken minds, when they called this an accident;&mdash;as it is also
+an accident if a diseased constitution catches the plague when it
+infects the air, or if a powder-magazine explodes when you strike fire
+in its immediate neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Decazes endeavoured to defend himself against these two heavy blows.
+After the election of M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire, he undertook to accomplish alone what
+at the close of the preceding year he had refused to attempt in concert
+with the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu. He determined to alter the law of elections.
+It was intended that this change should take place in a great
+constitutional reform meditated by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre, liberal on certain
+points, monarchical on others, and which promised to give more firmness
+to royalty by developing representative government. M.&nbsp;Decazes made a
+sincere effort to induce the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, who was then travelling
+in Holland, to return and reassume the presidency of the Council, and to
+co-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>operate with him in the Chambers for the furtherance of this bold
+undertaking. The King himself applied to the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, who
+positively declined, more from disgust with public affairs and through
+diffidence of his own power, than from any remains of ill-humour or
+resentment. Three actual members of the Cabinet of 1819, General
+Dessoles, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and Baron Louis, declared that they
+would not co-operate in any attack on the existing law of elections.
+M.&nbsp;Decazes determined to do without them, as he had dispensed with the Duke
+de Richelieu, and to form a new Cabinet, of which he became the
+president, and in which M.&nbsp;Pasquier, General Latour-Maubourg, and M.&nbsp;Roy
+replaced the three retiring ministers. On the 29th of November the King
+opened the session. Two months passed over, and the new electoral system
+had not yet been presented to the Chamber. Three days after the
+assassination of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Berry, M.&nbsp;Decazes introduced it suddenly,
+with two bills to suspend personal liberty, and re-establish the
+censorship of the daily press. Four days later he fell, and the Duke de
+Richelieu, standing alone before the King and the danger, consented to
+resume power. M.&nbsp;Decazes would have acted more wisely had he submitted
+to his first defeat, and induced the King after the election of
+M.&nbsp;Gr&eacute;goire, to take back the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu as minister. He would not
+then have been compelled to lower with his own hand the flag he had
+raised, and to endure the burden of a great miscarriage.</p>
+
+<p>The fall of the Cabinet of 1819, brought on a new crisis, and a fresh
+progress of the evil which disorganized the great Government party
+formed during the session of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> 1815, and by the decree of the 5th of
+September, 1816. To the successive divisions of the centre, were now
+added the differences between the doctrinarians themselves. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre,
+who had joined the Cabinet with M.&nbsp;Decazes to defend the law of
+elections, now determined, although sick and absent, to remain there
+with the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu to overthrow it, without any of the
+compensations, real or apparent, which his grand schemes of
+constitutional reform were intended to supply. I tried in vain to
+dissuade him from his resolution.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In the Chamber of Deputies,
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard and M.&nbsp;Camille Jordan vehemently attacked the new
+electoral plan; the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Broglie and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Barante proposed serious
+amendments to it in the Chamber of Peers. All the political ties which
+had been cemented during five years appeared to be dissolved; every one
+followed his own private opinion, or returned to his old bias. In the
+parliamentary field, all was uncertainty and confused opposition; a
+phantom appeared at each extremity, revolution and counter-revolution,
+exchanging mutual menaces, and equally impatient to come to issue.</p>
+
+<p>Those who wish to give themselves a correct idea of parliamentary and
+popular excitement, pushed to their extreme limit, and yet retained
+within that boundary by legal authority and the good sense of the
+public,&mdash;sufficient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> to arrest the country on the brink of an abyss,
+although too weak to block up the road that leads to it,&mdash;should read
+the debate on the new electoral bill introduced into the Chamber of
+Deputies on the 17th of April, 1820, by the second Cabinet of the Duke
+de Richelieu, and discussed for twenty-six days in that Chamber,
+accompanied with riotous gatherings without, thoughtlessly aggressive
+and sternly repressed. If we are to believe the orators of the left,
+France and her liberties, the Revolution and its conquests, the honour
+of the present, and the security of the future, were all lost if the
+ministerial bill should pass. The right, on the other hand, looked upon
+the bill as scarcely strong enough to save the monarchy for the moment,
+and declared its resolution to reject every amendment which might
+diminish its powers. On both sides, pretensions and claims were equally
+ungovernable. Attracted and excited by this legal quarrel, the students,
+the enthusiastic young Liberals, the old professional disturbers, the
+idlers and oppositionists of every class, were engaged daily with the
+soldiers and the agents of police, in conflicts sometimes sanguinary,
+and the accounts of which redoubled the acrimony of the debate
+withindoors. In the midst of this general commotion, the Cabinet of 1820
+had the merit of maintaining, while repressing all popular movement, the
+freedom of legislative deliberation, and of acting its part in these
+stormy discussions with perseverance and moderation. M.&nbsp;Pasquier, their
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, endowed with rare self-command and
+presence of mind, was on this occasion the principal parliamentary
+champion of the Cabinet; and M.&nbsp;Mounier,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> Director-General of the
+Police, controlled the street riots with as much prudence as active
+firmness. The charge so often brought against so many ministers, against
+M.&nbsp;Casimir Perrier in 1831, as against the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu in 1820, of
+exciting popular commotions only to repress them, does not deserve the
+notice of sensible men. At the end of a month, all these debates and
+scenes, within and without, ended in the adoption, not of the
+ministerial bill, but of an amendment which, without destroying in
+principle the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, so materially vitiated
+it, to the advantage of the right, that the party felt themselves bound
+to be satisfied. The greater portion of the centre, and the more
+moderate members of the left, submitted for the sake of public peace.
+The extreme left and the extreme right, M.&nbsp;Manuel and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la
+Bourdonnaye entered a protest. The new electoral system was clearly
+destined to shift the majority, and, with the majority, power, from the
+left to the right; but the liberties of France, and the advantages
+gained by the Revolution, were not endangered by the change.</p>
+
+<p>This question once settled, the Cabinet had to pay its debts to the
+right-hand party,&mdash;rewards to those who had supported it, and
+punishments to its opposers. In spite of old friendships, the
+doctrinarians figured of necessity in the last category. If I had
+desired it, I might have escaped. Not being a member of either Chamber,
+and beyond the circle of constrained action, I could in my capacity of
+State Councillor have maintained reserve and silence after giving my
+advice to the Government; but on entering public life, I had resolved on
+one uniform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> course,&mdash;to express my true thoughts on every occasion, and
+never to separate myself from my friends. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre included me, with
+good reason, in the measure which removed them from the Council; on the
+17th of June, 1820, he wrote to MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan,
+Barante, and myself, to inform us that we were no longer on the list.
+The best men readily assume the habits and style of absolute power.
+M.&nbsp;de Serre was certainly not deficient in self-respect or confidence in
+his own opinions; he felt surprised that in this instance I should have
+obeyed mine, without any other more coercive necessity, and evinced this
+feeling by communicating my removal with unqualified harshness. "The
+evident hostility," he said to me, "which, without the shadow of a
+pretext, you have lately exhibited towards the King's Government, has
+rendered this step inevitable." My answer was simply this:&mdash;"I expected
+your letter. I might have foreseen, and I did anticipate it, when I
+openly evinced my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of the
+Ministry. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to alter in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as yesterday, I shall belong only and entirely to
+myself."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>The decisive step was taken; power had changed its course with its
+friends. After having turned it to this new direction, the Duke de
+Richelieu and his colleagues made sincere efforts during two years to
+arrest its further progress. They tried all methods of conciliation or
+resistance;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> sometimes they courted the right, at others the remains of
+the centre, and occasionally even the left, by concessions of principle,
+and more frequently of a personal nature. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was sent
+as Ambassador to Berlin, and General Clauzel was declared entitled to
+the amnesty. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le and M.&nbsp;Corbi&egrave;re obtained seats in the
+Cabinet, the first as minister without a portfolio, and the other as
+president of the Royal Council of Public Instruction; they left it,
+however, at the expiration of six months, under frivolous pretexts, but
+foreseeing the approaching fall of the Ministry, and not wishing to be
+there at the last moment. They were not deceived. The elections of 1821
+completed the decimation of the weak battalion which still endeavoured
+to stand firm round tottering power. The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, who had only
+resumed office on a personal promise from the Count d'Artois of
+permanent support, complained loudly, with the independent spirit of a
+nobleman of high rank and of a man of honour, that the word of a
+gentleman, pledged to him, had not been kept. Vain complaints, and
+futile efforts! The Cabinet obtained time with difficulty; but the
+right-hand party alone gained ground. At length, on the 19th of
+December, 1821, the last shadow of the Government of the Centre vanished
+with the ministry of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu. The right and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+seized the reins of power. "The counter-revolution is approaching!"
+exclaimed the left, in a mingled burst of satisfaction and alarm. M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le thought differently; a little before the decisive crisis, and
+after having, in his quality of vice-president, directed for some days
+the deliberations of the Chamber of Deputies, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> wrote as follows to
+one of his friends:&mdash;"You will scarcely believe how my four days of
+presidency have succeeded. I received compliments on every side, but
+particularly, I own it to my shame, from the left, whom I have never
+conciliated. They expected, without doubt, to be eaten up alive by an
+<i>ultra</i>. They are inexhaustible in eulogium. Finally, those to whom I
+never speak, now address me with a thousand compliments. I think in this
+there is a little spite against M.&nbsp;Ravez. But, be that as it may, if a
+president were just now to be elected, I should have almost every vote
+in the Chamber.... For myself, impartiality costs me nothing. I look
+only to the success of the affairs I have undertaken, and have not the
+slightest prejudice against individuals. I am born for the end of
+revolutions."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> I have recapitulated amongst the "Historic
+<a name="corr7" id="corr7"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn7" title="changed from 'Illustrations'">Documents</a>"
+the chief measures of general administration, which were adopted by
+M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, M.&nbsp;Decazes and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, in their respective
+departments, during this period. These short tables clearly exhibit the
+spirit of improvement and the rational care of public interests which
+animated the Cabinet. (Historic
+<a name="corr7a" id="corr7a"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn7" title="changed from 'Illustrations'">Documents</a>, <a href="#Page_431">No. IX.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> I insert in the "Historic Documents" the letter I
+addressed to him, with this object, on the 12th of April, 1820, to Nice,
+whither he had repaired towards the middle of the month of January, to
+seek relief from a crisis of the chest complaint which finally caused
+his death. I am struck today, as undoubtedly all will be who read this
+letter with attention, by the mixture of truth and error, of foresight
+and improvidence therein contained. Subsequent events alternately
+verified and disproved what I then wrote. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_436">No. X.</a>)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> I insert at length amongst the "Historic Documents" the
+correspondence interchanged on this occasion between M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre,
+M.&nbsp;Pasquier, and myself. (Historic Documents, <a href="#Page_450">No. XI</a>)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.</h3>
+
+<h3>1822-1827.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>POSITION OF M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE ON ASSUMING POWER.&mdash;HE FINDS HIMSELF
+ENGAGED WITH THE LEFT AND THE CONSPIRACIES.&mdash;CHARACTER OF THE
+CONSPIRACIES.&mdash;ESTIMATE OF THEIR MOTIVES.&mdash;THEIR CONNECTION WITH
+SOME OF THE LEADERS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;LA
+FAYETTE.&mdash;M.&nbsp;MANUEL.&mdash;M.&nbsp;D'ARGENSON.&mdash;THEIR ATTITUDE IN THE CHAMBER
+OF DEPUTIES.&mdash;FAILURE OF THE CONSPIRACIES, AND CAUSES
+THEREOF.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE ENGAGED WITH HIS RIVALS WITHIN AND BY THE SIDE OF THE
+CABINET.&mdash;THE DUKE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MONTMORENCY.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND AMBASSADOR
+AT LONDON.&mdash;CONGRESS OF VERONA.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND BECOMES
+MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.&mdash;SPANISH WAR.&mdash;EXAMINATION OF ITS
+CAUSES AND RESULTS.&mdash;RUPTURE BETWEEN M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE AND M.&nbsp;DE
+CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND.&mdash;FALL OF M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;CH&Acirc;TEAUBRIAND.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE ENGAGED
+WITH AN OPPOSITION SPRINGING FROM THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.&mdash;THE
+"JOURNAL DES D&Eacute;BATS" AND THE MESSRS. BERTIN.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE FALLS
+UNDER THE YOKE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY.&mdash;ATTITUDE AND
+INFLUENCE OF THE ULTRA-CATHOLIC PARTY.&mdash;ESTIMATE OF THEIR
+CONDUCT.&mdash;ATTACKS TO WHICH THEY ARE
+EXPOSED.&mdash;M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MONTLOSIER.&mdash;M.&nbsp;B&Eacute;RANGER.&mdash;ACUTENESS OF M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE.&mdash;HIS DECLINE.&mdash;HIS ENEMIES
+AT THE COURT.&mdash;REVIEW AND DISBANDING OF THE NATIONAL GUARD OF
+PARIS.&mdash;ANXIETY OF CHARLES X.&mdash;DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF
+DEPUTIES.&mdash;THE ELECTIONS ARE HOSTILE TO M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;VILL&Egrave;LE.&mdash;HE
+RETIRES.&mdash;SPEECH OF THE DAUPHINISTS TO CHARLES X.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>I now change position and point of view. It was no longer as an actor
+within, but as a spectator without, that I watched the right-hand party,
+and am enabled to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> record my impressions,&mdash;a spectator in opposition,
+who has acquired light, and learned to form a correct judgment, from
+time.</p>
+
+<p>In December 1821, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le attained power by the natural highroad.
+He reached his post through the qualities he had displayed and the
+importance he had acquired in the Chambers, and at the head of his
+party, which he brought in with himself. After a struggle of five years,
+he accomplished the object prematurely conceived by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vitrolles in
+1815,&mdash;that the leader of the parliamentary majority should become the
+head of the Government. Events are marked by unforeseen contradictions.
+The Charter conducted to office the very individual who, before its
+promulgation, had been its earliest opponent.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the noted men of our time, it is a distinctive feature in the
+career of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, that he became minister as a partisan, and
+retained that character in his official position, while at the same time
+endeavouring to establish, amongst his supporters, general principles of
+government in preference to the spirit of party. This moderator of the
+right was ever strictly faithful to the interests of that side. Very
+often unacquainted with the ideas, passions, and designs of his party,
+he opposed them indirectly and without positive disavowal, resolved
+never to desert his friends, even though he might be unable to control
+their course. Not from any general and systematic conviction, but from a
+sound practical instinct, he readily perceived the necessity of a strong
+attachment from the leader to his army, to secure a reciprocal feeling
+from the army to its chief. He paid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> dearly for this pertinacity; for it
+justly condemned him to bear the weight of errors which, had he been
+unfettered, he would never in all probability have committed; but
+through this sacrifice he held power for six years, and saved his party,
+during that period, from the extreme mistakes which, after his
+secession, led rapidly to their ruin. As minister of a constitutional
+monarchy, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le has furnished France with one of the first
+examples of that fixity of political ties which, in spite of many
+inconveniences and objections, is essential to the great and salutary
+effects of representative government.</p>
+
+<p>When M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was called on to form a Cabinet, he found the country
+and the Government under the influence of a violent excitement. There
+were not alone storms in the Chamber and tumults in the streets; secret
+societies, plots, insurrections, and a strong effort to overthrow
+established order, fermented and burst forth in every quarter,&mdash;in the
+departments of the east, west, and south, at B&eacute;fort, Colmar, Toulon,
+Saumur, Nantes, La Rochelle, and even at Paris itself, under the very
+eyes of the Ministers, in the army as well as in the civil professions,
+in the royal guards as in the regiments of the line. In less than three
+years, eight serious conspiracies attacked and endangered the
+Restoration.</p>
+
+<p>Today, after the lapse of more than thirty years, after so many events
+of greater importance, when an honest and rational man asks himself what
+motives could have excited such fierce anger and rash enterprises, he
+can find none either sufficient or legitimate. Neither the acts of power
+nor the probabilities of the future had so wounded or threatened the
+rights and interests of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> country as to justify these attempts at
+utter subversion. The electoral system had been artfully changed; power
+had passed into the hands of an irritating and suspected party; but the
+great institutions were still intact; public liberty, though disputed,
+still displayed itself vigorously; legal order had received no serious
+blow; the country prospered and regularly advanced in strength. The new
+society was disturbed, but not disarmed; it was in a condition to wait
+and defend itself. There were just grounds for an animated and public
+opposition, but none for conspiracy or revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Nations that aspire to be free incur a prominent danger,&mdash;the danger of
+deceiving themselves on the question of tyranny. They readily apply that
+name to any system of government that displeases or alarms them, or
+refuses to grant all that they desire. Frivolous caprices, which entail
+their own punishment! Power must have inflicted on a country many
+violations of right, with repeated acts of injustice and oppression
+bitter and prolonged, before revolution can be justified by reason, or
+crowned with triumph in the face of its inherent faults. When such
+causes are wanting to revolutionary attempts, they either fail miserably
+or bring with them the reaction which involves their own punishment.</p>
+
+<p>But from 1820 to 1823 the conspirators never dreamed of asking
+themselves if their enterprises were legitimate; they entertained no
+doubt on the subject. Very different although simultaneous passions,
+past alarms and prospective temptations, influenced their minds and
+conduct. The hatreds and apprehensions that attached themselves to the
+words emigration, feudal system, old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> form of government, aristocracy,
+and counter-revolution, belonged to bygone times; but these fears and
+antipathies were in many hearts as intense and vivid as if they were
+entertained towards existing and powerful enemies. Against these
+phantoms, which the folly of the extreme right had conjured up, without
+the power of giving them substantial vitality, war in any shape was
+considered allowable, urgent, and patriotic. It was believed that
+liberty could best be served and saved by rekindling against the
+Restoration all the slumbering revolutionary fires. The conspirators
+flattered themselves that they could at the same time prepare a fresh
+revolution, which should put an end, not only to the restored monarchy,
+but to monarchy altogether, and by the re-establishment of the Republic
+lead to the absolute triumph of popular rights and interests. To the
+greater part of these young enthusiasts, descended from families who had
+been engaged in the old cause of the first Revolution, dreams of the
+future united with traditions of the domestic hearth; while maintaining
+the struggles of their fathers, they indulged their own Utopian
+chimeras.</p>
+
+<p>Those who conspired from revolutionary hatred or republican hope, were
+joined by others with more clearly defined but not less impassioned
+views. I have elsewhere said, in speaking of Washington, "It is the
+privilege, often corruptive, of great men, to inspire attachment and
+devotion without the power of reciprocating these feelings." No one ever
+enjoyed this privilege more than the Emperor Napoleon. He was dying at
+this very moment upon the rock of St. Helena; he could no longer do
+anything for his partisans; and he found, amongst the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> people as well as
+in the army, hearts and arms ready to do all and risk all for his
+name,&mdash;a generous infatuation for which I am at a loss to decide whether
+human nature should be praised or pitied.</p>
+
+<p>All these passions and combinations would in all probability have
+remained futile and unnoticed, had they not found exponents and chiefs
+in the highest political circles and in the bosom of the great bodies of
+the State. The popular masses are never sufficient for themselves; their
+desires and designs must be represented by visible and important
+leaders, who march at their head and accept the responsibility of the
+means and end. The conspirators of from 1820 to 1823 knew this well; and
+upon the most widely separated points, at B&eacute;fort as at Saumur, and at
+each fresh enterprise, they declared that they would not act unless
+well-known political leaders and Deputies of reputation were associated
+with them. Everybody knows, at the present day, that the co-operation
+they required was not withheld.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p><p>In the Chamber of Deputies, the opposition to the Government of the
+Right was comprised of three sections united against it, but differing
+materially in their views and in their means of hostility. I shall only
+name the principal members of this confederacy, and who have themselves
+clearly defined their respective positions. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette and
+M.&nbsp;Manuel acknowledged and directed the conspiracies. Without ignoring
+them, General Foy, M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant, and M.&nbsp;Casimir Perrier,
+disapproved of their proceedings and declined association. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard
+and his friends were absolutely unacquainted with them,
+and stood entirely aloof.</p>
+
+<p>When my thoughts revert to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette, I am saddened by
+affectionate regret. I never knew a character more uniformly sincere,
+generous, and kind, or more ready to risk everything for his pledged
+faith and cause; his benevolence, although rather indiscriminate in
+particular cases, was not the less true and expanded towards humanity in
+general. His courage and devotedness were natural and earnest, serious
+under an exterior sometimes light, and as genuine as they were
+spontaneous. Throughout his life he maintained consistency in sentiments
+and ideas; and he had his days of vigorous resolution, which would have
+reflected honour on the truest friend of order and resistance to
+anarchy. In 1791, he opened fire, in the Champ&nbsp;de&nbsp;Mars, on the revolt
+set up in the name of the people; in 1792, he came in person to demand,
+on behalf of his army, the suppression of the Jacobins; and he held
+himself apart and independent under the Empire. But, taking all points
+into account, he failed in political judgment, in discernment, in a just
+estimate of circumstances and men; and he had a yielding towards his
+natural bent, a want of foresight as to the probable results of his
+actions, with a constant but indistinct yearning after popular favour,
+which led him on much further than he intended, and subjected him to the
+influence of men of a very inferior order, directly against his moral
+nature and political situation. At the first moment, in 1814, he seemed
+to be well disposed towards the Restoration; but the tendencies of
+power, and the persevering rancour of the Royalists, soon threw him back
+into the ranks of opposition. At the close of the Hundred Days, his
+hostility to the House of Bourbon became declared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> and active; a
+republican in soul, without being sufficiently strong or daring to
+proclaim the Republic, he opposed as obstinately as vainly the return of
+royalty; and before the Chamber of 1815, excited but not dismayed, he
+pledged himself, while the Restoration lasted, to enter and never to
+desert the ranks of its most inveterate enemies. From 1820 to 1823 he
+was, not the ostensible head, but the instrument and ornament, of every
+secret society, of every plot and project of revolution; even of those
+the results of which he would inevitably have denounced and resisted,
+had they been crowned with success.</p>
+
+<p>No two people could less resemble each other than M.&nbsp;Manuel and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La
+Fayette. While one was open, improvident, and rash in his hostility, the
+other was in an equal degree reserved, calculating, and prudent even in
+his violence, although in real character bold and determined. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La
+Fayette was not exactly a high and mighty lord,&mdash;that expression does
+not apply to him,&mdash;but a noble gentleman, liberal and popular, not
+naturally a revolutionist, but one who by enthusiasm or example might be
+led and would himself lead to repeated revolutions. M.&nbsp;Manuel was the
+obedient child and able defender of the past revolution, capable of
+joining Government for its interest&mdash;a liberal Government, if animated
+with revolutionary objects, an absolute Government if unlimited power
+should be necessary to their supremacy,&mdash;but determined to uphold
+revolution in every case and at any price. His mind was limited and
+uncultivated, and, either in his general life or in parliamentary
+debate, without any impress of great political views, or of sym<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>pathetic
+or lofty emotions of the soul, beyond the firmness of his attitude and
+the lucid strength of his language. Although no advocate, and a little
+provincial in his style, he spoke and acted as a man of party, calmly
+persevering and resolved, immovable in the old revolutionary arena, and
+never disposed to leave it either to become a convert to new measures or
+to adopt new views. The Restoration, in his opinion, was in fact the old
+system and the counter-revolution. After having confronted it in the
+Chambers with all the opposition which that theatre permitted, he
+encouraged, without, every plot and effort of subversion; less ready
+than M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette to place himself at their head, less confident in
+their success, but still determined to keep alive by these means hatred
+and war against the Restoration, watching at the same time for a
+favourable opportunity of launching a decisive blow.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;d'Argenson had less weight with the party than either of his
+colleagues, although perhaps the most impassioned of the three. He was a
+sincere and melancholy visionary, convinced that all social evils spring
+from human laws, and bent on promoting every kind of reform, although he
+had little confidence in the reformers. By his position in society, the
+generous tone of his sentiments, the seriousness of his convictions, the
+attraction of an affectionate although reserved disposition, and the
+charm of a refined and elegant mind, which extracted from his false
+philosophy bold and original views, he held, in the projects and
+preliminary deliberations of the conspiring opposition, a tolerably
+important place; but he was little suited for action, and ready to
+discourage it, although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> always prepared for personal engagement. A
+chimerical but not hopeful fanaticism is not a very promising
+temperament for a conspirator.</p>
+
+<p>The issue of all these vain but tragical plots is well known. Dogged at
+every step by authority, sometimes even persecuted by the interested
+zeal of unworthy agents, they produced, in the space of two years, in
+various parts of France, nineteen capital condemnations, eleven of which
+were carried into effect. When we look back on these gloomy scenes, the
+mind is bewildered, and the heart recoils from the spectacle of the
+contrast which presents itself between sentiments and actions, efforts
+and results; we contemplate enterprises at the same time serious and
+harebrained, patriotic ardour joined to moral levity, enthusiastic
+devotion combined with indifferent calculation, and the same blindness,
+the same perseverance, united to similar impotence in old and young, in
+the generals and the soldiers. On the 1st of January, 1822, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La
+Fayette arrived in the vicinity of B&eacute;fort to place himself at the head
+of the insurrection in Alsace. He found the plot discovered, and several
+of the leaders already in arrest; but he also met others, MM.&nbsp;Ary
+Scheffer, Joubert, Carrel, and Guinard, whose principal anxiety was to
+meet and warn him by the earliest notice, and to save him and his son
+(who accompanied him) by leading them away through unfrequented roads.
+Nine months later, on the 21st of September in the same year, four young
+non-commissioned officers, Bories, Raoulx, Goubin, and Pommier,
+condemned to death for the conspiracy of Rochelle, were on the point of
+undergoing their sentence; M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette and the head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> committee of
+the <i>Carbonari</i> had vainly endeavoured to effect their escape. The poor
+sergeants knew they were lost, and had reason to think they were
+abandoned. A humane magistrate urged them to save their lives by giving
+up the authors of their fatal enterprise. All four answered, "We have
+nothing to reveal," and then remained obstinately silent. Such devotion
+merited more thoughtful leaders and more generous enemies.</p>
+
+<p>In presence of such facts, and in the midst of the warm debates they
+excited in the Chamber, the situation of the conspiring Deputies was
+awkward; they neither avowed their deeds nor supported their friends.
+The violence of their attacks against the Ministry and the Restoration
+in general, supplied but a poor apology for this weakness. Secret
+associations and plots accord ill with a system of liberty; there is
+little sense or dignity in conspiring and arguing at the same time. It
+was in vain that the Deputies who were not implicated endeavoured to
+shield their committed and embarrassed colleagues; it was in vain that
+General Foy, M.&nbsp;Casimir Perrier, M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant, and M.&nbsp;Lafitte,
+while protesting with vehemence against the accusations charged upon
+their party, endeavoured to cast the mantle of their personal innocence
+over the actual conspirators, who sat by their sides. This man&oelig;uvre,
+more blustering than formidable, deceived neither the Government nor the
+public; and the conspiring Deputies lost more reputation than they
+gained security, by being thus defended while they were disavowed, in
+their own ranks. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette became impatient of this doubtful and
+unworthy position. During the sitting of the 1st of August, 1822, with
+reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> to the debate on the budget, M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant complained
+of a phrase in the act of accusation drawn up by the Attorney-General of
+Poictiers, against the conspiracy of General Berton, and in which the
+names of five Deputies were included without their being prosecuted.
+M.&nbsp;Lafitte sharply called upon the Chamber to order an inquiry into
+transactions "which," said he, "as far as they affect myself are
+infamous falsehoods." M.&nbsp;Casimir Perrier and General Foy supported the
+motion for inquiry. The Cabinet and the right-hand party rejected it,
+while defending the Attorney-General and his statements. The Chamber
+appeared perplexed. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette demanded to be heard, and, with a
+rare and happy expression of ironical pride, said, "Whatever may be my
+habitual indifference to party accusations and enmities, I feel called
+upon to add a few words to what has been said by my honourable friends.
+Throughout the course of a career entirely devoted to the cause of
+liberty, I have constantly desired to be a mark for the malevolence of
+the adversaries of that cause, under whatever forms, whether despotic,
+aristocratic, or monarchical, which they may please to select, to
+contest or pervert it. I therefore make no complaint, although I may
+claim the right of considering the word <i>proved</i>, which the
+Attorney-General has thought proper to apply to me, a little free; but I
+join with my friends by demanding, as far as we can, the utmost
+publicity, both within the walls of this Chamber and in the face of the
+entire nation. Thus I and my accusers, in whatever rank they may be
+placed, can say to each other, without restraint, all that we have had
+mutually to reproach ourselves with during the last thirty years."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>The challenge was as transparent as it was fierce. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le felt
+the full range of it, which extended even to the King himself; and
+taking up the glove at once, with a moderation which in its turn was not
+deficient in dignity, "The orator I follow," said he, "placed the
+question on its true footing when he said, in speaking of the Chamber,
+'as far as we can.' Yes, it is of the utmost importance that, on the
+subject under discussion, the truth or falsehood should be correctly
+known; but do we adopt the true method of ascertaining either? Such is
+not my opinion; if it were, I should at once vote for the inquiry. The
+proper mode of proceeding appears to me to be, to leave justice to its
+ordinary course, which no one has a right to arrest.... If members of
+this Chamber have been compromised in the act of accusation, do they not
+find their acquittal in the very fact that the Chamber has not been
+called upon to give them up to be added to the list of the accused? For,
+gentlemen, it is maintaining a contradiction to say, on the one hand,
+'You have placed our names in the requisition for indictment,' and on
+the other, 'The minister in office has not dared to prosecute, since the
+Chamber has not been required to surrender us.' And the demand has not
+been made, because the nature of the process neither imposed it as a
+duty nor a necessity on the part of the minister to adopt that course. I
+declare openly, before France, we do not accuse you, because there was
+nothing in the process which rendered it either incumbent or essential
+that we should do so. And we should the more readily have fulfilled that
+duty, since you cannot suppose us so little acquainted with the human
+heart as not to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> know that there would be less danger in subjecting you
+to direct prosecution than in following simply and openly the line
+marked out by the ordinary course of justice."</p>
+
+<p>At the close of this sitting, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le assuredly had good reason to
+be satisfied with his position and himself. He had exhibited, at the
+same time, firmness and moderation; by confining himself within the
+ordinary resources of justice, by disclaiming prosecution to extremity,
+he had exhibited the arm of power restrained, but ready to strike if
+necessity should require; he had thus, to a certain extent, defied while
+he tranquillized the patrons of the conspirators, and had satisfied his
+own party without irritating their passions. On that day he combined the
+minister with the tactician of the Chamber.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of which we are speaking, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le stood in the first
+and best phase of his power; he defended monarchy and order against
+conspiracy and insurrection; in the Chamber of Deputies he had to repel
+the furious attacks of the left-hand party, and in the Chamber of Peers
+the more temperate but vigilant illwill of the friends of the Duke de
+Richelieu. The danger and acrimony of the contest united his whole party
+around him. Before such a situation, the rivalries and intrigues of the
+Chamber and the Court hesitated to show themselves; unreasonable
+expectations were held in check; fidelity and discipline were evidently
+necessary; the associates of the chief could not desert, and dared not
+to assail him with their importunities.</p>
+
+<p>But during the course of the year 1822 the conspiracies were subdued,
+the perils of the monarchy dissi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>pated, the parliamentary combats,
+although always bitter, had ceased to be questions of life and death,
+and the preponderance of the right-hand party appeared to be firmly
+established in the country as in the Chambers. Other difficulties and
+dangers then began to rise up round M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le. He had no longer
+menacing enemies to hold his friends in check; disagreements, demands,
+enmities, and intrigues beset him on every side. The first attacks
+sprang from questions of internal policy, and originated in the bosom of
+his own Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>I have no desire to pronounce severe judgment on the revolutions which
+agitated Southern Europe from 1820 to 1822. It is hard to say to nations
+badly governed, that they are neither wise nor strong enough to remedy
+their own evils. Above all, in our days, when the desire for good
+government is intense, and none believe themselves too weak to
+accomplish what they wish, unrestrained truth on this subject offends
+many sincere friends of justice and humanity. Experience, however, has
+supplied numerous inferences. Of the three revolutions which occurred in
+1820, those of Naples and Turin evaporated in a few months, without any
+blow being struck, before the sole appearance of the Austrian troops.
+The Spanish revolution alone survived, neither abandoned nor
+established, pursuing its course by violent but uncertain steps,
+incapable of founding a regular government and of suppressing the
+resistance with which it was opposed, but still strong enough to keep
+alive anarchy and civil war. Spain, under the influence of such
+commotions, was a troublesome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> neighbour to France, and might become
+dangerous. The conspirators, defeated at home, found shelter there, and
+began to weave new plots from that place of refuge. In their turn, the
+Spanish counter-revolutionists found an asylum in France, and prepared
+arms on both sides of the Pyrenees. A sanatory line of troops, stationed
+on our frontier to preserve France from the contagion of the
+yellow-fever which had broken out in Catalonia, soon grew into an army
+of observation. The hostile feeling of Europe, much more decided and
+systematic, co-operated with the mistrust of France. Prince Metternich
+dreaded a new fit of Spanish revolutionary contagion in Italy; the
+Emperor Alexander imagined himself called upon to maintain the security
+of all thrones and the peace of the world; England, without caring much
+for the success of the Spanish revolution, was extremely anxious that
+Spain should continue entirely independent, and that French influence
+should not prevail in the Peninsula. The French Government had to deal
+with a question not only delicate and weighty in itself, but abounding
+with still more important complications, and which might lead to a
+rupture with some, if not with the whole of her allies.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le on succeeding to office, had no very defined ideas as to
+foreign affairs, or any decidedly arranged plans beyond an unbiassed
+mind and sensible predilections. During his short association with the
+Cabinet of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, he had closely observed the policy
+adopted towards Spain and Italy,&mdash;a peaceful policy of non-intervention,
+and of sound advice to kings and liberals, to liberals as to kings, but
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> little efficacy in act, and tending, above all other considerations,
+to keep France beyond the vortex of revolutions and counter-revolutions,
+and to prevent a European conflagration. In the main, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+approved of this policy, and would have desired nothing better than to
+continue it. He was more occupied with internal government than external
+relations, and more anxious for public prosperity than diplomatic
+influence; but, in the accomplishment of his views, he had to contend
+against the prepossessions of his party, and in this struggle his two
+principal associates, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency, as Minister for Foreign
+Affairs, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, as ambassador at London, contributed
+more embarrassment than assistance.</p>
+
+<p>On the formation of the Cabinet, he proposed to the King to give M.&nbsp;de
+Montmorency the portfolio of foreign affairs. "Take care," replied Louis
+XVIII. "He has a very little mind, somewhat prejudiced and obstinate; he
+will betray you, against his will, through weakness. When present, he
+will say he agrees with you, and may perhaps think so at the time; when
+he leaves you, he will suffer himself to be led by his own bias,
+contrary to your views, and, instead of being aided, you will be
+thwarted and compromised." M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le persevered; he believed that,
+with the right-hand party, the name and influence of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency
+were of importance. Not long after, he had an opportunity of satisfying
+himself that the King had judged correctly. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre having refused
+to hold office in the new Cabinet, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, to remove him with the
+semblance of a compliment, requested the King to appoint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> him ambassador
+at Naples. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency, who wanted this post for his cousin the
+Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Laval, went so far as to say that he should resign if it were
+refused to him. The King and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le kept their resolution; M.&nbsp;de
+Serre went to Naples, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency remained in the Ministry,
+but not without discontent at the preponderance of a colleague who had
+treated him with so little complaisance.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, by accepting the embassy to London, relieved M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le from many little daily annoyances; but he was not long satisfied
+with his new post. He wished to reign in a coterie, and to receive
+adulation without constraint. He produced less effect in English society
+than he had anticipated; he wanted more success and of a more varied
+character; he was looked upon as a distinguished writer, rather than as
+a great politician; they considered him more opinionated than profound,
+and too much occupied with himself. He excited curiosity, but not the
+admiration he coveted; he was not always the leading object of
+attention, and enjoyed less freedom, while he called forth little of the
+enthusiastic idolatry to which he had been accustomed elsewhere. London,
+the English court and drawing-rooms, wearied and displeased him; he has
+perpetuated the impression in his Memoirs:&mdash;"Every kind of reputation,"
+he says, "travels rapidly to the banks of the Thames, and leaves them
+again with the same speed. I should have worried myself to no purpose by
+endeavouring to acquire any knowledge of the English. What a life is a
+London season! I should prefer the galleys a hundred times."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>An opportunity soon presented itself, which enabled him to seek in
+another direction more worldly excitement and popularity. Revolution and
+civil war went on increasing in Spain from day to day; tumults, murders,
+sanguinary combats between the people and the royal guards, the troops
+of the line and the militia, multiplied in the streets of Madrid. The
+life of Ferdinand VII. appeared to be in question, and his liberty was
+actually invaded.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Metternich, whose importance and influence in Europe had greatly
+increased ever since he had so correctly foreseen the weakness, and so
+rapidly stifled the explosion, of the Italian revolutions, applied his
+entire attention to the affairs of the Spanish Peninsula, and urged the
+sovereigns and their ministers to deliberate on them in common accord.
+As soon as it was settled that a Congress should assemble with this
+object, at Verona, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand made powerful applications,
+directly and indirectly, to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, to be
+included in the mission. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency had no idea of acceding to
+this, fearing to be opposed or eclipsed by such a colleague. The King,
+Louis XVIII., who had no confidence either in the capacity of M.&nbsp;de
+Montmorency or the judgment of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, was desirous that
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le himself should repair to Verona, to maintain the prudent
+policy which circumstances required. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le objected. It would
+be, he said to the King, too decided an affront to his minister of
+foreign affairs and his ambassador in London, who were naturally called
+to this duty; it would be better to send them both, that one might
+control the other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> and to give them specific instructions which should
+regulate their attitude and language. The King adopted this advice. The
+instructions, drawn up by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le's own hand, were discussed and
+settled in a solemn meeting of the Cabinet; M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand knew to
+a certainty that he owed the accomplishment of his desires to M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le alone; and eight days after the departure of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency,
+the King, to secure the preponderance of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, by a signal mark
+of favour, appointed him President of the Council.</p>
+
+<p>The instructions were strictly defined; they prescribed to the French
+plenipotentiaries to abstain from appearing, when before the Congress,
+as reporters of the affairs of Spain, to take no initiative and enter
+into engagement as regarded intervention, and, in every case, to
+preserve the total independence of France, either as to act or future
+resolve. But the inclinations of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency accorded ill with his
+orders; and he had to treat with sovereigns and ministers who wished
+precisely to repress the Spanish revolution by the hand of France,&mdash;in
+the first place, to accomplish this work without taking it upon
+themselves, and also to compromise France with England, who was
+evidently much averse to French interference. The Prince&nbsp;de&nbsp;Metternich,
+versed in the art of suggesting to others his own views, and of urging
+with the air of co-operation, easily obtained influence over M.&nbsp;de
+Montmorency, and induced him to take with the other Powers the precise
+initiative, and to enter into the very engagements, he had been
+instructed to avoid. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, who filled only a secondary
+post in the official negotiation, kept at first a little on the
+reserve:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> "I do not much like the general position in which he has
+placed himself here," wrote M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency to Madame Recamier;<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>
+"he is looked upon as singularly sullen; he assumes a stiff and uncouth
+manner, which makes others feel ill at ease in his presence. I shall use
+every effort, before I go, to establish a more congenial intercourse
+between him and his colleagues." M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency had no occasion to
+trouble himself much to secure this result. As soon as he had taken his
+departure, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand assumed a courteous and active demeanour
+at the Congress. The Emperor Alexander, alive to the reputation of the
+author of the 'Genius of Christianity,' and to his homage to the founder
+of the 'Holy Alliance,' returned him compliment for compliment, flattery
+for flattery, and confirmed him in his desire of war with the Spanish
+revolution, by giving him reason to rely, for that course of policy and
+for himself, upon his unlimited support. Nevertheless, in his
+correspondence with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand still expressed
+himself very guardedly: "We left," said he, "our determination in doubt;
+we did not wish to appear impracticable; we were apprehensive that, if
+we discovered ourselves too much, the President of the Council would not
+listen to us."</p>
+
+<p>I presume that M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le fell into no mistake as to the pretended
+doubt in which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand endeavoured to envelop himself. I
+also incline to think that he himself, at that epoch, looked upon a war
+with Spain as almost inevitable. But he was still anxious to do all in
+his power to avoid it, if only to preserve with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> the moderate spirits,
+and the interests who dreaded that alternative, the attitude and
+reputation of an advocate for peace. Sensible men are unwilling to
+answer for the faults they consent to commit. As soon as he ascertained
+that M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency had promised at Verona that his Government would
+take such steps at Madrid, in concert with the three Northern Powers, as
+would infallibly lead to war, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le submitted to the King in
+council these premature engagements, declaring at the same time that,
+for his part, he did not feel that France was bound to adopt the same
+line of conduct with Austria, Prussia, and Russia, or to recall at once,
+as they wished to do, her Minister at Madrid, and thus to give up all
+renewed attempts at conciliation. It was said that, while using this
+language, he had his resignation already prepared and visible in his
+portfolio. Powerful supporters were not wanting to this policy. The Duke
+of Wellington, recently arrived in Paris, had held a conversation with
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, and also with the King, on the dangers of an armed
+intervention in Spain, and proposed a plan of mediation, to be concerted
+between France and England, to induce the Spaniards to introduce into
+their constitution the modifications which the French Cabinet itself
+should indicate as sufficient to maintain peace. Louis XVIII. placed
+confidence in the judgment and friendly feeling of the Duke of
+Wellington; he closed the debate in the Council by saying, "Louis XIV.
+levelled the Pyrenees; I shall not allow them to be raised again. He
+placed my family on the throne of Spain; I cannot let them fall. The
+other sovereigns have not the same duties to fulfil. My am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>bassador
+ought not to quit Madrid, until the day when a hundred thousand
+Frenchmen are in march to replace him." The question thus decided
+against the promises he had made at Verona, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency, on whom a
+few days before, and at the suggestion of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, the King had
+conferred the title of Duke, suddenly tendered his resignation. The
+'Moniteur,' in announcing it, published a despatch which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le,
+while holding <i>ad interim</i> the portfolio of foreign affairs, addressed
+to Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lagarde, the King's minister at Madrid, prescribing to him
+an attitude and language which still admitted some chance of
+conciliation; and three days later M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, after some
+display of appropriate hesitation, replaced M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency as Foreign
+Minister.</p>
+
+<p>Three weeks had scarcely passed over, when the Spanish Government,
+controlled by a sentiment of national dignity more magnanimous than
+enlightened, by popular enthusiasm, and by its own passions, refused all
+constitutional modification whatever. The ambassadors of the three
+Northern Powers had already quitted Madrid. The Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lagarde
+remained there. On the refusal of the Spaniards, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand
+recalled him, on the 18th of January, 1823, instructing him at the same
+time, in a confidential despatch, to suggest the possibility of amicable
+measures; and of this he also apprised the English Cabinet. These last
+overtures proved as futile as the preceding ones. At Madrid they had no
+confidence in the French Ministry; and the Government of London placed
+too little dependence either on the power or discretion of that of
+Madrid, to commit itself seriously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> by engaging the latter, through the
+weight of English influence, to submit to the concessions, otherwise
+reasonable, which France required. Affairs had reached the point at
+which the ablest politicians, without faith in the efficacy of their own
+views, were unwilling to adopt decided measures.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th of January, 1823, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le determined on war, and the
+King announced this decision in his speech on opening the session of
+both Chambers. Nevertheless eight days later, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand
+declared to Sir Charles Stuart, the English ambassador at Paris, that,
+far from dreaming of establishing absolute power in Spain, France was
+still ready to entertain the constitutional modifications she had
+proposed to the Spanish Government, "as sufficient to induce her to
+suspend hostile preparations, and to renew friendly intercourse between
+the two countries on the old footing." At the very moment of engaging in
+war, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, who desired, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, who was averse
+to, these extreme measures, equally endeavoured to escape from the
+responsibility attached to them.</p>
+
+<p>I have nothing to say on the war itself and the course of its incidents.
+In principle it was unjust, for it was unnecessary. The Spanish
+revolution, in spite of its excesses, portended no danger to France or
+the Restoration. The differences to which it gave rise between the two
+Governments might have been easily arranged without violating peace. The
+revolution of Paris, in February, 1848, produced much more serious and
+better-founded alarms to Europe in general, than the Spanish revolution
+in 1823 could have occasioned to France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> Nevertheless Europe, with
+sound policy, respected towards France the tutelary principle of the
+internal independence of nations, which can never be justly invaded
+except under an absolute and most urgent necessity. Neither do I think
+that in 1823 the throne and life of Ferdinand VII. were actually in
+danger. All that has since occurred in Spain justifies the conclusion,
+that regicide has no accomplices there, and revolution very few
+partisans. The great and legitimate reasons for war were therefore
+wanting. In fact, and notwithstanding its success, it led to no
+profitable result either for Spain or France. It surrendered up Spain to
+the incapable and incurable tyranny of Ferdinand VII., without putting
+an end to revolutions; and substituted the barbarities of popular
+absolutism for popular anarchy. Instead of securing the influence of
+France beyond
+<a name="corr8" id="corr8"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn8" title="changed from 'he'">the</a>
+Pyrenees, it compromised and annulled it to such an
+extent that, towards the close of 1823, it was found necessary to have
+recourse to the mediation of Russia, and to send M.&nbsp;Pozzo di Borgo to
+Madrid to compel Ferdinand VII. to select more moderate advisers. The
+Northern Powers and England alone retained any credit in Spain,&mdash;the
+first with the King and the Absolutists, the latter with the Liberals;
+victorious France was there politically vanquished. In the eyes of
+clear-sighted judges, the advantageous and permanent effects of the war
+were of no more value than the causes.</p>
+
+<p>As an expedient of restless policy, as a mere <i>coup-de-main</i> of dynasty
+or party, the Spanish war fully succeeded. The sinister predictions of
+its opponents were falsified, and the hopes of its advocates surpassed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+Brought under proof together, the fidelity of the army and the impotence
+of the conspiring refugees were clearly manifested. The expedition was
+easy but not inglorious, and added much to the personal credit of the
+Duke d'Angoul&ecirc;me. The prosperity and tranquillity of France received no
+check. The House of Bourbon exhibited a strength and resolution which
+the Powers who urged it on scarcely expected; and England, who would
+have restrained the effort, submitted to it patiently, although with
+some dissatisfaction. Regarding matters in this light only, M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand was correct in writing to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le from Verona, "It
+is for you, my dear friend, to consider whether you ought not to seize
+this opportunity, which may never occur again, of replacing France in
+the rank of military powers, and of re-establishing the white cockade,
+in a short war almost without danger, and in favour of which the opinion
+of the Royalists and of the army so strongly impels you at this moment."
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was mistaken in his answer: "May God grant," said he, "for
+my country and for Europe, that we may not persist in an intervention
+which I declare beforehand, with the fullest conviction, will compromise
+the safety of France herself."</p>
+
+<p>After such an event, in which they had taken such unequal shares, the
+relative positions of these two statesmen became sensibly changed; but
+the alteration did not yet appear for some time. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand
+endeavoured to triumph with modesty, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, not very
+sensitive to the wounds of personal vanity, treated the issue of the war
+as a general success of the Cabinet, and prepared to turn it to his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+advantage, without considering to whom the principal honour might be
+due. Accustomed to power, he exercised it without noise or parade, and
+was careful not to clash with his adversaries or rivals, who thus felt
+themselves led to admit his preponderance as a necessity, rather than
+humiliated to endure it as a defeat. The dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies became his fixed idea and immediate object. The liberal
+Opposition was too strong there to allow him to hope that he could carry
+the great measures necessary to satisfy his party. The Spanish war had
+led to debates, continually increasing in animosity, which in time
+produced violence in the stronger, and anger in the weaker party, beyond
+all previous example. After the expulsion of M.&nbsp;Manuel on the 3rd of
+March, 1823, and the conduct of the principal portion of the left-hand
+party, who left the hall with him when he was removed by the gendarmes,
+it was almost impossible to expect that the Chamber could resume its
+regular place or share in the government. On the 24th of December, 1823,
+it was in fact dissolved, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, putting aside the
+differences of opinion on the Spanish war, applied his whole attention
+to ensure the success of the elections and the formation of a new
+Chamber, from which he could demand with confidence what the right-hand
+party expected from him, and which, according to his expectation, should
+secure a long duration of his influence both with that party and with
+the Court.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand had no such objects to contemplate or effect.
+Unacquainted with the internal government of the country, and the daily
+management of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> Chambers, he enjoyed the success of <i>his</i> Spanish
+war, as he called it, with tranquil pride,&mdash;ready, on provocation, to
+become active and bitter. He wanted exactly the qualities which
+distinguished M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, and he possessed those, or rather the
+instinct and inclination of those, in which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was deficient.
+Entering late on public life, and until then unknown, with a mind but
+slightly cultivated, and little distracted from business by the force or
+variety of his imaginative ideas, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le had ever one leading
+object,&mdash;to reach power by faithfully serving his party; and, power once
+obtained, to hold it firmly, while exercising it with discretion.</p>
+
+<p>Launched on the world almost from infancy, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand had
+traversed the whole range of ideas, attempted every career, aspired to
+every renown, exhausted some, and approached others; nothing satisfied
+him. "My capital defect," said he himself, "has been <i>ennui</i>, disgust
+with everything, perpetual doubt." A strange temperament in a man
+devoted to the restoration of religion and monarchy! Thus the life of
+M.&nbsp;de Ch&acirc;teaubriand had been a constant and a perpetual combat between his
+enterprises and his inclinations, his situation and his nature. He was
+ambitious, as the leader of a party, and independent, as a volunteer of
+the forlorn hope; captivated by everything great, and sensitive even to
+suffering in the most trifling matters, careless beyond measure of the
+common interests of life, but passionately absorbed, on the stage of the
+world, in his own person and reputation, and more annoyed by the
+slightest check than gratified by the most brilliant triumph; in public
+life, more jealous of success than power, capable in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> particular
+emergency, as he had just proved, of conceiving and carrying out a great
+design, but unable to pursue in government, with energy and patience, a
+well-cemented and strongly-organized line of policy. He possessed a
+sympathetic understanding of the moral impressions of his age and
+country; more able however, and more inclined, to win their favour by
+compliance than to direct them to important and lasting advantages; a
+noble and expanded mind, which, whether in literature or politics,
+touched all the exalted chords of the human soul, but more calculated to
+strike and charm the imagination than to govern men; greedy, to an
+excess, of praise and fame, to satisfy his pride, and of emotion and
+novelty, as resources from constitutional weariness.</p>
+
+<p>At the very moment when he was achieving a triumph in Spain for the
+House of Bourbon, he received disappointments from the latter quarter,
+the remembrance of which he has thought proper to perpetuate
+himself:&mdash;"In our ardour," said he, "after the arrival of the
+telegraphic despatch which announced the deliverance of the King of
+Spain, we Ministers hastened to the palace. There I received a warning
+of my fall,&mdash;a pailful of cold water which recalled me to my usual
+humility. The King and <i>Monsieur</i> took no notice of us. The Duchess
+d'Angoul&ecirc;me, bewildered with the glory of her husband, distinguished no
+one.... On the Sunday following, before the Council met, I returned to
+pay my duty to the royal family. The august Princess said something
+complimentary to each of my colleagues; to me she did not deign to
+address a single word: undoubtedly I had no claim to such an honour. The
+silence of the Orphan of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> Temple can never be considered
+ungrateful." A more liberal sovereign undertook to console M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand for this royal ingratitude; the Emperor Alexander, with
+whom he had continued in intimate correspondence, being anxious to
+signalize his satisfaction, conferred on him and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency, and
+on them alone, the great riband of the Order of St. Andrew.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was not insensible to this public token of imperial favour
+bestowed on himself and his policy; and the King, Louis XVIII., showed
+that he was even more moved by it. "Pozzo and La Ferronays," said he to
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, "have made me give you, through the Emperor Alexander, a
+slap on the cheek; but I shall be even with him, and mean to pay for it
+in coin of a better stamp. I name you, my dear Vill&egrave;le, a knight of my
+Orders; they are worth more than his." And M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le received from
+the King the Order of St. Esprit. It was in vain that a little later,
+and on the mutual request of the two rivals, the Emperor Alexander
+conferred on M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le the Grand Cross of St. Andrew, and the King,
+Louis XVIII., gave the Saint Esprit to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand; favours thus
+extorted cannot efface the original disappointments.</p>
+
+<p>To these courtly slights were soon added causes of rupture more serious.
+The dissolution of the Chamber had succeeded far beyond the expectations
+of the Cabinet. The elections had not returned from the left, or the
+left centre, more than seventeen oppositionists. Much more exclusively
+than that of 1815, the new Chamber belonged to the right-hand party; the
+day had now arrived to give them the satisfaction they had long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> looked
+for. The Cabinet immediately brought in two bills, which appeared to be
+evident preparatives and effectual pledges for the measures most
+ardently desired. By one, the integral remodelling of the Chamber of
+Deputies every seven years was substituted for the partial and annual
+reconstruction as at present in force. This was bestowing on the new
+Chamber a guarantee of power as of durability. The second bill proposed
+the conversion of the five per cent. annuities into three per cents;
+that is to say, a reimbursement, to the holders of stock, of their
+capital at par, or the reduction of interest. To this great financial
+scheme was joined a political measure of equal importance,&mdash;indemnity to
+the Emigrants, with preparations for carrying it into effect. The two
+bills had been discussed and approved in council. On the question of the
+septennial renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand
+proposed the reduction of age necessary for electors; he failed in this
+object, but still supported the bill. With respect to the conversion of
+the funds, the friends of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le asserted that M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand warmly expressed his approbation of the measure, and was
+even anxious that, by a previous arrangement with the bankers, M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le should secure the means of carrying it, as a preface to that
+which was intended to heal the most festering wound of the Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>But the debate in the Chambers soon destroyed the precarious harmony of
+the Cabinet. The conversion of the funds was vigorously opposed, not
+only by the numerous interests thereby injured, but by the unsatisfied
+feeling of the public on a new measure extremely complicated and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> ill
+understood. In both Chambers, the greater portion of M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand's friends spoke against the bill; it was said that he was
+even hostile to it himself. Some observations were attributed to him on
+the imprudence of a measure which no one desired, no public necessity
+called for, and was merely an invention of the bankers, adopted by a
+Minister of Finance, who hoped to extract reputation from what might
+lead to his ruin. "I have often seen," he was accused of saying, "people
+break their heads against a wall; but I have never, until now, seen
+people build a wall for the express purpose of running their heads
+against it." M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le listened to these reports, and expressed his
+surprise at them; his supporters inquired into the cause. Hints were
+uttered of jealousy, of ambition, of intrigues to depose the President
+of the Council, and to occupy his place. When the bill had passed the
+Chamber of Deputies, the debate in the Chamber of Peers, and the part
+that M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand would take in it, were looked forward to with
+considerable misgivings. He maintained profound silence, not affording
+the slightest support; and when the bill was thrown out, approaching
+M.&nbsp;de Vill&egrave;le, he said to him, "If you resign, we are ready to follow you."
+He adds, while relating this proposal himself, "M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, for sole
+answer, honoured us with a look which we still have before us. This
+look, however, made no impression."</p>
+
+<p>It is well known how M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was dismissed two days after
+the sitting. From whence proceeded the rudeness of this dismissal? It is
+difficult to decide. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand attributed it to M.&nbsp;de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> Vill&egrave;le
+alone. "On Whit Sunday, the 6th of June, 1824," says he, "at half-past
+ten in the morning I repaired to the palace. My principal object was to
+pay my respects to <i>Monsieur</i>. The first saloon of the Pavillon Marsan
+was nearly empty; a few persons entered in succession, and seemed
+embarrassed. An aide-de-camp of <i>Monsieur</i> said to me, 'Viscount, I
+scarcely hoped to see you here; have you received no communication?' I
+answered, 'No; what am I likely to receive?' He replied, 'I fear you
+will soon learn.' Upon this, as no one offered to introduce me to
+<i>Monsieur</i>, I went to hear the music in the chapel. I was quite absorbed
+in the beautiful anthems of the service, when an usher told me some one
+wished to speak with me. It was Hyacinth Pilorge, my secretary. He
+handed to me a letter and a royal ordinance, saying at the same time,
+'Sir, you are no longer a minister.' The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Rauzan, Superintendent
+of Political Affairs, had opened the packet in my absence, and had not
+ventured to bring it to me. I found within, this note from M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le; 'Monsieur le Vicomte,&mdash;I obey the orders of the King, in
+transmitting without delay to your Excellency a decree which his Majesty
+has just placed in my hand:&mdash;The Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, President of our
+Ministerial Council, is charged, <i>ad interim</i>, with the portfolio of
+Foreign Affairs, in place of the Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.'"</p>
+
+<p>The friends of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le assert that it was the King himself, who in
+his anger dictated the rude form of the communication. "Two days after
+the vote," say they, "as soon as M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le entered the royal
+cabinet, Louis XVIII. said to him: 'Ch&acirc;teaubriand has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> betrayed us like
+a&mdash;&mdash;; I do not wish to receive him after Mass; draw up the order for
+his dismissal, and let it be sent to him in time; I will not see him.'
+All remonstrances were useless; the King insisted that the decree should
+be written at his own desk and immediately forwarded. M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand was not found at home, and his dismissal was only
+communicated to him at the Tuileries, in the apartments of <i>Monsieur</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Whoever may have been the author of the measure, the blame rests with
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le. If it was contrary to his desire, assuredly he had credit
+enough with the King to prevent it. Contrary to his usual habit, he
+exhibited more temper on this occasion than coolness or foresight. There
+are allies who are necessary, although extremely troublesome; and M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand, despite his pretensions and his whims, was less dangerous
+as a rival than as an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Although without connection in the Chambers, and with no control as an
+orator, he immediately became a brilliant and influential leader of the
+Opposition, for opposition was his natural bent as well as the
+excitement of the moment. He excelled in unravelling the instincts of
+national discontent, and of continually exciting them against authority
+by supplying them with powerful motives, real or specious, and always
+introduced with effect. He also possessed the art of depreciating and
+casting odium on his adversaries, by keen and polished insults
+constantly repeated, and at the same time of bringing over to his side
+old opponents, destined soon to resume their former character, but for
+the moment attracted and overpowered by the pleasure and profit of the
+heavy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> blows he administered to their common enemy. Through the favour
+of the MM.&nbsp;Bertin, he found on the instant, in the 'Journal des D&eacute;bats,'
+an important avenue for his daily attacks. As enlightened and
+influential in politics as in literature, these two brothers possessed
+the rare faculty of collecting round themselves by generous and
+sympathetic patronage, a chosen cohort of clever writers, and of
+supporting their opinions and those of their friends with manly
+intelligence. M.&nbsp;Bertin&nbsp;de&nbsp;Veaux, the more decided politician of the
+two, held M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le in high esteem, and lived in familiar intimacy
+with him. "Vill&egrave;le," said he to me one day, "is really born for public
+business; he has all the necessary disinterestedness and capacity; he
+cares not to shine, he wishes only to govern; he would be a Minister of
+Finance in the cellar of his hotel, as willingly as in the drawing-rooms
+of the first story." It was no trifling matter which could induce the
+eminent journalist to break with the able minister. He sought an
+interview with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, and requested him, for the preservation of
+peace, to bestow on M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand the embassy to Rome. "I shall
+not risk such a proposition to the King," replied M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le. "In
+that case," retorted M.&nbsp;Bertin, "you will remember that the 'D&eacute;bats'
+overthrew the ministries of Decazes and Richelieu, and will do the same
+by the ministry of Vill&egrave;le."&mdash;"You turned out the two first to establish
+royalism," said M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le; "to destroy mine you must have a
+revolution."</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing in this prospect to inspire M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le with
+confidence, as the event proved; but thirteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> years later, M.&nbsp;Bertin de
+Veaux remembered the caution. When, in 1837, under circumstances of
+which I shall speak in their proper place, I separated from M.&nbsp;Mol&eacute;, he
+said to me with frankness, "I have certainly quite as much friendship
+for you as I ever had for M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, but I decline following
+you into Opposition. I shall not again try to sap the Government I wish
+to establish. One experiment of that nature is enough."</p>
+
+<p>At Court, as in the Chamber, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was triumphant; he had not
+only conquered, but he had driven away his rivals, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montmorency and
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, as he had got rid of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette and
+M.&nbsp;Manuel. Amongst the men whose voices, opinions, or even presence might
+have fettered him, death had already stepped in, and was again coming to
+his aid. M.&nbsp;Camille Jordan, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre were
+dead; General Foy and the Emperor Alexander were not long in following
+them. There are moments when death seems to delight, like Tarquin, in
+cutting down the tallest flowers. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le remained sole master. At
+this precise moment commenced the heavy difficulties of his position,
+the weak points of his conduct, and his first steps towards decline.</p>
+
+<p>In place of having to defend himself against a powerful opposition of
+the Left, which was equally to be feared and resisted by the Right and
+the Cabinet, he found himself confronted by an Opposition emanating from
+the right itself, and headed, in the Chamber of Deputies, by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la
+Bourdonnaye, his companion during the session of 1815; in the Chamber of
+Peers and without, by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, so recently his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> colleague in
+the Council. As long as he had M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand for an ally, M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le had only encountered as adversaries, in the interior of his
+party, the ultra-royalists of the extreme right, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye,
+M.&nbsp;Delalot, and a few others, whom the old counter-revolutionary spirit,
+intractable passions, ambitious discontent, or habits of grumbling
+independence kept in a perpetual state of irritation against a power,
+moderate without ascendency, and clever without greatness. But when
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand and the 'Journal des D&eacute;bats' threw themselves into the
+combat, there was then seen to muster round them an army of
+anti-ministerialists of every origin and character, composed of
+royalists and liberals, of old and young France, of the popular and the
+aristocratic throng. The weak remains of the left-hand party, beaten in
+the recent elections, the seventeen old members of the Opposition,
+liberals or doctrinarians, drew breath when they looked on such allies;
+and, without confounding their ranks, while each party retained its own
+standard and arms, they combined for mutual support, and united their
+forces against M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand has gratified himself
+by inserting in his Memoirs the testimonies of admiration and sympathy
+proffered to him at that time by M.&nbsp;Benjamin Constant, General
+Sebastiani, M.&nbsp;&Eacute;tienne, and other heads of the liberal section. In the
+Parliamentary struggle, the left-hand party could only add to the
+opposers of the right a very small number of votes; but they brought
+eminent talents, the support of their journals, their influence
+throughout the country; and, in a headlong, confused attack,&mdash;some under
+cover of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> mantle of Royalism, others shielded by the popularity of
+their allies,&mdash;they waged fierce war against the common enemy.</p>
+
+<p>In presence of such an Opposition, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le fell into a more
+formidable danger than that of the sharp contests he had to encounter to
+hold ground against it: he was given over without protection or refuge
+to the influence and views of his own friends. He could no longer awe
+them by the power of the left-hand party, nor find occasionally in the
+unsettled position of the Chamber a bulwark against their demands. There
+had ceased to be a formidable balance of oppositionists or waverers; the
+majority, and a great majority, was ministerial and determined to
+support the Cabinet; but it had no real apprehension of the adversaries
+by whom it was attacked. It preferred M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la
+Bourdonnaye and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, believing him more capable of
+managing with advantage the interests of the party; but if M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+went counter to the wishes of that majority, if it ceased to hold a
+perfect understanding with him, it could then fall back on MM.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand and&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le had no resource
+against the majority; he was a minister at the mercy of his partisans.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst these were some of opposite pretensions, and who lent him their
+support on very unequal conditions. If he had only had to deal with those I
+shall designate as the politicals and laymen of the party, he might have
+been able to satisfy and govern in concert with them. Notwithstanding
+their prejudices, the greater part of the country-gentlemen and royalist
+citizens were neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> over-zealous nor exacting; they had fallen in
+with the manners of new France, and had either found or recovered their
+natural position in present society, reconciling themselves to
+constitutional government, since they were no longer considered as the
+vanquished side. The indemnity to the emigrants, some pledges of local
+influence, and the distribution of public functions, would have long
+sufficed to secure their support to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le; but another portion
+of his army, numerous, important, and necessary, the religious
+department, was much more difficult to satisfy and control.</p>
+
+<p>I am not disposed to revive any of the particular expressions which were
+then used as weapons of war, and have now become almost insulting. I
+shall neither speak of the <i>priestly</i>, nor of the <i>congregational
+party</i>, nor even of the <i>Jesuits</i>. I should reproach myself for reviving
+by such language and reminiscences the evil, heavy in itself, which
+France and the Restoration were condemned at that time, the one to fear,
+and the other to endure.</p>
+
+<p>This evil, which glimmered through the first Restoration, through the
+session of 1815, and still exists, in spite of so many storms and such
+increasing intelligence, is, in fact a war declared by a considerable
+portion of the Catholic Church of France, against existing French
+society, its principles, its organization, political and civil, its
+origin and its tendencies. It was during the ministry of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le,
+and above all when he found himself alone and confronted with his party,
+that the mischief displayed its full force.</p>
+
+<p>Never was a similar war more irrational or inopportune. It checked the
+reaction, which had commenced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> under the Consulate, in favour of creeds
+and the sentiment of religion. I have no desire to exaggerate the value
+of that reaction; I hold faith and true piety in too much respect to
+confound them with the superficial vicissitudes of human thought and
+opinion. Nevertheless the movement which led France back towards
+Christianity was more sincere and serious than it actually appeared to
+be. It was at once a public necessity and an intellectual taste.
+Society, worn out with commotion and change, sought for fixed points on
+which it could rely and repose; men, disgusted with a terrestrial and
+material atmosphere, aspired to ascend once more towards higher and
+purer horizons; the inclinations of morality concurred with the
+instincts of social interest. Left to its natural course, and supported
+by the purely religious influence of a clergy entirely devoted to the
+re-establishment of faith and Christian life, this movement was likely
+to extend and to restore to religion its legitimate empire.</p>
+
+<p>But instead of confining itself to this sphere of action, many members
+and blind partisans of the Catholic clergy descended to worldly
+questions, and showed themselves more zealous to recast French society
+in its old mould, and so to restore their church to its former place
+there, than to reform and purify the moral condition of souls. Here was
+a profound mistake. The Christian Church is not like the pagan Ant&aelig;us,
+who renews his strength by touching the earth; it is on the contrary, by
+detaching itself from the world, and re-ascending towards heaven, that
+the Church in its hours of peril regains its vigour. When we saw it
+depart from its appropriate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> and sublime mission, to demand penal laws
+and to preside over the distribution of offices; when we beheld its
+desires and efforts prominently directed against the principles and
+institutions which constitute today the essence of French society; when
+liberty of conscience, publicity, the legal separation of civil and
+religious life, the laical character of the State, appeared to be
+attacked and compromised,&mdash;on that instant the rising tide of religious
+reaction stopped, and yielded way to a contrary current. In place of the
+movement which thinned the ranks of the unbelievers to the advantage of
+the faithful, we saw the two parties unite together; the eighteenth
+century appeared once more in arms; Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and
+their worst disciples once more spread
+<a name="corr9" id="corr9"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn9" title="changed from 'themelves'">themselves</a>
+abroad and recruited
+innumerable battalions. War was declared against society in the name of
+the Church, and society returned war for war:&mdash;a deplorable chaos, in
+which good and evil, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice, were
+confounded together, and blows hurled at random on every side.</p>
+
+<p>I know not whether M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le thoroughly estimated, in his own
+thoughts, the full importance of this situation of affairs, and the
+dangers to which he exposed religion and the Restoration. His was not a
+mind either accustomed or disposed to ponder long over general facts and
+moral questions, or to sound them deeply. But he thoroughly
+comprehended, and felt acutely, the embarrassment which might accrue
+from these causes to his own power; and he tried to diminish them by
+yielding to clerical influence in the government, imposing though
+limited sacrifices, flattering himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> that by these means he should
+acquire allies in the Church itself, who would aid him to restrain the
+overweening and imprudent pretensions of their own friends. Already, and
+shortly after his accession to the ministry, he had appointed an
+ecclesiastic in good estimation, and whom the Pope had named Bishop of
+Hermopolis, the Abb&eacute; Frayssinous, to the head-mastership of the
+University. Two months after the fall of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, the Abb&eacute;
+Frayssinous entered the Cabinet as Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs
+and Public Instruction&mdash;a new department created expressly for him. He
+was a man of sense and moderation, who had acquired, by Christian
+preaching without violence, and conduct in which prudence was blended
+with dignity, a reputation and importance somewhat superior to his
+actual merits, and which he had no desire to compromise. In 1816 he had
+been a member of the Royal Commission of Public Education, over which
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard at that time presided; but soon retired from it, not
+wishing either to share the
+<a name="corr10" id="corr10"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn10" title="changed from 'reponsibility'">responsibility</a>
+of his superior or to act in
+opposition to him. He generally approved of the policy of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le;
+but although binding himself to support it, and while lamenting the
+blind demands of a portion of the clergy, he endeavoured, when
+opportunity offered, to excuse and conceal rather than reject them
+altogether. Without betraying M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, he afforded him little aid,
+and committed him repeatedly by his language in public, which invariably
+tended more to maintain his own position in the Church than to serve the
+Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Three months only had elapsed since M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> separated from his
+most brilliant colleagues and an important portion of his old friends,
+had sustained the entire weight of government, when the King Louis
+XVIII. died. The event had long been foreseen, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le had
+skilfully prepared for it: he was as well established in the esteem and
+confidence of the new monarch as of the sovereign who had just passed
+from the Tuileries to St. Denis; Charles X., the Dauphin, and the
+Dauphiness, all three looked upon him as the ablest and most valuable of
+their devoted adherents. But M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le soon discovered that he had
+changed masters, and that little dependence could be placed on the mind
+or heart of a king, even though sincere, when the surface and the
+interior were not in unison. Men belong, much more than is generally
+supposed, or than they believe themselves, to their real convictions.
+Many comparisons, for the sake of contrast, have been drawn between
+Louis XVIII. and Charles X.; the distinction between them was even
+greater than has been stated. Louis XVIII. was a moderate of the old
+system, and a liberal-minded inheritor of the eighteenth century;
+Charles X. was a true emigrant and a submissive bigot. The wisdom of
+Louis XVIII. was egotistic and sceptical, but serious and sincere; when
+Charles X. acted like a sensible king, it was through propriety, from
+timid and short-sighted complaisance, from being carried away, or from
+the desire of pleasing,&mdash;not from conviction or natural choice. Through
+all the different Cabinets of his reign, whether under the Abb&eacute; de
+Montesquiou, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand, the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, M.&nbsp;Decazes, and
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, the government of Louis XVIII. was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> ever consistent with
+itself; without false calculation or premeditated deceit, Charles X.
+wavered from contradiction to contradiction, from inconsistency to
+inconsistency, until the day when, given up to his own will and belief,
+he committed the error which cost him his throne.</p>
+
+<p>During three years, from the accession of Charles X. to his own fall,
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le not only made no stand against the inconsiderate fickleness
+of the King, but even profited by it to strengthen himself against his
+various enemies. Too clear-sighted to hope that Charles X. would
+persevere in the voluntary course of premeditated and steady moderation
+which Louis XVIII. had followed, he undertook to make him at least
+pursue, when circumstances allowed, a line of policy sufficiently
+temperate and popular to save him from the appearance of being
+exclusively in the hands of the party to whom in fact his heart and
+faith were devoted. Skilful in varying his advice according to the
+necessities and chances of the moment, and aptly availing himself of the
+inclination of Charles X. for sudden measures, whether lenient or
+severe, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le at one time abolished, and at another revived, the
+censorship of the journals, occasionally softened or aggravated the
+execution of the laws, always endeavouring, and frequently with success,
+to place in the mouth or in the name of the King, liberal demonstrations
+and effusions, by the side of words and tendencies which recalled the
+old system and the pretensions of absolute power. The same spirit
+governed him in the Chambers. His bills were so conceived and presented,
+as we may say, to the address of the different parties, that all
+influential<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> opinions were conciliated to a certain extent. The
+indemnity to the emigrants satisfied the wishes and restored the
+position of the entire lay party of the right. The recognition of the
+Republic of Hayti pleased the Liberals. Judicious reforms in the
+national budget and an administration friendly to sound regulations and
+actual services, obtained for M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le the esteem of enlightened
+men and the general approbation of all public functionaries. The bill on
+the system of inheritance and the right of primogeniture afforded hope
+to those who were prepossessed with aristocratic regrets. The bill on
+sacrilege fostered the passions of the fanatics, and the views of their
+theorists. Parallel with the spirit of reaction which predominated in
+these legislative deliberations, as in the enactments of power, an
+intelligent effort was ever visible to contrive something to the
+advantage of the spirit of progress. While faithfully serving his
+friends, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le sought for and availed himself of every
+opportunity that offered of making some compensation to his adversaries.</p>
+
+<p>It was not that the state of his mind was changed in principle, or that
+he had identified himself with the new and liberally-disposed society
+which he courted with so much solicitude. After all, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+continued ever to be a follower of the old system, true to his party
+from feeling as well as on calculation. But his ideas on the subject of
+social and political organization were derived from tradition and habit,
+rather than from personal and well-meditated conviction. He preserved,
+without making them his sole rule of conduct, and laid them aside
+occasionally, without renunciation. A strong practical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> instinct, and
+the necessity of success, were his leading characteristics; he had the
+peculiar tact of knowing what would succeed and what would not, and
+paused in face of obstacles, either judging them to be insurmountable,
+or to demand too much time for removal. I find, in a letter which he
+wrote on the 31st of October, 1824, to Prince Julius&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac, at
+that time ambassador in London, on the projected re-establishment of the
+law of primogeniture, the strong expression of his inward thought, and
+of his clear-sighted prudence in an important act. "You would be wrong
+to suppose," said he, "that it is because entailed titles and estates
+are perpetual, we do not create any. You give us too much credit; the
+present generation sets no value on considerations so far removed from
+their own time. The late King named Count K&mdash;&mdash; a peer, on the proviso
+of his investing an estate with the title; he gave up the peerage,
+rather than injure his daughter to the advantage of his son. Out of
+twenty affluent families, there is scarcely one inclined to place the
+eldest son so much above the rest. Egotism prevails everywhere. People
+prefer to live on good terms with all their children, and, when
+establishing them in the world, to show no preference. The bonds of
+subordination are so universally relaxed, that parents, I believe, are
+obliged to humour their own offspring. If the Government were to propose
+the re-establishment of the law of primogeniture, it would not have a
+majority on that question; the difficulty is more deeply seated; it lies
+in our habits, still entirely impressed with the consequences of the
+Revolution. I do not wish to say that nothing can be done to ameliorate
+this lamentable posi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>tion; but I feel that, in a state of society so
+diseased, we require time and management, not to lose in a day the
+labour and fruit of many years. To know how to proceed, and never to
+swerve from that path, to make a step towards the desired end whenever
+it can be made, and never to incur the necessity of retreat,&mdash;this
+course appears to me to be one of the necessities of the time in which I
+have arrived at power, and one of the causes which have led me to the
+post I occupy."</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le spoke truly; it was his rational loyalty to the interests
+of his party, his patient perseverance in marching step by step to his
+object, his calm and correct distinction between the possible and
+impossible, which had made and kept him minister. But in the great
+transformations of human society, when the ideas and passions of nations
+have been powerfully stirred up, good sense, moderation, and cleverness
+will not long suffice to control them; and the day will soon return
+when, either to promote good or restrain evil, defined convictions and
+intentions, strongly and openly expressed, are indispensable to the
+heads of government. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was not endowed with these qualities.
+His mind was accurate, rather than expanded; he had more ingenuity than
+vigour, and he yielded to his party when he could no longer direct it.
+"I am born for the end of revolutions," he exclaimed when arriving at
+power, and he judged himself well; but he estimated less correctly the
+general state of society: the Revolution was much further from its end
+than he believed; it was continually reviving round him, excited and
+strengthened by the alternately proclaimed and concealed attempts of
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> counter-principle. People had ceased to conspire; but they
+discussed, criticized, and contended with undiminished ardour in the
+legitimate field. There were no longer secret associations, but opinions
+which fermented and exploded on every side. And, in this public
+movement, impassioned resistance was chiefly directed against the
+preponderance and pretensions of the fanatically religious party. One of
+the most extraordinary infatuations of our days has been the blindness
+of this party to the fact that the conditions under which they acted,
+and the means they employed, were directly opposed to the end in view,
+and leading from rather than conducting to it. They desired to restrain
+liberty, to control reason, to impose faith; they talked, wrote, and
+argued; they sought and found arms in the system of inquiry and
+publicity which they denounced. Nothing could be more natural or
+legitimate on the part of believers who have full confidence in their
+creed, and consider it equal to the conversion of its adversaries. The
+latter are justified in recurring to the discussion and publicity which
+they expect to serve their cause. But those who consider publicity and
+free discussion as essentially mischievous, by appealing to these
+resources, foment themselves the movement they dread, and feed the fire
+they wish to extinguish. To prove themselves not only consistent, but
+wise and effective, they should obtain by other means the strength on
+which they rely: they should gain the mastery; and then, when they have
+silenced all opposition, let them speak alone, if they still feel the
+necessity of speaking. But until they have arrived at this point, let
+them not deceive themselves; by adopting the weapons of liberty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> they
+serve liberty much more than they injure it, for they warn and place it
+on its guard. To secure victory to the system of order and government to
+which they aspire, there is but one road;&mdash;the Inquisition and Philip
+II. were alone acquainted with their trade.</p>
+
+<p>As might naturally be expected, the resistance provoked by the attempts
+of the fanatical party soon transformed itself into an attack. One
+royalist gentleman raised the flag of opposition against the policy of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le; another assailed the religious controllers of his
+Cabinet, and not only dragged them before public opinion, but before the
+justice of the country, which disarmed and condemned them, without
+inflicting any other sentence than that of its disapprobation in the
+name of the law.</p>
+
+<p>No one was less a philosopher of the eighteenth century, or a liberal of
+the nineteenth, than the Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montlosier. In the Constituent
+Assembly he had vehemently defended the Church and resisted the
+Revolution; he was sincerely a royalist, an aristocrat, and a Catholic.
+People called him, not without reason, the feudal publicist. But,
+neither the ancient nobility nor the modern citizens were disposed to
+submit to ecclesiastical dominion. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montlosier repulsed it, equally
+in the name of old and new France, as he would formerly have denied its
+supremacy from the battlements of his castle, or in the court of Philip
+the Handsome. The early French spirit re-appeared in him, free, while
+respectful towards the Church, and as jealous of the laical independence
+of the State and crown, as it was possible for a member of the Imperial
+State Council to show himself.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>At the same moment, a man of the people, born a poet and rendered still
+more poetical by art, celebrated, excited, and expanded, through his
+songs, popular instincts and passions in opposition to everything that
+recalled the old system, and above all against the pretensions and
+supremacy of the Church. M.&nbsp;B&eacute;ranger, in his heart, was neither a
+revolutionist nor an unbeliever; he was morally more honest, and
+politically more rational, than his songs; but, a democrat by conviction
+as well as inclination, and carried away into license and want of
+forethought by the spirit of democracy, he attacked indiscriminately
+everything that was ungracious to the people, troubling himself little
+as to the range of his blows, looking upon the success of his songs as a
+victory achieved by liberty, and forgetting that religious faith and
+respect for things holy are nowhere more necessary than in the bosom of
+democratic and liberal associations. I believe he discovered this a
+little too late, when he found himself individually confronted by the
+passions which his ballads had fomented, and the dreams he had
+transformed to realities. He then hastened, with sound sense and
+dignity, to escape from the political arena, and almost from the world,
+unchanged in his sentiments, but somewhat regretful and uneasy for the
+consequences of the war in which he had taken such a prominent part.
+Under the Restoration, he was full of confidence and zeal, enjoying his
+popularity with modesty, and more seriously hostile and influential than
+any
+<a name="corr11" id="corr11"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn11" title="changed from 'sonnetteer'">sonneteer</a>
+had ever been before him.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, after six years of government by the right-hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> party, and three
+of the reign of Charles X., matters had arrived at this point&mdash;that two
+of the chief royalist leaders marched at the head of an opposition, one
+against the Cabinet, and the other against the Clergy, both becoming
+from day to day more vigorous and extended, and that the Restoration
+enumerated a ballad-maker in the first rank of its most dangerous
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p>This entire mischief and danger was universally attributed to M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le; on the right or on the left, in the saloons and the journals,
+amongst the Moderates and the extreme Radicals, he became more and more
+an object of attack and reproach. As the judicial bodies had acted in
+affairs which regarded religion, so the literary institutions, on
+questions which concerned their competence, eagerly seized the
+opportunity of manifesting their opposition. The University, compressed
+and mutilated, was in a state of utter discontent. The French Academy
+made it a duty of honour to protest, in an address which the King
+refused to receive, but which was nevertheless voted, against the new
+bill on the subject of the press, introduced to the Chamber in 1826, and
+withdrawn by the Cabinet three months afterwards. In his own Chamber of
+Peers, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le found neither general goodwill nor a certain
+majority. Even at the Palais Bourbon and the Tuileries, his two
+strongholds, he visibly lost ground; in the Chamber of Deputies, the
+ministerial majority declined, and became sad even in triumph; at the
+court, several of the King's most trusty adherents, the Dukes de
+Rivi&egrave;re,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Fitz-James, and&nbsp;de&nbsp;Maill&eacute;, the Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Gland&egrave;res, and many
+others,&mdash;some through party spirit, and some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> from monarchical
+uneasiness,&mdash;desired the fall of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, and were already
+preparing his successors. Even the King himself, when any fresh
+manifestation of public feeling reached him, exclaimed pettishly, on
+entering his closet, "Always Vill&egrave;le! always against Vill&egrave;le!"</p>
+
+<p>In truth, the injustice was shameful. If the right-hand party had held
+office for six years, and had used power so as to maintain it, if
+Charles X. had not only peaceably succeeded Louis XVIII., but had ruled
+without trouble, and even with some increase of popularity, it was to
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, above all others, that they were indebted for these
+advantages. He had accomplished two difficult achievements, which might
+have been called great had they been more durable: he had disciplined
+the old royalist party, and from a section of the court, and a class
+which had never been really active except in revolutionary contests, he
+had established during six years a steady ministerial support; he had
+restrained his party and his power within the general limits of the
+Charter, and had exercised constitutional government for six years under
+a prince and with friends who were generally considered to understand it
+little, and to adopt it with reluctance. If the King and the right-hand
+party felt themselves in danger, it was themselves, and not M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le, whom they ought to have accused.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, on his part, had no right to complain of the
+injustice to which he was exposed. For six years he had been the head of
+the Government; by yielding to the King and his partisans when he
+disapproved their intentions, and by continuing their mi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>nister when he
+could no longer prevent what he condemned, he had admitted the
+responsibility of the faults committed under his name and with his
+sanction, although in spite of himself. He endured the penalty of his
+weakness in the exercise of power, and of his obstinacy in retaining it
+under whatever sacrifices it might cost him. We cannot govern under a
+free system, to enjoy the merit and reap the fruit of success, while we
+repudiate the errors which lead to reverse.</p>
+
+<p>Justice to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le requires the acknowledgment that he never
+attempted to withdraw himself from the responsibility of his government,
+whether as regarded his own acts or his concessions to his friends. He
+was never seen to reproach the King or his party with the errors to
+which he became accessory. He knew how to preserve silence and endure
+the blame, even while he had the power of justification. In 1825, after
+the Spanish war, and during the financial debates to which it had given
+rise, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Bourdonnaye accused him of having been the author of the
+contracts entered into in 1823, with M.&nbsp;Ouvrard, at Bayonne, for
+supplying the army, and which had been made the subject of violent
+attacks. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le might have closed his adversary's mouth; for on
+the 7th of April, 1823, he had written to the Duke d'Angoul&ecirc;me expressly
+to caution him against M.&nbsp;Ouvrard and his propositions. He took no
+advantage of this, but contented himself with explaining to the King in
+a Council, when the Dauphin was present, the situation in which he was
+placed.</p>
+
+<p>The Dauphin at once authorized him to make use of his letter. "No,
+Monseigneur," replied M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> "let anything happen to me that
+Heaven pleases, it will be of little consequence to the country; but I
+should be guilty towards the King and to France, if, to exculpate myself
+from an accusation, however serious it may be, I should give utterance,
+beyond the walls of this cabinet, to a single word which could
+compromise the name of your Royal Highness."</p>
+
+<p>When, notwithstanding his obstinate and confiding disposition, he saw
+himself seriously menaced, when the cries of "Down with the Ministers!
+Down with Vill&egrave;le!" uttered by several battalions of the National Guard,
+both before and after the review by the King in the Champ-de-Mars on the
+29th of April, 1827, had led to their disbanding, and had equally
+excited the public and disturbed the King himself,&mdash;when M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+felt distinctly that, both in the Chambers and at the
+<a name="corr12" id="corr12"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn12" title="changed from 'C urt'">Court</a>,
+he was too
+much attacked and shaken to govern with efficiency, he resolutely
+adopted the course prescribed by the Charter and called for by his
+position; he demanded of the King the dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies, and a new general election, which should either re-establish
+or finally overthrow the Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Charles X. hesitated; he dreaded the elections, and, although not
+disposed to support his Minister with more firmness, the chance of his
+fall, and doubt in the selection of his successors, disturbed him, as
+much as it was possible for his unreflecting nature to be disturbed.
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le persisted, the King yielded, and, in defiance of the
+electoral law which, in 1820, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le and the right-hand party had
+enacted, in spite of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> six years of power, in spite of all the
+efforts of Government to influence the elections, they produced a result
+in conformity with the state of general feeling,&mdash;a majority composed of
+different elements, but decidedly hostile to the Cabinet. After having
+carefully examined this new ground, and after having received from
+various quarters propositions of accommodation and alliance, M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le, having clearly estimated his chances of strength and
+durability, retired from office, and recommended the King to return
+towards the centre, and to call together a moderate Ministry, which he
+assisted him to construct. Charles X. received his new councillors as he
+quitted his old ones, with sadness and apprehension, not acting as he
+wished, and scarcely knowing whether what he did would tend to his
+advantage. More decided, not through superiority of mind, but by natural
+courage, the Dauphiness said to him, when she ascertained his
+resolution, "In abandoning M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, you have descended the first
+step of your throne."</p>
+
+<p>The political party of which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le was the head, and which had
+its own peculiar destinies, with which those of royalty had never been
+closely allied, might indulge in more gloomy anticipations on their own
+account; they had employed and lost the only man, belonging to their own
+ranks, who was capable of showing them legitimately how to acquire and
+how to exercise power.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> On the
+17th October, and the 22nd of November, 1822.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>MY OPPOSITION.</h3>
+
+<h3>1820-1829.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>MY RETIREMENT AT THE MAISONNETTE.&mdash;I PUBLISH FOUR INCIDENTAL ESSAYS
+ON POLITICAL AFFAIRS: 1. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE SINCE THE
+RESTORATION, AND OF THE MINISTRY IN OFFICE (1820); 2. OF
+CONSPIRACIES AND POLITICAL JUSTICE (1821); 3. OF THE RESOURCES OF
+THE GOVERNMENT AND THE OPPOSITION IN THE ACTUAL STATE OF FRANCE
+(1821); 4. OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR POLITICAL OFFENCES
+(1822).&mdash;CHARACTER AND EFFECT OF THESE PUBLICATIONS.&mdash;LIMITS OF MY
+OPPOSITION.&mdash;THE CARBONARI.&mdash;VISIT OF M.&nbsp;MANUEL.&mdash;I COMMENCE MY
+COURSE OF LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF REPRESENTATIVE
+GOVERNMENT.&mdash;ITS DOUBLE OBJECT.&mdash;THE ABB&Eacute; FRAYSSINOUS ORDERS ITS
+SUSPENSION.&mdash;MY HISTORICAL LABOURS.&mdash;ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND; ON
+THE HISTORY OF FRANCE; ON THE RELATIONS AND MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF
+FRANCE AND ENGLAND; ON THE PHILOSOPHIC AND LITERARY TENDENCIES OF
+THAT EPOCH.&mdash;THE FRENCH REVIEW.&mdash;THE GLOBE.&mdash;THE ELECTIONS OF
+1827.&mdash;MY CONNECTIONS WITH THE SOCIETY, 'HELP THYSELF AND HEAVEN
+WILL HELP THEE.'&mdash;MY RELATIONS WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF M.&nbsp;DE
+MARTIGNAC; HE AUTHORIZES THE REOPENING OF MY COURSE OF LECTURES,
+AND RESTORES MY TITLE AS A STATE-COUNCILLOR.&mdash;MY LECTURES
+(1828-1830) ON THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE AND IN
+FRANCE.&mdash;THEIR EFFECT.&mdash;I AM ELECTED DEPUTY FOR LISIEUX (DECEMBER,
+1829).</p></div>
+
+
+<p>When I was struck from the list of State-Councillors, with MM.&nbsp;Royer-Collard,
+Camille Jordan, and Barante, I received from all quarters
+testimonies of ardent sympathy. Disgrace voluntarily encountered, and
+which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> imposes some sacrifices, flatters political friends and interests
+indifferent spectators. I determined to resume, in the Faculty of
+Letters, my course of modern history. We were then at the end of July.
+Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;Condorcet offered to lend me for several months a
+country-house, ten leagues from Paris, near Meulan. My acquaintance with
+her had never been intimate; her political sentiments differed
+materially from mine; she belonged thoroughly and enthusiastically to
+the eighteenth century and the Revolution: but she possessed an elevated
+character, a strong mind, and a generous heart, capable of warm
+affection; a favour offered by her sincerely, and for the sole pleasure
+of conferring it, might be received without embarrassment. I accepted
+that which she tendered me, and with the beginning of August I
+established myself at the Maisonnette, and there recommenced my literary
+labours.</p>
+
+<p>At that time I was strongly attached, and have ever since remained so,
+to public life. Nevertheless I have never quitted it without
+experiencing a feeling of satisfaction mixed with my regret, as that of
+a man who throws off a burden which he willingly sustained, or who
+passes from a warm and exciting atmosphere into a light and refreshing
+temperature. From the first moment, my residence at the Maisonnette
+pleased me. Situated halfway up a hill, immediately before it was the
+little town of Meulan, with its two churches, one lately restored for
+worship, the other partly in ruins and converted into a magazine; on the
+right of the town the eye fell upon L'Ile Belle, entirely parcelled out
+into green meadows and surrounded by tall poplar-trees; in front was
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> old bridge of Meulan, and beyond it the extensive and fertile
+valley of the Seine. The house, not too small, was commodious and neatly
+arranged; on either side, as you left the dining-hall, were large trees
+and groves of shrubs; behind and above the mansion was a garden of
+moderate extent, but intersected by walks winding up the side of the
+hill and bordered by flowers. At the top of the garden was a small
+pavilion well suited for reading alone, or for conversation with a
+single companion. Beyond the enclosure, and still ascending, were woods,
+fields, other country-houses and gardens scattered on different
+elevations. I lived there with my wife and my son Francis, who had just
+reached his fifth year. My friends often came to visit me. In all that
+surrounded me, there was nothing either rare or beautiful. It was nature
+with her simplest ornaments, and family life in the most unpretending
+tranquillity. But nothing was wanting. I had space, verdure, affection,
+conversation, liberty, and employment,&mdash;the necessity of occupation,
+that spur and bridle which human indolence and mutability so often
+require. I was perfectly content. When the soul is calm, the heart full,
+and the mind active, situations the most opposite to those we have been
+accustomed to possess their charms, which speedily become happiness.</p>
+
+<p>I sometimes went to Paris on affairs of business. I find, in a letter
+which I wrote to Madame Guizot during one of these journeys, the
+impressions I experienced. "At the first moment I feel pleasure at
+mixing again and conversing with the world, but soon grow weary of
+unprofitable words. There is no repetition more tire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>some than that
+which bears upon popular matters. We are eternally listening to what we
+know already; we are perpetually telling others what they are as well
+acquainted with as we are: this is, at the same time, insipid and
+agitating. In my inaction, I prefer talking to the trees, the flowers,
+the sun, and the wind. Man is infinitely superior to nature; but nature
+is always equal, and inexhaustible in her monotony; we know that she
+remains and must remain what she is; we never feel in her presence that
+necessity of moving in advance, which makes us impatient or weary of the
+society of men when they fail to satisfy this imperative demand. Who has
+ever fancied that the trees ought to be red instead of green, or found
+fault with the sun of today for resembling the sun of yesterday? We
+demand of nature neither progress nor novelty; and this is why nature
+draws us from the weariness of the world, while she brings repose from
+its excitement. It is her attribute to please for ever without changing;
+but immovable man becomes tiresome, and he is not strong enough to be
+perpetually in motion."</p>
+
+<p>In the bosom of this calm and satisfying life, public affairs, the part
+I had begun to take in them, the ties of mutual opinion and friendship I
+had formed, the hopes I had entertained for my country and myself,
+continued nevertheless to occupy much of my attention. I became anxious
+to declare aloud my thoughts on the new system under which France was
+governed; on what that system had become since 1814, and what it ought
+to be to keep its word and accomplish its object. Still a stranger to
+the Chambers, it was there alone that I could enter personally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> into the
+field of politics, and assume my fitting place. I was perfectly
+unfettered, and at an age when disinterested confidence in the empire of
+truth blends with the honest aspirations of ambition; I pursued the
+success of my cause, while I hoped for personal distinction. After
+residing for two months at the Maisonnette, I published, under this
+title, 'On the Government of France since the Restoration, and the
+Ministry now in Office,' my first oppositional treatise against the
+policy which had been followed since the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu, by allying
+himself with the right-hand party to change the electoral law, had also
+changed the seat and tendency of power.</p>
+
+<p>I took up the question, or, to speak more truly, I entered into the
+contest, on the ground on which the Hundred Days and the Chamber of 1815
+had unfortunately placed it:&mdash;Who are to exercise, in the government of
+France, the preponderating influence? the victors or the vanquished of
+1789? the middle classes, elevated to their rights, or the privileged
+orders of earlier times? Is the Charter the conquest of the newly
+constituted society, or the triumph of the old system, the legitimate
+and rational accomplishment, or the merited penalty of the revolution?</p>
+
+<p>I borrow from a preface which I added last year to a new edition of my
+'Course of Lectures on the History of Civilization in France,' some
+lines which today, after more than forty years of experience and
+reflection, convey the faithful impress of my thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the blind rivalry of the high social classes, which has
+occasioned the miscarriage of our efforts to establish a free
+government. Instead of uniting either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> in defence against despotism, or
+to establish practical liberty, the nobility and the citizens have
+remained separate, intent on mutually excluding or supplanting each
+other, and both refusing to admit equality or superiority. Pretensions
+unjust in principal, and vain in fact! The somewhat frivolous pride of
+the nobility has not prevented the citizens of France from rising, and
+taking their place on a level with the highest in the State. Neither
+have the rather puerile jealousies of the citizens hindered the nobility
+from preserving the advantages of family celebrity and the long tenure
+of situation. In every arranged society which lives and increases there
+is an internal movement of ascent and acquisition. In all systems that
+are destined to endure, a certain hierarchy of conditions and ranks
+establishes and perpetuates itself. Justice, common sense, public
+advantage, and private interest, when properly understood, all require a
+reciprocal acknowledgment of these natural facts of social order. The
+different classes in France have not known how to adopt this skilful
+equity. Thus they have endured, and have also inflicted on their
+country, the penalty of their irrational egotism. For the vulgar
+gratification of remaining, on the one side insolent, on the other
+envious, nobles and citizens have continued much less free, less
+important, less secure in their social privileges, than they might have
+been with a little more justice, foresight, and submission to the divine
+laws of human associations. They have been unable to act in concert, so
+as to become free and powerful together; and consequently they have
+given up France and themselves to successive revolutions."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>In 1820, we were far from this free and impartial appreciation of our
+political history and the causes of our disasters. Re-engaged for five
+years in the track of the old rivalries of classes and the recent
+struggles of revolution, we were entirely occupied with the troubles and
+dangers of the moment, and anxious to conquer, without bestowing much
+thought on the price or future embarrassments of victory. I upheld with
+enthusiasm the cause of the new society, such as the Revolution had made
+it, holding equality in the eye of the law as the first principle, and
+the middle classes as the fundamental element. I elevated this cause,
+already so great, by carrying it back to the past, and by discovering
+its interests and vicissitudes in the entire series of our history. I
+have no desire to palliate my thoughts or words. "For more than thirteen
+centuries," I said, "France has comprised two races, the victors and the
+vanquished. For more than thirteen centuries, the beaten race has
+struggled to throw off the yoke of its conquerors. Our history is the
+history of this contest. In our own days, a decisive battle has been
+fought. That battle is called the Revolution.... The result was not
+doubtful. Victory declared for those who had been so long subdued. In
+turn they conquered France, and in 1814 were in possession beyond
+dispute. The Charter acknowledged this fact, proclaimed that it was
+founded on right, and guaranteed that right by the pledge of
+representative government. The King, by this single act, established
+himself as the chief of the new conquerors. He placed himself in their
+ranks and at their head, engaging himself to defend with them, and for
+them, the conquests of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> the Revolution, which were theirs. The Charter
+implied such an engagement, beyond all question; for war was on the
+point of recommencing. It was easy to foresee that the vanquished party
+would not tamely submit to their defeat. Not that it reduced them to the
+condition to which they had formerly humiliated their adversaries; they
+found rights, if they lost privileges, and, while falling from high
+supremacy, might repose on equality; but great masses of men will not
+thus abdicate human weakness, and their reason ever remains far in the
+rear of their necessity. All that preserved or restored to the ancient
+possessors of privilege a gleam of hope, urged and tempted them to grasp
+it. The Restoration could not fail to produce this effect. The fall of
+privilege had entrained the subversion of the throne; it might be hoped
+that the throne would restore privilege with its own re-establishment.
+How was it possible not to cherish this hope? Revolutionary France held
+it in dread. But even if the events of 1814 had not effected the
+Restoration, if the Charter had been given to us from another source and
+by a different dynasty, the mere establishment of the representative
+system, the simple return to liberty, would have sufficed to inflame and
+rouse up once more to combat the old race, the privileged orders. They
+exist amongst us; they live, speak, circulate, act, and influence from
+one end of France to the other. Decimated and scattered by the
+Convention, seduced and kept under by Napoleon, as soon as terror and
+despotism cease (and neither are durable) they re-appear, resume
+position, and labour to recover all that they have lost.... We have
+conquered the old system,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> we shall always conquer it; but for a long
+time still we shall have to combat with it. Whoever wishes to see
+constitutional order established in France, free elections, independent
+Chambers, a tribune, liberty of the press, and all other public
+liberties, must abandon the idea that, in this perpetual and animated
+manifestation of all society, the counter-revolution can remain mute and
+inactive."</p>
+
+<p>At the very moment when I recapitulated, in terms so positive and
+forcible, the situation in which the Revolution, the Restoration, and
+the Charter had placed France, I foresaw that my words and ideas might
+be perverted to the advantage of revolutionary passions; and to confine
+them within their just interpretation, I hastened to add, "In saying
+that, since the origin of our monarchy, the struggle between two races
+has agitated France, and that the Revolution has been merely the triumph
+of new conquerors over the ancient possessors of power and territory, I
+have not sought to establish any historical filiation, or to maintain
+that the double fact of conquest and servitude was perpetual, constant,
+and identical through all ages. Such an assertion would be evidently
+falsified by realities. During this long progression of time, the
+victors and the vanquished, the possessors and the possessions&mdash;the two
+races, in fact&mdash;have become connected, displaced, and confounded; in
+their existence and relations they have undergone innumerable
+vicissitudes. Justice, the total absence of which would speedily
+annihilate all society, has introduced itself into the effects of power.
+It has protected the weak, restrained the strong, regulated their
+inter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>course, and has progressively substituted order for violence, and
+equality for oppression. It has rendered France, in fact, such as the
+world has seen her, with her immeasurable glory and her intervals of
+repose. But it is not the less true that throughout thirteen centuries,
+by the result of conquest and feudalism, France has always retained two
+positions, two social classes, profoundly distinct and unequal, which
+have never become amalgamated or placed in a condition of mutual
+understanding and harmony; which have never ceased to combat, the one to
+conquer right, the other to retain privilege. In this our history is
+comprised; and in this sense I have spoken of two races, victors and
+vanquished, friends and enemies; and of the war, sometimes open and
+sanguinary, at others internal and purely political, which these two
+conflicting interests have mutually waged against each other."</p>
+
+<p>On reading over these pages at the present day, and my entire work of
+1820, I retain the impression, which I still desire to establish. On
+examining things closely and by themselves, as an historian and
+philosopher, I scarcely find any passage to alter. I continue to think
+that the general ideas therein expressed are just, the great social
+facts properly estimated, the political personages well understood and
+drawn with fidelity. As an incidental polemic, the work is too positive
+and harsh; I do not sufficiently consider difficulties and clouds; I
+condemn situations and parties too strongly; I require too much from
+men; I have too little temperance, foresight, and patience. At that time
+I was too exclusively possessed by the spirit of opposition.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>Even then I suspected this myself; and perhaps the success I obtained
+inspired the doubt. I am not naturally disposed to opposition; and the
+more I have advanced in life, the more I have become convinced that it
+is a part too easy and too dangerous. Success demands but little merit,
+while considerable virtue is requisite to resist the external and innate
+attractions. In 1820, I had as yet only filled an indirect and secondary
+position under the Government; nevertheless I fully understood the
+difficulty of governing, and felt a degree of repugnance in adding to it
+by attacking those to whom power was delegated. Another conviction began
+also from that time to impress itself upon me. In modern society, when
+liberty is displayed, the strife becomes too unequal between the party
+that governs and those who criticize Government. With the one rests all
+the burden and unlimited responsibility; nothing is looked over or
+forgiven: with the others there is perfect liberty and no
+responsibility; everything that they say or do is accepted and
+tolerated. Such is the public disposition, at least in France as soon as
+we become free. At a later period, and when in office, I endured the
+weight of this myself; but I may acknowledge without any personal
+reluctance, that while in Opposition I first perceived the unjust and
+injurious tendency of this feeling.</p>
+
+<p>By instinct, rather than from any reflective or calculated intention, I
+conceived the desire, as soon as I had committed an act of declared
+hostility, of demonstrating what spirit of government was not foreign to
+my own views. Many sensible men inclined to think that from the
+representative system, in France at least, and in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> state in which
+the Revolution had left us, no sound plan could emanate, and that our
+ardent longings for free institutions were only calculated to enervate
+power and promote anarchy. The Revolutionary and Imperial eras had
+naturally bequeathed this idea; France had only become acquainted with
+political liberty by revolutions, and with order by despotism; harmony
+between them appeared to be a chimera. I undertook to prove, not only
+that this chimera of great minds might become a reality, but that the
+realization depended upon ourselves; for the system founded by the
+Charter alone contained, for us, the essential means of regular
+government and of effective opposition, which the sincere friends of
+power and liberty could desire. My work, entitled, 'On the Means of
+Government and Opposition in the Actual State of France,' was entirely
+dedicated to this object.</p>
+
+<p>In that treatise I entered into no general or theoretic exposition of
+policy, the idea of which I expressly repudiated. "Perhaps," I said, in
+my preface, "I may on some future occasion discuss more general
+questions of predominant interest in regard to the nature and principles
+of constitutional government, although their solution has nothing to do
+with existing politics, with the events and actors of the moment. I wish
+now to speak only of power as it is, and of the best method of governing
+our great and beautiful country." Entirely a novice and doctrinarian as
+I then was, I forgot that the same maxims and arts of government must be
+equally good everywhere, and that all nations and ages are, at the same
+moment, cast in a similar mould. I confined my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>self sedulously to my own
+time and country, endeavouring to show what effective means of
+government were included in the true principles and regular exercise of
+the institutions which France held from the Charter, and how they might
+be successfully put in practice for the legitimate advantage and
+strengthening of power. With respect to the means of opposition, I
+followed the same line of argument, convinced myself, and anxious to
+persuade the adversaries of the then dominant policy, that authority
+might be controlled without destroying it, and that the rights of
+liberty might be exercised without shaking the foundations of
+established order. It was my strong desire and prepossession to elevate
+the political arena above the revolutionary track, and to imbue the
+heart of the constitutional system with ideas of strong and legal
+conservatism.</p>
+
+<p>Thirty-six years have since rolled on. During this long interval I
+participated, for eighteen of those years, in the efforts of my
+generation for the establishment of a free government. For some time I
+sustained the weight of this labour. That government has been
+overthrown. Thus I have myself experienced the immense difficulty, and
+endured the painful failure, of this great enterprise. Nevertheless, and
+I say it without sceptical hesitation or affected modesty, I read over
+again today what I wrote in 1821, upon the means of government and
+opposition in the actual state of France, with almost unmingled
+satisfaction. I required much from power, but nothing, I believe, that
+was not both capable and necessary of accomplishment. And
+notwithstanding my young confidence, I remembered, even then, that other
+conditions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> were essential to success. "I have no intention," I wrote,
+"to impute everything to, and demand everything from, power itself. I
+shall not say to it, as has often been said, 'Be just, wise, firm, and
+fear nothing;' power is not free to exercise this inherent and
+individual excellence. It does not make society, it finds it; and if
+society is impotent to second power, if the spirit of anarchy prevails,
+if the causes of dissolution exist in its own bosom, power will operate
+in vain; it is not given to human wisdom to rescue a people who refuse
+to co-operate in their own safety."</p>
+
+<p>When I published these two attacks upon the attitude and tendencies of
+the Cabinet, conspiracies and political prosecutions burst forth from
+day to day, and entailed their tragical consequences. I have already
+said what I thought on the plots of that epoch, and why I considered
+them as ill based, as badly conducted, without legitimate motives or
+effectual means. But while I condemned them, I respected the sincere and
+courageous devotion of so many men, the greater part of whom were very
+young, and who, though mistaken, lavished the treasures of their minds
+and lives upon a cause which they believed to be just. Amongst the
+trials of our time, I scarcely recognize any more painful than that of
+these conflicting feelings, these perplexities between esteem and
+censure, condemnation and sympathy, which I have so often been compelled
+to bestow on the acts of so many of my contemporaries. I love harmony
+and light in the human soul as well as in human associations; and we
+live in an epoch of confusion and obscurity, moral as well as social.</p>
+
+<p>How many men have I known, who, gifted with noble<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> qualities, would in
+other times have led just and simple lives, but who, in our days,
+confounded in the problems and shadows of their own thoughts, have
+become ambitious, turbulent, and fanatical, not knowing either how to
+attain their object or how to continue in repose!</p>
+
+<p>In 1820, although still young myself, I lamented this agitation of minds
+and destinies, almost as sad to contemplate as fatal to be engaged in;
+but while deploring it, I was divided between severe judgment and
+lenient emotion, and, without seeking to disarm power in its legitimate
+defence, I felt a deep anxiety to inspire it with generous and prudent
+equity towards such adversaries.</p>
+
+<p>A true sentiment does not readily believe itself impotent. The two works
+which I published in 1821 and 1822, entitled, the first, 'On
+Conspiracies and Political Justice,' and the second, 'On Capital
+Punishment for Political Offences,' were not, on my part, acts of
+opposition; I endeavoured to divest them of this character. To mark
+distinctly their meaning and object, it will suffice for me to repeat
+their respective epigraphs. On the title-page of the first I inscribed
+this passage from the prophet Isaiah: "Say ye not, <i>a confederacy</i>, to
+all them to whom this people shall say, <i>a confederacy</i>;" and on that of
+the second, the words of St. Paul: "O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory?" What I chiefly desired was to convince
+power itself that sound policy and true justice called for very rare
+examples of trial and execution in political cases; and that in
+exercising against all offenders the utmost severity of the laws, it
+created more perils than it subdued. Public opinion was in accordance
+with mine; sensible and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>dependent men, taking no part in the passions
+of the parties engaged in this struggle, found, as I did, that there was
+excess in the action of the police with reference to these plots, excess
+in the number and severity of the prosecutions, excess in the
+application of legal penalties. I carefully endeavoured to restrain
+these complaints within their just limits, to avoid all injurious
+comparisons, all attempts at sudden reforms, and to concede to power its
+necessary weapons. While discussing these questions, which had sprung up
+in the bosom of the most violent storms, I sought to transfer them to an
+elevated and temperate region, convinced that by that course alone my
+ideas and words would acquire any permanent efficacy. They obtained the
+sanction of a much more potent ally than myself. The Court of Peers,
+which at that time had assumed the place assigned to it by the Charter,
+in judgment on political prosecutions, immediately began to exercise
+sound policy and true discrimination. It was a rare and imposing sight,
+to behold a great assembly, essentially political in origin and
+composition,&mdash;a faithful supporter of authority; and at the same time
+sedulously watchful, not only to elevate justice above the passions of
+the moment, and to administer it with perfect independence, but also to
+apply, in the appreciation and punishment of political offences, that
+intelligent equity which alone could satisfy the reason of the
+philosopher and the charity of the Christian. A part of the honour due
+to this grand exhibition belongs to the authorities the time, who not
+only made no attempt to interfere with the unshackled impartiality of
+the Court of Peers, but refrained even from objection or complaint.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+Next to the merit of being themselves, and through their own
+convictions, just and wise, it is a real act of wisdom on the part of
+the great ones of the earth, when they adopt without murmur or
+hesitation the good which has not originated with themselves.</p>
+
+<p>I have lived in an age of political plots and outrages, directed
+alternately against the authorities to whom I was in opposition and
+those I supported with ardour. I have seen conspiracies occasionally
+unpunished, and at other times visited by the utmost rigour of the law.
+I feel thoroughly convinced that in the existing state of feelings,
+minds, and manners, the punishment of death in such cases is an
+injurious weapon which heavily wounds the power that uses it for safety.
+It is not that this penalty is without denunciatory and preventive
+efficacy; it terrifies and holds back from conspiracies many who would
+otherwise be tempted to engage in them. But by the side of this salutary
+consequence, it engenders others which are most injurious. Drawing no
+line of distinction between the motives and dispositions which have
+incited men to the acts it punishes, it stifles in the same manner the
+reprobate and the dreamer, the criminal and the enthusiast, the wildly
+ambitious and the devotedly fanatical. By this gross indifference, it
+offends more than it satisfies moral feeling, irritates more than it
+restrains, moves indifferent spectators to pity, and appears to those
+who are interested an act of war falsely invested with the forms of a
+decree of justice. The intimidation which it conveys at first,
+diminishes from day to day; while the hatred and thirst of vengeance it
+inspires become hourly more intense and expansive; and at last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> the time
+arrives when the power which fancies itself saved is exposed to the
+attacks of enemies infinitely more numerous and formidable than those
+who have been previously disposed of.</p>
+
+<p>A day will also come, I confidently feel, when, for offences exclusively
+political, the penalties of banishment and transportation, carefully
+graduated and applied, will be substituted in justice as well as in fact
+for the punishment of death. Meanwhile I reckon, amongst the most
+agreeable reminiscences of my life, the fact of my having strenuously
+directed true justice and good policy to this subject, at a moment when
+both were seriously compromised by party passions and the dangers to
+which power was exposed.</p>
+
+<p>These four works, published successively within the space of two years,
+attracted a considerable share of public attention. The leading members
+of Opposition in the two Chambers thanked me as for a service rendered
+to the cause of France and free institutions. "You win battles for us
+without our help," said General Foy to me. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, in pointing
+out some objections to the first of these Essays ('On the Government of
+France since the Restoration'), added, "Your book is full of truths; we
+collect them with a shovel." I repeat without hesitation these
+testimonies of real approbation. When we seriously undertake to advocate
+political measures, either in speeches or publications, it becomes most
+essential to attain our object. Praise is doubly valuable when it
+conveys the certainty of success. This certainty once established, I
+care little for mere compliments, from which a certain degree of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+puerility and ridicule is inseparable; sympathy without affected words
+has alone a true and desirable charm. I had a right to set some value on
+that which the Opposition evinced towards me; for I had done nothing to
+gratify the passions or conciliate the prejudices and after-thoughts
+which fermented in the extreme ranks of the party.</p>
+
+<p>I had as frankly supported royalty, as I had opposed the Cabinet; and it
+was evident that I had no desire to consign either the House of Bourbon
+or the Charter to their respective enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Two opportunities soon presented themselves of explaining myself on this
+point in a more personal and precise manner. In 1821, a short time after
+the publication of my 'Essay on Conspiracies and Political Justice,' one
+of the leaders of the conspiring faction, a man of talent and honour,
+but deeply implicated in secret societies, that inheritance of
+tyrannical times which becomes the poison of freedom, came to see me,
+and expressed with much warmth his grateful acknowledgments. The boldest
+conspirators feel gratified, when danger threatens, by shielding
+themselves under the principles of justice and moderation professed by
+men who take no part in their plots. We conversed freely on all topics.
+As he was about to leave me, my visitor, grasping me by the arm,
+exclaimed, "Become one of ours!"&mdash;"Who do you call yours?"&mdash;"Enter with
+us into the <i>Charbonnerie</i>; it is the only association capable of
+overthrowing the Government by which we are humiliated and
+oppressed."&mdash;I replied, "You deceive yourself, as far as I am concerned;
+I do not feel humiliation or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> oppression either for myself or my
+country."&mdash;"What can you hope from the people now in power?"&mdash;"It is not
+a question of hope; I wish to preserve what we possess; we have all we
+require to establish a free government for ourselves. Actual power
+constantly calls for resistance. In my opinion it does so at this
+moment, but not to the extent of being subverted. It is very far from
+having done anything to give us either the right or the means of
+proceeding to that extremity. We have legal and public arms in abundance
+to produce reform by opposition. I neither desire your object nor your
+method of attaining it; you will bring much mischief on all, yourselves
+included, without success; and if you should succeed, matters would be
+still worse."</p>
+
+<p>He went away without anger, for he felt a friendship for me; but I had
+not in the slightest degree shaken his passion for plots and secret
+societies. It is a fever which admits of no cure, when the soul is once
+given up to it, and a yoke not to be thrown off when it has been long
+endured.</p>
+
+<p>A little later, in 1822, when the publications I have spoken of had
+produced their effect, I received one day a visit from M.&nbsp;Manuel. We had
+occasionally met at the houses of mutual friends, and lived on terms of
+good understanding without positive intimacy. He evidently came to
+propose closer acquaintanceship, with an openness in which perhaps the
+somewhat restricted character of his mind was as much displayed as the
+firmness of his temperament; he passed at once from compliments to
+confidence, and, after congratulating me on my opposition, opened to me
+the full bearing of his own. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> neither believed in the Restoration nor
+the Charter, held the House of Bourbon to be incompatible with the
+France of the Revolution, and looked upon a change of dynasty as a
+necessary consequence of the total alteration in the social system. He
+introduced, in the course of our interview, the recent death of the
+Emperor Napoleon, the security which thence resulted to the peace of
+Europe, and the name of Napoleon II. as a possible and perhaps the best
+solution of the problems involved in our future. All this was expressed
+in guarded but sufficiently definite terms, equally without passion or
+circumlocution, and with a marked intention of ascertaining to what
+extent I should admit or reject the prospects on which he enlarged. I
+was unprepared, both for the visit and the conversation; but I stood on
+no reserve, not expecting to convert M.&nbsp;Manuel to my own views, and with
+no desire to conceal mine from him. "Far from thinking," I said in
+reply, "that a change of dynasty is necessary for France, I should look
+upon it as a great misfortune and a formidable peril. I consider the
+Revolution of 1789 to be satisfied as well as finished. In the Charter
+it possesses all the guarantees that its interests and legitimate
+objects require. I have no fear of a counter-revolution. We hold against
+it the power of right as well as of fact; and if people were ever mad
+enough to attempt it, we should always find sufficient strength to
+arrest their progress. What France requires at present is to expel the
+revolutionary spirit which still torments her, and to exercise the free
+system of which she is in full possession. The House of Bourbon is
+extremely well suited to this double<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> exigence of the country. Its
+government is anti-revolutionary by nature, and liberal through
+necessity. I should much dread a power which, while maintaining order,
+would either in fact or appearance be sufficiently revolutionary to
+dispense with being liberal. I should be apprehensive that the country
+would too easily lend itself to such a rule. We require to be a little
+uneasy as regards our interests, that we may learn how to maintain our
+rights. The Restoration satisfies while it keeps us on our guard. It
+acts at the same time as a spur and a bridle. Both are good for us. I
+know not what would happen if we were without either." M.&nbsp;Manuel pressed
+me no longer; he had too much sense to waste time in useless words. We
+continued to discourse without further argument, and parted thinking
+well, I believe, of each other, but both thoroughly satisfied that we
+should never act in concert.</p>
+
+<p>While engaged in the publication of these different treatises, I was
+also preparing my course of lectures on Modern History, which I
+commenced on the 7th of December, 1820. Determined to make use of the
+two influential organs with which public instruction and the press
+supplied me, I used them nevertheless in a very different manner. In my
+lectures, I excluded all reference to the circumstances, system, or acts
+of the Government; I checked every inclination to attack or even to
+criticize, and banished all remembrance of the affairs or contests of
+the moment. I scrupulously restrained myself within the sphere of
+general ideas and by-gone facts. Intellectual independence is the
+natural privilege of science, which would be lost if converted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> into an
+instrument of political opposition. For the effective display of
+different liberties, it is necessary that each should be confined within
+its own domain; their strength and security depend on this prudent
+restraint.</p>
+
+<p>While imposing on myself this line of conduct, I did not evade the
+difficulty. I selected for the subject of my course the history of the
+old political institutions of Christian Europe, and of the origin of
+representative government, in the different forms in which it had been
+formerly attempted, with or without success. I touched very closely, in
+such a subject, on the flagrant embarrassments of that contemporaneous
+policy to which I was determined to make no allusion. But I also found
+an obvious opportunity of carrying out, through scientific paths alone,
+the double object I had in view. I was anxious to combat revolutionary
+theories, and to attach interest and respect to the past history of
+France. We had scarcely emerged from the most furious struggle against
+that old French society, our secular cradle; our hearts, if not still
+overflowing with anger, were indifferent towards it, and our minds were
+confusedly imbued with the ideas, true or false, under which it had
+fallen. The time had come for clearing out that arena covered with
+ruins, and for substituting, in thought as in fact, equity for
+hostility, and the principles of liberty for the arms of the Revolution.
+An edifice is not built with machines of war; neither can a free system
+be founded on ignorant prejudices and inveterate antipathies. I
+encountered, at every step throughout my course, the great problems of
+social organization, under the name of which parties and classes
+exchanged such heavy blows,&mdash;the sovereignty of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> people and the
+right divine of kings, monarchy and republicanism, aristocracy and
+democracy, the unity or division of power, the various systems of
+election, constitution, and action of the assemblies called to
+co-operate in government. I entered upon all these questions with a firm
+determination to sift thoroughly the ideas of our own time, and to
+separate revolutionary excitement and fantasies from the advances of
+justice and liberty, reconcilable with the eternal laws of social order.
+By the side of this philosophic undertaking, I pursued another,
+exclusively historical; I endeavoured to demonstrate the intermitting
+but always recurring efforts of French society to emerge from the
+violent chaos in which it had been originally formed, sometimes produced
+by the conflict, and at others by the accordance of its different
+elements&mdash;royalty, nobility, clergy, citizens, and people,&mdash;throughout
+the different phases of that harsh destiny, and the glorious although
+incomplete development of French civilization, such as the Revolution
+had compiled it after so many combats and vicissitudes. I particularly
+wished to associate old France with the remembrance and intelligence of
+new generations; for there was as little sense as justice in decrying or
+despising our fathers, at the very moment when, equally misled in our
+time, we were taking an immense step in the same path which they had
+followed for so many ages.</p>
+
+<p>I expounded these ideas before an audience little disposed to adopt or
+even to take any interest in them. The public who at that time attended
+my lectures were much less numerous and varied than they became some
+years later. They consisted chiefly of young men, pupils<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> of the
+different scientific schools, and of a few curious amateurs of great
+historical disquisitions. The one class were not prepared for the
+questions I proposed, and wanted the preparatory knowledge which would
+have rendered them acceptable. With many of the rest, preconceived ideas
+of the eighteenth century and the Revolution, in matters of historical
+and political philosophy, had already acquired that strength, derived
+from inveterate habit, which rejects discussion, and listens coldly and
+distrustfully to all that differs from their own opinions. Others again,
+and amongst these were the most active and accessible dispositions, were
+more or less engaged in the secret societies, hostile intrigues and
+plots. With these, my opposition was considered extremely supine. I had
+thus many obstacles to surmount, and many conversions to effect, before
+I could bring over to my own views the small circle that listened to my
+arguments.</p>
+
+<p>But there is always, in a French audience, whatever may be their
+prejudices, an intellectual elasticity, a relish for efforts of the mind
+and new ideas boldly set forward, and a certain liberal equity, which
+disposes them to sympathize, even though they may hesitate to admit
+conviction. I was at the same time liberal and anti-revolutionary,
+devoted to the fundamental principles of the new French social system,
+and animated by an affectionate respect for our ancient reminiscences. I
+was opposed to the ideas which constituted the political faith of the
+greater portion of my auditors. I propounded others which appeared
+suspicious to them, even while they seemed just; they considered me as
+made up of obscurities, contradictions, and prospective views, which
+astonished and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> made them hesitate to follow me. At the same time they
+felt that I was serious and sincere; they became gradually convinced
+that my historic impartiality was not indifference, nor my political
+creed a leaning towards the old system, nor my opposition to every kind
+of subversive plot a truckling complaisance for power. I gained ground
+in the estimation of my listeners: some amongst the most distinguished
+came decidedly over to my views; others began to entertain doubts on the
+soundness of their theories and the utility of their conspiring
+practices; nearly all agreed with my just appreciation of the past, and
+my recommendation of patient and legal opposition to the mistakes of the
+present. The revolutionary spirit in this young and ardent section of
+the public was visibly on the decline, not from scepticism and apathy,
+but because other ideas and sentiments occupied its place in their
+hearts, and drove it out to make room for their own admission.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabinet of 1822 thought differently. It looked upon my lectures as
+dangerous; and on the 12th of October in that year, the Abb&eacute;
+Frayssinous, who a few months before had been appointed by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le
+Head Master of the University, commanded me to suspend them. I made no
+complaint at the time, and I am not now astonished at the measure. My
+opposition to the Ministry was unconcealed, and although not in the
+slightest degree mixed up with my course of public instruction, many
+persons were unable to separate as distinctly as I did, in their
+impressions, my lectures on the history of past ages from my writings
+against the policy of the day. I am equally convinced that the
+Government,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> by sanctioning this proceeding, deceived itself to its own
+detriment. In the struggle which it maintained with the spirit of
+revolution, the ideas I propagated in my teaching were more salutary
+than the opposition I carried on through the press was injurious; they
+added more strength to the monarchy, than my criticisms on incidental
+questions and situations could abstract from the Cabinet. But my free
+language disturbed the blind partisans of absolute power in the Church
+and State, and the Abb&eacute; Frayssinous, short-witted and weak though
+honest, obeyed with inquietude rather than reluctance the influences
+whose extreme violence he dreaded without condemning their exercise.</p>
+
+<p>In the division of the monarchical parties, that which I had opposed
+plunged more and more into exclusive and extreme measures. My lectures
+being interdicted, all immediate political influence became impossible
+to me. To struggle, beyond the circle of the Chambers, against the
+existing system, it was necessary either to conspire, or to descend to a
+blind, perverse, and futile opposition. Neither of these courses were
+agreeable; I therefore completely renounced all party contentions, even
+philosophical and abstracted, to seek elsewhere the means of still
+mentally serving my cause with reference to the future.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing more difficult and at the same time more important in
+public life, than to know how at certain moments to resign ourselves to
+inaction without renouncing final success, and to wait patiently without
+yielding to despair.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this epoch that I applied myself seriously to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> the study of
+England, her institutions, and the long contests on which they were
+founded. Enthusiastically devoted to the political future of my own
+country, I wished to learn accurately through what realities and
+mistakes, by what persevering efforts and prudent acts, a great nation
+had succeeded in establishing and preserving a free government. When we
+compare attentively the history and social development of France and
+England, we find it difficult to decide by which we ought to be most
+impressed,&mdash;the differences or the resemblances. Never have two
+countries, with origin and position so totally distinct, been more
+deeply associated in their respective destinies, or exercised upon each
+other, by the alternate relations of peace and war, such continued
+influence. A province of France conquered England; England for a long
+time held possession of several provinces of France; and on the
+conclusion of this national strife, already the institutions and
+political wisdom of the English were, with the most political spirits of
+the French, with Louis XI. and Philip&nbsp;de&nbsp;Comines, for example, subjects
+of admiration. In the bosom of Christianity the two nations have served
+under different religious standards; but this very distinction has
+become between them a new cause of contact and intermixture. In England
+the French Protestants, and in France the persecuted English Catholics,
+have sought and found an asylum. And when kings have been proscribed in
+their turn, in France the monarch of England, and in England the
+sovereign of France, was received and protected. From these respective
+havens of safety, Charles II., in the seventeenth century, and Louis
+XVIII. in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> the nineteenth, departed to resume their dominions. The two
+nations, or, to speak more correctly, the high classes of the two
+nations, have mutually adopted ideas, manners, and fashions from each
+other. In the seventeenth century, the court of Louis XIV. gave the tone
+to the English aristocracy. In the eighteenth, Paris went to London in
+search of models. And when we ascend above these historical incidents to
+consider the great phases of civilization in the two countries, we find
+that, after considerable intervals in the course of ages, they have
+followed nearly the same career; and that similar attempts and
+alternations of order and revolution, of absolute power and liberty,
+have occurred in both, with singular coincidences and equally remarkable
+distinctions.</p>
+
+<p>It is, therefore, on a very superficial and erroneous survey that some
+persons look upon French and English society as so essentially
+different, that the one could not draw political examples from the other
+except by factitious and barren imitations. Nothing is more completely
+falsified by true history, and more opposed to the natural bias of the
+two countries. Their very rivalries have never broken the ties, apparent
+or concealed, that exist between them; and, whether they know or are
+ignorant of it, whether they acknowledge or deny the fact, they cannot
+avoid being powerfully acted upon, by each other; their ideas, their
+manners, and their institutions intermingle and modify mutually, as if
+by an amicable necessity.</p>
+
+<p>Let me at the same time admit, without hesitation, that we have
+sometimes borrowed from England too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> completely and precipitately. We
+have not sufficiently calculated the true character and social condition
+of French society. France has increased and prospered under the
+influence of royalty seconding the ascending movement of the middle
+classes; England, by the action of the landed aristocracy, taking under
+its charge the liberties of the people. These distinctions are too
+marked to disappear, even under the controlling uniformity of modern
+civilization. We have too thoroughly forgotten them. It is the rock and
+impediment in the way of innovations accomplished under the name of
+general ideas and great examples, that they do not assume their
+legitimate part in real and national facts. But how could we have
+escaped this rock? In the course of her long existence, ancient France
+has made, at several regular intervals, great efforts to obtain free
+government. The most powerful influences have either resisted, or failed
+in the attempt; her best institutions have not co-operated with the
+necessary changes, or have remained politically ineffective;
+nevertheless, by a just sentiment of her honour as of her interest,
+France has never ceased to aspire to a true and permanent system of
+political guarantees and liberties. She demanded and desired this system
+in 1789. Through what channels was it sought? From what institution was
+it expected? So often deceived in her hopes and attempts within, she
+looked beyond home for lessons and models,&mdash;a great additional obstacle
+to a work already so difficult, but an inevitable one imposed by
+necessity.</p>
+
+<p>In 1823, I was far from estimating the obstacles which beset us in our
+labour of constitutional organization as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> correctly as I do now. I was
+impressed with the idea that our predecessors of 1789 had held old
+France, her social traditions and her habits, in too much contempt; and
+that to bring back harmony with liberty into our country, we ought to
+lay more stress on our glorious past. At the same moment, therefore,
+when I placed before the eyes of the French public the history and
+original monuments of the institutions and revolutions of England, I
+entered with ardour into the study and exposition of the early state of
+French society, its origin, laws, and different gradations of
+development. I was equally desirous to give to my readers information on
+a great foreign history, and to revive amongst them a taste and
+inclination for the study of our own.</p>
+
+<p>My labours were certainly in accord with the instincts and requirements
+of the time; for they were received and seconded by the general movement
+which then manifested itself in the public mind, and with reference to
+the Government so much a subject of dispute. It is the happy tendency of
+the French temperament to change the direction of its course without
+slackening speed. It is singularly flexible, elastic, and prolific. An
+obstacle impedes it, it opens another path; if burdened by fetters, it
+still walks on while bearing them; if restrained on a given point, it
+leaves it, and rebounds elsewhere. The Government of the right-hand
+party restrained political life and action within a narrow circle, and
+rendered them more difficult; the generation which was then beginning to
+stir in the world, sought, not entirely independent of, but side by side
+with politics, the employment of its strength and the gratification of
+its desires: literature,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> philosophy, history, policy, and criticism
+assumed a new and powerful flight. While a natural and unfortunate
+reaction brought back into the field of combat the eighteenth century
+with its old weapons, the nineteenth displayed itself with its original
+ideas, tendencies, and features.</p>
+
+<p>I do not quote particular names; those which deserve to be remembered
+require no repetition; it is the general character of the intellectual
+movement of the period that I wish to bring into light. This movement
+was neither exclusively nor directly applied to politics, yet it was
+from politics that it emanated; it was both literary and philosophic:
+the human mind, disengaging itself from the interests and disputes of
+the day, pressed forward through every path that presented itself, in
+the search and enjoyment of the true and beautiful; but the first
+impulse came from political liberty, and the hope of contributing to the
+establishment of a free system was plainly perceptible in the most
+abstract labours as in the most poetic flights. My friends and I, while
+originating in 1827 one of the leading periodicals of the age, the
+'Revue Fran&ccedil;aise,' selected for its motto this verse of Ovid,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Et quod nunc ratio est, impetus ante fuit:"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"What is now reason, was at first an impulse of passion."</p>
+
+<p>We thus truly conveyed the prevailing spirit around us, and our own
+personal conviction. The 'Revue Fran&ccedil;aise' was devoted to philosophy,
+history, literary criticism, and moral and scientific lucubrations; at
+the same time it was impregnated with the grand political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> inspirations
+which for forty years had agitated France. We declared ourselves
+distinct from our precursors of 1789, strangers to their passions, and
+not enslaved to their ideas, but inheritors and continuators of their
+work. We undertook to bring back the new French society to purer
+principles, to more elevated and equitable sentiments, and to firmer
+foundations; to that great subject of interest, to the accomplishment of
+its legitimate hopes and the assurance of its liberties, our efforts and
+desires were incessantly directed.</p>
+
+<p>Another miscellany, commenced in 1824, and more popular than the
+'Revue'&mdash;the 'Globe'&mdash;bore the same features in a polemic of greater
+animation and variety. Some young doctrinarians, associated with other
+writers of the same class, and animated by the same spirit, although
+with primary ideas and ultimate tendencies of a very different
+character, were the ordinary editors. Their distinguishing symbols were,
+in philosophy, spiritualism; in history, intelligent inquiry, impartial
+and even sympathetic as regarded ancient times and the progressive
+conditions of human society; in literature, a taste for novelty,
+variety, liberty, and truth, even under the strangest forms and the most
+incongruous associations. They defended, or rather advanced their banner
+with the ardour and pride of youth; enjoying, in their attempts at
+philosophical, historical, poetical, and critical reform, the
+satisfaction, at once personal and disinterested, which forms the
+sweetest reward of intellectual activity; and promising themselves, as
+always happens, a too extensive and too easy success. Two faults were
+mingled with these generous aspirations: the ideas developed in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+'Globe' were deficient in a fixed basis and a defined limit; their form
+was more decided than their foundation; they exhibited minds animated by
+a noble impulse, but not directed to any single or certain end; and open
+to an easy, unrestricted course, which excited apprehension that they
+might themselves drift towards the rocks they cautioned others to avoid.
+At the same time the spirit of partisanship, inclining men to be wrapped
+up and isolated in the narrow circle of their immediate associates,
+without remembering the general public for whom they labour and to whom
+they speak, exercised too much influence in the pages of the 'Globe.'
+Turgot intended to write several articles for the 'Encyclop&aelig;dia.'
+D'Alembert came one day to ask him for them. Turgot declined: "You
+incessantly say <i>we</i>," he replied; "the public will soon say <i>you</i>; I do
+not wish to be so enrolled and classed." But these faults of the
+'Globe,' apparent today, were concealed, thirty years ago, by the merit
+of its opposition; for political opposition was at the bottom of this
+miscellany, and obtained favour for it with many in the party opposed to
+the Restoration, to whom its philosophical and literary opinions were
+far from acceptable. In February, 1830, under the ministry of M.&nbsp;de
+Polignac, the 'Globe,' yielding to its inclination, became decidedly a
+great political journal; and from his retirement at Carquerannes, near
+Hy&egrave;res, where he had gone to reconcile his labour with his health,
+M.&nbsp;Augustine Thierry wrote to me as follows:&mdash;"What think you of the
+'Globe' since it has changed its character? I know not why I am vexed to
+find in it all those trifling points of news and daily discussion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+Formerly we concentrated our thoughts to read it, but now that is no
+longer possible; the attention is distracted and divided. There are
+still the same spirit and the same articles, but it is disagreeable to
+encounter by their side these commonplace and every-day matters."
+M.&nbsp;Augustine Thierry was right. The 'Globe' sank materially by becoming a
+political journal, like so many others; but it had not been the less
+essentially political from its commencement, in tendency and
+inspiration. Such was the general spirit of the time; and, far from
+avoiding this, the 'Globe' was deeply impregnated with it.</p>
+
+<p>Even under the controlling influence of the right-hand party, the
+Restoration made no attempt to stifle this actual but indirect
+opposition, which they felt to be troublesome though not openly hostile:
+justice requires that we should remember this to the credit of that
+epoch. In the midst of the constant alarms excited by political liberty
+and the efforts of power to restrain it, intellectual freedom maintained
+itself and commanded respect. This freedom does not supply all the rest;
+but it prepares them, and, while their accomplishment is suspended,
+preserves the honour of nations who have not yet learned to conquer or
+preserve their rights.</p>
+
+<p>While this movement of the mind developed itself and gained strength
+from day to day, the Government of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le pursued its course,
+more and more perplexed by the pretensions and quarrels of the party
+which its leader vainly
+<a name="corr13" id="corr13"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn13" title="changed from 'eadeavoured'">endeavoured</a>
+to restrain. One of my friends,
+endowed with penetrating and impartial judgment, thus wrote to me in
+December, 1826, from the interior of his department:&mdash;"Men who are at
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> head of a faction are really destined to tremble before their own
+shadow. I cannot recollect any time when this nullity of the ruling
+party was more complete. They do not propound a single doctrine or
+conviction, or a hope for the future. Even declamation itself seems to
+be exhausted and futile. Surely M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le must be allowed the merit
+of being well acquainted with their helplessness; his success springs
+from that cause; but this I look upon as an instinctive knowledge: he
+represents without correctly estimating these people. Otherwise he would
+discover that he might refuse them everything except places and
+appointments; provided also that he lends himself to no connection with
+opposite opinions." When the party, proceeding from exigence to
+exigence, and the Cabinet from weakness to weakness, found themselves
+unable to act longer together,&mdash;when M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, in November 1827,
+appealed to an election for defence against his rivals in the Chamber
+and at Court,&mdash;we resolutely encountered our share in the contest. Every
+opposition combined. Under the motto, <i>Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera</i>,
+"Help thyself, and Heaven will help thee," a public association was
+formed, in which was comprised men of very different general ideas and
+definitive intentions, who acted in concert with the sole design of
+bringing about, by legal measures, a change of the majority in the
+Chamber of Deputies, and the fall of the Cabinet. I as readily joined
+them, with my friends, as in 1815 I had repaired alone to Ghent to
+convey to the King, Louis XVIII., the wishes of the constitutional
+Royalists. Long revolutions engender two opposite vices, rashness and
+pusillanimity; men learn from them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> either to plunge blindly into mad
+enterprises, or to abstain timidly from the most legitimate and
+necessary actions. We had openly opposed the policy of the Cabinet; it
+now challenged us to the electoral field to decide the quarrel: we
+entered it with the same frankness, resolved to look for nothing beyond
+fair elections, and to accept the difficulties and chances, at first of
+the combat, and afterwards of the success, if success should attend our
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p>In the 'Biography' which B&eacute;ranger has written of himself, I find this
+paragraph:&mdash;"At all times I have relied too much on the people, to
+approve of secret associations, in reality permanent conspiracies, which
+uselessly compromise many persons, create a host of inferior rival
+ambitions, and render questions of principle subordinate to private
+passions. They rapidly produce suspicion, an infallible cause of
+defection and even of treachery, and end, when the labouring classes are
+called in to co-operate, by corrupting instead of enlightening them....
+The society, <i>Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera</i>, which acted openly, has alone
+rendered true service to our cause." The cause of M.&nbsp;B&eacute;ranger and ours
+were totally distinct. Which of the two would profit most by the
+electoral services derived from the society of <i>Aide-toi, le Ciel
+t'aidera</i>? The question was to be speedily solved by the King, Charles
+X.</p>
+
+<p>The results of the election of 1827 were enormous; they greatly exceeded
+the fears of the Cabinet and the hopes of the Opposition. I was still in
+the country when these events became known. One of my friends wrote to
+me from Paris, "The consternation of the Ministers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> the nervous attack
+of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, who sent for his physician at three o'clock in the
+morning, the agony of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Corbi&egrave;res,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> the retreat of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac
+to the country, from whence he has no intention to return, although he
+may be vehemently requested to do so, the terror at the palace, the ever
+brilliant shooting-parties of the King, the elections so completely
+unexpected, surprising, and astounding,&mdash;here are more than subjects
+enough to call for prophecies, and to give rise to false predictions on
+every consequence that may be anticipated." The Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Broglie, absent,
+like myself, from Paris, looked towards the future with more confident
+moderation. "It will be difficult," he wrote to me, "for the general
+sound sense which has presided at these elections not to react, to a
+certain extent, on the parties elected. The Ministry which will be
+formed during the first conflict, will be poor enough; but we must
+support it, and endeavour to suppress all alarm. It has already reached
+me here, that the elections have produced great apprehensions; if I am
+not deceived, this terror is nothing more than a danger of the moment.
+If, after the fall of the present Ministry, we are able to get through
+the year quietly, we shall have won the victory."</p>
+
+<p>When the Ministry of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le fell, and the Cabinet of M.&nbsp;de
+Martignac was installed, a new attempt at a Government of the Centre
+commenced, but with much less force, and inferior chances of success,
+than that which in 1816 and 1821, under the combined and separate
+directions of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu and M.&nbsp;Decazes, had defended France
+and the crown against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> supremacy of the right and left-hand parties.
+The party of the centre, formed at that time under a pressing danger of
+the country, had drawn much strength from that very circumstance, and
+either from the right or the left had encountered nothing but animated
+opposition, but still raw and badly organized, and such as in public
+estimation was incapable of government. In 1828, on the contrary, the
+right hand-party, only just ejected from power, after having held it for
+six years, believed that they were as near recovering as they were
+capable of exercising office, and attacked with exuberant hope the
+suddenly created successors who had stepped into their places. In other
+quarters, the left and the left centre, brought into contact and almost
+confounded by six years of common opposition, reciprocated mutual
+understanding in their relations with a Cabinet which they were called
+on to support, although not emanating from their ranks. As it happens in
+similar cases, the violent and extravagant members of the party,
+paralyzed or committed the more moderate and rational to a much greater
+extent than the latter were able to restrain and guide their troublesome
+associates. Thus assailed in the Chambers by ambitious and influential
+rivals, the rising power found there only lukewarm or restrained allies.
+While from 1816 to 1821 the King, Louis XVIII., gave his sincere and
+active co-operation to the Government of the Centre, in 1828 the King,
+Charles X., looked upon the Cabinet which replaced immediately round him
+the leaders of the right-hand party as an unpleasant trial he was doomed
+to undergo; but to which he submitted with uneasy reluctance, not
+believing in its success, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> fully determined to endure it no longer
+than strict necessity compelled.</p>
+
+<p>In this weak position, two individuals, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac, as actual head
+of the Cabinet, without being president, and M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, as
+president of the Chamber of Deputies, alone contributed a small degree
+of strength and reputation to the new Ministry; but they were far from
+being equal to its difficulties or dangers.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac has left on the minds of all who were acquainted with
+him, either in public or private life, whether friends or adversaries, a
+strong impression of esteem and goodwill. His disposition was easy,
+amiable, and generous; his mind just, quick, and refined, at once calm
+and liberal; he was endowed with natural, persuasive, clear, and
+graceful eloquence; he pleased even those from whom he differed. I have
+heard M.&nbsp;Dupont&nbsp;de&nbsp;l'Eure whisper gently from his place, while listening
+to him, "Be silent, Siren!" In ordinary times, and under a well-settled
+constitutional system, he would have been an effective and popular
+minister; but either in word or act he had more seduction than
+authority, more charm than power. Faithful to his cause and his friends,
+he was unable to carry either into government or political debate that
+simple, fervent, and persevering energy, that insatiable desire and
+determination to succeed, which rises before obstacles and under
+defeats, and often
+<a name="corr14" id="corr14"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn14" title="changed from 'controlls'">controls</a>
+wills without absolutely converting
+opinions. On his own account, more honest and epicurean than ambitious,
+he held more to duty and pleasure than to power. Thus, although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> well
+received by the King and the Chambers, he neither exercised at the
+Tuileries nor at the Palais Bourbon the authority, nor even the
+influence, which his sound mind and extraordinary talent ought to have
+given to him.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, on the contrary, had reached and occupied the chair of
+the Chamber of Deputies through the importance derived from twelve years
+of parliamentary contest, recently confirmed by seven simultaneous
+elections, and by the distinguished mark of esteem which the Chamber and
+the King had conferred on him. But this importance, real in moral
+consideration, was politically of little weight. Since the failure of
+the system of government he had supported, and his own dismissal from
+the State Council by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre in 1820, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard had, I will
+not say fallen, but entered into a state of profound despondency. Some
+sentences in letters written to me from his estate at Ch&acirc;teau-vieux,
+where he had passed the summer, will more readily explain the condition
+of his mind at that time. I select the shortest:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Aug. 1, 1823.</i>&mdash;There is no trace of man here, and I am ignorant of
+what can be found in the papers; but I do not believe there is anything
+more to hear. At all events, I am careless on the subject. I have no
+longer any curiosity, and I well know the reason. I have lost my cause,
+and I much fear you will lose yours also; for you assuredly will as soon
+as it becomes a bad one. In these sad reflections the heart closes
+itself up, but without resignation."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Aug. 27, 1826.</i>&mdash;There cannot be a more perfect or innocent solitude
+than that in which I have lived<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> until this last week, which has brought
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Talleyrand to Valen&ccedil;ay. It is only through your letter and his
+conversation, that I am again connected with the world. I have never
+before so thoroughly enjoyed this kind of life,&mdash;some hours devoted to
+study, the meditations they occasion, a family walk, and the care of a
+small, domestic administration. Nevertheless, in the midst of this
+profound tranquillity, on observing what passes, and what we have to
+expect, the fatigue of a long life entirely wasted in wishes
+unaccomplished and hopes deceived, makes itself sensibly felt. I hope I
+shall not give way under it; in the place of illusions, there are still
+duties which assert their claims."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Oct. 22, 1826.</i>&mdash;After having thoroughly enjoyed this year of the
+country and of solitude, I shall return with pleasure to the society of
+living minds. At this moment that society is extremely calm; but without
+firing cannon, it gains ground, and insensibly establishes its power. I
+have formed no idea of the coming session. I believe it to be merely
+through habit and remembrance, that any attention is yet paid to the
+Chamber of Deputies. It belongs to another world; our time is still
+distant, fortune has thrown you into the only course of life which has
+now either dignity or utility. It has done well for you and for us."</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard was too ambitious and too speedily cast down. Human
+affairs do not permit so many expectations, and supply greater
+resources. We should expect less, and not so soon give way to despair.
+The elections of 1827, the advent of the Martignac Ministry, and his own
+situation in the chair of the Chamber of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> Deputies,
+drew M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard a little from his despondency, but without much restoring
+his confidence. Satisfied with his personal position, he supported and
+seconded the Cabinet in the Chamber, but without warmly adopting its
+policy; preserving carefully the attitude of a gracious ally who wishes
+to avoid responsibility. In his intercourse with the King he held the
+same reserve, speaking the truth, and offering sage advice, but without
+in the slightest degree conveying the idea that he was ready to put in
+practice the energetic and consistent policy he recommended. Charles X.
+listened to him with courtesy and surprise, confiding in his loyalty,
+but scarcely understanding his words, and regarding him as an honest man
+tainted with inapplicable or even dangerous ideas. Sincerely devoted to
+the King, and friendly to the Cabinet, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard served them
+advantageously in their daily affairs and perils, but held himself
+always apart from their destiny as from their acts, and without bringing
+to them, through his co-operation, the strength which ought to have
+attached to the superiority of his mind and the influence of his name.</p>
+
+<p>I did not at that time return to public office. The Cabinet made no such
+proposition to me, and I refrained from suggesting it; on either side we
+were right. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac came from the ranks of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le's
+party, and was obliged to keep measures with them; it would not have
+been consistent in him to hold intimate relations with their
+adversaries. For my own part, even though I should consider it
+necessary, I am badly adapted to serve a floating system of policy,
+which resorts to uncertain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> measures and expedients instead of acting on
+fixed and declared ideas. At a distance, I was both able and willing to
+support the new Ministry. In a close position I should have compromised
+them. I had, however, my share in the triumph. Without calling me back
+to exercise the functions of State-Councillor, the title was restored to
+me; and the Minister of Public Instruction, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vatimesnil, authorized
+the reopening of my course.</p>
+
+<p>I retain a deep impression of the Sorbonne which I then entered, and of
+the lectures I delivered there during two years. This was an important
+epoch in my life, and perhaps I may be permitted to add, a moment of
+influence on my country. With more care even than in 1821, I kept my
+lectures free of politics. Not only did I abstain from opposition to the
+Martignac Ministry, but I scrupulously avoided embarrassing them in the
+slightest degree. In other respects, I proposed an object to myself
+sufficiently important, as I thought, to occupy my entire attention. I
+was anxious to study and describe, in their parallel development and
+reciprocal action, the various elements of our French society, the Roman
+world, the Barbarians, the Christian Church, the Feudal System, the
+Papacy, Chivalry, Monarchy, the Commonalty, the Third Estate, and
+Reform. I desired not only to satisfy the scientific or philosophic
+curiosity of the public, but to accomplish a double end, real and
+practical. I proposed to demonstrate that the efforts of our time to
+establish a system of equal and legal justice in society, and also of
+political guarantees and liberties in the State, were neither new nor
+extraordinary,&mdash;that in the course of her history, more or less<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+obscurely or unfortunately, France had at several intervals embraced
+this design, and that the generation of 1789, grasping it with
+enthusiasm, had committed both good and evil,&mdash;good, in resuming the
+glorious attempt of their ancestors,&mdash;evil in attributing to themselves
+the invention and the honour, and in believing that they were called
+upon to create, through their own ideas and wishes, a world entirely
+new. Thus, while promoting the interests of existing society, I was
+desirous of bringing back amongst us a sentiment of justice and sympathy
+for our early recollections and ancient customs; for that old French
+social system which had lived actively and gloriously for fifteen
+centuries, to accumulate the inheritance of civilization which we have
+gathered. It is a lamentable mistake, and a great indication of
+weakness, in a nation, to forget and despise the past. It may in a
+revolutionary crisis rise up against old and defective institutions; but
+when this work of destruction is accomplished, if it still continues to
+treat its history with contempt, if it persuades itself that it has
+completely broken with the secular elements of its civilization, it is
+not a new state of society which it can then form, it is the disorder of
+revolution that it perpetuates. When the generation who possess their
+country for a moment, indulge in the absurd arrogance of believing that
+it belongs to them, and them alone; and that the past, in face of the
+present, is death opposed to life; when they reject thus the sovereignty
+of tradition and the ties which mutually connect successive races, they
+deny the distinction and pre-eminent characteristic of human nature, its
+honour and elevated destiny; and the people who resign them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>selves to
+this flagrant error, also fall speedily into anarchy and decline; for
+God does not permit that nature and the laws of His works should be
+forgotten and outraged to such an extent with impunity.</p>
+
+<p>During my course of lectures from 1828 to 1830, it was my prevailing
+idea to contend against this injurious tendency of the public mind, to
+bring it back to an intelligent and impartial appreciation of our old
+social system, to inspire an affectionate respect for the early history
+of France; and thus to contribute, as far as I could, to establish
+between the different elements of our ancient and modern society,
+whether monarchical, aristocratic, or popular, that mutual esteem and
+harmony which an attack of revolutionary fever may suspend, but which
+soon becomes once more indispensable to the liberty as well as to the
+prosperity of the citizens, to the strength and tranquillity of the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>I had some reason to think that I succeeded to a great extent in my
+design. My audience, numerous and diversified, youths and experienced
+men, natives and foreigners, appeared to take a lively interest in the
+ideas I expounded. These notions assimilated with the general
+impressions of their minds, without demanding complete subservience, so
+as to combine the charms of sympathy and novelty. My listeners found
+themselves, not thrown back into retrograding systems, but urged forward
+in the path of just and liberal reflection. By the side of my historical
+lessons, but without concert, and in spite of wide differences of
+opinion between us, literary and philosophic instruction received from
+my two friends, MM.&nbsp;Villemain and Cousin, a corresponding character and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+impulse. Opposite breezes produced the same movement; we bestowed no
+thought on the events and questions of the day, and we felt no desire to
+bring them to the attention of the public by whom we were surrounded. We
+were openly and freely devoted to great general interests, great
+recollections, and great hopes for man and human associations; caring
+only to propagate our ideas, not indifferent as to their possible
+results, but not impatient to attain them; gratified by the intellectual
+advance in the midst of which we lived, and confident in the ultimate
+ascendency of the truth which we flattered ourselves we should possess
+and in the liberty we hoped to enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>It would certainly have been profitable for us, and as I also believe
+for the country, if this intention could have been prolonged, and if our
+minds could have fortified themselves in their calm meditations before
+being once more engaged in the passions and trials of active life. But,
+as it happens almost invariably, the errors of men stepped in to
+interrupt the progress of ideas by precipitating the course of events.
+The Martignac Ministry adopted a moderate and constitutional policy. Two
+bills, honestly intended and ably discussed, had given effectual
+guarantees, the one, to the independence of elections, and the other, to
+the liberty of the press. A third, introduced at the opening of the
+session of 1829, secured to the elective principle a share in the
+administration of the departments and townships, and imposed on the
+central Government new rules and limitations for local affairs. These
+concessions might be considered too extensive or too narrow; but in
+either case they were real, and the advocates of public liberty could do
+nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> better than accept and establish them. But in the Liberal party
+who had hitherto supported the Cabinet, two feelings, little politic in
+their character, the spirit of impatience and the love of system, the
+desire for popularity and the severity of reason, were indisposed to be
+satisfied with those slow and imperfect conquests. The right-hand party,
+by refusing to vote, left the Ministry in contest with the wants of
+their allies. Despite the efforts of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac, an amendment, more
+formidable in appearance than in reality, attacked in some measure the
+plan of the bill upon departmental administration. With the King, and
+also with the Chambers, the Ministry had reached the term of its credit;
+unable to obtain from the King what would give confidence to the
+Chambers, or from the Chambers what would satisfy the King, it
+voluntarily declared its impotence by hastily withdrawing the two bills,
+and still remained standing, although struck by a mortal wound.</p>
+
+<p>How could it be replaced? The question remained in suspense for three
+months. Three men alone, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, and M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand seemed capable of forming a new Cabinet that might last,
+although compounded of very different shades. The two first were
+entirely out of the question. Neither the King nor the Chambers
+contemplated the idea of making a Prime Minister of M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard. He
+perhaps had thought of it himself, more than once, for nothing was too
+bold to cross his mind in his solitary reveries; but these were merely
+inward lucubrations, not actually ambitious designs; if power had been
+offered to him he would assuredly have refused it; he had too little
+confi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>dence in the future, and too much personal pride, to encounter
+such a risk of failure.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, still suffering from the accusations first whispered
+against him in 1828, and which had remained in abeyance in the Chamber
+of Deputies, had formally refused to attend the session of 1829, and
+held himself in retirement at his estate near Toulouse; it was evident
+that he could not return to power, and act with the Chamber that had
+thrown him out. Neither the King nor himself would have consented, as I
+think, to encounter at that time the hazard of a new dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was at Rome. On the formation of the Cabinet of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac he had accepted that embassy, and from thence, with a
+mixture of ambition and contempt he watched the uncertain policy and
+wavering position of the Ministers at Paris. When
+<a name="corr15" id="corr15"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn15" title="changed from 'be'">he</a>
+learned that they
+were beaten, and would in all probability be compelled to retire, he
+immediately commenced an active agitation. "You estimate correctly my
+surprise," he wrote to Madame Recamier, "at the news of the <i>withdrawal</i>
+of the two bills. Wounded self-love makes men children, and gives them
+very bad advice. What will be the end of all this? Will the Ministers
+endeavour to hold place? Will they retire partially or all together? Who
+will succeed them? How is a Cabinet to be composed? I assure you that,
+were it not for the pain of losing your society, I should rejoice at
+being here, out of the way, and at not being mixed up in all these
+enmities and follies, for I find that all are equally in the wrong....
+Attend well to this; here is something more explicit: if by chance the
+portfolio<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> of Foreign Affairs should be offered to me (and I have no
+reason to expect it), I should not refuse. I should come to Paris, I
+should speak to the King, I should arrange a Ministry without being
+included in it; for myself, I should propose, to attach me to my own
+work, a suitable position. I think, as you know, that it belongs to my
+ministerial reputation, as well as to revenge me for the injury I
+sustained from Vill&egrave;le, that the portfolio of Foreign Affairs should be
+given to me for the moment. This is the only honourable mode in which I
+could rejoin the Administration. But that done, I should immediately
+retire, to the great satisfaction of all new aspirants, and pass the
+remainder of my life near you in perfect repose."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was not called to enjoy this haughty vengeance, or
+to exhibit such a demonstration of generosity. While he still dreamed of
+it in the Pyrenees, whither he had repaired to rest from the labours of
+the Conclave which gave Pius VIII. as successor to Leo X., the Prince de
+Polignac, brought over from London by the King, arrived in Paris on the
+27th of July; and on the 9th of August, eight days after the closing of
+the session, his Cabinet was officially announced in the 'Moniteur.'
+What course would he propose to himself? What measures would he adopt?
+No one could tell; not even M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac and the King themselves any
+more than the public. But Charles X. had hoisted upon the Tuileries the
+flag of the Counter-Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Politics soon became the absorbing consideration of every mind. From all
+quarters a fierce struggle was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> foreseen in the approaching session; all
+parties hastened to congregate beforehand round the scene of action,
+seeking to draw some anticipation as to what would occur, and how to
+secure a place. On the 19th of October, 1829, the death of the learned
+chemist, M.&nbsp;Vauquelin, left open a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, in
+which he had represented the division of Lisieux and Pont-l'&Eacute;v&ecirc;que,
+which formed the fourth electoral district in the department of
+Calvados. Several influential persons of the country proposed to
+substitute me in his place. I had never inhabited or even visited that
+province. I had no property there of any kind. But since 1820, my
+political writings and lectures had given popularity to my name. The
+young portions of the community were everywhere favourably disposed
+towards me. The Moderates and active Liberals mutually looked to me to
+defend them, and their cause, should occasion arrive. As soon as the
+proposition became known at Lisieux and Pont-l'&Eacute;v&ecirc;que, it was cordially
+received. All the different shades of the Opposition, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La Fayette
+and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, M.&nbsp;Dupont&nbsp;de&nbsp;l'Eure and the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Broglie,
+M.&nbsp;Odillon Barrot and M.&nbsp;Bertin&nbsp;de&nbsp;Veaux, seconded my candidateship.
+Absent, but supported by a strong display of opinion in the district, I
+was elected on the 23rd of February, 1830, by a large majority.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment M.&nbsp;Berryer, whose age, as in my own case, had until
+then excluded him from the Chamber of Deputies, was elected by the
+department of the Higher Loire, where a seat had also become vacant.</p>
+
+<p>On the day following that on which my election was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> known in Paris, I
+had to deliver my lecture at the Sorbonne. As I entered the hall, the
+entire audience rose and received me with a burst of applause. I
+immediately checked them, and said: "I thank you for your kind
+reception, by which I am sensibly affected. I request two favours of
+you; the first is to preserve always the same feelings towards me; the
+second is, never to evince them again in this manner. Nothing that
+passes without should resound within these walls. We come here to treat
+of pure, unmingled science, which is essentially impartial,
+disinterested, and estranged from all external occurrences, important or
+insignificant. Let us always maintain for learning this exclusive
+character. I hope that your sympathy will accompany me in the new career
+to which I am called; I will even presume to say that I reckon upon it.
+Your silent attention here is the most convincing proof I can receive."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> He was, in fact, extremely ill at the moment of this
+crisis.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> February 23rd, and April 20th, 1829.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.</h3>
+
+<h3>1830.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>MENACING, AND AT THE SAME TIME INACTIVE ATTITUDE OF THE
+MINISTRY.&mdash;LAWFUL EXCITEMENT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.&mdash;ASSOCIATION
+FOR THE ULTIMATE REFUSAL OF THE NON-VOTED TAXES.&mdash;CHARACTER AND
+VIEWS OF M.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;POLIGNAC.&mdash;MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MINISTERIAL
+PARTY.&mdash;NEW ASPECT OF THE OPPOSITION.&mdash;OPENING OF THE
+SESSION.&mdash;SPEECH OF THE KING.&mdash;ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+PEERS.&mdash;PREPARATION OF THE ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+DEPUTIES.&mdash;PERPLEXITY OF THE MODERATE PARTY AND OF
+M.&nbsp;ROYER-COLLARD.&mdash;DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.&mdash;THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY
+M.&nbsp;BERRYER AND MYSELF.&mdash;PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE
+KING.&mdash;PROROGATION OF THE SESSION.&mdash;RETIREMENT OF MM.&nbsp;DE&nbsp;CHABROL
+AND COURVOISIER.&mdash;DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.&mdash;MY
+JOURNEY TO NISMES FOR THE ELECTIONS.&mdash;TRUE CHARACTER OF THE
+ELECTIONS.&mdash;INTENTIONS OF CHARLES X.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Whether, attention is arrested by the life of an individual or the
+history of a nation, there is no spectacle more imposing than that of a
+great contrast between the surface and the interior, the appearance and
+the reality of matters. To be excited under the semblance of immobility,
+to do nothing while we expect much, to look on the calm while we
+anticipate the tempest,&mdash;this, perhaps, of all human situations, is the
+most oppressive for the mind to endure, and the most difficult to
+sustain for any length of time.</p>
+
+<p>At the commencement of the year 1830, such was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> common position of
+all,&mdash;of the Government and the nation, of the ministers and citizens,
+of the supporters and opponents of power. No one acted directly, and all
+prepared themselves for unknown chances. We pursued our ordinary course
+of life, while we felt ourselves on the brink of a convulsion.</p>
+
+<p>I proceeded quietly with my course at the Sorbonne. There, where M.&nbsp;de
+Vill&egrave;le and the Abb&eacute; Frayssinous had silenced me, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac and
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Guernon-Ranville permitted me to speak freely. While enjoying this
+liberty, I scrupulously preserved my habitual caution, keeping every
+lecture entirely divested of all allusion to incidental questions, and
+not more solicitous of winning popular favour, than apprehensive of
+losing ministerial patronage. Until the meeting of the Chamber, my new
+title of Deputy called for no step or demonstration, and I sought not
+for any factitious opportunity. In some paragraphs of town and court
+gossip, several of the papers in the interest of the extreme right
+asserted that meetings of Deputies had been held at the residence of the
+late President of the Chamber. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, upon this, wrote
+immediately to the 'Moniteur:'&mdash;"It is positively false that any meeting
+of Deputies has taken place at my residence since the closing of the
+session of 1829. This is all I have to say; I should feel ashamed of
+formally denying absurd reports, in which the King is not more respected
+than the truth." Without feeling myself restricted to the severe
+abstinence of M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard, I sedulously avoided all demonstrative
+opposition; my friends and I were mutually intent on furnishing no
+pretext for the mistakes of power.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>But in the midst of this tranquil and reserved life, I was deeply
+occupied in reflecting on my new position, and on the part I was
+henceforward to assume in the uncertain fortune of my country. I
+revolved over in my mind every opposite chance, looking upon all as
+possible, and wishing to be prepared for all, even for those I was most
+desirous to avert. Power cannot commit a greater error than that of
+plunging imaginations into darkness. A great public terror is worse than
+a great positive evil; above all, when obscure perspectives of the
+future excite the hopes of enemies and blunderers, as well as the alarms
+of honest men and friends. I lived in the midst of both classes.
+Although no longer interested in the electoral object which had
+occasioned its institution in 1827, the society called, "Help thyself
+and Heaven will help thee" existed still, and I still continued to be a
+member. Under the Martignac Ministry I considered it advisable to remain
+amongst them, that I might endeavour to moderate a little the wants and
+impatience of the external opposition, which operated so powerfully on
+the opposition in Parliament. Since the formation of the Polignac
+Cabinet, from which everything was to be apprehended, I endeavoured to
+maintain a certain degree of interest in this assembly of all opposing
+parties, Constitutionalists, Republicans, and Buonapartists, which, in
+the moment of a crisis, might exercise itself such preponderating
+influence on the destiny of the country. At the moment, I possessed
+considerable popularity, especially with the younger men, and the ardent
+but sincere Liberals. I felt gratified at this, and resolved to turn it
+to profitable use, let the future produce what it might.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>The temper of the public resembled my own, tranquil on the surface but
+extremely agitated at the heart. There was neither conspiracy, nor
+rising, nor tumultuous assembly; but all were on the alert, and prepared
+for anything that might happen. In Brittany, in Normandy, in Burgundy,
+in Lorraine, and in Paris, associations were publicly formed to resist
+payment of the taxes, if the Government should attempt to collect them
+without a legal vote of the legal Chambers. The Government prosecuted
+the papers which had advertised these meetings; some tribunals acquitted
+the responsible managers, others, and amongst them the Royal Court of
+Paris, condemned them, but to a very slight punishment, "for exciting
+hatred and contempt against the King's government, in having imputed to
+them the criminal intention either of levying taxes which had not been
+voted by the two Chambers, or of changing illegally the mode of
+election, or even of revoking the constitutional Charter which has been
+granted and confirmed in perpetuity, and which regulates the rights and
+duties of every public authority." The ministerial journals felt their
+position, and saw that their patrons were so reached by this sentence,
+that, in publishing it, they suppressed all observations.</p>
+
+<p>In presence of this opposition, at once so decided and restrained, the
+Ministry remained timid and inactive. Evidently doubtful of themselves,
+they feared the opinion in which they were held by others. A year before
+this time, at the opening of the session of 1829, when the Cabinet of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac still held power, and the department of Foreign Affairs had
+fallen vacant by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> retirement of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Ferronnays, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac
+had endeavoured, in the debate on the address in the Chamber of Peers,
+to dissipate, by a profession of constitutional faith, the prejudices
+entertained against him. His assurances of attachment to the Charter
+were not, on his part, a simply ambitious and hypocritical calculation;
+he really fancied himself a friend to constitutional government, and was
+not then meditating its overthrow; but in the mediocrity of his mind,
+and the confusion of his ideas, he neither understood thoroughly the
+English society he wished to imitate, nor the French system he desired
+to reform. He believed the Charter to be compatible with the political
+importance of the old nobility, and with the definitive supremacy of the
+ancient Royalty; and he flattered himself that he could develop new
+institutions by making them assist in the preponderance of influences
+which it was his distinct object to limit or abolish. It is difficult to
+measure the extent of conscientious illusions in a mind weak but
+enthusiastic, ordinary, but with some degree of elevation, and
+mystically vague and subtle. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac felt honestly surprised at
+not being acknowledged as a minister devoted to constitutional rule; but
+the public, without troubling themselves to inquire into his sincerity,
+had determined to regard him as the champion of the old system, and the
+standard-bearer of the counter-revolution. Disturbed by this reputation,
+and fearing to confirm it by his acts, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac did nothing. His
+Cabinet, sworn to conquer the Revolution and to save the Monarchy,
+remained motionless and sterile. The Opposition insultingly taxed them
+with their impotence: they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> christened "the Braggadocio Ministry,"
+"the most helpless of Cabinets;" and to all this they gave no answer,
+except by preparing the expedition to Algiers, and by convoking the
+assembly of the Chambers, ever protesting their fidelity to the Charter,
+and promising themselves, as means of escape from their embarrassments,
+a conquest and a majority.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac was ignorant that a minister does not entirely govern by
+his own acts, and that he is responsible for others besides himself.
+While he endeavoured to escape from the character assigned to him, by
+silence and inaction,&mdash;his friends, his functionaries, his writers, his
+entire party, masters and servants, spoke and moved noisily around him.
+He expressed his anger when they discussed, as an hypothesis, the
+collection of taxes not voted by the Chambers; and at that same moment
+the Attorney-General of the Royal Court at Metz, M.&nbsp;Pinaud, said, in a
+requisition, "Article 14 of the Charter secures to the King a method of
+resisting electoral or elective majorities. If then, renewing the days
+of 1792 and 1793, the majority should refuse the taxes, would the King
+be called upon to deliver up his crown to the spectre of the Convention?
+No; but in that case he ought to maintain his right, and save himself
+from the danger by means respecting which it is proper to keep silence."
+On the 1st of January, the Royal Court of Paris, who had just given a
+proof of their firm adherence to the Charter, presented themselves,
+according to custom, at the Tuileries; the King received and spoke to
+them with marked dryness; and when arriving in front of the Dauphiness,
+the first President prepared to address his ho<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>mage to her, "Pass on,
+pass on," exclaimed she brusquely; and while complying with her words,
+M.&nbsp;Seguier said to the Master of the Ceremonies, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Rochemore, "My
+Lord Marquis, do you think that the Court ought to inscribe the answer
+of the Princess in its records?" A magistrate high in favour with the
+Minister, M.&nbsp;Cotta, an honest but a light and credulous individual,
+published a work entitled, 'On the Necessity of a Dictatorship.' A
+publicist, a fanatical but sincere reasoner, M.&nbsp;Madrolle, dedicated to
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac a memorial, in which he maintained the necessity of
+remodelling the law of elections by a royal decree. "What are called
+<i>coups d'&eacute;tat</i>," said some important journals, and avowed friends of the
+Cabinet, "are social and regular in their nature when the King acts for
+the general good of the people, even though in appearance he may
+contravene the existing laws." In fact France was tranquil, and legal
+order in full vigour; neither on the part of authority nor on that of
+the people had any act of violence called for violence in return; and
+yet the most extreme measures were openly discussed. In all quarters
+people proclaimed the imminence of revolution, the dictatorship of the
+King, and the legitimacy of <i>coups d'&eacute;tat</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment of urgent danger, a nation may accept an isolated <i>coup
+d'&eacute;tat</i> as a necessity; but it cannot, without dishonour and decline,
+admit the principle of such measures as the permanent basis of its
+public rights and government. Now this was precisely what M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac
+and his friends pretended to impose on France. According to them, the
+absolute power of the old Royalty remained always at the bottom of the
+Char<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>ter; and to expand and display this absolute power, they selected a
+moment when no active plot, no visible danger, no great public
+disturbance, threatened either the Government of the King or the order
+of the State. The sole question at issue was, whether the Crown could,
+in the selection and maintenance of its advisers, hold itself entirely
+independent of the majority in the Chambers, or the country; and
+whether, in conclusion, after so many constitutional experiments, the
+sole governing power was to be concentrated in the Royal will. The
+formation of the Polignac Ministry had been, on the part of the King,
+Charles X., an obstinate idea even more than a cry of alarm, an
+aggressive challenge as much as an act of suspicion. Uneasy, not only
+for the security of his throne, but for what he considered the
+unalienable rights of his crown, he placed himself, to maintain them, in
+the most offensive of all possible attitudes towards the nation. He
+assumed defiance rather than defence. It was no longer a struggle
+between the different parties and systems of government, but a question
+of political dogma, and an affair of honour between France and her King.</p>
+
+<p>In presence of a subject under this aspect, passions and intentions
+hostile to established order could not fail to resume hope and appear
+once more upon the stage. The sovereignty of the people was always at
+hand, available to be invoked in opposition to the sovereignty of the
+Monarch. Popular strokes of policy were to be perceived, ready to reply
+to the attempts of royal power. The party which had never seriously put
+faith in or adhered to the Restoration, had now new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> interpreters,
+destined speedily to become new leaders, and younger, as well as more
+rational and skilful than their predecessors. There were no
+conspiracies, no risings in any quarter; secret machinations and noisy
+riots were equally abandoned; everywhere a bolder and yet a more
+moderate line of conduct was adopted, more prudent, and at the same time
+more efficacious. In public discussion, appeal was made to examples from
+history and to the probabilities of the future. Without directly
+attacking the reigning power, lawful freedom in opposition was pushed to
+its extremest limits, too clearly to be taxed with hypocrisy, and too
+ingeniously to be arrested in this hostile proceeding. In the more
+serious and intelligent organs of the party, such as the 'National,'
+they did not absolutely propound anarchical theories, or revolutionary
+constitutions; they confined themselves to the Charter from which
+Royalty seemed on the point of escaping, either by carefully explaining
+the import, or by peremptorily demanding the complete and sincere
+execution; by making it clearly foreseen that compromising the national
+right would also compromise the reigning dynasty. They avowed themselves
+decided and prepared, not to anticipate, but to accept without
+hesitation the last trial evidently approaching, and the rapid progress
+of which they clearly indicated to the public from day to day.</p>
+
+<p>The conduct to be held by the constitutional Royalists who had laboured
+in honest sincerity to establish the Restoration with the Charter,
+although less dangerous, was even more complex and difficult. How could
+they repulse the blow with which Royalty menaced the exist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>ing
+institutions, without inflicting on Royalty a mortal wound in return?
+Should they remain on the defensive, wait until the Cabinet committed
+acts, or introduced measures really hostile to the interests and
+liberties of France, and reject them when their character and object had
+been clearly developed in debate? Or should they take a bolder
+initiative, and check the Cabinet in its first steps, and thus prevent
+the unknown struggles which at a later period it would be impossible to
+direct or restrain? This was the great practical question, which, when
+the Chambers were convened, occupied, above all other considerations,
+those minds which were strangers to all preconcerted hostility, and to
+every secret desire of encountering new hazards.</p>
+
+<p>Two figures have remained, since 1830, impressed on my memory; the King,
+Charles X., at the Louvre on the 2nd of March, opening the session of
+the Chambers; and the Prince&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac at the Palais Bourbon on the
+15th and 16th of March, taking part in the discussion on the address of
+the Two Hundred and Twenty-One Deputies. The demeanour of the King was,
+as usual, noble and benevolent, but mingled with restrained agitation
+and embarrassment. He read his speech mildly, although with some
+precipitation, as if anxious to finish; and when he came to the sentence
+which, under a modified form, contained a royal menace,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> he
+accentuated it with more affectation than energy. As he placed his hand
+upon the passage, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> hat fell; the Duke d'Orl&eacute;ans raised and presented
+it to him, respectfully bending his knee. Amongst the Deputies, the
+acclamations of the right-hand party were more loud than joyful, and it
+was difficult to decide whether the silence of the rest of the Chamber
+proceeded from sadness or apathy. Fifteen days later, at the Chamber of
+Deputies, and in the midst of the secret committee in which the address
+was discussed, in that vast hall, void of spectators, M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac was
+on his bench, motionless, and little attended even by his friends, with
+the air of a stranger surprised and out of place, thrown into a world
+with which he is scarcely acquainted, where he feels that he is
+unwelcome, and charged with a difficult mission, the issue of which he
+awaits with inert and impotent dignity. In the course of the debate, he
+was reproached with an act of the Ministry in reference to the
+elections, to which he replied awkwardly by a few short and confused
+words, as if not thoroughly understanding the objection, and anxious to
+resume his seat. While I was in the tribune, my eyes encountered his,
+and I was struck by their expression of astonished curiosity. It was
+manifest that at the moment when they ventured on an act of voluntary
+boldness, neither the King nor his minister felt at their ease; in the
+two individuals, in their respective aspects as in their souls, there
+was a mixture of resolution and weakness, of confidence and uncertainty,
+which at the same moment testified blindness of the mind and the
+presentiment of coming evil.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>We waited with impatience the address from the Chamber of Peers. Had it
+been energetic, it would have added strength to ours. Whatever has been
+said, their address was neither blind nor servile, but it was far from
+forcible. It recommended respect for institutions and national
+liberties, and protested equally against despotism and anarchy.
+Disquietude and censure were perceptible through the reserve of words;
+but these impressions were dimly conveyed and stripped of all power.
+Their unanimity evinced nothing beyond their nullity. M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand alone, while signifying his approbation, considered them
+insufficient. The Court declared itself satisfied. The Chamber seemed
+more desirous of discharging a debt of conscience, and of escaping from
+all responsibility in the evils which it foresaw, than of making a sound
+effort to prevent them. "If the Chamber of Peers had spoken out more
+distinctly," said M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard to me, shortly after the Revolution,
+"it might have arrested the King on the brink of the abyss, and have
+prevented the Decrees." But the Chamber of Peers had little confidence
+in their own power to charm away the danger, and feared to aggravate it
+by a too open display. The entire weight of the situation fell upon the
+Chamber of Deputies.</p>
+
+<p>The perplexity was great,&mdash;great in the majority of sincere Royalists,
+in the Committee charged to draw up the Address, and in the mind of
+M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard who presided, both in the Committee and the Chamber, and
+exercised on both a preponderating influence. One general sentiment
+prevailed,&mdash;a desire to stay the King in the false path on which he had
+entered, and a conviction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> that there was no hope of succeeding in this
+object, but by placing before him an impediment which it would be
+impossible for him personally to misunderstand. It was evident, when he
+dismissed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac and appointed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Polignac to succeed him,
+that he was not alone influenced by his fears as a King. In this act
+Charles X. had, above all considerations, been swayed by his passions of
+the old system. It became indispensable that the peril of this tendency
+should be clearly demonstrated to him, and that where prudence had not
+sufficed, impossibility should make itself felt. By expressing, without
+delay or circumlocution, its want of confidence in the Cabinet, the
+Chamber in no way exceeded its privilege; it expressed its own judgment,
+without denying to the King the free exercise of his, and his right of
+appealing to the country by a dissolution. The Chamber acted
+deliberately and honestly; it
+<a name="corr16" id="corr16"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn16" title="changed from 'renouced'">renounced</a>
+empty or ambiguous words, to
+assert the frank and strong measures of the constitutional system. There
+was no other method of remaining in harmony with the public feeling so
+strongly excited, and of restraining it by legitimate concessions. There
+was reason to hope that language at once firm and loyal would prove as
+efficacious as it was necessary; already, under similar circumstances,
+the King had not shown himself intractable, for two years before, in
+January, 1828, he had dismissed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le, almost without a
+struggle, after the elections had produced a majority decidedly opposed
+to his Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>During five days, the Committee, in their sittings, and M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard
+in his private reflections, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> well as in his confidential intercourse
+with his friends, scrupulously weighed all these considerations, as well
+as all the phrases and words of the Address. M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard was not
+only a staunch Royalist, but his mind was disposed to doubt and
+hesitation; he became bewildered in his resolves as he looked on the
+different aspects of a question, and always shrank from important
+responsibility. For two years he had observed Charles X. closely, and
+more than once during the Martignac Administration he had said to some
+of the more rational oppositionists, "Do not press the King too closely;
+no one can tell to what follies he might have recourse." But at the
+point which matters had now reached, called upon as he was to represent
+the sentiments and maintain the honour of the Chamber, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard
+felt that he could not refuse to carry the truth to the foot of the
+throne; and he flattered himself that on appearing there, with a
+respectful and affectionate demeanour, he would be in 1830, as in 1828,
+if not well received, at least listened to without any fatal explosion.</p>
+
+<p>The Address in fact bore this double character: never had language more
+unpresuming in its boldness, and more conciliating in its freedom, been
+held to a monarch in the name of his people.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> When the President read
+it to the Chamber for the first time, a secret satisfaction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>faction of
+dignity mingled in the most moderate hearts with the uneasiness they
+experienced. The debate was short and extremely reserved, almost even to
+coldness. On all sides, the members feared to commit themselves by
+speaking; and there was an evident desire to come to a conclusion. Four
+of the Ministers, MM.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montbel,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Guernon-Ranville,&nbsp;de&nbsp;Chantelauze,
+and d'Haussez took part in the discussion, but almost exclusively on the
+general question. In the Chamber of Deputies, as in the Chamber of
+Peers, the leader of the Cabinet remained mute. It is on more lofty
+conditions that political aristocracies maintain or raise themselves.
+When they came to the last paragraphs, which contained the decisive
+phrases, the individual members of the different parties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> maintained the
+contest alone. It was then that M.&nbsp;Berryer and I ascended the tribune
+for the first time, both new to the Chamber, he as a friend and I as an
+opponent of the Ministry; he to attack and I to defend the Address. It
+gives me pleasure, I confess, to retrace and repeat today, the ideas and
+arguments by which I supported it at the time. "Under what auspices," I
+asked the Chamber, "and in the name of what principles and interests has
+the present Ministry been formed? In the name of power menaced, of the
+Royal prerogative compromised, of the interests of the Crown ill
+understood and sustained by their predecessors. This is the banner under
+which they have entered the lists, the cause they have promised to make
+triumphant. We had a right to expect from their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> entrance on office that
+authority should be exercised with vigour, the Royal prerogative in
+active operation, the principles of power not only proclaimed but
+practised, perhaps at the expense of the public liberty, but at least
+for the advantage of that power itself. Gentlemen, has this happened?
+Has power strengthened itself within the last seven months? Has it been
+exercised with activity, energy, confidence, and efficacy? Either I
+grossly deceive myself, or during these seven months power has suffered
+in confidence and energy, to the full extent of what the public have
+lost in security."</p>
+
+<p>"But power has lost more than this. It is not entirely comprised in the
+positive acts it commits or the materials it employs; it does not always
+end in decrees and circulars. The authority over minds, the moral
+ascendency, that ascendency so suitable to free countries, for it
+directs without controlling public will,&mdash;in this is comprised an
+important component of power, perhaps the first of all in efficiency.
+But beyond all question, it is the re-establishment of this moral
+ascendency which is at this moment the most essential need of our
+country. We have known power extremely active and strong, capable of
+great and difficult undertakings; but whether from the inherent vice of
+its nature, or by the evil of its position, moral ascendency, that easy,
+regular, and imperceptible empire, has been almost entirely wanting. The
+King's government, more than any other, is called upon to possess this.
+It does not extract its right from force. We have not witnessed its
+birth; we have not contracted towards it those familiar associations,
+some of which always remain attached to the authorities at the infancy
+of which those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> who obey them were present. What has the actual Ministry
+done with that moral ascendency which belongs naturally, without
+premeditation or labour, to the King's government? Has it exercised it
+skilfully, and increased it in the exercise? Has it not, on the
+contrary, seriously compromised this great element, by placing it at
+issue with the fears to which it has given rise, and the passions it has
+excited?...</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, your entire mission is not to control, or at the least to
+oppose power; you are not here solely to retrieve its errors or injuries
+and to make them known to the country; you are also sent here to
+surround the government of the King&mdash;to enlighten it while you surround,
+and to support it while you enlighten.... Well, then, what is at this
+moment the position in the Chamber of the members who are the most
+disposed to undertake the character of those who are the greatest
+strangers to the spirit of faction, and unaccustomed to the habits of
+opposition? They are compelled to become oppositionists; they are made
+so in spite of themselves; they desire to remain always united to the
+King's government, and now they are forced to separate from it; they
+wish to support, and are driven to attack. They have been propelled from
+their proper path. The perplexity which disturbs them has been created
+by the Ministry in office; it will continue and redouble as long as they
+continue where they are."</p>
+
+<p>I pointed out the analogous perturbation which existed everywhere, in
+society as in the Chambers; I showed how the public authorities, in
+common with the good citizens, were thrown out of their natural duties
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> position; the tribunals, more intent on restraining the Government
+itself than in repressing disorders and plans directed against it; the
+papers, exercising with the tolerance, and even with the approbation of
+the public, an unlimited and disorderly influence. I concluded by
+saying: "They tell us that France is tranquil, that order is not
+disturbed. It is true; material order is not disturbed; everything
+circulates freely and peaceably; no commotion deranges the current of
+affairs.... The surface of society is calm,&mdash;so calm that the Government
+may well be tempted to believe that the interior is perfectly secure,
+and to consider itself sheltered from all peril. Our words, gentlemen,
+the frankness of our words, comprises the sole warning that power can at
+this moment receive, the only voice that can reach it and dissipate its
+illusions. Let us take care not to diminish their force or to enervate
+our expressions; let them be respectful and even gentle, but let them at
+the same time be neither timid nor ambiguous. Truth already finds it
+difficult enough to penetrate into the palaces of kings; let us not send
+her there weak and trembling; let it be as impossible to misunderstand
+what we say, as to mistake the loyalty of our sentiments."</p>
+
+<p>The Address passed as it was drawn up, with uneasy sadness, but with a
+profound conviction of its necessity. Two days after the vote, on the
+18th of March, we repaired to the Tuileries to present it to the King.
+Twenty-one members alone joined the official deputation of the Chamber.
+Amongst those who had voted for the Address, some were little anxious of
+supporting by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> their presence, under the eyes of the King, such an act
+of opposition; others, from respect for the Crown, had no wish to give
+to this presentation additional solemnity and effect. Our entire number
+amounted only to forty-six. We waited some time in the "Salon&nbsp;de&nbsp;la
+Paix," until the King returned from Mass. We stood there in silence;
+opposite to us, in the recesses of the windows, were the King's pages
+and some members of the royal establishment, inattentive and almost
+intentionally rude. The Dauphiness crossed the saloon
+<a name="corr17" id="corr17"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn17" title="changed from 'in'">on</a>
+her way to the
+chapel, rapidly and without noticing us. She might have been much colder
+still before I could have felt that I had any right either to be
+surprised or indignant at her demeanour. There are crimes whose
+remembrance silences all other thoughts, and misfortunes before which we
+bow with a respect almost resembling repentance, as if we ourselves had
+been the author of them.</p>
+
+<p>When we were introduced into the hall of the throne, M.&nbsp;Royer-Collard
+read the address naturally and suitably, with an emotion which his voice
+and features betrayed. The King listened to him with becoming dignity
+and without any air of haughtiness or ill humour; his answer was brief
+and dry, rather from royal habit than from anger, and, if I am not
+mistaken, he felt more satisfied with his own firmness than uneasy for
+the future. Four days before, on the eve of the debate on the address,
+in his circle at the Tuileries, to which many Deputies were invited, I
+saw him bestow marked intention on three members of the Commission,
+MM.&nbsp;Dupin, &Eacute;tienne, and Gautier. In two such opposite situations, it was
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> same man and almost the same physiognomy, identical in his manners
+as in his ideas, careful to please although determined to quarrel, and
+obstinate from want of foresight and mental routine, rather than from
+the passion of pride or power.</p>
+
+<p>On the day after the presentation of the address, the 19th of March, the
+session was prorogued to the 1st of September. Two months later, on the
+16th of May, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; the two most
+moderate members of the Cabinet, the Chancellor and the Minister of
+Finance, M.&nbsp;Courvoisier and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Chabrol, left the Council; they had
+refused their concurrence to the extreme measures already debated there,
+in case the elections should falsify the expectations of power. The most
+compromised and audacious member of the Vill&egrave;le Cabinet, M.&nbsp;de
+Peyronnet, became Minister of the Interior. By the dissolution, the King
+appealed to the country, and at the same moment he took fresh steps to
+separate himself from his people.</p>
+
+<p>Having returned to the private life from which he never again emerged,
+M.&nbsp;Courvoisier wrote to me on the 29th of September 1831, from his
+retirement at Baume-les-Dames: "Before resigning the Seals, I happened
+to be in conversation with M.&nbsp;Pozzo di Borgo on the state of the
+country, and the perils with which the throne had surrounded itself.
+What means, said he to me, are there of opening the King's eyes, and of
+drawing him from a system which may once again overturn Europe and
+France?&mdash;I see but one, replied I, and that is a letter from the hand of
+the Emperor of Russia.&mdash;He shall write it, said he; he shall write it
+from Warsaw, whither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> he is about to repair.&mdash;We then conversed together
+on the substance of the letter. M.&nbsp;Pozzo di Borgo often said to me that
+the Emperor Nicholas saw no security for the Bourbons, but in the
+fulfilment of the Charter."</p>
+
+<p>I much doubt whether the Emperor Nicholas ever wrote himself to the
+King, Charles X.; but what his ambassador at Paris had said to the
+Chancellor of France, he himself repeated to the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Mortemart, the
+King's ambassador at St. Petersburg:&mdash;"If they deviate from the Charter,
+they will lead direct to a catastrophe; if the King attempts a
+<i>coup-d'&eacute;tat</i>, the responsibility will fall on himself alone." The
+councils of monarchs were not more wanting to Charles X., than the
+addresses of nations, to detach him from his fatal design.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the electoral glove was thrown down, my friends wrote to me
+from Nismes that my presence was necessary to unite them all, and to
+hold out in the College of the department any prospect of success. It
+was also desired that I should go, of my own accord, to Lisieux; but
+they added that if I was required elsewhere, they thought, even in my
+absence, they could guarantee my election. I trusted to this assurance,
+and set out for Nismes on the 15th June, anxious to sound myself, and on
+the spot, the real dispositions of the country; which we so soon forget
+when confined to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>I have no desire to substitute for my impressions of that epoch my ideas
+of the present day, or to attribute to my own political conduct and to
+that of my friends an interpretation which neither could assume. I
+republish, without alteration, what I find in the confidential letters I
+wrote or received during my journey. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> supply the most
+unobjectionable evidences of what we thought and wished at the time.</p>
+
+<p>On the 26th of June, some days after my arrival at Nismes, I wrote as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The contest is very sharp, more so than you can understand at a
+distance. The two parties are seriously engaged, and hourly oppose each
+other with increasing animosity. An absolute fever of egotism and
+stupidity possesses and instigates the administration. The opposition
+struggles, with passionate ardour, against the embarrassments and
+annoyances of a situation, both in a legal and moral sense, of extreme
+difficulty. It finds in the laws means of action and defence, which
+impart the courage necessary to sustain the combat, but without
+inspiring the confidence of success; for almost everywhere, the last
+guarantee is wanting, and after having fought long and bravely, we
+always run the risk of finding ourselves suddenly disarmed, and
+helpless. A similar anxiety applies to the moral position: the
+opposition despises the ministry, and at the same time looks upon it as
+its superior; the functionaries are in disrepute, but still they take
+precedence; a remembrance of imperial greatness and power yet furnishes
+them with a pedestal; they are looked on disdainfully, with a mingled
+sensation of fear and anger. In this state of affairs there are many
+elements of agitation, and even of a crisis. Nevertheless, no sooner
+does an explosion appear imminent, or even possible, than every one
+shrinks from it in apprehension. In conclusion, all parties at present
+look for their security in order and peace. There is no confidence
+except in legitimate measures."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>On the 9th of July, I received the following from Paris:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The elections of the great colleges have commenced. If we gain any
+advantage there, it will be excellent; above all, for the effect it may
+produce on the King's mind, who can expect nothing more favourable to
+him than the great colleges. At present, there are no indications of a
+<i>coup d'&eacute;tat</i>. The 'Quotidienne' announces this morning that it looks
+upon the session as opened, admitting at the same time that the Ministry
+will not have a majority. It appears delighted at there being no
+prospect of an address exactly similar to that of the Two Hundred and
+Twenty-one."</p>
+
+<p>And again, on the 12th of July:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Today the 'Universel'<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> exclaims against the report of a <i>coup
+d'&eacute;tat</i>, and seems to guarantee the regular opening of the session by a
+speech from the King. This speech, which will annoy you, will have the
+advantage of opening the session on a better understanding. But the
+great point is to have a session; violent extremes become much more
+improbable when we are constitutionally employed. But you will find it
+very difficult to draw up a new address; whatever it may be, the right
+and the extreme left will look upon it in the light of a
+retractation,&mdash;the right as a boast, the left as a complaint. You will
+have to defend yourselves against those who wish purely and simply a
+repetition of the former address, and who hold to it as the last words
+of the country. Having acquired a victory at the elections, and the
+alternative of dissolution being no longer available<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> to the King, we
+shall have evidently a new line of conduct to adopt. Besides, what
+interest have we in compelling the King to make a stand? France has
+every thing to gain by years of regular government; let us be careful
+not to precipitate events."</p>
+
+<p>I replied on the 16th of July:&mdash;"I scarcely know how we are to extricate
+ourselves from the new address. It will be an extremely difficult
+matter, but in any case we are bound to meet this difficulty, for
+evidently we must have a session. We should be looked upon as children
+and madmen if we were merely to recommence what we have taken in hand
+for four months. The new Chamber ought not to retreat; but it should
+adopt a new course. Let us have no <i>coup d'&eacute;tat</i>, and let constitutional
+order be regularly preserved. Whatever may be the ministerial
+combinations, real and ultimate success will be with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Amongst the electors by whom I am surrounded here, I have met with
+nothing but moderate, patient, and loyal dispositions. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Daunant has
+just been elected, on the 13th of July instant, by the Divisional
+College of Nismes; he had 296 votes against 241 given in favour of
+M.&nbsp;Daniel Murjas, president of the college. When the result was announced,
+the official secretary proposed to the assembly to pass a vote of thanks
+to the president, who, notwithstanding his own candidateship, had
+presided with most complete impartiality and loyalty. The vote was
+carried on the instant, in the midst of loud cries of "Long live the
+King!" and the electors, as they retired, found in all quarters the same
+tranquillity and gravity which they had themselves preserved in the
+discharge of their own duties."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>On the 12th of July, when news of the capture of Algiers arrived, I
+wrote thus:&mdash;"And so the African campaign is over, and well over; ours,
+which must commence in about two months, will be rather more difficult;
+but no matter; I hope this success will not stimulate power to the last
+madness, and I prefer our national honour to all parliamentary
+considerations."</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to assert that the foregoing sentiments were those of
+all who, whether in the Chambers or in the country, had approved the
+Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one, and who, at the elections,
+voted for its support. The Restoration had not achieved such complete
+conquests in France. Inactive, but not resigned, the secret societies
+were ever in existence; ready, when opportunity occurred, to resume
+their work of conspiracy and destruction. Other adversaries, more
+legitimate but not less formidable, narrowly watched every mistake of
+the King and his Government, and sedulously brought them under public
+comment, expecting and prognosticating still more serious errors, which
+would lead to extreme consequences. Amongst the popular masses, a deeply
+rooted instinct of suspicion and hatred to all that recalled the old
+system and the invasion of the foreigners, continued to supply arms and
+inexhaustible hopes to the enemies of the Restoration. The people
+resemble the ocean, motionless and almost immutable at the bottom,
+however violent may be the storms which agitate the surface.
+Nevertheless, the spirit of legality and sound political reason had made
+remarkable progress; even during the ferment of the elections, public
+feeling loudly repudiated all idea of a new revolution. Never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> was the
+situation of those who sincerely wished to support the King and the
+Charter more favourable or powerful; they had given evidences of
+persevering firmness by legitimate opposition, they had lately
+maintained with reputation the principles of representative government,
+they enjoyed the esteem and even the favour of the public; the more
+violent party, through necessity, and the country, with some hesitation,
+mingled with honest hope, followed in their rear. If at this critical
+moment they could have succeeded with the King as with the Chambers and
+the country,&mdash;if Charles X., after having by the dissolution pushed his
+royal prerogative to the extreme verge, had listened to the strongly
+manifested wishes of France, and selected his advisers from amongst
+those of the constitutional Royalists who stood the highest in public
+consideration, I say, with a feeling of conviction which may appear
+foolhardy, but which I maintain to this hour, that there was every
+reasonable hope of surmounting the last decisive trial; and that the
+country taking confidence at once in the King and in the Charter, the
+Restoration and constitutional government would have been established
+together.</p>
+
+<p>But the precise quality in which Charles X. was deficient, was that
+expansive freedom of mind which conveys to a monarch a perfect
+intelligence of the age in which he lives, and endows him with a sound
+appreciation of its resources and necessities. "There are only M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;La
+Fayette and I who have not changed since 1789," said he, one day; and he
+spoke truly. Through all the vicissitudes of his life he ever remained
+what his youthful training had made him at the Court<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> of Versailles and
+in the aristocratic society of the eighteenth century&mdash;sincere and
+light, confident in himself and in his own immediate circle, unobservant
+and irreflective, although of an active spirit, attached to his ideas
+and his friends of the old system as to his faith and his standard.
+Under the reign of his brother Louis XVIII., and during the scission of
+the monarchical party, he became the patron and hope of that Royalist
+opposition which boldly availed itself of constitutional liberties, and
+presented in his own person a singular mixture of persevering intimacy
+with his old companions, and of a taste for the new popularity of a
+Liberal. When he found himself on the throne, he made more than one
+coquettish advance to this popular disposition, and sincerely flattered
+himself that he governed according to the Charter, with his old friends
+and his ideas of earlier times. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Vill&egrave;le and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Martignac lent
+themselves to his views in this difficult work; and after their fall,
+which he scarcely opposed, Charles X. found himself left to his natural
+tendencies, in the midst of advisers little disposed to contradict, and
+without the power of restraining him. Two fatal mistakes then
+established themselves in his mind; he fancied that he was menaced by
+the Revolution, much more than was really the fact; and he ceased to
+believe in the possibility of defending himself, and of governing by the
+legal course of the constitutional system. France had no desire for a
+new revolution. The Charter contained, for a prudent and patient
+monarch, certain means of exercising the royal authority and of securing
+the Crown. But Charles X. had lost confidence in France and in the
+Charter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> When the Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one Deputies
+came triumphant through the elections, he believed that he was driven to
+his last entrenchment, and reduced to save himself without the Charter,
+or to perish by a revolution.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before the Decrees of July, the Russian ambassador, Count
+Pozzo di Borgo, had an audience of the King. He found him seated before
+his desk, with his eyes fixed on the Charter, opened at Article 14.
+Charles X. read and re-read that article, seeking with honest inquietude
+the interpretation he wanted to find there. In such cases, we always
+discover what we are in search of; and the King's conversation, although
+indirect and uncertain, left little doubt on the Ambassador's mind as to
+the measures in preparation.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "Peers of France, Deputies of Departments, I have no doubt
+of your co-operation in carrying out the good measures I propose. You
+will repulse with contempt the perfidious insinuations which malevolence
+seeks to propagate. If criminal man&oelig;uvres were to place obstacles in
+the way of my government, which I neither can, nor wish to, foresee, I
+should find the power of surmounting them in a resolution to maintain
+the public peace, in the just confidence of the French people, and in
+the devotion which they have always demonstrated for their King."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> I think no one who reads the six concluding paragraphs of
+this Address, which alone formed the subject of debate, can fail to
+appreciate, in the present day, the profound truth of the sentiments and
+the apt propriety of the language.
+</p><p>
+"Assembled at your command from all points of the kingdom, we bring to
+you, Sire, from every quarter, the homage of a faithful people, still
+further inspired by having found you the most beneficent of all, in the
+midst of universal beneficence, and which reveres in your person the
+accomplished model of the most exemplary virtues. Sire, this people
+cherishes and respects your authority; fifteen years of peace and
+liberty which it owes to your august brother and to yourself, have
+deeply rooted in its heart the gratitude due to your august family: its
+reason, matured by experience and freedom of discussion, tells it that
+in questions of authority, above all others, antiquity of possession is
+the holiest of titles, and that it is as much for the happiness of
+France as for your personal glory, that ages have placed your throne in
+a region inaccessible to storms. The conviction of the nation accords
+then with its duty in representing to it the sacred privileges of your
+crown as the surest guarantee of its own liberties, and the integrity of
+your prerogatives as necessary to the preservation of public rights."
+</p><p>
+"Nevertheless, Sire, in the midst of these unanimous sentiments of
+respect and affection with which your people
+<a name="corr18" id="corr18"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn18" title="changed from 'surrounds'">surround</a>
+you, there has
+become manifest in the general mind a feeling of inquietude which
+disturbs the security France had begun to enjoy, affects the sources of
+her prosperity, and might, if prolonged, become fatal to her repose. Our
+conscience, our honour, the fidelity we have pledged and which we shall
+ever maintain, impose on us the duty of unveiling to you the cause."
+</p><p>
+"Sire, the Charter which we owe to the wisdom of your august
+predecessor, and the benefits of which your Majesty has declared a firm
+determination to consolidate, consecrate as a right the intervention of
+the country in the deliberation of public interests. This intervention
+ought to be, and is in fact, indirect, wisely regulated, circumscribed
+within limits minutely defined, and which, we shall never suffer any one
+to exceed; but it is also positive in its result; for it establishes a
+permanent concurrence between the political views of your government,
+and the wishes of your people, as an indispensable condition of the
+regular progress of public affairs. Sire, our loyalty and devotion
+compel us to declare that this concurrence does not exist."
+</p><p>
+"An unjust suspicion of the sentiments and ideas of France forms the
+fundamental conviction of the present Ministry; your people look on this
+with sorrow, as injurious to the Government itself, and with uneasiness,
+as it appears to menace public liberty."
+</p><p>
+"This suspicion could find no entrance in your own noble heart. No,
+Sire, <i>France is not more desirous of anarchy than you are of
+despotism</i>.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> She is worthy
+<a name="corr19" id="corr19"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn19" title="changed from 'your'">of your</a>
+having faith in her loyalty, as
+she relies implicitly on your promises."
+</p><p>
+"Between those who misrepresent a nation so calm and loyal, and we, who
+with a deep conviction deposit in your bosom the complaints of an entire
+people, jealous of the esteem and confidence of their King, let the
+exalted wisdom of your Majesty decide! Your royal prerogatives have
+placed in your hands the means of establishing between the authorities
+of the State, that constitutional harmony, the first and most essential
+condition for the security of the Throne and the greatness of the
+country."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> One of the ministerial journals of the time.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> The words used by the Chamber of Peers in their address.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="HISTORIC_DOCUMENTS" id="HISTORIC_DOCUMENTS"></a>HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span></p>
+<h2>HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>No. I.</h3>
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Val-de-Loup, May 12th, 1809.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir,</p>
+
+<p>I return you a thousand thanks. I have read your articles with extreme
+pleasure. You praise me with so much grace, and bestow on me so many
+commendations, that you may easily afford to diminish the latter. Enough
+will always remain to satisfy my vanity as an author, and assuredly more
+than I deserve.</p>
+
+<p>I find your criticisms extremely just; one in particular has struck me
+by its refined taste. You say that the Catholics cannot, like the
+Protestants, admit a Christian mythology, because we have not been
+trained and accustomed to it by great poets. This is most ingenious; and
+if my work should be considered good enough to induce people to say that
+I am the first to commence this mythology, it might be replied that I
+come too late, that our taste is formed upon other models, etc. etc.
+etc.... Nevertheless there will always be Tasso, and all the Latin
+Catholic poems of the Middle Ages.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> This appears to me the only solid
+objection that can be raised against your remark.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, and I speak with perfect sincerity, the criticisms which,
+before yours, have appeared on my work, make me feel to a certain extent
+ashamed of the French. Have you observed that no one seems to have
+comprehended its design? That the rules of epic composition are so
+generally forgotten, that a work of thought and immense labour is judged
+as if it were the production of a day, or a mere romance? And all this
+outcry is against the marvellous! Would it not imply that I am the
+inventor of this style? that it has been hitherto unheard of, and is
+singular and new? And yet we have Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, Gessner, and
+even Voltaire! And if we are not to employ the marvellous in a Christian
+subject, there can no longer be an epic in modern poetry, for the
+marvellous is essential to that style of composition, and I believe no
+one would be inclined to introduce Jupiter in a subject taken from our
+own history. All this, like every thing else in France, is insincere.
+The question to be decided was, whether my work was good or bad as an
+epic poem; all was comprised in this point, without attempting to
+ascertain whether it was or was not contrary to religion; and a thousand
+other arguments of the same kind.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot deliver an opinion on my own work; I can only convey to you
+that of others. M.&nbsp;Fontanes is entirely in favour of 'The Martyrs.' He
+finds this production much superior to what I have written before, in
+plan, style, and characters.</p>
+
+<p>What appears singular to me is, that the third Book, which you condemn,
+seems to him one of the best of the whole! With regard to style, he
+thinks that I have never before reached so high a point as in the
+description of the happiness of the just, in that of the light of
+Heaven, and in the passage on the Virgin. He tolerates the length of the
+two dialogues between the Father and Son, on the necessity of
+establish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>ing the epic machinery. Without these dialogues there could be
+no more narrative or action; the narrative and action are accounted for
+by the conversation of the uncreated beings.</p>
+
+<p>I mention this, Sir, not to convince, but to show you how sound
+judgments can see the same object under different aspects. With you I
+dislike the description of torture, but I consider it absolutely
+necessary in a work upon Martyrs. It has been consecrated by all history
+and every art. Christian painting and sculpture have selected these
+subjects; herein lies the real controversy of the question. You, Sir,
+who are well acquainted with the details, know to what extent I have
+softened the picture, and how much I have suppressed of the <i>Acta
+Martyrum</i>, particularly in holding back physical agony, and in opposing
+agreeable images to harrowing torments. You are too just not to
+distinguish between the objections of the subject and the errors of the
+poet.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest, you, Sir, well know the tempest raised against my work,
+and the source from whence they proceed. There is another sore not
+openly displayed, and which lies at the root of all this anger. It is
+that <i>Hierocles</i> massacres the Christians in the name of <i>philosophy</i>
+and <i>liberty</i>. Time will do me justice if my book deserves it, and you
+will greatly accelerate this judgment by publishing your articles, if
+you could be induced to modify them to a certain extent. Show me my
+faults and I will correct them. I only despise those writers, who are as
+contemptible in their language as in the secret reasons which prompt
+them to speak. I can neither find reason nor honour in the mouths of
+those literary mountebanks in the hire of the Police, who dance in the
+kennels for the amusement of lacqueys.</p>
+
+<p>I am in my cottage, where I shall be delighted to hear from you. It
+would give me the greatest pleasure to receive you here, if you would be
+so kind as to visit me. Accept the assurance of my profound esteem and
+high consideration.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">De Ch&acirc;teaubriand</span>.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Val-de-Loup, May 30th, 1809.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir,</p>
+
+<p>Far from troubling me, you have given me the greatest pleasure in doing
+me the favour to communicate your ideas. This time I shall condemn the
+introduction of the marvellous in a Christian subject, and am willing to
+believe with you, that it will never be adopted in France. But I cannot
+admit that 'The Martyrs' are founded on a heresy. The question is not of
+a <i>redemption</i>, which would be absurd, but of an <i>expiation</i>, which is
+entirely consistent with faith. In all ages, the Church has held that
+the blood of a martyr could efface the sins of the people, and deliver
+them from their penalties. Undoubtedly you know, better than I do, that
+formerly, in times of war and calamity, a monk was confined in a tower
+or a cell, where he fasted and prayed for the salvation of all. I have
+not left my intention in doubt, for in the third Book I have caused it
+to be positively declared to the Eternal that Eudore will draw the
+blessings of Heaven upon the Christians through the merits of the blood
+of the Saviour. This, as you see, is precisely the orthodox phrase, and
+the exact lesson of the catechism. The doctrine of expiation, so
+consolatory in other respects, and consecrated by antiquity, has been
+acknowledged in our religion: its mission from Christ has not destroyed
+it. And I may observe, incidentally, that I hope the sacrifice of some
+innocent victim, condemned in the Revolution, will obtain from Heaven
+the pardon of our guilty country. Those whom we have slaughtered are,
+perhaps, praying for us at this very moment. Surely you cannot wish to
+renounce this sublime hope, which springs from the tears and blood of
+Christians.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, the frankness and sincerity of your conduct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> make me
+forget for a moment the baseness of the present age. What can we think
+of a time when an honest man is told, "You will pronounce on such a
+work, such an opinion; you will praise or blame it, not according to
+your conscience, but according to the spirit of the journal in which you
+write"! We are too happy to find critics like you, who stand up against
+such conventional baseness, and preserve the tradition of honour for
+human nature. As a conclusive estimate, if you carefully examine 'The
+Martyrs,' undoubtedly you will find much to reprehend; but taking all
+points into consideration, you will see that in plan, characters, and
+style, it is the best and least defective of my feeble writings.</p>
+
+<p>I have a nephew in Russia, named Moreau, the grandson of a sister of my
+mother; I am scarcely acquainted with him, but I believe him to be an
+honourable man. His father, who was also in Russia, returned to France
+about a year ago. I have been delighted with the opportunity which has
+procured for me the honour of becoming acquainted with Mademoiselle de
+Meulan; she has appeared to me, as in all that she writes, full of mind,
+good taste, and sense. I much fear that I inconvenienced her by the
+length of my visit; I have the fault of remaining wherever I find
+amiable acquaintances, and especially when I meet exalted characters and
+noble sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>I repeat most sincerely the assurance of my high esteem, gratitude, and
+devotion. I look forward with impatience to the moment when I can either
+receive you in my hermitage, or visit you in your solitude.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Accept, I pray you, my sincerest compliments.</span><br /></p>
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">De Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Val-de-Loup, June 12th, 1809.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir,</p>
+
+<p>I happened to be absent from my valley for several days, which has
+prevented me from replying sooner to your letters. Behold me thoroughly
+convinced of heresy. I admit that the word <i>redeemed</i> escaped me
+inadvertently, and in truth contrary to my intention. But there it is,
+and I shall efface it from the next edition.</p>
+
+<p>I have read your first two articles, and repeat my thanks
+<a name="corr20" id="corr20"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn20" title="changed from 'or'">for</a>
+them. They
+are excellent, and you praise me far beyond what I deserve. What has
+been said with respect to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is quite
+correct. The description could only have been given by one who knows the
+localities. But the Holy Sepulchre itself might easily have escaped the
+fire without a special miracle. It forms, in the middle of the circular
+nave of the church, a kind of catafalque of white marble: the cupola of
+cedar, in falling, might have crushed it, but could not have set it on
+fire. It is nevertheless a very extraordinary circumstance, and one
+worthy of much longer details than can be confined within the limits of
+a letter.</p>
+
+<p>I wish much that I could relate these particulars to you, personally, in
+your retirement. Unfortunately, Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand is ill, and I
+cannot leave her. But I do not give up the idea of paying you a visit,
+nor of receiving you here in my hermitage. Honourable men ought,
+particularly at present, to unite for mutual consolation. Generous ideas
+and exalted sentiments become every day so rare that we ought to be too
+happy when we encounter them. I should be delighted if my society could
+prove agreeable to you, as also to M.&nbsp;Stapfer, to whom I beg you will
+convey my warmest thanks.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>Accept once more, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration and
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit me to add, of a friendship
+which is commenced under the auspices of frankness and honour.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">De Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</span></p>
+
+
+<p>The best
+<a name="corr21" id="corr21"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn21" title="changed from 'descripion'">description</a>
+of Jerusalem is that of Danville; but his little
+treatise is very scarce. In general, all travellers are very exact as to
+Palestine; there is a letter in the 'Lettres &Eacute;difiantes' ('Missions to
+the Levant'), which leaves nothing to be desired. With regard to M.&nbsp;de
+Volney, he is valuable on the government of the Turks, but it is evident
+that he has not been at Jerusalem. It is probable that he never went
+beyond Ramleh or Rama, the ancient Arimathea. You may also consult the
+'Theatrum Terr&aelig; Sanct&aelig;' of Adrichomius.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_II" id="No_II"></a>No. II.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Count&nbsp;de&nbsp;Lally-Tolendal to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Brussels, April 27th, 1811.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir,</p>
+
+<p>You will be unable to account for my silence, as I found it difficult to
+understand the tardy arrival of the prospectuses you had promised me in
+your letter of the fourth of this month. I must explain to you that the
+porter here had confounded that packet with the files of unimportant
+printed papers addressed to a Prefecture, and if the want of a book had
+not induced me to visit the private study of the Prefect, I should
+perhaps have not yet discovered the mistake. I thank you for the
+confidence with which you have treated me on this occasion. You are
+aware that no one renders you more than I do, the full justice to which
+you are entitled, and you also know that I accord it equally from
+inclination and conviction. My generation has passed away, yours is in
+full action, and a third is on the point of rising. I see you placed
+between two, to console the first, to do honour to the second, and to
+form the third. Endeavour to make the last like yourself; by which I do
+not mean that I wish all the little boys to know as much as you do, or
+all the little girls to resemble in everything, your more than amiable
+partner. We must not desire what we cannot obtain, and I should too much
+regret my own decline if such an attractive age were about to commence.
+But restrain my idea within its due limits, and dictate like Solon the
+best laws which the infancy of the nineteenth cen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>tury can bear or
+receive; this will abundantly suffice. Today the <i>mox progeniem daturos
+vitiosiorem</i> would make one's hair stand on end.</p>
+
+<p>Madame&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Tour du Pin, a Baroness of the Empire for two years, a
+Prefectess of the Dyle for three, and a religious mother for twenty,
+will recommend your journal with all the influence of her two first
+titles, and subscribes to it with all the interest that the last can
+inspire. I, who have no other pretension, and desire no other, than that
+of a father and a friend, request your permission to subscribe for my
+daughter, who, commencing the double education of a little Arnaud and a
+little L&eacute;ontine, will be delighted to profit by your double instruction.
+I believe also that the grandfather himself will often obtain knowledge,
+and always pleasure, from the same source. It seems to me that no
+association could be more propitious to the union of the <i>utile dulci</i>.
+If I were to allow free scope to my pen, I feel assured that I should
+write thus like a madman to one of the two authors: "Not being able to
+make myself once more young, to adore your merits, I become an old
+infant, to receive your lessons. I kiss from a distance the hand of my
+youthful nurse, with the most profound respect, but not sufficiently
+abstracted from some of those emotions which have followed my first
+childhood, and which my second education ought to correct. Is it
+possible to submit to your rod with more ingenuousness? At least I
+confess my faults. As I am bound to speak the truth, I dare not yet add,
+<i>this can never happen to me again</i>. But the strong resolution will come
+with weak age; and the more I can transform myself, the nearer I shall
+approach perfection."</p>
+
+<p>Will you be so kind as to present my respects to Madame and Mademoiselle
+de Meulan. Have you not a very excellent and amiable young man (another
+of the few who are consoled by elevation and purity of mind), the nephew
+of M.&nbsp;Hocher, residing under the same roof with yourself? If so, I beg
+you to recall me to his remembrance, and through him to that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> his
+uncle, from whom I expect, with much anxiety, an answer upon a matter of
+the greatest interest to the uncle of my son-in-law, in the installation
+of the Imperial Courts. But nothing has arrived by the post.</p>
+
+<p>I shall say nothing to you of our good and estimable friends of the
+Place Louis Quinze, for I am going to write to them directly.</p>
+
+<p>But it has just occurred to me to entreat a favour of you before I close
+my letter. When, in your precepts to youth, you arrive at the chapter
+and age which treats of the choice of a profession, I implore you to
+insert something to this effect: "If your vocation leads you to be a
+publisher or editor of any work, moral, political, or historical, it
+matters not which, do not consider yourself at liberty to mutilate an
+author without his previous knowledge, and above all, one who is
+tenacious of the inviolability of his text more from conscience than
+self-love. If you mutilate him on your own responsibility, which is
+tolerably bold, do not believe that you are permitted to substitute a
+fictitious member of your own construction for the living one you have
+lopped off; and be cautious lest, without being aware of it, you replace
+an arm of flesh by a wooden leg. But break up all your presses rather
+than make him say, under the seal of his own signature, the contrary of
+what he has written, thought, or felt. To do this is an offence almost
+amounting to a moral crime." I write more at length on this topic to my
+friends of the Place Louis Quinze, and I beg you to speak to none but
+them of my enigma, which assuredly you have already solved; I hope that
+what has now offended and vexed me will not happen again. In saying what
+was necessary, I used very guarded expressions. I do not wish a rupture,
+the vengeance of which might fall on cherished memories or living
+friends. My letter has taken a very serious turn; I little thought, when
+I began, that it would lead me to this conclusion. I feel that I am in
+conversation with you, and carried away by full confidence. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> most
+gratifying to me to have added an involuntary proof of this sentiment to
+the spontaneous expression of all those with which you have so deeply
+inspired me, and the assurance of which I have the honour to repeat,
+accompanied by my sincere salutations.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Lally-Tolendal.</span></p>
+
+<p>P.S. Allow me to enclose the addresses for the two subscriptions.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_III" id="No_III"></a>No. III.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Discourse delivered by <span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;Guizot</span>, on the opening of his first Course of
+Lectures on Modern History. December 11th, 1812.</i></p>
+
+<p>A statesman equally celebrated for his character and misfortunes, Sir
+Walter Raleigh, had published the first part of a 'History of the
+World;' while confined in the Tower, he employed himself in finishing
+the second. A quarrel arose in one of the courts of the prison; he
+looked on attentively at the contest, which became sanguinary, and left
+the window with his imagination strongly impressed by the scene that had
+passed under his eyes. On the morrow a friend came to visit him, and
+related what had occurred. But great was his surprise when this friend,
+who had been present at and even engaged in the occurrence of the
+preceding day, proved to him that this event, in its result as well as
+in its particulars, was precisely the contrary of what he had believed
+he saw. Raleigh, when left alone, took up his manuscript and threw it in
+the fire; convinced that, as he had been so completely deceived with
+respect to the details of an incident he had actually witnessed, he
+could know nothing whatever of those he had just described with his pen.</p>
+
+<p>Are we better informed or more fortunate than Sir Walter Raleigh? The
+most confident historian would hesitate to answer this question directly
+in the affirmative. History relates a long series of events, and depicts
+a vast number of characters; and let us recollect, gentlemen, the
+difficulty of tho<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>roughly understanding a single character or a solitary
+event. Montaigne, after having passed his life in self-study, was
+continually making new discoveries on his own nature; he has filled a
+long work with them, and ends by saying, "Man is a subject so
+diversified, so uncertain and vain, that it is difficult to pronounce
+any fixed and uniform opinion on him." He is, in fact, an obscure
+compound of an infinity of ideas and sentiments, which change and modify
+themselves reciprocally, and of which it is as difficult to disentangle
+the sources as to foresee the results. An uncertain produce of a
+multiplicity of circumstances, sometimes impenetrable, always
+complicated, often unknown to the person influenced by them, and not
+even suspected by those who surround him, man scarcely learns how to
+know himself, and is never more than guessed at by others. The simplest
+mind, if it attempted to examine and describe itself, would impart to us
+a thousand secrets, of which we have not the most remote suspicion. And
+how many different men are comprised in an event! how many whose
+characters have influenced that event, and have modified its nature,
+progress, and effects! Bring together circumstances in perfect
+accordance; suppose situations exactly similar: let a single actor
+change, and all is changed. He is urged by fresh motives, and desires
+new objects. Take the same actors, and alter but one of those
+circumstances independent of human will, which are called chance or
+destiny; and all is changed again. It is from this infinity of details,
+where everything is obscure, and nothing isolated, that history is
+composed; and man, proud of what he knows, because he forgets to think
+of how much he is ignorant, believes that he has acquired a full
+knowledge of history when he has read what some few have told him, who
+had no better means of understanding the times in which they lived, than
+we possess of justly estimating our own.</p>
+
+<p>What then are we to seek and find in the darkness of the past, which
+thickens as it recedes from us? If C&aelig;sar, Sallust,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> or Tacitus have only
+been able to transmit doubtful and imperfect notions, can we rely on
+what they relate? And if we are not to trust them, how are we to supply
+ourselves with information? Shall we be capable of disembarrassing our
+minds of those ideas and manners, and of that new existence, which a new
+order of things has produced, to adopt momentarily in our thoughts other
+manners and ideas, and a different character of being? Must we learn to
+become Greeks, Romans, or Barbarians, in order to understand these
+Romans, Barbarians, or Greeks, before we venture to judge them? And even
+if we could attain this difficult abnegation of an actual and imperious
+reality, should we become then as well acquainted with the history of
+the times of which they tell us, as were C&aelig;sar, Sallust, or Tacitus?
+After being thus transported to the midst of the world they describe, we
+should find gaps in their delineations, of which we have at present no
+conception, and of which they were not always sensible themselves. That
+multiplicity of facts which, grouped together and viewed from a
+distance, appear to fill time and space, would present to us, if we
+found ourselves placed on the ground they occupy, as voids which we
+should find it impossible to fill up, and which the historians leave
+there designedly, because he who relates or describes what he sees, to
+others who see equally with himself, never feels called upon to
+recapitulate all that he knows.</p>
+
+<p>Let us therefore refrain from supposing that history can present to us,
+in reality, an exact picture of the past; the world is too extensive,
+the night of time too obscure, and man too weak for such a portrait to
+be ever a complete reflection.</p>
+
+<p>But can it be true that such important knowledge is entirely interdicted
+to us?&mdash;that in what we can acquire, all is a subject of doubt and
+error? Does the mind only enlighten itself to increase its wavering?
+Does it develope all its strength, merely to end in a confession of
+ignorance?&mdash;a painful and disheartening idea, which many men of superior
+intel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>lect have encountered in their course, but by which they ought
+never to have been impeded!</p>
+
+<p>Man seldom asks himself what he really requires to know, in his ardent
+pursuit of knowledge; he need only cast a glance upon his studies, to
+discover two divisions, the difference between which is striking,
+although we may be unable to assign the boundaries that separate them.
+Everywhere we perceive a certain innocent but futile labour, which
+attaches itself to questions and inquiries equally inaccessible and
+without results&mdash;which has no other object than to satisfy the restless
+curiosity of minds, the first want of which is occupation; and
+everywhere, also, we observe useful, productive, and interesting
+inquiry, not only advantageous to those who indulge in it, but
+beneficial to human nature at large. What time and talent have men
+wasted in metaphysical lucubrations! They have sought to penetrate the
+internal nature of things, of the mind, and of matter; they have taken
+purely vague combinations of words for substantial realities; but these
+very researches, or others which have arisen out of them, have
+enlightened us upon the order of our faculties, the laws by which they
+are governed, and the progress of their development; we have acquired
+from thence a history, a statistic of the human mind; and if no one has
+been able to tell us what it is, we have at least learned how it acts,
+and how we ought to act to strengthen its justice and extend its range.</p>
+
+<p>Was not the study of astronomy for a long time directed to the dreams of
+astrology? Gassendi himself began to investigate it with that view; and
+when science cured him of the prejudices of superstition, he repented
+that he so openly declared his conversion, because, he said, many
+persons formerly studied astronomy to become astrologers, and he now
+perceived that they ceased to learn astronomy, since he had condemned
+astrology. Who then can prove to us that, without the restlessness of
+anticipation which had led men to seek the future in the stars, the
+science, by which today our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> ships are directed, would ever have reached
+its present perfection?</p>
+
+<p>It is thus that we shall ever find, in the labours of man, one half
+fruitless, by the side of another moiety profitable; we shall then no
+longer condemn the curiosity which leads to knowledge; we shall
+acknowledge that, if the human mind often wanders in its path, if it has
+not always selected the most direct road, it has finally arrived, by the
+necessity of its nature, at the discovery of important truths; but, with
+progressive enlightenment, we shall endeavour not to lose time, to go
+straight to the end by concentrating our strength on fruitful inquiries
+and profitable results; and we shall soon convince ourselves that what
+man cannot do is valueless, and that he can achieve all that is
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The application of this idea to history will soon remove the difficulty
+which its uncertainty raised at the outset. For example, it is of little
+consequence to us to know the exact personal appearance or the precise
+day of the birth of Constantine; to ascertain what particular motives or
+individual feelings may have influenced his determination or conduct on
+any given occasion; to be acquainted with all the details of his wars
+and victories in the struggles with Maxentius or Licinius: these minor
+points concern the monarch alone; and the monarch exists no longer. The
+anxiety some scholars display in hunting them out is merely a
+consequence of the interest which attaches to great names and important
+reminiscences. But the results of the conversion of Constantine, his
+administrative system, the political and religious principles which he
+established in his empire,&mdash;these are the matters which it imports the
+present generation to investigate; for they do not expire with a
+particular age, they form the destiny and glory of nations, they confer
+or take away the use of the most noble faculties of man; they either
+plunge them silently into a state of misery alternately submissive and
+rebellious, or establish for them the foundation of a lasting
+happiness.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>It may be said, to a certain extent, that there are two pasts, the one
+entirely extinct and without real interest, because its influence has
+not extended beyond its actual duration; the other enduring for ever by
+the empire it has exercised over succeeding ages, and by that alone
+preserved to our knowledge, since what remains of it is there to
+enlighten us upon what has perished. History presents us, at every
+epoch, with some predominant ideas, some great events which have decided
+the fortune and character of a long series of generations. These ideas
+and events have left monuments which still remain, or which long
+remained, on the face of the world; an extended trace, in perpetuating
+the memory and effect of their existence, has multiplied the materials
+suitable for our guidance in the researches of which they are the
+object; reason itself can here supply us with its positive data to
+conduct us through the uncertain labyrinth of facts. In a past event
+there may have been some particular circumstance at present unknown,
+which would completely alter the idea we have formed of it. Thus, we
+shall never discover the reason which delayed Hannibal at Capua, and
+saved Rome; but in an effect which has endured for a long time, we
+easily ascertain the nature of its cause. The despotic authority which
+the Roman Senate exercised for ages over the people, explains to us the
+ideas of liberty within which the Senators restricted themselves when
+they expelled their kings. Let us then follow the path in which we can
+have reason for our guide; let us apply the principles, with which she
+furnishes us, to the examples borrowed from history. Man, in the
+ignorance and weakness to which the narrow limits of his life and
+faculties condemn him, has received reason to supply knowledge, as
+industry is given to him in place of strength.</p>
+
+<p>Such, gentlemen, is the point of view under which we shall endeavour to
+contemplate history. We shall seek, in the annals of nations, a
+knowledge of the human race; we shall try to discover what, in every age
+and state of civilization,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> have been the prevailing ideas and
+principles in general adoption, which have produced the happiness or
+misery of the generations subjected to their power, and have influenced
+the destiny of those which succeeded them. The subject is one of the
+most abundant in considerations of this nature. History presents to us
+periods of development, during which man, emerging from a state of
+barbarism and ignorance, arrives gradually at a condition of science and
+advancement, which may decline, but can never perish, for knowledge is
+an inheritance that always finds heirs. The civilization of the
+Egyptians and Ph&oelig;nicians prepared that of the Greeks; while that of
+the Romans was not lost to the barbarians who established themselves
+upon the ruins of the Empire. No preceding age has ever enjoyed the
+advantage we possess, of studying this slow but real progression: while
+looking back on the past, we can recognize the route which the human
+race has followed in Europe for more than two thousand years. Modern
+history alone, from its vast scope, from the variety and extent of its
+duration, offers us the grandest and most complete picture which we
+could possibly possess of the civilization of a certain portion of the
+globe. A rapid glance will suffice to indicate the character and
+interest of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>Rome had conquered what her pride delighted to call the world. Western
+Asia, from the frontiers of Persia, the North of Africa, Greece,
+Macedonia, Thrace, all the countries situated on the right bank of the
+Danube, from its source to its mouth, Italy, Gaul, Great Britain, and
+Spain, acknowledged her authority. That authority extended over more
+than a thousand leagues in breadth, from the Wall of Antoninus and the
+southern boundaries of Dacia, to Mount Atlas;&mdash;and beyond fifteen
+hundred leagues in length, from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. But
+if the immense extent of these conquests at first surprises the
+imagination, the astonishment diminishes when we consider how easy they
+were of accomplishment, and how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> uncertain of duration. In Asia, Rome
+had only to contend with effeminate races; in Europe, with ignorant
+savages, whose governments, without union, regularity, or vigour, were
+unable to contend with the strong constitution of the Roman aristocracy.
+Let us pause a moment to reflect on this. Rome found it more difficult
+to defend herself against Hannibal than to subjugate the world; and as
+soon as the world was subdued, Rome began to lose, by degrees, all that
+she had won by conquest. How could she maintain her power? The
+comparative state of civilization between the victors and the vanquished
+had prevented union or consolidation into one substantial and
+homogeneous whole; there was no extended and regular administration, no
+general and safe communication; the provinces were only connected with
+Rome by the tribute they paid; Rome was unknown in the provinces, except
+by the tribute she exacted. Everywhere, in Asia Minor, in Africa, in
+Spain, in Britain, in the North of Gallia, small colonies defended and
+maintained their independence; all the power of the Emperors was
+inadequate to compel the submission of the Isaurians. The whole formed a
+chaos of nations half vanquished and semi-barbarous, without interest or
+existence in the State of which they were considered a portion, and
+which Rome denominated the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this Empire conquered, than it began to dissolve, and that
+haughty city which looked upon every region as subdued where she could,
+by maintaining an army, appoint a proconsul, and levy imposts, soon saw
+herself compelled to abandon, almost voluntarily, the possessions she
+was unable to retain. In the year of Christ 270, Aurelian retired from
+Dacia, and tacitly abandoned that territory to the Goths; in 412,
+Honorius recognized the independence of Great Britain and Armorica; in
+428, he wished the inhabitants of Gallia Narbonensis to govern
+themselves. On all sides we see the Romans abandoning, without being
+driven out, countries whose obedience, according to the expression of
+Mon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>tesquieu, <i>weighed upon them</i>, and which, never having been
+incorporated with the Empire, were sure to separate from it on the first
+shock.</p>
+
+<p>The shock came from a quarter which the Romans, notwithstanding their
+pride, had never considered one of their provinces. Even more barbarous
+than the Gauls, the Britons, and the Spaniards, the Germans had never
+been conquered, because their innumerable tribes, without fixed
+residences or country, ever ready to advance or retreat, sometimes threw
+themselves, with their wives and flocks, upon the possessions of Rome,
+and at others retired before her armies, leaving nothing for conquest
+but a country without inhabitants, which they re-occupied as soon as the
+weakness or distance of the conquerors afforded them the opportunity. It
+is to this wandering life of a hunting nation, to this facility of
+flight and return, rather than to superior bravery, that the Germans
+were indebted for the preservation of their independence. The Gauls and
+Spaniards had also defended themselves courageously; but the one,
+surrounded by the ocean, knew not where to fly from enemies they could
+not expel; and the other, in a state of more advanced civilization,
+attacked by the Romans, to whom the Narbonnese province afforded, in the
+very heart of Gaul itself, an impregnable base, and repulsed by the
+Germans from the land into which they might have escaped, were also
+compelled to submit. Drusus and Germanicus had long before penetrated
+into Germany; they withdrew, because the Germans always retreating
+before them, they would, by remaining, have only occupied territory
+without subjects.</p>
+
+<p>When, from causes not connected with the Roman Empire, the Tartar tribes
+who wandered through the deserts of Sarmatia and Scythia, from the
+northern frontiers of China, marched upon Germany, the Germans, pressed
+by these new invaders, threw themselves upon the Roman provinces, to
+conquer possessions where they might establish themselves in
+per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>petuity. Rome then fought in defence; the struggle was protracted;
+the skill and courage of some of the Emperors for a long time opposed a
+powerful barrier; but the Barbarians were the ultimate conquerors,
+because it was imperative on them to win the victory, and their swarms
+of warriors were inexhaustible. The Visigoths, the Alani, and the Suevi
+established themselves in the South, of Gaul and Spain; the Vandals
+passed over into Africa; the Huns occupied the banks of the Danube; the
+Ostrogoths founded their kingdom in Italy; the Franks in the North of
+Gaul; Rome ceased to call herself the mistress of Europe; Constantinople
+does not apply to our present subject.</p>
+
+<p>Those nations of the East and the North who transported themselves in a
+mass into the countries where they were destined to found States, the
+more durable because they conquered not to extend but to establish
+themselves, were barbarians, such as the Romans themselves had long
+remained. Force was their law, savage independence their delight; they
+were free because none of them had ever thought or believed that men as
+strong as themselves would submit to their domination; they were brave
+because courage with them was a necessity; they loved war because war
+brings occupation without labour; they desired lands because these new
+possessions supplied them with a thousand novel sources of enjoyment,
+which they could indulge in while giving themselves up to idleness. They
+had chiefs because men leagued together always have leaders, and because
+the bravest, ever held in high consideration, soon become the most
+powerful, and bequeath to their descendants a portion of their own
+personal influence. These chiefs became kings; the old subjects of Rome,
+who at first had only been called upon to receive, to lodge, and feed
+their new masters, were soon compelled to surrender to them a portion of
+their estates; and as the labourer, as well as the plant, attaches
+himself to the soil that nourishes him, the lands and the labourers
+became the pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>perty of these turbulent and lazy owners. Thus feudalism
+was established,&mdash;not suddenly, not by an express convention between the
+chief and his followers, not by an immediate and regular division of the
+conquered country amongst the conquerors, but by degrees, after long
+years of uncertainty, by the simple force of circumstances, as must
+always happen when conquest is followed by transplantation and continued
+possession.</p>
+
+<p>We should be wrong in supposing that the barbarians were destitute of
+all moral convictions. Man, in that early epoch of civilization, does
+not reflect upon what we call duties; but he knows and respects, amongst
+his fellow-beings, certain rights, some traces of which are discoverable
+even under the empire of the most absolute force. A simple code of
+justice, often violated, and cruelly avenged, regulates the simple
+intercourse of associated savages. The Germans, unacquainted with any
+other laws or ties, found themselves suddenly transported into the midst
+of an order of things founded on different ideas, and demanding
+different restrictions. This gave them no trouble; their passage was too
+rapid to enable them to ascertain and supply what was deficient in their
+legislature and policy. Bestowing little thought on their new subjects,
+they continued to follow the same principles and customs which recently,
+in the forests of Germany, had regulated their conduct and decided their
+quarrels. Thus the conquered people were, at first, more forgotten than
+vanquished, more despised than oppressed; they constituted the mass of
+the nation, and this mass found itself controlled without being reduced
+to servitude, because they were not thought of, and because the
+conquerors never suspected that they could possess rights which they
+feared to defend. From thence sprang, in the sequel, that long disorder
+at the commencement of the Middle Ages, during which everything was
+isolated, fortuitous, and partial; hence also proceeded the absolute
+separation between the nobles and the people, and those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> abuses of the
+feudal system which only became portions of a system when long
+possession had caused to be looked upon as a right, what at first was
+only the produce of conquest and chance.</p>
+
+<p>The clergy alone, to whom the conversion of the victors afforded the
+means of acquiring a power so much the greater that its force and extent
+could only be judged by the opinion it directed, maintained their
+privileges, and secured their independence. The religion which the
+Germans embraced became the only channel through which they derived new
+ideas, the sole point of contact between them and the inhabitants of
+their adopted country. The clergy, at first, thought only of their own
+interest; in this mode of communication, all the immediate advantages of
+the invasion of the barbarians were reaped by them for themselves. The
+liberal and beneficent influences of Christianity expanded slowly; that
+of religious animosity and theological dispute was the first to make
+itself felt. It was only in the class occupied by those dissensions, and
+excited by those rancorous feelings, that energetic men were yet to be
+found in the Roman Empire; religious sentiments and duties had revived,
+in hearts penetrated with their importance, a degree of zeal long
+extinguished. St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose had alone resisted
+Constantine and Theodosius; their successors were the sole opponents who
+withstood the barbarians. This gave rise to the long empire of spiritual
+power, sustained with devotion and perseverance, and so weakly or
+fruitlessly assailed. We may say now, without fear, that the noblest
+characters, the men most distinguished by their ability or courage,
+throughout this period of misfortune and calamity, belonged to the
+ecclesiastical order; and no other epoch of history supplies, in such a
+remarkable manner, the confirmation of this truth, so honourable to
+human nature, and perhaps the most instructive of all others,&mdash;that the
+most exalted virtues still spring up and develope themselves in the
+bosom of the most pernicious errors.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>To these general features, intended to depict the ideas, manners, and
+conditions of men during the Middle Ages, it would be easy to add
+others, not less characteristic, and infinitely more minute. We should
+find poetry and literature, those beautiful and delightful emanations of
+the mind, the seeds of which have never been choked by all the follies
+and miseries of humanity, take birth in the very heart of barbarism, and
+charm the barbarians themselves by a new species of enjoyment. We should
+find the source and true character of that poetical, warlike, and
+religious enthusiasm which created chivalry and the crusades. We should
+probably discover, in the wandering lives of the knights and crusaders,
+the reflected influence of the roving habits of the German hunters, of
+that propensity to remove, and that superabundance of population, which
+ever exist where social order is not sufficiently well regulated for man
+to feel satisfied with his condition and locality; and before laborious
+industry has taught him to compel the earth to supply him with certain
+and abundant subsistence. Perhaps, also, that principle of honour which
+inviolably attached the German barbarians to a leader of their own
+choice, that individual liberty of which it was the fruit, and which
+gives man such an elevated idea of his own individual importance; that
+empire of the imagination which obtains such control over all young
+nations, and induces them to attempt the first steps beyond physical
+wants and purely material incitements, might furnish us with the causes
+of the elevation, enthusiasm, and devotion which, sometimes detaching
+the nobles of the Middle Ages from their habitual rudeness, inspired
+them with the noble sentiments and virtues that even in the present day
+command our admiration. We should then feel little surprised at seeing
+barbarity and heroism united, so much energy combined with so much
+weakness, and the natural coarseness of man in a savage state blended
+with the most sublime aspirations of moral refinement.</p>
+
+<p>It was reserved for the latter half of the fifteenth century<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> to witness
+the birth of events destined to introduce new manners and a fresh order
+of politics into Europe, and to lead the world towards the direction it
+follows at present. Italy, we may say, discovered the civilization of
+the Greeks; the letters, arts, and ideas of that brilliant antiquity
+inspired universal enthusiasm. The long quarrels of the Italian
+Republics, after having forced men to display their utmost energy, made
+them also feel the necessity of a period of repose ennobled and charmed
+by the occupations of the mind. The study of classic literature supplied
+the means; they were seized with ardour. Popes, cardinals, princes,
+nobles, and men of genius gave themselves up to learned researches; they
+wrote to each other, they travelled to communicate their mutual labours,
+to discover, to read, and to copy ancient manuscripts. The discovery of
+printing came to render these communications easy and prompt; to make
+this commerce of the mind extended and prolific. No other event has so
+powerfully influenced human civilization. Books became a tribune from
+which the world was addressed. That world was soon doubled. The compass
+opened safe roads across the monotonous immensity of the seas. America
+was discovered; and the sight of new manners, the agitation of new
+interests which were no longer the trifling concerns of one town or
+castle with another, but the great transactions of mighty powers,
+changed entirely the ideas of individuals and the political intercourse
+of States.</p>
+
+<p>The invention of gunpowder had already altered their military relations;
+the issue of battles no longer depended on the isolated bravery of
+warriors, but on the power and skill of leaders. It has not yet been
+sufficiently investigated to what extent this discovery has secured
+monarchical authority, and given rise to the balance of power.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the Reformation struck a deadly blow against spiritual
+supremacy, the consequences of which are attributable to the bold
+examination of the theological questions and political shocks which led
+to the separation of religious sects,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> rather than to the new dogmas
+adopted by the Reformers as the foundation of their belief.</p>
+
+<p>Figure to yourselves, gentlemen, the effect which these united causes
+were calculated to produce in the midst of the fermentation by which the
+human species was at that time excited, in the progress of the
+superabundant energy and activity which characterized the Middle Ages.
+From that time, this activity, so long unregulated, began to organize
+itself and advance towards a defined object; this energy submitted to
+laws; isolation disappeared; the human race formed itself into one great
+body; public opinion assumed influence; and if an age of civil wars, of
+religious dissensions, presents the lengthened echo of that powerful
+shock which towards the end of the fifteenth century staggered Europe,
+under so many different forms, it is not the less to the ideas and
+discoveries which produced that blow that we are indebted for the two
+centuries of splendour, order, and peace during which civilization has
+reached the point where we find it in the present day.</p>
+
+<p>This is not the place to follow the march of human nature during these
+two centuries. That history is so extensive, and composed of so many
+relations, alternately vast and minute, but always important; of so many
+events closely connected, brought about by causes so mixed together, and
+causes in their turn productive of such numerous effects, of so many
+different labours, that it is impossible to recapitulate them within a
+limited compass. Never have so many powerful and neighbouring States
+exercised upon each other such constant and complicated influence; never
+has their interior structure presented so many ramifications to study;
+never has the human mind advanced at once upon so many different roads;
+never have so many events, actors, and ideas been engaged in such an
+extended space, or produced such interesting and instructive results.
+Perhaps on some future occasion we may enter into this maze, and look
+for the clew to guide us through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> it. Called upon, at present, to study
+the first ages of modern history, we shall seek for their cradle in the
+forests of Germany, the country of our ancestors; after having drawn a
+picture of their manners, as complete as the number of facts which have
+reached our knowledge, the actual state of our information, and my
+efforts to reach that level will permit, we shall then cast a glance
+upon the condition of the Roman Empire at the moment when the barbarians
+invaded it to attempt establishment; after that we shall investigate the
+long struggles which ensued between them and Rome, from their irruption
+into the West and South of Europe, down to the foundation of the
+principal modern monarchies. This foundation will thus become for us a
+resting-point, from whence we shall depart again to follow the course of
+the history of Europe, which is in fact our own; for if unity, the fruit
+of the Roman dominion, disappeared with it, there are always,
+nevertheless, between the different nations which rose upon its ruins,
+relations so multiplied, so continued, and so important, that from them,
+in the whole of modern history taken together, an actual unity results
+which we shall be compelled to acknowledge. This task is enormous; and
+when we contemplate its full extent, it is impossible not to recoil
+before the difficulty. Judge then, gentlemen, whether I ought not to
+tremble at such an undertaking; but your indulgence and zeal will make
+up for the weakness of my resources: I shall be more than repaid if I am
+able to assist you in advancing even a few steps on the road which leads
+to truth!</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_IV" id="No_IV"></a>No. IV.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>March 31st, 1815.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>I am not, my dear Sir, so lost to my friends that I have forgotten their
+friendship: yours has had many charms for me. I do not reproach myself
+with the poor trick I have played you. Your age does not run a long
+lease with mine. We can only show the public the objects worthy of their
+confidence; and I congratulate myself with having left them an
+impression of you which will not readily be effaced. I have been less
+fortunate on my own account, and can only deplore that fatality which
+has triumphed over my convictions, my repugnances, and the immeasurable
+consolations which friendship has bestowed on me. Let my example be
+profitable to you on some future occasion. Give to public affairs the
+period of your strength, but not that which requires repose alone; the
+interval will be long enough, at your time of life, to enable you to
+arrive at much distinction. I shall enjoy it with the interest which you
+know I feel, and with all the warm feelings with which your attachment
+has inspired me. Present my respects to Madame Guizot; it is to her I
+offer my apologies for having disturbed her tranquillity. But I hope her
+infant will profit by the strong food we have already administered to
+it. Allow me to request some token of remembrance from her as well as
+from yourself, for all the sentiments of respect and friendship I have
+vowed to you for life.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Abb&eacute;&nbsp;de&nbsp;Montesquiou to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Plaisance, June 8th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>I was expecting to hear from you, my dear friend, with much impatience,
+and I now thank you sincerely for having written to me. It was not that
+I doubted your philosophy; you know that those who precede their age
+learn too soon the uncertainty of all human affairs; but I feared lest
+your taste for your early avocations might induce you to abandon public
+affairs, for which you have evinced such ready ability; and we are not
+rich enough to make sacrifices. I feel very happy at being satisfied on
+this point, and leave the rest to the caprices of that destiny which can
+scarcely be harsh towards you. You will be distinguished at the Council,
+as you have been in all other situations; and it must naturally follow,
+that the better you are known, your career will become the more
+brilliant and secure. Youth, which feels its power, ought always to say,
+with the Cardinal&nbsp;de&nbsp;Bernis, "My Lord, I shall wait." The more I see of
+France, the more I am impressed with the truth, that those who believe
+they have secured the State by compromising the royal authority in these
+distant departments, have committed a mistake. All that are honest and
+rational are royalists; but, thanks to our own dissensions, they no
+longer know how to show themselves such. They thought until then, that
+to serve the King was to do what he required through the voice of his
+ministers, and they have been lately told that this was an error, but
+they have been left in ignorance as to who are his Majesty's real
+organs. The enemies to our repose profit by this. The most absurd
+stories are propagated amongst the people, and all are the people at so
+great a distance. I can imagine that the character of these disturbers
+varies in our different provinces. In this, where we have no large
+towns, and no aris<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>tocracy, we lie at the mercy of all who pretend to
+know more than ourselves. Great credit thus attaches to the Half-pays,
+who, belonging more to the people than to any other class, and not being
+able to digest their last disappointment, trade upon it in every
+possible manner, and are always believed because they are the richest in
+their immediate locality. The gentlemen Deputies come next upon the
+list, estimating themselves as little proconsuls, disposing of all
+places, and setting aside prefects. Thus you see how little authority
+remains with the King, whose agents are masters and do nothing in his
+name. As to the administration of justice, you may readily suppose that
+no one thinks of it. The people are in want of bread; their harvest rots
+under continual rains; the roads are horrible, the hospitals in the
+greatest misery; nothing remains but dismissals, accusations, and
+deputations. If you could change them for a little royal authority, we
+might still see the end of our sufferings; but make haste, for when the
+month of October has arrived it will be too late.</p>
+
+<p>Adieu, my dear friend, present my respects to Madame Guizot, and receive
+the fullest assurance of my good wishes.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_V" id="No_V"></a>No. V.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Fragments selected from a Pamphlet by</i> <span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;Guizot</span>, <i>entitled 'Thoughts
+upon the Liberty of the Press,' 1814.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Many of the calamities of France, calamities which might be indefinitely
+prolonged if they were not attacked at their source, arise, as I have
+just said, from the ignorance to which the French people have been
+condemned as to the affairs and position of the State, to the system of
+falsehood adopted by a Government which required everything to be
+concealed, and to the indifference and suspicion with which this
+habitual deceit and falsehood had inspired the citizens. It is truth,
+therefore, which ought to appear in broad daylight; it is obscurity
+which ought to be dissipated, if we wish to re-establish confidence and
+revive zeal. It will not suffice that the intentions of Government
+should be good, or its words sincere; it is requisite that the people
+should be convinced of this, and should be supplied with the means of
+satisfying themselves. When we have been for a long time tricked by an
+impostor, we become doubtful even of an honest man; and all our proverbs
+on the melancholy suspicion of old age are founded on this truth ...</p>
+
+<p>The nation, so long deceived, expects the truth from every quarter; at
+present, it has a hope of accomplishing this object. It demands it with
+anxiety from its representatives, its administrators, and from all who
+are believed capable of imparting it. The more it has been withheld up
+to this period, the more precious it will be considered. There will be
+this advantage, that it will be hailed with transport by the people as
+soon as they satisfy themselves that it may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> trusted; and there will
+be a corresponding evil,&mdash;they will listen to it without fear, when they
+discover that they are left in freedom to deliver their opinions, and to
+labour openly in its support. No one questions the embarrassments which
+truth will dissipate, or the references it will supply. A nation from
+whom it has been sedulously withheld, soon believes that something
+hostile is in agitation, and recoils back into mistrust. But when the
+truth is openly manifested, when a Government displays a noble
+confidence in its own sentiments and in the good feeling of its
+subjects, this confidence excites theirs in return, and calls up all
+their zeal.... The French, certain to understand, and quick to utter
+truth, will soon abandon that injurious tendency to suspicion which
+leads them from all esteem for their head, and all devotion to the
+State. The most indifferent spirits will resume an interest in public
+affairs, when they discover that they can take a part in them; the most
+apprehensive will cease their fears when they cease to live in clouds;
+they will no longer be continually occupied in calculating how much they
+should reject out of the speeches that are addressed to them, the
+recitals delivered and the portions presented for investigation; or how
+much artifice, dangerous intention, or afterthought remains hidden in
+all that proceeds from the throne.... An extended liberty of the press
+can alone, while restoring confidence, give back that energy to the King
+and the people which neither can dispense with: it is the life of the
+soul that requires to be revived in the nation in which it has been
+extinguished by despotism; that life lies in the free action of the
+press, and thought can only expand and develope itself in full
+publicity. No one in France can longer dread the oppression under which
+we have lived for ten years; but if the want of action which weakness
+engenders were to succeed that which tyranny imposes;&mdash;if the weight of
+a terrible and mute agitation should be replaced only by the languor of
+repose, we should never witness a renewal in France of that national
+activity, that brave and generous disposition which makes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> many
+sacrifices to duty;&mdash;finally, of that confidence in the sovereign, the
+necessity of which will be more acknowledged every day. We should merely
+obtain from the nation a barren tranquillity, the insufficiency of which
+would compel recourse to measures evil in themselves, and very far
+removed from the paternal intentions of the King.</p>
+
+<p>Let us, on the contrary, adopt a system of liberty and frankness; let
+truth circulate freely from the throne to the people, and from the
+people to the throne; let the paths be opened to those who ought to
+speak freely, and to others who desire to learn; we shall then see
+apathy dissipate, suspicion vanish, and loyalty become general and
+spontaneous, from the certainty of its necessity and usefulness.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, during the twenty-five years which have recently elapsed,
+we have so deplorably abused many advantages, that, at present, to name
+them suffices to excite the most deplorable apprehensions. We are not
+inclined to take into consideration the difference of the times, of
+situation, of the march of opinion, or of the temperament of men's
+minds: we look upon as always dangerous what has once proved fatal; we
+think and act as mothers might do, who, because they saw the infant
+fall, would prevent the youth from walking.... This inclination is
+general; we retrace it under every form; and those who have closely
+observed it will have little trouble in satisfying themselves that
+perfect liberty of the press, at least with regard to political
+questions, would, in the present day, be almost without danger. Those
+who fear it fancy themselves still at the beginning of the
+Revolution&mdash;at that epoch when all passions sought only to display
+themselves, when violence was the popular characteristic, and reason
+obtained only a contemptuous smile. Nothing can be more dissimilar than
+that time and the present; and, from the very cause that unlicensed
+freedom then gave rise to the most disastrous evils, we may infer,
+unless I deceive myself, that very few would now spring from the same
+source.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>Nevertheless, as many people appear to dread such a result; as I am
+unwilling to affirm that the experiment might not be followed by certain
+inconveniences, more mischievous from the fear they would inspire than
+from the actual consequences they might introduce;&mdash;as in the state in
+which we find ourselves, without a guide in the experience of the past,
+or certain data for the future, it is natural that we should advance
+cautiously; and as the spirit of the nation seems to indicate that in
+every respect circumspection is necessary, the opinions of those who
+think that some restrictions should be imposed, ought, perhaps, to
+prevail. For twenty-five years the nation has been so utterly a stranger
+to habits of true liberty, it has passed through so many different forms
+of despotism, and the last was felt to be so oppressive, that, in
+restoring freedom, we may dread inexperience more than impetuosity; it
+would not dream of attack, but it might prove unequal to defence; in the
+midst of the necessity for order and peace which is universally felt, in
+the midst of a collision of opposing interests which must be carefully
+dealt with, Government may wish, and with reason, to avoid the
+appearance of clashing and disturbance, which might probably be without
+importance, but the danger of which would be exaggerated by imagination.</p>
+
+<p>The question then reduces itself to this:&mdash;What are, under existing
+circumstances, the causes which call for a certain restraint in the
+liberty of the press? and by what restrictions, conformable to the
+nature of these causes, can we modify without destroying its freedom?
+and how shall we gradually remove these qualifications, for the present
+considered necessary?</p>
+
+<p>All liberty is placed between oppression and license: the liberty of man
+in the social state is necessarily restrained by certain laws, the abuse
+or oblivion of which are equally dangerous; but the circumstances which
+expose society to either of these perils are different. In a
+well-established government, solidly constituted, the danger against
+which the friends of liberty have to contend is oppression: all is there
+combined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> for the maintenance of law; all tends to support vigorous
+discipline, against which every individual labours to retain the share
+of freedom which is his due; the function of government is to support
+order; that of the governed to watch over liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The state of things is entirely different in a government only
+commencing. If it follows a period of misfortune and disturbance, during
+which morality and reason have been equally perverted,&mdash;when passions
+have been indulged without curb, when private interests have been
+paraded without shame,&mdash;then oppression falls within the number of
+dangers which are only to be anticipated, while license is that which
+must be directly opposed. Our Government has not yet attained its full
+strength; it is not yet possessed of all the means which are to be
+placed at its disposal to maintain order and rule: before acquiring all,
+it will be careful not to abuse any; and the governed, who are still
+without some of the advantages of order, wish to possess all those of
+confusion. They are not yet sufficiently sure of their own tranquillity,
+to abstain from attacking that of others. Every one is ready to inflict
+the blow he is exposed to receive; we offend with impunity the laws
+which have not yet foreseen all the methods that may be adopted to elude
+them; we brave without danger the authorities which cannot yet appeal,
+in their own support, to the experience of the happiness enjoyed under
+their auspices. It is, then, against particular attempts that constant
+watch should be kept; thus it becomes necessary to protect liberty from
+the outrages of license, and sometimes to prevent a strong government
+from being reduced to defence when uncertain of commanding obedience.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, unrestricted liberty of the press, without detrimental
+consequences in a state of government free, happy, and strongly
+constituted, might prove injurious under a system only commencing, and
+in which the citizens have still to acquire liberty and prosperity. In
+the first case there is no danger in allowing freedom of thought and
+utterance to all, because, if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> order of things is good, the great
+majority of the members of society will be disposed to support it, and
+also because the nation, enlightened by its actual happiness, will not
+be easily drawn to the pursuit of something always represented as
+better, but ever uncertain of acquirement. In the second case, on the
+contrary, the passions and interests of many individuals, differing in
+themselves, and all, more or less, abstracted from any feeling for the
+public good, are neither instructed by prosperity nor enlightened by
+experience; there exist therefore in the nation very few barriers
+against the plotters of evil, while in the government there are many
+gaps through which disorder may introduce itself: every species of
+ambition revives, and none can tell on what point to settle; all seek
+their place, without being sure of finding it; common sense, which
+invents nothing, but knows how to select, has no fixed rule upon which
+to act; the bewildered multitude, who are directed by nothing and have
+not yet learned to direct themselves, know not what guide to follow; and
+in the midst of so many contradictory ideas, and incapable of separating
+truth from falsehood, the least evil that can happen is, that they may
+determine to remain in their ignorance and stupidity. While information
+is still so sparingly disseminated, the license of the press becomes an
+important obstacle to its progress; men, little accustomed to reason
+upon certain matters, and poor in positive knowledge, adopt too readily
+the errors which are propagated from every quarter, and find it
+difficult to distinguish readily the truth when presented to them;
+thence originate a host of false and crude notions, a multiplicity of
+judgments adopted without examination, and a pretended acquirement, the
+more mischievous as, occupying the place which reason alone should hold,
+it for a long time interdicts her approach.</p>
+
+<p>The Revolution has proved to us the danger arising from knowledge so
+erroneously obtained. From this danger we are now called on to protect
+ourselves. It is better to confess the fact: we have learned wisdom from
+misfortune; but the de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>spotism of the last ten years has extinguished,
+for the greater part of the French people, the light we might thence
+have derived. Some individuals, undoubtedly, have continued to reflect,
+to observe, and to study&mdash;they have been instructed by the very
+despotism which oppressed them; but the nation in general, crushed and
+unfortunate, has found itself arrested in the development of its
+intellectual faculties. When we look closely into the fact, we feel
+surprised and almost ashamed of our national thoughtlessness and
+ignorance; we feel the necessity of emerging from it. The most
+oppressive yoke alone was able to reduce, and could again reduce it for
+a certain time to silence and inaction; but it requires to be propped
+and guided, and, after so much experimental imprudence, for the interest
+even of reason and knowledge, the liberty of the press, which we have
+never yet enjoyed, ought to be attempted with caution.</p>
+
+<p>Regarded in this point of view, the restrictions which may be applied
+will less startle the friends of truth and justice; they will see in
+them nothing more than a concession to existing circumstances, dictated
+solely by the interest of the nation; and if care is taken to limit this
+concession so that it may never become dangerous; if, in establishing a
+barrier against license, a door is always left open for liberty; if the
+object of these restrictions is evidently to prepare the French people
+to dispense with them, and to arrive hereafter at perfect freedom; if
+they are so combined and modified that the liberty may go on increasing
+until the nation becomes more capable of enjoying it
+profitably;&mdash;finally, if, instead of impeding the progress of the human
+mind, they are only calculated to assure it, and to direct the course of
+the most enlightened spirits;&mdash;so far from considering them as an attack
+upon the principles of justice, we shall see in them a measure of
+prudence, a guarantee for public order, and a new motive for hoping that
+the overthrow of that order will never again occur to disturb or retard
+the French nation in the career of truth and reason.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_VI" id="No_VI"></a>No. VI.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Report to the King, and Royal Decree for the Reform of Public
+Instruction, February 17th, 1815.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all who may
+receive these presents, they come greeting.</p>
+
+<p>Having had an account delivered to us, of the state of public
+instruction in our kingdom, we have observed that it rested upon
+institutions destined to advance the political views of the Government
+which had formed them, rather than to extend to our subjects the
+advantages of moral education, conformable with the necessities of the
+age. We have rendered justice to the wisdom and zeal of all who were
+appointed to watch over and direct instruction. We have seen with
+satisfaction that they have never ceased to struggle against the
+obstacles which the times opposed to them, and also to the institutions
+which they were called to put in force. But we have felt the necessity
+of reforming these institutions, and of bringing back national education
+to its true object; which is, to disseminate sound doctrines, to
+maintain good manners, and to train men who, by their knowledge and
+virtue, may communicate to society the profitable lessons and wise
+examples they have received from their masters.</p>
+
+<p>We have maturely considered these institutions, which we now propose to
+reform; and it appears to us that a system of single and absolute
+authority is incompatible with our paternal intentions and with the
+liberal spirit of our government;</p>
+
+<p>That this authority, essentially occupied in the direction of the whole,
+was to a certain extent condemned to be in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> ignorance or neglectful of
+those details of daily examination, which can only be intrusted to local
+supervisors better informed as to the necessities, and more directly
+interested in the prosperity of the establishments committed to their
+charge;</p>
+
+<p>That the right of nomination to all these situations, concentrated in
+the hands of a single person, left too much opening for error, and too
+much influence to favour, weakening the impulse of emulation, and
+reducing the teachers to a state of dependence ill suited to the
+honourable post they occupied, and to the importance of their functions;</p>
+
+<p>That this dependence and the too frequent removals which are the
+inevitable result, rendered the position of the teachers uncertain and
+precarious; was injurious to the consideration they ought to enjoy to
+induce them to work zealously in their laborious vocations; and
+prevented, between them and the relations of their pupils, that
+confidence which results from long service and old habits; and thus
+deprived them of the most gratifying reward they could attain&mdash;the
+respect and affection of the countries to which they have dedicated
+their talents and their lives;</p>
+
+<p>Finally, that the tax of one-twentieth of the costs of instruction,
+levied upon all the pupils of the lyceums, colleges, and schools, and
+applied to expenses from which those who pay it derive no immediate
+advantage, and which charges may be considerably reduced, are in
+opposition to our desire of favouring good and profitable studies, and
+of extending the benefits of education to all classes of our subjects.</p>
+
+<p>Wishing to enable ourselves, as soon as possible, to lay before the two
+Chambers the bills which are intended to establish the system of public
+instruction throughout France, and to provide for the necessary
+expenses, we have resolved to establish provisionally the reforms best
+adapted to supply the experience and information which we still require,
+to accomplish this object; and in place of the tax of one-twentieth on
+the costs of instruction, the abolition of which we are not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> inclined to
+defer, it has pleased us to appropriate, from our Civil List, the sum of
+one million, which will be employed during the present year, 1815, for
+the use of public instruction in this our kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>For these reasons, and on the report of our Minister the Secretary of
+State for the Department of the Interior, and by and with the advice of
+our Council of State, we have decreed, and do decree, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Title I.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>General Arrangements.</i></p>
+
+<p>Article 1. The divisions arranged under the name of <i>Academies</i> by the
+decree of the 17th of May, 1808, are reduced to seventeen, conformably
+to the table at present annexed. They will assume the title of
+<i>Universities</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Universities will be named after the Head Town assigned to each.</p>
+
+<p>The Lyceums at present established will be called <i>Royal Colleges</i>.</p>
+
+<p>2. Each University will be composed, first, of a council, presided over
+by a rector; secondly, of faculties; thirdly, of colleges; fourthly, of
+district colleges.</p>
+
+<p>3. The mode of teaching and discipline in all the Universities will be
+regulated and superintended by a Royal Council of Public Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>4. The Normal School of Paris will be common to all the Universities; it
+will provide, at the expense of the State, the number of professors and
+masters which may be required to give instruction in science and
+literature.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">Title II.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Respecting the Universities.</i><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Section 1.<br />
+<br />
+<i>The Councils of the Universities.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>5. The Council of each University will consist of a presiding rector, of
+the deans of faculty, of the provost of the royal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> college of the Head
+Town, or of the oldest provost if there are more than one royal college;
+and of at least three of the principal inhabitants, selected by our
+Royal Council of Public Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>6. The bishop and prefect will be members of this council, and will have
+votes in the meetings, above the rector.</p>
+
+<p>7. The council of the University can visit, whenever they consider it
+proper to do so, the royal and district colleges, the institutes,
+boarding-schools, and other seminaries of instruction, through two
+appointed inspectors; who will report on the state of teaching and
+discipline within the jurisdiction of the University, according to the
+instructions delivered to them.</p>
+
+<p>The number of inspectors for the University of Paris may amount to six.</p>
+
+<p>8. The council will select each of these inspectors from two candidates
+recommended by the rector.</p>
+
+<p>9. The council will also select, each from two candidates recommended by
+the rector, the provosts, the censors or inspectors of studies, the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and higher mathematics, the
+chaplains, and bursars of the royal colleges.</p>
+
+<p>10. The inspectors of the Universities will be selected from the
+provosts, the superintendent-masters, the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and mathematics of the royal colleges, and from the head
+masters of the district colleges; the superintendent-masters in the
+royal colleges will be chosen from the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, or superior mathematics in the same colleges.</p>
+
+<p>11. The council of the University can revoke, if they see cause, any
+appointment they may make: in these cases their resolutions must be
+notified and accounted for, and cannot take effect until sanctioned by
+our Royal Council of Public Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>12. No one can establish an institution or a boarding-school, or become
+head of an institution or a boarding-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>school already established,
+without having been previously examined and duly qualified by the
+council of the University, and unless their qualification has been
+approved of by the Royal Council of Public Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>13. The council of the University will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the faculties, and of the royal colleges; they will also
+examine the accounts of general expenditure handed in by the rector,
+and, after having decided on them, will transmit the same to our Royal
+Council of Public Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>14. The council will keep a registry of its proceedings, and will
+forward a copy once a month to our Royal Council.</p>
+
+<p>15. In public ceremonies, the council will rank after the Council of
+Prefecture.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">Section 2.</p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Rectors of Universities.</i></p>
+
+<p>16. The rectors of the Universities are appointed by us, each selected
+from three candidates presented by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, and chosen from rectors already appointed, from
+inspectors-general of study, of whom we shall speak hereafter, from the
+professors of faculty, the professors of the Universities, the provosts,
+the censors, and the professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior
+mathematics in the royal colleges.</p>
+
+<p>17. The rectors of the Universities appoint the professors, doctors of
+faculty, and masters in all the colleges, with the exception of the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the
+royal colleges, who are appointed as already named in Article 9.</p>
+
+<p>18. The rectors will select the candidates from amongst the professors,
+doctors of faculty, and masters already employed in the old or new
+establishments of education, or from the pupils of the Normal School,
+who, having completed their courses, have received the degree of
+Professor-Substitute.</p>
+
+<p>19. The professors and doctors of faculty thus appointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> can only be
+removed by the council of the University upon the explained proposition
+of the rector.</p>
+
+<p>20. The professors and doctors of faculty, appointed by one or more
+rectors, not being those of the Universities in which they are actually
+employed, can choose the University and select the employment they may
+prefer; but they are bound to notify their decision, one month before
+the commencement of the scholastic year, to the rector of the University
+to which they belong.</p>
+
+<p>21. The pupils of the Normal School selected by rectors not belonging to
+the University from whence they were sent, have the same privilege of
+option, on giving similar notice.</p>
+
+<p>22. The rector of the University will preside, whenever he thinks
+proper, at the examinations which precede the conferring of degrees in
+the different faculties.</p>
+
+<p>23. The rector has the entire charge of correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>24. He will lay before the council of the University all matters that
+require to be submitted to them, appoint the reporters, if necessary,
+regulate the order of discussion, and sign the resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>25. If opinions are equally divided, he has the casting vote.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">Section 3.</p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Faculties.</i></p>
+
+<p>26. The number and composition of the Faculties in each University are
+settled by us, on the proposition of our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>27. The faculties are placed immediately under the authority, direction,
+and supervision of that Council.</p>
+
+<p>28. The Council appoints their deans, each from two candidates, who will
+be nominated for selection.</p>
+
+<p>29. It appoints the professors for life, each from four candidates, two
+of whom must be presented by the faculty in which a chair has become
+vacant, and the other two by the council of the University.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>30. Over and above the special teaching with which they are charged, the
+faculties will confer, after examination, and according to the
+established rules, the degrees which are or may become necessary for the
+various ecclesiastical, political, and civil functions and professions.</p>
+
+<p>31. The diplomas of degrees are issued in our name, signed by the dean,
+and countersigned by the rector, who can refuse his <i>visa</i> if he has
+reason to think that the prescribed conditions have not been correctly
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>32. In the Universities which as yet have no faculties of science or
+literature, the degree of Bachelor in Letters may be conferred after the
+prescribed examinations by the provost, the inspector of studies, and
+the professors of philosophy and rhetoric of the royal college of the
+Head Town of the district. The inspector of studies will perform the
+functions of dean; he will sign the diplomas, and will take his place in
+the sittings of the councils of the University, after the provost.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">Section 4.</p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Royal and District Colleges.</i></p>
+
+<p>33. The Royal Colleges are governed by a provost, and the District
+Colleges by a principal.</p>
+
+<p>34. The provosts and principals will execute and cause to be executed
+the regulations regarding instruction, discipline, and compatibility.</p>
+
+<p>35. The administration of the royal college of the Head Town is placed
+under the immediate superintendence of the rector and the council of the
+University.</p>
+
+<p>36. All the other colleges, royal or provincial, are placed under the
+immediate superintendence of a committee of administration composed of
+the sub-prefect, the mayor, and at least three of the principal
+inhabitants of the place, appointed by the council of the University.</p>
+
+<p>37. This committee will propose, in each case, two candi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>dates to the
+rector, who will select from them the principals of the local colleges.</p>
+
+<p>38. The principals, thus appointed, can only be removed by the council
+of the University, upon the proposition of the committee, and by the
+decision of the rector.</p>
+
+<p>39. The Committee of Administration will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the local colleges.</p>
+
+<p>40. The Committee will also examine and decide on the accounts of the
+royal colleges, except only on those of the royal college of the Head
+Town, and will transmit them to the council of the University.</p>
+
+<p>41. The Committee will also keep a register of its proceedings, and
+transmit the same once in every month to the council of the University.</p>
+
+<p>42. The president of this Committee will be the sub-prefect, or, in his
+absence, the mayor.</p>
+
+<p>43. The bishops and prefects are members of all the Committees in their
+diocese or department; and when present they will have votes above the
+presidents.</p>
+
+<p>44. The heads of institutions and masters of boarding-schools
+established within the boundaries of cities or towns in which there are
+either royal or local colleges, are required to send their boarders as
+day-scholars to the classes of the said colleges.</p>
+
+<p>45. The second Ecclesiastical School which has been or may be
+established in each department, in virtue of our decree of ..., is
+excepted from this obligation: but the said school cannot receive
+day-scholars of any description.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Title III.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Normal School.</i></p>
+
+<p>46. Each University will send, every year, to the Normal School at
+Paris, a number of pupils proportioned to the necessities of education.</p>
+
+<p>This number will be regulated by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>47. The council of the University will select these pupils from those
+who, having finished their courses in rhetoric and philosophy, are
+intended, with the consent of their relatives, for public teachers.</p>
+
+<p>48. The pupils sent to the Normal School will remain there three years,
+after which they will be examined by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will deliver to them, on approbation, the brevet of
+Professor-Substitute.</p>
+
+<p>49. The pupils who have received this brevet, if not summoned by the
+rector of other Universities, will return to that to which they
+originally belonged, where they will be placed by the rector, and
+advanced according to their capacity and services.</p>
+
+<p>50. The head master of the Normal School will hold the same rank, and
+exercise the same prerogatives, with the rectors of the Universities.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Title IV.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Royal Council of Public Instruction.</i></p>
+
+<p>51. Our Royal Council of Public Instruction will be composed of a
+president and eleven councillors appointed by us.</p>
+
+<p>52. Two of this number will be selected from the clergy, two from our
+State Council, or from the Courts, and the seven others from individuals
+who have become eminent for their talents or services in the cause of
+public instruction.</p>
+
+<p>53. The president of our Royal Council is alone charged with the
+correspondence; he will introduce all subjects of discussion to the
+Council, name the reporters, if necessary, establish the order of
+debate, sign and despatch the resolutions, and see them carried into
+effect.</p>
+
+<p>54. In case of an equal division of opinions, he will have the casting
+vote.</p>
+
+<p>55. Conformably with Article 3 of the present decree, our Royal Council
+will prepare, arrange, and promulgate the general regulations concerning
+instruction and discipline.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>56. The Council will prescribe the execution of these rules to all the
+Universities, and will watch over them through
+<a name="corr22" id="corr22"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn22" title="changed from 'the the'">the</a>
+Inspectors-General of
+Studies, who will visit the Universities whenever directed by the
+Council to do so, and will report on the state of all the schools.</p>
+
+<p>57. The number of the Inspectors will be twelve; that is to say, two for
+the faculties of law, two for those of medicine, and the remaining eight
+for the faculties of science and literature and for the royal and local
+colleges.</p>
+
+<p>58. The Inspectors-General of Studies will be appointed by us, each
+being selected from three candidates proposed by our Royal Council of
+Public Instruction, and who will have been chosen from amongst the
+rectors and inspectors of the Universities, the deans of faculty, the
+provosts, the censors of study, and the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the royal colleges.</p>
+
+<p>59. On the report of the Inspectors-General of Studies, our Royal
+Council will give such instructions to the councils of the Universities
+as may appear essential; they will detect abuses, and provide the
+necessary reforms.</p>
+
+<p>60. The Council will furnish us with an annual account of the state of
+public instruction throughout our kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>61. It will propose all such measures as may be considered suitable to
+advance instruction, and for which it may be requisite to appeal to our
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>62. It will induce and encourage the production of such books as may
+still be wanting for general purposes of education, and will decide on
+those which are to be preferred.</p>
+
+<p>63. It will remove, if necessary, the deans of faculty, and will propose
+to us the removal of the rectors of Universities.</p>
+
+<p>64. It will examine and decide on the accounts of the general
+administration of the Universities.</p>
+
+<p>65. The Normal School is placed under the special authority of the Royal
+Council; the Council can either appoint or remove the administrators and
+masters of that establishment.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>66. The Council holds the same rank with our Court of Appeal and Court
+of Accounts, and will take place, in all public ceremonies, immediately
+after the last-named.</p>
+
+<p>67. It will keep a registry of all its proceedings, and will deposit a
+copy with our Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the
+Interior, who will furnish us with an account of the same, and on whose
+report we shall exercise the right of reforming or annulling them.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Title V.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of Receipts and Expenses.</i></p>
+
+<p>68. The tax of one-twentieth on the expenses of studies, imposed upon
+the pupils of colleges and schools, is abolished from the date of the
+publication of the present decree.</p>
+
+<p>69. Excepting always: 1. The charges for terms, examinations, and
+degrees, applied to the benefit of the faculties; 2. The subscriptions
+paid by the pupils of the royal and local colleges for the advantage of
+those establishments; 3. The annual contributions of the heads of
+seminaries and boarding-schools, for the use of the Universities.</p>
+
+<p>70. The townships will continue to supply the funds for scholars on the
+foundation, and the sums they have hitherto contributed under the title
+of help to their colleges: with this object, the total of these sums, as
+also of the burses, will be included in their respective budgets with
+the fixed expenses; and no deviation whatever from this will take place,
+unless previously submitted to our Royal Council of Instruction.</p>
+
+<p>71. The townships will also continue to supply and keep in repair the
+buildings requisite for the Universities, the faculties, and colleges.</p>
+
+<p>72. The councils of the Universities will settle the budgets for the
+colleges and faculties.</p>
+
+<p>73. The faculties and royal colleges, of which the receipts exceed the
+expenses, will apply the surplus to the treasury of the University.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>74. The councils of the universities will receive the annual
+contributions of the heads of seminaries and boarding schools.</p>
+
+<p>75. They will manage the property belonging to the University of France
+situated in the district of each provincial university, and will collect
+the revenue.</p>
+
+<p>76. In case the receipts of the faculties, or those assigned for the
+expenses of general administration, should prove inadequate, the
+councils of the universities will make a distinct requisition, and will
+state the sums required to replace each deficiency.</p>
+
+<p>77. This requisition will be addressed to our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will transmit it, with suggestions, to our Minister the
+Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.</p>
+
+<p>78. The expenses of the faculties and Universities, as settled by our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior, will
+be paid on his order from our Royal Treasury.</p>
+
+<p>79. There will also be paid from our Royal Treasury, in like manner&mdash;1,
+the expenses of our Royal Council of Public Instruction; 2, those of the
+Normal School; 3, the Royal donations.</p>
+
+<p>80. For these purposes the annual income of 400,000 francs, forming the
+appanage of the University of France, is placed at the disposal of our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.</p>
+
+<p>81. Further, and in provisional replacement of the tax abolished by Art.
+68 of this present Decree, our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior, is authorized by us for the promotion of
+public instruction in our kingdom, during the year 1815, to apply to the
+Minister of our Household, who will place at his disposal the sum of one
+million, to be deducted from the funds of our Civil List.</p>
+
+<p>82. The funds proceeding from the reduction of one twenty-fifth of the
+appointments in the University of France, will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> applied to retiring
+pensions; our Royal Council is charged to propose to us the most
+eligible mode of appropriating this fund, and also to suggest the means
+of securing a new one for the same purpose, in all the universities.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Title VI.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Temporary Arrangements.</i></p>
+
+<p>83. The members of our Royal Council of Public Instruction, who are to
+be selected in conformity with Art. 52, the inspectors-general of
+studies, the rectors and inspectors of universities, will be appointed
+by us, in the first instance, from amongst all those who have been or
+are now actually employed in the different educational establishments.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions of eligibility settled by that Article, as also by
+Articles 10, 16, and 58, apply to situations which may hereafter become
+vacant.</p>
+
+<p>84. The members of suppressed universities and societies, who have taken
+degrees as professors in the old faculties, or who have filled the posts
+of superiors and principals of colleges, or chairs of philosophy or
+rhetoric, as also councillors, inspectors-general, rectors and
+inspectors of academies, and professors of faculties in the University
+of France, who may find themselves out of employment by the effect of
+the present decree, are eligible to all places whatever.</p>
+
+<p>85. The fixed salaries of the deans and professors of faculties, and
+those of the provosts, inspectors of studies, and professors in the
+Royal colleges are not to be altered.</p>
+
+<p>86. The deans and professors of the faculties that will be continued,
+the provosts and doctors of faculty of the district colleges at present
+in office, are to retain the same rights and privileges, and will be
+subject to the same regulations of repeal, as if they had been appointed
+in pursuance of the present decree.</p>
+
+<p>We hereby inform and command our courts, tribunals, prefects, and
+administrative bodies to publish and register these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> presents wherever
+they may deem it necessary to do so. Moreover we direct our
+attorneys-general and prefects to see that this is done, and to certify
+the same; that is to say, the courts and tribunals to our Chancellor,
+and the prefects to our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior.</p>
+
+<p>Given at Paris, in our Castle of the Tuileries, February 17, in the year
+of grace 1815, and in the twentieth of our reign.</p>
+
+<p class="author">(Signed)&nbsp; <span class="smcap">Louis.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>By the King; the Minister Secretary of State for the Interior.</p>
+
+<p class="author">(Signed)&nbsp; <span class="smcap">The Abb&eacute; de&nbsp;Montesquiou.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_VII" id="No_VII"></a>No. VII.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Note drawn up and laid before the King and Council
+<a name="corr23" id="corr23"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn23" title="changed from 'in in'">in</a>
+August 1816, on
+the question of dissolving the Chamber of 1815; by M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;, Minister of
+the Interior.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>It being considered probable that the King may be obliged to dissolve
+the Chamber after its assembly, let us consider what will be the
+consequences.</p>
+
+<p>Dissolution during the session is an extreme measure. It is a sort of
+appeal made in the midst of passions in full conflict. The causes which
+lead to it, the feelings of resentment to which it will give rise, will
+spread throughout France.</p>
+
+<p>The convocation of a new Chamber will require much time, and will render
+it almost impossible to introduce a budget this year. To hold back the
+budget until the first month of the year ensuing, is to run the risk of
+seeing the deficit increase and the available resources disappear.</p>
+
+<p>This would in all probability render us incapable of paying the
+foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>After such an unusual dissolution, justified by the danger which the
+Chamber may threaten, it is difficult to suppose that the electoral
+assemblies would be tranquil. And if agitation should exhibit itself,
+the return of the foreigners is to be apprehended from that cause. The
+dread of this consequence, in either case, will induce the King to
+hesitate; and whatever attempts may be made to disturb the public peace
+or to assail the Royal authority, his Majesty's heart, in the hope that
+such evils would be merely transitory, will decide with reluctance on
+such an extreme remedy as dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>If then, the necessity of dissolving the Chamber becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> pressing, will
+it not be better, before it meets, to adopt means of preserving us from
+this menacing disaster?</p>
+
+<p>The renewal of one-fifth of the members, which, under any circumstances,
+seems to me indispensable to carry out the Charter, and which I regret
+to say we too much neglected in the month of July 1815, will scarcely
+diminish the probable necessity of dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>The members returned for the fourth series are, with a few exceptions,
+moderate; they have no disposition whatever to disturb public repose, or
+interfere with the Royal prerogative, which alone can maintain order by
+giving confidence to all classes. The other four-fifths remain
+unchanged; the apprehended dangers are consequently as imminent.</p>
+
+<p>This consideration induces me to recommend the adoption of a measure
+which might facilitate a complete return to the Charter, by recalling
+the decree of the 13th of July, which infringed it in the articles of
+age and number, and has also reduced to problems many more of its
+conditions.</p>
+
+<p>This measure would be to summon, by royal letters, only such deputies as
+have reached the age of forty, and according to the number stipulated in
+the Charter.</p>
+
+<p>To effect this, we should choose the deputies who have been first named
+in each electoral college. We should thus pay a compliment to the
+electors by summoning those who appear to hold the most distinguished
+places in their confidence.</p>
+
+<p>It is true it will be said that the Chamber not being dissolved, the
+present deputies have a kind of legal possession.</p>
+
+<p>But the electors and the deputies they have chosen, only hold their
+power from the Decree.</p>
+
+<p>The same authority which conferred that power can recall it by revoking
+the Decree.</p>
+
+<p>The King in his opening speech appeared to say that it was only owing to
+an extraordinary circumstance that he had assembled round the throne a
+greater number of deputies. That extraordinary circumstance has passed
+away. Peace is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> made, order is re-established, the Allies have retired
+from the heart of France and from the Capital.</p>
+
+<p>This idea furnishes an answer to the objection that the operations of
+the Chamber are nullified.</p>
+
+<p>The King had the power of making it what it is, in consequence of
+existing circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The Chamber of Deputies does not alone make the laws. The Chamber of
+Peers, and the King, who in France is the chief branch of the
+legislative body, have co-operated in that enactment.</p>
+
+<p>If this objection could hold good in the present case, it would equally
+hold good in all the rest. In fact, either after the dissolution, or
+under any other circumstances, the King will return to the Charter, in
+regard to age and number. On this hypothesis, it might be said that the
+operations of the existing Chamber are nullified. Article 14 of the
+Charter could always be explained by the extraordinary circumstances,
+and its complete re-establishment by the most sacred motives. To return
+to the Charter without dissolution is not then to nullify the operations
+of the Chamber more than to return to the Charter after dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>Will it be said that the King is not more certain of a majority after
+the proposed reduction than at present? I reply that the probability is
+greatly increased.</p>
+
+<p>An assembly less numerous will be more easily managed; reason will be
+more readily attended to. The Royal authority which is exercised in the
+reduction will be increased and secured.</p>
+
+<p>Again, in the event of a dissolution, would the King be more certain of
+a majority? How many chances are against this! On one side the ultras,
+whose objection to transfer a portion of the Royal authority to what
+they call the aristocracy, occupy nearly all the posts which influence
+the operations of the electoral assemblies. On the other, they will be
+vehemently opposed by the partisans of a popular liberty not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> less
+hostile to the Kingly power. The struggles which will take place at the
+electoral assemblies, will be repeated in the Chamber, and what
+description of majority will emanate from such a contest?</p>
+
+<p>If the plan of reduction appears inadmissible;&mdash;if on the other hand, it
+should be decided that the hostile spirit of the Chamber compels the
+dissolution after convocation;&mdash;I should not hesitate to prefer
+immediate dissolution to the danger which seems so likely to arise from
+dissolution after assembly.</p>
+
+<p>But if immediate dissolution were to lead to the forming of a new
+Chamber animated by the same spirit and views, it would then become
+necessary to find remedies, to preserve the Royal authority, and to save
+France from the presence of foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>The first method would be to sacrifice the Ministers, who are ready to
+lay down their places and their lives to preserve the King and France.</p>
+
+<p>The above notes are exclusively founded on the probable necessity of
+dissolution after the Chamber is convoked.</p>
+
+<p>This measure will become necessary if, under the pretext of amendments,
+the King's wishes are trifled with; if the budget should be thrown out,
+or too long delayed; or if the amendments or propositions are of a
+nature to alarm the country, and in consequence to call in the
+foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>The customs adopted during the last session, the bills announced, the
+acrimony exhibited, the evidences we have thence derived, the hostility
+already prepared by ambitious disturbers, the determination evinced to
+weaken the Kingly authority by declaiming against the modified
+centralization of government, all supply powerful reasons for expecting
+the probable occurrences which will necessitate the dissolution of the
+Chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Taking another view, it ought not to be easily believed that a few
+misguided Frenchmen, compromising the fortune of their country by
+continuing to oppose the Royal authority, may go the length of exposing
+themselves to the double scourge of foreign invasion and civil war, or
+that they be content with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> the loss of certain provinces through
+imprudent propositions, legally unjust, or....</p>
+
+<p>Are we permitted to hope that in presenting such bills as religion and
+devotion to the King and the country may inspire us to frame, these
+bills will not be rejected?</p>
+
+<p>Shall we be enabled to draw up these bills in such a manner as to
+convince the Session and the world that malevolent opposition alone can
+defeat them?</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the great probabilities that the dissolution may become
+necessary, the danger would be less formidable, if the King, at the
+opening of the session, were to express his wishes energetically; if he
+were to issue previous decrees, revoking all that has not been yet
+carried out in the Decrees of July 1815; if, above all, after having
+declared his will by solemn acts, his Majesty would firmly repeat those
+acts in the the immediate vicinity of the throne, by removing from his
+person all those who might be inclined to misrepresent or oppose his
+wishes.</p>
+
+<p>To avoid resistance and contest, would the following plan be available?</p>
+
+<p>When the bills, the decrees, and the other regulations are ready, would
+it be suitable for the King to hold an Extraordinary Council, to which
+he should summon the Princes of the Royal family, the Archbishop of
+Rheims, etc. Let all the bills to be brought forward be discussed and
+settled in that Council, and let the Princes and the chief Bishops
+declare which of these are to be adopted by unanimous consent. If, after
+this Council, all the great and influential personages summoned by his
+Majesty were to announce that such was the common wish of the King and
+the whole of the Royal family, France would perhaps be saved.</p>
+
+<p>But the great remedy lies in the King's pleasure. Let that once be
+manifested, and let its execution be recommended by his Majesty to all
+who surround him, and the danger disappears.</p>
+
+<p>"Domine dic tantum verbum, et sanabitur Gallia tua!"</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_VIII" id="No_VIII"></a>No. VIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Correspondence between the Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, the Count
+Decazes, Minister of General Police, and M.&nbsp;Dambray, Chancellor of
+France, on occasion of the seizure of 'Monarchy according to the
+Charter,' in consequence of an infraction of the laws and regulations
+relative to printing. September, 1816.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">1. Official Report of the Seizure.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>October 19th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>On the 18th of September, in execution of the warrant of his Excellency,
+dated on that day, authorizing the seizure of a work entitled, 'Of
+Monarchy according to the Charter,' by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, printed by
+Le Normant, Rue&nbsp;de&nbsp;Seine, No. 8, and which work had been on sale without
+the deposit of five copies having been made at the office for the
+general regulation of the book-trade, I went, with Messrs. Joly and
+Dussiriez, peace-officers and inspectors, to the house of the abovenamed
+M.&nbsp;Le Normant, where we arrived before ten o'clock in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Le Normant admitted to us that he had given notice of the work of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, but that he had not yet deposited the five copies. He
+affirmed that on the same morning, at nine o'clock, he had sent to the
+office for the general regulation of bookselling, but that he was told
+that the office was not open. Of this he produced no proof.</p>
+
+<p>He admitted that he had printed two thousand copies of this work,
+intending to make a fresh declaration, the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> having only been for
+fifteen hundred copies; that he had delivered several hundreds copies to
+the author; that, finally, he had transmitted others on sale to the
+principal booksellers of the Palais-Royal, Delaunay, Petit, and Fabre.</p>
+
+<p>While I was drawing up a report of these facts and statements, M.&nbsp;de
+Wilminet, peace-officer, came in with an individual in whose hands he
+had seen, near the Bridge of the Arts, the work now in question, at the
+moment when the person, who says his name is Derosne, was looking over
+the title. M.&nbsp;Derosne has admitted that he bought it for four francs, on
+the same day, the 18th, at about nine and a half in the morning. This
+copy has been deposited in our hands, and M.&nbsp;Le Normant has reimbursed
+the cost to M.&nbsp;Derosne.</p>
+
+<p>We seized, in the second warehouse on the first floor, thirty stitched
+copies which we added to that of M.&nbsp;Derosne. In the workshops on the
+ground-floor, I seized a considerable quantity of printed sheets of the
+same work, which M.&nbsp;Le Normant estimates at nine thousand sheets; and
+thirty-one printing-forms which had been used for printing these sheets.</p>
+
+<p>As it was sufficiently proved, both by facts and the admissions of the
+printer, that the work had been offered for sale before the five copies
+were deposited, we took possession of the stitched copies, the sheets,
+and the forms. The sheets were subsequently piled up in a carriage in
+the courtyard, and the stitched volumes made into a parcel, were
+deposited at the foot of the staircase at the entrance of the house. The
+forms, to the number of thirty-one, were placed under the steps of the
+garden, tied together with cord. Our seal had been already placed on the
+top, and M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Wilminet prepared to affix it also on the lower parts.
+All this was done without the slightest disturbance or opposition, and
+with a perfect respect for the authorities.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly tumultuous cries were heard at the bottom of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> entrance
+court. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand arrived at that moment, and questioned some
+workmen who surrounded him. His words were interrupted by cries of "Here
+is M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand!" The workshops resounded with his name; all the
+labouring men came out in a crowd and ran towards the court, exclaiming,
+"Here is M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand! M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand!" I myself distinctly
+heard the cry of "Long live M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand!"</p>
+
+<p>At the same instant a dozen infuriated workmen arrived at the gate of
+the garden, where I then was with M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Wilminet and two inspectors,
+engaged in finishing the seals on the forms. They broke the seals and
+prepared to carry off the forms; they cried loudly and with a
+threatening air, "Long live the liberty of the press! Long live the
+King!" We took advantage of a moment of silence to ask if any order had
+arrived to suspend our work. "Yes, yes, here is our order. Long live the
+liberty of the press!" cried they with violent insolence: "Long live the
+King!" They approached close to us to utter these cries. "Well" said I
+to them, "if there is such an order, so much the better; let it be
+produced;" and we all said together, "You shall not touch these forms,
+until we have seen the order." "Yes, yes," cried they again, "there is
+an order; it comes from M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, he is a Peer of France. An
+order from M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand is worth more than one from the
+Minister." Then they repeated violently the cries of "Long live the
+liberty of the press! Long live the King!"</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the peace-officers and inspectors continued to guard
+the articles seized or sequestered, and prevented their being carried
+off. They took the parcel of stitched copies from the hands of a workman
+who was bearing it away.</p>
+
+<p>The peace-officer who was affixing the seals, being compelled by
+violence to suspend the operation, addressed M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, and
+asked him if he had an order from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span> Minister. He replied, with
+passion, that an order from the Minister was nothing to him; he came to
+oppose what was going on; he was a Peer of France, the defender of the
+Charter, and particularly forbade anything to be taken away. "Moreover,"
+he added, "this proceeding is useless and without object; I have
+distributed fifteen thousand copies of this work through all the
+different departments." The workmen then repeated that the order of
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was worth more than that of the Minister, and renewed,
+more violently than before, their cries of "Long live the liberty of the
+press! M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand for ever! Long live the King!"</p>
+
+<p>The peace-officer was surrounded. A man of colour, appearing much
+excited, said to him violently, "The order of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand is
+worth more than that of the Minister." Tumultuous cries were renewed
+round the peace-officer. I left the garden, leaving the forms in charge
+of the inspectors, to advance towards that side. During my passage,
+several workmen shouted violently, "Long live the King!" I held out my
+hand as a sign of peace, to keep at a respectful distance those who were
+disposed to come too near; and replied by the loyal cry of "Long live
+the King!" to the same shout uttered in a seditious spirit by the
+bewildered workmen.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand was at this time in the entrance court, apparently
+intent on preventing the carriage laden with the sheets of his work from
+departing for its destination. I ascended the staircase for the purpose
+of signifying to M.&nbsp;Le Normant that it would be better for him to second
+my orders by using whatever influence he might possess over his workmen,
+so as to induce them to return to their workshops; and to let him know
+before them that he would be held responsible for what might happen.
+M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand appeared at the foot of the staircase, and uttered, in
+a very impassioned tone, with his voice vehemently raised, in the midst
+of the workmen, who appeared to second him enthusiastically, nearly the
+following words:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Peer of France. I do not acknowledge the order of the Ministry;
+I oppose it in the name of the Charter, of which I am the defender, and
+the protection of which every citizen may claim. I oppose the removal of
+my work. I forbid the transport of these sheets. I will only yield to
+force, and when I see the gendarmes."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately, raising my voice to a loud tone, and extending my arm from
+the first landing-place of the staircase on which I then stood, I
+replied to him who had just manifested to myself formally and personally
+his determined resistance to the execution of the orders of his
+Majesty's minister, and had thereby shown that he was the real exciter
+of the movements that had taken place; I said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And I, in the name and on the part of the King, in my quality of
+Commissary of Police, appointed by his Majesty, and acting under the
+orders of his Excellency the Minister of General Police, demand respect
+for constituted authority. Let everything remain untouched; let all
+tumult cease, until the arrival of fresh orders which I expect from his
+Excellency."</p>
+
+<p>While I uttered these words, profound silence was maintained. Calm had
+succeeded to tumult. Soon after, the gendarmes arrived. I then ordered
+the workmen to return to their workshops. M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, as soon
+as the gendarmes entered, retired into the apartments of M.&nbsp;Le Normant,
+and appeared no more. We then finished our work and prepared the report
+of all that had occurred, after having despatched to the Ministry of
+Police the articles seized, and committed the forms to the guard, and
+under the responsibility of M.&nbsp;Le Normant.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment of the disturbance one of the stitched copies disappeared.
+Subsequently we seized, at the house of M.&nbsp;Le Marchand, a book-stitcher,
+and formerly a bookseller, in the Rue&nbsp;de&nbsp;la Parcheminerie, seven parcels
+of copies of the same work; and at No. 17, Rue des Pr&ecirc;tres, in a
+wareroom belong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>ing to M.&nbsp;Le Normant, we placed eight forms under seal,
+and seized four thousand sheets of the same work.</p>
+
+<p>I have forwarded to the Ministry of Police reports of these different
+operations, with the sheets and copies seized of the work of M.&nbsp;de
+Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</p>
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Le Normant appeared to me to conduct himself without blame during
+these transactions, which were carried into effect at his
+dwelling-place, and during the tumult which M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand promoted
+on the occasion of the seizure of his work. But it is sufficiently
+proved by his own admission and by facts, that he has issued for sale to
+various booksellers, and has sold himself copies of this work before he
+had deposited the five as required by the laws.</p>
+
+<p>As to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, I am astonished that he should have so
+scandalously compromised the dignity of the titles with which he is
+decorated, by exhibiting himself under these circumstances, as if he had
+been nothing more than the leader of a troop of workmen, whom he had
+stirred up to commotion.</p>
+
+<p>He was the cause of the workmen profaning the sacred cry of "Long live
+the King!" by using it in an act of rebellion against the authority of
+the Government, which is the same as that of the King.</p>
+
+<p>He has excited these misguided men against a Commissary of Police, a
+public functionary appointed by his Majesty, and against three
+peace-officers in the execution of their duty, and without arms against
+a multitude.</p>
+
+<p>He has committed an offence against the Royal government, by saying that
+he would acknowledge force alone, in a system based upon quite a
+different force from that of bayonets, and which only uses such coercive
+measures against persons who are strangers to every sentiment of honour.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, this scene might have led to serious consequences if, imitating
+the conduct of M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, we had forgotten for a moment that
+we were acting by the orders of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> Government as moderate as firm, and
+as strong in its wisdom as in its legitimacy.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">2. <span class="smcap">The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to the Count Decazes.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September 18th, 1816.</i><br /></p>
+
+<p>My Lord Count,<br /></p>
+
+<p>I called at your residence this morning to express my surprise. At
+twelve this day, I found at the house of M.&nbsp;Le Normant, my bookseller,
+some men who said they were sent by you to seize my new work, entitled
+'Of Monarchy according to the Charter.'</p>
+
+<p>Not seeing any written order, I declared that I would not allow the
+removal of my property unless gendarmes seized it by force. Some
+gendarmes arrived, and I then ordered my bookseller to allow the work to
+be carried away.</p>
+
+<p>This act of deference to authority has not allowed me to forget what I
+owe to my rank as a Peer. If I had only considered my personal
+interests, I should not have interfered; but the privileges of the
+Peerage having been compromised, I have thought it right to enter a
+protest, a copy of which I have now the honour of forwarding to you. I
+demand, in the name of justice, the restitution of my work; and I
+candidly add, that if I do not receive it back, I shall employ every
+possible means that the political and civil laws place within my reach.</p>
+
+<p class="author">I have the honour to be, etc. etc.,<br />
+<br />
+(Signed)&nbsp;  <span class="smcap">Count de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand</span>.<br /></p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">3. The Count Decazes to the Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September 18th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>My Lord Viscount,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The Commissary of Police and the peace-officers, against whom you have
+thought proper to excite the rebellion of M.&nbsp;Le Normant's workmen, were
+the bearers of an order signed by one of the King's ministers, and in
+accordance with a law. That order was shown to the printer named, who
+read it several times, and felt that he had no right to oppose its
+execution, demanded in the King's name. Undoubtedly it never occurred to
+him that your rank as a Peer could place you above the operation of the
+laws, release you from the respect due by all citizens to public
+functionaries in the execution of their duty, and, above all, justify a
+revolt of his work-people against a Commissary of Police, and officers
+appointed by the King, invested with the distinctive symbols of their
+office, and acting under legal instructions.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen with regret that you have thought otherwise, and that you
+have preferred, as you now require of me, to yield to force rather than
+to obey the law. That law, which M.&nbsp;Le Normant had infringed, is
+extremely distinct; it requires that no work whatever shall be published
+clandestinely, and that no publication or sale shall take place before
+the necessary deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of
+printing. None of these conditions have been fulfilled by M.&nbsp;Le Normant.
+If he has given notice, it was informal; for he has himself signed the
+Report drawn up by the Commissary of Police, to the effect that he
+proposed to strike off 1500 copies, and that he had already printed
+2000.</p>
+
+<p>From another quarter I have been informed that, although no deposit has
+been made at the office for the regulation of printing, several hundred
+copies have been despatched this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> morning before nine o'clock, from the
+residence of M.&nbsp;Le Normant, and sent to you, and to various booksellers;
+that other copies have been sold by M.&nbsp;Le Normant at his own house, for
+the price of four francs; and two of these last copies were in my hands
+this morning by half-past eight o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>I have considered it my duty not to allow this infraction of the law,
+and to interdict the sale of a work thus clandestinely and illegally
+published; I have therefore ordered its seizure, in conformity with
+Articles 14 and 15 of the Law of the 21st of October, 1814.</p>
+
+<p>No one in France, my Lord Viscount, is above the law; the Peers would be
+offended, on just grounds, if I thought they could set up such a
+pretension. Still less would they assume that the works which they feel
+disposed to publish and sell as private individuals and men of letters,
+when they wish to honour the literary profession with their labours,
+should enjoy exclusive privileges; and if these works are submitted to
+public criticism in common with those of other writers, they are not in
+any respect liberated from the control of justice, or the supervision of
+the Police, whose duty it is to take care that the laws, which are
+equally binding upon all classes of society, should be executed with
+equal impartiality.</p>
+
+<p>I must also observe, in addition, that it was at the residence and
+printing-office of M.&nbsp;Le Normant, who is not a Peer of France, that the
+order constitutionally issued for the seizure of a work published by him
+in contravention to the law, was carried into effect; that the execution
+of the order had been completed when you presented yourself; and upon
+your declaration that you would not suffer your work to be taken away,
+the workmen broke the seals that had been affixed on some articles, and
+placed themselves in open rebellion against the King's authority. It can
+scarcely have escaped you, that by invoking that august name they have
+been guilty of a crime<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span> of which, no doubt, they did not perceive the
+extent; and to which they could not have been led, had they been more
+impressed with the respect due to the act of the King and his
+representatives, and if it could so happen that they did not read what
+they print.</p>
+
+<p>I have felt these explanations due to your character; they will, I
+trust, convince you that if the dignity of the Peerage has been
+compromised in this matter, it has not been through me.</p>
+
+<p class="author">I have the honour to be,<br />
+My Lord Viscount,<br />
+Your very humble and very obedient Servant,<br />
+(Signed)&nbsp; <span class="smcap">The Count Decazes</span>.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3">4. <span class="smcap">The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to the Count Decazes.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September 19th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>My Lord Count,</p>
+
+<p>I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to address
+to me on the 18th of this month. It contains no answer to mine of the
+same day.</p>
+
+<p>You speak to me of works <i>clandestinely</i> published (in the face of the
+sun, with my name and titles). You speak of revolt and rebellion, when
+there has been neither revolt nor rebellion. You say that there were
+cries of "Long live the King!" That cry has not yet been included in the
+law of seditious exclamations, unless the Police are empowered to decree
+in opposition to the Chambers. For the rest, all will appear in due time
+and place. There will be no longer a pretence to confound the cause of
+the bookseller with mine; we shall soon know whether, under a free
+government, a police order, which I have not even seen, is binding on a
+Peer of France; we shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> learn whether, in my case, all the rights
+secured to me by the charter, have not been violated, both as a Citizen
+and a Peer. We shall learn, through the laws themselves, which you have
+the extreme kindness to quote for me (a little incorrectly, it may be
+observed), whether I have not the right to publish my opinions; we shall
+learn, finally, whether France is henceforward to be governed by the
+Police or by the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of my respect and loyalty to the King, my Lord Count, I
+require no lessons, and I might supply an example. With respect to my
+rank as a Peer, I shall endeavour to make it respected, equally with my
+dignity as a man; and I perfectly well knew, before you took the trouble
+to inform me, that it will never be compromised either by you or any one
+else. I have demanded at your hands the restitution of my work: am I to
+hope that it will be restored? This is the immediate question.</p>
+
+<p class="author">I have the honour to be,<br />
+My Lord Count,<br />
+Your very humble and very obedient Servant,<br />
+(Signed) <span class="smcap">The Viscount de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</span></p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">5. The Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand to the Chancellor Dambray.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September 18th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>My Lord Chancellor,</p>
+
+<p>I have the honour to forward to you a copy of the protest I have
+entered, and the letter I have just written to the Minister of Police.</p>
+
+<p>Is it not strange, my Lord Chancellor, that in open day, by force, and
+in defiance of my remonstrances, the work of a Peer of France, to which
+my name is attached, and printed publicly in Paris, should have been
+carried off by the Police,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> as if it were a seditious or clandestine
+publication, such as the 'Yellow Dwarf,' or the 'Tri-coloured Dwarf'?
+Beyond what was due to my prerogative as a Peer of France, I may venture
+to say that I deserved <i>personally</i> a little more respect. If my work
+were objectionable, I might have been summoned before the competent
+tribunals: I should have answered the appeal.</p>
+
+<p>I have protested for the honour of the Peerage, and I am determined to
+follow up this matter to the last extremity. I call for your support as
+President of the Chamber of Peers, and for your interference as the head
+of justice.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+I am, with profound respect, etc. etc.,<br />
+(Signed) <span class="smcap">The Viscount Ch&acirc;teaubriand</span>.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">6. The Chancellor Dambray to the Count Decazes.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September, 19th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>I send you confidentially, my dear colleague, a letter which I received
+yesterday from M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand, with the informal Protest of which
+he has made me the depository. I beg you will return these documents,
+which ought not to be made public. I enclose also a copy of my answer,
+which I also request you to return after reading; for I have kept no
+other. I hope it will meet your approbation.</p>
+
+<p>I repeat the expression of my friendly sentiments.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Dambray</span>.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">7. The Chancellor Dambray to the Viscount&nbsp;de&nbsp;Ch&acirc;teaubriand.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, September 19th, 1816.</i></p>
+
+<p>My Lord Viscount,</p>
+
+<p>I have received with the letter you have addressed to me, the
+declaration relative to the seizure which took place at the residence of
+your bookseller; I find it difficult to understand the use you propose
+to make of this document, which cannot extenuate in any manner the
+infraction of law committed by M.&nbsp;Le Normant. The Law of the 21st of
+October, 1814, is precise on this point. No printer can publish or offer
+for sale any work, in any manner whatever, before having deposited the
+prescribed number of copies. There is ground for seizure, the Article
+adds, and for sequestrating a work, if the printer does not produce the
+receipts of the deposit ordered by the preceding Article.</p>
+
+<p>All infractions of this law (Art. 20) will be proved by the reports of
+the inspectors of the book-trade, and the Commissaries of Police.</p>
+
+<p>You were probably unacquainted with these enactments when you fancied
+that your quality as a Peer of France gave you the right of personally
+opposing an act of the Police, ordered and sanctioned by the law, which
+all Frenchmen, whatever may be their rank, are equally bound to respect.</p>
+
+<p>I am too much attached to you, Viscount, not to feel deep regret at the
+part you have taken in the scandalous scene which seems to have occurred
+with reference to this matter, and I regret sincerely that you have
+added errors of form to the real mistake of a publication which you
+could not but feel must be unpleasant to his Majesty. I know nothing of
+your work beyond the dissatisfaction which the King has publicly
+expressed with it; but I am grieved to notice the impression it has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>
+made upon a monarch who, on every occasion, has condescended to evince
+as much esteem for your person as admiration for your talents.</p>
+
+<p>Receive, Viscount, the assurance of my high consideration, and of my
+inviolable attachment.</p>
+
+<p class="author">The Chancellor of France,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Dambray</span>.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_IX" id="No_IX"></a>No. IX.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Table of the principal Reforms effected in the Administration of France
+from 1816 to 1820.</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Ministry of the Interior (M.&nbsp;Lain&eacute;).</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>From May, 1816, to December, 1818.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Sept. 4th, 1816.</i>&mdash;Decree for the reorganization of the Polytechnic
+School.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sept. 25th, 1816.</i>&mdash;Decree to authorize the Society of French Missions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 11th, 1816.</i>&mdash;Decree for the organization of the National Guards
+of the Department of the Seine.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 23rd, 1816.</i>&mdash;Decree for the institution of the Royal Chapter of
+St. Denis.</p>
+
+<p><i>Feb. 26th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the administration of the Public
+Works of Paris.</p>
+
+<p><i>Ditto, ditto.</i>&mdash;Decree for the organization of the Schools of Arts and
+Trades at Ch&acirc;lons and Angers.</p>
+
+<p><i>March 12th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree on the administration and funds of the Royal
+Colleges.</p>
+
+<p><i>March 26th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree authorizing the presence of the Prefects and
+Sub-Prefects at the General Councils of the Department or District.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 2nd, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree to regulate Central Houses of Confinement.</p>
+
+<p><i>Ditto, ditto.</i>&mdash;Decree to regulate the conditions and mode<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> of carrying
+out the royal authority for legacies or donations to Religious
+Establishments.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 9th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree for the assessment of 3,900,000 francs,
+destined to improve the condition of the Catholic Clergy.</p>
+
+<p><i>Ditto, ditto.</i>&mdash;Decree for the suppression of the Secretaries-General
+of the Prefectures, except only for the Department of the Seine.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 16th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Three Decrees to regulate the organization of, and
+persons employed in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sept. 10th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree upon the system of the Port of Marseilles,
+with regard to Custom-house Duties and Storehouses.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nov. 6th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree to regulate the progressive reduction of the
+number of Councillors in each Prefecture.</p>
+
+<p><i>May 20th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree to increase Ecclesiastical Salaries,
+particularly those of the Curates.</p>
+
+<p><i>June 9th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree on the discontinuance of Compositions for
+Taxes payable at the Entrance of Towns.</p>
+
+<p><i>July 29th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree for the establishment of Savings Banks, and
+Provident Banks, in Paris.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sept. 30th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree which removes from his Royal Highness
+<i>Monsieur</i>, while leaving him the honorary privileges, the actual
+command of the National Guard of the Kingdom, to give it back to the
+Minister of the Interior, and the Municipal Authorities.</p>
+
+<p><i>Oct. 7th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree respecting the use and administration of
+Commons, or Town property.</p>
+
+<p><i>Oct. 21st, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree respecting the premiums for the encouragement
+of the Maritime Fisheries.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 17th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization and
+administration of the Educational Establishments called <i>Britannic</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Count Decazes.</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>From December, 1818, to February, 1820.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Jan. 13th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree to arrange public exhibitions of products of
+industry.&mdash;The first, to take place on the 25th of August, 1819.</p>
+
+<p><i>Jan. 27th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree for creating a Council of Agriculture.</p>
+
+<p><i>Feb. 14th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree for the encouragement of the Whale Fishery.</p>
+
+<p><i>March 24th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree introducing various reforms and improvements
+in the School of Law, at Paris.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 9th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree appointing a Jury of Manufacturers to select
+for reward the artists who have made the greatest progress in their
+respective trades.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 10th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the institution of the
+Council-General of Prisons.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 19th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree to facilitate the public sale of merchandise
+by auction.</p>
+
+<p><i>June 23rd, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree to reduce the period of service of the
+National Guard of Paris.</p>
+
+<p><i>June 29th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to holding Jewish Consistories.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aug. 23rd, 1819.</i>&mdash;Two Decrees upon the organization and privileges of
+the General Council of Commerce and Manufacture.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aug. 25th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the erection of 500 new Chapels
+of Ease.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nov. 25th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization and system of
+teaching of the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 22nd, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization and system of
+the Public Treasury of Poissy.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span><i>Dec. 25th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the mode of Collation, and the
+system of public Bursaries in the Royal Colleges.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 29th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree authorizing the foundation of a permanent
+asylum for old men and invalids, in the Quartier du gros Caillon.</p>
+
+<p><i>Feb. 4th, 1820.</i>&mdash;Decree for the regulation of public carriages
+throughout the Kingdom.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">Ministry of War (Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr).</span></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>From September, 1817, to November, 1819.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Oct. 22nd, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree for the organization of the Corps of
+Geographic Engineers of War.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nov. 6th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree for the organization of the Staff of the
+military division of the Royal Guard.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 10th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree respecting the system of administration of
+military supplies.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 17th. 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Engineers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 17th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Artillery.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 24th, 1817.</i>&mdash;Decree upon the organization of Military Schools.</p>
+
+<p><i>March 25th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the system and sale of gunpowder
+for purposes of war, mining, or the chase.</p>
+
+<p><i>March 25th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the system and organization of
+the Companies of Discipline.</p>
+
+<p><i>April 8th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree for the formation of Departmental Legions in
+three battalions.</p>
+
+<p><i>May 6th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization of the Corps and
+School of the Staff.</p>
+
+<p><i>May 20th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the position and allowances of
+those not in active service, or on half-pay.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span><i>May 20th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Instructions approved by the King relative to
+voluntary engagements.</p>
+
+<p><i>June 10th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization, system, and
+teaching of the Military Schools.</p>
+
+<p><i>July 8th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the organization and system of
+Regimental Schools in the Artillery.</p>
+
+<p><i>July 15th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the supply of gunpowder and
+saltpetre.</p>
+
+<p><i>July 23rd, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree respecting the selection of the General Staff
+of the Army.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aug. 3rd, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the military hierarchy, and the
+order of promotion, in conformity with the Law of the 10th of March,
+1818.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aug. 5th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the allowances of Staff Officers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aug. 5th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the system and expenses of
+Barracks.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sept. 2nd, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree relative to the Corps of Gendarmes of Paris.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 30th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree regulating the organization and system of the
+Body-guard of the King.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dec. 30th, 1818.</i>&mdash;Decree regulating the allowances to Governors of
+Military Divisions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Feb. 17th, 1819.</i>&mdash;Decree on the composition and strength of the
+eighty-six regiments of Infantry.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_X" id="No_X"></a>No. X.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;Guizot to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, April 12th, 1820.</i></p>
+
+<p>My dear Friend,</p>
+
+<p>I have not written to you in all our troubles. I knew that you would
+hear from this place a hundred different opinions, and a hundred
+opposite statements on the position of affairs; and, although I had not
+entire confidence in any of those who addressed you, as you are not
+called upon, according to my judgment, to form any important resolution,
+I abstained from useless words. Today all has become clearer and more
+mature; the situation assumes externally the character it had until now
+concealed; I feel the necessity of telling you what I think of it, for
+the advantage of our future proceedings in general, and yours in
+particular.</p>
+
+<p>The provisional bills have passed:&mdash;you have seen how: fatal to those
+who have gained them, and with immense profit to the Opposition. The
+debate has produced this result in the Chamber, that the right-hand
+party has extinguished itself, to follow in the suite of the
+right-centre; while the left-centre has consented to assume the same
+position with respect to the extreme left, from which, however, it has
+begun to separate within the last fifteen days. So much for the interior
+of the Chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Without, you may be assured that the effect of these two debates upon
+the popular masses has been to cause the right-hand party to be looked
+upon as less haughty and exacting; the left, as more firm and more
+evenly regulated than was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> supposed: so that, at present, in the
+estimation of many worthy citizens, the fear of the right and the
+suspicion of the left are diminished in equal proportions. A great evil
+is comprised in this double fact. Last year we gained triumphs over the
+left, without and within the Chamber; at present the left triumphs over
+us! Last year we still remained, and were considered, as ever since
+1815, a necessary and safe rampart against the <i>Ultras</i>, who were
+greatly dreaded, and whose rule seemed possible; today the <i>Ultras</i> are
+less feared, because their arrival at power is scarcely believed. The
+conclusion is, that we are less wanted than formerly.</p>
+
+<p>Let us look to the future. The election bill, which Decazes presented
+eight days before his fall, is about to be withdrawn. This is certain.
+It is well known that it could never pass; that the discussions on its
+forty-eight articles would be interminable; the <i>Ultras</i> are very
+mistrustful of this its probable results; it is condemned; they will
+frame, and are already framing, another. What will this new bill be? I
+cannot tell. What appears to me certain is, that, if no change takes
+place in the present position, it will have for object, not to complete
+our institutions, not to correct the vices of the bill of the 5th of
+February, 1817, but to bring back exceptional elections; to restore, as
+is loudly proclaimed, something analogous to the Chamber of 1815. This
+is the avowed object, and, what is more, the natural and necessary end.
+This end will be pursued without accomplishment; such a bill will either
+fail in the debate, or in the application. If it passes, and after the
+debate which it cannot fail to provoke, the fundamental question, the
+question of the future, will escape from the Chamber, and seek its
+solution without, in the intervention of the masses. If the bill is
+rejected, the question may be confined within the Chamber; but it will
+no longer be the Ministry in office who will have the power and mission
+of solving it. If a choice is left to us, which I am far from despairing
+of, it will lie between a lamentable external revolu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span>tion and a
+ministerial revolution of the most complete character. And this last
+chance, which is our only one, will vanish if we do not so manage as to
+offer the country, for the future, a ministry boldly constitutional.</p>
+
+<p>In this position of affairs, what it is indispensable that you should be
+made acquainted with, and what you would discover in five minutes if you
+could pass five minutes here, is, that you are no longer a Minister, and
+that you form no portion of the Ministry in office. It would be
+impossible to induce you to speak with them as they speak, or as they
+are compelled to speak. The situation to which they are reduced has been
+imposed by necessity; they could only escape from it by completely
+changing their ground and their friends, by recovering eighty votes from
+the one hundred and fifteen of the actual Opposition, or by an appeal to
+a new Chamber. This last measure it will never adopt; and by the side of
+the powerlessness of the existing Cabinet, stands the impossibility of
+escaping from it by the aid of the right-hand party. An <i>ultra</i> ministry
+is impossible. The events in Spain, whatever they may ultimately lead
+to, have mortally wounded the governments of <i>coups d'&eacute;tat</i> and
+ordinances.</p>
+
+<p>I have looked closely into all this, my dear friend; I have thought much
+on the subject when alone, more than I have communicated to others. You
+cannot remain indefinitely in a situation so critical and weak, so
+destitute of power for immediate government, and so hopeless for the
+future. I see but one thing to do at present; and that is, to prepare
+and hold back those who may save the Monarchy. I cannot see, in the
+existing state of affairs, any possibility of labouring effectively for
+its preservation. You can only drag yourselves timidly along the
+precipice which leads to its ruin. You may possibly not lose in the
+struggle your reputation for honest intentions and good-faith; but this
+is the maximum of hope which the present Cabinet can reasonably expect
+to preserve. Do not deceive yourself on this point; of all the plans of
+reform,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span> at once monarchical and liberal, which you contemplated last
+year, nothing now remains. It is no longer a bold remedy which is sought
+for against the old revolutionary spirit; it is a miserable expedient
+which is adopted without confidence. It is not fit for you, my dear
+friend, to remain garotted under this system. Thank Heaven! you were
+accounted of some importance in the exceptional laws. As to the
+constitutional projects emanating from you, there are several&mdash;the
+integral renewing of the Chamber, for example&mdash;which have rather gained
+than lost ground, and which have become possible in another direction
+and with other men. I know that nothing happens either so decisively or
+completely as has been calculated, and that everything is, with time, an
+affair of arrangement and treaty. But as power is situated at present,
+you can do nothing, you are nothing; or rather, at this moment, you have
+not an inch of ground on which you can either hold yourself erect, or
+fall with honour. If you were here, either you would emerge, within a
+week, from this impotent position, or you would be lost with the rest,
+which Heaven forbid!</p>
+
+<p>You see, my dear friend, that I speak to you with the most unmeasured
+frankness. It is because I have a profound conviction of the present
+evil and of the possibility of future safety. In this possibility you
+are a necessary instrument. Do not suffer yourself, while at a distance,
+to be compromised in what is neither your opinion nor your desire.
+Regulate your own destiny, or at least your position in the common
+destiny of all; and if you must fall, let it be for your own cause, and
+in accordance with your own convictions.</p>
+
+<p>I add to this letter the Bill prepared by M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre in November, 1819,
+and which he intended to present to the Chambers, to complete the
+Charter, and at the same time to reform the electoral law. It will be
+seen how much this Bill differed from that introduced in April, 1820,
+with reference to the law of elections alone, and which M.&nbsp;de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span> Serre
+supported as a member of the second Cabinet of the Duke&nbsp;de&nbsp;Richelieu.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3">BILL FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATURE.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 1. The Legislature assumes the name of Parliament of France.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 2. The King convokes the Parliament every year.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament will be convoked extraordinarily, at the latest, within two
+months after the King attains his majority, or succeeds to the throne;
+or under any event which may cause the establishment of a Regency.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Peerage.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 3. The Peerage can only be conferred on a Frenchman who has
+attained his majority, and is in the exercise of political and civil
+rights.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 4. The character of Peer is indelible; it can neither be lost nor
+abdicated, from the moment when it has been conferred by the King.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 5. The exercise of the rights and privileges of Peer can only be
+suspended under two conditions:&mdash;1. Condemnation to corporal punishment;
+2. Interdiction pronounced according to the forms prescribed by the
+Civil Code. In either case, by the Chamber of Peers alone.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 6. The Peers are admissible to the Chamber at the age of
+twenty-one, and can vote when they have completed their twenty-fifth
+year.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 7. In case of the death of a Peer, his successor in the Peerage
+will be admitted as soon as he has attained the required age, on
+fulfilling the forms prescribed by the decree of the 23rd of March,
+1816, which decree will be annexed to the present law.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 8. A Peerage created by the King cannot henceforward, during the
+life of the titulary, be declared transmis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span>sible, except to the real and
+legitimate male children of the created Peer.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 9. The inheritance of the Peerage cannot henceforward be conferred
+until a Majorat of the net revenue of twenty thousand francs, at least,
+shall be attached to the Peerage.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Dotation of the Peerage.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 10. The Peerage will be endowed&mdash;1, With three
+<a name="corr24" id="corr24"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn24" title="changed from 'mile lions'">millions</a>
+five
+hundred thousand francs of rent, entered upon the great-book of the
+public debt, which sum will be unalienable, and exclusively applied to
+the formation of Majorats; 2, With eight hundred thousand francs of
+rent, equally entered and inalienable, to be applied to the expenses of
+the Chamber of Peers.</p>
+
+<p>By means of this dotation, these expenses cease to be charged to the
+Budget of the State, and the domains, rents, and property of every kind,
+proceeding from the dotation of the former Senate, except the Palace of
+the Luxembourg and its dependencies, are reunited to the property of the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 11. Three millions five
+<a name="corr25" id="corr25"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn25" title="changed from 'hundred'">hundred thousand</a>
+francs of rent, intended
+for the formation of Majorats, are divided into fifty majorats of thirty
+thousand francs, and one hundred majorats of twenty thousand francs
+each, attached to the same number of peerages.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 12. These Majorats will be conferred by the King exclusively upon
+lay Peers; they will be transmissible with the Peerage from male to
+male, in order of primogeniture, and in the real, direct, and legitimate
+line only.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 13. A Peer cannot unite in his own person several of these
+Majorats.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 14. Immediately on the endowment of a Majorat, and on the
+production of letters-patent, the titulary will be entered in the
+great-book of the public debt, for an unalienable revenue, according to
+the amount of his majorat.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span>Art. 15. In case of the extinction of the successors to any one of these
+Majorats, it reverts to the King's gift, who can confer it again,
+according to the above-named regulations.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 16. The King can permit the titulary possessor of a Majorat to
+convert it into real property producing the same revenue, and which will
+be subject to the same reversion.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 17. The dotation of the Peerage is inalienable, and cannot under
+any pretext whatever, be applied to any other purpose than that
+prescribed by the present law. This dotation remains charged, even to
+extinction, with the pensions at present enjoyed by the former Senators,
+as also with those which have been or may hereafter be granted to their
+widows.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Of the Chamber of Deputies.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 18. The Chamber of Deputies to Parliament is composed of four
+hundred and fifty-six members.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 19. The Deputies to Parliament are elected for seven years.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 20. The Chamber is renewed integrally, either in case of
+dissolution, or at the expiration of the time for which the Deputies are
+elected.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 21. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is elected according
+to the ordinary forms for the entire duration of the Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 22. The rates which must be paid by an elector, or one eligible for
+an elector, consist of the principal of the direct taxes without regard
+to the additional hundredths. To this effect, the taxes for doors and
+windows will be separated from the the principal and additional
+hundredths, in such manner that two-thirds of the entire tax may be
+entered as principal and the remaining third as additional hundredths.
+For the future this plan will be permanent; the augmentations or
+diminutions of these two taxes will be made by the addition or
+reduc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span>tion of the additional hundredths: the same rule will apply to the
+taxes on land, moveables, and other personal property, as soon as the
+principal of each is definitely settled. The tax on land and that on
+doors and windows will only be charged to the proprietor or temporary
+possessor, notwithstanding any contrary arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 23. A son is liable for the taxes of his father, and a son-in-law
+whose wife is alive, or who has children by her, for the taxes of his
+father-in-law, in all cases where the father or father-in-law have
+transferred to them their respective rights.</p>
+
+<p>The taxes of a widow, not re-married, are chargeable to whichever of her
+sons, or, in default of sons, to whichever of her sons-in-law, she may
+designate.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 24. To constitute the eligibility of an elector, these taxes must
+have been paid one year at least before the day of the election. The
+heir or legatee on the general title, is considered responsible for the
+taxes payable by the parties from whom he derives.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 25. Every elector and Deputy is bound to make affidavit, if
+required, that they pay really and personally, or that those whose
+rights they exercise pay really and personally, the rates required by
+the law; that they, or those whose rights they exercise, are the true
+and legitimate owners of the property on account of which the taxes are
+paid, or that they truly exercise the trade for the license of which the
+taxes are imposed.</p>
+
+<p>This affidavit is received by the Chamber, for the Deputies, and at the
+electoral offices for the electors. It is signed by them, without
+prejudice to contradictory evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 26. Every Frenchman who has completed the age of thirty on the day
+of election, who is in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and
+who pays a direct tax amounting to six hundred francs in principal, is
+eligible to the Chamber of Deputies.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 27. The Deputies to Parliament are named partly by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span> the electors of
+the department, and partly by the electors of the divisions into which
+each department is divided, in conformity with the table annexed to the
+present law.</p>
+
+<p>The electors of each electoral divisions nominate directly the number of
+Deputies fixed by the same table.</p>
+
+<p>This rule applies to the electors of each department.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 28. All Frenchmen who have completed the age of thirty years, who
+exercise political and civil rights, who have their residence in the
+department, and who pay a direct tax of four hundred francs in
+principal, are electors for the department.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 29. When the electors for the department are less than fifty in the
+department of Corsica, less than one hundred in the departments in the
+higher and lower Alps, of the Ard&egrave;che, of the Ari&egrave;ge, or the Corr&egrave;ze, of
+the Creuse, of the Loz&egrave;re, of the higher Marne, of the higher Pyrenees,
+of Vaucluse, of the Vosges; less than two hundred in the departments of
+the Ain, of the Ardennes, of the Aube, of the Aveyron, of the Central,
+of the Coasts of the North, of the Doubs, of the Dr&ocirc;me, of the Jura, of
+the Landes, of the Lot, of the Meuse, of the lower Pyrenees, of the
+lower and upper Rhine, of the upper Sa&ocirc;ne; and less than three hundred
+in the other departments; these numbers are to be completed by calling
+on those who are next in the ratio of taxation.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 30. All Frenchmen aged thirty years complete, who exercise
+political and civil rights, who dwell in the electoral division, and who
+pay a direct tax of two hundred francs in principal, are electors for
+the division.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 31. The electors of departments exercise their rights as electors
+of division, each in the division in which he dwells. To this effect,
+the elections for the departments will not take place till after those
+for the division.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 32. The Deputies to Parliament named by the electors of division
+ought to be domiciled in the department, or at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span> least to be proprietors
+there for more than a year, of a property paying six hundred francs in
+principal, or to have exercised public functions there for three years
+at the least.</p>
+
+<p>The Deputies nominated by the electors of departments may be selected
+from all who are eligible throughout the kingdom.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Forms of Election.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 33. At the hour and on the day fixed for the election, the Board
+will repair to the hall selected for its sittings. The Board is to be
+composed of a President appointed by the King, of the Mayor, of the
+senior Justice of the Peace, and of the two chief Municipal Councillors
+of the head-towns in which the election is held. At Paris, the senior
+Mayor and Justice of the Peace of the electoral division, and two
+members of the general Council of the Department, taken according to the
+order of their appointment, are to co-operate with the President in the
+formation of the Board.</p>
+
+<p>The duties of secretary will be fulfilled by the Mayor's secretary.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 34. The votes are given publicly by the inscription which each
+elector makes himself, or dictates to a member of the Board, of the
+names of the candidates upon an open register. The elector inscribes the
+names of as many candidates as there are Deputies to elect.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 35. In order that any eligible person may become a candidate, and
+that the register may be opened in his favour, it is necessary that he
+should have been proposed to the Board by twenty electors at least, who
+inscribe his name upon the register.</p>
+
+<p>At Paris, no one can be proposed, at the same election, as a candidate
+in more than two electoral districts at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 36. At the opening of each sitting, the President announces the
+names of the candidates proposed, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span> number of votes that each has
+obtained. The same announcement is printed and posted in the town after
+every sitting.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 37. The register for the first series of votes remains open for
+three days at least, and for six hours every day.</p>
+
+<p>No Deputy can be elected by the first series of votes, except by an
+absolute majority of the electors of the district and department, who
+have voted during the three days.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 38. The third day and the hour appointed for voting having expired,
+the register is declared closed; the votes are summed up; the total
+number and the number given to each candidate are published, and the
+candidates who have obtained an absolute majority are announced.</p>
+
+<p>If all the Deputies have not been elected by the first scrutiny of
+votes, the result is published and posted immediately; and after an
+interval of three days, a second series of votes is taken during the
+following days, in the same manner and under the same formalities and
+delays. The candidates who obtain a relative majority at the second
+voting are elected.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 39. Before closing the registers at each voting, the President
+demands publicly whether there is any appeal against the manner in which
+the votes have been inscribed. If objections are made, they are to be
+entered on the official report of the election, and the registers,
+closed and sealed, are forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, who will
+decide.</p>
+
+<p>If there are no appeals, the registers are destroyed on the instant, and
+the official report alone is forwarded to the Chamber.</p>
+
+<p>The official report and registers are signed by all the members of the
+Board.</p>
+
+<p>If there are grounds for a provisional decision, the Board has the power
+of pronouncing it.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 40. The President is invested with full power to maintain the
+freedom of the elections. The civil and military authorities are bound
+to obey his requisitions. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span> President maintains silence in the hall
+in which the election is held, and will not allow any individual to be
+present who is not an elector or a member of the Board.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Arrangements common to the two Chambers.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 41. No proposition can be sent to a committee until it has been
+previously decided on in the Chamber. The Chamber, on all occasions,
+appoints the number of the members of the committee, and selects them,
+either by a single ballot from the entire list, or on the proposition of
+their own board.</p>
+
+<p>Every motion coming from a Peer or Deputy must be announced at least
+eight days beforehand, in the Chamber to which he belongs.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 42. No motion can be passed by the Chamber until after three
+separate readings, each with an interval between them of eight days at
+the least. The debate follows after each reading. When the debate has
+concluded, the Chamber votes on a new reading. After the last debate, it
+votes on the definitive adoption of the measure.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 43. Every amendment must be proposed before the second reading. An
+amendment decided on after the second reading will of necessity demand
+another reading after the same interval.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 44. Every amendment that may be discussed and voted separately from
+the motion under debate, will be considered as a new motion, and will
+have to undergo the same forms.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 45. Written speeches, except the reports of committees and the
+first opening of a motion, are interdicted.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 46. The Chamber of Peers cannot vote unless fifty Peers, at least,
+are present; the Chamber of Deputies cannot vote unless one hundred
+Members, at least, are present.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 47. The vote in both Chambers is always public.</p>
+
+<p>Fifteen Members can call for a division.</p>
+
+<p>The division is made with closed doors.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 48. The Chamber of Peers can admit the public to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span> its sittings. On
+the demand of five Peers, or on that of the proposer of the motion, the
+sitting becomes private.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 49. The Chamber of Deputies can only form itself into a secret
+committee to hear and discuss the propositions of one of its Members,
+when a secret committee is asked by the proposer of the motion, or by
+five Members at least.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 50. The arrangements of the laws now in operation, and particularly
+those of the law of 17th February, 1817, and which are not affected by
+the present law, will continue to be carried on according to their form
+and tenour.</p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Temporary Arrangements.</i></p>
+
+<p>Art. 51. The Chamber of Deputies, from this date until the Session of
+1820, will be carried to the full number of 456 Members.</p>
+
+<p>To this effect, the departments of the fourth series will each name the
+number of Deputies assigned to them by the present law; the other
+departments will also complete the number of Deputies, in the same
+manner assigned to them. The Deputies appointed in execution of the
+present article will be for seven years.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 52. If the number of Deputies to be named to complete the
+deputation of any department, does not exceed that which the electors of
+the department ought to elect, they will all be elected by these
+electors. Should the case be otherwise, each Deputy exceeding this
+number will be chosen by the electors of one of the electoral divisions
+of the department, in the order hereinafter named:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. By such of the electoral divisions as have the right of naming more
+than one Deputy, unless one at least of the actual Deputies has his
+political residence in this division.</p>
+
+<p>2. By the first of the electoral divisions in which no actual Deputy has
+his political residence.</p>
+
+<p>3. By the first of the electoral divisions in which one or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span> more of the
+actual Deputies have their political residence, in such manner that no
+single division shall name more Deputies than those assigned to it by
+the present law.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 53. At the expiration of the powers of the present Deputies of the
+5th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd series, a new election will be proceeded with for
+the election of an equal number of Deputies for each respective
+department, by such of the electoral divisions as have not, in execution
+of the preceding article, elected the full number of Deputies which are
+assigned to them by the present law.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 54. The Deputies to be named in execution of the preceding article
+will be; those of the 5th series, for six years;&mdash;those of the 1st, for
+five years; those of the 2nd, for four years; and those of the 3rd, for
+three years.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 55. The regulations prescribed by the above articles will be
+observed, if, between the present date and the integral renewing of the
+Chamber, a necessity should arise for replacing a Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 56. All the elections that may take place under these temporary
+regulations, must be in accordance with the forms and conditions
+prescribed by the present law.</p>
+
+<p>Art. 57. In case of a dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it must be
+integrally renewed within the term fixed by Article 50 of the Charter,
+and in conformity with the present law.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_XI" id="No_XI"></a>No. XI.</h2>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Letters relative to my Dismissal from the Council of State, on the 17th
+July, 1820.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre (Keeper of the Great Seal) to M.&nbsp;Guizot</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, July 17th, 1820.</i></p>
+
+<p>I regret being compelled to announce to you that you have ceased to
+belong to the Council of State. The violent hostility in which you have
+lately indulged, without the shadow of a pretext, against the King's
+government, has rendered this measure inevitable. You will readily
+understand how much it is personally distressing to myself. My friendly
+feelings towards you induce me to express a hope that you may reserve
+yourself for the future, and that you will not compromise by false steps
+the talents which may still advantageously serve the King and the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. This allowance will be continued. Rest
+assured that I shall be happy, in all that is compatible with my duty,
+to afford you proofs of my sincere attachment.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">De Serre.</span></p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;Guizot to M.&nbsp;de&nbsp;Serre.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>July 17th, 1820.</i></p>
+
+<p>I expected your letter; I had reason to foresee it, and I did foresee it
+when I so loudly declared my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of
+the Ministers. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to change in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as today, I shall belong to myself, and to myself
+alone.</p>
+
+<p>I have not and I never had any pension or allowance chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. I am therefore not necessitated to
+decline keeping it. I cannot comprehend how your mistake has arisen. I
+request you to rectify it, as regards yourself and the other Ministers,
+for I cannot suffer such an error to be propagated.</p>
+
+<p>Accept, I entreat you, the assurance of my respectful consideration.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Guizot.</span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;Guizot to the Baron Pasquier, Minister for Foreign Affairs.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, July 17th, 1820.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Baron,</p>
+
+<p>The Keeper of the Seals, on announcing to me that, in common with
+several of my friends, I am removed from the Council of State, writes to
+me thus: "You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs,
+chargeable on the department of Foreign Affairs; this allowance will be
+continued." I have been extremely astonished by this mistake; I am
+completely ignorant of the cause. I have not and I never had any pension
+or allowance of any description chargeable on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span> department of Foreign
+Affairs. Consequently I am not called upon to refuse its continuance. It
+will be very easy for you, Baron, to verify this fact, and I request you
+to do so, as well for the Keeper of the Seals as for yourself, for I
+cannot suffer the slightest doubt to exist on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>Accept, etc.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">The Baron Pasquier to M.&nbsp;Guizot.</span></p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Paris, July 18th, 1820.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir,</p>
+
+<p>I have just discovered the cause of the mistake against which you
+protest, and into which I myself led the Keeper of the Seals.</p>
+
+<p>Your name, in fact, appears in the list of expenses chargeable on my
+department, for a sum of 6000 francs. In notifying this charge to me, an
+error was committed in marking it as annual: I therefore considered it
+from that time in the light of a pension.</p>
+
+<p>I have now ascertained that it does not assume that character, and that
+it related only to a specified sum which had been allowed to you, to
+assist in the establishment of a Journal. It was supposed that this
+assistance was to be continued, in the form of an annuity, towards
+covering the expenses.</p>
+
+<p>I shall immediately undeceive the Keeper of the Seals by giving him the
+correct explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Receive, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Pasquier.</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="No_XII" id="No_XII"></a>No. XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="fm3"><span class="smcap">M.&nbsp;B&eacute;ranger to M.&nbsp;Guizot, Minister for Public Instruction.</span></p>
+
+
+<p>M.&nbsp;Minister,</p>
+
+<p>Excuse the liberty I take in recommending to your notice the widow and
+children of Emile Debraux. You will undoubtedly ask who was this Emile
+Debraux. I can inform you, for I have written his panegyric in verse and
+in prose. He was a writer of songs. You are too polite to ask me at
+present what a writer of songs is; and I am not sorry, for I should be
+considerably embarrassed in answering the question. What I can tell you
+is, that Debraux was a good Frenchman, who sang against the old
+Government until his voice was extinguished, and that he died six months
+after the Revolution of July, leaving his family in the most abject
+poverty. He was influential with the inferior classes; and you may rest
+assured that, as he was not quite as particular as I am in regard to
+rhyme and its consequences, he would have sung the new Government, for
+his only directing compass was the tricoloured flag.</p>
+
+<p>For myself, I have always disavowed the title of a man of letters, as
+being too ambitious for a mere sonneteer; nevertheless, I am most
+anxious that you should consider the widow of Emile Debraux as the widow
+of a literary man, for it seems to me that it is only under that title
+she could have any claim to the relief distributed by your department.</p>
+
+<p>I have already petitioned the Commission of Indemnity for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span> Political
+Criminals, in favour of this family. But under the Restoration, Debraux
+underwent a very slight sentence, which gives but a small claim to his
+widow. From that quarter I therefore obtained only a trifle.</p>
+
+<p>If I could be fortunate enough to interest you in the fate of these
+unfortunate people, I should applaud myself for the liberty I have taken
+in advocating their cause. I have been encouraged by the tokens of
+kindness you have sometimes bestowed on me.</p>
+
+<p>I embrace this opportunity of renewing my thanks, and I beg you to
+receive the assurance of the high consideration with which I have the
+honour to remain,</p>
+
+<p class="author">Your very humble Servant,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">B&eacute;ranger</span>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Passy, Feb. 13th, 1834.</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class="fm4">END OF VOLUME I.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<p class="fm4">
+JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, PRINTER,<br />
+LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="transnote">
+<h3>Transcriber's note<a name="tnotes" id="tnotes"></a></h3>
+
+<p>
+The following changes have been made to the text:</p>
+
+
+<p>The spelling of the name, Châteaubriand, was standardized.</p>
+
+<p>Page 1: "MM.&nbsp;LAINE" changed to "MM.
+<a name="cn1" id="cn1"></a><a href="#corr1">LAINÉ</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 27: "ABBE&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MONTESQUIOU" changed to
+"<a name="cn2" id="cn2"></a><a href="#corr2">ABBÉ</a>&nbsp;DE&nbsp;MONTESQUIOU".</p>
+
+<p>Page 126: "mained intact" changed to
+"<a name="cn3" id="cn3"></a><a href="#corr3">remained</a> intact".</p>
+
+<p>Page 126: "deremanded for the clergy" changed to
+"<a name="cn4" id="cn4"></a><a href="#corr4">demanded</a> for the
+clergy".</p>
+
+<p>Page 141: "pusue their designs" changed to
+"<a name="cn5" id="cn5"></a><a href="#corr5">pursue</a> their designs".</p>
+
+<p>Page 153: "not to detroy" changed to "not to
+<a name="cn6" id="cn6"></a><a href="#corr6">destroy</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 222 (in the version): In the footnote "Historic Illustrations"
+has been changed to "Historic
+<a name="cn7" id="cn7"></a><a href="#corr7">Documents</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 247: "he Pyrenees" changed to
+"<a name="cn8" id="cn8"></a><a href="#corr8">the</a> Pyrenees".</p>
+
+<p>Page 263: "spread themelves abroad" changed to "spread
+<a name="cn9" id="cn9"></a><a href="#corr9">themselves</a>
+abroad".</p>
+
+<p>Page 264: "share the reponsibility" changed to "share the
+<a name="cn10" id="cn10"></a><a href="#corr10">responsibility</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 272: "sonnetteer" changed to
+"<a name="cn11" id="cn11"></a><a href="#corr11">sonneteer</a>"</p>
+
+<p>Page 276: "at the C urt" changed to "at the
+<a name="cn12" id="cn12"></a><a href="#corr12">Court</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 312: "leader vainly eadeavoured" changed to "leader vainly
+<a name="cn13" id="cn13"></a><a href="#corr13">endeavoured</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 317: "often controlls wills" changed to "often
+<a name="cn14" id="cn14"></a><a href="#corr14">controls</a> wills".</p>
+
+<p>Page 326: "When be learned" changed to "When
+<a name="cn15" id="cn15"></a><a href="#corr15">he</a> learned".</p>
+
+<p>Page 342: "renouced empty or" changed to
+"<a name="cn16" id="cn16"></a><a href="#corr16">renounced</a> empty or".</p>
+
+<p>Page 349: "crossed the saloon in her way" changed to "crossed the saloon
+<a name="cn17" id="cn17"></a><a href="#corr17">on</a> her way".</p>
+
+<p>Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "people surrounds" changed
+to "people
+<a name="cn18" id="cn18"></a><a href="#corr18">surround</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "worthy your having faith"
+changed to "worthy
+<a name="cn19" id="cn19"></a><a href="#corr19">of your</a> having faith".</p>
+
+<p>Page 366: "my thanks or them" changed to "my thanks
+<a name="cn20" id="cn20"></a><a href="#corr20">for</a> them".</p>
+
+<p>Page 367: "descripion of Jerusalem" changed to
+"<a name="cn21" id="cn21"></a><a href="#corr21">description</a> of
+Jerusalem".</p>
+
+<p>Page 407: "through the the Inspectors-General" changed to "through
+<a name="cn22" id="cn22"></a><a href="#corr22">the</a>
+Inspectors-General".</p>
+
+<p>Page 412: "Council in in August" changed to "Council
+<a name="cn23" id="cn23"></a><a href="#corr23">in</a> August".</p>
+
+<p>Page 441: "three mile lions" changed to "three
+<a name="cn24" id="cn24"></a><a href="#corr24">millions</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Page 441: "five hundred francs of rent" changed to "five
+<a name="cn25" id="cn25"></a><a href="#corr25">hundred thousand</a> francs of rent".</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of
+My Time, by François Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time, by
+Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time
+       Volume 1
+
+Author: Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
+Translator: John William Cole
+
+Release Date: February 24, 2009 [EBook #28169]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS--HISTORY OF MY TIME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, Carla Foust, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer
+errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other
+inconsistencies are as in the original.
+
+
+
+
+   MEMOIRS
+
+   TO ILLUSTRATE
+
+   THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.
+
+   BY
+
+   F. GUIZOT,
+
+   AUTHOR OF 'MEMOIRS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL;' 'HISTORY OF OLIVER CROMWELL,'
+   ETC. ETC.
+
+
+   VOLUME I.
+
+
+   LONDON:
+   RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+   Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+   1858.
+
+
+
+
+   PRINTED BY
+
+   JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
+
+   LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
+
+   1807-1814.
+
+                                                                    Page
+
+
+   My Reasons for publishing these Memoirs during my Life.--My
+   Introduction into Society.--My First Acquaintance with
+   M. de Chateaubriand, M. de Suard, Madame de Stael, M. de Fontanes,
+   M. Royer-Collard.--Proposal to appoint me Auditor in the Imperial
+   State Council.--Why the Appointment did not take place.--I enter
+   the University and begin my Course of Lectures on Modern
+   History.--Liberal and Royalist Parties.--Characters of the
+   different Oppositions towards the Close of the Empire.--Attempted
+   resistance of the Legislative Body.--MM. Laine, Gallois,
+   Maine-Biran, Raynouard, and Flaugergues.--I leave Paris for
+   Nismes.--State of Paris and France in March, 1814.--The Restoration
+   takes place.--I return to Paris, and am appointed Secretary-General
+   to the Ministry of the Interior.                                    1
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   THE RESTORATION.
+
+   1814-1815.
+
+   Sentiments with which I commenced Public Life.--True Cause and
+   Character of the Restoration.--Capital Error of the Imperial
+   Senate.--The Charter suffers from it.--Various Objections to the
+   the Charter.--Why they were Futile.--Cabinet of King
+   Louis XVIII.--Unfitness of the Principal Ministers for
+   Constitutional Government.--M. de Talleyrand.--The
+   Abbe de Montesquieu.--M. de Blacas.--Louis XVIII.--Principal Affairs
+   in which I was concerned at that Epoch.--Account of the State of the
+   Kingdom laid before the Chambers.--Bill respecting the Press.--Decree
+   for the Reform of Public Instruction.--State of the Government
+   and the Country.--Their Common Inexperience.--Effects of the Liberal
+   System.--Estimate of Public Discontent and Conspiracies.--Saying of
+   Napoleon on the Facility of his Return.                            27
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   THE HUNDRED DAYS.
+
+   1815.
+
+   I immediately leave the Ministry of the Interior, to resume my
+   Lectures.--Unsettled Feeling of the Middle Classes on the Return
+   of Napoleon.--Its Real Causes.--Sentiments of Foreign Nations
+   and Governments towards Napoleon.--Apparent Reconciliation,
+   but Real Struggle, between Napoleon and the Liberals.--The
+   Federates.--Carnot and Fouche.--Demonstration of Liberty
+   during the Hundred Days, even in the Imperial Palace.--Louis XVIII.
+   and his Council at Ghent.--The Congress and M. de Talleyrand
+   at Vienna.--I go to Ghent on the part of the Constitutional
+   Royalist Committee at Paris.--My Notions and Opinions during this
+   Journey.--State of Parties at Ghent.--My Conversation with
+   Louis XVIII.--M. de Blacas.--M. de Chateaubriand.--M. de Talleyrand
+   returns from Vienna.--Louis XVIII. re-enters France.--Intrigue
+   planned at Mons and defeated at Cambray.--Blindness and Imbecility of
+   the Chamber of Representatives.--My Opinion respecting the Admission
+   of Fouche into the King's Cabinet.                                 58
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   THE CHAMBER OF 1815.
+
+   1815-1816.
+
+   Fall of M. de Talleyrand and Fouche.--Formation of the
+   Duke de Richelieu's Cabinet.--My Connection as Secretary-General of
+   the Administration of Justice with M. de Marbois, Keeper
+   of the Great Seal.--Meeting and Aspect of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--Intentions and Attitude of the Old Royalist
+   Faction.--Formation, and Composition of a New Royalist
+   Party.--Struggle of Classes under the cloak of Parties.--Provisional
+   Laws.--Bill of Amnesty.--The Centre becomes the Government Party, and
+   the Right, the Opposition.--Questions upon the connection between
+   the State and the Church.--State of the Government beyond the
+   Chambers.--Insufficiency of its Resistance to the spirit of
+   Re-action.--The Duke of Feltri and General Bernard.--Trial of
+   Marshal Ney.--Controversy between M. de Vitrolles and Me.--Closing
+   of the Session.--Modifications in the Cabinet.--M. Laine Minister of
+   the Interior.--I leave the Ministry of Justice and enter the State
+   Council as Master of Requests.--The Cabinet enters into Contests with
+   the Right-hand Party.--M. Decazes.--Position of MM. Royer-Collard and
+   De Serre.--Opposition of M. de Chateaubriand.--The Country declares
+   against the Chamber of Deputies.--Efforts of M. Decazes to bring
+   about a Dissolution.--The King determines on it.--Decree of the 5th
+   of September, 1816.                                                97
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.
+
+   1816-1821.
+
+   Composition of the New Chamber of Deputies.--The Cabinet in a
+   Majority.--Elements of that Majority, the Centre properly so
+   called, and the Doctrinarians.--True character of the
+   Centre.--True character of the Doctrinarians, and real cause of
+   their Influence.--M. de la Bourdonnaye and M. Royer-Collard at the
+   Opening of the Session.--Attitude of the Doctrinarians in the
+   Debate on the Exceptional Laws.--Electoral Law of February
+   5th, 1817.--The part I took on that occasion.--Of the Actual
+   and Political Position of the Middle Classes.--Marshal Gouvion
+   St. Cyr, and his Bill for recruiting the Army, of the 10th
+   of March, 1818.--Bill respecting the Press, of 1819, and
+   M. de Serre.--Preparatory Discussion of these Bills in the State
+   Council.--General Administration of the Country.--Modification of
+   the Cabinet from 1816 to 1820.--Imperfections of the Constitutional
+   System.--Errors of Individuals.--Dissensions between the Cabinet and
+   the Doctrinarians.--The Duke de Richelieu negotiates, at
+   Aix-la-Chapelle, the entire Retreat of Foreign Troops from
+   France.--His Situation and Character.--He attacks the Bill on
+   Elections.--His Fall.--Cabinet of M. Decazes.--His
+   Political Weakness, notwithstanding his Parliamentary
+   Success.--Elections of 1819.--Election and Non-admission of
+   M. Gregoire.--Assassination of the Duke de Berry.--Fall of
+   M. Decazes.--The Duke de Richelieu resumes Office.--His Alliance
+   with the Right-hand Party.--Change in the Law of
+   Elections.--Disorganization of the Centre, and Progress
+   of the Right-hand Party.--Second Fall of the
+   Duke de Richelieu.--M. de Villele and the Right-hand Party obtain
+   Power.                                                            150
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.
+
+   1822-1827.
+
+   Position of M. de Villele on assuming Power.--He finds himself
+   engaged with the Left and the Conspiracies.--Character of the
+   Conspiracies.--Estimate of their Motives.--Their connection
+   with some of the Leaders of the Parliamentary
+   Opposition.--M. de La Fayette.--M. Manuel.--M. D'Argenson.--Their
+   Attitude in the Chamber of Deputies.--Failure of the Conspiracies,
+   and Causes thereof.--M. de Villele engaged with his Rivals within
+   within and by the side of the Cabinet.--The Duke
+   de Montmorency.--M. de Chateaubriand Ambassador at
+   London.--Congress of Verona.--M. de Chateaubriand becomes Minister of
+   Foreign Affairs.--Spanish War.--Examination of its Causes and
+   Results.--Rupture between M. de Villele and
+   M. de Chateaubriand.--Fall of M. de Chateaubriand.--M. de Villele
+   engaged with an Opposition springing from the Right-hand Party.--The
+   'Journal des Debats' and the Messrs. Bertin.--M. de Villele falls
+   under the Yoke of the Parliamentary Majority.--Attitude and Influence
+   of the Ultra-Catholic Party.--Estimate of their conduct.--Attacks to
+   which they are exposed.--M. de Montlosier.--M. Beranger.--Acuteness
+   of M. de Villele.--His decline.--His Enemies at the
+   Court.--Review and Disbanding of the National Guard of
+   Paris.--Anxiety of Charles X.--Dissolution of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--The Elections are Hostile to M. de Villele.--He
+   retires.--Speech of the Dauphinists to Charles X.                 223
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   MY OPPOSITION.
+
+   1820-1829.
+
+   My Retirement at the Maisonnette.--I publish four incidental
+   Essays on Political Affairs: 1. Of the Government of France
+   since the Restoration, and of the Ministry in Office (1820); 2.
+   Of Conspiracies and Political Justice (1821); 3. Of the Resources
+   of the Government and the Opposition in the actual State of
+   France (1821); 4. Of Capital Punishment for Political Offences
+   (1822).--Character and Effects of these Publications.--Limits of
+   my Opposition.--The Carbonari.--Visit of M. Manuel.--I commence
+   my Course of Lectures on the History of the Origin of
+   Representative Government.--Its double Object.--The Abbe
+   Frayssinous orders its Suspension.--My Historical Labours--on
+   the History of England; on the History of France; on the Relations
+   and Mutual Influence of France and England; on the Philosophic
+   and Literary Tendencies of that Epoch.--The French
+   Review.--The Globe.--The Elections of 1827.--My Connection
+   with the Society, 'Help thyself and Heaven will help thee.'--My
+   Relations with the Administration of M. de Martignac; he
+   authorizes the Re-opening of my Course of Lectures, and restores
+   my Title as a State-Councillor.--My Lectures (1828-1830) on
+   the History of Civilization in Europe and in France.--Their
+   Effect.--I am elected Deputy for Lisieux (December, 1829).        278
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.
+
+   1830.
+
+   Menacing, and at the same time inactive attitude of the
+   Ministry.--Lawful Excitement throughout the Country.--Association
+   for the ultimate Refusal of the non-voted Taxes.--Character and
+   Views of M. de Polignac.--Manifestations of the Ministerial
+   Party.--New Aspect of the Opposition.--Opening of the
+   Session.--Speech of the King.--Address of the Chamber of
+   Peers.--Preparation of the Address of the Chamber of
+   Deputies.--Perplexity of the Moderate Party, and of
+   M. Royer-Collard.--Debate on the Address.--The part taken in it by
+   M. Berryer and myself.--Presentation of the Address to the
+   King.--Prorogation of the Session.--Retirement of MM. de Chabrol and
+   Courvoisier.--Dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies.--My Journey to
+   Nismes for the Elections.--True Character of the
+   Elections.--Intentions of Charles X.                              330
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+   HISTORIC DOCUMENTS                                                359
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+*** This Work has been translated by J. W. Cole, Esq., who also
+translated the 'Celebrated Characters' of M. de Lamartine.
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS
+
+TO ILLUSTRATE
+
+THE HISTORY OF MY TIME.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
+
+1807-1814.
+
+     MY REASONS FOR PUBLISHING THESE MEMOIRS DURING MY LIFE.--MY
+     INTRODUCTION INTO SOCIETY.--MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH M. DE
+     CHATEAUBRIAND, M. SUARD, MADAME DE STAEL, M. DE FONTANES,
+     M. ROYER-COLLARD.--PROPOSAL TO APPOINT ME AUDITOR IN THE IMPERIAL
+     STATE COUNCIL.--WHY THE APPOINTMENT DID NOT TAKE PLACE.--I ENTER
+     THE UNIVERSITY, AND BEGIN MY COURSE OF LECTURES ON MODERN
+     HISTORY.--LIBERAL AND ROYALIST PARTIES.--CHARACTERS OF THE
+     DIFFERENT OPPOSITIONS TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE EMPIRE.--ATTEMPTED
+     RESISTANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY.--MM. LAINE, GALLOIS,
+     MAINE-BIRAN, RAYNOUARD, AND FLAUGERGUES.--I LEAVE PARIS FOR
+     NISMES.--STATE OF PARIS AND FRANCE IN MARCH, 1814.--THE RESTORATION
+     TAKES PLACE.--I RETURN TO PARIS, AND AM APPOINTED SECRETARY-GENERAL
+     TO THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR.
+
+
+I adopt a course different from that recently pursued by several of my
+contemporaries; I publish my memoirs while I am still here to answer for
+what I write. I am not prompted to this by the weariness of inaction, or
+by any desire to re-open a limited field for old contentions, in place
+of the grand arena at present closed. I have struggled much and ardently
+during my life; age and retirement, as far as my own feelings are
+concerned, have expanded their peaceful influence over the past. From a
+sky profoundly serene, I look back towards an horizon pregnant with many
+storms. I have deeply probed my own heart, and I cannot find there any
+feeling which envenoms my recollections. The absence of gall permits
+extreme candour. Personality alters or deteriorates truth. Being
+desirous to speak of my own life, and of the times in which I have
+lived, I prefer doing so on the brink, rather than from the depths of
+the tomb. This appears to me more dignified as regards myself, while,
+with reference to others, it will lead me to be more scrupulous in my
+words and opinions. If objections arise, which I can scarcely hope to
+escape, at least it shall not be said that I was unwilling to hear them,
+and that I have removed myself from the responsibility of what I have
+done.
+
+Other reasons, also, have induced this decision. Memoirs, in general,
+are either published too soon or too late. If too soon, they are
+indiscreet or unimportant; we either reveal what would be better held
+back for the present, or suppress details which it would be both
+profitable and curious to relate at once. If too late, they lose much of
+their opportunity and interest; contemporaries have passed away, and can
+no longer profit by the truths which are imparted, or participate in
+their recital with personal enjoyment. Such memoirs retain only a moral
+and literary value, and excite no feeling beyond idle curiosity.
+Although I well know how much experience evaporates in passing from one
+generation to another, I cannot believe that it becomes altogether
+extinct, or that a correct knowledge of the mistakes of our fathers, and
+of the causes of their failures, can be totally profitless to their
+descendants. I wish to transmit to those who may succeed me, and who
+also will have their trials to undergo, a little of the light I have
+derived from mine. I have, alternately, defended liberty against
+absolute power, and order against the spirit of revolution,--two leading
+causes which, in fact, constitute but one, for their disconnection leads
+to the ruin of both. Until liberty boldly separates itself from the
+spirit of revolution, and order from absolute power, so long will France
+continue to be tossed about from crisis to crisis, and from error to
+error. In this is truly comprised the cause of the nation. I am grieved,
+but not dismayed, at its reverses. I neither renounce its service, nor
+despair of its triumph. Under the severest disappointments, it has ever
+been my natural tendency, and for which I thank God as for a blessing,
+to preserve great desires, however uncertain or distant might be the
+hopes of their accomplishment.
+
+In ancient and in modern times, the greatest of great historians,
+Thucydides, Xenophon, Sallust, Caesar, Tacitus, Macchiavelli, and
+Clarendon, have written, and some have themselves published, the annals
+of the passing age and of the events in which they participated. I do
+not venture on such an ambitious work; the day of history has not yet
+arrived for us, of complete, free, and unreserved history, either as
+relates to facts or men. But my own personal and inward history; what I
+have thought, felt, and wished in my connection with the public affairs
+of my country; the thoughts, feelings, and wishes of my political
+friends and associates, our minds reflected in our actions,--on these
+points I can speak freely, and on these I am most desirous to record my
+sentiments, that I may be, if not always approved, at least correctly
+known and understood. On this foundation, others will hereafter assign
+to us our proper places in the history of the age.
+
+I only commenced public life in the year 1814. I had neither served
+under the Revolution nor the Empire: a stranger to the first from youth,
+and to the second from disposition. Since I have had some share in the
+government of men, I have learned to do justice to the Emperor Napoleon.
+He was endowed with a genius incomparably active and powerful, much to
+be admired for his antipathy to disorder, for his profound instincts in
+ruling, and for his energetic rapidity in reconstructing the social
+framework. But this genius had no check, acknowledged no limit to its
+desires or will, either emanating from Heaven or man, and thus remained
+revolutionary while combating revolution: thoroughly acquainted with the
+general conditions of society, but imperfectly, or rather, coarsely
+understanding the moral necessities of human nature; sometimes
+satisfying them with the soundest judgment, and at others depreciating
+and insulting them with impious pride. Who could have believed that the
+same man who had established the Concordat, and re-opened the churches
+in France, would have carried off the Pope from Rome, and kept him a
+prisoner at Fontainebleau?
+
+It is going too far to apply the same ill-treatment to philosophers and
+Christians, to reason and faith. Amongst the great men of his class,
+Napoleon was by far the most necessary for the times. None but himself
+could have so quickly and effectually substituted order in place of
+anarchy; but no one was so chimerical as to the future, for after having
+been master of France and Europe, he suffered Europe to drive him even
+from France. His name is greater and more enduring than his actions, the
+most brilliant of which, his conquests, disappeared suddenly and for
+ever, with himself. In rendering homage to his exalted qualities, I feel
+no regret at not having appreciated them until after his death. For me,
+under the Empire, there was too much of the arrogance of power, too much
+contempt of right, too much revolution, and too little liberty.
+
+It is not that at that period I was much engaged in politics, or
+over-impatient for the freedom that should open to me the road I
+desired. I associated myself with the Opposition, but it was an
+Opposition bearing little resemblance to that which we have seen and
+created during the last thirty years. It was formed from the relics of
+the philosophic world and liberal aristocracy of the eighteenth century,
+the last representatives of the saloons in which all subjects whatever
+had been freely proposed and discussed, through the impulse of
+inclination, and the gratification of mental indulgence, rather than
+from any distinct object of interest or ambition. The errors and
+disasters of the Revolution had not led the survivors of that active
+generation to renounce their convictions or desires; they remained
+sincerely liberal, but without practical or urgent pretension, and with
+the reserve of men who had suffered much and succeeded little in their
+attempts at legislative reform. They still held to freedom of thought
+and speech, but had no aspirations after power. They detested and warmly
+criticized despotism, but without any open attempt to repress or
+overthrow existing authority. It was the opposition of enlightened and
+independent lookers-on, who had neither the opportunity nor inclination
+to interfere as actors.
+
+After a long life of fierce contention, I recur with pleasure to the
+remembrance of this enchanting society. M. de Talleyrand once said to
+me, "Those who were not living in and about the year 1789, know little
+of the enjoyments of life." In fact, nothing could exceed the pleasure
+of a great intellectual and social movement, which, at that epoch, far
+from suspending or disturbing the arrangements of the world, animated
+and ennobled them by mingling serious thoughts with frivolous
+recreations, and as yet called for no suffering, or no sacrifice, while
+it opened to the eyes of men a dazzling and delightful perspective. The
+eighteenth century was, beyond all question, the most tempting and
+seductive of ages, for it promised to satisfy at once the strength and
+weakness of human nature; elevating and enervating the mind at the same
+time; flattering alternately the noblest sentiments and the most
+grovelling propensities; intoxicating with exalted hopes, and nursing
+with effeminate concessions. Thus it has produced, in pellmell
+confusion, utopians and egotists, sceptics and fanatics, enthusiasts and
+incredulous scoffers, different offspring of the same period, but all
+enraptured with the age and with themselves, indulging together in one
+common drunkenness on the eve of the approaching chaos.
+
+When I first mixed with the world in 1807, the storm had for a long time
+burst; the infatuation of 1789 had completely disappeared. Society,
+entirely occupied with its own re-establishment, no longer dreamed of
+elevating itself in the midst of mere amusement; exhibitions of force
+had superseded impulses towards liberty. Coldness, absence of
+fellow-feeling, isolation of sentiment and interests,--in these are
+comprised the ordinary course and weary vexations of the world. France,
+worn out with errors and strange excesses, eager once more for order and
+common sense, fell back into the old track. In the midst of this general
+reaction, the faithful inheritors of the literary saloons of the
+eighteenth century held themselves aloof from its influence; they alone
+preserved two of the noblest and most amiable propensities of their
+age--a disinterested taste for pleasures of the mind, and that readiness
+of sympathy, that warmth and ardour of curiosity, that necessity for
+moral improvement and free discussion, which embellish the social
+relations with so much variety and sweetness.
+
+In my own case, I drew from these sources a profitable experience. Led
+into the circle I have named, by an incident in my private life, I
+entered amongst them very young, perfectly unknown, with no other title
+than a little presumed ability, some education, and an ardent taste for
+refined pleasures, letters, and good company. I carried with me no ideas
+harmonizing with those I found there. I had been brought up at Geneva,
+with extremely liberal notions, but in austere habits and religious
+convictions entirely opposed to the philosophy of the eighteenth
+century, rather than in coincidence with or in admiration of its works
+and tendencies. During my residence in Paris, German metaphysics and
+literature had been my favourite study; I read Kant and Klopstock,
+Herder and Schiller, much more frequently than Condillac and Voltaire.
+M. Suard, the Abbe Morellet, the Marquis de Boufflers, the frequenters
+of the drawing-rooms of Madame d'Houdetot and of Madame de Rumford, who
+received me with extreme complaisance, smiled, and sometimes grew tired
+of my Christian traditions and Germanic enthusiasm; but, after all, this
+difference of opinion established for me, in their circle, a plea of
+interest and favour instead of producing any feeling of illwill or even
+of indifference. They knew that I was as sincerely attached to liberty
+and the privileges of human intelligence as they were themselves, and
+they discovered something novel and independent in my turn of thought,
+which inspired both esteem and attraction. At this period, they
+constantly supported me with their friendship and interest, without ever
+attempting to press or control me on the points on which we disagreed.
+From them especially, I have learned to exercise in practical life, that
+expanded equity, joined to respect for the freedom of others, which
+constitute the character and duty of a truly liberal mind.
+
+This generous disposition manifested itself on every opportunity. In
+1809, M. de Chateaubriand published 'The Martyrs.' The success of this
+work was at first slow, and strongly disputed. Amongst the disciples of
+the eighteenth century and of Voltaire, a great majority treated
+M. de Chateaubriand as an enemy, while the more moderate section looked
+on him with little favour. They rejected his ideas even when they felt
+that they were not called upon to contest them. His style of writing
+offended their taste, which was divested of all imagination, and more
+refined than grand. My own disposition was entirely opposed to theirs. I
+passionately admired M. de Chateaubriand in his ideas and language: that
+beautiful compound of religious sentiment and romantic imagination, of
+poetry and moral polemics, had so powerfully moved and subdued me, that,
+soon after my arrival at Paris in 1806, one of my first literary
+fantasies was to address an epistle, in very indifferent verse, to
+M. de Chateaubriand, who immediately thanked me in prose, artistically
+polished and unassuming. His letter flattered my youth, and 'The
+Martyrs' redoubled my zeal. Seeing them so violently attacked, I
+resolved to defend them in the 'Publicist,' in which I occasionally
+wrote. M. Suard, who conducted that journal, although far from
+coinciding with the opinions I had adopted, lent himself most obligingly
+to my desire. I have met with very few men of a natural temperament so
+gentle and liberal, and with a mind at the same time scrupulously
+refined and fastidious. He was much more disposed to criticize than to
+admire the talent of M. de Chateaubriand; but he admitted the great
+extent of his ability, and on that ground dealt with him gently,
+although with delicate irony. Besides which, the talent was full of
+independence, and exerted in opposition to the formidable tendencies of
+Imperial power. These qualities won largely upon the esteem of M. Suard,
+who, in consequence, allowed me an unfettered course in the 'Publicist,'
+of which I availed myself to espouse the cause of 'The Martyrs' against
+their detractors.
+
+M. de Chateaubriand was deeply affected by this, and hastened to express
+his acknowledgments. My articles became the subject of a correspondence
+between us, which I still refer to with pleasure.[1] He explained to me
+his intentions and motives in the composition of his poem, discussed
+with susceptibility and even with some degree of temper concealed under
+his gratitude, the strictures mixed with my eulogiums, and finished by
+saying: "In conclusion, Sir, you know the tempests raised against my
+work, and from whence they proceed. There is another wound, not
+exhibited, which is the real source of all this rage. It is that
+_Hierocles_ massacres the Christians in the name of _philosophy_ and
+_liberty_. Time will do me justice, if my work deserves it, and you will
+greatly accelerate this justice by the publication of your articles,
+provided you could be induced to change and modify them to a certain
+point. Show me my faults, and I will correct them. I only despise those
+critics who are as base in their language as in the secret motives which
+induce them to speak. I can find neither reason nor principle in the
+mouths of those literary mountebanks hired by the police, who dance in
+the gutters for the amusement of lacqueys.... I do not give up the hope
+of calling to see you, or of receiving you in my hermitage. Honest men
+should, particularly at present, unite for mutual consolation; generous
+feelings and exalted sentiments become every day so rare, that we ought
+to consider ourselves too happy when we encounter them.... Accept, I
+entreat you, once more, the assurance of my high consideration, of my
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit, of a friendship which we
+commence under the auspices of frankness and honour."
+
+Between M. de Chateaubriand and myself, frankness and honour, most
+certainly, have never been disturbed throughout our political
+controversies; but friendship has not been able to survive them. The
+word is too rare and valuable to be hastily pronounced.
+
+When we have lived under a system of real and serious liberty, we feel
+both an inclination and a right to smile when we consider what, in other
+times, has been classed as factious opposition by the one side, and
+courageous resistance by the other. In August, 1807, eighteen months
+before the publication of 'The Martyrs,' I stopped some days in
+Switzerland, on my way to visit my mother at Nismes; and with the
+confident enthusiasm of youth, as anxious to become acquainted with
+living celebrities as I was myself unknown, I addressed a letter to
+Madame de Stael, requesting the honour of calling upon her. She invited
+me to dinner at Ouchy, near Lausanne, where she then resided. I was
+placed next to her; I came from Paris; she questioned me as to what was
+passing there, how the public were occupied, and what were the topics
+of conversation in the saloons. I spoke of an article by
+M. de Chateaubriand, in the 'Mercury,' which was making some noise at
+the moment of my departure. A particular passage had struck me, which I
+quoted according to the text, as it had strongly impressed itself on my
+memory. "When, in the silence of abject submission, we hear only the
+chains of the slave and the voice of the informer, when all tremble
+before the tyrant, and it is as dangerous to incur favour as to merit
+disgrace, the historian appears to be charged with the vengeance of
+nations. It is in vain that Nero triumphs. Tacitus has been born in the
+Empire; he grows up unnoticed near the ashes of Germanicus, and already
+uncompromising Providence has handed over to an obscure child the glory
+of the master of the world." My tone of voice was undoubtedly excited
+and striking, as I was myself deeply moved and arrested by the words.
+Madame de Stael, seizing me by the arm, exclaimed, "I am sure you would
+make an excellent tragedian; remain with us and take a part in the
+'Andromache.'" Theatricals were at that time the prevailing taste and
+amusement in her house. I excused myself from her kind conjecture and
+proposal, and the conversation returned to M. de Chateaubriand and his
+article, which was greatly admired, while at the same time it excited
+some apprehension. The admiration was just, for the passage was really
+eloquent; neither was the alarm without grounds, for the 'Mercury' was
+suppressed precisely on account of this identical paragraph. Thus, the
+Emperor Napoleon, conqueror of Europe and absolute master of France,
+believed that he could not suffer it to be written that his future
+historian might perhaps be born under his reign, and held himself
+compelled to take the honour of Nero under his shield. It was a heavy
+penalty attached to greatness, to have such apprehensions to exhibit,
+and such clients to protect!
+
+Exalted minds, who felt a little for the dignity of human nature, had
+sound reason for being discontented with the existing system; they saw
+that it could neither establish the happiness nor the permanent
+prosperity of France; but it seemed then so firmly established in
+general opinion, its power was so universally admitted, and so little
+was any change anticipated for the future, that even within the haughty
+and narrow circle in which the spirit of opposition prevailed, it
+appeared quite natural that young men should enter the service of
+Government, the only public career that remained open to them. A lady of
+distinguished talent and noble sentiments, who had conceived a certain
+degree of friendship for me, Madame de Remusat, was desirous that I
+should be named Auditor in the State Council. Her cousin, M. Pasquier,
+Prefect of Police, whom I sometimes met at her house, interested himself
+in this matter with much cordiality, and, under the advice of my most
+intimate friends, I acceded to the proposition, although, at the bottom
+of my heart, it occasioned me some uneasiness. It was intended that I
+should be attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. M. Pasquier named
+me to the Duke of Bassano, then at the head of the department, and to
+Count d'Hauterive, Comptroller of the Archives. The Duke sent for me. I
+also had an interview with M. d'Hauterive, who possessed a fertile and
+ingenious mind, and was kindly disposed towards young men of studious
+habits. As a trial of ability, they ordered me to draw up a memorial on
+a question respecting which, the Emperor either was, or wished to
+appear, deeply interested--the mutual exchange of French and English
+prisoners. Many documents on the subject were placed in my hands. I
+completed the memorial; and, believing that the Emperor was sincere,
+carefully set forward those principles of the law of nations which
+rendered the measure desirable, and the mutual concessions necessary for
+its accomplishment. My work was duly submitted to the Duke of Bassano. I
+have reason to conclude that I had mistaken his object; and that the
+Emperor, looking upon the English detained in France as of more
+importance than the French confined in England, and believing also that
+the number of the latter pressed inconveniently on the English
+Government, had no serious intention of carrying out the proposed
+exchange. Whatever might be the cause, I heard nothing more either of my
+memorial or nomination, a result which caused me little regret.
+
+Another career soon opened to me, more suitable to my views, as being
+less connected with the Government. My first attempts at writing,
+particularly my Critical Notes on Gibbon's 'History of the Decline and
+Fall of the Roman Empire,' and the 'Annals of Education,' a periodical
+miscellany in which I had touched upon some leading questions of public
+and private instruction, obtained for me the notice of literary men.[2]
+With gratuitous kindness, M. de Fontanes, Grand Master of the
+University, appointed me Assistant Professor to the Chair of History,
+occupied by M. de Lacretelle, in the Faculty of Letters in the Academy
+of Paris. In a very short time, and before I had commenced my class, as
+if he thought he had not done enough to evince his esteem and to attach
+me strongly to the University, he divided the Chair, and named me
+Titular Professor of Modern History, with a dispensation on account of
+age, as I had not yet completed my twenty-fifth year. I began my
+lectures at the College of Plessis, in presence of the pupils of the
+Normal School, and of a public audience few in number but anxious for
+instruction, and with whom modern history, traced up to its remote
+sources, the barbarous conquerors of the Roman Empire, presented itself
+with an urgent and almost contemporaneous interest. In his conduct
+towards me, M. de Fontanes was not entirely actuated by some pages of
+mine he had read, or by a few friendly opinions he had heard expressed.
+This learned Epicurean, become powerful, and the intellectual favourite
+of the most potent Sovereign in Europe, loved literature for itself with
+a sincere and disinterested attachment. The truly beautiful touched him
+as sensibly as in the days of his early youth and poetical inspirations.
+What was still more extraordinary, this refined courtier of a despot,
+this official orator, who felt satisfied when he had embellished
+flattery with noble eloquence, never failed to acknowledge, and render
+due homage to independence. Soon after my appointment, he invited me to
+dinner at his country-house at Courbevoie. Seated near him at table, we
+talked of studies, of the different modes of teaching, of ancient and
+modern classics, with the freedom of old acquaintances, and almost with
+the association of fellow-labourers. The conversation turned upon the
+Latin poets and their commentators. I spoke with warm praise of the
+great edition of Virgil by Heyne, the celebrated professor of the
+University of Goettingen, and of the merit of his annotations.
+M. de Fontanes fiercely attacked the German scholars. According to him,
+they had neither discovered nor added anything to the earlier
+commentaries, and Heyne was no better acquainted with Virgil and the
+ancients than Pere La Rue. He fulminated against German literature in
+the mass, philosophers, poets, historians, or philologists, and
+pronounced them all unworthy of attention. I defended them with the
+confidence of conviction and youth; when M. de Fontanes, turning to his
+neighbour on the other side, said to him, with a smile, "We can never
+make these Protestants give in." But, instead of taking offence at my
+obstinacy, he was cordially pleased with the frankness of this little
+debate. His toleration of my independence was, not long after, subjected
+to a more delicate trial.
+
+When I was about to commence my course, in December, 1812, he spoke to
+me of my opening address, and insinuated that I ought to insert in it a
+sentence or two in praise of the Emperor. It was the custom, he said,
+particularly on the establishment of a new professorship, and the
+Emperor sometimes demanded from him an account of these proceedings. I
+felt unwilling to comply, and told him, I thought this proposal scarcely
+consistent. I had to deal exclusively with science, before an audience
+of students; how then could I be expected to introduce politics, and,
+above all, politics in opposition to my own views? "Do as you please,"
+replied M. de Fontanes, with an evident mixture of regard and
+embarrassment; "if you are complained of, it will fall upon me, and I
+must defend you and myself as well as I can."[3]
+
+He displayed as much clear penetration and good sense as generosity, in
+so quickly and gracefully renouncing the proposition he had suggested.
+In regard to the master he served, the opposition of the society in
+which I lived had in it nothing of practical or immediate importance. It
+was purely an opposition of ideas and conversation, without defined plan
+or effective influence, earnest in philosophic inquiry, but passive in
+political action; disposed to be satisfied with tranquil life, in the
+unshackled indulgence of thought and speech.
+
+On entering the University, I found myself in contact with another
+opposition, less apparent but more serious, without being, at the
+moment, of a more active character. M. Royer-Collard, at that time
+Professor of the History of Philosophy, and Dean of the Faculty of
+Letters, attached himself to me with warm friendship. We had no previous
+acquaintanceship; I was much the younger man; he lived quite out of the
+world, within a small circle of selected associates; we were new to each
+other, and mutually attractive. He was a man, not of the old system, but
+of the old times, whose character had been developed, though not
+controlled, by the Revolution, the principles, transactions, and
+leading promoters of which he judged with rigid independence, without
+losing sight of the primary and national cause. His mind, eminently
+liberal, highly cultivated, and supported by solid good sense, was more
+original than inventive, profound rather than expanded, more given to
+sift thoroughly a single idea than to combine many; too much absorbed
+within himself, but exercising a singular power over others by the
+commanding weight of his reason, and by an aptitude of imparting, with a
+certain solemnity of manner, the unexpected brilliancy of a strong
+imagination, continually under the excitement of very lively
+impressions. Before being called to teach philosophy, he had never made
+this particular branch of science the object or end of his special
+study, and throughout our political vicissitudes between 1789 and 1814
+he had never taken an important position, or connected himself
+prominently with any party. But, in youth, under the influence of the
+traditions of Port-Royal, he had received a sound classical and
+Christian education; and after the _Reign of Terror_, under the
+government of the Directory, he joined the small section of Royalists
+who corresponded with Louis XVIII., less to conspire, than to enlighten
+the exiled Prince on the true state of the country, and to furnish him
+with suggestions equally advantageous for France and the House of
+Bourbon, if it were destined that the House of Bourbon and France should
+be re-united on some future day. He was therefore decidedly a
+spiritualist in philosophy, and a royalist in politics. To restore
+independence of mind to man, and right to government, formed the
+prevailing desire of his unobtrusive life. "You cannot believe," he
+wrote to me in 1823, "that I have ever adopted the word _Restoration_ in
+the restricted sense of an individual fact; but I have always regarded,
+and still look upon this fact as the expression of a certain system of
+society and government, and as the condition on which, under the
+circumstances of France, we are to look for order, justice, and liberty;
+while, without this condition, disorder, violence, and irremediable
+despotism, springing from things and not from men, will be the necessary
+consequence of the spirit and doctrines of the Revolution." Passionately
+imbued with this conviction, an aggressive philosopher and an expectant
+politician, he fought successfully in his chair against the
+materialistic school of the eighteenth century, and watched from the
+retirement of his study, with anxiety but not without hope, the chances
+of the perilous game on which Napoleon daily staked his empire.
+
+By his lofty and intuitive instincts, Napoleon was a spiritualist: men
+of his order have flashes of light and impulses of thought, which open
+to them the sphere of the most exalted truths. In his hours of better
+reflection, spiritualism, reviving under his reign, and sapping the
+materialism of the last century, was sympathetic with and agreeable to
+his own nature. But the principle of despotism quickly reminded him that
+the soul cannot be elevated without enfranchisement, and the
+spiritualistic philosophy of M. Royer-Collard then confused him as much
+as the sensual ideology of M. de Tracy. It was, moreover, one of the
+peculiarities of Napoleon's mind, that his thoughts constantly reverted
+to the forgotten Bourbons, well knowing that he had no other
+competitors for the throne of France. At the summit of his power he
+more than once gave utterance to this impression, which recurred to him
+with increased force when he felt the approach of danger. On this
+ground, M. Royer-Collard and his friends, with whose opinions and
+connections he was fully acquainted, became to him objects of extreme
+suspicion and disquietude. Not that their opposition (as he was also
+aware) was either active or influential; events were not produced
+through such agencies; but therein lay the best-founded presentiments of
+the future; and amongst its members were included the most rational
+partisans of the prospective Government.
+
+Hitherto they had ventured nothing beyond vague and half-indulged
+conversations, when the Emperor himself advanced their views to a
+consistence and publicity which they were far from assuming. On the 19th
+of December, 1813, he convened together the Senate and the Legislative
+Body, and ordered several documents to be laid before them relative to
+his negotiations with the Allied Powers, demanding their opinions on the
+subject. If he had then really intended to make peace, or felt seriously
+anxious to convince France, that the continuance of the war would not
+spring from the obstinacy of his own domineering will, there can be no
+doubt that he would have found in these two Bodies, enervated as they
+were, a strong and popular support. I often saw and talked
+confidentially with three of the five members of the Commission of the
+Legislative Body, MM. Maine-Biran, Gallois, and Raynouard, and through
+them I obtained a correct knowledge of the dispositions of the two
+others, MM. Laine and Flaugergues. M. Maine-Biran, who, with
+M. Royer-Collard and myself formed a small philosophical association, in
+which we conversed freely on all topics, kept us fully informed as to
+what passed in the Commission, and even in the Legislative Assembly
+itself. Although originally a Royalist (in his youth he had been
+enrolled amongst the bodyguards of Louis XVI.), he was unconnected with
+any party or intrigue, scrupulously conscientious, even timid when
+conviction did not call for the exercise of courage, little inclined to
+politics by taste, and, under any circumstances, one of the last men
+to form an extreme resolution, or take the initiative in action.
+M. Gallois, a man of the world and of letters, a moderate liberal of the
+philosophic school of the eighteenth century, occupied himself much more
+with his library than with public affairs. He wished to discharge his
+duty to his country respectably, without disturbing the peaceful tenor
+of his life. M. Raynouard, a native of Provence and a poet, had more
+vivacity of manner and language, without being of an adventurous
+temperament. It was said that his loud complaints against the tyrannical
+abuses of the Imperial Government, would not have prevented him from
+being contented with those moderate concessions which satisfy honour for
+the present, and excite hope for the future. M. Flaugergues, an honest
+Republican, who had put on mourning for the death of Louis XVI.,
+uncompromising in temper and character, was capable of energetic but
+solitary resolutions, and possessed little influence over his
+colleagues, although he talked much. M. Laine, on the contrary, had a
+warm and sympathetic heart under a gloomy exterior, and an elevated
+mind, without much vigour or originality. He spoke imposingly and
+convincingly when moved by his subject; formerly a Republican, he had
+paused as a simple partisan of liberal tendencies, and being promptly
+acknowledged as the head of the Commission, consented without hesitation
+to become its organ. But, like his colleagues, he had no premeditated
+hostility or concealed engagement against the Emperor. All were desirous
+of conveying to him a true impression of the desires of France;
+externally for a pacific policy, and internally for a respect for public
+rights and the legal exercise of power. Their Report contained nothing
+beyond a guarded expression of these moderate sentiments.
+
+With such men, animated by such views, a perfect understanding was
+anything but difficult. Napoleon would not even listen to them. It is
+well known how he suddenly suppressed the Report and adjourned the
+Legislative Body, and with what rude but intentional violence he
+received the Deputies and their Commissioners on the 1st of January,
+1814. "Who are you who address me thus? I am the sole representative of
+the nation. We are one and inseparable. I have a title, but you have
+none.... M. Laine, your mouthpiece, is a dishonest man who corresponds
+with England through the Advocate Deseze. I shall keep my eye upon him.
+M. Raynouard is a liar." In communicating to the Commission the papers
+connected with the negotiation, Napoleon had forbidden his Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, the Duke of Vicenza, to include that which specified
+the conditions on which the Allied Powers were prepared to treat, not
+wishing to pledge himself to any recognized basis. His Minister of
+Police, the Duke of Rovigo, took upon himself to carry to extremity the
+indiscretion of his anger. "Your words are most imprudent," said he to
+the members of the Commission, "when there is a Bourbon in the field."
+Thus, in the very crisis of his difficulties, under the most emphatic
+warnings from heaven and man, the despot at bay made an empty parade of
+absolute power; the vanquished conqueror displayed to the world that the
+ostensible negotiations were only a pretext for still trying the chances
+of war; the tottering head of the new dynasty proclaimed himself that
+the old line was there, ready to supplant him.
+
+The day had arrived when glory could no longer repair the faults which
+it still covers. The campaign of 1814, that uninterrupted masterpiece of
+skill and heroism, as well on the part of the leader as of his
+followers, bore, nevertheless, the ineffaceable stamp of the false
+calculations and false position of the Emperor. He wavered continually
+between the necessity of protecting Paris, and the passion of
+reconquering Europe; anxious to save his throne without sacrificing his
+ambition, and changing his tactics at every moment, as a fatal danger or
+a favourable change alternately presented itself. God vindicated reason
+and justice, by condemning the genius which had so recklessly braved
+both, to sink in hesitation and uncertainty, under the weight of its own
+incompatible objects and impracticable desires.
+
+While Napoleon in this closing struggle wasted the last remnants of his
+fortune and power, he encountered no disappointment or obstacle from any
+quarter of France, either from Paris or the departments, the party in
+opposition, or the public in general. There was no enthusiasm in his
+cause, and little confidence in his success, but no one rose openly
+against him; all hostility was comprised in a few unfavourable
+expressions, some preparatory announcements, and here and there a change
+of side as people began to catch a glimpse of the approaching issue. The
+Emperor acted in full liberty, with all the strength that still
+pertained to his isolated position, and the moral and physical
+exhaustion of the country. Such general apathy was never before
+exhibited in the midst of so much national anxiety, or so many
+disaffected persons abstaining from action under similar circumstances,
+with such numerous partisans ready to renounce the master they still
+served with implicit docility. It was an entire nation of wearied
+spectators who had long given up all interference in their own fate, and
+knew not what catastrophe they were to hope or fear to the terrible game
+of which they were the stake.
+
+I grew impatient of remaining a motionless beholder of the shifting
+spectacle; and not foreseeing when or how it would terminate, I
+determined, towards the middle of March, to repair to Nismes, and pass
+some weeks with my mother, whom I had not seen for a considerable time.
+I have still before my eyes the aspect of Paris, particularly of the Rue
+de Rivoli (then in progress of construction), as I passed along on the
+morning of my departure. There were no workmen and no activity;
+materials heaped together without being used, deserted scaffoldings,
+buildings abandoned for want of money, hands, or confidence, and in
+ruins before completion. Everywhere, amongst the people, a discontented
+air of uneasy idleness, as if they were equally in want of labour and
+repose. Throughout my journey, on the highways, in the towns, and in the
+fields, I noticed the same appearance of inactivity and agitation, the
+same visible impoverishment of the country; there were more women and
+children than men, many young conscripts marching mournfully to their
+battalions, sick and wounded soldiers returning to the interior; in
+fact, a mutilated and exhausted nation. Side by side with this physical
+suffering, I also remarked a great moral perplexity, the uneasiness of
+opposing sentiments, an ardent longing for peace, a deadly hatred of
+foreign invaders, with alternating feelings, as regarded Napoleon, of
+anger and sympathy. By some he was denounced as the author of all their
+calamities; by others he was hailed as the bulwark of the country, and
+the avenger of her injuries. What struck me as a serious evil, although
+I was then far from being able to estimate its full extent, was the
+marked inequality of these different expressions amongst the divided
+classes of the population. With the affluent and educated, the prominent
+feeling was evidently a strong desire for peace, a dislike of the
+exigencies and hazards of the Imperial despotism, a calculated
+foreshadowing of its fall, and the dawning perspective of another system
+of government. The lower orders, on the contrary, only roused themselves
+up from lassitude to give way to a momentary burst of patriotic rage, or
+to their reminiscences of the Revolution. The Imperial rule had given
+them discipline without reform. Appearances were tranquil, but in truth
+it might be said of the popular masses as of the emigrants, that they
+had forgotten nothing, and learned nothing. There was no moral unity
+throughout the land, no common thought or passion, notwithstanding the
+common misfortunes and experience. The nation was almost as blindly and
+completely divided in its apathy, as it had lately been in its
+excitement. I recognized these unwholesome symptoms; but I was young,
+and much more disposed to dwell on the hopes than on the perils of the
+future. While at Nismes, I soon became acquainted with the events that
+had taken place in Paris. M. Royer-Collard wrote to press my return. I
+set out on the instant, and a few days after my arrival, I was appointed
+Secretary-General to the Ministry of the Interior, which department the
+King had just confided to the Abbe de Montesquiou.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: I have inserted, amongst the "Historic Documents" at the
+end of the Volume, three of the letters which M. de Chateaubriand
+addressed to me, at the time, on this subject. (Historic Documents, No.
+I.)]
+
+[Footnote 2: Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+I have included a letter, addressed to me from Brussels, by the
+Count de Lally-Tolendal, on the 'Annals of Education,' in which the
+character of the writer and of the time are exhibited with agreeable
+frankness. (Hist. Documents, No. II.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Notwithstanding its imperfections, of which, no one is more
+sensible than I am, this address may be read, perhaps, with some little
+interest. It was my first historical lecture and first public discourse,
+and remains locked up in the Archives of the Faculty of Letters, from
+the day when it was delivered, now forty-five years ago. I have added it
+to the "Historic Documents" (No. III.).]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE RESTORATION.
+
+1814-1815.
+
+     SENTIMENTS WITH WHICH I COMMENCED PUBLIC LIFE.--TRUE CAUSE AND
+     CHARACTER OF THE RESTORATION.--CAPITAL ERROR OF THE IMPERIAL
+     SENATE.--THE CHARTER SUFFERS FROM IT.--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE
+     CHARTER.--WHY THEY WERE FUTILE.--CABINET OF KING LOUIS
+     XVIII.--UNFITNESS OF THE PRINCIPAL MINISTERS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
+     GOVERNMENT.--M. DE TALLEYRAND.--THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU.--M. DE
+     BLACAS.--LOUIS XVIII.--PRINCIPAL AFFAIRS IN WHICH I WAS CONCERNED
+     AT THAT EPOCH.--ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE KINGDOM LAID BEFORE THE
+     CHAMBERS.--BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS.--DECREE FOR THE REFORM OF
+     PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.--STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE
+     COUNTRY.--THEIR COMMON INEXPERIENCE.--EFFECTS OF THE LIBERAL
+     SYSTEM.--ESTIMATE OF PUBLIC DISCONTENT AND CONSPIRACIES.--SAYING OF
+     NAPOLEON ON THE FACILITY OF HIS RETURN.
+
+
+Under these auspices, I entered, without hesitation, on public life. I
+had no previous tie, no personal motive to connect me with the
+Restoration; I sprang from those who had been raised up by the impulse
+of 1789, and were little disposed to fall back again. But if I was not
+bound to the former system by any specific interest, I felt no
+bitterness towards the old Government of France. Born a citizen and a
+Protestant, I have ever been unswervingly devoted to liberty of
+conscience, equality in the eye of the law, and all the acquired
+privileges of social order. My confidence in these acquisitions is
+ample and confirmed; but, in support of their cause, I do not feel
+myself called upon to consider the House of Bourbon, the aristocracy of
+France, and the Catholic clergy, in the light of enemies. At present,
+none but madmen exclaim, "Down with the nobility! Down with the
+priests!" Nevertheless, many well-meaning and sensible persons, who are
+sincerely desirous that revolutions should cease, still cherish in their
+hearts some relics of the sentiments to which these cries respond. Let
+them beware of such feelings. They are essentially revolutionary and
+antisocial; order can never be thoroughly re-established as long as
+honourable minds encourage them with secret complaisance. I mean, that
+real and enduring order which every extended society requires for its
+prosperity and permanence. The interests and acquired rights of the
+present day have taken rank in France, and constitute henceforward the
+strength and vitality of the country; but because our social system is
+filled with new elements, it is not therefore new in itself; it can no
+more deny what it has been, than it can renounce what it has become; it
+would establish perpetual confusion and decline within itself, if it
+remained hostile to its true history. History is the nation, the
+country, viewed through ages. For myself, I have always maintained an
+affectionate respect for the great names and actions which have held
+such a conspicuous place in our destinies; and being as I am, a man of
+yesterday, when the King, Louis XVIII., presented himself with the
+Charter in his hand, I neither felt angry nor humiliated that I was
+compelled to enjoy or defend our liberties under the ancient dynasty of
+the Sovereigns of France, and in common with all Frenchmen, whether
+noble or plebeian, even though their old rivalries might sometimes prove
+a source of mistrust and agitation.
+
+It was the remembrance of foreign intervention that constituted the
+wound and nightmare of France under the Government of the Restoration.
+The feeling was legitimate in itself. The jealous passion of national
+independence and glory doubles the strength of a people in prosperity,
+and saves their pride under reverses. If it had pleased Heaven to throw
+me into the ranks of Napoleon's soldiers, in all probability that single
+passion would also have governed my soul. But, placed as I was, in civil
+life, other ideas and instincts have taught me to look elsewhere than to
+predominance in war for the greatness and security of my country. I have
+ever prized, above all other considerations, just policy, and liberty
+restrained by law. I despaired of both under the Empire; I hoped for
+them from the Restoration. I have been sometimes reproached with not
+sufficiently associating myself with general impressions. Whenever I
+meet them sincerely and strongly manifested, I respect and hold them in
+account, but I cannot feel that I am called upon to abdicate my reason
+for their adoption, or to desert the real and permanent interest of the
+country for the sake of according with them. It is truly an absurd
+injustice to charge the Restoration with the presence of those
+foreigners which the mad ambition of Napoleon alone brought upon our
+soil, and which the Bourbons only could remove by a prompt and certain
+peace. The enemies of the Restoration, in their haste to condemn it
+from the very first hour, have plunged into strange contradictions. If
+we are to put faith in their assertions, at one time they tell us that
+it was imposed on France by foreign bayonets; at another, that in 1814,
+no one, either in France or Europe, bestowed a thought upon the subject;
+and again, that a few old adherences, a few sudden defections, and a few
+egotistical intrigues alone enabled it to prevail. Puerile blindness of
+party spirit! The more it is attempted to prove that no general desire,
+no prevailing force, from within or without, either suggested or
+produced the Restoration, the more its inherent strength will be brought
+to light, and the controlling necessity which determined the event. I
+have ever been surprised that free and superior minds should thus fetter
+themselves within the subtleties and credulities of prejudice, and not
+feel the necessity of looking facts in the face, and of viewing them as
+they really exist. In the formidable crisis of 1814, the restoration of
+the House of Bourbon was the only natural and solid solution that
+presented itself; the only measure that could be reconciled to
+principles not dependent on the influence of force and the caprices of
+human will. Some alarm might thence be excited for the new interests of
+French society; but with the aid of institutions mutually accepted, the
+two benefits of which France stood most in need, and of which for
+twenty-five years she had been utterly deprived, peace and liberty,
+might also be confidently looked for. Under the influence of this double
+hope, the Restoration was accomplished, not only without effort, but in
+despite of revolutionary remembrances, and was received throughout
+France with alacrity and cheerfulness. And France did wisely in this
+adoption, for the Restoration, in fact, came accompanied by peace and
+liberty.
+
+Peace had never been more talked of in France than during the last
+quarter of a century. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, "No more
+conquests;" the National Convention had celebrated the union of nations;
+the Emperor Napoleon had concluded, in fifteen years, more pacific
+negotiations than any preceding monarch. Never had war so frequently
+ended and recommenced; never had peace proved such a transient illusion;
+a treaty was nothing but a truce, during which preparations were making
+for fresh combats.
+
+It was the same with liberty as with peace. Celebrated and promised, at
+first, with enthusiasm, it had quickly disappeared under civil discord,
+even before the celebration and the promise had ceased; thus, to
+extinguish discord, liberty had also been abolished. At one moment
+people became maddened with the word, without caring for the reality of
+the fact; at another, to escape a fatal intoxication, the fact and the
+word were equally proscribed and forgotten.
+
+True peace and liberty returned with the Restoration. War was not with
+the Bourbons a necessity or a passion; they could reign without having
+recourse every day to some new development of force, some fresh shock to
+the fixed principles of nations. Treating with them, foreign Governments
+could and did believe in a sincere and lasting peace. Neither was the
+liberty which France recovered in 1814, the triumph of any particular
+school in philosophy or party in politics. Turbulent propensities,
+obstinate theories and imaginations, at the same time ardent and idle,
+were unable to find in it the gratification of their irregular and
+unbounded appetites. It was, in truth, social liberty, the practical and
+legalized enjoyment of rights, equally essential to the active life of
+the citizens and to the moral dignity of the nation.
+
+What were to be the guarantees of liberty, and consequently of all the
+interests which liberty itself was intended to guarantee? By what
+institutions could the control and influence of the nation in its
+government be exercised? In these questions lay the great problem which
+the Imperial Senate attempted to solve by its project of a Constitution
+in April, 1814, and which, on the 4th of June following, the King, Louis
+XVIII., effectually decided by the Charter.
+
+The Senators of 1814 have been much and justly reproached for the
+selfishness with which, on overthrowing the Empire, they preserved for
+themselves, not only the integrity, but the perpetuity of the material
+advantages with which the Empire had endowed them;--a cynical error, and
+one of those which most depreciate existing authorities in the
+estimation of the people, for they are offensive, at the same time, to
+honest feelings and envious passions. The Senate committed another
+mistake less palpable, and more consistent with the prejudices of the
+country, but in my judgment more weighty, both as a political blunder,
+and as to the consequences involved. At the same moment when it
+proclaimed the return of the ancient Royal House, it blazoned forth the
+pretension of electing the King, disavowing the monarchical right, the
+supremacy of which it accepted, and thus exercising the privilege of
+republicanism in re-establishing the monarchy:--a glaring contradiction
+between principles and acts, a childish bravado against the great fact
+to which it was rendering homage, and a lamentable confounding of rights
+and ideas. It was from necessity, and not by choice, on account of his
+hereditary title, and not as the chosen candidate of the day, that Louis
+XVIII. was called to the throne of France. There was neither truth,
+dignity, nor prudence, but in one line of conduct,--to recognize openly
+the royal claim in the House of Bourbon, and to demand as openly in
+return the national privileges which the state of the country and the
+spirit of the time required. Such a candid avowal and mutual respect for
+mutual rights, form the very essence of free government. It is by this
+steady union that elsewhere monarchy and liberty have developed and
+strengthened themselves together; and by frank co-operation, kings and
+nations have extinguished those internal wars which are denominated
+revolutions. Instead of adopting this course, the Senate, at once
+obstinate and timid, while wishing to place the restored monarchy under
+the standard of republican election, succeeded only in evoking the
+despotic in face of the revolutionary principle, and in raising up as a
+rival to the absolute right of the people, the uncontrolled authority of
+the King.
+
+The Charter bore the impress of this impolitic conduct; timid and
+obstinate in its turn, and seeking to cover the retreat of royalty, as
+the Revolution had sought to protect its own, it replied to the
+pretensions of the revolutionary system by the pretensions of the
+ancient form, and presented itself as purely a royal concession, instead
+of proclaiming its true character, such as it really was, a treaty of
+peace after a protracted war, a series of new articles added by common
+accord to the old compact of union between the nation and the King.
+
+In this point lay the complaint of the Liberals of the Revolution
+against the Charter, as soon as it appeared. Their adversaries, the
+supporters of the old rule, assailed it with other reproaches. The most
+fiery, such as the disciples of M. de Maistre, could scarcely tolerate
+its existence. According to them, absolute power, legitimate in itself
+alone, was the only form of government that suited France. The
+moderates, amongst whom were M. de Villele in the reply he published at
+Toulouse to the declaration of Saint-Ouen, accused this plan for a
+constitution, which became the Charter, of being an importation from
+England, foreign to the history, the ideas, and the manners of France;
+and which, they said, "would cost more to establish than the ancient
+organization would require for repairs."
+
+I do not here propose to enter upon any discussion of principles, with
+the apostles of absolute power; as applied to France and our own time,
+experience, and a very overwhelming experience, has supplied an answer.
+Absolute power, amongst us, can only belong to the Revolution and its
+representatives, for they alone can (I do not say for how long) retain
+the masses in their interest, by withholding from them the securities of
+liberty.
+
+For the House of Bourbon and its supporters, absolute power is
+impossible; under them France must be free; it only accepts their
+government by supplying it with the eye and the hand.
+
+The objections of the moderate party were more specious. It must be
+admitted that the government established by the Charter had, in its
+forms at least, something of a foreign aspect. Perhaps too there was
+reason for saying that it assumed the existence of a stronger
+aristocratic element in France, and of a more trained and disciplined
+spirit of policy, than could, in reality, be found there. Another
+difficulty, less palpable but substantial, awaited it; the Charter was
+not alone the triumph of 1789 over the old institutions, but it was the
+victory of one of the Liberal sections of 1789 over its rivals as well
+as its enemies, a victory of the partisans of the English Constitution
+over the framers of the Constitution of 1791, and over the republicans
+as well as the supporters of the ancient monarchy,--a source teeming
+with offences to the self-love of many, and a somewhat narrow basis for
+the re-settlement of an old and extensive country.
+
+But these objections had little weight in 1814. The position of affairs
+was urgent and imperative; it was necessary that the old monarchy should
+be reformed when restored. Of all the measures of improvement proposed
+or attempted since 1789, the Charter comprised that which was the most
+generally recognized and admitted by the public at large, as well as by
+professed politicians. At such moments controversy subsides; the
+resolutions adopted by men of action, present an epitome of the ideas
+common to men of thought. A republic would be to revive the Revolution;
+the Constitution of 1791 would be government without power; the old
+French Constitution, if the name were applicable, had been found
+ineffective in 1789, equally incapable of self-maintenance or
+amelioration. All that it had once possessed of greatness or utility,
+the Parliaments, the different Orders, the various local institutions,
+were so evidently beyond the possibility of re-establishment, that no
+one thought seriously of such a proposition. The Charter was already
+written in the experience and reflection of the country. It emanated as
+naturally from the mind of Louis XVIII., returning from England, as from
+the deliberations of the Senate, intent on renouncing the yoke of the
+Empire. It was the produce of the necessities and convictions of the
+hour. Judged by itself, notwithstanding its inherent defects and the
+objections of opponents, the Charter was a very practicable political
+implement. Power and liberty found ample scope there for exercise and
+defence; the workmen were much less adapted to the machine than the
+machine to the work.
+
+Thoroughly distinguished from each other in ideas and character, and
+extremely unequal in mind and merit, the three leading Ministers of
+Louis XVIII. at that epoch, M. de Talleyrand, the Abbe de Montesquiou,
+and M. de Blacas, were all specially unsuited to the government they
+were called on to found.
+
+I say only what I truly think; yet I do not feel myself compelled, in
+speaking of those with whom I have come in contact, to say all that I
+think. I owe nothing to M. de Talleyrand; in my public career he
+thwarted rather than assisted me; but when we have been much associated
+with an eminent man, and have long reciprocated amicable intercourse,
+self-respect renders it imperative to speak of him with a certain degree
+of reserve. At the crisis of the Restoration, M. de Talleyrand
+displayed, in a very superior manner, the qualities of sagacity, cool
+determination, and preponderating influence. Not long after, at Vienna,
+he manifested the same endowments, and others even more rare and
+apposite, when representing the House of Bourbon and the European
+interests of France. But except in a crisis or a congress, he was
+neither able nor powerful. A courtier and a politician, no advocate upon
+conviction, for any particular form of government, and less for
+representative government than for any other, he excelled in negotiating
+with insulated individuals, by the power of conversation, by the charm
+and skilful employment of social relations; but in authority of
+character, in fertility of mental resources, in promptitude of
+resolution, in command of language, in the sympathetic association of
+general ideas with public passions,--in all these great sources of
+influence upon collected assemblies, he was absolutely deficient.
+Besides which, he had neither the inclination nor habit of sustained,
+systematic labour, another important condition of internal government.
+He was at once ambitious and indolent, a flatterer and a scoffer, a
+consummate courtier in the art of pleasing and of serving without the
+appearance of servility; ready for everything, and capable of any
+pliability that might assist his fortune, preserving always the mien,
+and recurring at need to the attractions of independence; a diplomatist
+without scruples, indifferent as to means, and almost equally careless
+as to the end, provided only that the end advanced his personal
+interest. More bold than profound in his views, calmly courageous in
+danger, well suited to the great enterprises of absolute government, but
+insensible to the true atmosphere and light of liberty, in which he felt
+himself lost and incapable of action. He was too glad to escape from the
+Chambers and from France, to find once more at Vienna a congenial sphere
+and associations.
+
+As completely a courtier as M. de Talleyrand, and more thoroughly
+belonging to the old system, the Abbe de Montesquiou was better suited
+to hold his ground under a constitutional government, and occupied a
+more favourable position for such a purpose, at this period of
+uncertainty. He stood high in the estimation of the King and the
+Royalists, having ever remained immovably faithful to his cause, his
+order, his friends, and his sovereign. He was in no danger of being
+taxed as a revolutionist, or of having his name associated with
+unpleasant reminiscences. Through a rare disinterestedness, and the
+consistent simplicity of his life, he had won the confidence of all
+honest men. His character was open, his disposition frank, his mind
+richly cultivated, and his conversation unreserved, without being
+exceptious as to those with whom he might be conversing. He could render
+himself acceptable to the middle classes, although indications of pride
+and aristocratic haughtiness might be occasionally detected in his words
+and manner. These symptoms were only perceptible to delicate
+investigators; by the great majority he was considered affable and
+unassuming. In the Chambers he spoke with ease and animation, if not
+with eloquence, and often indulged in an attractive play of fancy. He
+could have rendered good service to the constitutional government, had
+he either loved or trusted it; but he joined it without faith or
+preference, as a measure of necessity, to be evaded or restrained even
+during the term of endurance. Through habit, and deference for his
+party, or rather for his immediate coterie, he was perpetually recurring
+to the traditions and tendencies of the old system, and endeavouring to
+carry his listeners with him by shallow subtleties and weak arguments,
+which were sometimes retorted upon himself. One day, partly in jest, and
+partly in earnest, he proposed to M. Royer-Collard to obtain for him
+from the King the title of Count. "Count?" replied M. Royer-Collard, in
+the same tone, "make yourself a Count?" The Abbe de Montesquieu smiled,
+with a slight expression of disappointment, at this freak of citizen
+pride. He believed the old aristocracy to be beaten down, but he wished
+to revive and strengthen it by an infusion with the new orders. He
+miscalculated in supposing that none amongst the latter class would,
+from certain instinctive tendencies, think lightly of a title which
+flattered their interests, or that they could be won over by
+conciliation without sympathy. He was a thoroughly honourable man, with
+a heart more liberal than his ideas, of an enlightened and accomplished
+mind, naturally elegant, but volatile, inconsiderate, and absent; little
+suited for long and bitter contentions, formed to please rather than to
+control, and incapable of leading his party or himself in the course in
+which reason suggested that they should follow.
+
+In the character of M. de Blacas there were no such apparent
+inconsistencies. Not that he was either an ardent, or a decided and
+stirring partisan of the contra-revolutionary reaction; he was moderate
+through coldness of temperament, and a fear of compromising the King, to
+whom he was sincerely devoted, rather than from clear penetration. But
+neither his moderation nor his loyalty gave him any insight into the
+true state of the country, or any desire to occupy himself with the
+subject. He remained at the Tuileries what he had been at Hartwell, a
+country gentleman, an emigrant, a courtier, and a steady and courageous
+favourite, not deficient in personal dignity or domestic tact, but with
+no political genius, no ambition, no statesmanlike activity, and almost
+as entirely a stranger to France as before his return. He impeded the
+Government more than he pretended to govern, taking a larger share in
+the quarrels and intrigues of the palace, than in the deliberations of
+the Council, and doing much more injury to public affairs by utter
+neglect, than by direct interference.
+
+I do not think it would have been impossible for an active, determined
+monarch to employ these three ministers profitably, and at the same
+time, however much they differed from one another. Neither of them
+aspired to the helm, and each, in his proper sphere, could have rendered
+good service. M. de Talleyrand desired nothing better than to negotiate
+with Europe; the Abbe de Montesquiou had no desire to rule at court, and
+M. de Blacas, calm, prudent, and faithful, might have been found a
+valuable confidant in opposition to the pretensions and secret intrigues
+of courtiers and princes. But Louis XVIII. was not in the least capable
+of governing his ministers. As a King he possessed great negative or
+promissory qualities, but few that were active and immediate. Outwardly
+imposing, judicious, acute, and circumspect, he could reconcile,
+restrain, and defeat; but he could neither inspire, direct, nor give the
+impulse while he held the reins. He had few ideas, and no passion.
+Persevering application to business was as little suited to him, as
+active movement. He sufficiently maintained his rank, his rights, and
+his power, and seldom committed a glaring mistake; but when once his
+dignity and prudence were vindicated, he allowed things to take their
+own course; with too little energy of mind and body to control men, and
+force them to act in concert for the accomplishment of his wishes.
+
+From my inexperience, and the nature of my secondary post in a special
+department, I was far from perceiving the full mischief of this
+absence of unity and supreme direction in the Government. The
+Abbe de Montesquiou sometimes mentioned it to me with impatience and
+regret. He was amongst the few who had sufficient sense and honesty not
+to deceive themselves as to their own defects. He reposed great
+confidence in me, although even within his most intimate circle of
+associates, efforts had been made to check this disposition. With
+generous irony, he replied to those who objected to me as a Protestant,
+"Do you think I intend to make him Pope?" With his habitual unrestraint,
+he communicated to me his vexations at the Court, his differences with
+M. de Blacas, his impotence to do what he thought good, or to prevent
+what he considered evil. He went far beyond this freedom of
+conversation, by consigning to me, in his department, many matters
+beyond the duties of my specific office, and would have allowed me to
+assume a considerable portion of his power.[4] Thus I became associated,
+during his administration, with three important circumstances, the only
+ones I shall dwell on, for I am not writing the history of the time; I
+merely relate what I did, saw, and thought myself, in the general course
+of events.
+
+The Charter being promulgated, and the Government settled, I suggested
+to the Abbe de Montesquiou that it would be well for the King to place
+before the Chambers a summary of the internal condition of France, as he
+had found it, showing the results of the preceding system, and
+explaining the spirit of that which he proposed to establish. The
+Minister was pleased with the idea, the King adopted it, and I
+immediately applied myself to the work. The Abbe de Montesquiou also
+assisted; for he wrote well, and took personal pleasure in the task. On
+the 12th of July, the statement was presented to the two Chambers, who
+thanked the King by separate addresses. It contained, without
+exaggeration or concealment, a true picture of the miseries which
+unlimited and incessant war had inflicted on France, and the moral and
+physical wounds which it had left to be healed,--a strange portrait,
+when considered with reference to those which Napoleon, under the
+Consulate and the dawning Empire, had also given to the world; and which
+eulogized, with good reason at the time, the restoration of order, the
+establishment of rule, the revival of prosperity, with all the excellent
+effects of strong, able, and rational power. The descriptions were
+equally true, although immeasurably different; and precisely in this
+contrast lay the startling moral with which the history of the Imperial
+despotism had just concluded. The Abbe de Montesquiou ought to have
+placed the glorious edifices of the Consulate side by side with the
+deserved ruins of the Empire. Instead of losing by this course, he would
+have added to the impression he intended to produce; but men are seldom
+disposed to praise their enemies, even though the effect should be to
+injure them. By alluding only to the disasters of Napoleon, and their
+fatal consequences, the exposition of the state of the kingdom in 1814
+was undignified, and appeared to be unjust. The points in which it
+reflected honour on the authority from whence it emanated, were the
+moral tone, the liberal spirit, and the absence of all quackery, which
+were its leading features. These recommendations had their weight with
+right-minded, sensible people; but they passed for little with a public
+accustomed to the dazzling noise and bustle of the power which had
+recently been extinguished.
+
+Another exposition, more special, but of greater urgency, was presented
+a few days after, by the Minister of Finance, to the Chamber of
+Deputies. This included the amount of debt bequeathed by the Empire to
+the Restoration, with the Ministerial plan for meeting the arrear, as
+well as providing for the exigencies of 1814 and 1815. Amongst all the
+Government officials of my time, I have never been acquainted with any
+one more completely a public servant, or more passionately devoted to
+the public interest, than the Baron Louis. Ever resolved to cast aside
+all other considerations, he cared neither for personal risk nor labour,
+in promoting the success of what that interest demanded. It was not only
+the carrying out of his financial measures that he so ardently desired;
+he made these subservient to the general policy of which they were a
+portion. In 1830, in the midst of the disturbances occasioned by the
+Revolution of July, I one day, as Minister of the Interior, demanded
+from the Council, in which the Baron Louis also had a seat as Minister
+of Finance, the allocation of a large sum. Objections were made by
+several of our colleagues, on account of the embarrassed state of the
+treasury. "Govern well," said the Baron Louis to me, "and you will never
+spend as much money as I shall be able to supply." A judicious speech,
+worthy of a frank, uncompromising disposition, controlled by a firm and
+consistent judgment. The Baron Louis's financial scheme was founded on a
+double basis,--constitutional order in the State, and probity in the
+Government. With these two conditions, he reckoned confidently on public
+prosperity and credit, without being dismayed by debts to be paid, or
+expenses incurred. His assertions as to the closing state of the
+finances under the Empire, drew from the Count Mollien, the last
+Minister of the Imperial treasury, a man as able as he was honest, some
+well-founded remonstrances, and his measures were in consequence
+severely opposed in the Chambers. He had to contend with dishonest
+traditions, the passions of the old system, and the narrow views of
+little minds. The Baron Louis maintained the struggle with equal
+enthusiasm and perseverance. It was fortunate for him that
+M. de Talleyrand and the Abbe de Montesquiou had been his associates in
+the Church in early youth, and had always maintained a close intimacy
+with him. Both having enlightened views on political economy, they
+supported him strongly in the Council and in the Chambers. The
+Prince de Talleyrand even undertook to present his bill to the Chamber
+of Peers, adopting boldly the responsibility and the principles. This
+sound policy was well carried through by the whole cabinet, and justly
+met with complete success, in spite of prejudiced or ignorant
+opposition.
+
+It was not exactly the same with another measure in which I took a more
+active part,--the bill relating to the press, presented to the Chamber
+of Deputies on the 5th of July by the Abbe de Montesquiou, and which
+passed into law on the 21st of the following October, after having
+undergone, in both assemblies, animated debates and important
+amendments.
+
+In its first conception, this bill was reasonable and sincere. The
+object was to consecrate by legislative enactment the liberty of the
+press, both as a public right and as a general and permanent institution
+of the country; and at the same time, on the morrow of a great
+revolution and a long despotism, and on the advent of a free government,
+to impose some temporary and limited restrictions. The two persons who
+had taken the most active part in framing this bill, M. Royer-Collard
+and myself, were actuated simply and solely by this double end. I may
+refer the reader to a short work which I published at the time,[5] a
+little before the introduction of the bill, and in which its spirit and
+intention are stated without reserve.
+
+It must be evident that the King and the two Chambers had the right of
+prescribing in concert, temporarily, and from the pressure of
+circumstances, certain limitations to one of the privileges recognized
+by the Charter. This cannot be denied without repudiating constitutional
+government itself, and its habitual practice in those countries in which
+it is developed with the greatest vigour. Provisional enactments have
+frequently modified or suspended, in England, the leading constitutional
+privileges; and with regard to the liberty of the press in particular,
+it was not until five years after the Revolution of 1688 that, under the
+reign of William III. in 1693, it was relieved from the censorship.
+
+I recognize no greater danger to free institutions than that blind
+tyranny which the habitual fanaticism of partisanship, whether of a
+faction or a small segment, pretends to exercise in the name of liberal
+ideas. Are you a staunch advocate for constitutional government and
+political guarantees? Do you wish to live and act in co-operation with
+the party which hoists this standard? Renounce at once your judgment and
+your independence. In that party you will find upon all questions and
+under all circumstances, opinions ready formed, and resolutions settled
+beforehand, which assume the right of your entire control. Self-evident
+facts are in open contradiction to these opinions--you are forbidden to
+see them. Powerful obstacles oppose these resolutions--you are
+not allowed to think of them. Equity and prudence suggest
+circumspection--you must cast it aside. You are in presence of a
+superstitious _Credo_, and a popular passion. Do not argue--you would no
+longer be a Liberal. Do not oppose--you would be looked upon as a
+mutineer. Obey, advance--no matter at what pace you are urged, or on
+what road. If you cease to be a slave, you instantly become a deserter!
+
+My clear judgment and a little natural pride revolted invincibly against
+this yoke. I never imagined that even the best system of institutions
+could be at once imposed on a country without some remembrance of recent
+events and actual facts, both as regarded the dispositions of a
+considerable portion of the country itself and of its necessary rulers.
+I saw not only the King, his family, and a great number of the old
+Royalists, but even in new France, a crowd of well-meaning citizens and
+enlightened minds--perhaps a majority of the middle and substantial
+classes--extremely uneasy at the idea of the unrestricted liberty of the
+press, and at the dangers to which it might expose public peace, as well
+as moral and political order. Without participating to the same extent
+in their apprehensions, I was myself struck by the excesses in which the
+press had already begun to indulge; by the deluge of recriminations,
+accusations, surmises, predictions, animated invectives, or frivolous
+sarcasms, which threatened to rouse into hostility all parties, with all
+their respective errors, falsehoods, fears, and antipathies. With these
+feelings and facts before me, I should have considered myself a madman
+to have treated them lightly, and therefore I decided at once that a
+temporary limitation of liberty, in respect to journals and pamphlets
+alone, was not too great a sacrifice for the removal of such perils and
+fears, or at least to give the country time to overcome by becoming
+accustomed to them.
+
+But to ensure the success of a sound measure, open honesty is
+indispensable. Whether in the proposition or the debate, Government
+itself was called upon to proclaim the general right, as well as the
+limits and reasons for the partial restriction which it was about to
+introduce. It ought not to have evaded the principle of the liberty or
+the character of the restraining law. This course was not adopted.
+Neither the King nor his advisers had formed any fixed design against
+the freedom of the press; but they were more disposed to control it in
+fact than to acknowledge it in right, and wished rather that the new
+law, instead of giving additional sanction to the principle recorded in
+the Charter, should leave it in rather a vague state of doubt and
+hesitation. When the bill was introduced, its true intent and bearing
+were not clearly indicated. Weak himself, and yielding still more to the
+weaknesses of others, the Abbe de Montesquiou endeavoured to give the
+debate a moral and literary, rather than a political turn. According to
+his view, the question before them was the protection of literature and
+science, of good taste and manners, and not the exercise and guarantee
+of an acknowledged public right. An amendment in the Chamber of Peers
+was necessary to invest the measure with the political and temporary
+character which it ought to have borne from the beginning, and which
+alone confined it to its real objects and within its legitimate limits.
+The Government accepted the amendment without hesitation, but its
+position had become embarrassed. Mistrust, the most credulous of all
+passions, spread rapidly amongst the Liberals. Those who were not
+enemies to the Restoration had, like it, their foibles. The love of
+popularity had seized them, but they had not yet acquired foresight.
+They gladly embraced this opportunity of making themselves, with some
+display, the champions of a Constitutional principle which in fact was
+in no danger, but which power had assumed the air of eluding or
+disavowing. Three of the five honourable members who had been the first
+to restrain the Imperial despotism--Messrs. Raynouard, Gallois, and
+Flaugergues--were the declared adversaries of the bill; and in
+consequence of not having been boldly presented, from the opening, under
+its real and legitimate aspect, the measure entailed more discredit on
+the Government than it afforded them security.
+
+The liberty of the press, that stormy guarantee of modern civilization,
+has already been, is, and will continue to be the roughest trial of free
+governments, and consequently of free people, who are greatly
+compromised in the struggles of their rulers; for in the event of
+defeat, they have no alternative but anarchy or tyranny. Free nations
+and governments have but one honourable and effective method of dealing
+with the liberty of the press,--to adopt it frankly, without undue
+complaisance. Let them not make it a martyr or an idol, but leave it in
+its proper place, without elevating it beyond its natural rank. The
+liberty of the press is neither a power in the State, nor the
+representative of the public mind, nor the supreme judge of the
+executive authorities; it is simply the right of all citizens to give
+their opinions upon public affairs and the conduct of Government,--a
+powerful and respectable privilege, but one naturally overbearing, and
+which, to be made salutary, requires that the constituted authorities
+should never humiliate themselves before it, and that they should impose
+on it that serious and constant responsibility which ought to weigh upon
+all rights, to prevent them from becoming at first seditious, and
+afterwards tyrannical.
+
+The third measure of importance in which I was concerned at this epoch,
+the reform of the general system of public instruction, by a Royal
+ordinance of the 17th of February, 1815, created much less sensation
+than the Law of the Press, and produced even less effect than noise; for
+its execution was entirely suspended by the catastrophe of the 20th of
+March, and not resumed after the Hundred Days. There were more important
+matters then under consideration. This measure was what is now called
+the de-centralization of the University.[6] Seventeen separate
+Universities, established in the principal cities of the kingdom, were
+to be substituted for the one general University of the Empire. Each of
+these local colleges was to have a complete and separate organization,
+both as regarded the different degrees of instruction and the various
+scholastic establishments within its jurisdiction. Over the seventeen
+Universities a Royal Council and a great Normal School were appointed,
+one to superintend the general course of public teaching, and the other
+to train up for professors the chosen scholars who had prepared
+themselves for that career, and who were to be supplied from the local
+Universities. There were two motives for this reform. The first was a
+desire to establish, in the departments, and quite independent of Paris,
+leading centres of learning and intellectual activity; the second, a
+wish to abolish the absolute power which, in the Imperial University,
+held sole control over the establishments and the masters, and to bring
+the former under a closer and more immediate authority, by giving the
+latter more permanence, dignity, and independence in their respective
+positions. These were sound ideas, to carry out which the decree of the
+17th of February, 1815, was but a timid rather than an extended and
+powerful application. The local Universities were too numerous. France
+does not supply seventeen natural centres of high learning. Four or five
+would have sufficed, and more could not have been rendered successful or
+productive. The forgotten reform which I am here recalling had yet
+another fault. It was introduced too soon, and was the result, at once
+systematic and incomplete, of the meditations of certain men long
+impressed with the deficiencies of the University system, and not really
+the fruit of public impulse and opinion. Another influence also appeared
+in it, that of the clergy, who silently commenced at that time their
+struggle with the University, and adroitly looked for the extension of
+their personal power in the progress of general liberty. The decree of
+the 17th of February, 1815, opened this arena, which has since been so
+fiercely agitated. The Abbe de Montesquiou hastened to bestow on the
+clergy an early gratification, that of seeing one of their most justly
+esteemed members, M. de Beausset, formerly Bishop of Alais, at the head
+of the Royal Council. The Liberals of the University gladly seized this
+occasion of increasing their action and independence; and the King,
+Louis XVIII., voluntarily charged his civil list with an additional
+million for the immediate abolition of the University tax, until a new
+law, contained in the preamble of the decree, should come into operation
+to complete the reform, and provide from the public funds for all the
+requirements of the new system.
+
+It becomes my duty here to express my regret for an error which I ought
+to have endeavoured more urgently to prevent. In this reform, the
+opinion and situation of M. de Fontanes were not sufficiently estimated.
+As head of the Imperial University, he had rendered such eminent
+services to public instruction, that the title of Grand Officer of the
+Legion of Honour was far from being a sufficient compensation for the
+retirement which the new system rendered, in his case, desirable and
+almost necessary.
+
+But neither reform in public education, nor any other reform, excited
+much interest at that moment, when France was entirely given up to
+different considerations. Having scarcely entered on the new system, a
+sudden impression of alarm and mistrust began to rise and expand from
+day to day. This system was liberty, with its uncertainties, its
+contests, and its perils. No one was accustomed to liberty, and liberty
+contented no one. From the Restoration, the men of old France promised
+themselves the ascendency; from the Charter, new France expected
+security. Both were dissatisfied. They found themselves drawn up in
+presence of each other, with their opposing passions and pretensions. It
+was a sad disappointment for the Royalists to find the King victorious
+without their being included in the triumph; and it was a bitter
+necessity which reduced the men of the Revolution to the defensive after
+they had so long domineered. Both parties felt surprised and irritated
+at their position, as equally an insult to their dignity and an attack
+upon their rights. In their irritation, they gave themselves up, in
+words and projects, to all the fantasies and transports of their wishes
+and apprehensions. Amongst the rich and powerful of the old classes,
+many indulged, towards the influential members of the new, in menaces
+and insults. At the Court, in the drawing-rooms of Paris, and much more
+in the provinces, by newspapers, pamphlets, and conversation, and in the
+daily conduct of their private lives, the nobles and the citizens, the
+clergy and the laity, the emigrants and the purchasers of national
+property, allowed their animosities, their ill humour, their dreams of
+hope and fear, to exhibit themselves without disguise. This was nothing
+more than the natural and inevitable consequence of the extreme novelty
+of the system which the Charter, seriously interpreted and exercised,
+had suddenly introduced into France. During the Revolution there was
+contest; under the Empire silence; but the Restoration introduced
+liberty into the bosom of peace. In the general inexperience and
+susceptibility, the excitement and stir of freedom amounted to civil war
+on the eve of re-commencement.
+
+To meet the difficulties of such a state of things, to preserve at the
+same time liberty and peace, to cure the wounds without restraining the
+blows, no Government could have been too strong or too able. Louis
+XVIII. and his advisers were unequal to the task. With regard to a
+liberal system, they were neither more experienced nor inured than
+France herself. Their acts appeared to be regulated by no steady
+conviction: they believed that the Charter would check the birth of
+discontent; but when discontent manifested itself rather vehemently,
+they hastened to calm it down by abandoning or modifying the measures
+through which it had been excited. The celebrated rescript of Count
+Beugnot,[7] on the observance of Sundays and religious festivals, ended
+in an abortive law which never came into operation. The offensive
+expressions of Count Ferrand, on introducing to the Chamber of Deputies
+the bill for the restitution of unsold estates to their old
+proprietors,[8] was loudly disavowed, not only in the speeches, but in
+the resolutions and conduct of the Government in that matter. In
+reality, the interests which imagined themselves threatened were in no
+danger whatever; and in the midst of the alarms and remonstrances of
+France, the King and his principal ministers were much more inclined to
+yield than to contend. But having performed this act of constitutional
+wisdom, they believed themselves emancipated from all care, and relapsed
+back into their old tastes and habits, desirous also to live in peace
+with their ancient and familiar friends. It was indeed but a modified
+power, which attached importance to its oaths, and conceived no
+formidable designs against the new rights and interests of the country;
+but it was also an authority without leading vigour, isolated and a
+stranger in its own kingdom, divided and embarrassed within itself, weak
+with its enemies, weak with its friends, seeking only for personal
+security in repose, and called upon hourly to deal with a stubborn and
+restless people, who had suddenly passed from the rugged shocks of
+revolution and war to the difficult exercise of liberty.
+
+Under the prolonged influence of this liberty, such a Government,
+without obstinate prejudices, and disposed to follow public opinion when
+clearly expressed, might have corrected while strengthening itself, and
+from day to day have become more competent to its task. But this
+required time and the concurrence of the country. The country,
+discontented and unsettled, neither knew how to wait nor assist. Of all
+the knowledge necessary to a free people, the most essential point is to
+learn how to bear what displeases them, that they may preserve the
+advantages they possess, and acquire those they desire.
+
+There has been much discussion as to what plots and conspirators
+overthrew the Bourbons, and brought back Napoleon, on the 20th of March,
+1815,--a question of inferior importance, and interesting only as an
+historical curiosity. It is certain that from 1814 to 1815 there
+existed in the army and with the remnants of the Revolution, amongst
+generals and conventionalists, many plans and secret practices against
+the Restoration, and in favour of a new Government,--either the Empire,
+a regency, the Duke of Orleans, or a republic. Marshal Davoust promised
+his support to the Imperial party, and Fouche offered his to all. But if
+Napoleon had remained motionless at the island of Elba, these
+revolutionary projects would, in all probability, have successively
+failed, as did those of the Generals d'Erlon, Lallemand, and Lefevre
+Desnouettes, even so late as the month of March. The fatuity of the
+contrivers of conspiracy is incalculable; and when the event seems to
+justify them, they attribute to themselves the result which has been
+achieved by mightier and much more complicated causes than their
+machinations. It was Napoleon alone who dethroned the Bourbons in 1815,
+by calling up, in his own person, the fanatical devotion of the army,
+and the revolutionary instincts of the popular masses.
+
+However tottering might be the monarchy lately restored, it required
+that great man and a combination of these great social powers to subvert
+it. Stupefied and intimidated, France left events to their course,
+without opposition or confidence. Napoleon adopted this opinion, with
+his admirable penetration:--"They allowed me to arrive," he said to
+Count Mollien, "as they permitted the others to depart."
+
+Four times in less than half a century we have seen kings traverse their
+realms as fugitives. Different enemies have described, with evident
+pleasure, their helplessness and destitution in flight,--a mean and
+senseless gratification, which no one, in the present day, has a right
+to indulge. The retreats of Napoleon in 1814 and 1815 were neither more
+brilliant nor less bitter than those of Louis XVIII. on the 20th of
+March, 1815, of Charles X. in 1830, and of Louis Philippe in 1848. Each
+state of greatness endured the same degradation; every party has the
+same need of modesty and mutual respect. I myself, as much as any
+participator, was impressed, on the 20th of March, 1815, with the
+blindness, the hesitation, the imbecility, the misery of every
+description, to which that terrible explosion gave birth. It would
+afford me no pleasure, and would lead to no advantage, to repeat them.
+People are too much inclined at present to conceal their own weaknesses
+under a display of the deficiencies of royalty. I prefer recording that
+neither royal nor national dignity were wanting at that epoch in noble
+representatives. The Duchess d'Angouleme, at Bordeaux, evinced courage
+equal to her misfortunes, and M. Laine, as president of the Chamber of
+Deputies, protested fearlessly on the 28th of March, in the name of
+justice and liberty, against the event at that time fully accomplished,
+and which no longer encountered, through the wide extent of France, any
+resistance beyond the solitary accents of his voice.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 4: Included in the "Historic Documents," are two letters
+addressed to me by the Abbe de Montesquiou in 1815 and 1816, which
+furnish an idea of my intimacy with him, and show the natural and
+amiable turn of his mind. (Historic Documents, No. IV.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: 'Thoughts upon the Liberty of the Press,' 52 pages, 8vo,
+Paris, 1814. Amongst the "Historic Documents" at the end of this volume,
+some passages from this pamphlet are inserted, which indicate clearly
+its object and character. (Historic Documents, No. V.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Amongst the "Historic Documents" I include the text of this
+decree, and the report to the King which explains its object and
+bearing. (Historic Documents, No. VI.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: June 7th, 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 8: September 13th, 1814.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE HUNDRED DAYS.
+
+1815.
+
+     I IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, TO RESUME MY
+     LECTURES.--UNSETTLED FEELING OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES ON THE RETURN OF
+     NAPOLEON.--ITS REAL CAUSES.--SENTIMENTS OF FOREIGN NATIONS AND
+     GOVERNMENTS TOWARDS NAPOLEON.--APPARENT RECONCILIATION, BUT
+     REAL STRUGGLE, BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND THE LIBERALS.--THE
+     FEDERATES.--CARNOT AND FOUCHE.--DEMONSTRATION OF LIBERTY DURING THE
+     HUNDRED DAYS, EVEN IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE.--LOUIS XVIII. AND HIS
+     COUNCIL AT GHENT.--THE CONGRESS AND M. DE TALLEYRAND AT VIENNA.--I
+     GO TO GHENT ON THE PART OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ROYALIST COMMITTEE AT
+     PARIS.--MY MOTIONS AND OPINIONS DURING THIS JOURNEY.--STATE OF
+     PARTIES AT GHENT.--MY CONVERSATION WITH LOUIS XVIII.--M. DE
+     BLACAS.--M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND.--M. DE TALLEYRAND RETURNS FROM
+     VIENNA.--LOUIS XVIII. RE-ENTERS FRANCE.--INTRIGUE PLANNED AT MONS
+     AND DEFEATED AT CAMBRAY.--BLINDNESS AND IMBECILITY OF THE CHAMBER
+     OF REPRESENTATIVES.--MY OPINION RESPECTING THE ADMISSION OF FOUCHE
+     INTO THE KING'S CABINET.
+
+
+The King having quitted, and the Emperor having re-entered Paris, I
+resumed my literary pursuits, determined to keep aloof from all secret
+intrigue, all useless agitation, and to occupy myself with my historical
+labours and studies, not without a lively regret that the political
+career which had scarcely opened to me, should be so suddenly closed.[9]
+It is true I did not believe that I was excluded beyond the possibility
+of return. Not but that the miraculous success of Napoleon had convinced
+me there was a power within him which, after witnessing his fall, I was
+far from believing. Never was personal greatness displayed with more
+astounding splendour; never had an act more audacious, or better
+calculated in its audacity, arrested the imagination of nations. Neither
+was external support wanting to the man who relied so much on himself,
+and on himself alone.
+
+The army identified itself with him, with an enthusiastic and blind
+devotion. Amongst the popular masses, a revolutionary and warlike
+spirit, hatred of the old system and national pride, rose up at his
+appearance and rushed madly to his aid. Accompanied by fervent
+worshippers, he re-ascended a throne abandoned to him on his approach.
+But by the side of this overwhelming power, there appeared almost
+simultaneously a proportionate weakness. He who had traversed France in
+triumph, and who by personal influence had swept all with him, friends
+and enemies, re-entered Paris at night, exactly as Louis XVIII. had
+quitted that capital, his carriage surrounded by dragoons, and only
+encountering on his passage a scanty and moody populace. Enthusiasm had
+accompanied him throughout his journey; but at its termination he found
+coldness, doubt, widely disseminated mistrust, and cautious reserve;
+France divided, and Europe irrevocably hostile.
+
+The upper, and particularly the middle classes, have often been
+reproached with their indifference and selfishness. It has been said
+that they think only of their personal interests, and are incapable of
+public principle and patriotism. I am amongst those who believe that
+nations, and the different classes that constitute nations--and, above
+all, nations that desire to be free--can only live in security and
+credit under a condition of moral perseverance and energy; with feelings
+of devotion to their cause, and with the power of opposing courage and
+self-sacrifice to danger. But devotion does not exclude sound sense, nor
+courage intelligence. It would be too convenient for ambitious
+pretenders, to have blind and fearless attachment ever ready at their
+command. It is often the case with popular feeling, that the multitude,
+army or people, ignorant, unreflecting, and short-sighted, become too
+frequently, from generous impulse, the instruments and dupes of
+individual selfishness, much more perverse and more indifferent to their
+fate than that of which the wealthy and enlightened orders are so
+readily accused. Napoleon, perhaps more than any other eminent leader of
+his class, has exacted from military and civil devotion the most trying
+proofs; and when, on the 21st of June, 1815, his brother Lucien, in the
+Chamber of Representatives, reproached France with not having upheld him
+with sufficient ardour and constancy, M. de la Fayette exclaimed, with
+justice: "By what right is the nation accused of want of devotion and
+energy towards the Emperor Napoleon? It has followed him to the burning
+sands of Egypt, and the icy deserts of Moscow; in fifty battle-fields,
+in disaster as well as in triumph, in the course of ten years, three
+millions of Frenchmen have perished in his service. We have done enough
+for him!"
+
+Great and small, nobility, citizens, and peasants, rich and poor,
+learned and ignorant, generals and private soldiers, the French people
+in a mass had, at least, done and suffered enough in Napoleon's cause to
+give them the right of refusing to follow him blindly, without first
+examining whether he was leading them, to safety or to ruin.
+
+The unsettled feeling of the middle classes in 1815 was a legitimate and
+patriotic disquietude. What they wanted, and what they had a right to
+demand, for the advantage of the entire nation as well as for their own
+peculiar interests, was that peace and liberty should be secured to
+them; but they had good reason to question the power of Napoleon to
+accomplish these objects.
+
+Their doubts materially increased when they ascertained the Manifesto of
+the Allied Powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, their declaration
+of March 13th, and their treaty of the 25th. Every reflecting mind of
+the present day must see, that unless the nation had obstinately closed
+its eyes, it could not delude itself as to the actual situation of the
+Emperor Napoleon, and his prospects for the future. Not only did the
+Allied Powers, in proclaiming him the enemy and disturber of the peace
+of the whole world, declare war against him to the last extremity, and
+engage themselves to unite their strength in this common cause, but they
+professed themselves ready to afford to the King of France and the
+French nation the assistance necessary to re-establish public
+tranquillity; and they expressly invited Louis XVIII. to give his
+adhesion to their treaty of March 25th. They laid it down also as a
+principle, that the work of general pacification and reconstruction
+accomplished in Paris by the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814, between
+the King of France and confederated Europe, was in no degree nullified
+by the violent outbreak which had recently burst forth; and that they
+should maintain it against Napoleon, whose return and sudden
+success--the fruit of military and revolutionary excitement--could
+establish no European right whatever, and could never be considered by
+them as the prevailing and true desire of France:--a solemn instance of
+the implacable judgments that, assisted by God and time, great errors
+draw down upon their authors!
+
+The partisans of Napoleon might dispute the opinion of the Allied Powers
+as to the wishes of France; they might believe that, for the honour of
+her independence, she owed him her support; but they could not pretend
+that foreign nations should not also have their independence at heart,
+nor persuade them that, with Napoleon master of France, they could ever
+be secure. No promises, no treaties, no embarrassments, no reverses,
+could give them confidence in his future moderation. His character and
+his history deprived his word of all credit.
+
+It was not alone governments, kings, and ministers who showed themselves
+thus firmly determined to oppose Napoleon's return; foreign nations were
+even more distrustful and more violent against him. He had not alone
+overwhelmed them with wars, taxes, invasions, and dismemberments; he had
+insulted as much as he had oppressed them. The Germans, especially, bore
+him undying hatred. They burned to revenge the injuries of the Queen of
+Prussia, and the contempt with which their entire race had been treated.
+The bitter taunts in which he had often indulged when speaking of them
+were repeated in every quarter, spread abroad and commented on, probably
+with exaggeration readily credited. After the campaign in Russia, the
+Emperor was conversing, one day, on the loss sustained by the French
+army during that terrible struggle. The Duke of Vicenza estimated it at
+200,000 men. "No, no," interrupted Napoleon, "you are mistaken; it was
+not so much." But, after considering a moment, he continued, "And yet
+you can scarcely be wrong; but there were a great many Germans amongst
+them." The Duke of Vicenza himself related this contemptuous remark to
+me; and the Emperor Napoleon must have been pleased both with the
+calculation and reply, for on the 28th of June, 1813, at Dresden, in a
+conversation which has since become celebrated, he held the same
+language to the Prime Minister of the first of the German Powers, to
+M. de Metternich himself. Who can estimate the extent of indignation
+roused by such words and actions, in the souls not only of the heads of
+the government and army--- amongst the Steins, Gneisenaus, Bluechers, and
+Muefflings--but in those of the entire nation? The universal feeling of
+the people of Germany was as fully displayed at the Congress of Vienna
+as the foresight of their diplomatists and the will of their sovereigns.
+
+Napoleon, in quitting Elba, deceived himself as to the disposition of
+Europe towards him. Did he entertain the hope of treating with and
+dividing the Coalition? This has been often asserted, and it may be
+true; for the strongest minds seldom recognize all the difficulties of
+their situation. But, once arrived at Paris, and informed of the
+proceedings of the Congress, he beheld his position in its true light,
+and his clear and comprehensive judgment at once grappled with it in all
+its bearings. His conversations with the thinking men who were then
+about him, M. Mole and the Duke of Vicenza, confirm this opinion. He
+sought still to keep the public in the uncertainty that he himself no
+longer felt. The Manifesto of the Congress of the 13th of March was not
+published in the 'Moniteur' until the 5th of April, and the treaty of
+the 25th of March only on the 3rd of May. Napoleon added long
+commentaries to these documents, to prove that it was impossible they
+could express the final intentions of Europe. At Vienna, both by
+solemnly official letters and secret emissaries, he made several
+attempts to renew former relations with the Emperor Francis, his
+father-in-law, to obtain the return of his wife and son, to promote
+disunion, or at least mistrust, between the Emperor Alexander and the
+sovereigns of England and Austria, and to bring back to his side Prince
+Metternich, and even M. de Talleyrand himself. He probably did not
+expect much from these advances, and felt little surprise at not
+finding, in family ties and feelings, a support against political
+interests and pledges. He understood and accepted without a sentiment of
+anger against any one, and perhaps without self-reproach, the situation
+to which the events of his past life had reduced him. It was that of a
+desperate gamester, who, though completely ruined, still plays on,
+alone, against a host of combined adversaries, a desperate game, with no
+other chance of success than one of those unforeseen strokes that the
+most consummate talent could never achieve, but that Fortune sometimes
+bestows upon her favourites.
+
+It has been, pretended, even by some of his warmest admirers, that at
+this period the genius and energy of Napoleon had declined; and they
+sought in his tendency to corpulence, in his attacks of languor, in his
+long slumbers, the explanation of his ill fortune. I believe the
+reproach to be unfounded, and the pretext frivolous. I can discover in
+the mind or actions of Napoleon during the hundred days, no symptoms of
+infirmity; I find, in both, his accustomed superiority. The causes of
+his ultimate failure were of a deeper cast: he was not then, as he had
+long been, upheld and backed by general opinion, and the necessity of
+security and order felt throughout a great nation; he attempted, on the
+contrary, a mischievous work, a work inspired only by his own passions
+and personal wants, rejected by the morality and good sense, as well as
+by the true interests of France. He engaged in this utterly egotistical
+enterprise with contradictory means, and in an impossible position. From
+thence came the reverses he suffered, and the evil he produced.
+
+It presented a strange spectacle to intelligent spectators, and one
+slightly tinged with the ridiculous, on both sides, to see Napoleon and
+the heads of the Liberal party arranged against each other, not to
+quarrel openly, but mutually to persuade, seduce, and control. A
+superficial glance sufficed to convince that there was little sincerity
+either in their dispute or reconciliation. Both well knew that the real
+struggle lay in other quarters, and that the question upon which their
+fate depended would be settled elsewhere than in these discussions.
+
+If Napoleon had triumphed over Europe, assuredly he would not long have
+remained the rival of M. de La Fayette and the disciple of Benjamin
+Constant; but when he lost the day of Waterloo, M. de La Fayette and his
+friends set themselves to work to complete his overthrow.
+
+From necessity and calculation, the true thoughts and passions of men
+are sometimes buried in the recesses of their hearts; but they quickly
+mount to the surface as soon as an opportunity occurs for their
+reappearing with success. Frequently did Napoleon resign himself, with
+infinite pliability, shrewdness, and perception, to the farce that he
+and the Liberals were playing together; at one moment gently, though
+obstinately, defending his old policy and real convictions; and at
+another yielding them up with good grace, but without positive
+renunciation, as if out of complaisance to opinions which he hesitated
+to acknowledge. But now and then, whether from premeditation or
+impatience, he violently resumed his natural character; and the despot,
+who was at once the child and conqueror of the Revolution, reappeared in
+complete individuality.
+
+When an attempt was made to induce him to insert, in the Additional Act
+to the Constitutions of the Empire, the abolition of the confiscation
+proclaimed by the Charter of Louis XVIII., he exclaimed passionately,
+"They drive me into a path that is not my own; they enfeeble and enchain
+me. France will seek, and find me no longer. Her opinion of me was once
+excellent; it is now execrable. France demands what has become of the
+old arm of the Emperor, the arm which she requires to control Europe.
+Why talk to me of innate virtue, of abstract justice, of natural laws?
+The first law is necessity; the first principle of justice is public
+safety ... Every day has its evil, every circumstance its law, every man
+his own nature; mine is not that of an angel. When peace is made, we
+shall see." On another occasion, on this same question of preparing the
+Additional Act, and with reference to the institution of an hereditary
+peerage, he yielded to the excursive rapidity of his mind, taking the
+subject by turns under different aspects, and giving unlimited vent to
+contradictory observations and opinions. "Hereditary peerage," said he,
+"is opposed to the present state of public opinion; it will wound the
+pride of the army, deceive the expectations of the partisans of
+equality, and raise against myself a thousand individual claims. Where
+do you wish me to look for the elements of that aristocracy which the
+peerage demands?... Nevertheless a constitution without an aristocracy
+resembles a balloon lost in the air. A ship is guided because there are
+two powers which balance each other; the helm finds a fulcrum. But a
+balloon is the sport of a single power; it has no fulcrum. The wind
+carries it where it will, and control is impossible."
+
+When the question of principle was decided, and the nomination of his
+hereditary house of peers came under consideration, Napoleon was anxious
+to include many names from amongst the old Royalists; but after mature
+reflection, he renounced this idea, "not," says Benjamin Constant,
+"without regret," and exclaimed, "We must have them sooner or later; but
+memories are too recent. Let us wait until after the battle--they will
+be with me if I prove the strongest."
+
+He would thus willingly have deferred all questions, and have done
+nothing until he came back a conqueror; but with the Restoration liberty
+once more re-entered France, and he himself had again woke up the
+Revolution. He found himself in conflict with these two forces,
+constrained to tolerate, and endeavouring to make use of them, until the
+moment should arrive when he might conquer both.
+
+He had no sooner adopted all the pledges of liberty that the Additional
+Act borrowed from the Charter, than he found he had still to deal with
+another ardent desire, another article of faith, of the Liberals, still
+more repugnant to his nature. They demanded an entirely new
+constitution, which should confer on him the Imperial crown by the will
+of the nation, and on the conditions which that will prescribed. This
+was, in fact, an attempt to remodel, in the name of the sovereign
+people, the entire form of government, institutional and dynastic; an
+arrogant and chimerical mania which, a year before, had possessed the
+Imperial Senate when they recalled Louis XVIII., and which has vitiated
+in their source nearly all the political theories of our time.
+
+Napoleon, while incessantly proclaiming the supremacy of the people,
+viewed it in a totally different light. "You want to deprive me of my
+past," said he, to his physicians; "I desire to preserve it. What
+becomes then of my reign of eleven years? I think I have some right to
+call it mine; and Europe knows that I have. The new constitution must be
+joined to the old one; it will thus acquire the sanction of many years
+of glory and success."
+
+He was right: the abdication demanded of him was more humiliating than
+that of Fontainebleau; for, in restoring the throne to him, they at the
+same time compelled him to deny himself and his immortal history. By
+refusing this, he performed an act of rational pride; and in the
+preamble as well as in the name of the Additional Act, he upheld the old
+Empire, while he consented to modified reforms. When the day of
+promulgation arrived, on the 1st of June, at the Champ de Mai, his
+fidelity to the Imperial traditions was less impressive and less
+dignified. He chose to appear before the people with all the outward
+pomp of royalty, surrounded by the princes of his family arrayed in
+garments of white taffeta, by the great dignitaries, in orange-coloured
+mantles, by his chamberlains and pages:--a childish attachment to
+palatial splendour, which accorded ill with the state of public affairs,
+and deeply disgusted public feeling, when, in the midst of this
+glittering pageant, twenty thousand soldiers were seen to march past and
+salute the Emperor, on their road to death.
+
+A few days before, a very different ceremony had revealed another
+embarrassing inconsistency in the revived Empire. While discussing with
+the Liberal aristocracy his new constitution, Napoleon endeavoured to
+win over and subdue, while he flattered, the revolutionary democrats.
+The population of the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau became
+excited, and conceived the idea of forming themselves into a federation,
+as their fathers had done, and of demanding from the Emperor leaders and
+arms. They obtained their desire; but they were no longer _Federates_,
+as in 1792; they were now called _Confederates_, in the hope that, by a
+small alteration of name, earlier reminiscences might be effaced. A
+police regulation minutely settled the order of their progress through
+the streets, provided against confusion, and arranged the ceremonial of
+their introduction to the Emperor, in the courtyard of the Tuileries.
+They presented an address, which was long and heavy to extreme
+tediousness. He thanked them by the name of "federated soldiers"
+(_soldats federes_), carefully impressing upon them, himself, the
+character in which it suited him to regard them. The next morning, the
+'Journal de l'Empire' contained the following paragraph:--"The most
+perfect order was maintained, from the departure of the Confederates
+until their return; but in several places we heard with pain the
+Emperor's name mingled with songs which recall a too memorable epoch."
+This was being rather severely scrupulous on such an occasion.
+
+Some days later, I happened to pass through the garden of the Tuileries.
+A hundred of these Federates, shabby enough in appearance, had assembled
+under one of the balconies of the palace, shouting, "_Long live the
+Emperor!_" and trying to induce him to show himself. It was long before
+he complied; but at length a window opened, the Emperor came forward,
+and waved his hand to them; but almost instantly the window was
+re-closed, and I distinctly saw Napoleon retire, shrugging his
+shoulders; vexed, no doubt, at being obliged to lend himself to
+demonstrations so repugnant in their nature, and so unsatisfactory in
+their limited extent.
+
+He was desirous of giving more than one pledge to the revolutionary
+party. Before reviewing their battalions in the court of his palace, he
+had taken into council the oldest and most celebrated of their leaders;
+but I scarcely think he expected from them any warm co-operation.
+Carnot, an able officer, a sincere republican, and as honest a man as an
+idle fanatic can possibly be, could not fail to make a bad Minister of
+the Interior; for he possessed neither of the two qualities essential to
+this important post,--knowledge of men, and the power of inspiring and
+directing them otherwise than by general maxims and routine.
+
+Napoleon knew better than anybody else how Fouche regulated the
+police,--for himself first, and for his own personal power; next for the
+authority that employed him, and just as long as he found greater
+security or advantage in serving than in betraying that authority. I
+only met the Duke of Otranto twice, and had but two short conversations
+with him. No man ever so thoroughly gave me the idea of fearless,
+ironical, cynical indifference, of imperturbable self-possession
+combined with an inordinate love of action and prominence, and of a
+fixed resolution to stop at nothing that might promote success, not from
+any settled design, but according to the plan or chance of the moment.
+He had acquired from his long associations as a Jacobin proconsul, a
+kind of audacious independence; and remained a hardened pupil of the
+Revolution, while, at the same time, he became an unscrupulous implement
+of the Government and the Court. Napoleon assuredly placed no confidence
+in such a man, and knew well that, in selecting him as a minister, he
+would have to watch more than he could employ him. But it was necessary
+that the revolutionary flag should float clearly over the Empire under
+its proper name; and he therefore preferred to endure the presence of
+Carnot and Fouche in his cabinet, rather than to leave them without, to
+murmur or conspire with certain sections of his enemies. At the moment
+of his return, and during the first weeks of the resuscitated Empire, he
+probably reaped from this double selection the advantage that he
+anticipated; but when the dangers and difficulties of his situation
+manifested themselves, when he came to action with the distrustful
+Liberals within, and with Europe without,--Carnot and Fouche became
+additional dangers and difficulties in his path. Carnot, without
+absolute treachery, served him clumsily and coldly; for in nearly all
+emergencies and questions he inclined much more to the Opposition than
+to the Emperor; but Fouche betrayed him indefinitely, whispering and
+arguing in an under tone, of his approaching downfall, with all who
+might by any possible chance happen to be his successors; just as an
+indifferent physician discourses by the bedside of a patient who has
+been given over.
+
+Even amongst his most trusted and most devoted adherents, Napoleon no
+longer found, as formerly, implicit faith and obedient temperaments,
+ready to act when and how he might please to direct. Independence of
+mind and a feeling of personal responsibility had resumed, even in his
+nearest circle, their scruples and their predominance. Fifteen days
+after his arrival in Paris, he summoned his Grand Marshal, General
+Bertrand, and presented to him, for his counter-signature, the decree
+dated from Lyons, in which he ordered the trials and sequestration of
+property of the Prince de Talleyrand, the Duke of Ragusa, the
+Abbe de Montesquiou, M. Bellard, and nine other persons, who in 1814,
+before the abdication, had contributed to his fall. General Bertrand
+refused. "I am astonished," said the Emperor, "at your making such
+objections; this severity is necessary for the good of the State." "I do
+not believe it, Sire." "But I do, and I alone have the right to judge. I
+have not asked your concurrence, but your signature, which is a mere
+matter of form, and cannot compromise you in the least." "Sire, a
+minister who countersigns the decree of his sovereign becomes morally
+responsible. Your Majesty has declared by proclamation that you granted
+a general amnesty. I countersigned that with all my heart; I will not
+countersign the decree which revokes it."
+
+Napoleon urged and cajoled in vain; Bertrand remained inflexible, the
+decree appeared without his signature: and Napoleon might, even on the
+instant, have convinced himself that the Grand Marshal was not the only
+dissentient; for, as he crossed the apartment in which his aides-de-camp
+were assembled, M. de La Bedoyere said, loud enough to be overheard, "If
+the reign of proscriptions and sequestrations recommences, all will soon
+be at an end."
+
+When liberty reaches this point in the interior of the palace, it may be
+presumed that it reigns predominantly without. After several weeks of
+stupor, it became, in fact, singularly bold and universal. Not only did
+civil war spring up in the western departments, not only were flagrant
+acts of resistance or hostility committed in several parts of the
+country, and in important towns, by men of consequence,--but everywhere,
+and particularly in Paris, people thought, and uttered their thoughts
+without reserve; in public places as well as in private drawing-rooms,
+they went to and fro, expressing hopes and engaging in hostile plots, as
+if they were lawful and certain of success; journals and pamphlets,
+increased daily in number and virulence, and were circulated almost
+without opposition or restraint. The warm friends and attached servants
+of the Emperor testified their surprise and indignation.
+
+Fouche pointed out the mischief, in his official reports to Napoleon,
+and requested his concurrence in taking measures of repression. The
+'Moniteur' published these reports; and the measures were decreed.
+Several arrests and prosecutions took place, but without vigour or
+efficacy. From high to low, the greater portion of the agents of
+government had neither zeal in their cause, nor confidence in their
+strength. Napoleon was aware of this, and submitted, as to a necessity
+of the moment, to the unlicensed freedom of his opponents, maintaining,
+without doubt, in his own heart, the opinion he had declared aloud on a
+previous occasion,--"I shall have them all with me if I prove the
+strongest."
+
+I question whether he appreciated justly, and at its true value, one of
+the causes, a hidden but powerful one, of the feebleness that
+immediately succeeded his great success. Notwithstanding the
+widely-spread discontent, uneasiness, mistrust, and anger that the
+Government of the Restoration had excited, a universal feeling soon
+sprang up, that there was not enough to justify a revolution, the
+opposition of an armed force against authority legally established, or
+the involvement of the country in the dangers to which it was exposed.
+The army had been drawn towards its old chief by a strong sentiment of
+attachment and generous devotion, rather than from views of personal
+interest; the army, too, was national and popular; but nothing could
+change the nature of acts or the meaning of words. The violation of an
+oath, desertion with arms in their hands, the sudden passing over from
+one camp to another, have always been condemned by honour as well as
+duty, civil or military, and denominated treason. Individuals, nations,
+or armies, men under the influence of a controlling passion, may
+contemn, at the first moment, or perhaps do not feel the moral
+impression which naturally attaches itself to their deeds; but it never
+fails to present itself, and, when seconded by the warnings of prudence
+or the blows of misfortune, it soon regains its empire.
+
+It was the evil destiny of the Government of the Hundred Days that the
+influence of moral opinion ranged itself on the side of its adversaries
+the Royalists; and that the conscience of the nation, clearly or
+obscurely, spontaneously or reluctantly, justified the severe judgments
+to which its origin had given rise.
+
+I and my friends attentively watched the progress of the Emperor's
+affairs and of the public temper. We soon satisfied ourselves that
+Napoleon would fall, and that Louis XVIII. would re-ascend the throne.
+While this was our impression of the future, we felt hourly more
+convinced that, from the deplorable state into which the enterprise of
+the Hundred Days had plunged France, abroad and at home, the return of
+Louis XVIII. would afford her the best prospect of restoring a regular
+government within, peace without, and the reassumption of her proper
+rank in Europe. In public life, duty and reason equally dictate to us to
+encourage no self-delusion as to what produces evil; but to adopt the
+remedy firmly, however bitter it may be, and at whatever sacrifice it
+may demand. I had taken no active part in the first Restoration; but I
+concurred, without hesitation, in the attempts of my friends to
+establish the second under the most favourable conditions for
+preserving the dignity, liberty, and repose of France.
+
+Our tidings from Ghent gave us much uneasiness. Acts and institutions,
+all the problems of principle or expediency which we flattered ourselves
+had been solved in 1814, were again brought forward. The struggle had
+recommenced between the Constitutional Royalists and the partisans of
+absolute power, between the Charter and the old system. We often smile
+ourselves, and seek to make others smile, when we revert to the
+discussions, rival pretensions, projects, hopes, and fears which
+agitated this small knot of exiles, gathered round an impotent and
+throneless monarch. Such an indulgence is neither rational nor
+dignified. What matters it whether the theatre be great or small,
+whether the actors fail or succeed, or whether the casualties of human
+life are displayed with imposing grandeur or contemptible meanness? The
+true measurement lies in the subjects discussed and the future destinies
+prepared. The question in debate at Ghent was how France should be
+governed when this aged King, without state or army, should be called on
+a second time to interpose between her and Europe. The problem and the
+solution in perspective were sufficiently important to occupy the minds
+of reflecting men and honest citizens.
+
+The intelligence from Vienna was no less momentous. Not that in reality
+there was either doubt or hesitation in the plans or union of the Allied
+Powers. Fouche, who had for some time been in friendly correspondence
+with Prince Metternich, made many overtures to him which the Chancellor
+of Austria did not absolutely reject. Every possible modification which
+promised a government to France was permitted to suggest itself. All
+were discussed in the cabinets or drawing-rooms of the Ministers, and
+even in the conferences of the Congress. In these questions were
+included, Napoleon II. and a Regency, the Duke of Orleans, and the
+Prince of Orange. The English Ministry, speaking with the authority of
+Parliament, announced that they had no intention of carrying on war
+merely for the purpose of imposing any particular form of government or
+dynasty on France; and the Austrian Cabinet seconded this declaration.
+But these were only personal reserves, or an apparent compliance with
+circumstances, or methods of obtaining correct knowledge, or mere topics
+of conversation, or the anticipation of extreme cases to which the
+leaders of European politics never expected to be reduced. Diplomacy
+abounds in acts and propositions of little moment or value, which it
+neither denies nor acknowledges; but they exercise no real influence on
+the true convictions, intents, and labours of the directors of
+government.
+
+Without wishing to proclaim it aloud, or to commit themselves by formal
+and public declarations, the leading kingdoms of Europe, from principle,
+interest, or honour, looked upon their cause at this period as allied,
+in France, with that of the House of Bourbon. It was near Louis XVIII.
+in his exile, that their ambassadors continued to reside; and with all
+the European Governments, the diplomatic agents of Louis XVIII.
+represented France. By the example and under the guidance of
+M. de Talleyrand, all these agents, in 1815, remained firm to the Royal
+cause, either from fidelity or foresight, and satisfied themselves, with
+him, that in that cause lay final success.
+
+But, side by side with this general disposition of Europe in favour of
+the House of Bourbon, a balancing danger presented itself,--an
+apprehension that the sovereigns and diplomatists assembled at Vienna
+had become convinced that the Bourbons were incapable of governing
+France. They had all, for twenty years, treated with and known France
+such as the Revolution and the Empire had made her. They still feared
+her, and deeply pondered over her position. The more uneasy they became
+at her leaning towards anarchy and war, the more they judged it
+indispensable that the ruling power should be placed in the hands of
+considerate, able, and prudent men, capable of understanding their
+functions, and of making themselves understood in their turn. For a
+considerable time they had ceased to retain any confidence in the
+companions of exile and courtiers of Louis XVIII.; and late experience
+had redoubled their mistrust. They looked upon the old Royalist party as
+infinitely more capable of ruining kings than of governing states.
+
+A personal witness to these conflicting doubts of the foreign Powers as
+to the future they were tracing themselves, M. de Talleyrand, at Vienna,
+had also his own misgivings. Amidst all the varied transformations of
+his life and politics, and although the last change had made him the
+representative of the ancient royalty, he did not desire, and never had
+desired, to separate himself entirely from the Revolution; he was linked
+to it by too many decided acts, and had acknowledged and served it
+under too many different forms, not to feel himself defeated when the
+Revolution was subdued. Without being revolutionary either by nature or
+inclination, it was in that camp that he had grown up and prospered, and
+he could not desert it with safety. There are certain defections which
+skilful egotism takes care to avoid; but the existing state of public
+affairs, and his own particular position, pressed conjointly and
+weightily upon him at this juncture. What would become of the
+revolutionary cause and its partisans under the second Restoration, now
+imminently approaching? What would even be the fate of this second
+Restoration if it could not govern and uphold itself better than its
+predecessor? Under the second, as under the first, M. de Talleyrand
+played a distinguished part, and rendered important services to the
+Royal cause. What would be the fruit of this as regarded himself? Would
+his advice be taken, and his co-operation be accepted? Would the
+Abbe de Montesquiou and M. de Blacas still be his rivals? I do not
+believe he would have hesitated, at this epoch, as to which cause he
+should espouse; but feeling his own power, and knowing that the Bourbons
+could scarcely dispense with him, he allowed his predilections for the
+past and his doubts for the future to betray themselves.
+
+Well informed of all these facts, and of the dispositions of the
+principal actors, the Constitutional Royalists who were then gathered
+round M. Royer-Collard, considered it their duty to lay before Louis
+XVIII., without reserve, their opinions of the state of affairs, and of
+the line of conduct it behoved him to adopt. It was not only desirable
+to impress on him the necessity of perseverance in a system of
+constitutional government, and in the frank acknowledgment of the state
+of social feeling in France, such as the new times had made it; but it
+was also essential to enter into the question of persons, and to tell
+the King that the presence of M. de Blacas near him would militate
+strongly against his cause; to request the dismissal of that favourite,
+and to call for some explicit act or public declaration, clearly
+indicating the intentions of the monarch on the eve of re-assuming
+possession of his kingdom; and finally to induce him to attach much
+weight to the opinions and influence of M. de Talleyrand, with whom it
+must be observed that, at this period, none of those who gave this
+advice had any personal connection, and to the greater part of whom he
+was decidedly objectionable.
+
+Being the youngest and most available of this small assembly, I was
+called on to undertake a mission not very agreeable in itself. I
+accepted the duty without hesitation. Although I had then little
+experience of political animosities and their blind extremes, I could
+not avoid perceiving which party of opponents would one day be likely to
+turn on me for taking this step; but I should feel ashamed of myself if
+fear of responsibility and apprehensions for the future could hold me
+back when circumstances call upon me to act, within the limits of duty
+and conviction, as the good of my country demands.
+
+I left Paris on the 23rd of May. One circumstance alone is worthy of
+notice in my journey--the facility with which I accomplished it. It is
+true there were many police restrictions on the roads and along the
+frontier; but the greater part of the agents were neither zealous nor
+particular in enforcing them. Their speech, their silence, and their
+looks, implied a kind of understood permission and tacit connivance.
+More than one official face appeared to say to the unknown traveller,
+"Pass on quickly," as if they dreaded making a mistake, or damaging a
+useful work by interfering with its supposed design. Having arrived at
+Ghent, I called first on the men I knew, and whose views corresponded
+with my own, MM. de Jaucourt, Louis, Beugnot, de Lally-Tolendal, and
+Mounier. I found them all faithful to the cause of the Constitution, but
+sad as exiles, and anxious as advisers without repose in banishment; for
+they had to combat incessantly with the odious or absurd passions and
+plans of the spirit of reaction.
+
+The same facts furnish to different parties the most opposite
+conclusions and arguments; the catastrophe, which again attached some
+more firmly than ever to the principles and politics of the Charter, was
+to others the sentence of the Charter; and a convincing proof that
+nothing but a return to the old system could save the monarchy. I need
+not repeat the details, given to me by my friends, of the advice with
+which the counter-revolutionists and partisans of absolutism beset the
+King; for in the idleness that succeeds misfortune, men give themselves
+up to dreams, and helpless passion engenders folly. The King stood firm,
+and agreed with his constitutional advisers. The Report on the state of
+France presented to him by M. de Chateaubriand a few days before we
+arrived, in the name of the whole Council, and which had just been
+published in the 'Moniteur of Ghent,' contained an eloquent exposition
+of the liberal policy acknowledged by the monarch. But the party thus
+rejected were not disposed to yield; they surrounded the King they were
+unable to control, and found their strongest roots in his own family and
+bosom friends. The Count d'Artois was their ostensible chief, and
+M. de Blacas their discreet but steady ally. Through them they hoped to
+gain a victory as necessary as it was difficult.
+
+I requested the Duke de Duras to demand for me a private audience of the
+King. The King received me the next day, June 1st, and detained me
+nearly an hour. I have no turn for the minute and settled parade of such
+interviews; I shall therefore only relate of this, and of the
+impressions which it produced on me, what still appears to be worthy of
+remembrance.
+
+Two points have remained strongly imprinted upon my memory--the
+impotence and dignity of the King. There was in the aspect and attitude
+of this old man, seated immovably and as if nailed to his arm-chair, a
+haughty serenity, and, in the midst of his feebleness, a tranquil
+confidence in the power of his name and rights, which surprised and
+touched me. What I had to say could not fail to be displeasing to him;
+and from respect, not calculation, I began with what was agreeable: I
+spoke of the royalist feeling which day by day exhibited itself more
+vehemently in Paris. I then related to him several anecdotes and
+couplets of songs, in corroboration of this. Such light passages
+entertained and pleased him, as men are gratified with humorous
+recitals, who have no sources of gaiety within themselves.
+
+I told him that the hope of his return was general. "But what is
+grievous, Sire, is that, while believing in the re-establishment of the
+monarchy, there is no confidence in its duration." "Why is this?" I
+continued; "when the great artisan of revolution is no longer there,
+monarchy will become permanent; it is clear that, if Bonaparte returns
+to Elba, it will only be to break out again; but let him be disposed of,
+and there will be an end to revolutions also.--People cannot thus
+flatter themselves, Sire; they fear something beyond Bonaparte, they
+dread the weakness of the royal government; its wavering between old and
+new ideas, between past and present interests, and they fear the
+disunion, or at least the incoherence of its ministers."
+
+The King made no reply. I persisted, and mentioned M. de Blacas. I said
+that I was expressly charged by men whom the King knew to be old,
+faithful, and intelligent servants, to represent to him the mistrust
+which attached itself to that name, and the evil that would result from
+it to himself. "I will fulfil all that I have promised in the Charter;
+names are not concerned with that; France has nothing to do with the
+friends I entertain in my palace, provided no act emanates from them
+injurious to the country? Speak to me of more serious causes of
+uneasiness." I entered into some details, and touched on various points
+of party intrigues and menaces. I also spoke to the King, of the
+Protestants in the south, of their alarms, of the violence even of
+which, in some instances, they had already been the objects. "This is
+very bad," said he: "I will do all I can to stop it; but I cannot
+prevent everything,--I cannot, at the same time, be a liberal and an
+absolute king." He questioned me upon several recent occurrences, and
+respecting some members of the Imperial Administration. "There are two,
+Sire, who, knowing that I was about to seek an audience of the King,
+have requested me to mention their names, and to assure him of their
+devotion." "Who are they?"--"The Arch-chancellor and M. Mole." "For
+M. Mole, I rely upon him, and am glad of his support; I know his worth.
+As to M. Cambaceres, he is one of those whom I neither ought nor wish to
+hear named." I paused there. I was not ignorant that at that time the
+King was in communication with Fouche, a much more objectionable
+regicide than Cambaceres; but I was a little surprised that the secret
+relations caused by pressing emergency did not prevent him from
+maintaining aloud, and as a general theory, a line of conduct most
+natural under his circumstances. He was certainly far from foreseeing
+the disgust that would ensue from his connection with the Duke of
+Otranto. He dismissed me with some commonplace words of kindness,
+leaving on me the impression of a sensible and liberal mind, outwardly
+imposing, shrewd with individuals, careful of appearances, thinking
+little, and not profoundly informed, and almost as incapable of the
+errors which destroy, as of the great strokes which establish the future
+of royal dynasties.
+
+I then visited M. de Blacas. He had evinced some prepossession against
+me. "What brings this young man here?" said he to Baron d'Eckstein,
+Commissary-General of Police to the King of the Netherlands, at Ghent.
+"He comes from I know not who, with some mission that I am ignorant of,
+to the King." He was fully acquainted both with my mission and my
+friends. However, he received me with perfect civility, and I must add
+with honourable frankness, inquiring what they said at Paris, and why
+they were so incensed against him. He spoke to me even of his
+differences with the Abbe de Montesquiou, complaining of the sallies and
+whims which had embroiled them to the detriment of the King's service. I
+replied with equal candour; and his bearing during the whole of our
+interview was dignified, with a slight degree of reserve, expressing
+more surprise than irritation. I find in some notes written after I left
+him, this sentence:--"I am much mistaken if his mistakes do not chiefly
+proceed from the mediocrity of his intellect."
+
+The situation of M. de Chateaubriand at Ghent was singular. A member of
+the King's Council, he brilliantly exposed its policy in official
+publications, and defended them in the 'Moniteur of Ghent' with the same
+attractive power; but he was dissatisfied with everybody, and no one
+placed much confidence in him. I believe that neither then nor later did
+the King or the different Cabinets understand M. de Chateaubriand, or
+sufficiently appreciate his concurrence or hostility. He was, I admit, a
+troublesome ally; for he aspired to all things, and complained of all.
+On a level with the rarest spirits and most exalted imaginations, it was
+his chimera to fancy himself equal to the greatest masters in the art of
+government, and to feel bitterly hurt if he were not looked upon as the
+rival of Napoleon as well as of Milton. Prudent men did not lend
+themselves to this complaisant idolatry; but they forgot too much what,
+either as friend or enemy, he to whom they refused it was worth. They
+might, by paying homage to his genius and satisfying his vanity, have
+lulled to rest his ambitious dreams; and if they had not the means of
+contenting him, they ought in either case, from prudence as well as from
+gratitude, not only to have humoured, but to have gained him over
+completely to their side. He was one of those towards whom ingratitude
+was as dangerous as unjust; for they resent passionately, and know how
+to revenge without treachery. He lived at Ghent in great intimacy with
+M. Bertin, and assumed thenceforward that influence over the 'Journal
+des Debats' which he afterwards so powerfully employed. Notwithstanding
+the cordiality of our first acquaintance, there had been for some time a
+considerable coolness between us. In 1814 he was discontented with, and
+spoke ill of the Abbe de Montesquiou and his friends. I was nevertheless
+equally surprised at and sorry for the injustice and error committed in
+thinking so little of one they used so much, and I regretted not meeting
+him oftener, and on a more amicable footing.
+
+In the midst of these discussions, not only of principles and parties,
+but of private interests and coteries, we waited, at a distance from
+France, and scarcely knowing how to occupy our minds or time, the issue
+of the struggle between Napoleon and Europe;--a most painful situation,
+which I endured to serve the cause I believed and have never ceased to
+believe just, though I hourly felt its complicated vexations. I shall
+not linger here to describe them; nothing is more repugnant to my
+nature than to volunteer a display of my own feelings, especially when I
+am well aware that many, who listen, cannot or will not understand or
+believe me. I care little for mistake or invective; either is the
+natural condition of public life: but I do not feel called upon to enter
+into useless controversies in my own defence; I know how to wait for
+justice without demanding it.
+
+The battle of Waterloo terminated our passive anxiety. The King quitted
+Ghent on the 22nd of June, urged by his trustiest friends, and by his
+own judgment, not to lose a moment in placing himself between divided
+France and foreign invasion. I set out the next day with M. Mounier, and
+on the same evening we rejoined the King at Mons, where he had paused in
+his journey.
+
+Then burst forth, through the agency of new actors, and by contrivances
+still unexplained, the _denoument_ that I had been despatched to
+accomplish--the fall of M. de Blacas. I am not disposed to discuss the
+various accounts given by several who were witnesses of or interested in
+the event; I shall simply relate what I myself saw on the spot, as I
+find it detailed in a letter written at Cambray, six days
+afterwards,[10] to the person to whom, in the absence of immediate
+communication, I had the pleasure of relating all that occurred:--
+
+"As we entered Mons (M. Mounier and I), we were told that M. de Blacas
+had been dismissed, and was going as ambassador to Naples; but our
+surprise was great when we also learned that M. de Talleyrand, who had
+lately left Vienna for Brussels, to be within reach of coming events,
+and had arrived at Mons a few hours after the King, had at the same time
+tendered his resignation; that the King, while refusing to accept it,
+had received M. de Talleyrand himself coldly, and that he had set out
+again for Brussels, while, contrary to his advice, the King repaired to
+Cateau-Cambresis, at that moment the head-quarters of the English army.
+We understood nothing whatever of these conflicting incidents, and our
+uneasiness equalled our surprise. We have since been everywhere, we have
+seen everybody,--those of our friends who preceded us to Mons, and the
+foreign ministers who followed the King--MM. de Jaucourt, Louis,
+Beugnot, de Chateaubriand, Pozzo di Borgo, de Vincent;--and, between
+half confidences, restrained anger, deceptive smiles, and sincere
+regrets, we have arrived at last at a tolerably clear understanding of
+the whole matter. The little court of the Count d'Artois, knowing that
+M. de Talleyrand advised the King not to hurry, and that the Duke of
+Wellington, on the contrary, recommended him to advance rapidly into
+France, thought nothing could be better than to drive away both
+M. de Blacas and M. de Talleyrand, and to separate the King from his
+constitutional advisers, as well as from his favourite, by inducing him
+to set out quickly for the head-quarters of the English army, surrounded
+only by the partisans of _Monsieur_, from whom they hoped he would
+select his ministers.
+
+"Our friends were much excited, and the foreigners greatly displeased.
+The latter demanded in whom they could have confidence with regard to
+the French question, and with whom they should treat in such a crisis?
+M. de Talleyrand had returned from Vienna with a great reputation for
+ability and success; in the eyes of Europe he represented France and the
+King. The Austrian Minister had just said to him at Brussels, 'I am
+ordered to consult you on every occasion, and to be guided entirely by
+your advice.' He himself haughtily maintained his discontent, and
+sharply repulsed those who would have persuaded him to rejoin the King.
+After six hours of rather stormy conversation, it was agreed that Pozzo
+di Borgo should repair to Cateau, and persuade the Duke of Wellington to
+take some step which should put an end to this strange misunderstanding;
+and that MM. de Jaucourt, Louis, and Beugnot should at the same time say
+to the King, that the men in whom he appeared to confide entertained
+ideas and projects so diametrically opposed to theirs, that it was
+impossible they could serve him usefully, and therefore requested
+permission to retire. It is probable that reflections and measures in
+conformity with these resolutions had already taken place at Cateau; for
+on the morning of the 25th, at the same time that we received news of
+the occurrences at Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and the embassy of
+the Commissioners to the Allied Sovereigns, a letter arrived at Mons,
+from the Duke of Wellington to M. de Talleyrand, couched, as I have been
+assured, in these exact terms:--
+
+"'I regret much that you have not accompanied the King to this place; it
+is I who have earnestly requested him to enter France at the same time
+with ourselves. If I could have told you the motives which sway me in
+this matter, I have no doubt that you would have given the King the
+same advice. I trust that you will come to hear them.' M. de Talleyrand
+decided upon setting out instantly; and we determined to accompany him.
+We rejoined the King here on the 26th. It was high time; for already a
+proclamation, dated from Cateau, drawn up, it is said, by M. Dambray,
+gave a false colouring to the re-entrance of his Majesty. We have
+hastened to substitute another, of which M. Beugnot is the principal
+author, and which prognosticates a wholesome policy. The King signed it
+without hesitation. It appeared yesterday, to the great satisfaction of
+the public of Cambray. I hope it may produce a similar effect in all
+other quarters."
+
+We indeed hoped and believed that the end of the great crisis which had
+overthrown France, as well as the smaller one which had agitated the
+immediate circle of royalty, was at hand. On all sides affairs appeared
+to tend towards the same issue. The King was in France; a moderate and
+national line of policy prevailed in his councils, and animated his
+words. A feeling of loyalty displayed itself everywhere during his
+progress, not only with his old party, but amongst the masses; every
+hand was raised towards him, as to a plank of safety in a shipwreck. The
+people care little for consistency. At this time I saw, in the northern
+departments, the same popularity surround the exiled King and the
+vanquished army. Napoleon had abdicated in Paris, and, notwithstanding a
+few unworthy alternations of dejection and feverish excitement, of
+resignation and momentary energy, he was evidently incapable of renewing
+the struggle. The Chamber of Representatives, which, from its first
+institution, had shown itself unfavourable to the Imperial system, and
+opposed to revolutionary excesses, appeared to be earnestly occupied in
+threading a perilous defile, by avoiding all violence and every
+irrevocable engagement. Popular passion sometimes murmured, but suffered
+itself to be easily restrained, and even stopped voluntarily, as if
+unaccustomed to action or dominion. The army, the scattered corps of
+which had successively re-united round Paris, had given itself up to
+patriotic fervour, and, together with France, had plunged into an abyss
+to prove its devotion and avenge its injuries: but amongst its oldest
+and most illustrious chiefs, some--such as Gouvion St. Cyr, Macdonald,
+and Oudinot--had refused to join Napoleon, and openly espoused the Royal
+cause; others--like Ney, Davoust, Soult, and Massena--protested with
+stern candour against fatal delusions, considering that their well-tried
+courage entitled them to utter melancholy truths, to offer sage advice,
+and to repress, even by the sacrifice of party credit, military
+excitement or popular disorder; others, in fine, like Drouot, with an
+influence conferred by true courage and virtue, maintained discipline in
+the army in the midst of the mortifications of the retreat behind the
+Loire, and secured its obedience to the authority of a detested civil
+power. After so many mistakes and misfortunes, and in the midst of all
+differences of opinion and situation, there existed still a spontaneous
+desire and a general effort to preserve France from irreparable errors
+and total ruin.
+
+But tardy wisdom does not avail, and, even when they wish to become
+prudent, political genius is wanting to those nations who are not
+accustomed to decide their own affairs or their own destiny. In the
+deplorable state into which the enterprise of an heroic and chimerical
+egotism had thrown France, there was evidently only one line of conduct
+to pursue,--to recognize Louis XVIII., to accept his liberal
+concessions, and to act in concert with him while treating with the
+foreign Powers. This was absolutely necessary; for the most limited mind
+could foresee that the return of the House of Bourbon was an inevitable,
+and all but an accomplished fact. Such a course became also a duty, to
+promote peace and to afford the best means of counteracting the evils of
+invasion; for Louis XVIII. could alone repel them with any show of
+authority. An auspicious future was thus opened to liberty; for reason
+whispered, and experience demonstrated, that, after what had passed in
+France since 1789, despotism could never more be attempted by the
+princes of the House of Bourbon--an insurmountable necessity compelled
+them to adopt defined and constitutional government,--if they resorted
+to extremes, their strength would prove unequal to success. To accept
+without hesitation or delay the second restoration, and to place the
+King, of his own accord, between France and the rest of Europe, became
+the self-evident dictate of patriotism and sound policy.
+
+Not only was this left undone, but every endeavour was used to make it
+appear that the Restoration was exclusively the work of foreign
+interference, and to bring upon France, in addition to her military
+defeat, a political and diplomatic overthrow. It was not independence of
+the Empire, or good intentions towards the country, that were wanting
+in the Chamber of the Hundred Days, but intelligence and resolution. It
+neither lent itself to imperial despotism nor revolutionary violence; it
+was not the instrument of either of the extreme parties,--it applied
+itself honestly to preserve France, on the brink of that abyss towards
+which they had driven her; but it could only pursue a line of negative
+policy, it tacked timidly about before the harbour, instead of boldly
+entering,--closing its eyes when it approached the narrow channel,
+submitting, not from confidence, but from imbecility, to the blindness
+or infatuation of the old or new enemies by whom the King was
+surrounded, and appearing sometimes, from weakness itself, to consent to
+combinations which in reality it tried to elude;--at one moment
+proclaiming Napoleon II., and at another any monarch whom the sovereign
+people might please to select.
+
+To this fruitless vacillation of the only existing public authority, one
+of the most fatally celebrated actors of the worst times of the
+Revolution, Fouche, owed his importance and ephemeral success.
+
+When honest men fail to understand or execute the designs of Providence,
+dishonesty undertakes the task. Under the pressure of circumstances, and
+in the midst of general weakness, corrupt, sagacious, and daring spirits
+are ever at hand, who perceive at once what may happen, or what may be
+attempted, and make themselves the instruments of a triumph to which
+they have no natural claim, but of which they assume the credit, to
+appropriate the fruits. Such a man was the Duke of Otranto during the
+Hundred Days,--a revolutionist transformed into a grandee; and desirous
+of being consecrated in this double character by the ancient royalty of
+France, he employed, to accomplish his end, all the cleverness and
+audacity of a reckless intriguer more clear-sighted and sensible than
+his associates. Perhaps also--for justice ought to retain its scruples
+even towards those who have none themselves--perhaps a desire to save
+his country from violence and useless suffering may have had some share
+in the series of treasons and imperturbable changes of side, by means of
+which, while deceiving and playing alternately with Napoleon, La
+Fayette, and Carnot, the Empire, the Republic, and the regicidal
+Convention, Fouche gained the time that he required to open for himself
+the doors of the King's cabinet, while he opened the gates of Paris to
+the King.
+
+Louis XVIII. offered some resistance, but, notwithstanding what he had
+said to me at Ghent respecting Cambaceres, I doubt whether he objected
+strongly. He was one of those who are dignified from habit and decorum
+rather than from a real and powerful emotion of the soul; and propriety
+disappeared before emergency. He had, as vouchers for the necessities of
+the case, two authorities who were the best calculated to influence his
+decision and uphold his honour; the Duke of Wellington and the Count
+d'Artois both urged him to accept Fouche as a minister:--Wellington, to
+secure an easy return for the King, and also that he himself, and
+England with him, might remain the principal author of the Restoration
+by promptly terminating the war before Paris, where he feared to be
+compromised through the violent hatred of the Prussians; the Count
+d'Artois, with impatient levity, always ready to promise and agree, and
+already entangled through his most active confidant, M. de Vitrolles, in
+the snare which Fouche had spread for the Royalists on every side.
+
+I do not believe in the necessity which they urged upon the King. Fouche
+had no control over Paris; the army had retired; the Federates were more
+noisy than powerful; the Chamber of Representatives consoled themselves,
+by discussing a constitution, for not having dared or known how to form
+a government; no party was either able or disposed to arrest effectually
+the tide which carried the King along. A little less eagerness, and a
+little more determination, would have spared him a sad dishonour. By
+waiting a few days he would have incurred the risk, not of fatal
+resolutions or violence, but merely of the temporary continuance of
+disorder and alarm. Necessity presses upon people as well as on kings:
+that with which Fouche armed himself to become minister to Louis XVIII.
+was factitious and ephemeral; that which brought Louis XVIII. back to
+the Tuileries was real, and became hourly more urgent. There was no
+occasion for him to receive the Duke of Otranto into his cabinet at
+Arnouville; he might have remained there patiently, for they would soon
+have sought him. I thought thus at the time, after having passed two
+days in Paris, where I arrived on the 3rd of July, when the manoeuvres
+of Fouche were following their course. All that I subsequently saw and
+heard tended to confirm me in this opinion.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 9: I owe it to myself to repeat here the retractation of an
+error (I am not disposed to use any other word) entertained in regard to
+my connection with the Hundred Days, and the part I took at that period.
+This retractation, which appeared thirteen years ago in the 'Moniteur
+Universel' of the 4th of February, 1844, is couched in the following
+terms:--"Several journals have recently said or implied that M. Guizot,
+the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was Secretary-General to
+the Ministry of the Interior in 1814 and 1815, had retained his office
+during the Hundred Days, under General Count Carnot, appointed Minister
+of the Interior by the Imperial decree of the 20th of March, 1815; that
+he had signed the Additional Act, and that he had been subsequently
+dismissed. One of these journals has invoked the testimony of the
+'Moniteur.' These assertions are utterly false. M. Guizot, now Minister
+of Foreign Affairs, had, on the 20th of March, 1815, quitted the
+department of the Interior; and by an Imperial decree of the 23rd of the
+same month, his office of Secretary-General was conferred upon Baron
+Basset de Chateaubourg, formerly Prefect (see the 'Bulletin des Lois,'
+no. v. p. 34). The notice in the 'Moniteur' of the 14th of May, 1815,
+page 546, did not refer to M. Francois Guizot, but to M. Jean-Jacques
+Guizot, head-clerk at that time in the Ministry of the Interior, who was
+actually dismissed from his office in the course of May 1815."
+
+Notwithstanding this official refutation, founded on official acts, and
+published in 1844 in the 'Moniteur,' where the error had originated, the
+same mis-statement appeared in 1847, in the 'History of the Two
+Restorations,' by M. Vaulabelle (2nd edition, vol. ii. p. 276), and
+again in 1851, in the 'History of the Restoration,' by M. de Lamartine
+(vol. iv. p. 15).]
+
+[Footnote 10: June 29th, 1815.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE CHAMBER OF 1815.
+
+1815-1816.
+
+     FALL OF M. DE TALLEYRAND AND FOUCHE.--FORMATION OF THE DUKE DE
+     RICHELIEU'S CABINET.--MY CONNECTION AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE
+     ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE WITH M. DE MARBOIS, KEEPER OF THE GREAT
+     SEAL.--MEETING AND ASPECT OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--INTENTIONS
+     AND ATTITUDE OF THE OLD ROYALIST FACTION.--FORMATION AND
+     COMPOSITION OF A NEW ROYALIST PARTY.--STRUGGLE OF CLASSES UNDER
+     THE CLOAK OF PARTIES.--PROVISIONAL LAWS.--BILL OF AMNESTY.--THE
+     CENTRE BECOMES THE GOVERNMENT PARTY, AND THE RIGHT THE
+     OPPOSITION.--QUESTIONS UPON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE STATE
+     AND THE CHURCH.--STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT BEYOND THE
+     CHAMBERS.--INSUFFICIENCY OF ITS RESISTANCE TO THE SPIRIT OF
+     REACTION.--THE DUKE OF FELTRI AND GENERAL BERNARD.--TRIAL OF
+     MARSHAL NEY.--CONTROVERSY BETWEEN M. DE VITROLLES AND ME.--CLOSING
+     OF THE SESSION.--MORTIFICATIONS IN THE CABINET.--M. LAINE MINISTER
+     OF THE INTERIOR.--I LEAVE THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND ENTER THE
+     STATE COUNCIL AS MASTER OF REQUESTS.--THE CABINET ENTERS INTO
+     CONTESTS WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--M. DECAZES.--POSITION OF
+     MESSRS. ROYER-COLLARD AND DE SERRE.--OPPOSITION OF M. DE
+     CHATEAUBRIAND.--THE COUNTRY RISES AGAINST THE CHAMBER OF
+     DEPUTIES.--EFFORTS OF M. DECAZES TO BRING ABOUT A DISSOLUTION.--THE
+     KING DETERMINES ON IT.--DECREE OF THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1816.
+
+
+Three months had scarcely elapsed and neither Fouche nor
+M. de Talleyrand were any longer in the Ministry. They had fallen, not
+under the pressure of any new or unforeseen event, but by the evils
+connected with their personal situation, and their inaptitude for the
+parts they had undertaken to play. M. de Talleyrand had effected a
+miracle at Vienna; by the treaty of alliance concluded on the 3rd
+January, 1815, between France, England, and Austria, he had put an end
+to the coalition formed against us in 1813, and separated Europe into
+two parties, to the advantage of France. But the event of the 20th of
+March had destroyed his work; the European coalition was again formed
+against the Emperor and against France, who had made herself, or had
+permitted herself to be made, the instrument of Napoleon. There was no
+longer a chance of breaking up this formidable alliance. The same
+feeling of uneasiness and mistrust of our faith, the same desire for a
+firm and lasting union, animated the sovereigns and the nations. They
+had speedily arranged at Vienna the questions which had threatened to
+divide them. In this fortified hostility against France the Emperor
+Alexander participated, with extreme irritation towards the House of
+Bourbon and M. de Talleyrand, who had sought to deprive him of his
+allies. The second Restoration was no longer like the first, the
+personal glory and work of M. de Talleyrand; the honour was chiefly due
+to England and the Duke of Wellington. Instigated by self-love and
+policy, the Emperor Alexander arrived at Paris on the 10th of July,
+1815, stern and angrily disposed towards the King and his advisers.
+
+France and the King stood, nevertheless, in serious need of the goodwill
+of the Russian Emperor, encompassed as they were by the rancorous and
+eager ambition of Germany. Her diplomatists drew up the geographical
+chart of our territory, leaving out the provinces of which they desired
+to deprive us. Her generals undermined, to blow into the air, the
+monuments which recalled their defeats in the midst of their victories.
+Louis XVIII. resisted with much dignity these acts of foreign barbarism;
+he threatened to place his chair of state upon the bridge of Jena, and
+said publicly to the Duke of Wellington, "Do you think, my Lord, that
+your Government would consent to receive me if I were again to solicit a
+refuge?" Wellington restrained to the utmost of his power the violence
+of Bluecher, and remonstrated with him by arguments equally urgent and
+politic; but neither the dignity of the King, nor the amicable
+intervention of England were sufficient to curb the overweening
+pretensions of Germany. The Emperor Alexander alone could keep them
+within bounds. M. de Talleyrand sought to conciliate him by personal
+concessions. In forming his cabinet, he named the Duke de Richelieu, who
+was still absent, Minister of the Royal Household, while the Ministry of
+the Interior was held in reserve for Pozzo di Borgo, who would willingly
+have left the official service of Russia to take part in the Government
+of France. M. de Talleyrand placed much faith in the power of
+temptations; but, in this instance, they were of no avail. The
+Duke de Richelieu, probably in concert with the King himself, refused;
+Pozzo di Borgo did not obtain, or dared not to solicit, the permission
+of his master to become, once more, a Frenchman. I saw him frequently,
+and that mind, at once quick and decisive, bold and restless, felt
+keenly its doubtful situation, and with difficulty concealed its
+perplexities. The Emperor Alexander maintained his cold reserve, leaving
+M. de Talleyrand powerless and embarrassed in this arena of negotiation,
+ordinarily the theatre of his success.
+
+The weakness of Fouche was different, and sprang from other causes. It
+was not that the foreign sovereigns and their ministers regarded him
+more favourably than they did M. de Talleyrand, for his admission into
+the King's cabinet had greatly scandalized monarchical Europe; the Duke
+of Wellington alone persisted in still upholding him; but none amongst
+the foreigners either attacked him or appeared anxious for his downfall.
+It was from within that the storm was raised against him. With a
+strangely frivolous presumption, he had determined to deliver up the
+Revolution to the King, and the King to the Revolution, relying upon his
+dexterity and boldness to assist him in passing and repassing from camp
+to camp, and in governing one by the other, while alternately betraying
+both. The elections which took place at this period throughout France,
+signally falsified his hopes. In vain did he profusely employ agents,
+and circular addresses; neither obtained for him the slightest
+influence; the decided Royalists prevailed in nearly every quarter,
+almost without a struggle. It is our misfortune and our weakness, that
+in every great crisis the vanquished become as the dead. The Chamber of
+1815 as yet appeared only in the distance, and already the Duke of
+Otranto trembled as though thunderstruck by the side of the tottering
+M. de Talleyrand. In this opposite and unequal peril, but critical for
+both, the conduct of these two men was very different. M. de Talleyrand
+proclaimed himself the patron of constitutional monarchy, boldly and
+greatly organized as in England. Modifications conformable to the views
+of the Liberal party were in some instances immediately acceded to, and
+in others promised by the Charter. Young men were permitted to enter
+the Chamber of Deputies. Fourteen Articles relative to the constitution
+of this Chamber were submitted for the inspection of the next
+Legislative Assembly. The Peerage was made hereditary. The censorship,
+to which works under twenty printed sheets had been subjected, was
+abolished. A grand Privy Council, on important occasions, united the
+principal men of every party. It was neither the urgent necessity of the
+moment, nor prevailing public opinion, that imposed on restored royalty
+these important reforms: they were enacted by the Cabinet from a desire
+of encouraging free institutions, and of giving satisfaction to the
+party,--I ought rather to say to the small section of enlightened and
+impatient spirits.
+
+The real intentions and measures of Fouche were of a more personal
+nature. Violently menaced by the reaction in favour of royalty, he at
+first endeavoured to appease by feeding it. He consented to make himself
+the instrument of proscription against the very men who, but a short
+time before, were his agents, his confederates, his accomplices, his
+colleagues, and his friends. At the same time that he published
+memorials and circulars showing the necessity of clemency and
+forgetfulness of the past, he placed before the Royal Council a list of
+one hundred and ten names, to be excluded from all amnesty; and when
+strict inquiry had reduced this number to eighteen, subject to
+courts-martial, and to thirty-eight provisionally banished, he
+countersigned without hesitation the decree which condemned them. A few
+days afterwards, and upon his request, another edict revoked all the
+privileges hitherto accorded to the daily papers, imposed upon them the
+necessity of a new license, and subjected them to the censorship of a
+commission, in which several of the principal royalist writers, amongst
+others Messieurs Auger and Fievee, refused to sit under his patronage.
+As little did the justice or national utility of his acts affect the
+Duke of Otranto in 1815, as in 1793; he was always ready to become, no
+matter at what cost, the agent of expediency. But when he saw that his
+severe measures did not protect himself, and perceived the rapidly
+approaching danger, he changed his tactics; the minister of the
+monarchical reaction became again the factious revolutionist. He caused
+to be secretly published and circulated, "Reports to the King," and the
+"Notes to the Foreign Ministers," less calculated to enlighten the
+authorities he addressed, than to prepare for himself arms and allies
+against the Government and the party, from which he saw that he was
+about to be excluded. He was of the number of those who try to make
+themselves feared, by striving to injure when they are no longer
+permitted to serve.
+
+Neither the liberal reforms of M. de Talleyrand, nor the revolutionary
+menaces of the Duke of Otranto, warded off the danger which pressed on
+them. Notwithstanding their extraordinary abilities and long experience,
+both mistook the new aspect of the times, either not seeing, or not
+wishing to see, how little they were in unison with the contests which
+the Hundred Days had revived. The election of a Chamber decidedly
+Royalist, surprised them as an unexpected phenomenon; they both fell at
+its approach, and within a few days of each other; left, nevertheless,
+after their common downfall, in opposite positions. M. de Talleyrand
+retained credit; the King and his new Cabinet loaded him with gifts and
+royal favours; his colleagues during his short administration, Messieurs
+de Jaucourt, Pasquier, Louis and Gouvion St. Cyr, received signal marks
+of royal esteem, and retired from the scene of action as if destined to
+return. Having accepted the trifling and distant embassy to Dresden,
+Fouche hastened to depart, and left Paris under a disguise which he only
+changed when he reached the frontier, fearful of being seen in his
+native land, which he was fated never again to behold.
+
+The Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu entered upon office warmly welcomed
+by the King, and even by the party which had gained the ascendency
+through the present elections. It was indeed a new and thoroughly
+royalist Ministry. Its head, recently arrived in France, honoured by all
+Europe, and beloved by the Emperor Alexander, was to King Louis XVIII.
+what the king himself was to France, the pledge of a more advantageous
+peace. Two of his colleagues, Messieurs Decazes and Dubouchage, had
+taken no part in public affairs previous to the Restoration. The four
+others, Messieurs Barbe-Marbois, de Vaublanc, Coretto, and the Duke of
+Feltri, had recently given proofs of strong attachment to the regal
+cause. Their union inspired hope without suspicion, in the public mind,
+as well as in that of the triumphant party. I was intimately acquainted
+with M. de Marbois; I had frequently met him at the houses of
+Madame de Rumford and Madame Suard. He belonged to that old France
+which, in a spirit of generous liberality, had adopted and upheld, with
+enlightened moderation, the principles most cherished by the France of
+the day. I held under him, in the capacity of a confidential friend, the
+post of Secretary-General to the Ministry of Justice, to which
+M. Pasquier, then keeper of the great seal, had nominated me under the
+Cabinet of M. de Talleyrand. Hardly was the new minister installed in
+office, when the Chamber of Deputies assembled, and in its turn
+established itself. It was almost exclusively Royalist. With
+considerable difficulty, a few men, members of other parties, had
+obtained entrance into its ranks. They found themselves in a state of
+perpetual discomfort, isolated and ill at ease, as though they were
+strangers of suspicious character; and when they endeavoured to declare
+themselves and explain their sentiments, they were roughly driven back
+into impotent silence. On the 23rd of October, 1815, in the debate on
+the Bill presented by M. Decazes for the temporary suspension of
+personal liberty, M. d'Argenson spoke of the reports which had been
+spread abroad respecting the massacre of Protestants in the south. A
+violent tumult arose in contradiction of his statements; he explained
+himself with great reserve. "I name no facts," replied he, "I bring
+forward no charges; I merely say that vague and contradictory rumours
+have reached me; ... the very vagueness of these rumours calls for a report
+from the minister, on the state of the kingdom." M. d'Argenson was not
+only defeated in his object, and interrupted in his speech, but he was
+expressly called to order for having alluded to facts unfortunately too
+certain, but which the Government wished to smother up by silencing all
+debate on the question.
+
+For the first time in five-and-twenty years, the Royalists saw
+themselves in the ascendant. Thoroughly believing that they had obtained
+a legitimate triumph, they indulged unreservedly in the enjoyment of
+power, with a mixture of aristocratic arrogance and new-born zeal, as
+men do when little accustomed to victory, and doubtful of the strength
+they are so eager to display.
+
+Very opposite causes plunged the Chamber of 1815 into the extreme
+reaction which has stamped its historical character. In the first place,
+and above all others, may be named, the good and evil passions of the
+Royalists, their moral convictions and personal resentments, their love
+of order and thirst for vengeance, their pride in the past and their
+apprehensions for the future, their determination to re-establish honour
+and respect for holy observances, their old attachments, their sworn
+pledges, and the gratification of lording it over their conquerors. To
+the violence of passion was joined a prudent calculation of advantage.
+To strengthen their party, and to advance individual fortunes, it was
+essential for the new rulers of France to possess themselves everywhere
+of place and power; therein lay the field to be worked, and the
+territory to be occupied, in order to reap the entire fruits of victory.
+Finally must be added, the empire of ideas, more influential than is
+commonly supposed, and often exercising more power over men, without
+their being conscious of it, than prejudice or interest. After so many
+years of extraordinary events and disputes, the Royalists had, on all
+political and social questions, systematic views to realize, historical
+reminiscences to act upon, requirements of the mind to satisfy. They
+hastened to apply their hands to the work, believing the day at last
+arrived when they could, once more, assume in their own land, morally as
+well as physically, in thought and deed, the superiority which had so
+long been wrested from them.
+
+As it happens in every great crisis of human associations, these
+opposing principles in the reaction of 1815, had each its special and
+exclusively effective representative in the ranks of the Royalists. The
+party had their fighting champion, their political advocate, and their
+philosopher. M. de la Bourdonnaye led their passions, M. de Villele
+their interests, and M. de Bonald their ideas; three men well suited to
+their parts, for they excelled respectively, the first in fiery attack,
+the second in prudent and patient manoeuvring, and the third in
+specious, subtle, and elevated exposition; and all three, although
+unconnected by any previous intimacy, applied their varied talents with
+unflinching perseverance to the common cause.
+
+And what, after all, was the cause? What was, in reality, the end which
+the leaders of the party, apparently on the very verge of success,
+proposed to themselves? Had they been inclined to speak sincerely, they
+would have found it very difficult to answer the question. It has been
+said and believed by many, and probably a great portion of the Royalists
+imagined, in 1815, that their object was to abolish the Charter, and
+restore the old system: a commonplace supposition of puerile credulity;
+the battle-cry of the enemies, whether able or blind, of the
+Restoration. In the height of its most sanguine hopes, the Chamber of
+1815 had formed no idea so extreme or audacious. Replaced as conquerors
+upon the field, not by themselves, but by the errors of their
+adversaries and the course of European events, the old Royalist party
+expected that the reverses of the Revolution and the Empire would bring
+them enormous advantages, and restitution; but they were yet undecided
+as to the use they should make of victory in the government of France,
+when they found themselves in the undisturbed possession of power. Their
+views were as unsettled and confused as their passions were violent;
+above all things, they coveted victory, for the haughty pleasure of
+triumph itself, for the definitive establishment of the Restoration, and
+for their own predominance, by holding power at the centre of
+government, and throughout the departments by administration.
+
+But in those social shocks there are deeper questions involved than the
+actors are aware of. The Hundred Days inflicted on France a much heavier
+evil than the waste of blood and treasure it had cost her; they lit up
+again the old quarrel which the Empire had stifled and the Charter was
+intended to extinguish,--the quarrel between old and new France, between
+the emigrants and the revolutionists. It was not alone between two
+political parties, but between two rival classes, that the struggle
+recommenced in 1815, as it originally exploded in 1789.
+
+An unfavourable position for founding a Government, and, above all, a
+free Government. A certain degree of excitement and emulation invariably
+exists between the people and the political parties, which constitutes
+the very life of the social body, and encourages its energetic and
+wholesome development. But if this agitation is not confined to
+questions of legislature and the conduct of public affairs,--if it
+attacks society in its very basis,--if, instead of emulation between
+parties, there arises hostility amongst classes, the movement ceases to
+be healthy, and changes to a destroying malady, which leads on to the
+most lamentable disorders, and may end in the dissolution of the State.
+The undue ascendency of one class over another, whether of the
+aristocracy or the people, becomes tyranny. The bitter and continued
+struggle of either to obtain the upper hand, is in fact revolution,
+imminently impending or absolutely declared. The world has witnessed, in
+two great examples, the diametrically opposite results to which this
+formidable fact may lead. The contest between the Patricians and
+Plebeians held Rome for ages between the cruel alternations of despotism
+and anarchy, which had no variety but war. As long as either party
+retained public virtue, the republic found grandeur, if not social
+peace, in their quarrel; but when Patricians and Plebeians became
+corrupted by dissension, without agreeing on any fixed principle of
+liberty, Rome could only escape from ruin by falling under the despotism
+and lingering decline of the Empire. England presents to modern Europe a
+different spectacle. In England also, the opposing parties of nobles and
+democrats long contended for the supremacy; but, by a happy combination
+of fortune and wisdom, they came to a mutual compromise, and united in
+the common exercise of power: and England has found, in this amicable
+understanding between the different classes, in this communion of their
+rights and mutual influence, internal peace with greatness, and
+stability with freedom.
+
+I looked forward to an analogous result for my own country, from the
+form of government established by the Charter. I have been accused of
+desiring to model France upon the example of England. In 1815, my
+thoughts were not turned towards England; at that time I had not
+seriously studied her institutions or her history. I was entirely
+occupied with France, her destinies, her civilization, her laws, her
+literature, and her great men. I lived in the heart of a society
+exclusively French, more deeply impregnated with French tastes and
+sentiments than any other. I was immediately associated with that
+reconciliation, blending, and intercourse of different classes, and even
+of parties, which seemed to me the natural condition of our new and
+liberal system. People of every origin, rank, and calling, I may almost
+say of every variety of opinion,--great noblemen, magistrates,
+advocates, ecclesiastics, men of letters, fashion, or business, members
+of the old aristocracy, of the Constituent Assembly, of the Convention,
+of the Empire,--lived in easy and hospitable intercourse, adopting
+without hesitation their altered positions and views, and all apparently
+disposed to act together in goodwill for the advantage of their country.
+A strange contradiction in our habits and manners! When social
+relations, applicable to mental or worldly pleasures, are alone
+involved, there are no longer distinctions of classes, or contests;
+differences of situation and opinion cease to exist; we have no thought
+but to enjoy and contribute in common our mutual possessions,
+pretensions, and recommendations. But let political questions and the
+positive interests of life once more spring up,--let us be called upon,
+not merely to assemble for enjoyment or recreation, but to assume each
+his part in the rights, the affairs, the honours, the advantages, and
+the burdens of the social system,--on the instant, all dissensions
+re-appear; all pretences, prejudices, susceptibilities, and oppositions
+revive; and that society which had seemed so single and united, resumes
+all its former divisions and differences.
+
+This melancholy incoherence between the apparent and actual state of
+French society revealed itself suddenly in 1815. The reaction provoked
+by the Hundred Days destroyed in the twinkling of an eye the work of
+social reconciliation carried on in France for sixteen years, and caused
+the abrupt explosion of all the passions, good or evil, of the social
+system, against all the works, beneficial or mischievous, of the
+Revolution.
+
+Attacked also by another difficulty, the party which prevailed at the
+opening of the session, in the Chamber of 1815, fell into another
+mistake. The aristocratic classes in France, although generously
+devoted, in public dangers, to the king and the country, knew not how to
+make common cause either with the crown or the people; they have
+alternately blamed and opposed, royal power and public liberty.
+Isolating themselves in the privileges which satisfied their vanity
+without giving them real influence in the State, they had not assumed,
+for three centuries, either with the monarch, or at the head of the
+nation, the position which seemed naturally to belong to them. After all
+they had lost, and in spite of all they ought to have learned at the
+Revolution, they found themselves in 1815, when power reverted to their
+hands, in the same undefined and shifting position. In its relations
+with the great powers of the State, in public discussion, in the
+exercise of its peculiar rights, the Chamber of 1815 had the merit of
+carrying into vigorous practice the constitutional system, which, in
+1814, had scarcely emerged from its torpor under the Empire; but in its
+new work it lost sight of equity, moderation, and the favourable moment.
+It wished at the same time to control France and the King. It was
+independent and haughty, often revolutionary in its conduct towards the
+monarch, and equally violent and contra-revolutionary as regarded the
+people. This was to attempt too much; it ought to have chosen between
+the two, and to have declared itself either monarchical or popular. The
+Chamber of 1815 was neither the one nor the other. It appeared to be
+deeply imbued with the spirit of the old system, envenomed by the ideas
+or examples of the spirit of the revolution; but the spirit of
+government, even more essential under constitutional than under absolute
+power, was wanting altogether.
+
+Thus, an opposition was seen to spring up quickly within its own
+bosom,--an opposition which became at once popular and monarchical, for
+it equally defended against the ruling party, the crown they had so
+rashly insulted, and the country they had profoundly disturbed. After
+some sharp contests, sustained with acrimonious determination on both
+sides, this opposition, strong in the royal support as in public
+sympathy, frequently obtained a majority, and became the party of the
+Government.
+
+I had no seat at that time in the Chamber of Deputies. It has often been
+said that I took a more important share in the Government of the day
+than could be attributed to me with truth. I have never complained of
+this, nor shall I complain now. I accept the responsibility, not only of
+my own actions, but of those of the friends I selected and supported.
+The monarchical and constitutional party formed in 1815, became on the
+instant my own. I shall acknowledge frankly what experience has taught
+me of their mistakes, while I feel proud of having been enrolled in
+their ranks.
+
+This party was formed abruptly and spontaneously, without premeditated
+object, without previous or personal concert, under the simple necessity
+of the moment, to meet a pressing evil, and not to establish any
+particular system, or any specific combination of ideas, resolutions, or
+designs. Its sole policy was at first confined to the support of the
+Restoration against the reaction: a thankless undertaking, even when
+most salutary; for it is useless to contend with a headlong
+counter-current. While you are supporting the power whose flag serves as
+a cloak to reaction, it is impossible to arrest the entire mischief you
+desire to check; and you seem to adopt that which you have been unable
+to subdue. This is one of the inevitable misconstructions which honest
+men, who act conscientiously, in stormy days, must be prepared to
+encounter.
+
+Neither in its composition nor plans had the new Royalist party any
+special or decided character. Amongst its rising leaders, as in its more
+undistinguished ranks, there were men of every origin and position,
+collected from all points of the social and political horizon.
+M. de Serre was an emigrant, and had been a lieutenant in the army of
+Conde; MM. Pasquier, Beugnot, Simeon, Barante and St. Aulaire, had
+possessed influence under Napoleon; MM. Royer-Collard and Camille Jordan
+were opposed to the Imperial system. The same judgment, the same opinion
+upon the events of the day and the chances of the morrow, upon the
+rights and legitimate interests of the throne and country, suddenly
+united these men, hitherto unknown to each other. They combined, as the
+inhabitants of the same quarter run from all sides and, without
+acquaintance and never having met before, work in concert to extinguish
+a great fire.
+
+A fact, however, disclosed itself, which characterized already the new
+royalist party in the impending struggle. Equally disturbed by the
+pretensions of the old aristocrats, the monarchy and the citizens formed
+a close league for mutual support. Louis XVIII. and young France resumed
+together the policy of their fathers. It is fruitless for a people to
+deny or forget the past; they cannot either annihilate or abstract
+themselves from it; situations and emergencies will soon arise to force
+them back into the road on which they have travelled for ages.
+
+Selected as President by the Chamber itself, and also by the King,
+M. Laine, while preserving, with a dignity at the same time natural and
+slightly studied, the impartiality which his situation required,
+inclined nevertheless towards the opinions of the moderate minority, and
+supported them by his moral influence, sometimes even by his words. The
+ascendency of his character, the gravity of his manners, and, at
+certain moments, the passionate overflowing of his soul, invested him
+with an authority which his abilities and knowledge would scarcely have
+sufficed to command.
+
+The Session had not been many days open, and already, from conversation,
+from the selection of the officials, from the projects of interior
+movement which were announced, the Deputies began to know and arrange
+themselves, but still with doubt and confusion; as, in a battalion
+unexpectedly called together, the soldiers assemble in disorder, looking
+for their arms and colours. The Government propositions soon brought the
+different parties to broad daylight, and placed them in contest. The
+Session commenced, as might be expected, with measures arising from
+incidental circumstances. Of the four bills evidently bearing this
+character, two--the suspension of personal liberty, and the
+establishment of prevotal courts--were proposed as exceptional and
+purely temporary; the others--for the suppression of seditious acts, and
+for a general amnesty--were intended to be definitive and permanent.
+
+Measures of expediency, and exceptional laws, have been so often and so
+peremptorily condemned in France, that their very name and aspect
+suffice to render them suspicious and hateful,--a natural impression,
+after so much and such bitter experience! They supply notwithstanding,
+and particularly under a constitutional government, the least dangerous
+as well as the most efficacious method of meeting temporary and urgent
+necessities. It is better to suspend openly, and for a given time, a
+particular privilege, than to pervert, by encroachment and subtlety,
+the fixed laws, so as to adapt them to the emergency of the hour. The
+experience of history, in such cases, confirms the suggestions of
+reason. In countries where political liberty is finally established, as
+in England, it is precisely after it has obtained a signal triumph, that
+the temporary suspension of one or more of its special securities has,
+under pressing circumstances, been adopted as a Government measure. In
+ruder and less intelligent times, under the dominion of momentary
+danger, and as an immediate defence, those rigorous and artful statutes
+were enacted in perpetuity, in which all tyrannies have found arms ready
+made, without the odium of forging them, and from which a more advanced
+civilization, at a later period, has found it so difficult to escape.
+
+It is necessary, I admit, to enable these exceptional laws to accomplish
+their end without too much danger, that, beyond the scope of their
+operation and during their continuance, the country should retain enough
+general liberty, and the authorities sufficient real responsibility, to
+confine these measures within their due limits, and to control their
+exercise. But, in spite of the blindness and rage of the beaten parties,
+we have only to read the debates in the Chambers of 1815, and the
+publications of the time, to be convinced that at that epoch liberty was
+far from having entirely perished; and the history of the ministers who
+were then in power unanswerably demonstrates that they sustained the
+weight of a most effective responsibility.
+
+Of the two temporary bills introduced into the Chamber in 1815, that
+respecting the prevotal courts met with the least opposition. Two very
+superior men, MM. Royer-Collard and Cuvier, had consented to become its
+official advocates, in the character of Royal Commissioners; and during
+the discussion, M. Cuvier took the lead. The debate was a very short
+one; two hundred and ninety members voted for the bill, ten only
+rejected it. The division may create surprise. The bill, in principle,
+comprised the heaviest possible infringement on common right, and the
+most formidable in practical application, by the suppression, in these
+courts, of the greater part of the privileges accorded in the ordinary
+modes of jurisdiction. A clause in the bill went almost to deprive the
+King of his prerogative of pardon, by ordering the immediate execution
+of the condemned criminals, unless the prevotal court itself assumed the
+functions of grace by recommending them to royal clemency. One of
+the most enthusiastic Royalists of the right-hand party,
+M. Hyde de Neuville, objected energetically, but without effect, to a
+clause so harsh and anti-monarchical. The two most intractable of
+passions, anger and fear, prevailed in the Chamber; it had its own
+cause, as well as that of the King, to defend and avenge, and persuaded
+itself that it could neither strike too soon nor too strongly when both
+were attacked.
+
+On this occasion, as well as on others, the memory of M. Cuvier has been
+unjustly treated. He has been accused of pusillanimity and servile
+ambition. The charge indicates little knowledge of human nature, and
+insults a man of genius on very slight grounds. I lived much with
+M. Cuvier. Firmness in mind and action was not his most prominent
+quality; but he was neither servile, nor governed by fear in opposition
+to his conscience. He loved order, partly for his own personal security,
+but much more for the cause of justice, civilization, the advantage of
+society, and the progress of intellect. In his complaisance for power,
+he was more governed by sincere inclination than egotism. He was one of
+those who had not learned from experience to place much confidence in
+liberty, and whom the remembrance of revolutionary anarchy had rendered
+easily accessible to honest and disinterested apprehensions. In times of
+social disturbance, men of sense and probity often prefer drifting
+towards the shore, to running the risk of being crushed, with many dear
+objects, on the rocks upon which the current may carry them.
+
+In the debate on the bill which suspended for a year the securities for
+personal liberty, M. Royer-Collard, while supporting the Government,
+marked the independence of his character, and the mistrustful foresight
+of the moralist with regard to the power which the politician most
+desired to establish. He demanded that the arbitrary right of
+imprisonment should be entrusted only to a small number of functionaries
+of high rank, and that the most exalted of all, the Ministers, should in
+every case be considered distinctly responsible. But these amendments,
+which would have prevented many abuses without interfering with the
+necessary power, were rejected. Inexperience and precipitation were
+almost universal at the moment. The Cabinet and its most influential
+partisans in the Chambers had scarcely any knowledge of each other;
+neither had yet learned to conceive plans in combination, to settle the
+limits or bearing of their measures, or to enter on a combat with
+preconcerted arrangements.
+
+A combined action and continued understanding, however, between the
+Government and the moderate Royalists, became every day more
+indispensable; for the divergence of several new parties which began to
+be formed, and the extent of their disagreements, manifested themselves
+with increasing strength from hour to hour. In proposing the act
+intended to repress sedition, M. de Marbois, a gentle and liberal
+nature, inclined to mild government, and little acquainted with the
+violent passions that fermented around him, had merely looked upon these
+acts as ordinary offences, and had sent the criminals before the
+tribunals of correctional police, to be punished by imprisonment only.
+Better informed as to the intentions of a portion of the Chamber, the
+committee appointed to examine the bill, of which M. Pasquier was the
+chairman, endeavoured to restrain the dissentients, while satisfying
+them to a certain extent. Amongst seditious acts, the committee drew a
+line between crimes and offences, assigning crimes to the Court of
+Assizes, to be punished by transportation, and prescribing for simple
+offences fine and imprisonment. This was still too little for the
+ultra-members of the party. They demanded the penalty of death, hard
+labour, and confiscation of property. These additions were refused, and
+the Chamber, by a large majority, passed the bill as amended by the
+committee. Undoubtedly there were members of the right-hand party who
+would not have dared to contest the propositions of MM. Piet and
+de Salaberry, but who rejoiced to see them thrown out, and voted for the
+bill. How many errors would men escape, and how many evils would they
+avoid, if they had the courage to act as they think right, and to do
+openly what they desire!
+
+All these debates were but preludes to the great battle ready to
+commence, on the most important of the incidental questions before the
+Chamber. It is with regret that I use the word _question_. The amnesty
+was no longer one. On returning to France, the King, by his proclamation
+from Cambray, had promised it; and, with kings, to promise is to
+perform. What sovereign could refuse the pardon, of which he has given a
+glimpse to the condemned criminal? The royal word is not less pledged to
+a nation than to an individual. But in declaring, on the 28th of June,
+1815, that he would only except from pardon "the authors and instigators
+of the plot which had overturned the throne," the King had also
+announced "that the two Chambers would point them out to the punishment
+of the laws;" and when, a month later, the Cabinet had, upon the report
+of the Duke of Otranto, arrested the individuals excepted in the two
+lists, the decree of the 24th of July again declared that "the Chambers
+should decide upon those amongst them who should be expatriated or
+brought to trial." The Chambers were therefore inevitably compromised.
+The amnesty had been declared, and yet it still remained a question, a
+bill was still considered necessary.
+
+Four members of the Chamber of Deputies hastened to take the
+initiative in this debate, three of them with extreme violence,
+M. de la Bourdonnaye being the most vehement of the three. He had
+energy, enthusiasm, independence, political tact as a partisan, and a
+frank and impassioned roughness, which occasionally soared to eloquence.
+His project, it was said, would have brought eleven hundred persons
+under trial. Whatever might be the correctness of this calculation, the
+three propositions were tainted with two capital errors: they assumed,
+in fact, that the catastrophe of the 20th of March had been the result
+of a widely-spread conspiracy, the authors of which ought to be punished
+as they would have been in ordinary times, and by the regular course of
+law, if they had miscarried; they assigned to the Chambers the right of
+indicating, by general categories, and without limit as to number, the
+conspirators to be thus dealt with, although the King, by his decree of
+the 24th of July preceding, had merely conferred on them the power of
+deciding, amongst the thirty-eight individuals specially excepted by
+name, which should be banished and which should be brought to trial.
+There was thus, in these projects, at the same time, an act of
+accusation under the name of amnesty, and an invasion of the powers
+already exercised, as well as of the limits already imposed, by the
+royal authority.
+
+The King's Government by no means mistook the bearing of such
+resolutions, and maintained its rights, its acts, and promises with
+suitable dignity. It hastened to check at once the attempt of the
+Chamber. The bill introduced by the Duke de Richelieu on the 8th of
+December, was a real act of amnesty, with no other exceptions than the
+fifty-six persons named in the two lists of the decree of the 24th of
+July, and belonging to the family of the Emperor Napoleon. A single
+additional clause, the fatal consequences of which were assuredly not
+foreseen, had been introduced into the preamble: the fifth article
+excepted from the amnesty all persons against whom prosecutions had been
+ordered or sentences passed before the promulgation of the law,--a
+lamentable reservation, equally contrary to the principle of the measure
+and the object of its framers. The character and essential value of an
+amnesty consist in assigning a term to trials and punishments, in
+arresting judicial action in the name of political interest, and in
+re-establishing confidence in the public mind, with security in the
+existing state of things, at once producing a cessation of sanguinary
+scenes and dangers. The King's Government had already, by the first list
+of exceptions in the decree of the 24th of July, imposed on itself a
+heavy burden. Eighteen generals had been sent before councils of war.
+Eighteen grand political prosecutions, after the publication of the
+amnesty, would have been much even for the strongest and
+best-established government to bear. The Duke de Richelieu's Cabinet, by
+the fifth article of the bill, imposed on itself, in addition, the
+prospective charge of an indefinite number of political prosecutions,
+which might rise up in an indefinite time; and no one could possibly
+foresee in what part of the kingdom, or under what circumstances. The
+evil of this short-sightedness continued, with repeated instances
+rapidly succeeding each other, for more than two years. It was the
+prolonged application of this article which destroyed the value and
+almost the credit of the amnesty, and compromised the royal Government
+in that reaction of 1815 which has left such lamentable reminiscences.
+
+A member of the right-hand party, who was soon destined to become its
+leader, and who until then had taken no share in the debate,
+M. de Villele, alone foresaw the danger of the fifth article, and
+hesitated not to oppose it. "This article," said he, "seems to me too
+vague and expansive; exceptions to amnesty, after such a rebellion as
+that which has taken place in our country, deliver over inevitably to
+the rigour of the laws all the excepted individuals. Now rigorous
+justice demands that, in such cases, none should be excepted but the
+most guilty and the most dangerous. Having no pledge or certain proof
+that the individuals attainted by the fifth article have deserved this
+express exception, I vote that the article be struck out." Unfortunately
+for the Government, this vote of the leader of the opposition passed
+without effect.
+
+Independently of the question itself, this discussion produced an
+important result: it settled the division of the Chamber into two great
+parties, the right-hand side and the centre; the one the opponent, and
+the other the ally of the Cabinet. The differences of opinion which
+manifested themselves on this occasion were too keen, and were
+maintained on both sides with too much animosity, not to become the
+basis of a permanent classification. The right-hand party persisted in
+requiring several categories of exceptions to the amnesty, confiscations
+under the name of indemnity for injuries done to the State, and the
+banishment of the regicides who had been implicated during the Hundred
+Days. The centre, and the Cabinet in union, firmly resisted these
+propositions. M. Royer-Collard and M. de Serre, amongst others,
+exhibited in the course of this debate as much political intelligence
+as moral rectitude and impassioned eloquence. "It is not always the
+number of executions that saves empires," said M. Royer-Collard; "the
+art of governing men is more difficult, and glory is acquired at a
+loftier price. If we are prudent and skilful, we shall find that we have
+punished enough; never, if we are not so." M. de Serre applied himself
+chiefly to oppose the confiscations demanded under the title of
+indemnities. "The revolutionists have acted thus," said he; "they would
+do the same again if they could recover power. It is precisely for this
+reason that you ought not to imitate their detestable example; and by a
+distorted interpretation of an expression which is not open and sincere,
+by an artifice scarcely worthy of the theatre.... Gentlemen, our
+treasury may be low, but let it be pure." The categories and the
+indemnities were definitively rejected. At the last moment, and in the
+midst of almost universal silence, the banishment of the regicides was
+alone inscribed upon the act. Under the advice of his ministers, the
+King felt that he could not, in obedience to the will of Louis XVI.,
+refuse his sanction to the amnesty, and leave this formidable question
+in suspense. There are Divine judgments which human authority ought not
+to forestall; neither is it called upon to reject them when they are
+declared by the course of events.
+
+To the differences on the questions of expediency, every day were added
+the disagreements on the questions of principle. The Government itself
+excited but few. A bill on elections, introduced by the Minister of the
+Interior, M. de Vaublanc, was the only one which assumed this
+character. The debate was long and animated. The leading men on the
+opposite sides of the Chamber, MM. de Villele, de la Bourdonnaye,
+de Bonald, Royer-Collard, Pasquier, de Serre, Beugnot, and Laine,
+entered into it anxiously. But the ministerial plan was badly conceived,
+based upon incompatible foundations, and giving to the elections more of
+an administrative than of a political character. The principal orators
+of the Centre rejected it, as well as a counter-project proposed by the
+committee, in which the right-hand party prevailed, and which the
+Cabinet also disapproved. The last proposal was ultimately carried, but
+with important amendments, and vehemently opposed to the last. The
+Chamber of Deputies passed it by a weak majority, and in the Chamber of
+Peers it was thrown out. Although the different parties had clearly
+indicated their impressions and desires on the electoral system, the
+details were as yet obscure and unsettled. The question remained in
+abeyance. From the Chamber itself emanated the other propositions which
+involved matters of principle; they sprang from the right-hand party,
+and all tended to the same point--the position of the Church in the
+State. M. de Castelbajac proposed that the bishops and ministers should
+be authorized to receive and hold in perpetuity, without requiring the
+sanction of Government, all donations of property, real or personal, for
+the maintenance of public worship or ecclesiastical establishments.
+M. de Blangy demanded that the condition of the clergy should be
+materially improved, and that the married priests should no longer enjoy
+the pensions which had been given to them in their clerical character.
+M. de Bonald called for the abolition of the law of divorce.
+M. Lacheze-Murel insisted that the custody of the civil records should
+be given back to the ministers of religion. M. Murard de St. Romain
+attacked the University, and argued that public education should be
+confided to the clergy. The zeal of the new legislators was, above all
+other considerations, directed towards the re-establishment of religion
+and the Church, as the true basis of social power.
+
+At the outset, the uneasiness and opposition excited by these proposals
+were less animated than we can at present imagine. More immediate
+dangers occupied the adversaries of Government and the public mind. A
+general sentiment in favour of religion as a necessary principle of
+order and morality, prevailed throughout the country; a sentiment
+revived even by the crisis of the Hundred Days, the moral wounds which
+that crisis had revealed, and the social dangers it had partially
+disclosed. The Catholic Church had not yet become the mark of the
+reaction which a little later was raised against it. The clergy took no
+direct part in these debates. The University had been, under the Empire,
+an object of suspicion and hostility on the part of the Liberals. The
+movement in favour of religious influences scarcely astonished those
+whom it displeased. But in the very bosom of the Chamber whence this
+movement emanated, there were enlightened understandings, who at once
+perceived its full range, and I foresaw the angry dissensions which
+sooner or later would be stirred up in the new social system by some of
+these propositions, so utterly opposed to its most fundamental and
+cherished principles. They applied themselves, with resolute good
+sense, to extract from the measures introduced, a selection conformable
+to the true interests of society and the Church. The law of divorce was
+abolished. The position of the parish priests, of the assistant
+ministers, and of several ecclesiastical establishments received
+important amelioration. The scandal of married clergymen still receiving
+official pensions ceased. But the proposal of assigning to the clergy
+the care of the civil records, and the control of public instruction,
+fell to the ground. The University, well defended and directed by
+M. Royer-Collard, remained intact. And with regard to the privilege
+demanded for the clergy, of receiving every kind of donation without the
+interference of the civil authorities, the Chamber of Peers, on a
+report, as judicious as it was elegantly composed, by the
+Abbe de Montesquiou, reduced it to these conditions,--that none but
+religious establishments recognized by law should exercise this right,
+and that in every individual instance the authority of the King should
+be indispensable. The Chamber of Deputies adopted the measure thus
+amended, and from this movement, which threatened to disturb so
+completely the relations of the Church and State, nothing eventuated to
+infringe seriously either on the old maxims or the modern principles of
+French society.
+
+The Cabinet co-operated loyally in these debates and wise resolutions,
+but with less decision and ascendency than that evinced by the moderate
+Royalists in the Chambers. It brought into the question neither the
+depth of thought, nor the power of eloquence, which give a Government
+the control over legislative assemblies, and raise it, even in spite of
+its deficiencies, in public estimation. The Duke de Richelieu was
+universally respected. Amongst his colleagues, all men of high character
+and loyalty, there were several who were endowed with rare knowledge,
+ability, and courage. But the Cabinet wanted unity and brilliant
+reputation; important conditions under any system, but pre-eminently so
+under a free government.
+
+Outside the Chambers, the Ministry had to sustain a still more weighty
+load than the pressure from within, and one which they were not better
+able to encounter. France had become a prey, not to the most tyrannical
+or the most sanguinary, but to the most vexatious and irritating of all
+the passing influences which the vicissitudes of frequent revolutions
+impose upon a nation. A party long vanquished, trampled on, and finally
+included in a general amnesty, the party of the old Royalty, suddenly
+imagined that they had become masters, and gave themselves up
+passionately to the enjoyment of a new power which they looked upon as
+an ancient right. God forbid that I should revive the sad remembrances
+of this reaction! I only desire to explain its true character. It was,
+in civil society, in internal administration, in local affairs, and
+nearly throughout the entire land of France, a species of foreign
+invasion, violent in certain places, offensive everywhere, and which
+occasioned more evil to be dreaded than it actually inflicted; for these
+unexpected victors threatened and insulted even where they refrained
+from striking. They seemed inclined to indemnify themselves by arrogant
+temerity, for their impotence to recover all that they had lost; and to
+satisfy their own consciences in the midst of their revenge, they tried
+to persuade themselves that they were far from inflicting on their
+enemies the full measure of what they had themselves suffered.
+
+Strangers to the passions of this party, impressed with the mischief
+they inflicted on the Royal cause, and personally wounded by the
+embarrassments they occasioned to the Government, the Duke de Richelieu
+and the majority of his colleagues contended with honest sincerity
+against them. Even by the side of the most justly condemned proceedings
+during the reaction of 1815, and which remained entirely unpunished, we
+find traces of the efforts of the existing authorities either to check
+them, prevent their return, or at least to repel the sad responsibility
+of permitting them. When the outrages against the Protestants broke out
+in the departments of the south, and more than six weeks before
+M. d'Argenson spoke of them in the Chamber of Deputies, a royal
+proclamation, countersigned by M. Pasquier, vehemently denounced them,
+and called upon the magistrates for their suppression. After the
+scandalous acquittal, by the Court of Assize at Nismes, of the assassin
+of General Lagarde, who had protected the free worship of the
+Protestants, M. Pasquier demanded and obtained, from the Court of
+Appeal, the annulment of this sentence, in the name of the law, and as a
+last protestation of discarded justice. In spite of every possible
+intervention of delay and impediment, the proceedings commenced at
+Toulouse, and ended in a decree of the prevotal court at Pau, which
+inflicted five years' imprisonment on two of the murderers of General
+Ramel. Those of Marshal Brune had never been seriously pursued; but
+M. de Serre, being appointed Chancellor, compelled justice to resume its
+course; and the Court of Assize at Riom condemned to death, in default
+of appearance, the assassins they were unable to apprehend. Tardy and
+insufficient amends, which reveal the weakness of authority, as well as
+the resistance with which it was opposed! Even the ministers most
+subservient to the extreme royalist party endeavoured to check while
+supporting them, and took care to contribute less assistance than they
+had promised. At the very time when the Government divided the old army
+into classes, to get rid of all the suspected officers, the Minister of
+War, the Duke of Feltri, summoned to the direction of the staff of his
+department General de Meulan, my brother-in-law, a brave soldier, who
+had entered the service as a private in 1797, and had won his promotion
+on the field of battle by dint of wounds. M. de Meulan was a royalist,
+but extremely attached to the army and his comrades, and deeply grieved
+by the severities with which they were oppressed. I witnessed his
+constant efforts to obtain justice for them, and to secure the
+continuance in the ranks, or re-admission, of all those whom he believed
+to be disposed to serve the King with honest loyalty. The undertaking
+was difficult. In 1816, one of our most able and distinguished officers
+of engineers, General Bernard, had been placed on half-pay, and lived in
+exile at Dole. The United States of America offered him the command of
+that branch of service in the Republic, with considerable advantages. He
+accepted the proposal, and asked the permission of his minister. The
+Duke of Feltri summoned him to his presence, and tried to induce him to
+abandon this design, by offering to appoint him to any situation in
+France which he considered suitable. "You promise me," said Bernard,
+"what you are unable to perform; place me as you intend, and in a
+fortnight I shall be so denounced that you will have no power to support
+me, and so harassed that I should voluntarily resign. While the
+Government has no more strength than at present, it can neither employ
+nor protect me. In my corner, I am at the mercy of a sub-prefect and
+police magistrate, who can arrest and imprison me; who sends for me
+every day, and compels me to wait in his ante-chamber to be ill received
+at last. Suffer me to go to America. The United States are the natural
+allies of France. I have decided, and, unless imprisoned, I shall
+certainly take my departure." His passport was then given to him. The
+Duke de Berry complained to General Haxo of the course adopted by
+General Bernard. "After the manner in which he has been treated,"
+replied Haxo, "I am only surprised that he has not gone before; it is by
+no means certain that I shall not some day follow his example."
+
+Nothing can explain, better than this simple fact, the situation of the
+King's ministers at that time, and the sincerity as well as the timidity
+of their wishes to be prudent and just.
+
+A great act, resolutely conceived and accomplished, on a great occasion,
+was necessary to raise the executive authority from the reputation as
+well as the actual mischief of this weakness, and to emancipate it from
+the party under which it succumbed while resisting. Today, so long
+removed as we are from that time, the more I reflect on it in the calm
+freedom of my judgment, the more I am convinced that the trial of
+Marshal Ney afforded a most propitious opportunity for such an act as
+that to which I now allude. There were undoubtedly weighty reasons for
+leaving justice to its unfettered course. Society and the royal power
+both required that respect for, and a salutary dread of, the law should
+repossess men's minds. It was important that generations formed during
+the vicissitudes of the Revolution and the triumphs of the Empire,
+should learn, by startling examples, that all does not depend on the
+strength and success of the moment; that there are certain inviolable
+duties; that we cannot safely sport with the fate of governments and the
+peace of nations; and that, in this momentous game, the most powerful
+and the most eminent risk their honour and their lives. In a political
+and moral sense these considerations were of the greatest importance.
+But another prominent truth, equally moral and political, ought to have
+weighed heavily in the balance against an extreme decision. The Emperor
+Napoleon had reigned long and brilliantly, acknowledged and admired by
+France and Europe, and supported by the devotion of millions of men,--by
+the people as well as by the army. Ideas of right and duty, sentiments
+of respect and fidelity, were confused and antagonistic in many minds.
+There were two actual and natural governments in presence of each other;
+and many, without perversity, might have hesitated which to choose. The
+King, Louis XVIII. and his advisers might in their turn, without
+weakness, have taken into consideration this moral confusion, of which
+Marshal Ney presented the most illustrious example. The greater his
+offence against the King, with the more safety could they place clemency
+by the side of justice, and display, over his condemned head, that
+greatness of mind and heart which has also its full influence in
+establishing power and commanding fidelity. The very violence of the
+reaction in favour of royalty, the bitterness of party passions, their
+thirst for punishment and vengeance, would have imparted to this act a
+still greater brilliancy of credit and effect; for boldness and liberty
+would have sprung from it as natural consequences. I heard at that
+time a lady of fashion, usually rational and amiable, call
+Mademoiselle de Lavalette "a little wretch," for aiding her mother in
+the escape of her father. When such extravagancies of feeling and
+language are indulged in the hearing of kings and their advisers, they
+should be received as warnings to resist, and not to submit.
+Marshal Ney, pardoned and banished after condemnation, by royal letters
+deliberately promulgated, would have given to kingly power the aspect of
+a rampart raising itself above all, whether friends or enemies, to stay
+the tide of blood; it would have been, in fact, the reaction of 1815
+subdued and extinguished, as well as that of the Hundred Days.
+
+I do not pretend to have thought and said then, all that I say and think
+at present. I was sorrowful and perplexed. The King's ministers were in
+a similar predicament. They believed that they neither could nor ought
+to recommend clemency. In this momentous contingency, power knew not how
+to be great, sometimes the only method of becoming strong. Controlled
+but not overthrown, and irritated while defeated, by these alternations
+of concession and resistance, the Right-hand party, now become decidedly
+the Opposition, sought, while complaining and hesitating, some channel
+of escape from their position at once powerful and impotent,--some
+breach through which they might give the assault to the Government,
+enter the citadel, and establish themselves firmly there. A man of mind
+and courage, ambitious, restless, clever, and discontented, as well on
+his own account as for the sake of his party, ventured an attack
+extremely daring in reality, but circumspect in form, and purely
+theoretical in appearance. M. de Vitrolles, in a short pamphlet entitled
+'Of the Ministry under a Representative Government,' said:--"France in
+every quarter expresses the necessity, profoundly acknowledged, of
+sterner action in the Government. I have examined the causes of this
+universal feeling, and the reasons which could explain why the different
+Administrations that have succeeded each other within the last eighteen
+months have not given the King's Cabinet the character of strength and
+unity which the Ministers themselves feel to be so essential. I believe
+that I have found them in the incoherence which existed between the
+nature of the adopted government and the ministerial organization, which
+it had not been considered necessary to modify, while at the same time
+we received a new division of power, and that power assumed an entirely
+new character of action." Appealing at every sentence to the practice
+and example of England, M. de Vitrolles argued that the Ministry, which
+he called _an institution_, should have perfect unity in itself, a
+predominant majority in the Chambers, and an actual responsibility in
+the conduct of affairs, which would ensure for it, with the Crown, the
+requisite influence and dignity. On these three conditions alone could
+the Government be effective. A strange reminiscence to refer to at the
+present day! By the most confidential intimate of the Count d'Artois,
+and to establish the old royalist party in power, parliamentary
+legislation was for the first time recommended and demanded for France,
+as a necessary consequence of representative government.
+
+I undertook to repulse this attack by unmasking it.[11] I explained, in
+reply, the essential principles of representative government, their true
+meaning, their real application, and the conditions under which they
+could be usefully developed, in the state in which France had been
+plunged by our revolutions and dissensions. Above all, I endeavoured to
+expose the bitterness of party spirit which lay behind this polished and
+erudite tilting-match between political rhetoricians, and the underhand
+blows which, in the insufficiency of their public weapons, they secretly
+aimed at each other. I believe my ideas were sound enough to satisfy
+intelligent minds who looked below the surface and onwards to the
+future; but they had no immediate and practical efficacy. When the great
+interests of nations and the contending passions of men are at stake,
+the most ingenious speculative arguments are a mere war of display,
+which has no influence on the course of events. As soon as the budget
+was voted, and on the very day of its announcement, the session was
+closed, and the Chambers of 1815 retired, having strenuously exercised,
+both in defence and attack, the free privileges conferred on France by
+the Charter; but divided into two Royalist parties: the one wavering and
+uneasy, although in the possession of power; the other full of
+expectation, and looking forward, with the opening of the next session,
+to a more decisive success, and both in a state of mutual irritation.
+
+Notwithstanding their doubts and weaknesses, the advantage remained with
+the Cabinet and its adherents. For the first time since France had been
+a prey to the Revolution, the struggles of liberty assisted the
+advocates of a moderate policy, and essentially checked, if not
+completely subdued, their opponents. The waves of reaction murmured, but
+rose no more. The Cabinet, strongly supported in the Chambers, possessed
+the confidence of the King, who entertained a high esteem for the Duke
+de Richelieu, and a friendly disposition, becoming daily more warm,
+towards his young Minister of Police, M. Decazes. Eight days after the
+closing of the session, the Cabinet gained an important accession to its
+internal strength, and an eloquent interpreter of its public policy.
+M. Laine replaced M. de Vaublanc as Minister of the Interior. As a slight
+compensation to the right-hand party, M. de Marbois, who had rendered
+himself very objectionable to them, was dismissed from the Ministry of
+Justice, and the Chancellor, M. Dambray, resumed the seals.
+M. de Marbois was one of those upright and well-informed men, but at the
+same time neither quick-sighted nor commanding, who assist power by
+opinion rather than force. He had opposed the reaction with more
+integrity than energy, and served the King with dignity, without
+acquiring personal influence. In October 1815, at a moment of the most
+violent agitation, the King expressed much anxiety for the introduction
+of the bill respecting the prevotal courts. It was settled in council
+that the Chancellor and the Minister of War should prepare it together.
+A few days after, the King asked for it rather impatiently. "Sire,"
+answered M. de Marbois, "I am ashamed to tell your Majesty that it is
+ready." He resigned office honourably, although with some regret. At the
+same time I left the post of Secretary-General to the Ministry of
+Justice. While there, M. de Marbois had treated me with confidence
+inspired by sympathy. Finding it disagreeable to remain under
+M. Dambray, to whom my Protestant extraction and opinions were equally
+unsuited, I re-assumed the place of Master of Requests in the State
+Council.
+
+The Chambers had scarcely adjourned, when the conspiracy of Grenoble,
+planned by Didier, and that called the plot of the patriots, at Paris,
+in 1816, came, one upon the other, to put the moderation of the Cabinet
+to the proof. The details forwarded by the magistrates of the department
+of the Isere were full of exaggeration and declamatory excitement. The
+mode of repression ordered by the Government was precipitately rigorous.
+Grenoble had been the cradle of the Hundred Days. It was thought
+expedient to strike Bonapartism heavily, in the very place where it had
+first exploded. A natural opportunity presented itself here of dealing
+firmly with the abettors of treason, while in another quarter strong
+resistance was opposed to the advocates of reaction. Moderation
+sometimes becomes impatient of its name, and yields to the temptation of
+forgetting it for the moment.
+
+The Government nevertheless continued to be moderate, and the public
+were not deceived as to the course adopted. Although M. Decazes, from
+the nature of his department, was the minister on whom measures of
+inquiry and suppression devolved, he was at the same time looked upon,
+and truly, as the protector of the oppressed, and of all who were
+suspected without cause. By natural disposition and magisterial habit,
+he loved justice in his heart. A stranger to all party antipathies,
+penetrating, fearless, indefatigably active, and as prompt in
+benevolence as in duty, he exercised the power which the special laws
+conferred on him with measure and discretion; enforcing them as much
+against the spirit of reaction and persecution as against detected
+conspiracy, and continually occupied himself in preventing or repairing
+the abuses in which the inferior authorities indulged. Thus he advanced
+equally in the good opinion of the country and the favour of the King.
+People and parties have an infallible instinct by which they recognize,
+under the most complicated circumstances, those who attack and those who
+defend them, their friends and their enemies. The ultra-royalists soon
+began to look upon M. Decazes as their chief adversary, and the
+moderates to regard him as their most valuable ally.
+
+At the same time, and during the silence of the tribune, the chief
+representatives of moderate policy in the Chambers eagerly sought
+opportunities of bringing their views before the public, of proclaiming
+their principles, and of rallying, round the King and the constitutional
+government, the still hesitating support of the nation at large. It
+affords me much gratification to recall here the words, perhaps
+forgotten, of three justly celebrated men, all personal friends of my
+own; they demonstrate (as I think, with some brilliancy) the spirit of
+the monarchical party attached to the state of society which the times
+had engendered in France, and the opinions and sentiments they were
+anxious to disseminate.
+
+On the 6th of July, 1816, M. de Serre, in establishing, as first
+President, the Royal Court at Colmar, spoke as follows:--"Liberty, that
+pretext of all seditious ambition,--liberty, which is nothing more than
+the reign of law, has ever been the first privilege buried with the laws
+under the ruins of the throne. Religion itself is in danger when the
+throne and laws are attacked; for everything on earth is derived from
+heaven, and there is perfect harmony between all divine and human
+institutions. If the latter are overturned, the former cannot be
+respected. Let all our efforts, then, be exerted to combine, purify, and
+strengthen that monarchical and Christian spirit which inspires the
+sentiment of every sacrifice to duty! Let our first care be to obtain
+universal respect for the Charter which the King has granted to us.
+Undoubtedly our laws, our Charter, may be improved; and we neither
+require to interdict regret for the past nor hope for the future. But
+let us commence by submitting heartily and without reserve to the laws
+as they exist; let us place this first check on the impatient
+restlessness to which we have been surrendered for twenty-five years;
+let us teach ourselves this primary conviction, that we know how to
+adopt and to be satisfied with a defined system. The rest may be left to
+time."
+
+Six weeks later, on the 19th of August, M. Royer-Collard, when presiding
+over the distribution of prizes at the general meeting of the
+University, addressed these words to the young students:--"Today, when
+the reign of falsehood has ceased, and the legitimacy of power, which is
+truth in government, permits a more unshackled play to all salutary and
+generous doctrines, public instruction beholds its destinies elevated
+and expanded. Religion demands from it pure hearts and disciplined
+minds; the State looks for habits profoundly monarchical; science,
+philosophy, and literature expect new brilliancy and distinction. These
+will be the benefits bestowed by a prince to whom his people already owe
+so much gratitude and love. He, who has made public liberty flourish
+under the shadow of his hereditary throne, will know well how to base,
+on the tutelary principles of empires, a system of teaching worthy of
+the enlightened knowledge of the age, and such as France demands from
+him, that she may not descend from the glorious rank she occupies
+amongst nations."
+
+At the expiration of eight days more, in an assembly exclusively
+literary, a man who had never held public office, but for half or more
+than half a century a sincere and steady friend to liberty, M. Suard,
+perpetual secretary of the French Academy, in giving an account to that
+body of the examination in which he had decreed the prize to
+M. Villemain for his 'Panegyric on Montesquieu,' expressed himself in
+these terms:--"The instability of governments generally proceeds from
+indecision as to the principles which ought to regulate the exercise of
+power. A prince enlightened by the intelligence of the age, by
+experience, and a superior understanding, bestows on royal authority a
+support which no other can replace, in that Charter which protects the
+rights of the monarch, while it guarantees to the nation all those that
+constitute true and legitimate liberty. Let us rally under this signal
+of alliance between the people and their king. Their union is the only
+certain pledge for the happiness of both. Let the Charter be for us what
+the holy ark that contained the tables of the law was for the Hebrews of
+old. If the shade of the great publicist who has shed light on the
+principles of constitutional monarchies could be present at the triumph
+which we now award him, he would confirm with his sanction the
+sentiments I venture to express."
+
+An assembly so unanimous in opinion and intention, composed of such men,
+representing so many important sections of society, and voluntarily
+grouped round the King and his ministers, constituted in themselves a
+great political fact. A certain index was supplied, that, in the opinion
+of the moderate party, enlightened minds were not wanting to comprehend
+the conditions of the new system, or serious dispositions for its
+support. As yet, however, they only formed the scattered elements and
+seeds of a great conservative party under a free government. Time was
+necessary for this party to unite, to consolidate its natural strength,
+and to render itself acceptable to the country. Would time be given for
+this difficult undertaking? The question was doubtful. A formidable
+crisis approached; the Chamber of 1815 was on the point of re-opening,
+and undoubtedly still more ardent and aggressive than during the
+preceding session. The party which prevailed there had not only to
+retrieve their checks, and pursue their designs, but they had also
+recent insults to avenge. During the recess they had been the objects of
+animated attack. The Government everywhere opposed their influence; the
+public loudly manifested towards them mistrust and antipathy; they were
+alternately charged with fanaticism and hypocrisy, with incapacity and
+vindictive obstinacy. Popular-anger and ridicule assailed them with
+unrestrained license. From notes collected at the time, I quote
+literally a few specimens of the sarcastic hostility with which they
+were pursued:--
+
+"April 10th, 1816.--Before adjourning, the Chamber of Deputies has
+organized itself into a chapel. Treasurer and secretary, M. Laborie.
+Contractor for burials, M. de La Bourdonnaye. Grave-digger,
+M. Duplessis-Grenedan. Superintendent, M. de Bouville, and in his
+capacity of vice-president--rattlesnake. Dispenser of holy water
+(promise-maker), M. de Vitrolles. General of the Capuchins,
+M. de Villele; and he deserves the post for his voice. Grand almoner,
+M. de Marcellus, who gives a portion of his own estate to the poor.
+Bellringers, M. Hyde de Neuville," etc. etc.
+
+"May, 1816.--Here is the Charter which a majority of the Chamber
+proposes to confer upon us.--_Article._ The fundamental principles of
+the constitution may be changed as often as we wish; nevertheless,
+seeing that stability is desirable, they shall not be changed more than
+three times a year.--_Art._ Every law emanates from the King; this is
+the first evidence of the right of petition accorded to all
+frenchmen.--_Art._ The laws shall be executed according to the pleasure
+of the Deputies, each in their respective departments.--_Art._ Every
+representative shall have the nomination to all posts within his
+district."
+
+"July 1816.--They say the King is slightly indisposed. He will be very
+ill indeed if he is obliged to keep his _Chamber_ for five years."
+
+Such were the public expressions respecting this assembly, one of the
+most honourable members of which, M. de Kergorlay, said, a few months
+before, "The Chamber had not yet whispered when the former Ministry
+already fell; let it speak, and the present Government will scarcely
+last eight days."
+
+The Ministry, however, had held its ground, and still continued to do
+so; but it was evidently impossible that it could stand firm against the
+Chamber, once more assembled with redoubled animosity. They well knew
+that the Opposition was determined to renew the most violent attacks
+upon the existing authorities. M. de Chateaubriand printed his 'Monarchy
+according to the Charter;' and although this able pamphlet was not yet
+published, everybody knew the superior skill with which the author could
+so eloquently blend falsehood with truth, how brilliantly he could
+compound sentiments and ideas, and with what power he could entangle the
+blinded and unsettled public in this dazzling chaos. Neither the
+Ministry nor the Opposition attempted to deceive themselves as to the
+nature and consequences of the struggle about to commence. The question
+of persons was merely the symbol and cloak of the great social and
+political topics in dispute between the two parties. The point to be
+decided was, whether power should pass over to the _Right-hand_ party,
+such as it had exhibited itself during the session lately terminated;
+that is, whether the theories of M. de Bonald and the passions of
+M. de La Bourdonnaye, feebly qualified by the prudence and influence, as
+yet unripened, of M. de Villele, should become the rule of the King's
+policy.
+
+I am not now, neither was I in 1815, amongst those who considered the
+_Right-hand_ party unfit to govern France. On the contrary, I had
+already, although less profoundly and clearly than at present, adopted
+the opinion, that a concurrence of all the enlightened and independent
+classes, whether old or new, was absolutely necessary to rescue our
+country from the impending alternations of anarchy or despotism, and
+that without their union we could never long preserve order and liberty
+together. Perhaps too I might include this natural tendency amongst the
+reasons, not absolutely defined, which led me to desire the Restoration.
+Hereditary monarchy, become constitutional, presented itself to my mind
+both as a principle of stability, and as a natural and worthy means of
+reconciliation and conversion amongst the classes and parties who had
+been so long and continually at war. But in 1816, so soon after the
+revolutionary shock of the Hundred Days, and before the
+counter-revolutionary reaction of 1815 had subsided, the accession of
+the _Right-hand_ party to power, would have been very different from the
+victory of men capable of governing without social disturbance, although
+under an unpopular system. It would have been the Revolution and the
+Counter-revolution once more in active contest, under an attack of
+raging fever; and thus the Throne and the Charter, the internal peace
+and security of France as well as her liberties, would be endangered by
+this struggle, before the eyes of Europe encamped within our territory
+and in arms around the combatants.
+
+Under these menacing circumstances, M. Decazes had the rare merit of
+finding and applying a remedy to the gigantic evil. He was the first,
+and for some time the only one amongst the Ministers, who looked upon
+the dissolution of the Chamber of 1815 as equally necessary and
+possible. Undoubtedly personal interest had a share in his bold
+perspicuity; but I know him well enough to feel convinced, that his
+devotion to the country and the King powerfully contributed to his
+enlightened decision; and his conduct at this crisis displayed at least
+as much patriotism as ambition.
+
+He had a double labour of persuasion to accomplish; first to win over
+his two principal colleagues, the Duke de Richelieu and M. Laine, and
+afterwards the King himself. Both sincerely attached to a moderate
+policy, the Duke and M. Laine were undecided, timid under great
+responsibility, and more disposed to wait the progress of difficulties
+and dangers, than to surmount by confronting them. Amongst the Duke's
+immediate circle were many ultra-royalists, who exercised no influence
+over him, and whom he even treated rudely when they displayed their
+violence; but he was unwilling to declare open war against them.
+M. Laine, scrupulous in his resolves and fearful for their consequences,
+was sensitive on the point of vanity, and disinclined to any measure not
+originating with himself.[12] The King's irresolution was perfectly
+natural. How could he dissolve the first Chamber, avowedly royalist,
+which had been assembled for twenty-five years,--a Chamber he had
+himself declared incomparable, and which contained so many of his oldest
+and most faithful friends? What dangers to himself and his dynasty might
+spring up on the day of such a decree! and even now, what discontent and
+anger already existed in his family and amongst his devoted adherents,
+and consequently what embarrassment and vexation thereby recoiled upon
+himself.
+
+But Louis XVIII. had a cold heart and an unfettered mind. The rage and
+ill-temper of his relatives affected him little, when he had once firmly
+resolved not to be influenced by them. It was his pride and pleasure to
+fancy himself a more enlightened politician than all the rest of his
+race, and to act in perfect independence of thought and will. On more
+than one occasion, the Chamber, if not in direct words, at least in act
+and manner, had treated him with disrespect almost amounting to
+contempt, after the fashion of a revolutionary assembly. It became
+necessary for him to show to all, that he would not endure the display
+of such feelings and principles either from his friends or enemies. He
+regarded the Charter as his own work, and the foundation of his glory.
+The right-hand party frequently insulted and sometimes threatened a
+direct attack upon the Charter. The defence lay with the King. This gave
+him an opportunity of re-establishing it in its original integrity.
+During the administration of M. de Talleyrand he had, reluctantly and
+against his own conviction, modified several articles, and submitted
+fourteen others to the revision of the legislative authorities. To cut
+short this revision, and to return to the pure Charter, was to restore
+it a second time to France, and thus to establish, for the country and
+himself, a new pledge of security and peace.
+
+During more than two months, M. Decazes handled all these points with
+much ability and address; determined, but not impatient, persevering,
+yet not obstinate, changing his topic according to the tempers he
+encountered, and day by day bringing before these wavering minds the
+facts and arguments best adapted to convince them. Without taking his
+principal friends unconnected with the Cabinet into the full and daily
+confidence of his labours, he induced them, under a promise of secrecy,
+to assist him by reasons and reflections which he might bring under the
+eyes of the King, while they gave variety to his own views. Several
+amongst them transmitted notes to him with this object; I contributed
+one also, particularly bearing on the hopes which those numerous middle
+classes placed in the King, who desired no more than to enjoy the
+productive repose they derived from him, and whom he alone could secure
+from the dangerous uncertainty to which the Chamber had reduced them.
+Different in origin and style, but all actuated by the same spirit and
+tending to the same end, these argumentative essays became gradually
+more and more efficacious. Having at last decided, the Duke de Richelieu
+and M. Laine concurred with M. Decazes to bring over the King, who had
+already formed his resolution, but chose to appear undecided, it being
+his pleasure to have no real confidant but his favourite. The three
+ministers who were known to be friends of the right-hand party,
+M. Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M. Dubouchage, were not consulted;
+and it was said that they remained in total ignorance of the whole
+affair to the last moment. I have reason to believe that, either from
+respect to the King, or from reluctance to enter into contest with the
+favourite, they soon reconciled themselves to a result which they plainly
+foresaw.
+
+Be this as it may, on Wednesday, the 14th of August, the King held a
+cabinet council; the sitting was over, and the Duke of Feltri had
+already risen to take his departure. The King desired him to resume his
+place again. "Gentlemen," said he, "there is yet a question of immediate
+urgency,--the course to be taken with respect to the Chamber of
+Deputies. Three months ago I had determined to re-assemble it. Even a
+month since, I retained the same intention; but all that I have seen,
+and all that comes under my daily observation, proves so clearly the
+spirit of faction by which that Chamber is governed, the dangers which
+it threatens to France and to myself have become so apparent, that I
+have entirely changed my opinion. From this moment, then, you may
+consider the Chamber as dissolved. Start from that point, gentlemen,
+prepare to execute the measure, and in the meantime preserve the most
+inviolable secrecy on the subject. My decision is absolute." When Louis
+XVIII. had formed a serious resolution and intended to be obeyed, he had
+a tone of dignity and command which cut short all remonstrance. During
+three weeks, although the question deeply occupied all minds, and in
+spite of some returns of hesitation on the part of the King himself, the
+secret of the resolution adopted was so profoundly kept, that the Court
+believed the Chamber would re-assemble. It was only on the 5th of
+September, after the King had retired to bed, that _Monsieur_ received
+information through the Duke de Richelieu, from his Majesty, that the
+decree for the dissolution was signed, and would be published in the
+'Moniteur' on the following morning.
+
+The surprise and anger of _Monsieur_ were unbounded; he would have
+hastened at once to the King; the Duke de Richelieu withheld him, by
+saying that the King was already asleep, and had given peremptory orders
+that he should not be disturbed. The Princes, his sons, accustomed to
+extreme reserve in the King's presence, appeared to approve rather than
+condemn. "The King has acted wisely," said the Duke de Berry; "I warned
+those gentlemen of the Chamber that they had indulged in too much
+license." The Court was thrown into consternation, on hearing of a
+stroke so totally unexpected. The party against whom it was aimed,
+attempted some stir in the first instance. M. de Chateaubriand added an
+angry _Postscript_ to his 'Monarchy according to the Charter,' and
+evinced symptoms of resistance, more indignant than rational, to the
+measures decreed, in consequence of some infraction of the regulations
+of the press, to retard the publication of his work.[13] But the party,
+having reflected a little, prudently stifled their anger, and began
+immediately to contrive means for re-engaging in the contest. The
+public, or, I ought rather to say, the entire land, loudly proclaimed
+its satisfaction. For honest, peaceably disposed people, the measure was
+a signal of deliverance; for political agitators, a proclamation of
+hope. None were ignorant that M. Decazes had been its first and most
+effectual advocate. He was surrounded with congratulations, and promises
+that all men of sense and substance would rally round him; he replied
+with modest satisfaction, "This country must be very sick indeed for me
+to be of so much importance."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 11: In a publication entitled 'Of Representative Government,
+and the Actual Condition of France,' published in 1816.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I insert amongst the "Historic Documents" a note which he
+transmitted to the King, in the course of the month of August, on the
+question of the dissolution of the Chamber; and in which the
+fluctuations and fantasies of his mind, more ingenious than judicious,
+are revealed. (Historic Documents, No. VII.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: I have added to the "Historic Documents" the letters
+exchanged on this occasion between M. de Chateaubriand, M. Decazes, and
+the Chancellor Dambray, which characterize strongly the event and the
+individuals. (Historic Documents, No. VIII.)]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GOVERNMENT OF THE CENTRE.
+
+1816-1821.
+
+     COMPOSITION OF THE NEW CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--THE CABINET IN A
+     MAJORITY.--ELEMENTS OF THAT MAJORITY, THE CENTRE PROPERLY SO
+     CALLED, AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.--TRUE CHARACTER OF THE CENTRE.--TRUE
+     CHARACTER OF THE DOCTRINARIANS, AND REAL CAUSE OF THEIR
+     INFLUENCE.--M. DE LA BOURDONNAYE AND M. ROYER-COLLARD AT THE
+     OPENING OF THE SESSION.--ATTITUDE OF THE DOCTRINARIANS IN THE
+     DEBATE ON THE EXCEPTIONAL LAWS.--ELECTORAL LAW OF FEBRUARY 5TH,
+     1817.--THE PART I TOOK ON THAT OCCASION.--OF THE ACTUAL AND
+     POLITICAL POSITION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES.--MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR,
+     AND HIS BILL FOR RECRUITING THE ARMY, OF THE 10TH OF MARCH,
+     1818.--BILL RESPECTING THE PRESS, OF 1819, AND M. DE
+     SERRE.--PREPARATORY DISCUSSION OF THESE BILLS IN THE STATE
+     COUNCIL.--GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.--MODIFICATION OF
+     THE CABINET FROM 1816 TO 1820.--IMPERFECTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL
+     SYSTEM.--ERRORS OF INDIVIDUALS.--DISSENSIONS BETWEEN THE CABINET
+     AND THE DOCTRINARIANS.--THE DUKE DE RICHELIEU NEGOCIATES, AT
+     AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, THE ENTIRE RETREAT OF FOREIGN TROOPS FROM
+     FRANCE.--HIS SITUATION AND CHARACTER.--HE ATTACKS THE BILL ON
+     ELECTIONS.--HIS FALL.--CABINET OF M. DECAZES.--HIS POLITICAL
+     WEAKNESS, NOTWITHSTANDING HIS PARLIAMENTARY SUCCESS.--ELECTIONS OF
+     1819.--ELECTION AND NON-ADMISSION OF M. GREGOIRE.--ASSASSINATION OF
+     THE DUKE DE BERRY.--FALL OF M. DECAZES.--THE DUKE DE RICHELIEU
+     RESUMES OFFICE.--HIS ALLIANCE WITH THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--CHANGE IN
+     THE LAW OF ELECTIONS.--DISORGANIZATION OF THE CENTRE, AND PROGRESS
+     OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.--SECOND FALL OF THE DUKE
+     DE RICHELIEU.--M. DE VILLELE AND THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY OBTAIN POWER.
+
+
+A violent outcry was raised, as there ever has been and always will be,
+against ministerial interference at the elections. This is the sour
+consolation of the beaten, who feel the necessity of accounting for
+their defeat. Elections, taken comprehensively, are almost always more
+genuine than interested and narrow-minded suspicion is disposed to
+allow. The desires and ability of the powers in office, exercise over
+them only a secondary authority. The true essence of elections lies in
+the way in which the wind blows, and in the impulse of passing events.
+The decree of the 5th of September, 1816, had given confidence to the
+moderate party, and a degree of hope to the persecuted of 1815. They all
+rallied round the Cabinet, casting aside their quarrels, antipathies,
+and private rancours, combining to support the power which promised
+victory to the one and safety to the other.
+
+The victory, in fact, remained with the Cabinet, but it was one of those
+questionable triumphs which left the conquerors still engaged in a
+fierce war. The new Chamber comprised, in the centre a ministerial
+majority, on the right a strong and active opposition, and on the left a
+very small section, in which M. d'Argenson and M. Lafitte were the only
+names recognized by the public.
+
+The ministerial majority was formed from two different although at that
+time closely-united elements,--the centre, properly called the grand
+army of power, and the very limited staff of that army, who soon
+received the title of _doctrinarians_.
+
+I shall say of the centre of our assemblies since 1814, what I have just
+said of M. Cuvier; it has been misunderstood and calumniated, when
+servility and a rabid desire for place have been named as its leading
+characteristics. With it, as with others, personal interests have had
+their weight, and have looked for their gratification; but one general
+and just idea formed the spirit and bond of union of the party,--the
+idea that, in the present day, after so many revolutions, society
+required established government, and that to government all good
+citizens were bound to render their support. Many excellent and
+honourable sentiments,--family affection, a desire for regular
+employment, respect for rank, laws, and traditions, anxieties for the
+future, religious habits,--all clustered round this conviction, and had
+often inspired its votaries with rare and trusting courage. I call these
+persevering supporters of Government, citizen Tories; their defamers are
+weak politicians and shallow philosophers, who neither understand the
+moral instincts of the soul, nor the essential interests of society.
+
+The _doctrinarians_ have been heavily attacked. I shall endeavour to
+explain rather than defend them. When either men or parties have once
+exercised an influence over events, or obtained a place in history, it
+becomes important that they should be correctly known; this point
+accomplished, they may rest in peace and submit to judgment.
+
+It was neither intelligence, nor talent, nor moral dignity--qualities
+which their acknowledged enemies have scarcely denied them--that
+established the original character and political importance of the
+_doctrinarians_.
+
+Other men of other parties have possessed the same qualities; and
+between the relative pretensions of these rivals in understanding,
+eloquence, and sincerity, public opinion will decide. The peculiar
+characteristic of the doctrinarians, and the real source of their
+importance in spite of their limited number, was that they maintained,
+against revolutionary principles and ideas, ideas and principles
+contrary to those of the old enemies of the Revolution, and with which
+they opposed it, not to destroy but to reform and purify it in the name
+of justice and truth. The great feature, dearly purchased, of the French
+revolution was, that it was a work of the human mind, its conceptions
+and pretensions, and at the same time a struggle between social
+interests. Philosophy had boasted that it would regulate political
+economy, and that institutions, laws, and public authorities should only
+exist as the creatures and servants of instructed reason,--- an insane
+pride, but a startling homage to all that is most elevated in man, to
+his intellectual and moral attributes! Reverses and errors were not slow
+in impressing on the Revolution their rough lessons; but even up to 1815
+it had encountered, as commentators on its ill-fortune, none but
+implacable enemies or undeceived accomplices,--the first thirsting for
+vengeance, the last eager for rest, and neither capable of opposing to
+revolutionary principles anything beyond a retrograde movement on the
+one side, and the scepticism of weariness on the other. "There was
+nothing in the Revolution but error and crime," said the first; "the
+supporters of the old system were in the right."--"The Revolution erred
+only in excess," exclaimed the second; "its principles were sound, but
+carried too far; it has abused its rights." The doctrinarians denied
+both these conclusions; they refused to acknowledge the maxims of the
+old system, or, even in a mere speculative sense, to adhere to the
+principles of the Revolution. While frankly adopting the new state of
+French society, such as our entire history, and not alone the year 1789,
+had made it, they undertook to establish a government on rational
+foundations, but totally opposed to the theories in the name of which
+the old system had been overthrown, or the incoherent principles which
+some endeavoured to conjure up for its reconstruction. Alternately
+called on to combat and defend the Revolution, they boldly assumed from
+the outset, an intellectual position, opposing ideas to ideas, and
+principles to principles, appealing at the same time to reason and
+experience, affirming rights instead of maintaining interests, and
+requiring France, not to confess that she had committed evil alone, or
+to declare her impotence for good, but to emerge from the chaos into
+which she had plunged herself, and to raise her head once more towards
+heaven in search of light.
+
+Let me readily admit that there was also much pride in this attempt; but
+a pride commencing with an act of humility, which proclaims the mistakes
+of yesterday with the desire and hope of not repeating them today. It
+was rendering homage to human intelligence while warning it of the
+limits of its power, respecting the past, without undervaluing the
+present or abandoning the future. It was an endeavour to bestow on
+politics sound philosophy, not as a sovereign mistress, but as an
+adviser and support.
+
+I shall state without hesitation, according to what experience has
+taught me, the faults which progressively mingled with this noble
+design, and impaired or checked its success. What I anxiously desire at
+present is to indicate its true character. It was to this mixture of
+philosophical sentiment and political moderation, to this rational
+respect for opposing rights and facts, to these principles, equally new
+and conservative, anti-revolutionary without being retrograde, and
+modest in fact although sometimes haughty in expression, that the
+doctrinarians owed their importance as well as their name.
+Notwithstanding the numerous errors of philosophy and human reason, the
+present age still cherishes reasoning and philosophical tastes; and the
+most determined practical politicians sometimes assume the air of acting
+upon general ideas, regarding them as sound methods of obtaining
+justification or credit. The doctrinarians thus responded to a profound
+and real necessity, although imperfectly acknowledged, of French minds:
+they paid equal respect to intellect and social order; their notions
+appeared well suited to regenerate, while terminating the Revolution.
+Under this double title they found, with partisans and adversaries,
+points of contact which drew them together, if not with active sympathy,
+at least with solid esteem: the right-hand party looked upon them as
+sincere royalists; and the left, while opposing them with acrimony,
+could not avoid admitting that they were neither the advocates of the
+old system, nor the defenders of absolute power.
+
+Such was their position at the opening of the session of 1816: a little
+obscure still, but recognized by the Cabinet as well as by the different
+parties. The Duke de Richelieu, M. Laine, and M. Decazes, whether they
+liked the doctrinarians or not, felt that they positively required their
+co-operation, as well in the debates of the Chambers as to act upon
+public opinion. The left-hand party, powerless in itself, accorded with
+them from necessity, although their ideas and language sometimes
+produced surprise rather than sympathy. The right, notwithstanding its
+losses at the elections, was still very strong, and speedily assumed the
+offensive. The King's speech on opening the session was mild and
+somewhat indistinct, as if tending rather to palliate the decree of the
+5th of September, than to parade it with an air of triumph: "Rely," said
+he, in conclusion, "on my fixed determination to repress the outrages of
+the ill-disposed, and to restrain the exuberance of overheated zeal."
+"Is that all?" observed M. de Chateaubriand, on leaving the royal
+presence; "if so, the victory is ours:" and on that same day he dined
+with the Chancellor. M. de la Bourdonnaye was even more explicit. "The
+King," said he, with a coarse expression, "once more hands his
+ministers over to us!" During the session of the next day, meeting
+M. Royer-Collard, with whom he was in the habit of extremely free
+conversation, "Well," said he, "there you are, more rogues than last
+year." "And you not so many," replied M. Royer-Collard. The right-hand
+party, in their reviving hopes, well knew how to distinguish the
+adversaries with whom they would have to contend.
+
+As in the preceding session, the first debates arose on questions of
+expediency. The Cabinet judged it necessary to demand from the Chambers
+the prolongation, for another year, of the two provisional laws
+respecting personal liberty and the daily press. M. Decazes presented a
+detailed account of the manner in which, up to that period, the
+Government had used the arbitrary power committed to its hands, and also
+the new propositions which should restrain it within the limits
+necessary to remove all apprehended danger. The right-hand party
+vigorously rejected these propositions, upon the very natural ground
+that they had no confidence in the Ministers, but without any other
+reasoning than the usual commonplace arguments of liberalism. The
+doctrinarians supported the bills, but with the addition of commentaries
+which strongly marked their independence, and the direction they wished
+to give to the power they defended. "Every day," said M. de Serre, "the
+nature of our constitution will be better understood, its benefits more
+appreciated by the nation; the laws with which you co-operate, will
+place by degrees our institutions and habits in harmony with
+representative monarchy; the government will approach its natural
+perfection,--that unity of principle, design, and action which forms the
+condition of its existence. In permitting and even in protecting legal
+opposition, it will not allow that opposition to find resting-points
+within itself. It is because it can be, and ought to be, watched over
+and contradicted by independent men, that it should be punctually
+obeyed, faithfully seconded and served by those who have become and wish
+to remain its direct agents. Government will thus acquire a degree of
+strength which can dispense with the employment of extraordinary means:
+legal measures, restored to their proper energy, will be found
+sufficient." "There is," said M. Royer-Collard, "a strong objection
+against this bill; the Government may be asked, 'Before you demand
+excessive powers, have you employed all those which the laws entrust to
+you? have you exhausted their efficacy?' ... I shall not directly answer
+this question, but I shall say to those who put it, 'Take care how you
+expose your Government to too severe a trial, and one under which nearly
+all Governments have broken down; do not require from it perfection;
+consider its difficulties as well as its duties.' ... We wish to arrest
+its steps in the course it pursues at present, and to impose daily
+changes. We demand from it the complete development of institutions and
+constitutional enactments; above all, we require that vigorous unity of
+principles, system, and conduct without which it will never effectually
+reach the end towards which it advances. But what it has already done,
+is a pledge for what it will yet accomplish. We feel a just reliance
+that the extraordinary powers with which we invest it will be exercised,
+not by or for a party, but for the nation against all parties. Such is
+our treaty; such are the stipulations which have been spoken of: they
+are as public as our confidence, and we thank those who have occasioned
+their repetition, for proving to France that we are faithful to her
+cause, and neglect neither her interests nor our own duties."
+
+With a more gentle effusion of mind and heart, M. Camille Jordan held
+the same language; the bills passed; the right-hand party felt as blows
+directed against itself the advice suggested to the Cabinet, and the
+Cabinet saw that in that quarter, as necessary supporters, they had also
+haughty and exacting allies.
+
+Their demands were not fruitless. The Cabinet, uninfluenced either by
+despotic views or immoderate passions, had no desire to retain
+unnecessarily the absolute power with which it had been entrusted. No
+effort was requisite to deprive it of the provisional laws; they fell
+successively of themselves,--the suspension of the securities for
+personal liberty in 1817, the prevotal courts in 1818, the censorship of
+the daily press in 1819; and four years after the tempest of the Hundred
+Days, the country was in the full enjoyment of all its constitutional
+privileges.
+
+During this interval, other questions, more and less important, were
+brought forward and decided. When the first overflowing of the reaction
+of 1815 had a little calmed down, when France, less disturbed with the
+present, began once more to think of the future, she was called upon to
+enter on the greatest work that can fall to the lot of a nation. There
+was more than a new government to establish; it was necessary that a
+free government should be imbued with vigour. It was written, and it
+must live,--a promise often made, but never accomplished. How often,
+from 1789 to 1814, had liberties and political rights been inscribed on
+our institutes and laws, to be buried under them, and held of no
+account. The first amongst the Governments of our day, the Restoration,
+took these words at their true meaning; whatever may have been its
+traditions and propensities, what it said, it did; the liberties and
+rights it acknowledged, were taken into real co-operation and action.
+From 1814 to 1830, as from 1830 to 1848, the Charter was a truth. For
+once forgetting it, Charles X. fell.
+
+When this work of organization, or, to speak more correctly, when this
+effectual call to political life commenced in 1816, the question of the
+electoral system, already touched upon, but without result, in the
+preceding session, was the first that came under notice. It was included
+in the scope of the fortieth article of the Charter, which ran
+thus:--"The electors who nominate the Deputies can have no right of
+voting, unless they pay a direct contribution of 300 francs, and have
+reached the age of thirty,"--an ambiguous arrangement, which attempted
+more than it ventured to accomplish. It evidently contained a desire of
+placing the right of political suffrage above the popular masses, and of
+confining it within the more elevated classes of society. But the
+constitutional legislator had neither gone openly to this point, nor
+attained it with certainty; for if the Charter required from the
+electors who were actually to name the Deputies, 300 francs of direct
+contribution, and thirty years of age, it did not forbid that these
+electors should be themselves chosen by preceding electoral assemblies;
+or rather it did not exclude indirect election, nor, under that form,
+what is understood by the term universal suffrage.
+
+I took part in drawing up the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, which
+comprised, at that time, the solution given to this important question.
+I was present at the conferences in which it was prepared. When ready,
+M. Laine, whose business it was, as Minister of the Interior, to present
+it to the Chamber of Deputies, wrote to say that he wished to see me: "I
+have adopted," he said, "all the principles of this bill, the
+concentration of the right of suffrage, direct election, the equal
+privilege of voters, their union in a single college for each
+department; and I really believe these are the best that could be
+desired: still, upon some of these points, I have mental doubts and
+little time to solve them. Help me in preparing the exposition of our
+objects." I responded, as I was bound, to this confiding sincerity, by
+which I felt equally touched and honoured. The bill was brought in; and
+while my friends supported it in the Chamber, from whence my age for the
+present excluded me, I defended it, on behalf of the Government, in
+several articles inserted in the 'Moniteur.' I was well informed as to
+its intent and true spirit, and I speak of it without embarrassment in
+presence of the universal suffrage, as now established. If the electoral
+system of 1817 disappeared in the tempest of 1848, it conferred on
+France thirty years of regular and free government, systematically
+sustained and controlled; and amidst all the varying influences of
+parties, and the shock of a revolution, this system sufficed to maintain
+peace, to develop national prosperity, and to preserve respect for all
+legal rights. In this age of ephemeral and futile experiments, it is the
+only political enactment which has enjoyed a long and powerful life. At
+least it was a work which may be acknowledged, and which deserves to be
+correctly estimated, even after its overthrow.
+
+A ruling idea inspired the bill of the 5th of February, 1817,--to fix a
+term to the revolutionary system, and to give vigour to the
+constitutional Government. At that epoch, universal suffrage had ever
+been, in France, an instrument of destruction or deceit,--of
+destruction, when it had really placed political power in the hands of
+the multitude; of deceit, when it had assisted to annul political
+rights for the advantage of absolute power, by maintaining, through the
+vain intervention of the multitude, a false appearance of electoral
+privilege. To escape, in fine, from that routine of alternate violence
+and falsehood, to place political power in the region within which the
+conservative interests of social order naturally predominate with
+enlightened independence, and to secure to those interests, by the
+direct election of deputies from the country, a free and strong action
+upon its Government,--such were the objects, without reserve or
+exaggeration, of the authors of the electoral system of 1817.
+
+In a country devoted for twenty-five years, on the subject of political
+elections, whether truly or apparently, to the principle of the
+supremacy of number, so absurdly called the sovereignty of the people,
+the attempt was new, and might appear rash. At first, it confined
+political power to the hands of 140,000 electors. From the public, and
+even from what was already designated the liberal party, it encountered
+but slight opposition; some objections springing from the past, some
+apprehensions for the future, but no declared or active hostility. It
+was from the bosom of the classes specially devoted to conservative
+interests, and from their intestine discussions, that the attack and the
+danger emanated.
+
+During the session of 1815, the old royalist faction, in its moderated
+views, and when it renounced systematic and retrograding aspirations,
+had persuaded itself that, at least, the King's favour and the influence
+of the majority would give it power in the departments as at the seat of
+government. The decree of the 5th of September, 1816, abolished this
+double expectation. The old Royalists called upon the new electoral
+system to restore it, but at once perceived that the bill of the 5th of
+February was not calculated to produce such an effect; and forthwith
+commenced a violent attack, accusing the new plan of giving over all
+electoral power, and consequently all political influence, to the middle
+classes, to the exclusion of the great proprietors and the people.
+
+At a later period, the popular party, who neither thought nor spoke on
+the subject in 1817, adopted this argument in their turn, and charged,
+on this same accusation of political monopoly for the benefit of the
+middle classes, their chief complaint, not only against the electoral
+law, but against the entire system of government of which that law was
+the basis and guarantee.
+
+I collect my reminiscences, and call back my impressions. From 1814 to
+1848, under the government of the Restoration, and under that of July, I
+loudly supported and more than once had the honour of carrying this flag
+of the middle classes, which was naturally my own. What did we
+understand by it? Have we ever conceived the design, or even admitted
+the thought, that the citizens should become a newly privileged order,
+and that the laws intended to regulate the exercise of suffrage should
+serve to found the predominance of the middle classes by taking, whether
+in right or fact, all political influence, on one side from the relics
+of the old French aristocracy, and on the other from the people?
+
+Such an attempt would have been strangely ignorant and insane. It is
+neither by political theories nor articles in laws, that the privileges
+and superiority of any particular class are established in a State.
+These slow and pedantic methods are not available for such a purpose; it
+requires the force of conquest or the power of faith. Society is
+exclusively controlled by military or religious ascendency; never by the
+influence of the citizens. The history of all ages and nations is at
+hand to prove this to the most superficial observer.
+
+In our day, the impossibility of such a predominance of the middle
+classes is even more palpable. Two ideas constitute the great features
+of modern civilization, and stamp it with its formidable activity; I sum
+them up in these terms:--There are certain universal rights inherent in
+man's nature, and which no system can legitimately withhold from any
+one; there are individual rights which spring from personal merit alone,
+without regard to the external circumstances of birth, fortune, or rank,
+and which every one who has them in himself should be permitted to
+exercise. From the two principles of legal respect for the general
+rights of humanity, and the free development of natural gifts, ill or
+well understood, have proceeded, for nearly a century, the advantages
+and evils, the great actions and crimes, the advances and wanderings
+which revolutions and Governments have alternately excited in the bosom
+of every European community. Which of these two principles provokes or
+even permits the exclusive supremacy of the middle classes? Assuredly
+neither the one nor the other. One opens to individual endowments every
+gate; the other demands for every human being his place and his portion:
+no greatness is unattainable; no condition, however insignificant, is
+counted as nothing. Such principles are irreconcilable with exclusive
+superiority; that of the middle classes, as of every other, would be in
+direct contradiction to the ruling tendencies of modern society.
+
+The middle classes have never, amongst us, dreamed of becoming
+privileged orders; and no rational mind has ever indulged in such dreams
+for them. This idle accusation is but an engine of war, erected under
+cover of a confusion of ideas, sometimes by the hypocritical dexterity,
+and at others by the blind infatuation of party spirit. But this does
+not prevent its having been, or becoming again, fatal to the peace of
+our social system; for men are so constructed that chimerical dangers
+are the most formidable they can encounter: we fight boldly with
+tangible substances, but we lose our heads, either from fear or anger,
+when in presence of phantoms.
+
+It was with real dangers that we had to cope in 1817, when we discussed
+the electoral system of France. We saw the most legitimate principles
+and the most jealous interests of the new state of society indistinctly
+menaced by a violent reaction. We felt the spirit of revolution spring
+up and ferment around us, arming itself, according to old practice, with
+noble incentives, to cover the march and prepare the triumph of the most
+injurious passions. By instinct and position, the middle classes were
+the best suited to struggle with the combined peril. Opposed to the
+pretensions of the old aristocracy, they had acquired, under the Empire,
+ideas and habits of government. Although they received the Restoration
+with some mistrust, they were not hostile to it; for under the rule of
+the Charter, they had nothing to ask from new revolutions. The Charter
+was for them the Capitol and the harbour; they found in it the security
+of their conquests, and the triumph of their hopes. To turn to the
+advantage of the ancient monarchy, now become constitutional, this
+anti-revolutionary state of the middle classes, to secure their
+co-operation with that monarchy by giving them confidence in their own
+position, was a line of policy clearly indicated by the state of facts
+and opinions. Such was the bearing of the electoral bill of 1817. In
+principle this bill cut short the revolutionary theories of the
+supremacy of numbers, and of a specious and tyrannical equality; in
+fact, it brought the new society under shelter from the threats of
+counter-revolution. Assuredly, in proposing it, we had no intention of
+establishing any antagonism between the great and small proprietors; but
+when the question was so laid down, we evinced no hesitation; we
+supported the bill firmly, by maintaining that the influence, not
+exclusive but preponderating, of the middle classes was confirmed, on
+one side by the spirit of free institutions, and on the other in
+conformity with the interests of France as the Revolution had changed
+her, and with the Restoration itself as the Charter had defined when
+proclaiming it.
+
+The election bill occupied the session of 1816. The bill for recruiting
+was the great subject and work of the session of 1817. The right-hand
+party opposed it with vehement hostility: it disputed their traditions
+and disturbed their monarchical tendencies. But the party had to contest
+with a minister as imperturbable in his convictions and will as in his
+physiognomy. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr had a powerful, original, and
+straightforward mind, with no great combination of ideas, but
+passionately wedded to those which emanated from himself. He had
+resolved to give back to France what she no longer possessed--an army.
+And an army in his estimate was a small nation springing from the large
+one, strongly organized, formed of officers and soldiers closely united,
+mutually knowing and respecting each other, all having defined rights
+and duties, and all well trained by solid study or long practice to
+serve their country effectually when called upon.
+
+Upon this idea of an army, according to the conception of Marshal St.
+Cyr, the principles of his bill were naturally framed. Every class in
+the State was required to assist in the formation of this army. Those
+who entered in the lowest rank were open to the highest, with a certain
+advantage in the ascending movement of the middle classes. Those who
+were ambitious of occupying at once a higher step, were compelled in the
+first instance to pass certain examinations, and then to acquire by
+close study the particular knowledge necessary to their post. The term
+of service, active or in reserve, was long, and made military life in
+reality a career. The obligations imposed, the privileges promised, and
+the rights recognized for all, were guaranteed by the bill.
+
+Besides these general principles, the bill had an immediate result which
+St. Cyr ardently desired. It enrolled again in the new army, under the
+head of veterans and reserve, the remains of the old discharged legions,
+who had so heroically endured the penalty of the errors committed by
+their crowned leader. It effaced also, in their minds, that reminiscence
+of a distasteful past, while by a sort of special Charter it secured
+their future.
+
+No one can deny that this plan for the military organization of France,
+embraced grand ideas and noble sentiments. Such a bill accorded with the
+moral nature and political conduct of Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, who
+possessed an upright soul, a proud temperament, monarchical opinions,
+and republican manners; and who, since 1814, had given equal proofs of
+loyalty and independence. When he advocated it in the tribune, when,
+with the manly solemnity and disciplined feeling of an experienced
+warrior, at once a sincere patriot and a royalist, he recapitulated the
+services and sufferings of that nation of old soldiers which he was
+anxious for a few years longer to unite with the new army of France, he
+deeply moved the public and the Chambers; and his powerful language, no
+less than the excellent propositions of his bill, consecrated it on the
+instant in the affectionate esteem of the country.
+
+Violently attacked in 1818, Marshal St. Cyr's recruiting bill has been
+since that date several times criticised, revised, and modified. Its
+leading principles have resisted assault, and have survived alteration.
+It has done more than last, through soundness of principle; it has
+given, by facts, an astounding denial to its adversaries. It was accused
+of striking a blow at the monarchy; on the contrary, it has made the
+army more devotedly monarchical than any that France had ever known,--an
+army whose fidelity has never been shaken, either in 1830 or 1848, by
+the influence of popular opinion, or the seduction of a revolutionary
+crisis. Military sentiment, that spirit of obedience and respect, of
+discipline and devotion, one of the chief glories of human nature, and
+the necessary pledge of the honour as of the safety of nations, had been
+powerfully fomented and developed in France by the great wars of the
+Revolution and the Empire. It was a precious inheritance of those rough
+times which have bequeathed to us so many burdens. There was danger of
+its being lost or enfeebled in the bosom of peaceful inaction, and
+during endless debates on liberty. It has been firmly maintained in the
+army which the law of 1818 established and incessantly recruits. This
+military sentiment is not only preserved; it has become purified and
+regulated. By the honesty of its promises and the justice of its
+arrangements in matters of privilege and promotion, the bill of Marshal
+St. Cyr has imbued the army with a permanent conviction of its rights,
+of its own legal and individual rights, and, through that feeling, with
+an instinctive attachment to public order, the common guarantee of all
+rights. We have witnessed the rare and imposing sight of an army capable
+of devotion and restraint, ready for sacrifices, and modest in
+pretension, ambitious of glory, without being athirst for war, proud of
+its arms, and yet obedient to civil authority. Public habits, the
+prevailing ideas of the time, and the general character of our
+civilization have doubtless operated much upon this great result; but
+the bill of Marshal St. Cyr has had its full part, and I rejoice in
+recording this honourable distinction, which, amongst so many others,
+belongs to my old and glorious friend.
+
+The session of 1818, which opened in the midst of a ministerial crisis,
+had to deal with another question not more important, but even more
+intricate and dangerous. The Cabinet determined to leave the press no
+longer under an exceptional and temporary law. M. de Serre, at that time
+Chancellor, introduced three bills on the same day, which settled
+definitively the penalty, the method of prosecution, and the
+qualification for publishing, in respect to the daily papers, while at
+the same time they liberated them from all censorship.
+
+I am one of those who have been much assisted and fiercely attacked by
+the press. Throughout my life, I have greatly employed this engine. By
+placing my ideas publicly before the eyes of my country, I first
+attracted her attention and esteem. During the progress of my career, I
+have ever had the press for ally or opponent; and I have never hesitated
+to employ its weapons, or feared to expose myself to its blows. It is a
+power which I respect and recognize willingly, rather than compulsorily,
+but without illusion or idolatry. Whatever may be the form of
+government, political life is a constant struggle; and it would give me
+no satisfaction--I will even say more--I should feel ashamed of finding
+myself opposed to mute and fettered adversaries. The liberty of the
+press is human nature displaying itself in broad daylight, sometimes
+under the most attractive, and at others under the most repelling
+aspect; it is the wholesome air that vivifies, and the tempest that
+destroys, the expansion and impulsive power of steam in the intellectual
+system. I have ever advocated a free press; I believe it to be, on the
+whole, more useful than injurious to public morality; and I look upon it
+as essential to the proper management of public affairs, and to the
+security of private interests. But I have witnessed too often and too
+closely its dangerous aberrations as regards political order, not to
+feel convinced that this liberty requires the restraint of a strong
+organization of effective laws and of controlling principles. In 1819,
+my friends and I clearly foresaw the necessity of these conditions; but
+we laid little stress upon them, we were unable to bring them all into
+operation, and we thought, moreover, that the time had arrived when the
+sincerity as well as the strength of the restored monarchy was to be
+proved by removing from the press its previous shackles, and in risking
+the consequences of its enfranchisement.
+
+The greater part of the laws passed with reference to the press, in
+France or elsewhere, have either been acts of repression, legitimate or
+illegitimate, against liberty, or triumphs over certain special
+guarantees of liberty successively won from power, according to the
+necessity or opportunity of gaining them. The legislative history of the
+press in England supplies a long series of alternations and arrangements
+of this class.
+
+The bills of 1819 had a totally different character. They comprised a
+complete legislation, conceived together and beforehand, conformable
+with certain general principles, defining in every degree liabilities
+and penalties, regulating all the conditions as well as the forms of
+publication, and intended to establish and secure the liberty of the
+press, while protecting order and power from its licentiousness;--an
+undertaking very difficult in its nature, as all legislative enactments
+must be which spring from precaution more than necessity, and in which
+the legislator is inspired and governed by ideas rather than commanded
+and directed by facts. Another danger, a moral and concealed danger,
+also presented itself. Enactments thus prepared and maintained become
+works of a philosopher and artist, the author of which is tempted to
+identify himself with them through an impulse of self-love, which
+sometimes leads him to lose sight of the external circumstances and
+practical application he ought to have considered. Politics require a
+certain mixture of indifference and passion, of freedom of thought and
+restrained will, which is not easily reconciled with a strong adhesion
+to general ideas, and a sincere intent to hold a just balance between
+the many principles and interests of society.
+
+I should be unwilling to assert that in the measures proposed and passed
+in 1819, on the liberty of the press, we had completely avoided these
+rocks, or that they were in perfect harmony with the state of men's
+minds, and the exigencies of order at that precise epoch. Nevertheless,
+after an interval of nearly forty years, and on reconsidering these
+measures now with my matured judgment, I do not hesitate to look on them
+as grand and noble efforts of legislation, in which the true points of
+the subject were skilfully embraced and applied, and which, in spite of
+the mutilation they were speedily doomed to undergo, established an
+advance in the liberty of the press, properly understood, which sooner
+or later cannot fail to extend itself.
+
+The debate on these bills was worthy of their conception. M. de Serre
+was gifted with eloquence singularly exalted and practical. He supported
+their general principles in the tone of a magistrate who applies, and
+not as a philosopher who explains them. His speech was profound without
+abstraction, highly coloured but not figurative; his reasoning resolved
+itself into action. He expounded, examined, discussed, attacked, or
+replied without literary or even oratorical preparation, carrying up the
+strength of his arguments to the full level of the questions, fertile
+without exuberance, precise without dryness, impassioned without a
+shadow of declamation, always ready with a sound answer to his
+opponents, as powerful on the impulse of the moment as in prepared
+reflection, and, when once he had surmounted a slight hesitation and
+slowness at the first onset, pressing on directly to his end with a firm
+and rapid step, and with the air of a man deeply interested, but
+careless of personal success, and only anxious to win his cause by
+communicating to his listeners his own sentiments and convictions.
+
+Different adversaries presented themselves during the debate, from those
+who had opposed the bills for elections and recruiting the army. The
+right-hand party attacked the two latter propositions; the left assailed
+the measures regarding the press. MM. Benjamin Constant, Manuel,
+Chauvelin, and Bignon, with more parliamentary malice than political
+judgment, overwhelmed them with objections and amendments slightly
+mingled with very qualified compliments. Recent elections had lately
+readmitted into the assembly these leaders of the Liberals in the
+Chamber of the Hundred Days. They seemed to think of nothing but how to
+bring once more upon the scene their party, for three years beaten down,
+and to re-establish their own position as popular orators. Some of the
+most prominent ideas in the drawing up of these three bills, were but
+little in conformity with the philosophic and legislative traditions
+which since 1791 had become current on the subject. They evidently
+comprised a sincere wish to guarantee liberty, and a strong desire not
+to disarm power. It was a novel exhibition to see Ministers frankly
+recognizing the liberty of the press, without offering up incense on its
+shrine, and assuming that they understood its rights and interests
+better than its old worshippers. In the opposition of the left-hand
+party at this period, there was much of routine, a great deal of
+complaisance for the prejudices and passions of the press attached to
+their party, and a little angry jealousy of a cabinet which permitted
+liberal innovation. The public, unacquainted with political factions,
+were astonished to see bills so vehemently opposed which diminished the
+penalties in force against the press, referred to a jury all offences of
+that class, and liberated the journals from the censorship,--measures
+which in their eyes appeared too confident. The right-hand party held
+dexterously aloof, rejoicing to see the Ministers at issue with reviving
+opponents who were likely soon to become their most formidable enemies.
+
+It was during this debate that I ascended the tribune for the first
+time. M. Cuvier and I had been appointed, as Royal Commissioners, to
+support the proposed measures,--a false and weak position, which
+demonstrates the infancy of representative government. We do not argue
+politics as we plead a cause or maintain a thesis. To act effectively in
+a deliberative assembly, we must ourselves be deliberators; that is to
+say, we must be members, and hold our share with others in free
+thought, power, and responsibility. I believe that I acquitted myself
+with propriety, but coldly, of the mission I had undertaken. I
+sustained, against M. Benjamin Constant, the general responsibility for
+the correctness of the accounts given of the proceedings of the
+Chambers, and, against M. Daunou, the guarantees required by the bill
+for the establishment of newspapers. The Chamber appeared to appreciate
+my arguments, and listened to me with attention. But I kept on the
+reserve, and seldom joined in the debate; I have no turn for incomplete
+positions and prescribed parts. When we enter into an arena in which the
+affairs of a free country are discussed, it is not to make a display of
+fine thoughts and words; we are bound to engage in the struggle as true
+and earnest actors.
+
+As the recruiting bill had established a personal and political
+reputation for Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, so the bills on the press
+effected the same for M. de Serre. Thus, at the issue of a violent
+crisis of revolution and war, in presence of armed Europe, and within
+the short space of three sessions, the three most important questions of
+a free system--the construction of elective power, the formation of a
+national army, and the interference of individual opinions in public
+affairs through the channel of the press--were freely proposed, argued,
+and resolved; and their solution, whatever might be the opinion of
+parties, was certainly in harmony with the habits and wishes of that
+honest and peaceably disposed majority of France who had sincerely
+received the King and the Charter, and had adopted their government on
+mature consideration.
+
+During this time, many other measures of constitutional organization,
+or general legislation, had been accomplished or proposed. In 1818, an
+amendment of M. Royer-Collard settled the addition to the budget of an
+annual law for the supervision of public accounts; and in the course of
+the following year, two ministers of finance, the Baron Louis and
+M. Roy, brought into operation that security for the honest
+appropriation of the revenue. By the institution of smaller
+"Great-books" of the national debt, the state of public credit became
+known in the departments. Other bills, although laid before the
+Chambers, produced no result; three, amongst the rest, may be named: on
+the responsibility of Ministers, on the organization of the Chamber of
+Peers into a court of justice, and on the alteration of the financial
+year to avoid the provisional vote of the duty. Others again, especially
+applicable to the reform of departmental and parochial administrations,
+and to public instruction, were left in a state of inquiry and
+preliminary discussion. Far from eluding or allowing important questions
+to linger, the Government laboriously investigated them, and forestalled
+the wishes of the public, determined to submit them to the Chambers as
+soon as they had collected facts and arranged their own plans.
+
+I still preserve a deep remembrance of the State Council in which these
+various bills were first discussed. This Council had not then any
+defined official existence or prescribed action in the constitution of
+the country; politics nevertheless were more prominently argued there,
+and with greater freedom and effect, than at any other time; every
+shade, I ought rather to say every variation, of the royalist party,
+from the extreme right to the edge of the left, were there represented;
+the politicians most in repute, the leaders of the majority in the two
+Assemblies, were brought into contact with the heads of administration,
+the old senators of the Empire, and with younger men not yet admissible
+to the Chambers, but introduced by the Charter into public life.
+MM. Royer-Collard, de Serre, and Camille Jordan sat there by the side of
+MM. Simeon, Portalis, Mole, Berenger, Cuvier, and Allent; and
+MM. de Barante, Mounier, and myself deliberated in common with
+MM. de Ballainvilliers, Laporte-Lalanne, and de Blaire, unswerving
+representatives of the old system. When important bills were examined by
+the Council, the Ministers never failed to attend. The Duke de Richelieu
+often presided at the general sittings. The discussion was perfectly
+free, without oratorical display or pretension, but serious, profound,
+varied, detailed, earnest, erudite, and at the same time practical. I
+have heard Count Berenger, a man of disputatious and independent temper,
+and a quasi-republican under the Empire, maintain there, with ingenious
+and imposing subtlety, universal suffrage, and distinctions of
+qualification for voting, against direct election and the concentrated
+right of suffrage. MM. Cuvier, Simeon, and Allent were the constant
+defenders of traditional and administrative influence. My friends and I
+argued strongly for the principles and hopes of liberty strongly based,
+which appeared to us the natural consequences of the Charter and the
+necessary conditions for the prosperity of the Restoration. Reforms in
+criminal legislation, the application of trial by jury to offences of
+the press, the introduction of the elective principle into the
+municipal system, were argued in the Council of State before they were
+laid before the Chambers. The Government looked to the Council, not only
+for a study of all questions, but for a preparatory and amicable
+experience of the ideas, desires, and objections it was destined to
+encounter at a later period, in a rougher contest, and a more tumultuous
+theatre.
+
+The Cabinet, composed as it was at the time when the decree of the 5th
+of September, 1816, appeared, was not equal to that line of policy,
+continually increasing in moderation, sometimes resolutely, liberal,
+and, if not always provident, at least perpetually active. But the same
+progress which accompanied events, affected individuals. During the
+course of the year 1817, M. Pasquier, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and
+M. Mole replaced M. Dambray, the Duke of Feltri, and M. Dubouchage in
+the departments of justice, war, and the marine. From that time the
+Ministers were not deficient either in internal unity, or in
+parliamentary and administrative talent. They endeavoured to infuse the
+same qualities into all the different branches and gradations of
+government, and succeeded tolerably in the heart of the State. Without
+reaction or any exclusive spirit, they surrounded themselves with men
+sincerely attached to a constitutional policy, and who by their
+character and ability had already won public esteem. They were less firm
+and effective in local administration; although introducing more changes
+than are generally believed, they were unable to reconcile them with
+their general policy. In many places, acts of violence, capricious
+temper, haughty inexperience, offensive pretension and frivolous alarm,
+with all the great and little party passions which had possessed the
+Government of 1815, continued to weigh upon the country. These
+proceedings kept up amongst the tranquil population a strong sentiment
+of uneasiness, and sometimes excited active malcontents to attempts at
+conspiracy and insurrection, amplified at first with interested or
+absurd credulity, repressed with unmitigated rigour, and subsequently
+discussed, denied, extenuated, and reduced almost to nothing by
+never-ending explanations and counter-charges. From thence arose the
+mistakes, prejudices, and false calculations of the local authorities;
+while the supreme powers assumed alternately airs of levity or weakness,
+which made them lose, in the eyes of the multitude, the credit of that
+sound general policy from which they, the masses, experienced little
+advantage. The occurrences at Lyons in June 1817, and the long debates
+of which they became the subject after the mission of redress of the
+Duke of Ragusa, furnish a lamentable example of the evils which France
+at this period had still to endure, although at the head of government
+the original cause had disappeared.
+
+Things are more easily managed than men. These same Ministers, who were
+not always able to compel the prefects and mayors to adopt their policy,
+and who hesitated to displace them when they were found to be obstinate
+or incapable, were ever prompt and effective when general administration
+was involved, and measures not personal were necessary for the public
+interest. On this point, reflection tells me that justice has not been
+rendered to the Government of the day; religious establishments, public
+instruction, hospital and prison discipline, financial and military
+administration, the connection of power with industry and commerce, all
+the great public questions, received from 1816 to 1820 much salutary
+reform and made important advances. The Duke de Richelieu advocated an
+enlightened policy and the public good; he took pride in contributing to
+both. M. Laine devoted himself with serious and scrupulous anxiety to
+the superintendence of the many establishments included in his
+department, and laboured to rectify existing abuses or to introduce
+salutary limitations. The Baron Louis was an able and indefatigable
+minister, who knew to a point how regularity could be established in the
+finances of the State, and who employed for that object all the
+resources of his mind and the unfettered energy of his will. Marshal
+Gouvion St. Cyr had, on every branch of military organization, on the
+formation and internal system of the different bodies, on the scientific
+schools as well as on the material supplies, ideas at once systematic
+and practical, derived either from his general conception of the army or
+from long experience; and these he carried into effect in a series of
+regulations remarkable for the unity of their views and the profound
+knowledge of their details. M. Decazes was endowed with a singularly
+inquiring and inventive mind in seeking to satisfy doubts, to attempt
+improvements, to stimulate emulation and concord for the advantage of
+all social interests, of all classes of citizens, in connection with the
+Government; and these combined objects he invariably promoted with
+intelligent, amiable, and eager activity. In a political point of view,
+the Administration left much to regret and to desire; but in its proper
+sphere it was liberal, energetic, impartial, economical from probity and
+regularity, friendly to progress at the same time that it was careful of
+order, and sincerely impressed with the desire of giving universal
+prevalence to justice and the public interest.[14]
+
+Here was undoubtedly a sensible and sound Government, in very difficult
+and lamentable circumstances; and under such rule the country had no
+occasion to lament the present or despair of the future. Nevertheless
+this Government gained no strength by permanence; its enemies felt no
+discouragement, while its friends perceived no addition to their power
+or security. The Restoration had given peace to France, and laboured
+honestly and successfully to restore her independence and rank in
+Europe. Under this flag of stability and order, prosperity and liberty
+sprang up again together. Still the Restoration was always a disputed
+question.
+
+If we are to believe its enemies, this evil was inherent and inevitable.
+According to them the old system, the emigrants, the foreigners, the
+hatreds and suspicions of the Revolution devoted the House of Bourbon to
+their obstinately precarious situation. Without disputing the influence
+of such a fatal past, I cannot admit that it exercised complete empire
+over events, or that it suffices in itself to explain why the
+Restoration, even in its best days, always was and appeared to be in a
+tottering state. The mischief sprang from more immediate and more
+personal causes. In the Government of that date there were organic and
+accidental infirmities, vices of the political machine and errors of the
+actors, which contributed much more than revolutionary remembrances to
+prevent its firm consolidation.
+
+A natural and important disagreement exists between the representative
+government instituted by the Charter, and the administrative monarchy
+founded by Louis XIV. and Napoleon. Where administration and policy are
+equally free, when local affairs are discussed and decided by local
+authorities or influences, and neither derive their impulse nor solution
+from the central power, which never interferes except when the general
+interest of the State absolutely requires it to do so,--as in England,
+and in the United States of America, in Holland and Belgium, for
+instances,--the representative system readily accords with an
+administrative Government which never appeals to its co-operation except
+on important and rare occasions. But when the supreme authority
+undertakes at the same time to govern with freedom, and to administer by
+centralization,--when it has to contend, at the seat of power, for the
+great affairs of the State, and to regulate, under its own
+responsibility, in all the departments, the minor business of every
+district,--two weighty objections immediately present themselves: either
+the central power, absorbed by the care of national questions, and
+occupied with its own defence, neglects local affairs, and suffers them
+to fall into disorder and inaction; or it connects them closely with
+general questions, making them subservient to its own interests; and
+thus the whole system of administration, from the hamlet to the palace,
+degenerates into an implement of government in the hands of political
+parties who are mutually contending for power.
+
+I am certainly not called upon today to dwell on this evil; it has
+become the hackneyed theme of the adversaries of representative
+government, and of political liberty. It was felt long before it was
+taken advantage of; but instead of employing it against free
+institutions, an attempt was made to effect its cure. To achieve this
+end, a double work was to be accomplished; it was necessary to infuse
+liberty into the administration of local affairs, and to second the
+development of the local forces capable of exercising authority within
+their own circle. An aristocracy cannot be created by laws, either at
+the extremities or at the fountain-head of the State; but the most
+democratic society is not stripped of natural powers ready to display
+themselves when called into action. Not only in the departments, but in
+the divisions, in the townships and villages, landed property, industry,
+employments, professions, and traditions have their local influences,
+which, if adopted and organized with prudence, constitute effectual
+authority. From 1816 to 1848, under each of the two constitutional
+monarchies, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, the different cabinets
+have acted under this conviction; they have studied to relieve the
+central Government, by remitting a portion of its functions, sometimes
+to the regular local agents, and at others to more independent
+auxiliaries. But, as it too often happens, the remedy was not rapid
+enough in operation; mistrust, timidity, inexperience, and routine
+slackened its progress; neither the authorities nor the people knew how
+to employ it with resolution, or to wait the results with patience. Thus
+compelled to sustain the burden of political liberty with that of
+administrative centralization, the newly-born constitutional monarchy
+found itself compromised between difficulties and contradictory
+responsibilities, exceeding the measure of ability and strength which
+could be reasonably expected from any Government.
+
+Another evil, the natural but not incurable result of these very
+institutions, weighed also upon the Restoration. The representative
+system is at the bottom, and on close analysis, a system of mutual
+sacrifices and dealings between the various interests which coexist in
+society. At the same time that it places them in antagonism, it imposes
+on them the absolute necessity of arriving at an intermediate term, a
+definite measure of reciprocal understanding and toleration which may
+become the basis of laws and government. But also, at the same time, by
+the publicity and heat of the struggle, it throws the opposing parties
+into an unseemly exaggeration of vehemence and language, and compromises
+the self-love and personal dignity of human nature. Thus, by an
+inconsistency teeming with embarrassment, it daily renders more
+difficult that agreement or submission which, in the end, it has also
+made indispensable. Herein is comprised an important difficulty for this
+system of government, which can only be surmounted by a great exercise
+of tact and conciliation on the part of the political actors
+themselves, and by a great preponderance of good sense on that of the
+public, which in the end recalls parliamentary factions and their
+leaders to that moderation after defeat, from which the inflated passion
+of the characters they have assumed too often tends to estrange them.
+
+This necessary regulator, always difficult to find or institute, was
+essentially wanting to us under the Restoration; on entering the course,
+we were launched, without curb, on this precipice of extreme
+demonstrations and preconceived ideas, the natural vice of parties in
+every representative government. How many opportunities presented
+themselves from 1816 to 1830, when the different elements of the
+monarchical party could, and in their struggle ought to have paused on
+this brink, at the point where the danger of revolution commenced for
+all! But none had the good sense or courage to exercise this provident
+restraint; and the public, far from imposing it on them, excited them
+still more urgently to the combat,--as at a play, in which people
+delight to trace the dramatic reflection of their own passions.
+
+A mischievous, although inevitable, distribution of parts between the
+opposing parties aggravated still more, from 1816 to 1820, this want of
+forecast in men, and this extravagance of public passions. Under the
+representative system, it is usually to one of the parties distinctly
+defined and firmly resolved in their ideas and desires, that the
+government belongs: sometimes the systematic defenders of power, at
+others the friends of liberty, then the conservatives, and lastly the
+innovators, direct the affairs of the country; and between these
+organized and ambitious parties are placed the unclassed opinions and
+undecided wishes, that political chorus which is ever present watching
+the conduct of the actors, listening to their words, and ready to
+applaud or condemn them according as they satisfy or offend their
+unfettered judgment. This is, in fact, the natural bias and true order
+of things under free institutions. It is well for Government to have a
+public and recognized standard, regulated on fixed principles, and
+sustained in action by steady adherents; it derives from that position,
+not only the strength and consistent coherence that it requires, but the
+moral dignity which renders power more easy and gentle by placing it
+higher in the estimation of the people. It is not the chance of events
+or the personal ambition of men alone, but the interests and inclination
+of the public, which have produced, in free countries, the great,
+acknowledged, permanent, and trusty political parties, and have usually
+confided power to their hands. At the Restoration it was impossible,
+from 1816 to 1820, to fulfil this condition of a Government at once
+energetic and restrained. The two great political parties which it found
+in action, that of the old system and of the revolution, were both at
+the time incapable of governing by maintaining internal peace with
+liberty; each had ideas and passions too much opposed to the established
+and legal order they would have had to defend; they accepted with great
+reluctance, and in a very undefined sense, the one the Charter, and the
+other the old Monarchy. Through absolute necessity, power returned to
+the hands of the political choir; the floating and impartial section of
+the Chambers, the centre, was called to the helm. Under a free system,
+the Centre is the habitual moderator and definitive judge of Government,
+but not the party naturally pretending to govern. It gives or withholds
+the majority, but its mission is not to conquer it. And it is much more
+difficult for the centre than for strongly organized parties to win or
+maintain a majority; for when it assumes government, it finds before it,
+not undecided spectators who wait its acts to pass judgment on them, but
+inflamed adversaries resolved to combat them beforehand;--a weak and
+dangerous position, which greatly aggravates the difficulties of
+Government, whether engaged in the display of power, or the protection
+of liberty.
+
+Not only was this the situation of the King's Government from 1816 to
+1820, but even this was not regularly and powerfully established. Badly
+distributed amongst the actors, the characters were doubtfully filled in
+the interior of this new and uncertain party of the centre, on whom the
+government, through necessity, devolved. The principal portion of the
+heads of the majority in the Chambers held no office. From 1816 to 1819,
+several of those who represented and directed the centre, who addressed
+and supported it with prevailing influence, who defended it from the
+attacks of the right and left-hand parties, who established its power in
+debate and its credit with the public, MM. Royer-Collard, Camille
+Jordan, Beugnot, and de Serre, were excluded from the Cabinet. Amongst
+the eminent leaders of the majority, two only, M. Laine and M. Pasquier
+were ministers. The Government, therefore, in the Chambers, relied on
+independent supporters who approved of their policy in general, but
+neither bore any part in the burden, nor acknowledged any share in the
+responsibility.
+
+The doctrinarians had acquired their parliamentary influence and moral
+weight by principles and eloquence rather than by deeds; they maintained
+their opinions without applying them to practice; the flag of thought
+and the standard of action were in different hands. In the Chambers, the
+Ministers often appeared as the clients of the orators; the orators
+never looked upon their cause as identical with that of the Ministers;
+they preserved this distinction while supporting them; they had their
+own demands to make before they assented; they qualified their approval,
+and even sometimes dissented altogether. As the questions increased in
+importance and delicacy, so much the more independence and discord
+manifested themselves in the bosom of the ministerial party, with
+dangerous notoriety. During the session of 1817, M. Pasquier, then
+Chancellor, presented a bill to the Chamber of Deputies, which, while
+temporarily maintaining the censorship of the daily papers, comprised in
+other respects some modifications favourable to the liberty of the
+press. M. Camille Jordan and M. Royer-Collard demanded much greater
+concessions, particularly the application of trial by jury to press
+offences; and the bill, reluctantly passed by the Chamber of Deputies,
+was thrown out by the Chamber of Peers, when the Duke de Broglie urged
+the same amendments on similar principles. In 1817 also, a new Concordat
+had been negotiated and concluded at Rome by M. de Blacas. It contained
+the double and contradictory defect of invading by some of its
+specifications the liberties of the old Gallican Church; while, by the
+abolition of the Concordat of 1801, it inspired the new French society
+with lively alarms for its civil liberties. Little versed in such
+matters, and almost entirely absorbed in the negotiations for relieving
+France from the presence of foreigners, the Duke de Richelieu had
+confided this business to M. de Blacas, who was equally ignorant and
+careless of the importance of the old or new liberties of France,
+whether civil or religious. When this Concordat, respecting which the
+Ministers themselves were discontented and doubtful when they had
+carefully examined it, was presented to the Chamber of Deputies by
+M. Laine, with the measures necessary for carrying it into effect, it
+was received with general disfavour. In committee, in the board
+appointed to report on it, in the discussions in the hall of conference,
+all the objections, political and historical, of principle or
+circumstance, that the bill could possibly excite, were argued and
+explained beforehand, so as to give warning of the most obstinate and
+dangerous debate. The doctrinarians openly declared for this premature
+opposition; and their support produced a strong effect, as they were
+known to be sincere friends to religion and its influences. It is true,
+M. Royer-Collard was accused of being a Jansenist; and thus an attempt
+was made to depreciate him in the eyes of the true believers of the
+Catholic Church. The reproach was frivolous. M. Royer-Collard had
+derived, from family traditions and early education, serious habits,
+studious inclinations, and an affectionate respect for the exalted minds
+of Port-Royal, for their virtue and genius; but he neither adopted their
+religious doctrines nor their systematic conclusions on the relative
+ties between Church and State. On all these questions he exercised a
+free and rational judgment, as a stranger to all extreme passion or
+sectarian prejudice, and not in the least disposed, either as Catholic
+or philosopher, to engage in obscure and endless quarrels with the
+Church. "I seek not to quibble with religion," he was wont to say; "it
+has enough to do to defend itself and us from impiety." The opposition
+of M. Royer-Collard to the Concordat of 1817 was the dissent of a
+politician and enlightened moralist, who foresaw the mischief which the
+public discussion, and adoption or rejection of this bill, would inflict
+on the influence of the Church, the credit of the Restoration, and the
+peace of the country. The Cabinet had prudence enough not to brave a
+danger which it had created, or suffered to grow on its steps. The
+report on the bill was indefinitely adjourned, and a fresh negotiation
+was opened with Rome by sending Count Portalis on a special mission,
+which ended in 1819 by the tacit withdrawal of the Concordat of 1817.
+The Duke de Richelieu, pressed by his colleagues, and his own tardy
+reflections, coincided in this retrograde movement; but he maintained a
+feeling of displeasure at the opposition of the doctrinarians and others
+on this occasion, which he sometimes gratified himself by indulging. In
+the month of March, 1818, some one, whose name I have forgotten,
+demanded of him a trifling favour. "It is impossible," replied he
+sharply; "MM. Royer-Collard, de Serre, Camille Jordan, and Guizot will
+not suffer it."
+
+I had no reason to complain that my name was included in this
+ebullition. Although not a member of the Chamber, I openly adopted the
+opinions and conduct of my friends; I had both the opportunity and the
+means, in the discussions of the Council of State, in the drawing-room,
+and through the press,--channels which all parties employed with equal
+ardour and effect. In spite of the shackles which restrained the papers
+and periodical publications, they freely exercised the liberty which the
+Government no longer attempted to dispute, and to which the most
+influential politicians had recourse, to disseminate far and wide the
+brilliant flames or smouldering fire of their opposition.
+M. de Chateaubriand, M. de Bonald, M. de Villele, in the 'Conservative,'
+and M. Benjamin Constant in the 'Minerva,' maintained an incessant
+assault on the Cabinet. The Cabinet in its defence, multiplied similar
+publications, such as the 'Moderator,' the 'Publicist,' and the
+'Political and Literary Spectator.' But, for my friends and our cause,
+the defences of the Cabinet were not always desirable or sufficient; we
+therefore, from 1817 to 1820, had our own journals and periodical
+miscellanies,--the 'Courier,' the 'Globe,' the 'Philosophical,
+Political, and Literary Archives,' and the 'French Review;' and in these
+we discussed, according to our principles and hopes, sometimes general
+questions, and at others the incidental subjects of current policy, as
+they alternately presented themselves. I contributed much to these
+publications. Between our different adversaries and ourselves the
+contest was extremely unequal: whether they came from the right or the
+left, they represented old parties; they expressed ideas and sentiments
+long in circulation; they found a public predisposed to receive them.
+We were intruders in the political arena, officers seeking to recruit an
+army, moderate innovators. We attacked, in the name of liberty, theories
+and passions long popular under the same denomination. We defended the
+new French society according to its true rights and interests, but not
+in conformity with its tastes or habits. We had to conquer our public,
+while we combated our enemies. In this difficult attempt our position
+was somewhat doubtful: we were at the same time with and against the
+Government, royalists and liberals, ministerialists and independents; we
+acted sometimes in concert with the Administration, sometimes with the
+Opposition, and we were unable to avail ourselves of all the weapons of
+either power or liberty. But we were full of faith in our opinions, of
+confidence in ourselves, of hope in the future; and we pressed forward
+daily in our double contest, with as much devotion as pride, and with
+more pride than ambition.
+
+All this has been strenuously denied; my friends and I have often been
+represented as deep plotters, greedy for office, eager and shrewd in
+pushing our fortunes through every opening, and more intent on our own
+ascendency than on the fate or wishes of the country,--a vulgar and
+senseless estimate, both of human nature and of our contemporary
+history. If ambition had been our ruling principle, we might have
+escaped many efforts and defeats. In times when the most brilliant
+fortunes, political or otherwise, were easily within reach of those who
+thought of nothing else, we only desired to achieve ours on certain
+moral conditions, and with the object of not caring for ourselves.
+Ambition we had, but in the service of a public cause; and one which,
+either in success or adversity, has severely tried the constancy of its
+defenders.
+
+The most clear-sighted of the cabinet ministers in 1817, M. Decazes and
+M. Pasquier, whose minds were more free and less suspicious than those
+of the Duke de Richelieu and M. Laine, were not deceived on this point:
+they felt the necessity of our alliance, and cultivated it with anxiety.
+But when it becomes a question of how to govern in difficult times,
+allies are not enough; intimate associates are necessary, devoted
+adherents in labour and peril. In this character, the doctrinarians, and
+particularly M. Royer-Collard, their leader in the Chambers, were
+mistrusted. They were looked upon as at once imperious and undecided,
+and more exacting than effective. Nevertheless, in November, 1819, after
+the election of M. Gregoire and in the midst of their projected reforms
+in the electoral law, M. Decazes, at the strong instigation of
+M. de Serre, proposed to M. Royer-Collard to join the Cabinet with one
+or two of his friends. M. Royer-Collard hesitated at first, then acceded
+for a moment, and finally declined. "You know not what you would do,"
+said he to M. Decazes; "my method of dealing with affairs would differ
+entirely from yours: you elude questions, you shift and change them, you
+gain time, you settle things by halves; I, on the contrary, should
+attack them in front, bring them into open view, and dissect them before
+all the world. I should compromise instead of assisting you."
+M. Royer-Collard was in the right, and defined himself admirably,
+perhaps more correctly than he imagined. He was more calculated to
+advise and contest than to exercise power. He was rather a great
+spectator and critic than an eminent political actor. In the ordinary
+course of affairs he would have been too absolute, too haughty, and too
+slow. In a crisis, I question whether his mental reservations, his
+scruples of conscience, his horror of all public excitement, and his
+prevailing dread of responsibility, would have permitted him to preserve
+the cool self-possession, with the firm and prompt determination, which
+circumstances might have required. M. Decazes pressed him no further.
+
+Even at this moment, after all I have seen and experienced, I am not
+prone to be discouraged, or inclined to believe that difficult
+achievements are impossible. However defective may be the internal
+constitution and combinations of the different parties who co-operate in
+carrying on public affairs, the upright conduct of individuals may
+remedy them; history furnishes more than one example of vicious
+institutions and situations, the evil results of which have been
+counteracted by the ability of political leaders and the sound sense of
+the public. But when to the evils of position, the errors of men are
+added,--when, instead of recognizing dangers in their true tendency, and
+opposing firm resistance, the chiefs and followers of parties either
+yield to or accelerate them, then the mischievous effects of pernicious
+courses inevitably and rapidly develop themselves. Errors were not
+wanting from 1816 to 1820 in every party, whether of Government or
+Opposition, of the centre, the right, or the left, of the ministers or
+doctrinarians. I make no parade of impartiality; in spite of their
+faults and misfortunes, I continue, with a daily increasing conviction,
+to look upon the Government I served, and the party I supported, to have
+been the best; but, for our own credit, let leisure and reflection teach
+us to acknowledge the mistakes we committed, and to prepare for our
+cause--which assuredly will not die with us--a more auspicious future.
+
+The centre, in its governing mission, had considerable advantages; it
+suffered neither from moral embarrassments nor external clogs, it was
+perfectly free and unshackled,--essential qualifications in a great
+public career, and which at that time belonged neither to the right nor
+to the left-hand party.
+
+The right had only accepted the Charter on the eve of its promulgation,
+and after strenuous resistance; a conspicuous and energetic section of
+the party still persisted in opposing it. That division which had seats
+in the Chambers, sided from day to day with the constitutional
+system,--the officers as intelligent and reflecting men, the soldiers as
+staunch and contented royalists; but neither, in these recognized
+capacities, inspired confidence in the country, which looked upon their
+adhesion to the Charter as constrained or conditional, always insincere
+and covering other views. The right, even while honestly accepting the
+Charter, had also party interests to satisfy; when it aspired to power,
+it was not solely to govern according to its principles, and to place
+the restored monarchy on a solid basis: it had private misfortunes to
+repair and positions to re-assume. It was not a pure and regular party
+of Tory royalists. The emigrants, the remains of the old court and
+clergy, were still influential amongst them, and eagerly bent on
+carrying out their personal expectations. By its composition and
+reminiscences, the party was condemned to much reserve and imprudence,
+to secret aspirations and indiscreet ebullitions, which, even while it
+professed to walk in constitutional paths, embarrassed and weakened its
+action at every step.
+
+The situation of the left was no less confused. It represented, at that
+exact epoch, not the interests and sentiments of France in general, but
+the interests and sentiments of that portion of France which had
+ardently, indistinctly, and obstinately promoted and sustained the
+Revolution, under its republican or imperial form. It cherished against
+the House of Bourbon and the Restoration an old habit of hostility,
+which the Hundred Days had revived, which the most rational of the party
+could scarcely throw off, the most skilful with difficulty concealed,
+and the gravest considered it a point of honour to display as a protest
+and corner-stone. In November 1816, a man of probity, as sincere in the
+renunciation of his opinions of 1789 as he had formerly been in their
+profession, the Viscount Matthieu de Montmorency, complained, in a
+drawing-room of the party, that the Liberals had no love for legitimacy.
+A person present defended himself from this reproach. "Yes," said
+M. de Montmorency, with thoughtless candour, "you love legitimacy as we
+do the Charter." A keen satire on the false position of both parties
+under the government of the Charter and of legitimacy!
+
+But if the right-hand party or the left, if the members of either in the
+Chambers, had followed only their sincere convictions and desires, the
+greater portion, I am satisfied, would have frankly accepted and
+supported the Restoration with the Charter, the Charter with the
+Restoration. When men are seriously engaged in a work and feel the
+weight of responsibility, they soon discover the true course, and would
+willingly follow it. But, both in the right and left, the wisest and
+best-disposed feared to proclaim the truth which they saw, or to adopt
+it as their rule of conduct; both were under the yoke of their external
+party, of its passions as of its interests, of its ignorance as of its
+passions. It has been one of the sorest wounds of our age, that few men
+have preserved sufficient firmness of mind and character to think
+freely, and act as they think. The intellectual and moral independence
+of individuals disappeared under the pressure of events and before the
+heat of popular clamours and desires. Under such a general slavery of
+thought and action, there are no longer just or mistaken minds, cautious
+or rash spirits, officers or soldiers; all yield to the same controlling
+passion, and bend before the same wind; common weakness reduces all to
+one common level; hierarchy and discipline vanish; the last lead the
+first; for the last press and drive onwards, being themselves impelled
+by that tyranny from without, of which they have been the most blind and
+ready instruments.
+
+As a political party, the centre, in the Chambers from 1816 to 1820, was
+not tainted by this evil. Sincere in its adoption of the Restoration and
+the Charter, no external pressure could disturb or falsify its position.
+It remained unfettered in thought and deed. It openly acknowledged its
+object, and marched directly towards it; selecting, within, the leaders
+most capable of conducting it there, and having no supporters without
+who looked for any other issue. It was thus that, in spite of its other
+deficiencies for powerful government, the centre was at that time the
+fittest party to rule, the only one capable of maintaining order in the
+State, while tolerating the liberty of its rivals.
+
+But to reap the full fruits of this advantage, and to diminish at the
+same time the natural defects of the centre in its mission, it was
+necessary that it should adopt a fixed idea, a conviction that the
+different elements of the party were indispensable to each other; and
+that, to accomplish the object pursued by all with equal sincerity,
+mutual concessions and sacrifices were called for, to maintain this
+necessary union. When Divine wisdom intended to secure the power of a
+human connection, it forbade divorce. Political ties cannot admit this
+inviolability; but if they are not strongly knit, if the contracting
+parties are not firmly resolved to break them only in the last extremity
+and under the most imperious pressure, they soon end, not only in
+impotence, but in disorder; and by their too easy rupture, policy
+becomes exposed to new difficulties and disturbances. I have thus
+pointed out the discrepancies and different opinions which, from the
+beginning, existed between the two principal elements of the centre: the
+Ministers, with their pure adherents, on the one side, and the
+doctrinarians on the other. From the second session after the decree of
+the 5th of September, 1816, these differences increased until they grew
+into dissensions.
+
+While acknowledging the influence of the doctrinarians in the Chambers,
+and the importance of their co-operation, neither the Ministers nor
+their advocates measured correctly the value of this alliance, or the
+weight of the foundation from which that value was derived. Philosophers
+estimate too highly the general ideas with which they are prepossessed;
+politicians withhold from general ideas the attention and interest they
+are entitled to demand. Intelligence is proud and sensitive; it looks
+for consideration and respect, even though its suggestions may be
+disallowed; and those who treat it lightly or coldly sometimes pay
+heavily for their mistake. It is, moreover, an evidence of narrow
+intellect not to appreciate the part which general principles assume in
+the government of men, or to regard them as useless or hostile because
+we are not disposed to adopt them as guides. In our days, especially,
+and notwithstanding the well-merited disrepute into which so many
+theories have fallen, philosophic deduction, on all the leading
+questions and facts of policy, is a sustaining power, on which the
+ablest and most secure ministers would do wisely to rely. The
+doctrinarians at that period represented this power, and employed it
+fearlessly against the spirit of revolution, as well as in favour of the
+constitutional system. The Cabinet of 1816 undervalued the part they
+played, and paid too little attention to their ideas and desires. The
+application of trial by jury to offences of the press was not, I admit,
+unattended by danger; but it was much better to try that experiment, and
+by so doing to maintain union in the Government party, than to divide
+it by absolutely disregarding, on this question, M. Camille Jordan,
+M. Royer-Collard, and their friends.
+
+All power, and, above all, recent power, demands an impression of
+grandeur in its acts and on its insignia. Order, and the regular
+protection of private interests, that daily bread of nations, will not
+long satisfy their wants. To secure these is an inseparable care of
+Government, but they do not comprise the only need of humanity. Human
+nature finds the other enjoyments for which it thirsts in opposite
+distinctions, moral or physical, just or unjust, solid or ephemeral. It
+has neither enough of virtue nor wisdom to render absolute greatness
+indispensable; but in every position it requires to see, conspicuously
+displayed, something exalted, which may attract and occupy the
+imagination. After the Empire, which had accustomed France to all the
+delights of national pre-eminence and glory, the spectacle of free and
+lofty thought displaying itself with moral dignity, and some show of
+talent, was not deficient in novelty or attraction, while the chance of
+its success outweighed the value of the cost.
+
+The Ministers were not more skilful in dealing with the personal tempers
+than with the ideas of the doctrinarians, who were as haughty and
+independent in character as they were elevated in mind, and ready to
+take offence when any disposition was evinced to apply their opinions
+and conduct without their own consent. Nothing is more distasteful to
+power than to admit, to any great extent, the independence of its
+supporters; it considers them treated with sufficient respect if taken
+into confidence, and is readily disposed to view them as servants.
+M. Laine, then Minister of the Interior, wrote one morning to M. Cuvier
+to say that the King had just named him Royal Commissioner, to second a
+bill which would be presented on the following day to the Chamber of
+Deputies. He had not only neglected to apprise him before of the duty he
+was to undertake, but he did not even mention in the note the particular
+bill he instructed him to support. M. Cuvier, more subservient than
+susceptible, with power, made no complaint of this treatment, but
+related it with a smile. A few days before, the Minister of Finance,
+M. Corvetto, had also appointed M. de Serre Commissioner for the defence
+of the budget, without asking whether this appointment was agreeable to
+him, or holding any conference even on the fundamental points of the
+budget he was expected to carry through. On receiving notice of this
+nomination, M. de Serre felt deeply offended. "It is either an act of
+folly or impertinence," said he loudly; "perhaps both." M. de Serre
+deceived himself; it was neither the one nor the other. M. Corvetto was
+an extremely polite, careful, and modest person; but he was of the
+Imperial school, and more accustomed to give orders to agents than to
+concert measures with members of the Chambers. By habits as well as
+ideas, the doctrinarians belonged to a liberal system,--troublesome
+allies of power, on the termination of a military and administrative
+monarchy.
+
+I know not which is the most difficult undertaking,--to transform the
+functionaries of absolute power into the supporters of a free
+Government, or to organize and discipline the friends of liberty into a
+political party. If the Ministers sometimes disregarded the humour of
+the doctrinarians, the doctrinarians in their turn too lightly
+estimated the position and task of the Ministers. They had in reality,
+whatever has been said of sectarian passions and ideas, neither the
+ambition nor the vanity of a coterie; they possessed open, generous, and
+expanded minds, extremely accessible to sympathy; but, too much
+accustomed to live alone and depend on themselves, they scarcely thought
+of the effect which their words and actions produced beyond their own
+circle; and thus social faults were laid to their charge which they had
+not the least desire to commit. Their political mistakes were more real.
+In their relations with power, they were sometimes intemperate and
+offensive in language, unnecessarily impatient, not knowing how to be
+contented with what was possible, or how to wait for amelioration
+without too visible an effort. These causes led them to miscalculate the
+impediments, necessities, and practicable resources of the Government
+they sincerely wished to establish. In the Chambers, they were too
+exclusive and pugnacious, more intent on proving their opinions than on
+gaining converts, despising rather than desiring recruits, and little
+gifted with the talent of attraction and combination so essential to the
+leaders of a party. They were not sufficiently acquainted with the
+difficulties of carrying out a sound scheme of policy, nor with the
+infinite variety of efforts, sacrifices, and cares which are comprised
+in the art of governing.
+
+From 1816 to 1818 the vices of their position and the mistakes
+committed, infused into the Government and its party a continual
+ferment, and the seeds of internal discord which prevented them from
+acquiring the necessary strength and consistency. The mischief burst
+forth towards the end of 1818, when the Duke de Richelieu returned from
+the conferences of Aix-la-Chapelle, reporting the withdrawal of the
+foreign armies, the complete evacuation of our territory, and the
+definitive settlement of the financial burdens which the Hundred Days
+had imposed on France. On his arrival he saw his Cabinet on the point of
+dissolution, and vainly attempted to form a new one, but was finally
+compelled to abandon the power he had never sought or enjoyed, but
+which, assuredly, he was unwilling to lose by compulsion in the midst of
+his diplomatic triumph, and to see it pass into hands determined to
+employ it in a manner totally opposed to his own intentions.
+
+A check like this, at such a moment, and to such a man, was singularly
+unjust and unseasonable. Since 1815, the Duke de Richelieu had rendered
+valuable services to France and to the King. He alone had obtained some
+mitigation to the conditions of a very harsh treaty of peace, which
+nothing but sincere and sad devotion had induced him to sign, while
+feeling the full weight of what he sacrificed in attaching to it his
+illustrious name, and seeking no self-glorification from an act of
+honest patriotism. No man was ever more free from exaggeration or
+quackery in the display of his sentiments. Fifteen months after the
+ratification of peace, he induced the foreign powers to consent to a
+considerable reduction in the army of occupation. A year later, he
+limited to a fixed sum the unbounded demands of the foreign creditors of
+France. Finally, he had just signed the entire emancipation of the
+national soil four years before the term rigorously prescribed by
+treaties. The King, on his return, thanked him in noble words:
+"Duke de Richelieu," he said, "I have lived long enough, since, thanks
+to you, I have seen the French flag flying over every town in France."
+The sovereigns of Europe treated him with esteem and confidence. A rare
+example of a statesman, who, without great actions or superior
+abilities, had, by the uprightness of his character and the unselfish
+tenor of his life, achieved such universal and undisputed respect!
+Although the Duke de Richelieu had only been engaged in foreign affairs,
+he was better calculated than has been said, not so much to direct
+effectively as to preside over the internal government of the
+Restoration. A nobleman of exalted rank, and a tried Royalist, he was
+neither in mind or feeling a courtier nor an Emigrant; he had no
+preconceived dislike to the new state of society or the new men; without
+thoroughly understanding free institutions, he had no prejudice against
+them, and submitted to their exercise without an effort. Simple in his
+manners, true and steady in his words, and a friend to the public good,
+if he failed to exercise a commanding influence in the Chambers, he
+maintained full authority near the King; and a constitutional
+Government, resting on the parliamentary centre, could not, at that
+period, have possessed a more worthy or more valuable president.
+
+But at the close of 1818 the Duke de Richelieu felt himself compelled,
+and evinced that he was resolved, to engage in a struggle in which the
+considerations of gratitude and prosperity I have here reverted to
+proved to be ineffective weapons on his side. In virtue of the Charter,
+and in conformity with the electoral law of the 5th of February, 1817,
+two-fifths of the Chamber of Deputies had been renewed since the
+formation of his Cabinet. The first trial of votes, in 1817, had proved
+satisfactory to the Restoration and its friends; not more than two or
+three recognized names were added to the left-hand party, which, even
+after this reinforcement, only amounted to twenty members. At the second
+trial in 1818, the party acquired more numerous and much more
+distinguished recruits; about twenty-five new members, and amongst them
+MM. de La Fayette, Benjamin Constant, and Manuel, were enrolled in its
+ranks. The number was still weak, but important as a rallying point, and
+prognostic. An alarm, at once sincere and interested, exhibited itself
+at court and in the right-hand party; they found themselves on the eve
+of a new revolution, but their hopes were also excited: since the
+enemies of the House of Bourbon were forcing themselves into the
+Chamber, the King would at length feel the necessity of replacing power
+in the hands of his friends. The party had not waited the issue of these
+last elections to attempt a great enterprise. _Secret notes_, drawn up
+under the eye of the Count d'Artois, and by his most intimate
+confidants, had been addressed to the foreign sovereigns, to point out
+to them this growing mischief, and to convince them that a change in the
+advisers of the crown was the only safe measure to secure monarchy in
+France, and to preserve peace in Europe. The Duke de Richelieu, in
+common with his colleagues, and with a feeling of patriotism far
+superior to personal interest, felt indignant at these appeals to
+foreign intervention for the internal government of the country.
+M. de Vitrolles was struck off from the Privy Council, as author of the
+principal of the three _Secret notes_. The European potentates paid
+little attention to such announcements, having no faith either in the
+sound judgment or disinterested views of the men from whom they
+emanated. Nevertheless, after the elections of 1818, they also began to
+feel uneasy. It was from prudence, and not choice, that they had
+sanctioned and maintained the constitutional system in France; they
+looked upon it as necessary to close up the Revolution. If, on the
+contrary, it once again opened its doors, the peace of Europe would be
+more compromised than ever; for then the Revolution would assume the
+semblance of legality. But neither in France nor in Europe did any one
+at that time, even amongst the greatest alarmists and the most
+intimidated, dream of interfering with the constitutional system; in
+universal opinion it had acquired with us the privileges of citizenship.
+The entire evil was imputed to the law of elections. It was at
+Aix-la-Chapelle, while surrounded by the sovereigns and their ministers,
+that the Duke de Richelieu was first apprised of the newly-elected
+members whom this law had brought upon the scene. The Emperor Alexander
+expressed to him his amazement; the Duke of Wellington advised Louis
+XVIII. "to unite himself more closely with the Royalists." The
+Duke de Richelieu returned to France with a determination to reform the
+electoral law, or no longer to incur the responsibility of its results.
+
+Institutions attacked have no voice in their own defence, and men
+gladly charge on them their individual errors. I shall not commit this
+injustice, or abandon a sound idea because it has been compromised or
+perverted in application. The principle of the electoral law of the 5th
+of February, 1817, was good in itself, and still remains good, although
+it was insufficient to prevent the evil of our own want of foresight and
+intemperate passions.
+
+When a free government is seriously desired, we must choose between the
+principle of the law of the 5th of February, 1817, and universal
+suffrage,--between the right of voting confined to the higher classes of
+society and that extended to the popular masses. I believe the direct
+and defined right of suffrage to be alone effectual in securing the
+action of the country upon the Government. On this common condition, the
+two systems may constitute a real control over power, and substantial
+guarantees for liberty. Which is to be preferred?--this is a question of
+epoch, of situation, of degree of civilization, and of form of
+government. Universal suffrage is well suited to republican
+associations, small or federative, newly instituted or mature in wisdom
+and political virtue. The right of voting confined to a more elevated
+class, and exercised in a strong assumption of the spirit of order, of
+independence, and intelligence, is more applicable to great single and
+monarchical states. This was our reason for making it the basis of the
+law of 1817. We dreaded republican tendencies, which with us, and in our
+days, are nearly synonymous with anarchy; we regarded monarchy as
+natural, and constitutional monarchy as necessary, to France; we wished
+to organize it sincerely and durably, by securing under this system, to
+the conservative elements of French society as at present constituted,
+an influence which appeared to us as much in conformity with the
+interests of liberty as with those of power.
+
+It was the disunion of the monarchical party that vitiated the electoral
+system of 1817, and took away its strength with its truth. By placing
+political power in the hands of property, intelligence, independent
+position, and great interests naturally conservative, the system rested
+on the expectation that these interests would be habitually united, and
+would defend, in common accord, order and right against the spirit of
+license and revolution, the fatal bias of the age. But, from their very
+first steps, the different elements of the great royalist party, old or
+new, aristocratic or plebeian, plunged into discord, equally blind to
+the weakness with which it infected them all, and thus opening the door
+to the hopes and efforts of their common enemies, the revolutionists.
+From thence, and not from the electoral law of 1817, or from its
+principle, came the mischief which in 1818 it was considered desirable
+to check by repealing that enactment.
+
+I am ready to admit in express terms, for it may be alleged with
+justice, that, when in 1816 and 1817 we prepared and defended the law of
+elections, we might have foreseen the state of general feeling under
+which it was to be applied. Discord between the components of the
+monarchical party was neither a strange nor a sudden fact; it existed at
+that time; the Royalists of old and new France were already widely
+separated. I incline to think that, even had we attached more
+importance to their future contests, we should still have pursued the
+same course. We were in presence of an imperative necessity: new France
+felt that she was attacked, and required defence; if she had not found
+supporters amongst the Royalists, she would have sought for them, as she
+has too often done, in the camp of the Revolution. But what may explain
+or even excuse a fault cannot effect its suppression. Our policy in 1816
+and 1817 regarded too lightly the disagreements of the monarchical
+party, and the possible return of the Revolutionists; we miscalculated
+the extent of both dangers. It is the besetting error of men
+entrammelled in the fetters of party, to forget that there are many
+opposite facts which skilful policy should turn to profitable account,
+and to pass over all that are not inscribed with brilliancy on their
+standard.
+
+On leaving Aix-la-Chapelle, where he had been so fortunate, the
+Duke de Richelieu, although far from presumptuous, expected, I have no
+doubt, to be equally successful in his design of repealing the law of
+elections. Success deceives the most unassuming, and prevents them from
+foreseeing an approaching reverse. On his arrival, he found the
+undertaking much more difficult than he had anticipated. In the Cabinet,
+M. Mole alone fully seconded his intentions. M. Decazes and Marshal
+Gouvion St. Cyr declared strongly for the law as it stood. M. Laine,
+while fully admitting that it ought to be modified, refused to take any
+part in the matter, having been, as he said, the first to propose and
+maintain it. M. Roy, who had lately superseded M. Corvetto in the
+department of finance, cared little for the electoral question, but
+announced that he would not remain in the Cabinet without M. Decazes,
+whom he considered indispensable, either in the Chambers or near the
+King's person. Discord raged within and without the Ministry. In the
+Chambers, the centre was divided; the left defended the law vehemently;
+the right declared itself ready to support any minister who proposed its
+reform, but at the same time repudiated M. Decazes, the author of the
+decree of the 5th of September, 1816, and of all its consequences. The
+public began to warm into the question. Excitement and confusion went on
+increasing. It was evidently not the electoral law alone, but the
+general policy of the Restoration and the Government of France, that
+formed the subject of debate.
+
+In a little work which the historians of this period, M. de Lamartine
+amongst others, have published, the King, Louis XVIII. himself has
+related the incidents and sudden turns of this ministerial crisis, which
+ended, as is well known, in the retirement of the Duke de Richelieu,
+with four of his colleagues, and in the promotion of M. Decazes, who
+immediately constructed a new Cabinet, of which he was the head, without
+appearing to preside, while M. de Serre, appointed to the seals, became
+the powerful organ in the Chambers, and the maintenance of the law of
+elections was adopted as the symbol. Two sentiments, under simple forms,
+pervade this kingly recital: first, a certain anxiety, on the part of
+the author, that no blame should be attached to him in his royal
+character, or in his conduct towards the Duke de Richelieu, and a desire
+to exculpate himself from these charges; secondly, a little of that
+secret pleasure which kings indulge in, even under heavy embarrassments,
+when they see a minister fall whose importance was not derived from
+themselves, and who has served them without expecting or receiving
+favours.
+
+"If I had only consulted my own opinion," says the King, in concluding
+his statement, "I should have wished M. Decazes, uniting his lot, as he
+had always intended, with that of the Duke de Richelieu, to have left
+the Ministry with him." It would have been happy for M. Decazes if this
+desire of the King had prevailed. Not that he erred in any point of duty
+or propriety by surviving the Duke de Richelieu in office, and in
+forming a Cabinet without him; an important misunderstanding on a
+pressing question had already separated them. M. Decazes, after
+tendering his resignation, had raised no obstacle to the Duke's efforts
+at finding new colleagues; it was only on the failure of those attempts,
+frankly avowed by the Duke himself, and at the formal request of the
+King, that he had undertaken to form a ministry. As a friend of
+M. de Richelieu, and the day before his colleague, there were certainly
+unpleasant circumstances and appearances attached to this position; but
+M. Decazes was free to act, and could scarcely refuse to carry out the
+policy he had recommended in council, when that which he had opposed
+acknowledged itself incapable. Yet the new Cabinet was not strong enough
+for the enterprise it undertook; with the centre completely shaken and
+divided, it had to contend against the right-hand party more irritated
+than ever, and the left evidently inimical, although through decency it
+lent to Government a precarious support. The Cabinet of M. Decazes, as
+a ministerial party, retained much inferior forces to those which had
+surrounded the Duke de Richelieu, and had to contest with two bitter
+enemies, the one inaccessible to peace or truce, the other sometimes
+appearing friendly, but suddenly turning round and attacking the
+Ministry with eager malevolence, when an opportunity offered, and with
+hesitating hostility when compelled to dissemble.
+
+The doctrinarians, who, in co-operation with M. Decazes, had defended
+the law of elections, energetically supported the new Cabinet, in which
+they were brilliantly represented by M. de Serre. Success was not
+wanting at the commencement. By a mild and active administration, by
+studied care of its partisans, by frequent and always favourably
+received appeals to the royal clemency in behalf of the exiles still
+excepted from amnesty, even including the old regicides, M. Decazes
+sought and won extensive popularity; Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr satisfied
+the remnants of the old army, by restoring to the new the ablest of its
+former leaders; M. de Serre triumphantly defended the Ministry in the
+Chambers; his bills, boldly liberal, and his frank opposition to
+revolutionary principles, soon acquired for him, even with his
+adversaries, a just reputation for eloquence and sincerity. In the
+parliamentary arena it was an effective and upright Ministry; with the
+country it was felt to be a Government loyally constitutional. But it
+had more brilliancy than strength; and neither its care of individual
+interests, nor its successes in the tribune, were sufficient to rally
+round it the great Government party which its formation had divided.
+Discord arose between the Chambers themselves. The Chamber of Peers, by
+adopting the proposition of the Marquis Barthelemy, renewed the struggle
+against the electoral law. In vain did the Chamber of Deputies repel
+this attack; in vain did the Cabinet, by creating sixty new Peers, break
+down the majority in the palace of the Luxembourg; these half triumphs
+and legal extremes decided nothing. Liberal governments are condemned to
+see the great questions perpetually revived which revolutions bequeath
+to society, and which even glorious despotism suspends without solving.
+The right-hand party was passionately bent on repossessing the power
+which had recently escaped them. The left defended, at any cost, the
+Revolution, more insulted than in danger. The centre, dislocated and
+doubtful of the future, wavered between the hostile parties, not feeling
+itself in a condition to impose peace on all, and on the point of being
+confounded in the ranks of one side or the other. The Cabinet, ever
+victorious in daily debate, and supported by the King's favour, felt
+itself nevertheless feebly surrounded and precariously placed, with the
+air of expecting a favourable or a hostile incident, to bring the
+security it wanted, or to overthrow it altogether.
+
+The events which men call accidents are never wanting in such
+situations. During the space of a few months the Cabinet of 1819
+experienced two,--the election of M. Gregoire, and the assassination of
+the Duke de Berry; and these two decided its fate.
+
+It is difficult to look upon the election of M. Gregoire as an accident;
+it was proposed and settled beforehand in the central committee
+established at Paris to superintend elections in general, and which was
+called the managing committee. This particular election was decided on
+at Grenoble in the college assembled on the 11th of September, 1819, by
+a certain number of votes of the right-hand party, which at the second
+round of balloting were carried to the credit of the left-hand
+candidate, and gave him a majority which otherwise he could not have
+obtained. To excuse this scandal, when it became known, some apologists
+pretended that M. Gregoire was not in fact a regicide, because, even
+though he had approved of the condemnation of Louis XVI. in his letters
+to the Convention, his vote at least had not been included in the fatal
+list. Again, when the admission of the deputy was disputed in the
+Chamber, the left-hand party, to get rid of him, while eluding the true
+cause of refusal, eagerly proposed to annul the election on the ground
+of irregularity. When improvident violence fails, men gladly shelter
+themselves under pusillanimous subtlety. It was unquestionably in the
+character of a Conventional regicide, and with premeditated reflection,
+not by any local or sudden accident, that M. Gregoire had been elected.
+No act was ever more deliberately arranged and accomplished by party
+feelings. Sincere in the perverse extravagancies of his mind, and
+faithful to his avowed principles, although forgetful and weak in their
+application, openly a Christian, and preaching tolerance under the
+Convention, while he sanctioned the most unrelenting persecution of the
+priests who refused to submit to the yoke of its new church; a
+republican and oppositionist under the Empire, while consenting to be a
+senator and a Count, this old man, as inconsistent as obstinate, was
+the instrument of a signal act of hostility against the Restoration, to
+become immediately the pretext for a corresponding act of weakness. A
+melancholy end to a sad career!
+
+The assassination of the Duke de Berry might with much more propriety be
+called an accident. On the trial it was proved by evidence that Louvel
+had no accomplices, and that he was alone in the conception as in the
+execution of his crime. But it was also evident that hatred against the
+Bourbons had possessed the soul and armed the hand of the murderer.
+Revolutionary passions are a fire which is kindled and nourished afar
+off; the orators of the right obtained credit with many timid and
+horror-stricken minds, when they called this an accident;--as it is also
+an accident if a diseased constitution catches the plague when it
+infects the air, or if a powder-magazine explodes when you strike fire
+in its immediate neighbourhood.
+
+M. Decazes endeavoured to defend himself against these two heavy blows.
+After the election of M. Gregoire, he undertook to accomplish alone what
+at the close of the preceding year he had refused to attempt in concert
+with the Duke de Richelieu. He determined to alter the law of elections.
+It was intended that this change should take place in a great
+constitutional reform meditated by M. de Serre, liberal on certain
+points, monarchical on others, and which promised to give more firmness
+to royalty by developing representative government. M. Decazes made a
+sincere effort to induce the Duke de Richelieu, who was then travelling
+in Holland, to return and reassume the presidency of the Council, and to
+co-operate with him in the Chambers for the furtherance of this bold
+undertaking. The King himself applied to the Duke de Richelieu, who
+positively declined, more from disgust with public affairs and through
+diffidence of his own power, than from any remains of ill-humour or
+resentment. Three actual members of the Cabinet of 1819, General
+Dessoles, Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and Baron Louis, declared that they
+would not co-operate in any attack on the existing law of elections.
+M. Decazes determined to do without them, as he had dispensed with the
+Duke de Richelieu, and to form a new Cabinet, of which he became the
+president, and in which M. Pasquier, General Latour-Maubourg, and M. Roy
+replaced the three retiring ministers. On the 29th of November the King
+opened the session. Two months passed over, and the new electoral system
+had not yet been presented to the Chamber. Three days after the
+assassination of the Duke de Berry, M. Decazes introduced it suddenly,
+with two bills to suspend personal liberty, and re-establish the
+censorship of the daily press. Four days later he fell, and the
+Duke de Richelieu, standing alone before the King and the danger,
+consented to resume power. M. Decazes would have acted more wisely had
+he submitted to his first defeat, and induced the King after the
+election of M. Gregoire, to take back the Duke de Richelieu as minister.
+He would not then have been compelled to lower with his own hand the
+flag he had raised, and to endure the burden of a great miscarriage.
+
+The fall of the Cabinet of 1819, brought on a new crisis, and a fresh
+progress of the evil which disorganized the great Government party
+formed during the session of 1815, and by the decree of the 5th of
+September, 1816. To the successive divisions of the centre, were now
+added the differences between the doctrinarians themselves. M. de Serre,
+who had joined the Cabinet with M. Decazes to defend the law of
+elections, now determined, although sick and absent, to remain there
+with the Duke de Richelieu to overthrow it, without any of the
+compensations, real or apparent, which his grand schemes of
+constitutional reform were intended to supply. I tried in vain to
+dissuade him from his resolution.[15] In the Chamber of Deputies,
+M. Royer-Collard and M. Camille Jordan vehemently attacked the new
+electoral plan; the Duke de Broglie and M. de Barante proposed serious
+amendments to it in the Chamber of Peers. All the political ties which
+had been cemented during five years appeared to be dissolved; every one
+followed his own private opinion, or returned to his old bias. In the
+parliamentary field, all was uncertainty and confused opposition; a
+phantom appeared at each extremity, revolution and counter-revolution,
+exchanging mutual menaces, and equally impatient to come to issue.
+
+Those who wish to give themselves a correct idea of parliamentary and
+popular excitement, pushed to their extreme limit, and yet retained
+within that boundary by legal authority and the good sense of the
+public,--sufficient to arrest the country on the brink of an abyss,
+although too weak to block up the road that leads to it,--should read
+the debate on the new electoral bill introduced into the Chamber of
+Deputies on the 17th of April, 1820, by the second Cabinet of the Duke
+de Richelieu, and discussed for twenty-six days in that Chamber,
+accompanied with riotous gatherings without, thoughtlessly aggressive
+and sternly repressed. If we are to believe the orators of the left,
+France and her liberties, the Revolution and its conquests, the honour
+of the present, and the security of the future, were all lost if the
+ministerial bill should pass. The right, on the other hand, looked upon
+the bill as scarcely strong enough to save the monarchy for the moment,
+and declared its resolution to reject every amendment which might
+diminish its powers. On both sides, pretensions and claims were equally
+ungovernable. Attracted and excited by this legal quarrel, the students,
+the enthusiastic young Liberals, the old professional disturbers, the
+idlers and oppositionists of every class, were engaged daily with the
+soldiers and the agents of police, in conflicts sometimes sanguinary,
+and the accounts of which redoubled the acrimony of the debate
+withindoors. In the midst of this general commotion, the Cabinet of 1820
+had the merit of maintaining, while repressing all popular movement, the
+freedom of legislative deliberation, and of acting its part in these
+stormy discussions with perseverance and moderation. M. Pasquier, their
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, endowed with rare self-command and
+presence of mind, was on this occasion the principal parliamentary
+champion of the Cabinet; and M. Mounier, Director-General of the
+Police, controlled the street riots with as much prudence as active
+firmness. The charge so often brought against so many ministers, against
+M. Casimir Perrier in 1831, as against the Duke de Richelieu in 1820, of
+exciting popular commotions only to repress them, does not deserve the
+notice of sensible men. At the end of a month, all these debates and
+scenes, within and without, ended in the adoption, not of the
+ministerial bill, but of an amendment which, without destroying in
+principle the bill of the 5th of February, 1817, so materially vitiated
+it, to the advantage of the right, that the party felt themselves bound
+to be satisfied. The greater portion of the centre, and the more
+moderate members of the left, submitted for the sake of public
+peace. The extreme left and the extreme right, M. Manuel and
+M. de la Bourdonnaye entered a protest. The new electoral system was
+clearly destined to shift the majority, and, with the majority, power,
+from the left to the right; but the liberties of France, and the
+advantages gained by the Revolution, were not endangered by the change.
+
+This question once settled, the Cabinet had to pay its debts to the
+right-hand party,--rewards to those who had supported it, and
+punishments to its opposers. In spite of old friendships, the
+doctrinarians figured of necessity in the last category. If I had
+desired it, I might have escaped. Not being a member of either Chamber,
+and beyond the circle of constrained action, I could in my capacity of
+State Councillor have maintained reserve and silence after giving my
+advice to the Government; but on entering public life, I had resolved on
+one uniform course,--to express my true thoughts on every occasion, and
+never to separate myself from my friends. M. de Serre included me, with
+good reason, in the measure which removed them from the Council; on the
+17th of June, 1820, he wrote to MM. Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan,
+Barante, and myself, to inform us that we were no longer on the list.
+The best men readily assume the habits and style of absolute power.
+M. de Serre was certainly not deficient in self-respect or confidence in
+his own opinions; he felt surprised that in this instance I should have
+obeyed mine, without any other more coercive necessity, and evinced this
+feeling by communicating my removal with unqualified harshness. "The
+evident hostility," he said to me, "which, without the shadow of a
+pretext, you have lately exhibited towards the King's Government, has
+rendered this step inevitable." My answer was simply this:--"I expected
+your letter. I might have foreseen, and I did anticipate it, when I
+openly evinced my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of the
+Ministry. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to alter in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as yesterday, I shall belong only and entirely to
+myself."[16]
+
+The decisive step was taken; power had changed its course with its
+friends. After having turned it to this new direction, the
+Duke de Richelieu and his colleagues made sincere efforts during two
+years to arrest its further progress. They tried all methods of
+conciliation or resistance; sometimes they courted the right, at others
+the remains of the centre, and occasionally even the left, by
+concessions of principle, and more frequently of a personal nature.
+M. de Chateaubriand was sent as Ambassador to Berlin, and General
+Clauzel was declared entitled to the amnesty. M. de Villele and
+M. Corbiere obtained seats in the Cabinet, the first as minister without
+a portfolio, and the other as president of the Royal Council of Public
+Instruction; they left it, however, at the expiration of six months,
+under frivolous pretexts, but foreseeing the approaching fall of the
+Ministry, and not wishing to be there at the last moment. They were not
+deceived. The elections of 1821 completed the decimation of the weak
+battalion which still endeavoured to stand firm round tottering power.
+The Duke de Richelieu, who had only resumed office on a personal promise
+from the Count d'Artois of permanent support, complained loudly, with
+the independent spirit of a nobleman of high rank and of a man of
+honour, that the word of a gentleman, pledged to him, had not been kept.
+Vain complaints, and futile efforts! The Cabinet obtained time with
+difficulty; but the right-hand party alone gained ground. At length, on
+the 19th of December, 1821, the last shadow of the Government of the
+Centre vanished with the ministry of the Duke de Richelieu. The right
+and M. de Villele seized the reins of power. "The counter-revolution is
+approaching!" exclaimed the left, in a mingled burst of satisfaction and
+alarm. M. de Villele thought differently; a little before the decisive
+crisis, and after having, in his quality of vice-president, directed for
+some days the deliberations of the Chamber of Deputies, he wrote as
+follows to one of his friends:--"You will scarcely believe how my four
+days of presidency have succeeded. I received compliments on every side,
+but particularly, I own it to my shame, from the left, whom I have never
+conciliated. They expected, without doubt, to be eaten up alive by an
+_ultra_. They are inexhaustible in eulogium. Finally, those to whom I
+never speak, now address me with a thousand compliments. I think in this
+there is a little spite against M. Ravez. But, be that as it may, if a
+president were just now to be elected, I should have almost every vote
+in the Chamber.... For myself, impartiality costs me nothing. I look
+only to the success of the affairs I have undertaken, and have not the
+slightest prejudice against individuals. I am born for the end of
+revolutions."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 14: I have recapitulated amongst the "Historic Documents" the
+chief measures of general administration, which were adopted by
+M. Laine, M. Decazes and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, in their respective
+departments, during this period. These short tables clearly exhibit the
+spirit of improvement and the rational care of public interests which
+animated the Cabinet. (Historic Documents, No. IX.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: I insert in the "Historic Documents" the letter I
+addressed to him, with this object, on the 12th of April, 1820, to Nice,
+whither he had repaired towards the middle of the month of January, to
+seek relief from a crisis of the chest complaint which finally caused
+his death. I am struck today, as undoubtedly all will be who read this
+letter with attention, by the mixture of truth and error, of foresight
+and improvidence therein contained. Subsequent events alternately
+verified and disproved what I then wrote. (Historic Documents, No. X.)]
+
+[Footnote 16: I insert at length amongst the "Historic Documents" the
+correspondence interchanged on this occasion between M. de Serre,
+M. Pasquier, and myself. (Historic Documents, No. XI)]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+GOVERNMENT OF THE RIGHT-HAND PARTY.
+
+1822-1827.
+
+     POSITION OF M. DE VILLELE ON ASSUMING POWER.--HE FINDS HIMSELF
+     ENGAGED WITH THE LEFT AND THE CONSPIRACIES.--CHARACTER OF THE
+     CONSPIRACIES.--ESTIMATE OF THEIR MOTIVES.--THEIR CONNECTION WITH
+     SOME OF THE LEADERS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.--M. DE LA
+     FAYETTE.--M. MANUEL.--M. D'ARGENSON.--THEIR ATTITUDE IN THE CHAMBER
+     OF DEPUTIES.--FAILURE OF THE CONSPIRACIES, AND CAUSES
+     THEREOF.--M. DE VILLELE ENGAGED WITH HIS RIVALS WITHIN AND BY THE
+     SIDE OF THE CABINET.--THE DUKE DE MONTMORENCY.--M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND
+     AMBASSADOR AT LONDON.--CONGRESS OF VERONA.--M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND
+     BECOMES MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.--SPANISH WAR.--EXAMINATION OF
+     ITS CAUSES AND RESULTS.--RUPTURE BETWEEN M. DE VILLELE AND
+     M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND.--FALL OF M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND.--M. DE VILLELE
+     ENGAGED WITH AN OPPOSITION SPRINGING FROM THE RIGHT-HAND
+     PARTY.--THE "JOURNAL DES DEBATS" AND THE MESSRS.
+     BERTIN.--M. DE VILLELE FALLS UNDER THE YOKE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY
+     MAJORITY.--ATTITUDE AND INFLUENCE OF THE ULTRA-CATHOLIC
+     PARTY.--ESTIMATE OF THEIR CONDUCT.--ATTACKS TO WHICH THEY ARE
+     EXPOSED.--M. DE MONTLOSIER.--M. BERANGER.--ACUTENESS OF
+     M. DE VILLELE.--HIS DECLINE.--HIS ENEMIES AT THE COURT.--REVIEW AND
+     DISBANDING OF THE NATIONAL GUARD OF PARIS.--ANXIETY OF
+     CHARLES X.--DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--THE ELECTIONS
+     ARE HOSTILE TO M. DE VILLELE.--HE RETIRES.--SPEECH OF THE
+     DAUPHINISTS TO CHARLES X.
+
+
+I now change position and point of view. It was no longer as an actor
+within, but as a spectator without, that I watched the right-hand party,
+and am enabled to record my impressions,--a spectator in opposition,
+who has acquired light, and learned to form a correct judgment, from
+time.
+
+In December 1821, M. de Villele attained power by the natural highroad.
+He reached his post through the qualities he had displayed and the
+importance he had acquired in the Chambers, and at the head of his
+party, which he brought in with himself. After a struggle of five years,
+he accomplished the object prematurely conceived by M. de Vitrolles in
+1815,--that the leader of the parliamentary majority should become the
+head of the Government. Events are marked by unforeseen contradictions.
+The Charter conducted to office the very individual who, before its
+promulgation, had been its earliest opponent.
+
+Amongst the noted men of our time, it is a distinctive feature in the
+career of M. de Villele, that he became minister as a partisan, and
+retained that character in his official position, while at the same time
+endeavouring to establish, amongst his supporters, general principles of
+government in preference to the spirit of party. This moderator of the
+right was ever strictly faithful to the interests of that side. Very
+often unacquainted with the ideas, passions, and designs of his party,
+he opposed them indirectly and without positive disavowal, resolved
+never to desert his friends, even though he might be unable to control
+their course. Not from any general and systematic conviction, but from a
+sound practical instinct, he readily perceived the necessity of a strong
+attachment from the leader to his army, to secure a reciprocal feeling
+from the army to its chief. He paid dearly for this pertinacity; for it
+justly condemned him to bear the weight of errors which, had he been
+unfettered, he would never in all probability have committed; but
+through this sacrifice he held power for six years, and saved his party,
+during that period, from the extreme mistakes which, after his
+secession, led rapidly to their ruin. As minister of a constitutional
+monarchy, M. de Villele has furnished France with one of the first
+examples of that fixity of political ties which, in spite of many
+inconveniences and objections, is essential to the great and salutary
+effects of representative government.
+
+When M. de Villele was called on to form a Cabinet, he found the country
+and the Government under the influence of a violent excitement. There
+were not alone storms in the Chamber and tumults in the streets; secret
+societies, plots, insurrections, and a strong effort to overthrow
+established order, fermented and burst forth in every quarter,--in the
+departments of the east, west, and south, at Befort, Colmar, Toulon,
+Saumur, Nantes, La Rochelle, and even at Paris itself, under the very
+eyes of the Ministers, in the army as well as in the civil professions,
+in the royal guards as in the regiments of the line. In less than three
+years, eight serious conspiracies attacked and endangered the
+Restoration.
+
+Today, after the lapse of more than thirty years, after so many events
+of greater importance, when an honest and rational man asks himself what
+motives could have excited such fierce anger and rash enterprises, he
+can find none either sufficient or legitimate. Neither the acts of power
+nor the probabilities of the future had so wounded or threatened the
+rights and interests of the country as to justify these attempts at
+utter subversion. The electoral system had been artfully changed; power
+had passed into the hands of an irritating and suspected party; but the
+great institutions were still intact; public liberty, though disputed,
+still displayed itself vigorously; legal order had received no serious
+blow; the country prospered and regularly advanced in strength. The new
+society was disturbed, but not disarmed; it was in a condition to wait
+and defend itself. There were just grounds for an animated and public
+opposition, but none for conspiracy or revolution.
+
+Nations that aspire to be free incur a prominent danger,--the danger of
+deceiving themselves on the question of tyranny. They readily apply that
+name to any system of government that displeases or alarms them, or
+refuses to grant all that they desire. Frivolous caprices, which entail
+their own punishment! Power must have inflicted on a country many
+violations of right, with repeated acts of injustice and oppression
+bitter and prolonged, before revolution can be justified by reason, or
+crowned with triumph in the face of its inherent faults. When such
+causes are wanting to revolutionary attempts, they either fail miserably
+or bring with them the reaction which involves their own punishment.
+
+But from 1820 to 1823 the conspirators never dreamed of asking
+themselves if their enterprises were legitimate; they entertained no
+doubt on the subject. Very different although simultaneous passions,
+past alarms and prospective temptations, influenced their minds and
+conduct. The hatreds and apprehensions that attached themselves to the
+words emigration, feudal system, old form of government, aristocracy,
+and counter-revolution, belonged to bygone times; but these fears and
+antipathies were in many hearts as intense and vivid as if they were
+entertained towards existing and powerful enemies. Against these
+phantoms, which the folly of the extreme right had conjured up, without
+the power of giving them substantial vitality, war in any shape was
+considered allowable, urgent, and patriotic. It was believed that
+liberty could best be served and saved by rekindling against the
+Restoration all the slumbering revolutionary fires. The conspirators
+flattered themselves that they could at the same time prepare a fresh
+revolution, which should put an end, not only to the restored monarchy,
+but to monarchy altogether, and by the re-establishment of the Republic
+lead to the absolute triumph of popular rights and interests. To the
+greater part of these young enthusiasts, descended from families who had
+been engaged in the old cause of the first Revolution, dreams of the
+future united with traditions of the domestic hearth; while maintaining
+the struggles of their fathers, they indulged their own Utopian
+chimeras.
+
+Those who conspired from revolutionary hatred or republican hope, were
+joined by others with more clearly defined but not less impassioned
+views. I have elsewhere said, in speaking of Washington, "It is the
+privilege, often corruptive, of great men, to inspire attachment and
+devotion without the power of reciprocating these feelings." No one ever
+enjoyed this privilege more than the Emperor Napoleon. He was dying at
+this very moment upon the rock of St. Helena; he could no longer do
+anything for his partisans; and he found, amongst the people as well as
+in the army, hearts and arms ready to do all and risk all for his
+name,--a generous infatuation for which I am at a loss to decide whether
+human nature should be praised or pitied.
+
+All these passions and combinations would in all probability have
+remained futile and unnoticed, had they not found exponents and chiefs
+in the highest political circles and in the bosom of the great bodies of
+the State. The popular masses are never sufficient for themselves; their
+desires and designs must be represented by visible and important
+leaders, who march at their head and accept the responsibility of the
+means and end. The conspirators of from 1820 to 1823 knew this well; and
+upon the most widely separated points, at Befort as at Saumur, and at
+each fresh enterprise, they declared that they would not act unless
+well-known political leaders and Deputies of reputation were associated
+with them. Everybody knows, at the present day, that the co-operation
+they required was not withheld.
+
+In the Chamber of Deputies, the opposition to the Government of the
+Right was comprised of three sections united against it, but differing
+materially in their views and in their means of hostility. I shall only
+name the principal members of this confederacy, and who have themselves
+clearly defined their respective positions. M. de La Fayette and
+M. Manuel acknowledged and directed the conspiracies. Without ignoring
+them, General Foy, M. Benjamin Constant, and M. Casimir Perrier,
+disapproved of their proceedings and declined association.
+M. Royer-Collard and his friends were absolutely unacquainted with them,
+and stood entirely aloof.
+
+When my thoughts revert to M. de La Fayette, I am saddened by
+affectionate regret. I never knew a character more uniformly sincere,
+generous, and kind, or more ready to risk everything for his pledged
+faith and cause; his benevolence, although rather indiscriminate in
+particular cases, was not the less true and expanded towards humanity in
+general. His courage and devotedness were natural and earnest, serious
+under an exterior sometimes light, and as genuine as they were
+spontaneous. Throughout his life he maintained consistency in sentiments
+and ideas; and he had his days of vigorous resolution, which would have
+reflected honour on the truest friend of order and resistance to
+anarchy. In 1791, he opened fire, in the Champ de Mars, on the revolt
+set up in the name of the people; in 1792, he came in person to demand,
+on behalf of his army, the suppression of the Jacobins; and he held
+himself apart and independent under the Empire. But, taking all points
+into account, he failed in political judgment, in discernment, in a just
+estimate of circumstances and men; and he had a yielding towards his
+natural bent, a want of foresight as to the probable results of his
+actions, with a constant but indistinct yearning after popular favour,
+which led him on much further than he intended, and subjected him to the
+influence of men of a very inferior order, directly against his moral
+nature and political situation. At the first moment, in 1814, he seemed
+to be well disposed towards the Restoration; but the tendencies of
+power, and the persevering rancour of the Royalists, soon threw him back
+into the ranks of opposition. At the close of the Hundred Days, his
+hostility to the House of Bourbon became declared and active; a
+republican in soul, without being sufficiently strong or daring to
+proclaim the Republic, he opposed as obstinately as vainly the return of
+royalty; and before the Chamber of 1815, excited but not dismayed, he
+pledged himself, while the Restoration lasted, to enter and never to
+desert the ranks of its most inveterate enemies. From 1820 to 1823 he
+was, not the ostensible head, but the instrument and ornament, of every
+secret society, of every plot and project of revolution; even of those
+the results of which he would inevitably have denounced and resisted,
+had they been crowned with success.
+
+No two people could less resemble each other than M. Manuel and M. de La
+Fayette. While one was open, improvident, and rash in his hostility, the
+other was in an equal degree reserved, calculating, and prudent even in
+his violence, although in real character bold and determined. M. de La
+Fayette was not exactly a high and mighty lord,--that expression does
+not apply to him,--but a noble gentleman, liberal and popular, not
+naturally a revolutionist, but one who by enthusiasm or example might be
+led and would himself lead to repeated revolutions. M. Manuel was the
+obedient child and able defender of the past revolution, capable of
+joining Government for its interest--a liberal Government, if animated
+with revolutionary objects, an absolute Government if unlimited power
+should be necessary to their supremacy,--but determined to uphold
+revolution in every case and at any price. His mind was limited and
+uncultivated, and, either in his general life or in parliamentary
+debate, without any impress of great political views, or of sympathetic
+or lofty emotions of the soul, beyond the firmness of his attitude and
+the lucid strength of his language. Although no advocate, and a little
+provincial in his style, he spoke and acted as a man of party, calmly
+persevering and resolved, immovable in the old revolutionary arena, and
+never disposed to leave it either to become a convert to new measures or
+to adopt new views. The Restoration, in his opinion, was in fact the old
+system and the counter-revolution. After having confronted it in the
+Chambers with all the opposition which that theatre permitted, he
+encouraged, without, every plot and effort of subversion; less ready
+than M. de La Fayette to place himself at their head, less confident in
+their success, but still determined to keep alive by these means hatred
+and war against the Restoration, watching at the same time for a
+favourable opportunity of launching a decisive blow.
+
+M. d'Argenson had less weight with the party than either of his
+colleagues, although perhaps the most impassioned of the three. He was a
+sincere and melancholy visionary, convinced that all social evils spring
+from human laws, and bent on promoting every kind of reform, although he
+had little confidence in the reformers. By his position in society, the
+generous tone of his sentiments, the seriousness of his convictions, the
+attraction of an affectionate although reserved disposition, and the
+charm of a refined and elegant mind, which extracted from his false
+philosophy bold and original views, he held, in the projects and
+preliminary deliberations of the conspiring opposition, a tolerably
+important place; but he was little suited for action, and ready to
+discourage it, although always prepared for personal engagement. A
+chimerical but not hopeful fanaticism is not a very promising
+temperament for a conspirator.
+
+The issue of all these vain but tragical plots is well known. Dogged at
+every step by authority, sometimes even persecuted by the interested
+zeal of unworthy agents, they produced, in the space of two years, in
+various parts of France, nineteen capital condemnations, eleven of which
+were carried into effect. When we look back on these gloomy scenes, the
+mind is bewildered, and the heart recoils from the spectacle of the
+contrast which presents itself between sentiments and actions, efforts
+and results; we contemplate enterprises at the same time serious and
+harebrained, patriotic ardour joined to moral levity, enthusiastic
+devotion combined with indifferent calculation, and the same blindness,
+the same perseverance, united to similar impotence in old and young, in
+the generals and the soldiers. On the 1st of January, 1822, M. de La
+Fayette arrived in the vicinity of Befort to place himself at the head
+of the insurrection in Alsace. He found the plot discovered, and several
+of the leaders already in arrest; but he also met others, MM. Ary
+Scheffer, Joubert, Carrel, and Guinard, whose principal anxiety was to
+meet and warn him by the earliest notice, and to save him and his son
+(who accompanied him) by leading them away through unfrequented roads.
+Nine months later, on the 21st of September in the same year, four young
+non-commissioned officers, Bories, Raoulx, Goubin, and Pommier,
+condemned to death for the conspiracy of Rochelle, were on the point of
+undergoing their sentence; M. de La Fayette and the head committee of
+the _Carbonari_ had vainly endeavoured to effect their escape. The poor
+sergeants knew they were lost, and had reason to think they were
+abandoned. A humane magistrate urged them to save their lives by giving
+up the authors of their fatal enterprise. All four answered, "We have
+nothing to reveal," and then remained obstinately silent. Such devotion
+merited more thoughtful leaders and more generous enemies.
+
+In presence of such facts, and in the midst of the warm debates they
+excited in the Chamber, the situation of the conspiring Deputies was
+awkward; they neither avowed their deeds nor supported their friends.
+The violence of their attacks against the Ministry and the Restoration
+in general, supplied but a poor apology for this weakness. Secret
+associations and plots accord ill with a system of liberty; there is
+little sense or dignity in conspiring and arguing at the same time. It
+was in vain that the Deputies who were not implicated endeavoured to
+shield their committed and embarrassed colleagues; it was in vain that
+General Foy, M. Casimir Perrier, M. Benjamin Constant, and M. Lafitte,
+while protesting with vehemence against the accusations charged upon
+their party, endeavoured to cast the mantle of their personal innocence
+over the actual conspirators, who sat by their sides. This manoeuvre,
+more blustering than formidable, deceived neither the Government nor the
+public; and the conspiring Deputies lost more reputation than they
+gained security, by being thus defended while they were disavowed, in
+their own ranks. M. de La Fayette became impatient of this doubtful and
+unworthy position. During the sitting of the 1st of August, 1822, with
+reference to the debate on the budget, M. Benjamin Constant complained
+of a phrase in the act of accusation drawn up by the Attorney-General of
+Poictiers, against the conspiracy of General Berton, and in which the
+names of five Deputies were included without their being prosecuted.
+M. Lafitte sharply called upon the Chamber to order an inquiry into
+transactions "which," said he, "as far as they affect myself are
+infamous falsehoods." M. Casimir Perrier and General Foy supported the
+motion for inquiry. The Cabinet and the right-hand party rejected it,
+while defending the Attorney-General and his statements. The Chamber
+appeared perplexed. M. de La Fayette demanded to be heard, and, with a
+rare and happy expression of ironical pride, said, "Whatever may be my
+habitual indifference to party accusations and enmities, I feel called
+upon to add a few words to what has been said by my honourable friends.
+Throughout the course of a career entirely devoted to the cause of
+liberty, I have constantly desired to be a mark for the malevolence of
+the adversaries of that cause, under whatever forms, whether despotic,
+aristocratic, or monarchical, which they may please to select, to
+contest or pervert it. I therefore make no complaint, although I may
+claim the right of considering the word _proved_, which the
+Attorney-General has thought proper to apply to me, a little free; but I
+join with my friends by demanding, as far as we can, the utmost
+publicity, both within the walls of this Chamber and in the face of the
+entire nation. Thus I and my accusers, in whatever rank they may be
+placed, can say to each other, without restraint, all that we have had
+mutually to reproach ourselves with during the last thirty years."
+
+The challenge was as transparent as it was fierce. M. de Villele felt
+the full range of it, which extended even to the King himself; and
+taking up the glove at once, with a moderation which in its turn was not
+deficient in dignity, "The orator I follow," said he, "placed the
+question on its true footing when he said, in speaking of the Chamber,
+'as far as we can.' Yes, it is of the utmost importance that, on the
+subject under discussion, the truth or falsehood should be correctly
+known; but do we adopt the true method of ascertaining either? Such is
+not my opinion; if it were, I should at once vote for the inquiry. The
+proper mode of proceeding appears to me to be, to leave justice to its
+ordinary course, which no one has a right to arrest.... If members of
+this Chamber have been compromised in the act of accusation, do they not
+find their acquittal in the very fact that the Chamber has not been
+called upon to give them up to be added to the list of the accused? For,
+gentlemen, it is maintaining a contradiction to say, on the one hand,
+'You have placed our names in the requisition for indictment,' and on
+the other, 'The minister in office has not dared to prosecute, since the
+Chamber has not been required to surrender us.' And the demand has not
+been made, because the nature of the process neither imposed it as a
+duty nor a necessity on the part of the minister to adopt that course. I
+declare openly, before France, we do not accuse you, because there was
+nothing in the process which rendered it either incumbent or essential
+that we should do so. And we should the more readily have fulfilled that
+duty, since you cannot suppose us so little acquainted with the human
+heart as not to know that there would be less danger in subjecting you
+to direct prosecution than in following simply and openly the line
+marked out by the ordinary course of justice."
+
+At the close of this sitting, M. de Villele assuredly had good reason to
+be satisfied with his position and himself. He had exhibited, at the
+same time, firmness and moderation; by confining himself within the
+ordinary resources of justice, by disclaiming prosecution to extremity,
+he had exhibited the arm of power restrained, but ready to strike if
+necessity should require; he had thus, to a certain extent, defied while
+he tranquillized the patrons of the conspirators, and had satisfied his
+own party without irritating their passions. On that day he combined the
+minister with the tactician of the Chamber.
+
+At the time of which we are speaking, M. de Villele stood in the first
+and best phase of his power; he defended monarchy and order against
+conspiracy and insurrection; in the Chamber of Deputies he had to repel
+the furious attacks of the left-hand party, and in the Chamber of Peers
+the more temperate but vigilant illwill of the friends of the
+Duke de Richelieu. The danger and acrimony of the contest united his
+whole party around him. Before such a situation, the rivalries and
+intrigues of the Chamber and the Court hesitated to show themselves;
+unreasonable expectations were held in check; fidelity and discipline
+were evidently necessary; the associates of the chief could not desert,
+and dared not to assail him with their importunities.
+
+But during the course of the year 1822 the conspiracies were subdued,
+the perils of the monarchy dissipated, the parliamentary combats,
+although always bitter, had ceased to be questions of life and death,
+and the preponderance of the right-hand party appeared to be firmly
+established in the country as in the Chambers. Other difficulties and
+dangers then began to rise up round M. de Villele. He had no longer
+menacing enemies to hold his friends in check; disagreements, demands,
+enmities, and intrigues beset him on every side. The first attacks
+sprang from questions of internal policy, and originated in the bosom of
+his own Cabinet.
+
+I have no desire to pronounce severe judgment on the revolutions which
+agitated Southern Europe from 1820 to 1822. It is hard to say to nations
+badly governed, that they are neither wise nor strong enough to remedy
+their own evils. Above all, in our days, when the desire for good
+government is intense, and none believe themselves too weak to
+accomplish what they wish, unrestrained truth on this subject offends
+many sincere friends of justice and humanity. Experience, however, has
+supplied numerous inferences. Of the three revolutions which occurred in
+1820, those of Naples and Turin evaporated in a few months, without any
+blow being struck, before the sole appearance of the Austrian troops.
+The Spanish revolution alone survived, neither abandoned nor
+established, pursuing its course by violent but uncertain steps,
+incapable of founding a regular government and of suppressing the
+resistance with which it was opposed, but still strong enough to keep
+alive anarchy and civil war. Spain, under the influence of such
+commotions, was a troublesome neighbour to France, and might become
+dangerous. The conspirators, defeated at home, found shelter there, and
+began to weave new plots from that place of refuge. In their turn, the
+Spanish counter-revolutionists found an asylum in France, and prepared
+arms on both sides of the Pyrenees. A sanatory line of troops, stationed
+on our frontier to preserve France from the contagion of the
+yellow-fever which had broken out in Catalonia, soon grew into an army
+of observation. The hostile feeling of Europe, much more decided and
+systematic, co-operated with the mistrust of France. Prince Metternich
+dreaded a new fit of Spanish revolutionary contagion in Italy; the
+Emperor Alexander imagined himself called upon to maintain the security
+of all thrones and the peace of the world; England, without caring much
+for the success of the Spanish revolution, was extremely anxious that
+Spain should continue entirely independent, and that French influence
+should not prevail in the Peninsula. The French Government had to deal
+with a question not only delicate and weighty in itself, but abounding
+with still more important complications, and which might lead to a
+rupture with some, if not with the whole of her allies.
+
+M. de Villele on succeeding to office, had no very defined ideas as to
+foreign affairs, or any decidedly arranged plans beyond an unbiassed
+mind and sensible predilections. During his short association with the
+Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu, he had closely observed the policy
+adopted towards Spain and Italy,--a peaceful policy of non-intervention,
+and of sound advice to kings and liberals, to liberals as to kings, but
+of little efficacy in act, and tending, above all other considerations,
+to keep France beyond the vortex of revolutions and counter-revolutions,
+and to prevent a European conflagration. In the main, M. de Villele
+approved of this policy, and would have desired nothing better than to
+continue it. He was more occupied with internal government than external
+relations, and more anxious for public prosperity than diplomatic
+influence; but, in the accomplishment of his views, he had to contend
+against the prepossessions of his party, and in this struggle his two
+principal associates, M. de Montmorency, as Minister for Foreign
+Affairs, and M. de Chateaubriand, as ambassador at London, contributed
+more embarrassment than assistance.
+
+On the formation of the Cabinet, he proposed to the King to give
+M. de Montmorency the portfolio of foreign affairs. "Take care," replied
+Louis XVIII. "He has a very little mind, somewhat prejudiced and
+obstinate; he will betray you, against his will, through weakness. When
+present, he will say he agrees with you, and may perhaps think so at the
+time; when he leaves you, he will suffer himself to be led by his own
+bias, contrary to your views, and, instead of being aided, you will be
+thwarted and compromised." M. de Villele persevered; he believed that,
+with the right-hand party, the name and influence of M. de Montmorency
+were of importance. Not long after, he had an opportunity of satisfying
+himself that the King had judged correctly. M. de Serre having refused
+to hold office in the new Cabinet, M. de Villele, to remove him with the
+semblance of a compliment, requested the King to appoint him ambassador
+at Naples. M. de Montmorency, who wanted this post for his cousin the
+Duke de Laval, went so far as to say that he should resign if it were
+refused to him. The King and M. de Villele kept their resolution;
+M. de Serre went to Naples, and M. de Montmorency remained in the
+Ministry, but not without discontent at the preponderance of a colleague
+who had treated him with so little complaisance.
+
+M. de Chateaubriand, by accepting the embassy to London, relieved
+M. de Villele from many little daily annoyances; but he was not long
+satisfied with his new post. He wished to reign in a coterie, and to
+receive adulation without constraint. He produced less effect in English
+society than he had anticipated; he wanted more success and of a more
+varied character; he was looked upon as a distinguished writer, rather
+than as a great politician; they considered him more opinionated than
+profound, and too much occupied with himself. He excited curiosity, but
+not the admiration he coveted; he was not always the leading object of
+attention, and enjoyed less freedom, while he called forth little of the
+enthusiastic idolatry to which he had been accustomed elsewhere. London,
+the English court and drawing-rooms, wearied and displeased him; he has
+perpetuated the impression in his Memoirs:--"Every kind of reputation,"
+he says, "travels rapidly to the banks of the Thames, and leaves them
+again with the same speed. I should have worried myself to no purpose by
+endeavouring to acquire any knowledge of the English. What a life is a
+London season! I should prefer the galleys a hundred times."
+
+An opportunity soon presented itself, which enabled him to seek in
+another direction more worldly excitement and popularity. Revolution and
+civil war went on increasing in Spain from day to day; tumults, murders,
+sanguinary combats between the people and the royal guards, the troops
+of the line and the militia, multiplied in the streets of Madrid. The
+life of Ferdinand VII. appeared to be in question, and his liberty was
+actually invaded.
+
+M. de Metternich, whose importance and influence in Europe had greatly
+increased ever since he had so correctly foreseen the weakness, and so
+rapidly stifled the explosion, of the Italian revolutions, applied his
+entire attention to the affairs of the Spanish Peninsula, and urged the
+sovereigns and their ministers to deliberate on them in common accord.
+As soon as it was settled that a Congress should assemble with this
+object, at Verona, M. de Chateaubriand made powerful applications,
+directly and indirectly, to M. de Montmorency and M. de Villele, to be
+included in the mission. M. de Montmorency had no idea of acceding to
+this, fearing to be opposed or eclipsed by such a colleague. The King,
+Louis XVIII., who had no confidence either in the capacity of
+M. de Montmorency or the judgment of M. de Chateaubriand, was desirous
+that M. de Villele himself should repair to Verona, to maintain the
+prudent policy which circumstances required. M. de Villele objected. It
+would be, he said to the King, too decided an affront to his minister of
+foreign affairs and his ambassador in London, who were naturally called
+to this duty; it would be better to send them both, that one might
+control the other, and to give them specific instructions which should
+regulate their attitude and language. The King adopted this advice. The
+instructions, drawn up by M. de Villele's own hand, were discussed and
+settled in a solemn meeting of the Cabinet; M. de Chateaubriand knew to
+a certainty that he owed the accomplishment of his desires to
+M. de Villele alone; and eight days after the departure of
+M. de Montmorency, the King, to secure the preponderance of
+M. de Villele, by a signal mark of favour, appointed him President of
+the Council.
+
+The instructions were strictly defined; they prescribed to the French
+plenipotentiaries to abstain from appearing, when before the Congress,
+as reporters of the affairs of Spain, to take no initiative and enter
+into engagement as regarded intervention, and, in every case, to
+preserve the total independence of France, either as to act or future
+resolve. But the inclinations of M. de Montmorency accorded ill with his
+orders; and he had to treat with sovereigns and ministers who wished
+precisely to repress the Spanish revolution by the hand of France,--in
+the first place, to accomplish this work without taking it upon
+themselves, and also to compromise France with England, who was
+evidently much averse to French interference. The Prince de Metternich,
+versed in the art of suggesting to others his own views, and of urging
+with the air of co-operation, easily obtained influence over
+M. de Montmorency, and induced him to take with the other Powers the
+precise initiative, and to enter into the very engagements, he had been
+instructed to avoid. M. de Chateaubriand, who filled only a secondary
+post in the official negotiation, kept at first a little on the
+reserve: "I do not much like the general position in which he has
+placed himself here," wrote M. de Montmorency to Madame Recamier;[17]
+"he is looked upon as singularly sullen; he assumes a stiff and uncouth
+manner, which makes others feel ill at ease in his presence. I shall use
+every effort, before I go, to establish a more congenial intercourse
+between him and his colleagues." M. de Montmorency had no occasion to
+trouble himself much to secure this result. As soon as he had taken his
+departure, M. de Chateaubriand assumed a courteous and active demeanour
+at the Congress. The Emperor Alexander, alive to the reputation of the
+author of the 'Genius of Christianity,' and to his homage to the founder
+of the 'Holy Alliance,' returned him compliment for compliment, flattery
+for flattery, and confirmed him in his desire of war with the Spanish
+revolution, by giving him reason to rely, for that course of policy and
+for himself, upon his unlimited support. Nevertheless, in his
+correspondence with M. de Villele, M. de Chateaubriand still expressed
+himself very guardedly: "We left," said he, "our determination in doubt;
+we did not wish to appear impracticable; we were apprehensive that, if
+we discovered ourselves too much, the President of the Council would not
+listen to us."
+
+I presume that M. de Villele fell into no mistake as to the pretended
+doubt in which M. de Chateaubriand endeavoured to envelop himself. I
+also incline to think that he himself, at that epoch, looked upon a war
+with Spain as almost inevitable. But he was still anxious to do all in
+his power to avoid it, if only to preserve with the moderate spirits,
+and the interests who dreaded that alternative, the attitude and
+reputation of an advocate for peace. Sensible men are unwilling to
+answer for the faults they consent to commit. As soon as he ascertained
+that M. de Montmorency had promised at Verona that his Government would
+take such steps at Madrid, in concert with the three Northern Powers, as
+would infallibly lead to war, M. de Villele submitted to the King in
+council these premature engagements, declaring at the same time that,
+for his part, he did not feel that France was bound to adopt the same
+line of conduct with Austria, Prussia, and Russia, or to recall at once,
+as they wished to do, her Minister at Madrid, and thus to give up all
+renewed attempts at conciliation. It was said that, while using this
+language, he had his resignation already prepared and visible in his
+portfolio. Powerful supporters were not wanting to this policy. The Duke
+of Wellington, recently arrived in Paris, had held a conversation with
+M. de Villele, and also with the King, on the dangers of an armed
+intervention in Spain, and proposed a plan of mediation, to be concerted
+between France and England, to induce the Spaniards to introduce into
+their constitution the modifications which the French Cabinet itself
+should indicate as sufficient to maintain peace. Louis XVIII. placed
+confidence in the judgment and friendly feeling of the Duke of
+Wellington; he closed the debate in the Council by saying, "Louis XIV.
+levelled the Pyrenees; I shall not allow them to be raised again. He
+placed my family on the throne of Spain; I cannot let them fall. The
+other sovereigns have not the same duties to fulfil. My ambassador
+ought not to quit Madrid, until the day when a hundred thousand
+Frenchmen are in march to replace him." The question thus decided
+against the promises he had made at Verona, M. de Montmorency, on whom a
+few days before, and at the suggestion of M. de Villele, the King had
+conferred the title of Duke, suddenly tendered his resignation. The
+'Moniteur,' in announcing it, published a despatch which M. de Villele,
+while holding _ad interim_ the portfolio of foreign affairs, addressed
+to Count de Lagarde, the King's minister at Madrid, prescribing to him
+an attitude and language which still admitted some chance of
+conciliation; and three days later M. de Chateaubriand, after some
+display of appropriate hesitation, replaced M. de Montmorency as Foreign
+Minister.
+
+Three weeks had scarcely passed over, when the Spanish Government,
+controlled by a sentiment of national dignity more magnanimous than
+enlightened, by popular enthusiasm, and by its own passions, refused all
+constitutional modification whatever. The ambassadors of the three
+Northern Powers had already quitted Madrid. The Count de Lagarde
+remained there. On the refusal of the Spaniards, M. de Chateaubriand
+recalled him, on the 18th of January, 1823, instructing him at the same
+time, in a confidential despatch, to suggest the possibility of amicable
+measures; and of this he also apprised the English Cabinet. These last
+overtures proved as futile as the preceding ones. At Madrid they had no
+confidence in the French Ministry; and the Government of London placed
+too little dependence either on the power or discretion of that of
+Madrid, to commit itself seriously by engaging the latter, through the
+weight of English influence, to submit to the concessions, otherwise
+reasonable, which France required. Affairs had reached the point at
+which the ablest politicians, without faith in the efficacy of their own
+views, were unwilling to adopt decided measures.
+
+On the 28th of January, 1823, M. de Villele determined on war, and the
+King announced this decision in his speech on opening the session of
+both Chambers. Nevertheless eight days later, M. de Chateaubriand
+declared to Sir Charles Stuart, the English ambassador at Paris, that,
+far from dreaming of establishing absolute power in Spain, France was
+still ready to entertain the constitutional modifications she had
+proposed to the Spanish Government, "as sufficient to induce her to
+suspend hostile preparations, and to renew friendly intercourse between
+the two countries on the old footing." At the very moment of engaging in
+war, M. de Chateaubriand, who desired, and M. de Villele, who was averse
+to, these extreme measures, equally endeavoured to escape from the
+responsibility attached to them.
+
+I have nothing to say on the war itself and the course of its incidents.
+In principle it was unjust, for it was unnecessary. The Spanish
+revolution, in spite of its excesses, portended no danger to France or
+the Restoration. The differences to which it gave rise between the two
+Governments might have been easily arranged without violating peace. The
+revolution of Paris, in February, 1848, produced much more serious and
+better-founded alarms to Europe in general, than the Spanish revolution
+in 1823 could have occasioned to France. Nevertheless Europe, with
+sound policy, respected towards France the tutelary principle of the
+internal independence of nations, which can never be justly invaded
+except under an absolute and most urgent necessity. Neither do I think
+that in 1823 the throne and life of Ferdinand VII. were actually in
+danger. All that has since occurred in Spain justifies the conclusion,
+that regicide has no accomplices there, and revolution very few
+partisans. The great and legitimate reasons for war were therefore
+wanting. In fact, and notwithstanding its success, it led to no
+profitable result either for Spain or France. It surrendered up Spain to
+the incapable and incurable tyranny of Ferdinand VII., without putting
+an end to revolutions; and substituted the barbarities of popular
+absolutism for popular anarchy. Instead of securing the influence of
+France beyond the Pyrenees, it compromised and annulled it to such an
+extent that, towards the close of 1823, it was found necessary to have
+recourse to the mediation of Russia, and to send M. Pozzo di Borgo to
+Madrid to compel Ferdinand VII. to select more moderate advisers. The
+Northern Powers and England alone retained any credit in Spain,--the
+first with the King and the Absolutists, the latter with the Liberals;
+victorious France was there politically vanquished. In the eyes of
+clear-sighted judges, the advantageous and permanent effects of the war
+were of no more value than the causes.
+
+As an expedient of restless policy, as a mere _coup-de-main_ of dynasty
+or party, the Spanish war fully succeeded. The sinister predictions of
+its opponents were falsified, and the hopes of its advocates surpassed.
+Brought under proof together, the fidelity of the army and the impotence
+of the conspiring refugees were clearly manifested. The expedition was
+easy but not inglorious, and added much to the personal credit of the
+Duke d'Angouleme. The prosperity and tranquillity of France received no
+check. The House of Bourbon exhibited a strength and resolution which
+the Powers who urged it on scarcely expected; and England, who would
+have restrained the effort, submitted to it patiently, although with
+some dissatisfaction. Regarding matters in this light only,
+M. de Chateaubriand was correct in writing to M. de Villele from Verona,
+"It is for you, my dear friend, to consider whether you ought not to
+seize this opportunity, which may never occur again, of replacing France
+in the rank of military powers, and of re-establishing the white
+cockade, in a short war almost without danger, and in favour of which
+the opinion of the Royalists and of the army so strongly impels you at
+this moment." M. de Villele was mistaken in his answer: "May God grant,"
+said he, "for my country and for Europe, that we may not persist in an
+intervention which I declare beforehand, with the fullest conviction,
+will compromise the safety of France herself."
+
+After such an event, in which they had taken such unequal shares, the
+relative positions of these two statesmen became sensibly changed; but
+the alteration did not yet appear for some time. M. de Chateaubriand
+endeavoured to triumph with modesty, and M. de Villele, not very
+sensitive to the wounds of personal vanity, treated the issue of the war
+as a general success of the Cabinet, and prepared to turn it to his own
+advantage, without considering to whom the principal honour might be
+due. Accustomed to power, he exercised it without noise or parade, and
+was careful not to clash with his adversaries or rivals, who thus felt
+themselves led to admit his preponderance as a necessity, rather than
+humiliated to endure it as a defeat. The dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies became his fixed idea and immediate object. The liberal
+Opposition was too strong there to allow him to hope that he could carry
+the great measures necessary to satisfy his party. The Spanish war had
+led to debates, continually increasing in animosity, which in time
+produced violence in the stronger, and anger in the weaker party, beyond
+all previous example. After the expulsion of M. Manuel on the 3rd of
+March, 1823, and the conduct of the principal portion of the left-hand
+party, who left the hall with him when he was removed by the gendarmes,
+it was almost impossible to expect that the Chamber could resume its
+regular place or share in the government. On the 24th of December, 1823,
+it was in fact dissolved, and M. de Villele, putting aside the
+differences of opinion on the Spanish war, applied his whole attention
+to ensure the success of the elections and the formation of a new
+Chamber, from which he could demand with confidence what the right-hand
+party expected from him, and which, according to his expectation, should
+secure a long duration of his influence both with that party and with
+the Court.
+
+M. de Chateaubriand had no such objects to contemplate or effect.
+Unacquainted with the internal government of the country, and the daily
+management of the Chambers, he enjoyed the success of _his_ Spanish
+war, as he called it, with tranquil pride,--ready, on provocation, to
+become active and bitter. He wanted exactly the qualities which
+distinguished M. de Villele, and he possessed those, or rather the
+instinct and inclination of those, in which M. de Villele was deficient.
+Entering late on public life, and until then unknown, with a mind but
+slightly cultivated, and little distracted from business by the force or
+variety of his imaginative ideas, M. de Villele had ever one leading
+object,--to reach power by faithfully serving his party; and, power once
+obtained, to hold it firmly, while exercising it with discretion.
+
+Launched on the world almost from infancy, M. de Chateaubriand had
+traversed the whole range of ideas, attempted every career, aspired to
+every renown, exhausted some, and approached others; nothing satisfied
+him. "My capital defect," said he himself, "has been _ennui_, disgust
+with everything, perpetual doubt." A strange temperament in a man
+devoted to the restoration of religion and monarchy! Thus the life of
+M. de Chateaubriand had been a constant and a perpetual combat between
+his enterprises and his inclinations, his situation and his nature. He
+was ambitious, as the leader of a party, and independent, as a volunteer
+of the forlorn hope; captivated by everything great, and sensitive even
+to suffering in the most trifling matters, careless beyond measure of
+the common interests of life, but passionately absorbed, on the stage of
+the world, in his own person and reputation, and more annoyed by the
+slightest check than gratified by the most brilliant triumph; in public
+life, more jealous of success than power, capable in a particular
+emergency, as he had just proved, of conceiving and carrying out a great
+design, but unable to pursue in government, with energy and patience, a
+well-cemented and strongly-organized line of policy. He possessed a
+sympathetic understanding of the moral impressions of his age and
+country; more able however, and more inclined, to win their favour by
+compliance than to direct them to important and lasting advantages; a
+noble and expanded mind, which, whether in literature or politics,
+touched all the exalted chords of the human soul, but more calculated to
+strike and charm the imagination than to govern men; greedy, to an
+excess, of praise and fame, to satisfy his pride, and of emotion and
+novelty, as resources from constitutional weariness.
+
+At the very moment when he was achieving a triumph in Spain for the
+House of Bourbon, he received disappointments from the latter quarter,
+the remembrance of which he has thought proper to perpetuate
+himself:--"In our ardour," said he, "after the arrival of the
+telegraphic despatch which announced the deliverance of the King of
+Spain, we Ministers hastened to the palace. There I received a warning
+of my fall,--a pailful of cold water which recalled me to my usual
+humility. The King and _Monsieur_ took no notice of us. The Duchess
+d'Angouleme, bewildered with the glory of her husband, distinguished no
+one.... On the Sunday following, before the Council met, I returned to
+pay my duty to the royal family. The august Princess said something
+complimentary to each of my colleagues; to me she did not deign to
+address a single word: undoubtedly I had no claim to such an honour. The
+silence of the Orphan of the Temple can never be considered
+ungrateful." A more liberal sovereign undertook to console
+M. de Chateaubriand for this royal ingratitude; the Emperor Alexander,
+with whom he had continued in intimate correspondence, being anxious to
+signalize his satisfaction, conferred on him and M. de Montmorency, and
+on them alone, the great riband of the Order of St. Andrew.
+
+M. de Villele was not insensible to this public token of imperial favour
+bestowed on himself and his policy; and the King, Louis XVIII., showed
+that he was even more moved by it. "Pozzo and La Ferronays," said he to
+M. de Villele, "have made me give you, through the Emperor Alexander, a
+slap on the cheek; but I shall be even with him, and mean to pay for it
+in coin of a better stamp. I name you, my dear Villele, a knight of my
+Orders; they are worth more than his." And M. de Villele received from
+the King the Order of St. Esprit. It was in vain that a little later,
+and on the mutual request of the two rivals, the Emperor Alexander
+conferred on M. de Villele the Grand Cross of St. Andrew, and the King,
+Louis XVIII., gave the Saint Esprit to M. de Chateaubriand; favours thus
+extorted cannot efface the original disappointments.
+
+To these courtly slights were soon added causes of rupture more serious.
+The dissolution of the Chamber had succeeded far beyond the expectations
+of the Cabinet. The elections had not returned from the left, or the
+left centre, more than seventeen oppositionists. Much more exclusively
+than that of 1815, the new Chamber belonged to the right-hand party; the
+day had now arrived to give them the satisfaction they had long looked
+for. The Cabinet immediately brought in two bills, which appeared to be
+evident preparatives and effectual pledges for the measures most
+ardently desired. By one, the integral remodelling of the Chamber of
+Deputies every seven years was substituted for the partial and annual
+reconstruction as at present in force. This was bestowing on the new
+Chamber a guarantee of power as of durability. The second bill proposed
+the conversion of the five per cent. annuities into three per cents;
+that is to say, a reimbursement, to the holders of stock, of their
+capital at par, or the reduction of interest. To this great financial
+scheme was joined a political measure of equal importance,--indemnity to
+the Emigrants, with preparations for carrying it into effect. The two
+bills had been discussed and approved in council. On the question of the
+septennial renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, M. de Chateaubriand
+proposed the reduction of age necessary for electors; he failed in this
+object, but still supported the bill. With respect to the conversion
+of the funds, the friends of M. de Villele asserted that
+M. de Chateaubriand warmly expressed his approbation of the measure, and
+was even anxious that, by a previous arrangement with the bankers,
+M. de Villele should secure the means of carrying it, as a preface to
+that which was intended to heal the most festering wound of the
+Revolution.
+
+But the debate in the Chambers soon destroyed the precarious harmony of
+the Cabinet. The conversion of the funds was vigorously opposed, not
+only by the numerous interests thereby injured, but by the unsatisfied
+feeling of the public on a new measure extremely complicated and
+ill understood. In both Chambers, the greater portion of
+M. de Chateaubriand's friends spoke against the bill; it was said that
+he was even hostile to it himself. Some observations were attributed to
+him on the imprudence of a measure which no one desired, no public
+necessity called for, and was merely an invention of the bankers,
+adopted by a Minister of Finance, who hoped to extract reputation from
+what might lead to his ruin. "I have often seen," he was accused of
+saying, "people break their heads against a wall; but I have never,
+until now, seen people build a wall for the express purpose of running
+their heads against it." M. de Villele listened to these reports, and
+expressed his surprise at them; his supporters inquired into the cause.
+Hints were uttered of jealousy, of ambition, of intrigues to depose the
+President of the Council, and to occupy his place. When the bill had
+passed the Chamber of Deputies, the debate in the Chamber of Peers, and
+the part that M. de Chateaubriand would take in it, were looked forward
+to with considerable misgivings. He maintained profound silence, not
+affording the slightest support; and when the bill was thrown out,
+approaching M. de Villele, he said to him, "If you resign, we are ready
+to follow you." He adds, while relating this proposal himself,
+"M. de Villele, for sole answer, honoured us with a look which we still
+have before us. This look, however, made no impression."
+
+It is well known how M. de Chateaubriand was dismissed two days after
+the sitting. From whence proceeded the rudeness of this dismissal? It is
+difficult to decide. M. de Chateaubriand attributed it to M. de Villele
+alone. "On Whit Sunday, the 6th of June, 1824," says he, "at half-past
+ten in the morning I repaired to the palace. My principal object was to
+pay my respects to _Monsieur_. The first saloon of the Pavillon Marsan
+was nearly empty; a few persons entered in succession, and seemed
+embarrassed. An aide-de-camp of _Monsieur_ said to me, 'Viscount, I
+scarcely hoped to see you here; have you received no communication?' I
+answered, 'No; what am I likely to receive?' He replied, 'I fear you
+will soon learn.' Upon this, as no one offered to introduce me to
+_Monsieur_, I went to hear the music in the chapel. I was quite absorbed
+in the beautiful anthems of the service, when an usher told me some one
+wished to speak with me. It was Hyacinth Pilorge, my secretary. He
+handed to me a letter and a royal ordinance, saying at the same time,
+'Sir, you are no longer a minister.' The Duke de Rauzan, Superintendent
+of Political Affairs, had opened the packet in my absence, and had not
+ventured to bring it to me. I found within, this note from
+M. de Villele; 'Monsieur le Vicomte,--I obey the orders of the King, in
+transmitting without delay to your Excellency a decree which his Majesty
+has just placed in my hand:--The Count de Villele, President of our
+Ministerial Council, is charged, _ad interim_, with the portfolio of
+Foreign Affairs, in place of the Viscount de Chateaubriand.'"
+
+The friends of M. de Villele assert that it was the King himself, who in
+his anger dictated the rude form of the communication. "Two days after
+the vote," say they, "as soon as M. de Villele entered the royal
+cabinet, Louis XVIII. said to him: 'Chateaubriand has betrayed us like
+a----; I do not wish to receive him after Mass; draw up the order for
+his dismissal, and let it be sent to him in time; I will not see him.'
+All remonstrances were useless; the King insisted that the
+decree should be written at his own desk and immediately forwarded.
+M. de Chateaubriand was not found at home, and his dismissal was only
+communicated to him at the Tuileries, in the apartments of _Monsieur_."
+
+Whoever may have been the author of the measure, the blame rests with
+M. de Villele. If it was contrary to his desire, assuredly he had credit
+enough with the King to prevent it. Contrary to his usual habit, he
+exhibited more temper on this occasion than coolness or foresight. There
+are allies who are necessary, although extremely troublesome; and
+M. de Chateaubriand, despite his pretensions and his whims, was less
+dangerous as a rival than as an enemy.
+
+Although without connection in the Chambers, and with no control as an
+orator, he immediately became a brilliant and influential leader of the
+Opposition, for opposition was his natural bent as well as the
+excitement of the moment. He excelled in unravelling the instincts of
+national discontent, and of continually exciting them against authority
+by supplying them with powerful motives, real or specious, and always
+introduced with effect. He also possessed the art of depreciating and
+casting odium on his adversaries, by keen and polished insults
+constantly repeated, and at the same time of bringing over to his side
+old opponents, destined soon to resume their former character, but for
+the moment attracted and overpowered by the pleasure and profit of the
+heavy blows he administered to their common enemy. Through the favour
+of the MM. Bertin, he found on the instant, in the 'Journal des Debats,'
+an important avenue for his daily attacks. As enlightened and
+influential in politics as in literature, these two brothers possessed
+the rare faculty of collecting round themselves by generous and
+sympathetic patronage, a chosen cohort of clever writers, and of
+supporting their opinions and those of their friends with manly
+intelligence. M. Bertin de Veaux, the more decided politician of the
+two, held M. de Villele in high esteem, and lived in familiar intimacy
+with him. "Villele," said he to me one day, "is really born for public
+business; he has all the necessary disinterestedness and capacity; he
+cares not to shine, he wishes only to govern; he would be a Minister of
+Finance in the cellar of his hotel, as willingly as in the drawing-rooms
+of the first story." It was no trifling matter which could induce the
+eminent journalist to break with the able minister. He sought an
+interview with M. de Villele, and requested him, for the preservation of
+peace, to bestow on M. de Chateaubriand the embassy to Rome. "I shall
+not risk such a proposition to the King," replied M. de Villele. "In
+that case," retorted M. Bertin, "you will remember that the 'Debats'
+overthrew the ministries of Decazes and Richelieu, and will do the same
+by the ministry of Villele."--"You turned out the two first to establish
+royalism," said M. de Villele; "to destroy mine you must have a
+revolution."
+
+There was nothing in this prospect to inspire M. de Villele with
+confidence, as the event proved; but thirteen years later,
+M. Bertin de Veaux remembered the caution. When, in 1837, under
+circumstances of which I shall speak in their proper place, I separated
+from M. Mole, he said to me with frankness, "I have certainly quite as
+much friendship for you as I ever had for M. de Chateaubriand, but I
+decline following you into Opposition. I shall not again try to sap the
+Government I wish to establish. One experiment of that nature is
+enough."
+
+At Court, as in the Chamber, M. de Villele was triumphant; he had not
+only conquered, but he had driven away his rivals, M. de Montmorency and
+M. de Chateaubriand, as he had got rid of M. de La Fayette and
+M. Manuel. Amongst the men whose voices, opinions, or even presence
+might have fettered him, death had already stepped in, and was again
+coming to his aid. M. Camille Jordan, the Duke de Richelieu, and
+M. de Serre were dead; General Foy and the Emperor Alexander were not
+long in following them. There are moments when death seems to delight,
+like Tarquin, in cutting down the tallest flowers. M. de Villele
+remained sole master. At this precise moment commenced the heavy
+difficulties of his position, the weak points of his conduct, and his
+first steps towards decline.
+
+In place of having to defend himself against a powerful opposition of
+the Left, which was equally to be feared and resisted by the Right and
+the Cabinet, he found himself confronted by an Opposition emanating from
+the right itself, and headed, in the Chamber of Deputies, by
+M. de la Bourdonnaye, his companion during the session of 1815; in the
+Chamber of Peers and without, by M. de Chateaubriand, so recently his
+colleague in the Council. As long as he had M. de Chateaubriand for an
+ally, M. de Villele had only encountered as adversaries, in the interior
+of his party, the ultra-royalists of the extreme right,
+M. de la Bourdonnaye, M. Delalot, and a few others, whom the old
+counter-revolutionary spirit, intractable passions, ambitious
+discontent, or habits of grumbling independence kept in a perpetual
+state of irritation against a power, moderate without ascendency, and
+clever without greatness. But when M. de Chateaubriand and the 'Journal
+des Debats' threw themselves into the combat, there was then seen to
+muster round them an army of anti-ministerialists of every origin and
+character, composed of royalists and liberals, of old and young France,
+of the popular and the aristocratic throng. The weak remains of the
+left-hand party, beaten in the recent elections, the seventeen old
+members of the Opposition, liberals or doctrinarians, drew breath when
+they looked on such allies; and, without confounding their ranks, while
+each party retained its own standard and arms, they combined for mutual
+support, and united their forces against M. de Villele.
+M. de Chateaubriand has gratified himself by inserting in his Memoirs
+the testimonies of admiration and sympathy proffered to him at that time
+by M. Benjamin Constant, General Sebastiani, M. Etienne, and other heads
+of the liberal section. In the Parliamentary struggle, the left-hand
+party could only add to the opposers of the right a very small number of
+votes; but they brought eminent talents, the support of their journals,
+their influence throughout the country; and, in a headlong, confused
+attack,--some under cover of the mantle of Royalism, others shielded by
+the popularity of their allies,--they waged fierce war against the
+common enemy.
+
+In presence of such an Opposition, M. de Villele fell into a more
+formidable danger than that of the sharp contests he had to encounter to
+hold ground against it: he was given over without protection or refuge
+to the influence and views of his own friends. He could no longer awe
+them by the power of the left-hand party, nor find occasionally in the
+unsettled position of the Chamber a bulwark against their demands. There
+had ceased to be a formidable balance of oppositionists or waverers; the
+majority, and a great majority, was ministerial and determined to
+support the Cabinet; but it had no real apprehension of the
+adversaries by whom it was attacked. It preferred M. de Villele to
+M. de la Bourdonnaye and M. de Chateaubriand, believing him more capable
+of managing with advantage the interests of the party; but if
+M. de Villele went counter to the wishes of that majority, if it ceased
+to hold a perfect understanding with him, it could then fall back on
+MM. de Chateaubriand and de la Bourdonnaye. M. de Villele had no
+resource against the majority; he was a minister at the mercy of his
+partisans.
+
+Amongst these were some of opposite pretensions, and who lent him their
+support on very unequal conditions. If he had only had to deal with
+those I shall designate as the politicals and laymen of the party, he
+might have been able to satisfy and govern in concert with them.
+Notwithstanding their prejudices, the greater part of the
+country-gentlemen and royalist citizens were neither over-zealous nor
+exacting; they had fallen in with the manners of new France, and had
+either found or recovered their natural position in present society,
+reconciling themselves to constitutional government, since they were no
+longer considered as the vanquished side. The indemnity to the
+emigrants, some pledges of local influence, and the distribution of
+public functions, would have long sufficed to secure their support to
+M. de Villele; but another portion of his army, numerous, important, and
+necessary, the religious department, was much more difficult to satisfy
+and control.
+
+I am not disposed to revive any of the particular expressions which were
+then used as weapons of war, and have now become almost insulting. I
+shall neither speak of the _priestly_, nor of the _congregational
+party_, nor even of the _Jesuits_. I should reproach myself for reviving
+by such language and reminiscences the evil, heavy in itself, which
+France and the Restoration were condemned at that time, the one to fear,
+and the other to endure.
+
+This evil, which glimmered through the first Restoration, through the
+session of 1815, and still exists, in spite of so many storms and such
+increasing intelligence, is, in fact a war declared by a considerable
+portion of the Catholic Church of France, against existing French
+society, its principles, its organization, political and civil, its
+origin and its tendencies. It was during the ministry of M. de Villele,
+and above all when he found himself alone and confronted with his party,
+that the mischief displayed its full force.
+
+Never was a similar war more irrational or inopportune. It checked the
+reaction, which had commenced under the Consulate, in favour of creeds
+and the sentiment of religion. I have no desire to exaggerate the value
+of that reaction; I hold faith and true piety in too much respect to
+confound them with the superficial vicissitudes of human thought and
+opinion. Nevertheless the movement which led France back towards
+Christianity was more sincere and serious than it actually appeared to
+be. It was at once a public necessity and an intellectual taste.
+Society, worn out with commotion and change, sought for fixed points on
+which it could rely and repose; men, disgusted with a terrestrial and
+material atmosphere, aspired to ascend once more towards higher and
+purer horizons; the inclinations of morality concurred with the
+instincts of social interest. Left to its natural course, and supported
+by the purely religious influence of a clergy entirely devoted to the
+re-establishment of faith and Christian life, this movement was likely
+to extend and to restore to religion its legitimate empire.
+
+But instead of confining itself to this sphere of action, many members
+and blind partisans of the Catholic clergy descended to worldly
+questions, and showed themselves more zealous to recast French society
+in its old mould, and so to restore their church to its former place
+there, than to reform and purify the moral condition of souls. Here was
+a profound mistake. The Christian Church is not like the pagan Antaeus,
+who renews his strength by touching the earth; it is on the contrary, by
+detaching itself from the world, and re-ascending towards heaven, that
+the Church in its hours of peril regains its vigour. When we saw it
+depart from its appropriate and sublime mission, to demand penal laws
+and to preside over the distribution of offices; when we beheld its
+desires and efforts prominently directed against the principles and
+institutions which constitute today the essence of French society; when
+liberty of conscience, publicity, the legal separation of civil and
+religious life, the laical character of the State, appeared to be
+attacked and compromised,--on that instant the rising tide of religious
+reaction stopped, and yielded way to a contrary current. In place of the
+movement which thinned the ranks of the unbelievers to the advantage of
+the faithful, we saw the two parties unite together; the eighteenth
+century appeared once more in arms; Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and
+their worst disciples once more spread themselves abroad and recruited
+innumerable battalions. War was declared against society in the name of
+the Church, and society returned war for war:--a deplorable chaos, in
+which good and evil, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice, were
+confounded together, and blows hurled at random on every side.
+
+I know not whether M. de Villele thoroughly estimated, in his own
+thoughts, the full importance of this situation of affairs, and the
+dangers to which he exposed religion and the Restoration. His was not a
+mind either accustomed or disposed to ponder long over general facts and
+moral questions, or to sound them deeply. But he thoroughly
+comprehended, and felt acutely, the embarrassment which might accrue
+from these causes to his own power; and he tried to diminish them by
+yielding to clerical influence in the government, imposing though
+limited sacrifices, flattering himself that by these means he should
+acquire allies in the Church itself, who would aid him to restrain the
+overweening and imprudent pretensions of their own friends. Already, and
+shortly after his accession to the ministry, he had appointed an
+ecclesiastic in good estimation, and whom the Pope had named Bishop of
+Hermopolis, the Abbe Frayssinous, to the head-mastership of the
+University. Two months after the fall of M. de Chateaubriand, the Abbe
+Frayssinous entered the Cabinet as Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs
+and Public Instruction--a new department created expressly for him. He
+was a man of sense and moderation, who had acquired, by Christian
+preaching without violence, and conduct in which prudence was blended
+with dignity, a reputation and importance somewhat superior to his
+actual merits, and which he had no desire to compromise. In 1816 he had
+been a member of the Royal Commission of Public Education, over which
+M. Royer-Collard at that time presided; but soon retired from it, not
+wishing either to share the responsibility of his superior or to act in
+opposition to him. He generally approved of the policy of M. de Villele;
+but although binding himself to support it, and while lamenting the
+blind demands of a portion of the clergy, he endeavoured, when
+opportunity offered, to excuse and conceal rather than reject them
+altogether. Without betraying M. de Villele, he afforded him little aid,
+and committed him repeatedly by his language in public, which invariably
+tended more to maintain his own position in the Church than to serve the
+Cabinet.
+
+Three months only had elapsed since M. de Villele, separated from his
+most brilliant colleagues and an important portion of his old friends,
+had sustained the entire weight of government, when the King Louis
+XVIII. died. The event had long been foreseen, and M. de Villele had
+skilfully prepared for it: he was as well established in the esteem and
+confidence of the new monarch as of the sovereign who had just passed
+from the Tuileries to St. Denis; Charles X., the Dauphin, and the
+Dauphiness, all three looked upon him as the ablest and most valuable of
+their devoted adherents. But M. de Villele soon discovered that he had
+changed masters, and that little dependence could be placed on the mind
+or heart of a king, even though sincere, when the surface and the
+interior were not in unison. Men belong, much more than is generally
+supposed, or than they believe themselves, to their real convictions.
+Many comparisons, for the sake of contrast, have been drawn between
+Louis XVIII. and Charles X.; the distinction between them was even
+greater than has been stated. Louis XVIII. was a moderate of the old
+system, and a liberal-minded inheritor of the eighteenth century;
+Charles X. was a true emigrant and a submissive bigot. The wisdom of
+Louis XVIII. was egotistic and sceptical, but serious and sincere; when
+Charles X. acted like a sensible king, it was through propriety, from
+timid and short-sighted complaisance, from being carried away, or from
+the desire of pleasing,--not from conviction or natural choice. Through
+all the different Cabinets of his reign, whether under the
+Abbe de Montesquiou, M. de Talleyrand, the Duke de Richelieu,
+M. Decazes, and M. de Villele, the government of Louis XVIII. was ever
+consistent with itself; without false calculation or premeditated
+deceit, Charles X. wavered from contradiction to contradiction, from
+inconsistency to inconsistency, until the day when, given up to his own
+will and belief, he committed the error which cost him his throne.
+
+During three years, from the accession of Charles X. to his own fall,
+M. de Villele not only made no stand against the inconsiderate
+fickleness of the King, but even profited by it to strengthen himself
+against his various enemies. Too clear-sighted to hope that Charles X.
+would persevere in the voluntary course of premeditated and steady
+moderation which Louis XVIII. had followed, he undertook to make him at
+least pursue, when circumstances allowed, a line of policy sufficiently
+temperate and popular to save him from the appearance of being
+exclusively in the hands of the party to whom in fact his heart and
+faith were devoted. Skilful in varying his advice according to the
+necessities and chances of the moment, and aptly availing himself of the
+inclination of Charles X. for sudden measures, whether lenient or
+severe, M. de Villele at one time abolished, and at another revived, the
+censorship of the journals, occasionally softened or aggravated the
+execution of the laws, always endeavouring, and frequently with success,
+to place in the mouth or in the name of the King, liberal demonstrations
+and effusions, by the side of words and tendencies which recalled the
+old system and the pretensions of absolute power. The same spirit
+governed him in the Chambers. His bills were so conceived and presented,
+as we may say, to the address of the different parties, that all
+influential opinions were conciliated to a certain extent. The
+indemnity to the emigrants satisfied the wishes and restored the
+position of the entire lay party of the right. The recognition of the
+Republic of Hayti pleased the Liberals. Judicious reforms in the
+national budget and an administration friendly to sound regulations and
+actual services, obtained for M. de Villele the esteem of enlightened
+men and the general approbation of all public functionaries. The bill on
+the system of inheritance and the right of primogeniture afforded hope
+to those who were prepossessed with aristocratic regrets. The bill on
+sacrilege fostered the passions of the fanatics, and the views of their
+theorists. Parallel with the spirit of reaction which predominated in
+these legislative deliberations, as in the enactments of power, an
+intelligent effort was ever visible to contrive something to the
+advantage of the spirit of progress. While faithfully serving his
+friends, M. de Villele sought for and availed himself of every
+opportunity that offered of making some compensation to his adversaries.
+
+It was not that the state of his mind was changed in principle, or that
+he had identified himself with the new and liberally-disposed society
+which he courted with so much solicitude. After all, M. de Villele
+continued ever to be a follower of the old system, true to his party
+from feeling as well as on calculation. But his ideas on the subject of
+social and political organization were derived from tradition and habit,
+rather than from personal and well-meditated conviction. He preserved,
+without making them his sole rule of conduct, and laid them aside
+occasionally, without renunciation. A strong practical instinct, and
+the necessity of success, were his leading characteristics; he had the
+peculiar tact of knowing what would succeed and what would not, and
+paused in face of obstacles, either judging them to be insurmountable,
+or to demand too much time for removal. I find, in a letter which he
+wrote on the 31st of October, 1824, to Prince Julius de Polignac, at
+that time ambassador in London, on the projected re-establishment of the
+law of primogeniture, the strong expression of his inward thought, and
+of his clear-sighted prudence in an important act. "You would be wrong
+to suppose," said he, "that it is because entailed titles and estates
+are perpetual, we do not create any. You give us too much credit; the
+present generation sets no value on considerations so far removed from
+their own time. The late King named Count K---- a peer, on the proviso
+of his investing an estate with the title; he gave up the peerage,
+rather than injure his daughter to the advantage of his son. Out of
+twenty affluent families, there is scarcely one inclined to place the
+eldest son so much above the rest. Egotism prevails everywhere. People
+prefer to live on good terms with all their children, and, when
+establishing them in the world, to show no preference. The bonds of
+subordination are so universally relaxed, that parents, I believe, are
+obliged to humour their own offspring. If the Government were to propose
+the re-establishment of the law of primogeniture, it would not have a
+majority on that question; the difficulty is more deeply seated; it lies
+in our habits, still entirely impressed with the consequences of the
+Revolution. I do not wish to say that nothing can be done to ameliorate
+this lamentable position; but I feel that, in a state of society so
+diseased, we require time and management, not to lose in a day the
+labour and fruit of many years. To know how to proceed, and never to
+swerve from that path, to make a step towards the desired end whenever
+it can be made, and never to incur the necessity of retreat,--this
+course appears to me to be one of the necessities of the time in which I
+have arrived at power, and one of the causes which have led me to the
+post I occupy."
+
+M. de Villele spoke truly; it was his rational loyalty to the interests
+of his party, his patient perseverance in marching step by step to his
+object, his calm and correct distinction between the possible and
+impossible, which had made and kept him minister. But in the great
+transformations of human society, when the ideas and passions of nations
+have been powerfully stirred up, good sense, moderation, and cleverness
+will not long suffice to control them; and the day will soon return
+when, either to promote good or restrain evil, defined convictions and
+intentions, strongly and openly expressed, are indispensable to the
+heads of government. M. de Villele was not endowed with these qualities.
+His mind was accurate, rather than expanded; he had more ingenuity than
+vigour, and he yielded to his party when he could no longer direct it.
+"I am born for the end of revolutions," he exclaimed when arriving at
+power, and he judged himself well; but he estimated less correctly the
+general state of society: the Revolution was much further from its end
+than he believed; it was continually reviving round him, excited and
+strengthened by the alternately proclaimed and concealed attempts of
+the counter-principle. People had ceased to conspire; but they
+discussed, criticized, and contended with undiminished ardour in the
+legitimate field. There were no longer secret associations, but opinions
+which fermented and exploded on every side. And, in this public
+movement, impassioned resistance was chiefly directed against the
+preponderance and pretensions of the fanatically religious party. One of
+the most extraordinary infatuations of our days has been the blindness
+of this party to the fact that the conditions under which they acted,
+and the means they employed, were directly opposed to the end in view,
+and leading from rather than conducting to it. They desired to restrain
+liberty, to control reason, to impose faith; they talked, wrote, and
+argued; they sought and found arms in the system of inquiry and
+publicity which they denounced. Nothing could be more natural or
+legitimate on the part of believers who have full confidence in their
+creed, and consider it equal to the conversion of its adversaries. The
+latter are justified in recurring to the discussion and publicity which
+they expect to serve their cause. But those who consider publicity and
+free discussion as essentially mischievous, by appealing to these
+resources, foment themselves the movement they dread, and feed the fire
+they wish to extinguish. To prove themselves not only consistent, but
+wise and effective, they should obtain by other means the strength on
+which they rely: they should gain the mastery; and then, when they have
+silenced all opposition, let them speak alone, if they still feel the
+necessity of speaking. But until they have arrived at this point, let
+them not deceive themselves; by adopting the weapons of liberty, they
+serve liberty much more than they injure it, for they warn and place it
+on its guard. To secure victory to the system of order and government to
+which they aspire, there is but one road;--the Inquisition and Philip
+II. were alone acquainted with their trade.
+
+As might naturally be expected, the resistance provoked by the attempts
+of the fanatical party soon transformed itself into an attack. One
+royalist gentleman raised the flag of opposition against the policy of
+M. de Villele; another assailed the religious controllers of his
+Cabinet, and not only dragged them before public opinion, but before the
+justice of the country, which disarmed and condemned them, without
+inflicting any other sentence than that of its disapprobation in the
+name of the law.
+
+No one was less a philosopher of the eighteenth century, or a liberal of
+the nineteenth, than the Count de Montlosier. In the Constituent
+Assembly he had vehemently defended the Church and resisted the
+Revolution; he was sincerely a royalist, an aristocrat, and a Catholic.
+People called him, not without reason, the feudal publicist. But,
+neither the ancient nobility nor the modern citizens were disposed to
+submit to ecclesiastical dominion. M. de Montlosier repulsed it, equally
+in the name of old and new France, as he would formerly have denied its
+supremacy from the battlements of his castle, or in the court of Philip
+the Handsome. The early French spirit re-appeared in him, free, while
+respectful towards the Church, and as jealous of the laical independence
+of the State and crown, as it was possible for a member of the Imperial
+State Council to show himself.
+
+At the same moment, a man of the people, born a poet and rendered still
+more poetical by art, celebrated, excited, and expanded, through his
+songs, popular instincts and passions in opposition to everything that
+recalled the old system, and above all against the pretensions and
+supremacy of the Church. M. Beranger, in his heart, was neither a
+revolutionist nor an unbeliever; he was morally more honest, and
+politically more rational, than his songs; but, a democrat by conviction
+as well as inclination, and carried away into license and want of
+forethought by the spirit of democracy, he attacked indiscriminately
+everything that was ungracious to the people, troubling himself little
+as to the range of his blows, looking upon the success of his songs as a
+victory achieved by liberty, and forgetting that religious faith and
+respect for things holy are nowhere more necessary than in the bosom of
+democratic and liberal associations. I believe he discovered this a
+little too late, when he found himself individually confronted by the
+passions which his ballads had fomented, and the dreams he had
+transformed to realities. He then hastened, with sound sense and
+dignity, to escape from the political arena, and almost from the world,
+unchanged in his sentiments, but somewhat regretful and uneasy for the
+consequences of the war in which he had taken such a prominent part.
+Under the Restoration, he was full of confidence and zeal, enjoying his
+popularity with modesty, and more seriously hostile and influential than
+any sonneteer had ever been before him.
+
+Thus, after six years of government by the right-hand party, and three
+of the reign of Charles X., matters had arrived at this point--that two
+of the chief royalist leaders marched at the head of an opposition, one
+against the Cabinet, and the other against the Clergy, both becoming
+from day to day more vigorous and extended, and that the Restoration
+enumerated a ballad-maker in the first rank of its most dangerous
+enemies.
+
+This entire mischief and danger was universally attributed to
+M. de Villele; on the right or on the left, in the saloons and the
+journals, amongst the Moderates and the extreme Radicals, he became more
+and more an object of attack and reproach. As the judicial bodies had
+acted in affairs which regarded religion, so the literary institutions,
+on questions which concerned their competence, eagerly seized the
+opportunity of manifesting their opposition. The University, compressed
+and mutilated, was in a state of utter discontent. The French Academy
+made it a duty of honour to protest, in an address which the King
+refused to receive, but which was nevertheless voted, against the new
+bill on the subject of the press, introduced to the Chamber in 1826, and
+withdrawn by the Cabinet three months afterwards. In his own Chamber of
+Peers, M. de Villele found neither general goodwill nor a certain
+majority. Even at the Palais Bourbon and the Tuileries, his two
+strongholds, he visibly lost ground; in the Chamber of Deputies, the
+ministerial majority declined, and became sad even in triumph; at the
+court, several of the King's most trusty adherents, the
+Dukes de Riviere, de Fitz-James, and de Maille, the Count de Glanderes,
+and many others,--some through party spirit, and some from monarchical
+uneasiness,--desired the fall of M. de Villele, and were already
+preparing his successors. Even the King himself, when any fresh
+manifestation of public feeling reached him, exclaimed pettishly, on
+entering his closet, "Always Villele! always against Villele!"
+
+In truth, the injustice was shameful. If the right-hand party had held
+office for six years, and had used power so as to maintain it, if
+Charles X. had not only peaceably succeeded Louis XVIII., but had ruled
+without trouble, and even with some increase of popularity, it was to
+M. de Villele, above all others, that they were indebted for these
+advantages. He had accomplished two difficult achievements, which might
+have been called great had they been more durable: he had disciplined
+the old royalist party, and from a section of the court, and a class
+which had never been really active except in revolutionary contests, he
+had established during six years a steady ministerial support; he had
+restrained his party and his power within the general limits of the
+Charter, and had exercised constitutional government for six years under
+a prince and with friends who were generally considered to understand it
+little, and to adopt it with reluctance. If the King and the right-hand
+party felt themselves in danger, it was themselves, and not
+M. de Villele, whom they ought to have accused.
+
+Nevertheless M. de Villele, on his part, had no right to complain of the
+injustice to which he was exposed. For six years he had been the head of
+the Government; by yielding to the King and his partisans when he
+disapproved their intentions, and by continuing their minister when he
+could no longer prevent what he condemned, he had admitted the
+responsibility of the faults committed under his name and with his
+sanction, although in spite of himself. He endured the penalty of his
+weakness in the exercise of power, and of his obstinacy in retaining it
+under whatever sacrifices it might cost him. We cannot govern under a
+free system, to enjoy the merit and reap the fruit of success, while we
+repudiate the errors which lead to reverse.
+
+Justice to M. de Villele requires the acknowledgment that he never
+attempted to withdraw himself from the responsibility of his government,
+whether as regarded his own acts or his concessions to his friends. He
+was never seen to reproach the King or his party with the errors to
+which he became accessory. He knew how to preserve silence and endure
+the blame, even while he had the power of justification. In 1825, after
+the Spanish war, and during the financial debates to which it had given
+rise, M. de la Bourdonnaye accused him of having been the author of the
+contracts entered into in 1823, with M. Ouvrard, at Bayonne, for
+supplying the army, and which had been made the subject of violent
+attacks. M. de Villele might have closed his adversary's mouth; for on
+the 7th of April, 1823, he had written to the Duke d'Angouleme expressly
+to caution him against M. Ouvrard and his propositions. He took no
+advantage of this, but contented himself with explaining to the King in
+a Council, when the Dauphin was present, the situation in which he was
+placed.
+
+The Dauphin at once authorized him to make use of his letter. "No,
+Monseigneur," replied M. de Villele; "let anything happen to me that
+Heaven pleases, it will be of little consequence to the country; but I
+should be guilty towards the King and to France, if, to exculpate myself
+from an accusation, however serious it may be, I should give utterance,
+beyond the walls of this cabinet, to a single word which could
+compromise the name of your Royal Highness."
+
+When, notwithstanding his obstinate and confiding disposition, he saw
+himself seriously menaced, when the cries of "Down with the Ministers!
+Down with Villele!" uttered by several battalions of the National Guard,
+both before and after the review by the King in the Champ-de-Mars on the
+29th of April, 1827, had led to their disbanding, and had equally
+excited the public and disturbed the King himself,--when M. de Villele
+felt distinctly that, both in the Chambers and at the Court, he was too
+much attacked and shaken to govern with efficiency, he resolutely
+adopted the course prescribed by the Charter and called for by his
+position; he demanded of the King the dissolution of the Chamber of
+Deputies, and a new general election, which should either re-establish
+or finally overthrow the Cabinet.
+
+Charles X. hesitated; he dreaded the elections, and, although not
+disposed to support his Minister with more firmness, the chance of his
+fall, and doubt in the selection of his successors, disturbed him, as
+much as it was possible for his unreflecting nature to be disturbed.
+M. de Villele persisted, the King yielded, and, in defiance of the
+electoral law which, in 1820, M. de Villele and the right-hand party had
+enacted, in spite of their six years of power, in spite of all the
+efforts of Government to influence the elections, they produced a result
+in conformity with the state of general feeling,--a majority composed of
+different elements, but decidedly hostile to the Cabinet. After having
+carefully examined this new ground, and after having received from
+various quarters propositions of accommodation and alliance,
+M. de Villele, having clearly estimated his chances of strength and
+durability, retired from office, and recommended the King to return
+towards the centre, and to call together a moderate Ministry, which he
+assisted him to construct. Charles X. received his new councillors as he
+quitted his old ones, with sadness and apprehension, not acting as he
+wished, and scarcely knowing whether what he did would tend to his
+advantage. More decided, not through superiority of mind, but by natural
+courage, the Dauphiness said to him, when she ascertained his
+resolution, "In abandoning M. de Villele, you have descended the first
+step of your throne."
+
+The political party of which M. de Villele was the head, and which had
+its own peculiar destinies, with which those of royalty had never been
+closely allied, might indulge in more gloomy anticipations on their own
+account; they had employed and lost the only man, belonging to their own
+ranks, who was capable of showing them legitimately how to acquire and
+how to exercise power.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote 17: On the 17th October, and the 22nd of November, 1822.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MY OPPOSITION.
+
+1820-1829.
+
+     MY RETIREMENT AT THE MAISONNETTE.--I PUBLISH FOUR INCIDENTAL ESSAYS
+     ON POLITICAL AFFAIRS: 1. OF THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE SINCE THE
+     RESTORATION, AND OF THE MINISTRY IN OFFICE (1820); 2. OF
+     CONSPIRACIES AND POLITICAL JUSTICE (1821); 3. OF THE RESOURCES OF
+     THE GOVERNMENT AND THE OPPOSITION IN THE ACTUAL STATE OF FRANCE
+     (1821); 4. OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR POLITICAL OFFENCES
+     (1822).--CHARACTER AND EFFECT OF THESE PUBLICATIONS.--LIMITS OF MY
+     OPPOSITION.--THE CARBONARI.--VISIT OF M. MANUEL.--I COMMENCE MY
+     COURSE OF LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF REPRESENTATIVE
+     GOVERNMENT.--ITS DOUBLE OBJECT.--THE ABBE FRAYSSINOUS ORDERS ITS
+     SUSPENSION.--MY HISTORICAL LABOURS.--ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND; ON
+     THE HISTORY OF FRANCE; ON THE RELATIONS AND MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF
+     FRANCE AND ENGLAND; ON THE PHILOSOPHIC AND LITERARY TENDENCIES OF
+     THAT EPOCH.--THE FRENCH REVIEW.--THE GLOBE.--THE ELECTIONS OF
+     1827.--MY CONNECTIONS WITH THE SOCIETY, 'HELP THYSELF AND HEAVEN
+     WILL HELP THEE.'--MY RELATIONS WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF M. DE
+     MARTIGNAC; HE AUTHORIZES THE REOPENING OF MY COURSE OF LECTURES,
+     AND RESTORES MY TITLE AS A STATE-COUNCILLOR.--MY LECTURES
+     (1828-1830) ON THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE AND IN
+     FRANCE.--THEIR EFFECT.--I AM ELECTED DEPUTY FOR LISIEUX (DECEMBER,
+     1829).
+
+
+When I was struck from the list of State-Councillors, with
+MM. Royer-Collard, Camille Jordan, and Barante, I received from all
+quarters testimonies of ardent sympathy. Disgrace voluntarily
+encountered, and which imposes some sacrifices, flatters political
+friends and interests indifferent spectators. I determined to resume, in
+the Faculty of Letters, my course of modern history. We were then at the
+end of July. Madame de Condorcet offered to lend me for several months a
+country-house, ten leagues from Paris, near Meulan. My acquaintance with
+her had never been intimate; her political sentiments differed
+materially from mine; she belonged thoroughly and enthusiastically to
+the eighteenth century and the Revolution: but she possessed an elevated
+character, a strong mind, and a generous heart, capable of warm
+affection; a favour offered by her sincerely, and for the sole pleasure
+of conferring it, might be received without embarrassment. I accepted
+that which she tendered me, and with the beginning of August I
+established myself at the Maisonnette, and there recommenced my literary
+labours.
+
+At that time I was strongly attached, and have ever since remained so,
+to public life. Nevertheless I have never quitted it without
+experiencing a feeling of satisfaction mixed with my regret, as that of
+a man who throws off a burden which he willingly sustained, or who
+passes from a warm and exciting atmosphere into a light and refreshing
+temperature. From the first moment, my residence at the Maisonnette
+pleased me. Situated halfway up a hill, immediately before it was the
+little town of Meulan, with its two churches, one lately restored for
+worship, the other partly in ruins and converted into a magazine; on the
+right of the town the eye fell upon L'Ile Belle, entirely parcelled out
+into green meadows and surrounded by tall poplar-trees; in front was
+the old bridge of Meulan, and beyond it the extensive and fertile
+valley of the Seine. The house, not too small, was commodious and neatly
+arranged; on either side, as you left the dining-hall, were large trees
+and groves of shrubs; behind and above the mansion was a garden of
+moderate extent, but intersected by walks winding up the side of the
+hill and bordered by flowers. At the top of the garden was a small
+pavilion well suited for reading alone, or for conversation with a
+single companion. Beyond the enclosure, and still ascending, were woods,
+fields, other country-houses and gardens scattered on different
+elevations. I lived there with my wife and my son Francis, who had just
+reached his fifth year. My friends often came to visit me. In all that
+surrounded me, there was nothing either rare or beautiful. It was nature
+with her simplest ornaments, and family life in the most unpretending
+tranquillity. But nothing was wanting. I had space, verdure, affection,
+conversation, liberty, and employment,--the necessity of occupation,
+that spur and bridle which human indolence and mutability so often
+require. I was perfectly content. When the soul is calm, the heart full,
+and the mind active, situations the most opposite to those we have been
+accustomed to possess their charms, which speedily become happiness.
+
+I sometimes went to Paris on affairs of business. I find, in a letter
+which I wrote to Madame Guizot during one of these journeys, the
+impressions I experienced. "At the first moment I feel pleasure at
+mixing again and conversing with the world, but soon grow weary of
+unprofitable words. There is no repetition more tiresome than that
+which bears upon popular matters. We are eternally listening to what we
+know already; we are perpetually telling others what they are as well
+acquainted with as we are: this is, at the same time, insipid and
+agitating. In my inaction, I prefer talking to the trees, the flowers,
+the sun, and the wind. Man is infinitely superior to nature; but nature
+is always equal, and inexhaustible in her monotony; we know that she
+remains and must remain what she is; we never feel in her presence that
+necessity of moving in advance, which makes us impatient or weary of the
+society of men when they fail to satisfy this imperative demand. Who has
+ever fancied that the trees ought to be red instead of green, or found
+fault with the sun of today for resembling the sun of yesterday? We
+demand of nature neither progress nor novelty; and this is why nature
+draws us from the weariness of the world, while she brings repose from
+its excitement. It is her attribute to please for ever without changing;
+but immovable man becomes tiresome, and he is not strong enough to be
+perpetually in motion."
+
+In the bosom of this calm and satisfying life, public affairs, the part
+I had begun to take in them, the ties of mutual opinion and friendship I
+had formed, the hopes I had entertained for my country and myself,
+continued nevertheless to occupy much of my attention. I became anxious
+to declare aloud my thoughts on the new system under which France was
+governed; on what that system had become since 1814, and what it ought
+to be to keep its word and accomplish its object. Still a stranger to
+the Chambers, it was there alone that I could enter personally into the
+field of politics, and assume my fitting place. I was perfectly
+unfettered, and at an age when disinterested confidence in the empire of
+truth blends with the honest aspirations of ambition; I pursued the
+success of my cause, while I hoped for personal distinction. After
+residing for two months at the Maisonnette, I published, under this
+title, 'On the Government of France since the Restoration, and the
+Ministry now in Office,' my first oppositional treatise against the
+policy which had been followed since the Duke de Richelieu, by allying
+himself with the right-hand party to change the electoral law, had also
+changed the seat and tendency of power.
+
+I took up the question, or, to speak more truly, I entered into the
+contest, on the ground on which the Hundred Days and the Chamber of 1815
+had unfortunately placed it:--Who are to exercise, in the government of
+France, the preponderating influence? the victors or the vanquished of
+1789? the middle classes, elevated to their rights, or the privileged
+orders of earlier times? Is the Charter the conquest of the newly
+constituted society, or the triumph of the old system, the legitimate
+and rational accomplishment, or the merited penalty of the revolution?
+
+I borrow from a preface which I added last year to a new edition of my
+'Course of Lectures on the History of Civilization in France,' some
+lines which today, after more than forty years of experience and
+reflection, convey the faithful impress of my thoughts.
+
+"It is the blind rivalry of the high social classes, which has
+occasioned the miscarriage of our efforts to establish a free
+government. Instead of uniting either in defence against despotism, or
+to establish practical liberty, the nobility and the citizens have
+remained separate, intent on mutually excluding or supplanting each
+other, and both refusing to admit equality or superiority. Pretensions
+unjust in principal, and vain in fact! The somewhat frivolous pride of
+the nobility has not prevented the citizens of France from rising, and
+taking their place on a level with the highest in the State. Neither
+have the rather puerile jealousies of the citizens hindered the nobility
+from preserving the advantages of family celebrity and the long tenure
+of situation. In every arranged society which lives and increases there
+is an internal movement of ascent and acquisition. In all systems that
+are destined to endure, a certain hierarchy of conditions and ranks
+establishes and perpetuates itself. Justice, common sense, public
+advantage, and private interest, when properly understood, all require a
+reciprocal acknowledgment of these natural facts of social order. The
+different classes in France have not known how to adopt this skilful
+equity. Thus they have endured, and have also inflicted on their
+country, the penalty of their irrational egotism. For the vulgar
+gratification of remaining, on the one side insolent, on the other
+envious, nobles and citizens have continued much less free, less
+important, less secure in their social privileges, than they might have
+been with a little more justice, foresight, and submission to the divine
+laws of human associations. They have been unable to act in concert, so
+as to become free and powerful together; and consequently they have
+given up France and themselves to successive revolutions."
+
+In 1820, we were far from this free and impartial appreciation of our
+political history and the causes of our disasters. Re-engaged for five
+years in the track of the old rivalries of classes and the recent
+struggles of revolution, we were entirely occupied with the troubles and
+dangers of the moment, and anxious to conquer, without bestowing much
+thought on the price or future embarrassments of victory. I upheld with
+enthusiasm the cause of the new society, such as the Revolution had made
+it, holding equality in the eye of the law as the first principle, and
+the middle classes as the fundamental element. I elevated this cause,
+already so great, by carrying it back to the past, and by discovering
+its interests and vicissitudes in the entire series of our history. I
+have no desire to palliate my thoughts or words. "For more than thirteen
+centuries," I said, "France has comprised two races, the victors and the
+vanquished. For more than thirteen centuries, the beaten race has
+struggled to throw off the yoke of its conquerors. Our history is the
+history of this contest. In our own days, a decisive battle has been
+fought. That battle is called the Revolution.... The result was not
+doubtful. Victory declared for those who had been so long subdued. In
+turn they conquered France, and in 1814 were in possession beyond
+dispute. The Charter acknowledged this fact, proclaimed that it was
+founded on right, and guaranteed that right by the pledge of
+representative government. The King, by this single act, established
+himself as the chief of the new conquerors. He placed himself in their
+ranks and at their head, engaging himself to defend with them, and for
+them, the conquests of the Revolution, which were theirs. The Charter
+implied such an engagement, beyond all question; for war was on the
+point of recommencing. It was easy to foresee that the vanquished party
+would not tamely submit to their defeat. Not that it reduced them to the
+condition to which they had formerly humiliated their adversaries; they
+found rights, if they lost privileges, and, while falling from high
+supremacy, might repose on equality; but great masses of men will not
+thus abdicate human weakness, and their reason ever remains far in the
+rear of their necessity. All that preserved or restored to the ancient
+possessors of privilege a gleam of hope, urged and tempted them to grasp
+it. The Restoration could not fail to produce this effect. The fall of
+privilege had entrained the subversion of the throne; it might be hoped
+that the throne would restore privilege with its own re-establishment.
+How was it possible not to cherish this hope? Revolutionary France held
+it in dread. But even if the events of 1814 had not effected the
+Restoration, if the Charter had been given to us from another source and
+by a different dynasty, the mere establishment of the representative
+system, the simple return to liberty, would have sufficed to inflame and
+rouse up once more to combat the old race, the privileged orders. They
+exist amongst us; they live, speak, circulate, act, and influence from
+one end of France to the other. Decimated and scattered by the
+Convention, seduced and kept under by Napoleon, as soon as terror and
+despotism cease (and neither are durable) they re-appear, resume
+position, and labour to recover all that they have lost.... We have
+conquered the old system, we shall always conquer it; but for a long
+time still we shall have to combat with it. Whoever wishes to see
+constitutional order established in France, free elections, independent
+Chambers, a tribune, liberty of the press, and all other public
+liberties, must abandon the idea that, in this perpetual and animated
+manifestation of all society, the counter-revolution can remain mute and
+inactive."
+
+At the very moment when I recapitulated, in terms so positive and
+forcible, the situation in which the Revolution, the Restoration, and
+the Charter had placed France, I foresaw that my words and ideas might
+be perverted to the advantage of revolutionary passions; and to confine
+them within their just interpretation, I hastened to add, "In saying
+that, since the origin of our monarchy, the struggle between two races
+has agitated France, and that the Revolution has been merely the triumph
+of new conquerors over the ancient possessors of power and territory, I
+have not sought to establish any historical filiation, or to maintain
+that the double fact of conquest and servitude was perpetual, constant,
+and identical through all ages. Such an assertion would be evidently
+falsified by realities. During this long progression of time, the
+victors and the vanquished, the possessors and the possessions--the two
+races, in fact--have become connected, displaced, and confounded; in
+their existence and relations they have undergone innumerable
+vicissitudes. Justice, the total absence of which would speedily
+annihilate all society, has introduced itself into the effects of power.
+It has protected the weak, restrained the strong, regulated their
+intercourse, and has progressively substituted order for violence, and
+equality for oppression. It has rendered France, in fact, such as the
+world has seen her, with her immeasurable glory and her intervals of
+repose. But it is not the less true that throughout thirteen centuries,
+by the result of conquest and feudalism, France has always retained two
+positions, two social classes, profoundly distinct and unequal, which
+have never become amalgamated or placed in a condition of mutual
+understanding and harmony; which have never ceased to combat, the one to
+conquer right, the other to retain privilege. In this our history is
+comprised; and in this sense I have spoken of two races, victors and
+vanquished, friends and enemies; and of the war, sometimes open and
+sanguinary, at others internal and purely political, which these two
+conflicting interests have mutually waged against each other."
+
+On reading over these pages at the present day, and my entire work of
+1820, I retain the impression, which I still desire to establish. On
+examining things closely and by themselves, as an historian and
+philosopher, I scarcely find any passage to alter. I continue to think
+that the general ideas therein expressed are just, the great social
+facts properly estimated, the political personages well understood and
+drawn with fidelity. As an incidental polemic, the work is too positive
+and harsh; I do not sufficiently consider difficulties and clouds; I
+condemn situations and parties too strongly; I require too much from
+men; I have too little temperance, foresight, and patience. At that time
+I was too exclusively possessed by the spirit of opposition.
+
+Even then I suspected this myself; and perhaps the success I obtained
+inspired the doubt. I am not naturally disposed to opposition; and the
+more I have advanced in life, the more I have become convinced that it
+is a part too easy and too dangerous. Success demands but little merit,
+while considerable virtue is requisite to resist the external and innate
+attractions. In 1820, I had as yet only filled an indirect and secondary
+position under the Government; nevertheless I fully understood the
+difficulty of governing, and felt a degree of repugnance in adding to it
+by attacking those to whom power was delegated. Another conviction began
+also from that time to impress itself upon me. In modern society, when
+liberty is displayed, the strife becomes too unequal between the party
+that governs and those who criticize Government. With the one rests all
+the burden and unlimited responsibility; nothing is looked over or
+forgiven: with the others there is perfect liberty and no
+responsibility; everything that they say or do is accepted and
+tolerated. Such is the public disposition, at least in France as soon as
+we become free. At a later period, and when in office, I endured the
+weight of this myself; but I may acknowledge without any personal
+reluctance, that while in Opposition I first perceived the unjust and
+injurious tendency of this feeling.
+
+By instinct, rather than from any reflective or calculated intention, I
+conceived the desire, as soon as I had committed an act of declared
+hostility, of demonstrating what spirit of government was not foreign to
+my own views. Many sensible men inclined to think that from the
+representative system, in France at least, and in the state in which
+the Revolution had left us, no sound plan could emanate, and that our
+ardent longings for free institutions were only calculated to enervate
+power and promote anarchy. The Revolutionary and Imperial eras had
+naturally bequeathed this idea; France had only become acquainted with
+political liberty by revolutions, and with order by despotism; harmony
+between them appeared to be a chimera. I undertook to prove, not only
+that this chimera of great minds might become a reality, but that the
+realization depended upon ourselves; for the system founded by the
+Charter alone contained, for us, the essential means of regular
+government and of effective opposition, which the sincere friends of
+power and liberty could desire. My work, entitled, 'On the Means of
+Government and Opposition in the Actual State of France,' was entirely
+dedicated to this object.
+
+In that treatise I entered into no general or theoretic exposition of
+policy, the idea of which I expressly repudiated. "Perhaps," I said, in
+my preface, "I may on some future occasion discuss more general
+questions of predominant interest in regard to the nature and principles
+of constitutional government, although their solution has nothing to do
+with existing politics, with the events and actors of the moment. I wish
+now to speak only of power as it is, and of the best method of governing
+our great and beautiful country." Entirely a novice and doctrinarian as
+I then was, I forgot that the same maxims and arts of government must be
+equally good everywhere, and that all nations and ages are, at the same
+moment, cast in a similar mould. I confined myself sedulously to my own
+time and country, endeavouring to show what effective means of
+government were included in the true principles and regular exercise of
+the institutions which France held from the Charter, and how they might
+be successfully put in practice for the legitimate advantage and
+strengthening of power. With respect to the means of opposition, I
+followed the same line of argument, convinced myself, and anxious to
+persuade the adversaries of the then dominant policy, that authority
+might be controlled without destroying it, and that the rights of
+liberty might be exercised without shaking the foundations of
+established order. It was my strong desire and prepossession to elevate
+the political arena above the revolutionary track, and to imbue the
+heart of the constitutional system with ideas of strong and legal
+conservatism.
+
+Thirty-six years have since rolled on. During this long interval I
+participated, for eighteen of those years, in the efforts of my
+generation for the establishment of a free government. For some time I
+sustained the weight of this labour. That government has been
+overthrown. Thus I have myself experienced the immense difficulty, and
+endured the painful failure, of this great enterprise. Nevertheless, and
+I say it without sceptical hesitation or affected modesty, I read over
+again today what I wrote in 1821, upon the means of government and
+opposition in the actual state of France, with almost unmingled
+satisfaction. I required much from power, but nothing, I believe, that
+was not both capable and necessary of accomplishment. And
+notwithstanding my young confidence, I remembered, even then, that other
+conditions were essential to success. "I have no intention," I wrote,
+"to impute everything to, and demand everything from, power itself. I
+shall not say to it, as has often been said, 'Be just, wise, firm, and
+fear nothing;' power is not free to exercise this inherent and
+individual excellence. It does not make society, it finds it; and if
+society is impotent to second power, if the spirit of anarchy prevails,
+if the causes of dissolution exist in its own bosom, power will operate
+in vain; it is not given to human wisdom to rescue a people who refuse
+to co-operate in their own safety."
+
+When I published these two attacks upon the attitude and tendencies of
+the Cabinet, conspiracies and political prosecutions burst forth from
+day to day, and entailed their tragical consequences. I have already
+said what I thought on the plots of that epoch, and why I considered
+them as ill based, as badly conducted, without legitimate motives or
+effectual means. But while I condemned them, I respected the sincere and
+courageous devotion of so many men, the greater part of whom were very
+young, and who, though mistaken, lavished the treasures of their minds
+and lives upon a cause which they believed to be just. Amongst the
+trials of our time, I scarcely recognize any more painful than that of
+these conflicting feelings, these perplexities between esteem and
+censure, condemnation and sympathy, which I have so often been compelled
+to bestow on the acts of so many of my contemporaries. I love harmony
+and light in the human soul as well as in human associations; and we
+live in an epoch of confusion and obscurity, moral as well as social.
+
+How many men have I known, who, gifted with noble qualities, would in
+other times have led just and simple lives, but who, in our days,
+confounded in the problems and shadows of their own thoughts, have
+become ambitious, turbulent, and fanatical, not knowing either how to
+attain their object or how to continue in repose!
+
+In 1820, although still young myself, I lamented this agitation of minds
+and destinies, almost as sad to contemplate as fatal to be engaged in;
+but while deploring it, I was divided between severe judgment and
+lenient emotion, and, without seeking to disarm power in its legitimate
+defence, I felt a deep anxiety to inspire it with generous and prudent
+equity towards such adversaries.
+
+A true sentiment does not readily believe itself impotent. The two works
+which I published in 1821 and 1822, entitled, the first, 'On
+Conspiracies and Political Justice,' and the second, 'On Capital
+Punishment for Political Offences,' were not, on my part, acts of
+opposition; I endeavoured to divest them of this character. To mark
+distinctly their meaning and object, it will suffice for me to repeat
+their respective epigraphs. On the title-page of the first I inscribed
+this passage from the prophet Isaiah: "Say ye not, _a confederacy_, to
+all them to whom this people shall say, _a confederacy_;" and on that of
+the second, the words of St. Paul: "O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory?" What I chiefly desired was to convince
+power itself that sound policy and true justice called for very rare
+examples of trial and execution in political cases; and that in
+exercising against all offenders the utmost severity of the laws, it
+created more perils than it subdued. Public opinion was in accordance
+with mine; sensible and independent men, taking no part in the passions
+of the parties engaged in this struggle, found, as I did, that there was
+excess in the action of the police with reference to these plots, excess
+in the number and severity of the prosecutions, excess in the
+application of legal penalties. I carefully endeavoured to restrain
+these complaints within their just limits, to avoid all injurious
+comparisons, all attempts at sudden reforms, and to concede to power its
+necessary weapons. While discussing these questions, which had sprung up
+in the bosom of the most violent storms, I sought to transfer them to an
+elevated and temperate region, convinced that by that course alone my
+ideas and words would acquire any permanent efficacy. They obtained the
+sanction of a much more potent ally than myself. The Court of Peers,
+which at that time had assumed the place assigned to it by the Charter,
+in judgment on political prosecutions, immediately began to exercise
+sound policy and true discrimination. It was a rare and imposing sight,
+to behold a great assembly, essentially political in origin and
+composition,--a faithful supporter of authority; and at the same time
+sedulously watchful, not only to elevate justice above the passions of
+the moment, and to administer it with perfect independence, but also to
+apply, in the appreciation and punishment of political offences, that
+intelligent equity which alone could satisfy the reason of the
+philosopher and the charity of the Christian. A part of the honour due
+to this grand exhibition belongs to the authorities the time, who not
+only made no attempt to interfere with the unshackled impartiality of
+the Court of Peers, but refrained even from objection or complaint.
+Next to the merit of being themselves, and through their own
+convictions, just and wise, it is a real act of wisdom on the part of
+the great ones of the earth, when they adopt without murmur or
+hesitation the good which has not originated with themselves.
+
+I have lived in an age of political plots and outrages, directed
+alternately against the authorities to whom I was in opposition and
+those I supported with ardour. I have seen conspiracies occasionally
+unpunished, and at other times visited by the utmost rigour of the law.
+I feel thoroughly convinced that in the existing state of feelings,
+minds, and manners, the punishment of death in such cases is an
+injurious weapon which heavily wounds the power that uses it for safety.
+It is not that this penalty is without denunciatory and preventive
+efficacy; it terrifies and holds back from conspiracies many who would
+otherwise be tempted to engage in them. But by the side of this salutary
+consequence, it engenders others which are most injurious. Drawing no
+line of distinction between the motives and dispositions which have
+incited men to the acts it punishes, it stifles in the same manner the
+reprobate and the dreamer, the criminal and the enthusiast, the wildly
+ambitious and the devotedly fanatical. By this gross indifference, it
+offends more than it satisfies moral feeling, irritates more than it
+restrains, moves indifferent spectators to pity, and appears to those
+who are interested an act of war falsely invested with the forms of a
+decree of justice. The intimidation which it conveys at first,
+diminishes from day to day; while the hatred and thirst of vengeance it
+inspires become hourly more intense and expansive; and at last the time
+arrives when the power which fancies itself saved is exposed to the
+attacks of enemies infinitely more numerous and formidable than those
+who have been previously disposed of.
+
+A day will also come, I confidently feel, when, for offences exclusively
+political, the penalties of banishment and transportation, carefully
+graduated and applied, will be substituted in justice as well as in fact
+for the punishment of death. Meanwhile I reckon, amongst the most
+agreeable reminiscences of my life, the fact of my having strenuously
+directed true justice and good policy to this subject, at a moment when
+both were seriously compromised by party passions and the dangers to
+which power was exposed.
+
+These four works, published successively within the space of two years,
+attracted a considerable share of public attention. The leading members
+of Opposition in the two Chambers thanked me as for a service rendered
+to the cause of France and free institutions. "You win battles for us
+without our help," said General Foy to me. M. Royer-Collard, in pointing
+out some objections to the first of these Essays ('On the Government of
+France since the Restoration'), added, "Your book is full of truths; we
+collect them with a shovel." I repeat without hesitation these
+testimonies of real approbation. When we seriously undertake to advocate
+political measures, either in speeches or publications, it becomes most
+essential to attain our object. Praise is doubly valuable when it
+conveys the certainty of success. This certainty once established, I
+care little for mere compliments, from which a certain degree of
+puerility and ridicule is inseparable; sympathy without affected words
+has alone a true and desirable charm. I had a right to set some value on
+that which the Opposition evinced towards me; for I had done nothing to
+gratify the passions or conciliate the prejudices and after-thoughts
+which fermented in the extreme ranks of the party.
+
+I had as frankly supported royalty, as I had opposed the Cabinet; and it
+was evident that I had no desire to consign either the House of Bourbon
+or the Charter to their respective enemies.
+
+Two opportunities soon presented themselves of explaining myself on this
+point in a more personal and precise manner. In 1821, a short time after
+the publication of my 'Essay on Conspiracies and Political Justice,' one
+of the leaders of the conspiring faction, a man of talent and honour,
+but deeply implicated in secret societies, that inheritance of
+tyrannical times which becomes the poison of freedom, came to see me,
+and expressed with much warmth his grateful acknowledgments. The boldest
+conspirators feel gratified, when danger threatens, by shielding
+themselves under the principles of justice and moderation professed by
+men who take no part in their plots. We conversed freely on all topics.
+As he was about to leave me, my visitor, grasping me by the arm,
+exclaimed, "Become one of ours!"--"Who do you call yours?"--"Enter with
+us into the _Charbonnerie_; it is the only association capable of
+overthrowing the Government by which we are humiliated and
+oppressed."--I replied, "You deceive yourself, as far as I am concerned;
+I do not feel humiliation or oppression either for myself or my
+country."--"What can you hope from the people now in power?"--"It is not
+a question of hope; I wish to preserve what we possess; we have all we
+require to establish a free government for ourselves. Actual power
+constantly calls for resistance. In my opinion it does so at this
+moment, but not to the extent of being subverted. It is very far from
+having done anything to give us either the right or the means of
+proceeding to that extremity. We have legal and public arms in abundance
+to produce reform by opposition. I neither desire your object nor your
+method of attaining it; you will bring much mischief on all, yourselves
+included, without success; and if you should succeed, matters would be
+still worse."
+
+He went away without anger, for he felt a friendship for me; but I had
+not in the slightest degree shaken his passion for plots and secret
+societies. It is a fever which admits of no cure, when the soul is once
+given up to it, and a yoke not to be thrown off when it has been long
+endured.
+
+A little later, in 1822, when the publications I have spoken of had
+produced their effect, I received one day a visit from M. Manuel. We had
+occasionally met at the houses of mutual friends, and lived on terms of
+good understanding without positive intimacy. He evidently came to
+propose closer acquaintanceship, with an openness in which perhaps the
+somewhat restricted character of his mind was as much displayed as the
+firmness of his temperament; he passed at once from compliments to
+confidence, and, after congratulating me on my opposition, opened to me
+the full bearing of his own. He neither believed in the Restoration nor
+the Charter, held the House of Bourbon to be incompatible with the
+France of the Revolution, and looked upon a change of dynasty as a
+necessary consequence of the total alteration in the social system. He
+introduced, in the course of our interview, the recent death of the
+Emperor Napoleon, the security which thence resulted to the peace of
+Europe, and the name of Napoleon II. as a possible and perhaps the best
+solution of the problems involved in our future. All this was expressed
+in guarded but sufficiently definite terms, equally without passion or
+circumlocution, and with a marked intention of ascertaining to what
+extent I should admit or reject the prospects on which he enlarged. I
+was unprepared, both for the visit and the conversation; but I stood on
+no reserve, not expecting to convert M. Manuel to my own views, and with
+no desire to conceal mine from him. "Far from thinking," I said in
+reply, "that a change of dynasty is necessary for France, I should look
+upon it as a great misfortune and a formidable peril. I consider the
+Revolution of 1789 to be satisfied as well as finished. In the Charter
+it possesses all the guarantees that its interests and legitimate
+objects require. I have no fear of a counter-revolution. We hold against
+it the power of right as well as of fact; and if people were ever mad
+enough to attempt it, we should always find sufficient strength to
+arrest their progress. What France requires at present is to expel the
+revolutionary spirit which still torments her, and to exercise the free
+system of which she is in full possession. The House of Bourbon is
+extremely well suited to this double exigence of the country. Its
+government is anti-revolutionary by nature, and liberal through
+necessity. I should much dread a power which, while maintaining order,
+would either in fact or appearance be sufficiently revolutionary to
+dispense with being liberal. I should be apprehensive that the country
+would too easily lend itself to such a rule. We require to be a little
+uneasy as regards our interests, that we may learn how to maintain our
+rights. The Restoration satisfies while it keeps us on our guard. It
+acts at the same time as a spur and a bridle. Both are good for us. I
+know not what would happen if we were without either." M. Manuel pressed
+me no longer; he had too much sense to waste time in useless words. We
+continued to discourse without further argument, and parted thinking
+well, I believe, of each other, but both thoroughly satisfied that we
+should never act in concert.
+
+While engaged in the publication of these different treatises, I was
+also preparing my course of lectures on Modern History, which I
+commenced on the 7th of December, 1820. Determined to make use of the
+two influential organs with which public instruction and the press
+supplied me, I used them nevertheless in a very different manner. In my
+lectures, I excluded all reference to the circumstances, system, or acts
+of the Government; I checked every inclination to attack or even to
+criticize, and banished all remembrance of the affairs or contests of
+the moment. I scrupulously restrained myself within the sphere of
+general ideas and by-gone facts. Intellectual independence is the
+natural privilege of science, which would be lost if converted into an
+instrument of political opposition. For the effective display of
+different liberties, it is necessary that each should be confined within
+its own domain; their strength and security depend on this prudent
+restraint.
+
+While imposing on myself this line of conduct, I did not evade the
+difficulty. I selected for the subject of my course the history of the
+old political institutions of Christian Europe, and of the origin of
+representative government, in the different forms in which it had been
+formerly attempted, with or without success. I touched very closely, in
+such a subject, on the flagrant embarrassments of that contemporaneous
+policy to which I was determined to make no allusion. But I also found
+an obvious opportunity of carrying out, through scientific paths alone,
+the double object I had in view. I was anxious to combat revolutionary
+theories, and to attach interest and respect to the past history of
+France. We had scarcely emerged from the most furious struggle against
+that old French society, our secular cradle; our hearts, if not still
+overflowing with anger, were indifferent towards it, and our minds were
+confusedly imbued with the ideas, true or false, under which it had
+fallen. The time had come for clearing out that arena covered with
+ruins, and for substituting, in thought as in fact, equity for
+hostility, and the principles of liberty for the arms of the Revolution.
+An edifice is not built with machines of war; neither can a free system
+be founded on ignorant prejudices and inveterate antipathies. I
+encountered, at every step throughout my course, the great problems of
+social organization, under the name of which parties and classes
+exchanged such heavy blows,--the sovereignty of the people and the
+right divine of kings, monarchy and republicanism, aristocracy and
+democracy, the unity or division of power, the various systems of
+election, constitution, and action of the assemblies called to
+co-operate in government. I entered upon all these questions with a firm
+determination to sift thoroughly the ideas of our own time, and to
+separate revolutionary excitement and fantasies from the advances of
+justice and liberty, reconcilable with the eternal laws of social order.
+By the side of this philosophic undertaking, I pursued another,
+exclusively historical; I endeavoured to demonstrate the intermitting
+but always recurring efforts of French society to emerge from the
+violent chaos in which it had been originally formed, sometimes produced
+by the conflict, and at others by the accordance of its different
+elements--royalty, nobility, clergy, citizens, and people,--throughout
+the different phases of that harsh destiny, and the glorious although
+incomplete development of French civilization, such as the Revolution
+had compiled it after so many combats and vicissitudes. I particularly
+wished to associate old France with the remembrance and intelligence of
+new generations; for there was as little sense as justice in decrying or
+despising our fathers, at the very moment when, equally misled in our
+time, we were taking an immense step in the same path which they had
+followed for so many ages.
+
+I expounded these ideas before an audience little disposed to adopt or
+even to take any interest in them. The public who at that time attended
+my lectures were much less numerous and varied than they became some
+years later. They consisted chiefly of young men, pupils of the
+different scientific schools, and of a few curious amateurs of great
+historical disquisitions. The one class were not prepared for the
+questions I proposed, and wanted the preparatory knowledge which would
+have rendered them acceptable. With many of the rest, preconceived ideas
+of the eighteenth century and the Revolution, in matters of historical
+and political philosophy, had already acquired that strength, derived
+from inveterate habit, which rejects discussion, and listens coldly and
+distrustfully to all that differs from their own opinions. Others again,
+and amongst these were the most active and accessible dispositions, were
+more or less engaged in the secret societies, hostile intrigues and
+plots. With these, my opposition was considered extremely supine. I had
+thus many obstacles to surmount, and many conversions to effect, before
+I could bring over to my own views the small circle that listened to my
+arguments.
+
+But there is always, in a French audience, whatever may be their
+prejudices, an intellectual elasticity, a relish for efforts of the mind
+and new ideas boldly set forward, and a certain liberal equity, which
+disposes them to sympathize, even though they may hesitate to admit
+conviction. I was at the same time liberal and anti-revolutionary,
+devoted to the fundamental principles of the new French social system,
+and animated by an affectionate respect for our ancient reminiscences. I
+was opposed to the ideas which constituted the political faith of the
+greater portion of my auditors. I propounded others which appeared
+suspicious to them, even while they seemed just; they considered me as
+made up of obscurities, contradictions, and prospective views, which
+astonished and made them hesitate to follow me. At the same time they
+felt that I was serious and sincere; they became gradually convinced
+that my historic impartiality was not indifference, nor my political
+creed a leaning towards the old system, nor my opposition to every kind
+of subversive plot a truckling complaisance for power. I gained ground
+in the estimation of my listeners: some amongst the most distinguished
+came decidedly over to my views; others began to entertain doubts on the
+soundness of their theories and the utility of their conspiring
+practices; nearly all agreed with my just appreciation of the past, and
+my recommendation of patient and legal opposition to the mistakes of the
+present. The revolutionary spirit in this young and ardent section of
+the public was visibly on the decline, not from scepticism and apathy,
+but because other ideas and sentiments occupied its place in their
+hearts, and drove it out to make room for their own admission.
+
+The Cabinet of 1822 thought differently. It looked upon my lectures as
+dangerous; and on the 12th of October in that year, the Abbe
+Frayssinous, who a few months before had been appointed by M. de Villele
+Head Master of the University, commanded me to suspend them. I made no
+complaint at the time, and I am not now astonished at the measure. My
+opposition to the Ministry was unconcealed, and although not in the
+slightest degree mixed up with my course of public instruction, many
+persons were unable to separate as distinctly as I did, in their
+impressions, my lectures on the history of past ages from my writings
+against the policy of the day. I am equally convinced that the
+Government, by sanctioning this proceeding, deceived itself to its own
+detriment. In the struggle which it maintained with the spirit of
+revolution, the ideas I propagated in my teaching were more salutary
+than the opposition I carried on through the press was injurious; they
+added more strength to the monarchy, than my criticisms on incidental
+questions and situations could abstract from the Cabinet. But my free
+language disturbed the blind partisans of absolute power in the Church
+and State, and the Abbe Frayssinous, short-witted and weak though
+honest, obeyed with inquietude rather than reluctance the influences
+whose extreme violence he dreaded without condemning their exercise.
+
+In the division of the monarchical parties, that which I had opposed
+plunged more and more into exclusive and extreme measures. My lectures
+being interdicted, all immediate political influence became impossible
+to me. To struggle, beyond the circle of the Chambers, against the
+existing system, it was necessary either to conspire, or to descend to a
+blind, perverse, and futile opposition. Neither of these courses were
+agreeable; I therefore completely renounced all party contentions, even
+philosophical and abstracted, to seek elsewhere the means of still
+mentally serving my cause with reference to the future.
+
+There is nothing more difficult and at the same time more important in
+public life, than to know how at certain moments to resign ourselves to
+inaction without renouncing final success, and to wait patiently without
+yielding to despair.
+
+It was at this epoch that I applied myself seriously to the study of
+England, her institutions, and the long contests on which they were
+founded. Enthusiastically devoted to the political future of my own
+country, I wished to learn accurately through what realities and
+mistakes, by what persevering efforts and prudent acts, a great nation
+had succeeded in establishing and preserving a free government. When we
+compare attentively the history and social development of France and
+England, we find it difficult to decide by which we ought to be most
+impressed,--the differences or the resemblances. Never have two
+countries, with origin and position so totally distinct, been more
+deeply associated in their respective destinies, or exercised upon each
+other, by the alternate relations of peace and war, such continued
+influence. A province of France conquered England; England for a long
+time held possession of several provinces of France; and on the
+conclusion of this national strife, already the institutions and
+political wisdom of the English were, with the most political spirits of
+the French, with Louis XI. and Philip de Comines, for example, subjects
+of admiration. In the bosom of Christianity the two nations have served
+under different religious standards; but this very distinction has
+become between them a new cause of contact and intermixture. In England
+the French Protestants, and in France the persecuted English Catholics,
+have sought and found an asylum. And when kings have been proscribed in
+their turn, in France the monarch of England, and in England the
+sovereign of France, was received and protected. From these respective
+havens of safety, Charles II., in the seventeenth century, and Louis
+XVIII. in the nineteenth, departed to resume their dominions. The two
+nations, or, to speak more correctly, the high classes of the two
+nations, have mutually adopted ideas, manners, and fashions from each
+other. In the seventeenth century, the court of Louis XIV. gave the tone
+to the English aristocracy. In the eighteenth, Paris went to London in
+search of models. And when we ascend above these historical incidents to
+consider the great phases of civilization in the two countries, we find
+that, after considerable intervals in the course of ages, they have
+followed nearly the same career; and that similar attempts and
+alternations of order and revolution, of absolute power and liberty,
+have occurred in both, with singular coincidences and equally remarkable
+distinctions.
+
+It is, therefore, on a very superficial and erroneous survey that some
+persons look upon French and English society as so essentially
+different, that the one could not draw political examples from the other
+except by factitious and barren imitations. Nothing is more completely
+falsified by true history, and more opposed to the natural bias of the
+two countries. Their very rivalries have never broken the ties, apparent
+or concealed, that exist between them; and, whether they know or are
+ignorant of it, whether they acknowledge or deny the fact, they cannot
+avoid being powerfully acted upon, by each other; their ideas, their
+manners, and their institutions intermingle and modify mutually, as if
+by an amicable necessity.
+
+Let me at the same time admit, without hesitation, that we have
+sometimes borrowed from England too completely and precipitately. We
+have not sufficiently calculated the true character and social condition
+of French society. France has increased and prospered under the
+influence of royalty seconding the ascending movement of the middle
+classes; England, by the action of the landed aristocracy, taking under
+its charge the liberties of the people. These distinctions are too
+marked to disappear, even under the controlling uniformity of modern
+civilization. We have too thoroughly forgotten them. It is the rock and
+impediment in the way of innovations accomplished under the name of
+general ideas and great examples, that they do not assume their
+legitimate part in real and national facts. But how could we have
+escaped this rock? In the course of her long existence, ancient France
+has made, at several regular intervals, great efforts to obtain free
+government. The most powerful influences have either resisted, or failed
+in the attempt; her best institutions have not co-operated with the
+necessary changes, or have remained politically ineffective;
+nevertheless, by a just sentiment of her honour as of her interest,
+France has never ceased to aspire to a true and permanent system of
+political guarantees and liberties. She demanded and desired this system
+in 1789. Through what channels was it sought? From what institution was
+it expected? So often deceived in her hopes and attempts within, she
+looked beyond home for lessons and models,--a great additional obstacle
+to a work already so difficult, but an inevitable one imposed by
+necessity.
+
+In 1823, I was far from estimating the obstacles which beset us in our
+labour of constitutional organization as correctly as I do now. I was
+impressed with the idea that our predecessors of 1789 had held old
+France, her social traditions and her habits, in too much contempt; and
+that to bring back harmony with liberty into our country, we ought to
+lay more stress on our glorious past. At the same moment, therefore,
+when I placed before the eyes of the French public the history and
+original monuments of the institutions and revolutions of England, I
+entered with ardour into the study and exposition of the early state of
+French society, its origin, laws, and different gradations of
+development. I was equally desirous to give to my readers information on
+a great foreign history, and to revive amongst them a taste and
+inclination for the study of our own.
+
+My labours were certainly in accord with the instincts and requirements
+of the time; for they were received and seconded by the general movement
+which then manifested itself in the public mind, and with reference to
+the Government so much a subject of dispute. It is the happy tendency of
+the French temperament to change the direction of its course without
+slackening speed. It is singularly flexible, elastic, and prolific. An
+obstacle impedes it, it opens another path; if burdened by fetters, it
+still walks on while bearing them; if restrained on a given point, it
+leaves it, and rebounds elsewhere. The Government of the right-hand
+party restrained political life and action within a narrow circle, and
+rendered them more difficult; the generation which was then beginning to
+stir in the world, sought, not entirely independent of, but side by side
+with politics, the employment of its strength and the gratification of
+its desires: literature, philosophy, history, policy, and criticism
+assumed a new and powerful flight. While a natural and unfortunate
+reaction brought back into the field of combat the eighteenth century
+with its old weapons, the nineteenth displayed itself with its original
+ideas, tendencies, and features.
+
+I do not quote particular names; those which deserve to be remembered
+require no repetition; it is the general character of the intellectual
+movement of the period that I wish to bring into light. This movement
+was neither exclusively nor directly applied to politics, yet it was
+from politics that it emanated; it was both literary and philosophic:
+the human mind, disengaging itself from the interests and disputes of
+the day, pressed forward through every path that presented itself, in
+the search and enjoyment of the true and beautiful; but the first
+impulse came from political liberty, and the hope of contributing to the
+establishment of a free system was plainly perceptible in the most
+abstract labours as in the most poetic flights. My friends and I, while
+originating in 1827 one of the leading periodicals of the age, the
+'Revue Francaise,' selected for its motto this verse of Ovid,--
+
+   "Et quod nunc ratio est, impetus ante fuit:"--
+
+"What is now reason, was at first an impulse of passion."
+
+We thus truly conveyed the prevailing spirit around us, and our own
+personal conviction. The 'Revue Francaise' was devoted to philosophy,
+history, literary criticism, and moral and scientific lucubrations; at
+the same time it was impregnated with the grand political inspirations
+which for forty years had agitated France. We declared ourselves
+distinct from our precursors of 1789, strangers to their passions, and
+not enslaved to their ideas, but inheritors and continuators of their
+work. We undertook to bring back the new French society to purer
+principles, to more elevated and equitable sentiments, and to firmer
+foundations; to that great subject of interest, to the accomplishment of
+its legitimate hopes and the assurance of its liberties, our efforts and
+desires were incessantly directed.
+
+Another miscellany, commenced in 1824, and more popular than the
+'Revue'--the 'Globe'--bore the same features in a polemic of greater
+animation and variety. Some young doctrinarians, associated with other
+writers of the same class, and animated by the same spirit, although
+with primary ideas and ultimate tendencies of a very different
+character, were the ordinary editors. Their distinguishing symbols were,
+in philosophy, spiritualism; in history, intelligent inquiry, impartial
+and even sympathetic as regarded ancient times and the progressive
+conditions of human society; in literature, a taste for novelty,
+variety, liberty, and truth, even under the strangest forms and the most
+incongruous associations. They defended, or rather advanced their banner
+with the ardour and pride of youth; enjoying, in their attempts at
+philosophical, historical, poetical, and critical reform, the
+satisfaction, at once personal and disinterested, which forms the
+sweetest reward of intellectual activity; and promising themselves, as
+always happens, a too extensive and too easy success. Two faults were
+mingled with these generous aspirations: the ideas developed in the
+'Globe' were deficient in a fixed basis and a defined limit; their form
+was more decided than their foundation; they exhibited minds animated by
+a noble impulse, but not directed to any single or certain end; and open
+to an easy, unrestricted course, which excited apprehension that they
+might themselves drift towards the rocks they cautioned others to avoid.
+At the same time the spirit of partisanship, inclining men to be wrapped
+up and isolated in the narrow circle of their immediate associates,
+without remembering the general public for whom they labour and to whom
+they speak, exercised too much influence in the pages of the 'Globe.'
+Turgot intended to write several articles for the 'Encyclopaedia.'
+D'Alembert came one day to ask him for them. Turgot declined: "You
+incessantly say _we_," he replied; "the public will soon say _you_; I do
+not wish to be so enrolled and classed." But these faults of the
+'Globe,' apparent today, were concealed, thirty years ago, by the merit
+of its opposition; for political opposition was at the bottom of this
+miscellany, and obtained favour for it with many in the party opposed to
+the Restoration, to whom its philosophical and literary opinions were
+far from acceptable. In February, 1830, under the ministry of
+M. de Polignac, the 'Globe,' yielding to its inclination, became
+decidedly a great political journal; and from his retirement at
+Carquerannes, near Hyeres, where he had gone to reconcile his labour
+with his health, M. Augustine Thierry wrote to me as follows:--"What
+think you of the 'Globe' since it has changed its character? I know not
+why I am vexed to find in it all those trifling points of news and daily
+discussion. Formerly we concentrated our thoughts to read it, but now
+that is no longer possible; the attention is distracted and divided.
+There are still the same spirit and the same articles, but it is
+disagreeable to encounter by their side these commonplace and every-day
+matters." M. Augustine Thierry was right. The 'Globe' sank materially by
+becoming a political journal, like so many others; but it had not been
+the less essentially political from its commencement, in tendency and
+inspiration. Such was the general spirit of the time; and, far from
+avoiding this, the 'Globe' was deeply impregnated with it.
+
+Even under the controlling influence of the right-hand party, the
+Restoration made no attempt to stifle this actual but indirect
+opposition, which they felt to be troublesome though not openly hostile:
+justice requires that we should remember this to the credit of that
+epoch. In the midst of the constant alarms excited by political liberty
+and the efforts of power to restrain it, intellectual freedom maintained
+itself and commanded respect. This freedom does not supply all the rest;
+but it prepares them, and, while their accomplishment is suspended,
+preserves the honour of nations who have not yet learned to conquer or
+preserve their rights.
+
+While this movement of the mind developed itself and gained strength
+from day to day, the Government of M. de Villele pursued its course,
+more and more perplexed by the pretensions and quarrels of the party
+which its leader vainly endeavoured to restrain. One of my friends,
+endowed with penetrating and impartial judgment, thus wrote to me in
+December, 1826, from the interior of his department:--"Men who are at
+the head of a faction are really destined to tremble before their own
+shadow. I cannot recollect any time when this nullity of the ruling
+party was more complete. They do not propound a single doctrine or
+conviction, or a hope for the future. Even declamation itself seems to
+be exhausted and futile. Surely M. de Villele must be allowed the merit
+of being well acquainted with their helplessness; his success springs
+from that cause; but this I look upon as an instinctive knowledge: he
+represents without correctly estimating these people. Otherwise he would
+discover that he might refuse them everything except places and
+appointments; provided also that he lends himself to no connection with
+opposite opinions." When the party, proceeding from exigence to
+exigence, and the Cabinet from weakness to weakness, found themselves
+unable to act longer together,--when M. de Villele, in November 1827,
+appealed to an election for defence against his rivals in the Chamber
+and at Court,--we resolutely encountered our share in the contest. Every
+opposition combined. Under the motto, _Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera_,
+"Help thyself, and Heaven will help thee," a public association was
+formed, in which was comprised men of very different general ideas and
+definitive intentions, who acted in concert with the sole design of
+bringing about, by legal measures, a change of the majority in the
+Chamber of Deputies, and the fall of the Cabinet. I as readily joined
+them, with my friends, as in 1815 I had repaired alone to Ghent to
+convey to the King, Louis XVIII., the wishes of the constitutional
+Royalists. Long revolutions engender two opposite vices, rashness and
+pusillanimity; men learn from them either to plunge blindly into mad
+enterprises, or to abstain timidly from the most legitimate and
+necessary actions. We had openly opposed the policy of the Cabinet; it
+now challenged us to the electoral field to decide the quarrel: we
+entered it with the same frankness, resolved to look for nothing beyond
+fair elections, and to accept the difficulties and chances, at first of
+the combat, and afterwards of the success, if success should attend our
+efforts.
+
+In the 'Biography' which Beranger has written of himself, I find this
+paragraph:--"At all times I have relied too much on the people, to
+approve of secret associations, in reality permanent conspiracies, which
+uselessly compromise many persons, create a host of inferior rival
+ambitions, and render questions of principle subordinate to private
+passions. They rapidly produce suspicion, an infallible cause of
+defection and even of treachery, and end, when the labouring classes are
+called in to co-operate, by corrupting instead of enlightening them....
+The society, _Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera_, which acted openly, has alone
+rendered true service to our cause." The cause of M. Beranger and ours
+were totally distinct. Which of the two would profit most by the
+electoral services derived from the society of _Aide-toi, le Ciel
+t'aidera_? The question was to be speedily solved by the King, Charles
+X.
+
+The results of the election of 1827 were enormous; they greatly exceeded
+the fears of the Cabinet and the hopes of the Opposition. I was still in
+the country when these events became known. One of my friends wrote to
+me from Paris, "The consternation of the Ministers, the nervous attack
+of M. de Villele, who sent for his physician at three o'clock in the
+morning, the agony of M. de Corbieres,[18] the retreat of M. de Polignac
+to the country, from whence he has no intention to return, although he
+may be vehemently requested to do so, the terror at the palace, the ever
+brilliant shooting-parties of the King, the elections so completely
+unexpected, surprising, and astounding,--here are more than subjects
+enough to call for prophecies, and to give rise to false predictions on
+every consequence that may be anticipated." The Duke de Broglie, absent,
+like myself, from Paris, looked towards the future with more confident
+moderation. "It will be difficult," he wrote to me, "for the general
+sound sense which has presided at these elections not to react, to a
+certain extent, on the parties elected. The Ministry which will be
+formed during the first conflict, will be poor enough; but we must
+support it, and endeavour to suppress all alarm. It has already reached
+me here, that the elections have produced great apprehensions; if I am
+not deceived, this terror is nothing more than a danger of the moment.
+If, after the fall of the present Ministry, we are able to get through
+the year quietly, we shall have won the victory."
+
+When the Ministry of M. de Villele fell, and the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac was installed, a new attempt at a Government of the
+Centre commenced, but with much less force, and inferior chances of
+success, than that which in 1816 and 1821, under the combined and
+separate directions of the Duke de Richelieu and M. Decazes, had
+defended France and the crown against the supremacy of the right and
+left-hand parties. The party of the centre, formed at that time under a
+pressing danger of the country, had drawn much strength from that very
+circumstance, and either from the right or the left had encountered
+nothing but animated opposition, but still raw and badly organized, and
+such as in public estimation was incapable of government. In 1828, on
+the contrary, the right hand-party, only just ejected from power, after
+having held it for six years, believed that they were as near recovering
+as they were capable of exercising office, and attacked with exuberant
+hope the suddenly created successors who had stepped into their places.
+In other quarters, the left and the left centre, brought into contact
+and almost confounded by six years of common opposition, reciprocated
+mutual understanding in their relations with a Cabinet which they were
+called on to support, although not emanating from their ranks. As it
+happens in similar cases, the violent and extravagant members of the
+party, paralyzed or committed the more moderate and rational to a much
+greater extent than the latter were able to restrain and guide their
+troublesome associates. Thus assailed in the Chambers by ambitious and
+influential rivals, the rising power found there only lukewarm or
+restrained allies. While from 1816 to 1821 the King, Louis XVIII., gave
+his sincere and active co-operation to the Government of the Centre, in
+1828 the King, Charles X., looked upon the Cabinet which replaced
+immediately round him the leaders of the right-hand party as an
+unpleasant trial he was doomed to undergo; but to which he submitted
+with uneasy reluctance, not believing in its success, and fully
+determined to endure it no longer than strict necessity compelled.
+
+In this weak position, two individuals, M. de Martignac, as actual head
+of the Cabinet, without being president, and M. Royer-Collard, as
+president of the Chamber of Deputies, alone contributed a small degree
+of strength and reputation to the new Ministry; but they were far from
+being equal to its difficulties or dangers.
+
+M. de Martignac has left on the minds of all who were acquainted with
+him, either in public or private life, whether friends or adversaries, a
+strong impression of esteem and goodwill. His disposition was easy,
+amiable, and generous; his mind just, quick, and refined, at once calm
+and liberal; he was endowed with natural, persuasive, clear, and
+graceful eloquence; he pleased even those from whom he differed. I have
+heard M. Dupont de l'Eure whisper gently from his place, while listening
+to him, "Be silent, Siren!" In ordinary times, and under a well-settled
+constitutional system, he would have been an effective and popular
+minister; but either in word or act he had more seduction than
+authority, more charm than power. Faithful to his cause and his friends,
+he was unable to carry either into government or political debate that
+simple, fervent, and persevering energy, that insatiable desire and
+determination to succeed, which rises before obstacles and under
+defeats, and often controls wills without absolutely converting
+opinions. On his own account, more honest and epicurean than ambitious,
+he held more to duty and pleasure than to power. Thus, although well
+received by the King and the Chambers, he neither exercised at the
+Tuileries nor at the Palais Bourbon the authority, nor even the
+influence, which his sound mind and extraordinary talent ought to have
+given to him.
+
+M. Royer-Collard, on the contrary, had reached and occupied the chair of
+the Chamber of Deputies through the importance derived from twelve years
+of parliamentary contest, recently confirmed by seven simultaneous
+elections, and by the distinguished mark of esteem which the Chamber and
+the King had conferred on him. But this importance, real in moral
+consideration, was politically of little weight. Since the failure of
+the system of government he had supported, and his own dismissal from
+the State Council by M. de Serre in 1820, M. Royer-Collard had, I will
+not say fallen, but entered into a state of profound despondency. Some
+sentences in letters written to me from his estate at Chateau-vieux,
+where he had passed the summer, will more readily explain the condition
+of his mind at that time. I select the shortest:--
+
+"_Aug. 1, 1823._--There is no trace of man here, and I am ignorant of
+what can be found in the papers; but I do not believe there is anything
+more to hear. At all events, I am careless on the subject. I have no
+longer any curiosity, and I well know the reason. I have lost my cause,
+and I much fear you will lose yours also; for you assuredly will as soon
+as it becomes a bad one. In these sad reflections the heart closes
+itself up, but without resignation."
+
+"_Aug. 27, 1826._--There cannot be a more perfect or innocent solitude
+than that in which I have lived until this last week, which has brought
+M. de Talleyrand to Valencay. It is only through your letter and his
+conversation, that I am again connected with the world. I have never
+before so thoroughly enjoyed this kind of life,--some hours devoted to
+study, the meditations they occasion, a family walk, and the care of a
+small, domestic administration. Nevertheless, in the midst of this
+profound tranquillity, on observing what passes, and what we have to
+expect, the fatigue of a long life entirely wasted in wishes
+unaccomplished and hopes deceived, makes itself sensibly felt. I hope I
+shall not give way under it; in the place of illusions, there are still
+duties which assert their claims."
+
+"_Oct. 22, 1826._--After having thoroughly enjoyed this year of the
+country and of solitude, I shall return with pleasure to the society of
+living minds. At this moment that society is extremely calm; but without
+firing cannon, it gains ground, and insensibly establishes its power. I
+have formed no idea of the coming session. I believe it to be merely
+through habit and remembrance, that any attention is yet paid to the
+Chamber of Deputies. It belongs to another world; our time is still
+distant, fortune has thrown you into the only course of life which has
+now either dignity or utility. It has done well for you and for us."
+
+M. Royer-Collard was too ambitious and too speedily cast down. Human
+affairs do not permit so many expectations, and supply greater
+resources. We should expect less, and not so soon give way to despair.
+The elections of 1827, the advent of the Martignac Ministry, and his
+own situation in the chair of the Chamber of Deputies, drew
+M. Royer-Collard a little from his despondency, but without much
+restoring his confidence. Satisfied with his personal position, he
+supported and seconded the Cabinet in the Chamber, but without warmly
+adopting its policy; preserving carefully the attitude of a gracious
+ally who wishes to avoid responsibility. In his intercourse with the
+King he held the same reserve, speaking the truth, and offering sage
+advice, but without in the slightest degree conveying the idea that he
+was ready to put in practice the energetic and consistent policy he
+recommended. Charles X. listened to him with courtesy and surprise,
+confiding in his loyalty, but scarcely understanding his words, and
+regarding him as an honest man tainted with inapplicable or even
+dangerous ideas. Sincerely devoted to the King, and friendly to the
+Cabinet, M. Royer-Collard served them advantageously in their daily
+affairs and perils, but held himself always apart from their destiny as
+from their acts, and without bringing to them, through his co-operation,
+the strength which ought to have attached to the superiority of his mind
+and the influence of his name.
+
+I did not at that time return to public office. The Cabinet made no such
+proposition to me, and I refrained from suggesting it; on either side we
+were right. M. de Martignac came from the ranks of M. de Villele's
+party, and was obliged to keep measures with them; it would not have
+been consistent in him to hold intimate relations with their
+adversaries. For my own part, even though I should consider it
+necessary, I am badly adapted to serve a floating system of policy,
+which resorts to uncertain measures and expedients instead of acting on
+fixed and declared ideas. At a distance, I was both able and willing to
+support the new Ministry. In a close position I should have compromised
+them. I had, however, my share in the triumph. Without calling me back
+to exercise the functions of State-Councillor, the title was restored to
+me; and the Minister of Public Instruction, M. de Vatimesnil, authorized
+the reopening of my course.
+
+I retain a deep impression of the Sorbonne which I then entered, and of
+the lectures I delivered there during two years. This was an important
+epoch in my life, and perhaps I may be permitted to add, a moment of
+influence on my country. With more care even than in 1821, I kept my
+lectures free of politics. Not only did I abstain from opposition to the
+Martignac Ministry, but I scrupulously avoided embarrassing them in the
+slightest degree. In other respects, I proposed an object to myself
+sufficiently important, as I thought, to occupy my entire attention. I
+was anxious to study and describe, in their parallel development and
+reciprocal action, the various elements of our French society, the Roman
+world, the Barbarians, the Christian Church, the Feudal System, the
+Papacy, Chivalry, Monarchy, the Commonalty, the Third Estate, and
+Reform. I desired not only to satisfy the scientific or philosophic
+curiosity of the public, but to accomplish a double end, real and
+practical. I proposed to demonstrate that the efforts of our time to
+establish a system of equal and legal justice in society, and also of
+political guarantees and liberties in the State, were neither new nor
+extraordinary,--that in the course of her history, more or less
+obscurely or unfortunately, France had at several intervals embraced
+this design, and that the generation of 1789, grasping it with
+enthusiasm, had committed both good and evil,--good, in resuming the
+glorious attempt of their ancestors,--evil in attributing to themselves
+the invention and the honour, and in believing that they were called
+upon to create, through their own ideas and wishes, a world entirely
+new. Thus, while promoting the interests of existing society, I was
+desirous of bringing back amongst us a sentiment of justice and sympathy
+for our early recollections and ancient customs; for that old French
+social system which had lived actively and gloriously for fifteen
+centuries, to accumulate the inheritance of civilization which we have
+gathered. It is a lamentable mistake, and a great indication of
+weakness, in a nation, to forget and despise the past. It may in a
+revolutionary crisis rise up against old and defective institutions; but
+when this work of destruction is accomplished, if it still continues to
+treat its history with contempt, if it persuades itself that it has
+completely broken with the secular elements of its civilization, it is
+not a new state of society which it can then form, it is the disorder of
+revolution that it perpetuates. When the generation who possess their
+country for a moment, indulge in the absurd arrogance of believing that
+it belongs to them, and them alone; and that the past, in face of the
+present, is death opposed to life; when they reject thus the sovereignty
+of tradition and the ties which mutually connect successive races, they
+deny the distinction and pre-eminent characteristic of human nature, its
+honour and elevated destiny; and the people who resign themselves to
+this flagrant error, also fall speedily into anarchy and decline; for
+God does not permit that nature and the laws of His works should be
+forgotten and outraged to such an extent with impunity.
+
+During my course of lectures from 1828 to 1830, it was my prevailing
+idea to contend against this injurious tendency of the public mind, to
+bring it back to an intelligent and impartial appreciation of our old
+social system, to inspire an affectionate respect for the early history
+of France; and thus to contribute, as far as I could, to establish
+between the different elements of our ancient and modern society,
+whether monarchical, aristocratic, or popular, that mutual esteem and
+harmony which an attack of revolutionary fever may suspend, but which
+soon becomes once more indispensable to the liberty as well as to the
+prosperity of the citizens, to the strength and tranquillity of the
+State.
+
+I had some reason to think that I succeeded to a great extent in my
+design. My audience, numerous and diversified, youths and experienced
+men, natives and foreigners, appeared to take a lively interest in the
+ideas I expounded. These notions assimilated with the general
+impressions of their minds, without demanding complete subservience, so
+as to combine the charms of sympathy and novelty. My listeners found
+themselves, not thrown back into retrograding systems, but urged forward
+in the path of just and liberal reflection. By the side of my historical
+lessons, but without concert, and in spite of wide differences of
+opinion between us, literary and philosophic instruction received from
+my two friends, MM. Villemain and Cousin, a corresponding character and
+impulse. Opposite breezes produced the same movement; we bestowed no
+thought on the events and questions of the day, and we felt no desire to
+bring them to the attention of the public by whom we were surrounded. We
+were openly and freely devoted to great general interests, great
+recollections, and great hopes for man and human associations; caring
+only to propagate our ideas, not indifferent as to their possible
+results, but not impatient to attain them; gratified by the intellectual
+advance in the midst of which we lived, and confident in the ultimate
+ascendency of the truth which we flattered ourselves we should possess
+and in the liberty we hoped to enjoy.
+
+It would certainly have been profitable for us, and as I also believe
+for the country, if this intention could have been prolonged, and if our
+minds could have fortified themselves in their calm meditations before
+being once more engaged in the passions and trials of active life. But,
+as it happens almost invariably, the errors of men stepped in to
+interrupt the progress of ideas by precipitating the course of events.
+The Martignac Ministry adopted a moderate and constitutional policy. Two
+bills, honestly intended and ably discussed, had given effectual
+guarantees, the one, to the independence of elections, and the other, to
+the liberty of the press. A third, introduced at the opening of the
+session of 1829, secured to the elective principle a share in the
+administration of the departments and townships, and imposed on the
+central Government new rules and limitations for local affairs. These
+concessions might be considered too extensive or too narrow; but in
+either case they were real, and the advocates of public liberty could do
+nothing better than accept and establish them. But in the Liberal party
+who had hitherto supported the Cabinet, two feelings, little politic in
+their character, the spirit of impatience and the love of system, the
+desire for popularity and the severity of reason, were indisposed to be
+satisfied with those slow and imperfect conquests. The right-hand party,
+by refusing to vote, left the Ministry in contest with the wants of
+their allies. Despite the efforts of M. de Martignac, an amendment, more
+formidable in appearance than in reality, attacked in some measure the
+plan of the bill upon departmental administration. With the King, and
+also with the Chambers, the Ministry had reached the term of its credit;
+unable to obtain from the King what would give confidence to the
+Chambers, or from the Chambers what would satisfy the King, it
+voluntarily declared its impotence by hastily withdrawing the two bills,
+and still remained standing, although struck by a mortal wound.
+
+How could it be replaced? The question remained in suspense for three
+months. Three men alone, M. Royer-Collard, M. de Villele, and
+M. de Chateaubriand seemed capable of forming a new Cabinet that might
+last, although compounded of very different shades. The two first were
+entirely out of the question. Neither the King nor the Chambers
+contemplated the idea of making a Prime Minister of M. Royer-Collard. He
+perhaps had thought of it himself, more than once, for nothing was too
+bold to cross his mind in his solitary reveries; but these were merely
+inward lucubrations, not actually ambitious designs; if power had been
+offered to him he would assuredly have refused it; he had too little
+confidence in the future, and too much personal pride, to encounter
+such a risk of failure.
+
+M. de Villele, still suffering from the accusations first whispered
+against him in 1828, and which had remained in abeyance in the Chamber
+of Deputies, had formally refused to attend the session of 1829, and
+held himself in retirement at his estate near Toulouse; it was evident
+that he could not return to power, and act with the Chamber that had
+thrown him out. Neither the King nor himself would have consented, as I
+think, to encounter at that time the hazard of a new dissolution.
+
+M. de Chateaubriand was at Rome. On the formation of the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac he had accepted that embassy, and from thence, with a
+mixture of ambition and contempt he watched the uncertain policy and
+wavering position of the Ministers at Paris. When he learned that they
+were beaten, and would in all probability be compelled to retire, he
+immediately commenced an active agitation. "You estimate correctly my
+surprise," he wrote to Madame Recamier, "at the news of the _withdrawal_
+of the two bills. Wounded self-love makes men children, and gives them
+very bad advice. What will be the end of all this? Will the Ministers
+endeavour to hold place? Will they retire partially or all together? Who
+will succeed them? How is a Cabinet to be composed? I assure you that,
+were it not for the pain of losing your society, I should rejoice at
+being here, out of the way, and at not being mixed up in all these
+enmities and follies, for I find that all are equally in the wrong....
+Attend well to this; here is something more explicit: if by chance the
+portfolio of Foreign Affairs should be offered to me (and I have no
+reason to expect it), I should not refuse. I should come to Paris, I
+should speak to the King, I should arrange a Ministry without being
+included in it; for myself, I should propose, to attach me to my own
+work, a suitable position. I think, as you know, that it belongs to my
+ministerial reputation, as well as to revenge me for the injury I
+sustained from Villele, that the portfolio of Foreign Affairs should be
+given to me for the moment. This is the only honourable mode in which I
+could rejoin the Administration. But that done, I should immediately
+retire, to the great satisfaction of all new aspirants, and pass the
+remainder of my life near you in perfect repose."[19]
+
+M. de Chateaubriand was not called to enjoy this haughty vengeance, or
+to exhibit such a demonstration of generosity. While he still dreamed of
+it in the Pyrenees, whither he had repaired to rest from the labours of
+the Conclave which gave Pius VIII. as successor to Leo X., the
+Prince de Polignac, brought over from London by the King, arrived in
+Paris on the 27th of July; and on the 9th of August, eight days after
+the closing of the session, his Cabinet was officially announced in the
+'Moniteur.' What course would he propose to himself? What measures would
+he adopt? No one could tell; not even M. de Polignac and the King
+themselves any more than the public. But Charles X. had hoisted upon the
+Tuileries the flag of the Counter-Revolution.
+
+Politics soon became the absorbing consideration of every mind. From all
+quarters a fierce struggle was foreseen in the approaching session; all
+parties hastened to congregate beforehand round the scene of action,
+seeking to draw some anticipation as to what would occur, and how to
+secure a place. On the 19th of October, 1829, the death of the learned
+chemist, M. Vauquelin, left open a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, in
+which he had represented the division of Lisieux and Pont-l'Eveque,
+which formed the fourth electoral district in the department of
+Calvados. Several influential persons of the country proposed to
+substitute me in his place. I had never inhabited or even visited that
+province. I had no property there of any kind. But since 1820, my
+political writings and lectures had given popularity to my name. The
+young portions of the community were everywhere favourably disposed
+towards me. The Moderates and active Liberals mutually looked to me to
+defend them, and their cause, should occasion arrive. As soon as the
+proposition became known at Lisieux and Pont-l'Eveque, it was cordially
+received. All the different shades of the Opposition, M. de La Fayette
+and M. de Chateaubriand, M. Dupont de l'Eure and the Duke de Broglie,
+M. Odillon Barrot and M. Bertin de Veaux, seconded my candidateship.
+Absent, but supported by a strong display of opinion in the district, I
+was elected on the 23rd of February, 1830, by a large majority.
+
+At the same moment M. Berryer, whose age, as in my own case, had until
+then excluded him from the Chamber of Deputies, was elected by the
+department of the Higher Loire, where a seat had also become vacant.
+
+On the day following that on which my election was known in Paris, I
+had to deliver my lecture at the Sorbonne. As I entered the hall, the
+entire audience rose and received me with a burst of applause. I
+immediately checked them, and said: "I thank you for your kind
+reception, by which I am sensibly affected. I request two favours of
+you; the first is to preserve always the same feelings towards me; the
+second is, never to evince them again in this manner. Nothing that
+passes without should resound within these walls. We come here to treat
+of pure, unmingled science, which is essentially impartial,
+disinterested, and estranged from all external occurrences, important or
+insignificant. Let us always maintain for learning this exclusive
+character. I hope that your sympathy will accompany me in the new career
+to which I am called; I will even presume to say that I reckon upon it.
+Your silent attention here is the most convincing proof I can receive."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: He was, in fact, extremely ill at the moment of this
+crisis.]
+
+[Footnote 19: February 23rd, and April 20th, 1829.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.
+
+1830.
+
+     MENACING, AND AT THE SAME TIME INACTIVE ATTITUDE OF THE
+     MINISTRY.--LAWFUL EXCITEMENT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.--ASSOCIATION
+     FOR THE ULTIMATE REFUSAL OF THE NON-VOTED TAXES.--CHARACTER AND
+     VIEWS OF M. DE POLIGNAC.--MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MINISTERIAL
+     PARTY.--NEW ASPECT OF THE OPPOSITION.--OPENING OF THE
+     SESSION.--SPEECH OF THE KING.--ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+     PEERS.--PREPARATION OF THE ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF
+     DEPUTIES.--PERPLEXITY OF THE MODERATE PARTY AND OF
+     M. ROYER-COLLARD.--DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.--THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY
+     M. BERRYER AND MYSELF.--PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE
+     KING.--PROROGATION OF THE SESSION.--RETIREMENT OF MM. DE CHABROL
+     AND COURVOISIER.--DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--MY
+     JOURNEY TO NISMES FOR THE ELECTIONS.--TRUE CHARACTER OF THE
+     ELECTIONS.--INTENTIONS OF CHARLES X.
+
+
+Whether, attention is arrested by the life of an individual or the
+history of a nation, there is no spectacle more imposing than that of a
+great contrast between the surface and the interior, the appearance and
+the reality of matters. To be excited under the semblance of immobility,
+to do nothing while we expect much, to look on the calm while we
+anticipate the tempest,--this, perhaps, of all human situations, is the
+most oppressive for the mind to endure, and the most difficult to
+sustain for any length of time.
+
+At the commencement of the year 1830, such was the common position of
+all,--of the Government and the nation, of the ministers and citizens,
+of the supporters and opponents of power. No one acted directly, and all
+prepared themselves for unknown chances. We pursued our ordinary course
+of life, while we felt ourselves on the brink of a convulsion.
+
+I proceeded quietly with my course at the Sorbonne. There, where
+M. de Villele and the Abbe Frayssinous had silenced me, M. de Polignac
+and M. de Guernon-Ranville permitted me to speak freely. While enjoying
+this liberty, I scrupulously preserved my habitual caution, keeping
+every lecture entirely divested of all allusion to incidental questions,
+and not more solicitous of winning popular favour, than apprehensive of
+losing ministerial patronage. Until the meeting of the Chamber, my new
+title of Deputy called for no step or demonstration, and I sought not
+for any factitious opportunity. In some paragraphs of town and court
+gossip, several of the papers in the interest of the extreme right
+asserted that meetings of Deputies had been held at the residence of the
+late President of the Chamber. M. Royer-Collard, upon this, wrote
+immediately to the 'Moniteur:'--"It is positively false that any meeting
+of Deputies has taken place at my residence since the closing of the
+session of 1829. This is all I have to say; I should feel ashamed of
+formally denying absurd reports, in which the King is not more respected
+than the truth." Without feeling myself restricted to the severe
+abstinence of M. Royer-Collard, I sedulously avoided all demonstrative
+opposition; my friends and I were mutually intent on furnishing no
+pretext for the mistakes of power.
+
+But in the midst of this tranquil and reserved life, I was deeply
+occupied in reflecting on my new position, and on the part I was
+henceforward to assume in the uncertain fortune of my country. I
+revolved over in my mind every opposite chance, looking upon all as
+possible, and wishing to be prepared for all, even for those I was most
+desirous to avert. Power cannot commit a greater error than that of
+plunging imaginations into darkness. A great public terror is worse than
+a great positive evil; above all, when obscure perspectives of the
+future excite the hopes of enemies and blunderers, as well as the alarms
+of honest men and friends. I lived in the midst of both classes.
+Although no longer interested in the electoral object which had
+occasioned its institution in 1827, the society called, "Help thyself
+and Heaven will help thee" existed still, and I still continued to be a
+member. Under the Martignac Ministry I considered it advisable to remain
+amongst them, that I might endeavour to moderate a little the wants and
+impatience of the external opposition, which operated so powerfully on
+the opposition in Parliament. Since the formation of the Polignac
+Cabinet, from which everything was to be apprehended, I endeavoured to
+maintain a certain degree of interest in this assembly of all opposing
+parties, Constitutionalists, Republicans, and Buonapartists, which, in
+the moment of a crisis, might exercise itself such preponderating
+influence on the destiny of the country. At the moment, I possessed
+considerable popularity, especially with the younger men, and the ardent
+but sincere Liberals. I felt gratified at this, and resolved to turn it
+to profitable use, let the future produce what it might.
+
+The temper of the public resembled my own, tranquil on the surface but
+extremely agitated at the heart. There was neither conspiracy, nor
+rising, nor tumultuous assembly; but all were on the alert, and prepared
+for anything that might happen. In Brittany, in Normandy, in Burgundy,
+in Lorraine, and in Paris, associations were publicly formed to resist
+payment of the taxes, if the Government should attempt to collect them
+without a legal vote of the legal Chambers. The Government prosecuted
+the papers which had advertised these meetings; some tribunals acquitted
+the responsible managers, others, and amongst them the Royal Court of
+Paris, condemned them, but to a very slight punishment, "for exciting
+hatred and contempt against the King's government, in having imputed to
+them the criminal intention either of levying taxes which had not been
+voted by the two Chambers, or of changing illegally the mode of
+election, or even of revoking the constitutional Charter which has been
+granted and confirmed in perpetuity, and which regulates the rights and
+duties of every public authority." The ministerial journals felt their
+position, and saw that their patrons were so reached by this sentence,
+that, in publishing it, they suppressed all observations.
+
+In presence of this opposition, at once so decided and restrained, the
+Ministry remained timid and inactive. Evidently doubtful of themselves,
+they feared the opinion in which they were held by others. A year before
+this time, at the opening of the session of 1829, when the Cabinet of
+M. de Martignac still held power, and the department of Foreign Affairs
+had fallen vacant by the retirement of M. de la Ferronnays,
+M. de Polignac had endeavoured, in the debate on the address in the
+Chamber of Peers, to dissipate, by a profession of constitutional faith,
+the prejudices entertained against him. His assurances of attachment to
+the Charter were not, on his part, a simply ambitious and hypocritical
+calculation; he really fancied himself a friend to constitutional
+government, and was not then meditating its overthrow; but in the
+mediocrity of his mind, and the confusion of his ideas, he neither
+understood thoroughly the English society he wished to imitate, nor the
+French system he desired to reform. He believed the Charter to be
+compatible with the political importance of the old nobility, and with
+the definitive supremacy of the ancient Royalty; and he flattered
+himself that he could develop new institutions by making them assist in
+the preponderance of influences which it was his distinct object to
+limit or abolish. It is difficult to measure the extent of conscientious
+illusions in a mind weak but enthusiastic, ordinary, but with some
+degree of elevation, and mystically vague and subtle. M. de Polignac
+felt honestly surprised at not being acknowledged as a minister devoted
+to constitutional rule; but the public, without troubling themselves to
+inquire into his sincerity, had determined to regard him as the champion
+of the old system, and the standard-bearer of the counter-revolution.
+Disturbed by this reputation, and fearing to confirm it by his acts,
+M. de Polignac did nothing. His Cabinet, sworn to conquer the Revolution
+and to save the Monarchy, remained motionless and sterile. The
+Opposition insultingly taxed them with their impotence: they were
+christened "the Braggadocio Ministry," "the most helpless of Cabinets;"
+and to all this they gave no answer, except by preparing the expedition
+to Algiers, and by convoking the assembly of the Chambers, ever
+protesting their fidelity to the Charter, and promising themselves, as
+means of escape from their embarrassments, a conquest and a majority.
+
+M. de Polignac was ignorant that a minister does not entirely govern by
+his own acts, and that he is responsible for others besides himself.
+While he endeavoured to escape from the character assigned to him, by
+silence and inaction,--his friends, his functionaries, his writers, his
+entire party, masters and servants, spoke and moved noisily around him.
+He expressed his anger when they discussed, as an hypothesis, the
+collection of taxes not voted by the Chambers; and at that same moment
+the Attorney-General of the Royal Court at Metz, M. Pinaud, said, in a
+requisition, "Article 14 of the Charter secures to the King a method of
+resisting electoral or elective majorities. If then, renewing the days
+of 1792 and 1793, the majority should refuse the taxes, would the King
+be called upon to deliver up his crown to the spectre of the Convention?
+No; but in that case he ought to maintain his right, and save himself
+from the danger by means respecting which it is proper to keep silence."
+On the 1st of January, the Royal Court of Paris, who had just given a
+proof of their firm adherence to the Charter, presented themselves,
+according to custom, at the Tuileries; the King received and spoke to
+them with marked dryness; and when arriving in front of the Dauphiness,
+the first President prepared to address his homage to her, "Pass on,
+pass on," exclaimed she brusquely; and while complying with her words,
+M. Seguier said to the Master of the Ceremonies, M. de Rochemore, "My
+Lord Marquis, do you think that the Court ought to inscribe the answer
+of the Princess in its records?" A magistrate high in favour with the
+Minister, M. Cotta, an honest but a light and credulous individual,
+published a work entitled, 'On the Necessity of a Dictatorship.' A
+publicist, a fanatical but sincere reasoner, M. Madrolle, dedicated to
+M. de Polignac a memorial, in which he maintained the necessity of
+remodelling the law of elections by a royal decree. "What are called
+_coups d'etat_," said some important journals, and avowed friends of the
+Cabinet, "are social and regular in their nature when the King acts for
+the general good of the people, even though in appearance he may
+contravene the existing laws." In fact France was tranquil, and legal
+order in full vigour; neither on the part of authority nor on that of
+the people had any act of violence called for violence in return; and
+yet the most extreme measures were openly discussed. In all quarters
+people proclaimed the imminence of revolution, the dictatorship of the
+King, and the legitimacy of _coups d'etat_.
+
+In a moment of urgent danger, a nation may accept an isolated _coup
+d'etat_ as a necessity; but it cannot, without dishonour and decline,
+admit the principle of such measures as the permanent basis of its
+public rights and government. Now this was precisely what M. de Polignac
+and his friends pretended to impose on France. According to them, the
+absolute power of the old Royalty remained always at the bottom of the
+Charter; and to expand and display this absolute power, they selected a
+moment when no active plot, no visible danger, no great public
+disturbance, threatened either the Government of the King or the order
+of the State. The sole question at issue was, whether the Crown could,
+in the selection and maintenance of its advisers, hold itself entirely
+independent of the majority in the Chambers, or the country; and
+whether, in conclusion, after so many constitutional experiments, the
+sole governing power was to be concentrated in the Royal will. The
+formation of the Polignac Ministry had been, on the part of the King,
+Charles X., an obstinate idea even more than a cry of alarm, an
+aggressive challenge as much as an act of suspicion. Uneasy, not only
+for the security of his throne, but for what he considered the
+unalienable rights of his crown, he placed himself, to maintain them, in
+the most offensive of all possible attitudes towards the nation. He
+assumed defiance rather than defence. It was no longer a struggle
+between the different parties and systems of government, but a question
+of political dogma, and an affair of honour between France and her King.
+
+In presence of a subject under this aspect, passions and intentions
+hostile to established order could not fail to resume hope and appear
+once more upon the stage. The sovereignty of the people was always at
+hand, available to be invoked in opposition to the sovereignty of the
+Monarch. Popular strokes of policy were to be perceived, ready to reply
+to the attempts of royal power. The party which had never seriously put
+faith in or adhered to the Restoration, had now new interpreters,
+destined speedily to become new leaders, and younger, as well as more
+rational and skilful than their predecessors. There were no
+conspiracies, no risings in any quarter; secret machinations and noisy
+riots were equally abandoned; everywhere a bolder and yet a more
+moderate line of conduct was adopted, more prudent, and at the same time
+more efficacious. In public discussion, appeal was made to examples from
+history and to the probabilities of the future. Without directly
+attacking the reigning power, lawful freedom in opposition was pushed to
+its extremest limits, too clearly to be taxed with hypocrisy, and too
+ingeniously to be arrested in this hostile proceeding. In the more
+serious and intelligent organs of the party, such as the 'National,'
+they did not absolutely propound anarchical theories, or revolutionary
+constitutions; they confined themselves to the Charter from which
+Royalty seemed on the point of escaping, either by carefully explaining
+the import, or by peremptorily demanding the complete and sincere
+execution; by making it clearly foreseen that compromising the national
+right would also compromise the reigning dynasty. They avowed themselves
+decided and prepared, not to anticipate, but to accept without
+hesitation the last trial evidently approaching, and the rapid progress
+of which they clearly indicated to the public from day to day.
+
+The conduct to be held by the constitutional Royalists who had laboured
+in honest sincerity to establish the Restoration with the Charter,
+although less dangerous, was even more complex and difficult. How could
+they repulse the blow with which Royalty menaced the existing
+institutions, without inflicting on Royalty a mortal wound in return?
+Should they remain on the defensive, wait until the Cabinet committed
+acts, or introduced measures really hostile to the interests and
+liberties of France, and reject them when their character and object had
+been clearly developed in debate? Or should they take a bolder
+initiative, and check the Cabinet in its first steps, and thus prevent
+the unknown struggles which at a later period it would be impossible to
+direct or restrain? This was the great practical question, which, when
+the Chambers were convened, occupied, above all other considerations,
+those minds which were strangers to all preconcerted hostility, and to
+every secret desire of encountering new hazards.
+
+Two figures have remained, since 1830, impressed on my memory; the King,
+Charles X., at the Louvre on the 2nd of March, opening the session of
+the Chambers; and the Prince de Polignac at the Palais Bourbon on the
+15th and 16th of March, taking part in the discussion on the address of
+the Two Hundred and Twenty-One Deputies. The demeanour of the King was,
+as usual, noble and benevolent, but mingled with restrained agitation
+and embarrassment. He read his speech mildly, although with some
+precipitation, as if anxious to finish; and when he came to the sentence
+which, under a modified form, contained a royal menace,[20] he
+accentuated it with more affectation than energy. As he placed his hand
+upon the passage, his hat fell; the Duke d'Orleans raised and presented
+it to him, respectfully bending his knee. Amongst the Deputies, the
+acclamations of the right-hand party were more loud than joyful, and it
+was difficult to decide whether the silence of the rest of the Chamber
+proceeded from sadness or apathy. Fifteen days later, at the Chamber of
+Deputies, and in the midst of the secret committee in which the address
+was discussed, in that vast hall, void of spectators, M. de Polignac was
+on his bench, motionless, and little attended even by his friends, with
+the air of a stranger surprised and out of place, thrown into a world
+with which he is scarcely acquainted, where he feels that he is
+unwelcome, and charged with a difficult mission, the issue of which he
+awaits with inert and impotent dignity. In the course of the debate, he
+was reproached with an act of the Ministry in reference to the
+elections, to which he replied awkwardly by a few short and confused
+words, as if not thoroughly understanding the objection, and anxious to
+resume his seat. While I was in the tribune, my eyes encountered his,
+and I was struck by their expression of astonished curiosity. It was
+manifest that at the moment when they ventured on an act of voluntary
+boldness, neither the King nor his minister felt at their ease; in the
+two individuals, in their respective aspects as in their souls, there
+was a mixture of resolution and weakness, of confidence and uncertainty,
+which at the same moment testified blindness of the mind and the
+presentiment of coming evil.
+
+We waited with impatience the address from the Chamber of Peers. Had it
+been energetic, it would have added strength to ours. Whatever has been
+said, their address was neither blind nor servile, but it was far from
+forcible. It recommended respect for institutions and national
+liberties, and protested equally against despotism and anarchy.
+Disquietude and censure were perceptible through the reserve of words;
+but these impressions were dimly conveyed and stripped of all
+power. Their unanimity evinced nothing beyond their nullity.
+M. de Chateaubriand alone, while signifying his approbation, considered
+them insufficient. The Court declared itself satisfied. The Chamber
+seemed more desirous of discharging a debt of conscience, and of
+escaping from all responsibility in the evils which it foresaw, than of
+making a sound effort to prevent them. "If the Chamber of Peers had
+spoken out more distinctly," said M. Royer-Collard to me, shortly after
+the Revolution, "it might have arrested the King on the brink of the
+abyss, and have prevented the Decrees." But the Chamber of Peers had
+little confidence in their own power to charm away the danger, and
+feared to aggravate it by a too open display. The entire weight of the
+situation fell upon the Chamber of Deputies.
+
+The perplexity was great,--great in the majority of sincere Royalists,
+in the Committee charged to draw up the Address, and in the mind of
+M. Royer-Collard who presided, both in the Committee and the Chamber,
+and exercised on both a preponderating influence. One general sentiment
+prevailed,--a desire to stay the King in the false path on which he had
+entered, and a conviction that there was no hope of succeeding in this
+object, but by placing before him an impediment which it would be
+impossible for him personally to misunderstand. It was evident, when he
+dismissed M. de Martignac and appointed M. de Polignac to succeed him,
+that he was not alone influenced by his fears as a King. In this act
+Charles X. had, above all considerations, been swayed by his passions of
+the old system. It became indispensable that the peril of this tendency
+should be clearly demonstrated to him, and that where prudence had not
+sufficed, impossibility should make itself felt. By expressing, without
+delay or circumlocution, its want of confidence in the Cabinet, the
+Chamber in no way exceeded its privilege; it expressed its own judgment,
+without denying to the King the free exercise of his, and his right of
+appealing to the country by a dissolution. The Chamber acted
+deliberately and honestly; it renounced empty or ambiguous words, to
+assert the frank and strong measures of the constitutional system. There
+was no other method of remaining in harmony with the public feeling so
+strongly excited, and of restraining it by legitimate concessions. There
+was reason to hope that language at once firm and loyal would prove as
+efficacious as it was necessary; already, under similar circumstances,
+the King had not shown himself intractable, for two years before, in
+January, 1828, he had dismissed M. de Villele, almost without a
+struggle, after the elections had produced a majority decidedly opposed
+to his Cabinet.
+
+During five days, the Committee, in their sittings, and M. Royer-Collard
+in his private reflections, as well as in his confidential intercourse
+with his friends, scrupulously weighed all these considerations, as well
+as all the phrases and words of the Address. M. Royer-Collard was not
+only a staunch Royalist, but his mind was disposed to doubt and
+hesitation; he became bewildered in his resolves as he looked on the
+different aspects of a question, and always shrank from important
+responsibility. For two years he had observed Charles X. closely, and
+more than once during the Martignac Administration he had said to some
+of the more rational oppositionists, "Do not press the King too closely;
+no one can tell to what follies he might have recourse." But at the
+point which matters had now reached, called upon as he was to represent
+the sentiments and maintain the honour of the Chamber, M. Royer-Collard
+felt that he could not refuse to carry the truth to the foot of the
+throne; and he flattered himself that on appearing there, with a
+respectful and affectionate demeanour, he would be in 1830, as in 1828,
+if not well received, at least listened to without any fatal explosion.
+
+The Address in fact bore this double character: never had language more
+unpresuming in its boldness, and more conciliating in its freedom, been
+held to a monarch in the name of his people.[21] When the President read
+it to the Chamber for the first time, a secret satisfaction faction of
+dignity mingled in the most moderate hearts with the uneasiness they
+experienced. The debate was short and extremely reserved, almost even to
+coldness. On all sides, the members feared to commit themselves by
+speaking; and there was an evident desire to come to a conclusion. Four
+of the Ministers, MM. de Montbel, de Guernon-Ranville, de Chantelauze,
+and d'Haussez took part in the discussion, but almost exclusively on the
+general question. In the Chamber of Deputies, as in the Chamber of
+Peers, the leader of the Cabinet remained mute. It is on more lofty
+conditions that political aristocracies maintain or raise themselves.
+When they came to the last paragraphs, which contained the decisive
+phrases, the individual members of the different parties maintained the
+contest alone. It was then that M. Berryer and I ascended the tribune
+for the first time, both new to the Chamber, he as a friend and I as an
+opponent of the Ministry; he to attack and I to defend the Address. It
+gives me pleasure, I confess, to retrace and repeat today, the ideas and
+arguments by which I supported it at the time. "Under what auspices," I
+asked the Chamber, "and in the name of what principles and interests has
+the present Ministry been formed? In the name of power menaced, of the
+Royal prerogative compromised, of the interests of the Crown ill
+understood and sustained by their predecessors. This is the banner under
+which they have entered the lists, the cause they have promised to make
+triumphant. We had a right to expect from their entrance on office that
+authority should be exercised with vigour, the Royal prerogative in
+active operation, the principles of power not only proclaimed but
+practised, perhaps at the expense of the public liberty, but at least
+for the advantage of that power itself. Gentlemen, has this happened?
+Has power strengthened itself within the last seven months? Has it been
+exercised with activity, energy, confidence, and efficacy? Either I
+grossly deceive myself, or during these seven months power has suffered
+in confidence and energy, to the full extent of what the public have
+lost in security."
+
+"But power has lost more than this. It is not entirely comprised in the
+positive acts it commits or the materials it employs; it does not always
+end in decrees and circulars. The authority over minds, the moral
+ascendency, that ascendency so suitable to free countries, for it
+directs without controlling public will,--in this is comprised an
+important component of power, perhaps the first of all in efficiency.
+But beyond all question, it is the re-establishment of this moral
+ascendency which is at this moment the most essential need of our
+country. We have known power extremely active and strong, capable of
+great and difficult undertakings; but whether from the inherent vice of
+its nature, or by the evil of its position, moral ascendency, that easy,
+regular, and imperceptible empire, has been almost entirely wanting. The
+King's government, more than any other, is called upon to possess this.
+It does not extract its right from force. We have not witnessed its
+birth; we have not contracted towards it those familiar associations,
+some of which always remain attached to the authorities at the infancy
+of which those who obey them were present. What has the actual Ministry
+done with that moral ascendency which belongs naturally, without
+premeditation or labour, to the King's government? Has it exercised it
+skilfully, and increased it in the exercise? Has it not, on the
+contrary, seriously compromised this great element, by placing it at
+issue with the fears to which it has given rise, and the passions it has
+excited?...
+
+"Gentlemen, your entire mission is not to control, or at the least to
+oppose power; you are not here solely to retrieve its errors or injuries
+and to make them known to the country; you are also sent here to
+surround the government of the King--to enlighten it while you surround,
+and to support it while you enlighten.... Well, then, what is at this
+moment the position in the Chamber of the members who are the most
+disposed to undertake the character of those who are the greatest
+strangers to the spirit of faction, and unaccustomed to the habits of
+opposition? They are compelled to become oppositionists; they are made
+so in spite of themselves; they desire to remain always united to the
+King's government, and now they are forced to separate from it; they
+wish to support, and are driven to attack. They have been propelled from
+their proper path. The perplexity which disturbs them has been created
+by the Ministry in office; it will continue and redouble as long as they
+continue where they are."
+
+I pointed out the analogous perturbation which existed everywhere, in
+society as in the Chambers; I showed how the public authorities, in
+common with the good citizens, were thrown out of their natural duties
+and position; the tribunals, more intent on restraining the Government
+itself than in repressing disorders and plans directed against it; the
+papers, exercising with the tolerance, and even with the approbation of
+the public, an unlimited and disorderly influence. I concluded by
+saying: "They tell us that France is tranquil, that order is not
+disturbed. It is true; material order is not disturbed; everything
+circulates freely and peaceably; no commotion deranges the current of
+affairs.... The surface of society is calm,--so calm that the Government
+may well be tempted to believe that the interior is perfectly secure,
+and to consider itself sheltered from all peril. Our words, gentlemen,
+the frankness of our words, comprises the sole warning that power can at
+this moment receive, the only voice that can reach it and dissipate its
+illusions. Let us take care not to diminish their force or to enervate
+our expressions; let them be respectful and even gentle, but let them at
+the same time be neither timid nor ambiguous. Truth already finds it
+difficult enough to penetrate into the palaces of kings; let us not send
+her there weak and trembling; let it be as impossible to misunderstand
+what we say, as to mistake the loyalty of our sentiments."
+
+The Address passed as it was drawn up, with uneasy sadness, but with a
+profound conviction of its necessity. Two days after the vote, on the
+18th of March, we repaired to the Tuileries to present it to the King.
+Twenty-one members alone joined the official deputation of the Chamber.
+Amongst those who had voted for the Address, some were little anxious of
+supporting by their presence, under the eyes of the King, such an act
+of opposition; others, from respect for the Crown, had no wish to give
+to this presentation additional solemnity and effect. Our entire
+number amounted only to forty-six. We waited some time in the
+"Salon de la Paix," until the King returned from Mass. We stood there in
+silence; opposite to us, in the recesses of the windows, were the King's
+pages and some members of the royal establishment, inattentive and
+almost intentionally rude. The Dauphiness crossed the saloon on her way
+to the chapel, rapidly and without noticing us. She might have been much
+colder still before I could have felt that I had any right either to be
+surprised or indignant at her demeanour. There are crimes whose
+remembrance silences all other thoughts, and misfortunes before which we
+bow with a respect almost resembling repentance, as if we ourselves had
+been the author of them.
+
+When we were introduced into the hall of the throne, M. Royer-Collard
+read the address naturally and suitably, with an emotion which his voice
+and features betrayed. The King listened to him with becoming dignity
+and without any air of haughtiness or ill humour; his answer was brief
+and dry, rather from royal habit than from anger, and, if I am not
+mistaken, he felt more satisfied with his own firmness than uneasy for
+the future. Four days before, on the eve of the debate on the address,
+in his circle at the Tuileries, to which many Deputies were invited, I
+saw him bestow marked intention on three members of the Commission,
+MM. Dupin, Etienne, and Gautier. In two such opposite situations, it was
+the same man and almost the same physiognomy, identical in his manners
+as in his ideas, careful to please although determined to quarrel, and
+obstinate from want of foresight and mental routine, rather than from
+the passion of pride or power.
+
+On the day after the presentation of the address, the 19th of March, the
+session was prorogued to the 1st of September. Two months later, on the
+16th of May, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; the two most
+moderate members of the Cabinet, the Chancellor and the Minister of
+Finance, M. Courvoisier and M. de Chabrol, left the Council; they had
+refused their concurrence to the extreme measures already debated there,
+in case the elections should falsify the expectations of power. The most
+compromised and audacious member of the Villele Cabinet,
+M. de Peyronnet, became Minister of the Interior. By the dissolution,
+the King appealed to the country, and at the same moment he took fresh
+steps to separate himself from his people.
+
+Having returned to the private life from which he never again emerged,
+M. Courvoisier wrote to me on the 29th of September 1831, from his
+retirement at Baume-les-Dames: "Before resigning the Seals, I happened
+to be in conversation with M. Pozzo di Borgo on the state of the
+country, and the perils with which the throne had surrounded itself.
+What means, said he to me, are there of opening the King's eyes, and of
+drawing him from a system which may once again overturn Europe and
+France?--I see but one, replied I, and that is a letter from the hand of
+the Emperor of Russia.--He shall write it, said he; he shall write it
+from Warsaw, whither he is about to repair.--We then conversed together
+on the substance of the letter. M. Pozzo di Borgo often said to me that
+the Emperor Nicholas saw no security for the Bourbons, but in the
+fulfilment of the Charter."
+
+I much doubt whether the Emperor Nicholas ever wrote himself to the
+King, Charles X.; but what his ambassador at Paris had said to the
+Chancellor of France, he himself repeated to the Duke de Mortemart, the
+King's ambassador at St. Petersburg:--"If they deviate from the Charter,
+they will lead direct to a catastrophe; if the King attempts a
+_coup-d'etat_, the responsibility will fall on himself alone." The
+councils of monarchs were not more wanting to Charles X., than the
+addresses of nations, to detach him from his fatal design.
+
+As soon as the electoral glove was thrown down, my friends wrote to me
+from Nismes that my presence was necessary to unite them all, and to
+hold out in the College of the department any prospect of success. It
+was also desired that I should go, of my own accord, to Lisieux; but
+they added that if I was required elsewhere, they thought, even in my
+absence, they could guarantee my election. I trusted to this assurance,
+and set out for Nismes on the 15th June, anxious to sound myself, and on
+the spot, the real dispositions of the country; which we so soon forget
+when confined to Paris.
+
+I have no desire to substitute for my impressions of that epoch my ideas
+of the present day, or to attribute to my own political conduct and to
+that of my friends an interpretation which neither could assume. I
+republish, without alteration, what I find in the confidential letters I
+wrote or received during my journey. These supply the most
+unobjectionable evidences of what we thought and wished at the time.
+
+On the 26th of June, some days after my arrival at Nismes, I wrote as
+follows:--
+
+"The contest is very sharp, more so than you can understand at a
+distance. The two parties are seriously engaged, and hourly oppose each
+other with increasing animosity. An absolute fever of egotism and
+stupidity possesses and instigates the administration. The opposition
+struggles, with passionate ardour, against the embarrassments and
+annoyances of a situation, both in a legal and moral sense, of extreme
+difficulty. It finds in the laws means of action and defence, which
+impart the courage necessary to sustain the combat, but without
+inspiring the confidence of success; for almost everywhere, the last
+guarantee is wanting, and after having fought long and bravely, we
+always run the risk of finding ourselves suddenly disarmed, and
+helpless. A similar anxiety applies to the moral position: the
+opposition despises the ministry, and at the same time looks upon it as
+its superior; the functionaries are in disrepute, but still they take
+precedence; a remembrance of imperial greatness and power yet furnishes
+them with a pedestal; they are looked on disdainfully, with a mingled
+sensation of fear and anger. In this state of affairs there are many
+elements of agitation, and even of a crisis. Nevertheless, no sooner
+does an explosion appear imminent, or even possible, than every one
+shrinks from it in apprehension. In conclusion, all parties at present
+look for their security in order and peace. There is no confidence
+except in legitimate measures."
+
+On the 9th of July, I received the following from Paris:--
+
+"The elections of the great colleges have commenced. If we gain any
+advantage there, it will be excellent; above all, for the effect it may
+produce on the King's mind, who can expect nothing more favourable to
+him than the great colleges. At present, there are no indications of a
+_coup d'etat_. The 'Quotidienne' announces this morning that it looks
+upon the session as opened, admitting at the same time that the Ministry
+will not have a majority. It appears delighted at there being no
+prospect of an address exactly similar to that of the Two Hundred and
+Twenty-one."
+
+And again, on the 12th of July:--
+
+"Today the 'Universel'[22] exclaims against the report of a _coup
+d'etat_, and seems to guarantee the regular opening of the session by a
+speech from the King. This speech, which will annoy you, will have the
+advantage of opening the session on a better understanding. But the
+great point is to have a session; violent extremes become much more
+improbable when we are constitutionally employed. But you will find it
+very difficult to draw up a new address; whatever it may be, the right
+and the extreme left will look upon it in the light of a
+retractation,--the right as a boast, the left as a complaint. You will
+have to defend yourselves against those who wish purely and simply a
+repetition of the former address, and who hold to it as the last words
+of the country. Having acquired a victory at the elections, and the
+alternative of dissolution being no longer available to the King, we
+shall have evidently a new line of conduct to adopt. Besides, what
+interest have we in compelling the King to make a stand? France has
+every thing to gain by years of regular government; let us be careful
+not to precipitate events."
+
+I replied on the 16th of July:--"I scarcely know how we are to extricate
+ourselves from the new address. It will be an extremely difficult
+matter, but in any case we are bound to meet this difficulty, for
+evidently we must have a session. We should be looked upon as children
+and madmen if we were merely to recommence what we have taken in hand
+for four months. The new Chamber ought not to retreat; but it should
+adopt a new course. Let us have no _coup d'etat_, and let constitutional
+order be regularly preserved. Whatever may be the ministerial
+combinations, real and ultimate success will be with us."
+
+"Amongst the electors by whom I am surrounded here, I have met with
+nothing but moderate, patient, and loyal dispositions. M. de Daunant has
+just been elected, on the 13th of July instant, by the Divisional
+College of Nismes; he had 296 votes against 241 given in favour of
+M. Daniel Murjas, president of the college. When the result was
+announced, the official secretary proposed to the assembly to pass a
+vote of thanks to the president, who, notwithstanding his own
+candidateship, had presided with most complete impartiality and loyalty.
+The vote was carried on the instant, in the midst of loud cries of "Long
+live the King!" and the electors, as they retired, found in all quarters
+the same tranquillity and gravity which they had themselves preserved in
+the discharge of their own duties."
+
+On the 12th of July, when news of the capture of Algiers arrived, I
+wrote thus:--"And so the African campaign is over, and well over; ours,
+which must commence in about two months, will be rather more difficult;
+but no matter; I hope this success will not stimulate power to the last
+madness, and I prefer our national honour to all parliamentary
+considerations."
+
+I do not pretend to assert that the foregoing sentiments were those of
+all who, whether in the Chambers or in the country, had approved the
+Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one, and who, at the elections,
+voted for its support. The Restoration had not achieved such complete
+conquests in France. Inactive, but not resigned, the secret societies
+were ever in existence; ready, when opportunity occurred, to resume
+their work of conspiracy and destruction. Other adversaries, more
+legitimate but not less formidable, narrowly watched every mistake of
+the King and his Government, and sedulously brought them under public
+comment, expecting and prognosticating still more serious errors, which
+would lead to extreme consequences. Amongst the popular masses, a deeply
+rooted instinct of suspicion and hatred to all that recalled the old
+system and the invasion of the foreigners, continued to supply arms and
+inexhaustible hopes to the enemies of the Restoration. The people
+resemble the ocean, motionless and almost immutable at the bottom,
+however violent may be the storms which agitate the surface.
+Nevertheless, the spirit of legality and sound political reason had made
+remarkable progress; even during the ferment of the elections, public
+feeling loudly repudiated all idea of a new revolution. Never was the
+situation of those who sincerely wished to support the King and the
+Charter more favourable or powerful; they had given evidences of
+persevering firmness by legitimate opposition, they had lately
+maintained with reputation the principles of representative government,
+they enjoyed the esteem and even the favour of the public; the more
+violent party, through necessity, and the country, with some hesitation,
+mingled with honest hope, followed in their rear. If at this critical
+moment they could have succeeded with the King as with the Chambers and
+the country,--if Charles X., after having by the dissolution pushed his
+royal prerogative to the extreme verge, had listened to the strongly
+manifested wishes of France, and selected his advisers from amongst
+those of the constitutional Royalists who stood the highest in public
+consideration, I say, with a feeling of conviction which may appear
+foolhardy, but which I maintain to this hour, that there was every
+reasonable hope of surmounting the last decisive trial; and that the
+country taking confidence at once in the King and in the Charter, the
+Restoration and constitutional government would have been established
+together.
+
+But the precise quality in which Charles X. was deficient, was that
+expansive freedom of mind which conveys to a monarch a perfect
+intelligence of the age in which he lives, and endows him with a sound
+appreciation of its resources and necessities. "There are only M. de La
+Fayette and I who have not changed since 1789," said he, one day; and he
+spoke truly. Through all the vicissitudes of his life he ever remained
+what his youthful training had made him at the Court of Versailles and
+in the aristocratic society of the eighteenth century--sincere and
+light, confident in himself and in his own immediate circle, unobservant
+and irreflective, although of an active spirit, attached to his ideas
+and his friends of the old system as to his faith and his standard.
+Under the reign of his brother Louis XVIII., and during the scission of
+the monarchical party, he became the patron and hope of that Royalist
+opposition which boldly availed itself of constitutional liberties, and
+presented in his own person a singular mixture of persevering intimacy
+with his old companions, and of a taste for the new popularity of a
+Liberal. When he found himself on the throne, he made more than one
+coquettish advance to this popular disposition, and sincerely flattered
+himself that he governed according to the Charter, with his old friends
+and his ideas of earlier times. M. de Villele and M. de Martignac lent
+themselves to his views in this difficult work; and after their fall,
+which he scarcely opposed, Charles X. found himself left to his natural
+tendencies, in the midst of advisers little disposed to contradict, and
+without the power of restraining him. Two fatal mistakes then
+established themselves in his mind; he fancied that he was menaced by
+the Revolution, much more than was really the fact; and he ceased to
+believe in the possibility of defending himself, and of governing by the
+legal course of the constitutional system. France had no desire for a
+new revolution. The Charter contained, for a prudent and patient
+monarch, certain means of exercising the royal authority and of securing
+the Crown. But Charles X. had lost confidence in France and in the
+Charter. When the Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-one Deputies
+came triumphant through the elections, he believed that he was driven to
+his last entrenchment, and reduced to save himself without the Charter,
+or to perish by a revolution.
+
+A few days before the Decrees of July, the Russian ambassador, Count
+Pozzo di Borgo, had an audience of the King. He found him seated before
+his desk, with his eyes fixed on the Charter, opened at Article 14.
+Charles X. read and re-read that article, seeking with honest inquietude
+the interpretation he wanted to find there. In such cases, we always
+discover what we are in search of; and the King's conversation, although
+indirect and uncertain, left little doubt on the Ambassador's mind as to
+the measures in preparation.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 20: "Peers of France, Deputies of Departments, I have no doubt
+of your co-operation in carrying out the good measures I propose. You
+will repulse with contempt the perfidious insinuations which malevolence
+seeks to propagate. If criminal manoeuvres were to place obstacles in
+the way of my government, which I neither can, nor wish to, foresee, I
+should find the power of surmounting them in a resolution to maintain
+the public peace, in the just confidence of the French people, and in
+the devotion which they have always demonstrated for their King."]
+
+[Footnote 21: I think no one who reads the six concluding paragraphs of
+this Address, which alone formed the subject of debate, can fail to
+appreciate, in the present day, the profound truth of the sentiments and
+the apt propriety of the language.
+
+"Assembled at your command from all points of the kingdom, we bring to
+you, Sire, from every quarter, the homage of a faithful people, still
+further inspired by having found you the most beneficent of all, in the
+midst of universal beneficence, and which reveres in your person the
+accomplished model of the most exemplary virtues. Sire, this people
+cherishes and respects your authority; fifteen years of peace and
+liberty which it owes to your august brother and to yourself, have
+deeply rooted in its heart the gratitude due to your august family: its
+reason, matured by experience and freedom of discussion, tells it that
+in questions of authority, above all others, antiquity of possession is
+the holiest of titles, and that it is as much for the happiness of
+France as for your personal glory, that ages have placed your throne in
+a region inaccessible to storms. The conviction of the nation accords
+then with its duty in representing to it the sacred privileges of your
+crown as the surest guarantee of its own liberties, and the integrity of
+your prerogatives as necessary to the preservation of public rights."
+
+"Nevertheless, Sire, in the midst of these unanimous sentiments of
+respect and affection with which your people surround you, there has
+become manifest in the general mind a feeling of inquietude which
+disturbs the security France had begun to enjoy, affects the sources of
+her prosperity, and might, if prolonged, become fatal to her repose. Our
+conscience, our honour, the fidelity we have pledged and which we shall
+ever maintain, impose on us the duty of unveiling to you the cause."
+
+"Sire, the Charter which we owe to the wisdom of your august
+predecessor, and the benefits of which your Majesty has declared a firm
+determination to consolidate, consecrate as a right the intervention of
+the country in the deliberation of public interests. This intervention
+ought to be, and is in fact, indirect, wisely regulated, circumscribed
+within limits minutely defined, and which, we shall never suffer any one
+to exceed; but it is also positive in its result; for it establishes a
+permanent concurrence between the political views of your government,
+and the wishes of your people, as an indispensable condition of the
+regular progress of public affairs. Sire, our loyalty and devotion
+compel us to declare that this concurrence does not exist."
+
+"An unjust suspicion of the sentiments and ideas of France forms the
+fundamental conviction of the present Ministry; your people look on this
+with sorrow, as injurious to the Government itself, and with uneasiness,
+as it appears to menace public liberty."
+
+"This suspicion could find no entrance in your own noble heart. No,
+Sire, _France is not more desirous of anarchy than you are of
+despotism_.[23] She is worthy of your having faith in her loyalty, as
+she relies implicitly on your promises."
+
+"Between those who misrepresent a nation so calm and loyal, and we, who
+with a deep conviction deposit in your bosom the complaints of an entire
+people, jealous of the esteem and confidence of their King, let the
+exalted wisdom of your Majesty decide! Your royal prerogatives have
+placed in your hands the means of establishing between the authorities
+of the State, that constitutional harmony, the first and most essential
+condition for the security of the Throne and the greatness of the
+country."]
+
+[Footnote 22: One of the ministerial journals of the time.]
+
+[Footnote 23: The words used by the Chamber of Peers in their address.]
+
+
+
+
+HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORIC DOCUMENTS.
+
+
+No. I.
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, May 12th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+I return you a thousand thanks. I have read your articles with extreme
+pleasure. You praise me with so much grace, and bestow on me so many
+commendations, that you may easily afford to diminish the latter. Enough
+will always remain to satisfy my vanity as an author, and assuredly more
+than I deserve.
+
+I find your criticisms extremely just; one in particular has struck me
+by its refined taste. You say that the Catholics cannot, like the
+Protestants, admit a Christian mythology, because we have not been
+trained and accustomed to it by great poets. This is most ingenious; and
+if my work should be considered good enough to induce people to say that
+I am the first to commence this mythology, it might be replied that I
+come too late, that our taste is formed upon other models, etc. etc.
+etc.... Nevertheless there will always be Tasso, and all the Latin
+Catholic poems of the Middle Ages. This appears to me the only solid
+objection that can be raised against your remark.
+
+In truth, and I speak with perfect sincerity, the criticisms which,
+before yours, have appeared on my work, make me feel to a certain extent
+ashamed of the French. Have you observed that no one seems to have
+comprehended its design? That the rules of epic composition are so
+generally forgotten, that a work of thought and immense labour is judged
+as if it were the production of a day, or a mere romance? And all this
+outcry is against the marvellous! Would it not imply that I am the
+inventor of this style? that it has been hitherto unheard of, and is
+singular and new? And yet we have Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, Gessner, and
+even Voltaire! And if we are not to employ the marvellous in a Christian
+subject, there can no longer be an epic in modern poetry, for the
+marvellous is essential to that style of composition, and I believe no
+one would be inclined to introduce Jupiter in a subject taken from our
+own history. All this, like every thing else in France, is insincere.
+The question to be decided was, whether my work was good or bad as an
+epic poem; all was comprised in this point, without attempting to
+ascertain whether it was or was not contrary to religion; and a thousand
+other arguments of the same kind.
+
+I cannot deliver an opinion on my own work; I can only convey to you
+that of others. M. Fontanes is entirely in favour of 'The Martyrs.' He
+finds this production much superior to what I have written before, in
+plan, style, and characters.
+
+What appears singular to me is, that the third Book, which you condemn,
+seems to him one of the best of the whole! With regard to style, he
+thinks that I have never before reached so high a point as in the
+description of the happiness of the just, in that of the light of
+Heaven, and in the passage on the Virgin. He tolerates the length of the
+two dialogues between the Father and Son, on the necessity of
+establishing the epic machinery. Without these dialogues there could be
+no more narrative or action; the narrative and action are accounted for
+by the conversation of the uncreated beings.
+
+I mention this, Sir, not to convince, but to show you how sound
+judgments can see the same object under different aspects. With you I
+dislike the description of torture, but I consider it absolutely
+necessary in a work upon Martyrs. It has been consecrated by all history
+and every art. Christian painting and sculpture have selected these
+subjects; herein lies the real controversy of the question. You, Sir,
+who are well acquainted with the details, know to what extent I have
+softened the picture, and how much I have suppressed of the _Acta
+Martyrum_, particularly in holding back physical agony, and in opposing
+agreeable images to harrowing torments. You are too just not to
+distinguish between the objections of the subject and the errors of the
+poet.
+
+For the rest, you, Sir, well know the tempest raised against my work,
+and the source from whence they proceed. There is another sore not
+openly displayed, and which lies at the root of all this anger. It is
+that _Hierocles_ massacres the Christians in the name of _philosophy_
+and _liberty_. Time will do me justice if my book deserves it, and you
+will greatly accelerate this judgment by publishing your articles, if
+you could be induced to modify them to a certain extent. Show me my
+faults and I will correct them. I only despise those writers, who are as
+contemptible in their language as in the secret reasons which prompt
+them to speak. I can neither find reason nor honour in the mouths of
+those literary mountebanks in the hire of the Police, who dance in the
+kennels for the amusement of lacqueys.
+
+I am in my cottage, where I shall be delighted to hear from you. It
+would give me the greatest pleasure to receive you here, if you would be
+so kind as to visit me. Accept the assurance of my profound esteem and
+high consideration.
+
+DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, May 30th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+Far from troubling me, you have given me the greatest pleasure in doing
+me the favour to communicate your ideas. This time I shall condemn the
+introduction of the marvellous in a Christian subject, and am willing to
+believe with you, that it will never be adopted in France. But I cannot
+admit that 'The Martyrs' are founded on a heresy. The question is not of
+a _redemption_, which would be absurd, but of an _expiation_, which is
+entirely consistent with faith. In all ages, the Church has held that
+the blood of a martyr could efface the sins of the people, and deliver
+them from their penalties. Undoubtedly you know, better than I do, that
+formerly, in times of war and calamity, a monk was confined in a tower
+or a cell, where he fasted and prayed for the salvation of all. I have
+not left my intention in doubt, for in the third Book I have caused it
+to be positively declared to the Eternal that Eudore will draw the
+blessings of Heaven upon the Christians through the merits of the blood
+of the Saviour. This, as you see, is precisely the orthodox phrase, and
+the exact lesson of the catechism. The doctrine of expiation, so
+consolatory in other respects, and consecrated by antiquity, has been
+acknowledged in our religion: its mission from Christ has not destroyed
+it. And I may observe, incidentally, that I hope the sacrifice of some
+innocent victim, condemned in the Revolution, will obtain from Heaven
+the pardon of our guilty country. Those whom we have slaughtered are,
+perhaps, praying for us at this very moment. Surely you cannot wish to
+renounce this sublime hope, which springs from the tears and blood of
+Christians.
+
+In conclusion, the frankness and sincerity of your conduct make me
+forget for a moment the baseness of the present age. What can we think
+of a time when an honest man is told, "You will pronounce on such a
+work, such an opinion; you will praise or blame it, not according to
+your conscience, but according to the spirit of the journal in which you
+write"! We are too happy to find critics like you, who stand up against
+such conventional baseness, and preserve the tradition of honour for
+human nature. As a conclusive estimate, if you carefully examine 'The
+Martyrs,' undoubtedly you will find much to reprehend; but taking all
+points into consideration, you will see that in plan, characters, and
+style, it is the best and least defective of my feeble writings.
+
+I have a nephew in Russia, named Moreau, the grandson of a sister of my
+mother; I am scarcely acquainted with him, but I believe him to be an
+honourable man. His father, who was also in Russia, returned to France
+about a year ago. I have been delighted with the opportunity which
+has procured for me the honour of becoming acquainted with
+Mademoiselle de Meulan; she has appeared to me, as in all that she
+writes, full of mind, good taste, and sense. I much fear that I
+inconvenienced her by the length of my visit; I have the fault of
+remaining wherever I find amiable acquaintances, and especially when I
+meet exalted characters and noble sentiments.
+
+I repeat most sincerely the assurance of my high esteem, gratitude, and
+devotion. I look forward with impatience to the moment when I can either
+receive you in my hermitage, or visit you in your solitude.
+
+   Accept, I pray you, my sincerest compliments.
+   DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Val-de-Loup, June 12th, 1809._
+
+Sir,
+
+I happened to be absent from my valley for several days, which has
+prevented me from replying sooner to your letters. Behold me thoroughly
+convinced of heresy. I admit that the word _redeemed_ escaped me
+inadvertently, and in truth contrary to my intention. But there it is,
+and I shall efface it from the next edition.
+
+I have read your first two articles, and repeat my thanks for them. They
+are excellent, and you praise me far beyond what I deserve. What has
+been said with respect to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is quite
+correct. The description could only have been given by one who knows the
+localities. But the Holy Sepulchre itself might easily have escaped the
+fire without a special miracle. It forms, in the middle of the circular
+nave of the church, a kind of catafalque of white marble: the cupola of
+cedar, in falling, might have crushed it, but could not have set it on
+fire. It is nevertheless a very extraordinary circumstance, and one
+worthy of much longer details than can be confined within the limits of
+a letter.
+
+I wish much that I could relate these particulars to you, personally, in
+your retirement. Unfortunately, Madame de Chateaubriand is ill, and I
+cannot leave her. But I do not give up the idea of paying you a visit,
+nor of receiving you here in my hermitage. Honourable men ought,
+particularly at present, to unite for mutual consolation. Generous ideas
+and exalted sentiments become every day so rare that we ought to be too
+happy when we encounter them. I should be delighted if my society could
+prove agreeable to you, as also to M. Stapfer, to whom I beg you will
+convey my warmest thanks.
+
+Accept once more, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration and
+sincere devotion, and if you will permit me to add, of a friendship
+which is commenced under the auspices of frankness and honour.
+
+DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+The best description of Jerusalem is that of Danville; but his little
+treatise is very scarce. In general, all travellers are very exact as to
+Palestine; there is a letter in the 'Lettres Edifiantes' ('Missions to
+the Levant'), which leaves nothing to be desired. With regard to
+M. de Volney, he is valuable on the government of the Turks, but it is
+evident that he has not been at Jerusalem. It is probable that he never
+went beyond Ramleh or Rama, the ancient Arimathea. You may also consult
+the 'Theatrum Terrae Sanctae' of Adrichomius.
+
+
+
+
+No. II.
+
+
+COUNT DE LALLY-TOLENDAL TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Brussels, April 27th, 1811._
+
+Sir,
+
+You will be unable to account for my silence, as I found it difficult to
+understand the tardy arrival of the prospectuses you had promised me in
+your letter of the fourth of this month. I must explain to you that the
+porter here had confounded that packet with the files of unimportant
+printed papers addressed to a Prefecture, and if the want of a book had
+not induced me to visit the private study of the Prefect, I should
+perhaps have not yet discovered the mistake. I thank you for the
+confidence with which you have treated me on this occasion. You are
+aware that no one renders you more than I do, the full justice to which
+you are entitled, and you also know that I accord it equally from
+inclination and conviction. My generation has passed away, yours is in
+full action, and a third is on the point of rising. I see you placed
+between two, to console the first, to do honour to the second, and to
+form the third. Endeavour to make the last like yourself; by which I do
+not mean that I wish all the little boys to know as much as you do, or
+all the little girls to resemble in everything, your more than amiable
+partner. We must not desire what we cannot obtain, and I should too much
+regret my own decline if such an attractive age were about to commence.
+But restrain my idea within its due limits, and dictate like Solon the
+best laws which the infancy of the nineteenth century can bear or
+receive; this will abundantly suffice. Today the _mox progeniem daturos
+vitiosiorem_ would make one's hair stand on end.
+
+Madame de la Tour du Pin, a Baroness of the Empire for two years, a
+Prefectess of the Dyle for three, and a religious mother for twenty,
+will recommend your journal with all the influence of her two first
+titles, and subscribes to it with all the interest that the last can
+inspire. I, who have no other pretension, and desire no other, than that
+of a father and a friend, request your permission to subscribe for my
+daughter, who, commencing the double education of a little Arnaud and a
+little Leontine, will be delighted to profit by your double instruction.
+I believe also that the grandfather himself will often obtain knowledge,
+and always pleasure, from the same source. It seems to me that no
+association could be more propitious to the union of the _utile dulci_.
+If I were to allow free scope to my pen, I feel assured that I should
+write thus like a madman to one of the two authors: "Not being able to
+make myself once more young, to adore your merits, I become an old
+infant, to receive your lessons. I kiss from a distance the hand of my
+youthful nurse, with the most profound respect, but not sufficiently
+abstracted from some of those emotions which have followed my first
+childhood, and which my second education ought to correct. Is it
+possible to submit to your rod with more ingenuousness? At least I
+confess my faults. As I am bound to speak the truth, I dare not yet add,
+_this can never happen to me again_. But the strong resolution will come
+with weak age; and the more I can transform myself, the nearer I shall
+approach perfection."
+
+Will you be so kind as to present my respects to Madame and Mademoiselle
+de Meulan. Have you not a very excellent and amiable young man (another
+of the few who are consoled by elevation and purity of mind), the nephew
+of M. Hocher, residing under the same roof with yourself? If so, I beg
+you to recall me to his remembrance, and through him to that of his
+uncle, from whom I expect, with much anxiety, an answer upon a matter of
+the greatest interest to the uncle of my son-in-law, in the installation
+of the Imperial Courts. But nothing has arrived by the post.
+
+I shall say nothing to you of our good and estimable friends of the
+Place Louis Quinze, for I am going to write to them directly.
+
+But it has just occurred to me to entreat a favour of you before I close
+my letter. When, in your precepts to youth, you arrive at the chapter
+and age which treats of the choice of a profession, I implore you to
+insert something to this effect: "If your vocation leads you to be a
+publisher or editor of any work, moral, political, or historical, it
+matters not which, do not consider yourself at liberty to mutilate an
+author without his previous knowledge, and above all, one who is
+tenacious of the inviolability of his text more from conscience than
+self-love. If you mutilate him on your own responsibility, which is
+tolerably bold, do not believe that you are permitted to substitute a
+fictitious member of your own construction for the living one you have
+lopped off; and be cautious lest, without being aware of it, you replace
+an arm of flesh by a wooden leg. But break up all your presses rather
+than make him say, under the seal of his own signature, the contrary of
+what he has written, thought, or felt. To do this is an offence almost
+amounting to a moral crime." I write more at length on this topic to my
+friends of the Place Louis Quinze, and I beg you to speak to none but
+them of my enigma, which assuredly you have already solved; I hope that
+what has now offended and vexed me will not happen again. In saying what
+was necessary, I used very guarded expressions. I do not wish a rupture,
+the vengeance of which might fall on cherished memories or living
+friends. My letter has taken a very serious turn; I little thought, when
+I began, that it would lead me to this conclusion. I feel that I am in
+conversation with you, and carried away by full confidence. It is most
+gratifying to me to have added an involuntary proof of this sentiment to
+the spontaneous expression of all those with which you have so deeply
+inspired me, and the assurance of which I have the honour to repeat,
+accompanied by my sincere salutations.
+
+LALLY-TOLENDAL.
+
+P.S. Allow me to enclose the addresses for the two subscriptions.
+
+
+
+
+No. III.
+
+
+_Discourse delivered by M. GUIZOT, on the opening of his first Course of
+Lectures on Modern History. December 11th, 1812._
+
+A statesman equally celebrated for his character and misfortunes, Sir
+Walter Raleigh, had published the first part of a 'History of the
+World;' while confined in the Tower, he employed himself in finishing
+the second. A quarrel arose in one of the courts of the prison; he
+looked on attentively at the contest, which became sanguinary, and left
+the window with his imagination strongly impressed by the scene that had
+passed under his eyes. On the morrow a friend came to visit him, and
+related what had occurred. But great was his surprise when this friend,
+who had been present at and even engaged in the occurrence of the
+preceding day, proved to him that this event, in its result as well as
+in its particulars, was precisely the contrary of what he had believed
+he saw. Raleigh, when left alone, took up his manuscript and threw it in
+the fire; convinced that, as he had been so completely deceived with
+respect to the details of an incident he had actually witnessed, he
+could know nothing whatever of those he had just described with his pen.
+
+Are we better informed or more fortunate than Sir Walter Raleigh? The
+most confident historian would hesitate to answer this question directly
+in the affirmative. History relates a long series of events, and depicts
+a vast number of characters; and let us recollect, gentlemen, the
+difficulty of thoroughly understanding a single character or a solitary
+event. Montaigne, after having passed his life in self-study, was
+continually making new discoveries on his own nature; he has filled a
+long work with them, and ends by saying, "Man is a subject so
+diversified, so uncertain and vain, that it is difficult to pronounce
+any fixed and uniform opinion on him." He is, in fact, an obscure
+compound of an infinity of ideas and sentiments, which change and modify
+themselves reciprocally, and of which it is as difficult to disentangle
+the sources as to foresee the results. An uncertain produce of a
+multiplicity of circumstances, sometimes impenetrable, always
+complicated, often unknown to the person influenced by them, and not
+even suspected by those who surround him, man scarcely learns how to
+know himself, and is never more than guessed at by others. The simplest
+mind, if it attempted to examine and describe itself, would impart to us
+a thousand secrets, of which we have not the most remote suspicion. And
+how many different men are comprised in an event! how many whose
+characters have influenced that event, and have modified its nature,
+progress, and effects! Bring together circumstances in perfect
+accordance; suppose situations exactly similar: let a single actor
+change, and all is changed. He is urged by fresh motives, and desires
+new objects. Take the same actors, and alter but one of those
+circumstances independent of human will, which are called chance or
+destiny; and all is changed again. It is from this infinity of details,
+where everything is obscure, and nothing isolated, that history is
+composed; and man, proud of what he knows, because he forgets to think
+of how much he is ignorant, believes that he has acquired a full
+knowledge of history when he has read what some few have told him, who
+had no better means of understanding the times in which they lived, than
+we possess of justly estimating our own.
+
+What then are we to seek and find in the darkness of the past, which
+thickens as it recedes from us? If Caesar, Sallust, or Tacitus have only
+been able to transmit doubtful and imperfect notions, can we rely on
+what they relate? And if we are not to trust them, how are we to supply
+ourselves with information? Shall we be capable of disembarrassing our
+minds of those ideas and manners, and of that new existence, which a new
+order of things has produced, to adopt momentarily in our thoughts other
+manners and ideas, and a different character of being? Must we learn to
+become Greeks, Romans, or Barbarians, in order to understand these
+Romans, Barbarians, or Greeks, before we venture to judge them? And even
+if we could attain this difficult abnegation of an actual and imperious
+reality, should we become then as well acquainted with the history of
+the times of which they tell us, as were Caesar, Sallust, or Tacitus?
+After being thus transported to the midst of the world they describe, we
+should find gaps in their delineations, of which we have at present no
+conception, and of which they were not always sensible themselves. That
+multiplicity of facts which, grouped together and viewed from a
+distance, appear to fill time and space, would present to us, if we
+found ourselves placed on the ground they occupy, as voids which we
+should find it impossible to fill up, and which the historians leave
+there designedly, because he who relates or describes what he sees, to
+others who see equally with himself, never feels called upon to
+recapitulate all that he knows.
+
+Let us therefore refrain from supposing that history can present to us,
+in reality, an exact picture of the past; the world is too extensive,
+the night of time too obscure, and man too weak for such a portrait to
+be ever a complete reflection.
+
+But can it be true that such important knowledge is entirely interdicted
+to us?--that in what we can acquire, all is a subject of doubt and
+error? Does the mind only enlighten itself to increase its wavering?
+Does it develope all its strength, merely to end in a confession of
+ignorance?--a painful and disheartening idea, which many men of superior
+intellect have encountered in their course, but by which they ought
+never to have been impeded!
+
+Man seldom asks himself what he really requires to know, in his ardent
+pursuit of knowledge; he need only cast a glance upon his studies, to
+discover two divisions, the difference between which is striking,
+although we may be unable to assign the boundaries that separate them.
+Everywhere we perceive a certain innocent but futile labour, which
+attaches itself to questions and inquiries equally inaccessible and
+without results--which has no other object than to satisfy the restless
+curiosity of minds, the first want of which is occupation; and
+everywhere, also, we observe useful, productive, and interesting
+inquiry, not only advantageous to those who indulge in it, but
+beneficial to human nature at large. What time and talent have men
+wasted in metaphysical lucubrations! They have sought to penetrate the
+internal nature of things, of the mind, and of matter; they have taken
+purely vague combinations of words for substantial realities; but these
+very researches, or others which have arisen out of them, have
+enlightened us upon the order of our faculties, the laws by which they
+are governed, and the progress of their development; we have acquired
+from thence a history, a statistic of the human mind; and if no one has
+been able to tell us what it is, we have at least learned how it acts,
+and how we ought to act to strengthen its justice and extend its range.
+
+Was not the study of astronomy for a long time directed to the dreams of
+astrology? Gassendi himself began to investigate it with that view; and
+when science cured him of the prejudices of superstition, he repented
+that he so openly declared his conversion, because, he said, many
+persons formerly studied astronomy to become astrologers, and he now
+perceived that they ceased to learn astronomy, since he had condemned
+astrology. Who then can prove to us that, without the restlessness of
+anticipation which had led men to seek the future in the stars, the
+science, by which today our ships are directed, would ever have reached
+its present perfection?
+
+It is thus that we shall ever find, in the labours of man, one half
+fruitless, by the side of another moiety profitable; we shall then no
+longer condemn the curiosity which leads to knowledge; we shall
+acknowledge that, if the human mind often wanders in its path, if it has
+not always selected the most direct road, it has finally arrived, by the
+necessity of its nature, at the discovery of important truths; but, with
+progressive enlightenment, we shall endeavour not to lose time, to go
+straight to the end by concentrating our strength on fruitful inquiries
+and profitable results; and we shall soon convince ourselves that what
+man cannot do is valueless, and that he can achieve all that is
+necessary.
+
+The application of this idea to history will soon remove the difficulty
+which its uncertainty raised at the outset. For example, it is of little
+consequence to us to know the exact personal appearance or the precise
+day of the birth of Constantine; to ascertain what particular motives or
+individual feelings may have influenced his determination or conduct on
+any given occasion; to be acquainted with all the details of his wars
+and victories in the struggles with Maxentius or Licinius: these minor
+points concern the monarch alone; and the monarch exists no longer. The
+anxiety some scholars display in hunting them out is merely a
+consequence of the interest which attaches to great names and important
+reminiscences. But the results of the conversion of Constantine, his
+administrative system, the political and religious principles which he
+established in his empire,--these are the matters which it imports the
+present generation to investigate; for they do not expire with a
+particular age, they form the destiny and glory of nations, they confer
+or take away the use of the most noble faculties of man; they either
+plunge them silently into a state of misery alternately submissive and
+rebellious, or establish for them the foundation of a lasting
+happiness.
+
+It may be said, to a certain extent, that there are two pasts, the one
+entirely extinct and without real interest, because its influence has
+not extended beyond its actual duration; the other enduring for ever by
+the empire it has exercised over succeeding ages, and by that alone
+preserved to our knowledge, since what remains of it is there to
+enlighten us upon what has perished. History presents us, at every
+epoch, with some predominant ideas, some great events which have decided
+the fortune and character of a long series of generations. These ideas
+and events have left monuments which still remain, or which long
+remained, on the face of the world; an extended trace, in perpetuating
+the memory and effect of their existence, has multiplied the materials
+suitable for our guidance in the researches of which they are the
+object; reason itself can here supply us with its positive data to
+conduct us through the uncertain labyrinth of facts. In a past event
+there may have been some particular circumstance at present unknown,
+which would completely alter the idea we have formed of it. Thus, we
+shall never discover the reason which delayed Hannibal at Capua, and
+saved Rome; but in an effect which has endured for a long time, we
+easily ascertain the nature of its cause. The despotic authority which
+the Roman Senate exercised for ages over the people, explains to us the
+ideas of liberty within which the Senators restricted themselves when
+they expelled their kings. Let us then follow the path in which we can
+have reason for our guide; let us apply the principles, with which she
+furnishes us, to the examples borrowed from history. Man, in the
+ignorance and weakness to which the narrow limits of his life and
+faculties condemn him, has received reason to supply knowledge, as
+industry is given to him in place of strength.
+
+Such, gentlemen, is the point of view under which we shall endeavour to
+contemplate history. We shall seek, in the annals of nations, a
+knowledge of the human race; we shall try to discover what, in every age
+and state of civilization, have been the prevailing ideas and
+principles in general adoption, which have produced the happiness or
+misery of the generations subjected to their power, and have influenced
+the destiny of those which succeeded them. The subject is one of the
+most abundant in considerations of this nature. History presents to us
+periods of development, during which man, emerging from a state of
+barbarism and ignorance, arrives gradually at a condition of science and
+advancement, which may decline, but can never perish, for knowledge is
+an inheritance that always finds heirs. The civilization of the
+Egyptians and Phoenicians prepared that of the Greeks; while that of
+the Romans was not lost to the barbarians who established themselves
+upon the ruins of the Empire. No preceding age has ever enjoyed the
+advantage we possess, of studying this slow but real progression: while
+looking back on the past, we can recognize the route which the human
+race has followed in Europe for more than two thousand years. Modern
+history alone, from its vast scope, from the variety and extent of its
+duration, offers us the grandest and most complete picture which we
+could possibly possess of the civilization of a certain portion of the
+globe. A rapid glance will suffice to indicate the character and
+interest of the subject.
+
+Rome had conquered what her pride delighted to call the world. Western
+Asia, from the frontiers of Persia, the North of Africa, Greece,
+Macedonia, Thrace, all the countries situated on the right bank of the
+Danube, from its source to its mouth, Italy, Gaul, Great Britain, and
+Spain, acknowledged her authority. That authority extended over more
+than a thousand leagues in breadth, from the Wall of Antoninus and the
+southern boundaries of Dacia, to Mount Atlas;--and beyond fifteen
+hundred leagues in length, from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. But
+if the immense extent of these conquests at first surprises the
+imagination, the astonishment diminishes when we consider how easy they
+were of accomplishment, and how uncertain of duration. In Asia, Rome
+had only to contend with effeminate races; in Europe, with ignorant
+savages, whose governments, without union, regularity, or vigour, were
+unable to contend with the strong constitution of the Roman aristocracy.
+Let us pause a moment to reflect on this. Rome found it more difficult
+to defend herself against Hannibal than to subjugate the world; and as
+soon as the world was subdued, Rome began to lose, by degrees, all that
+she had won by conquest. How could she maintain her power? The
+comparative state of civilization between the victors and the vanquished
+had prevented union or consolidation into one substantial and
+homogeneous whole; there was no extended and regular administration, no
+general and safe communication; the provinces were only connected with
+Rome by the tribute they paid; Rome was unknown in the provinces, except
+by the tribute she exacted. Everywhere, in Asia Minor, in Africa, in
+Spain, in Britain, in the North of Gallia, small colonies defended and
+maintained their independence; all the power of the Emperors was
+inadequate to compel the submission of the Isaurians. The whole formed a
+chaos of nations half vanquished and semi-barbarous, without interest or
+existence in the State of which they were considered a portion, and
+which Rome denominated the Empire.
+
+No sooner was this Empire conquered, than it began to dissolve, and that
+haughty city which looked upon every region as subdued where she could,
+by maintaining an army, appoint a proconsul, and levy imposts, soon saw
+herself compelled to abandon, almost voluntarily, the possessions she
+was unable to retain. In the year of Christ 270, Aurelian retired from
+Dacia, and tacitly abandoned that territory to the Goths; in 412,
+Honorius recognized the independence of Great Britain and Armorica; in
+428, he wished the inhabitants of Gallia Narbonensis to govern
+themselves. On all sides we see the Romans abandoning, without being
+driven out, countries whose obedience, according to the expression of
+Montesquieu, _weighed upon them_, and which, never having been
+incorporated with the Empire, were sure to separate from it on the first
+shock.
+
+The shock came from a quarter which the Romans, notwithstanding their
+pride, had never considered one of their provinces. Even more barbarous
+than the Gauls, the Britons, and the Spaniards, the Germans had never
+been conquered, because their innumerable tribes, without fixed
+residences or country, ever ready to advance or retreat, sometimes threw
+themselves, with their wives and flocks, upon the possessions of Rome,
+and at others retired before her armies, leaving nothing for conquest
+but a country without inhabitants, which they re-occupied as soon as the
+weakness or distance of the conquerors afforded them the opportunity. It
+is to this wandering life of a hunting nation, to this facility of
+flight and return, rather than to superior bravery, that the Germans
+were indebted for the preservation of their independence. The Gauls and
+Spaniards had also defended themselves courageously; but the one,
+surrounded by the ocean, knew not where to fly from enemies they could
+not expel; and the other, in a state of more advanced civilization,
+attacked by the Romans, to whom the Narbonnese province afforded, in the
+very heart of Gaul itself, an impregnable base, and repulsed by the
+Germans from the land into which they might have escaped, were also
+compelled to submit. Drusus and Germanicus had long before penetrated
+into Germany; they withdrew, because the Germans always retreating
+before them, they would, by remaining, have only occupied territory
+without subjects.
+
+When, from causes not connected with the Roman Empire, the Tartar tribes
+who wandered through the deserts of Sarmatia and Scythia, from the
+northern frontiers of China, marched upon Germany, the Germans, pressed
+by these new invaders, threw themselves upon the Roman provinces, to
+conquer possessions where they might establish themselves in
+perpetuity. Rome then fought in defence; the struggle was protracted;
+the skill and courage of some of the Emperors for a long time opposed a
+powerful barrier; but the Barbarians were the ultimate conquerors,
+because it was imperative on them to win the victory, and their swarms
+of warriors were inexhaustible. The Visigoths, the Alani, and the Suevi
+established themselves in the South, of Gaul and Spain; the Vandals
+passed over into Africa; the Huns occupied the banks of the Danube; the
+Ostrogoths founded their kingdom in Italy; the Franks in the North of
+Gaul; Rome ceased to call herself the mistress of Europe; Constantinople
+does not apply to our present subject.
+
+Those nations of the East and the North who transported themselves in a
+mass into the countries where they were destined to found States, the
+more durable because they conquered not to extend but to establish
+themselves, were barbarians, such as the Romans themselves had long
+remained. Force was their law, savage independence their delight; they
+were free because none of them had ever thought or believed that men as
+strong as themselves would submit to their domination; they were brave
+because courage with them was a necessity; they loved war because war
+brings occupation without labour; they desired lands because these new
+possessions supplied them with a thousand novel sources of enjoyment,
+which they could indulge in while giving themselves up to idleness. They
+had chiefs because men leagued together always have leaders, and because
+the bravest, ever held in high consideration, soon become the most
+powerful, and bequeath to their descendants a portion of their own
+personal influence. These chiefs became kings; the old subjects of Rome,
+who at first had only been called upon to receive, to lodge, and feed
+their new masters, were soon compelled to surrender to them a portion of
+their estates; and as the labourer, as well as the plant, attaches
+himself to the soil that nourishes him, the lands and the labourers
+became the property of these turbulent and lazy owners. Thus feudalism
+was established,--not suddenly, not by an express convention between the
+chief and his followers, not by an immediate and regular division of the
+conquered country amongst the conquerors, but by degrees, after long
+years of uncertainty, by the simple force of circumstances, as must
+always happen when conquest is followed by transplantation and continued
+possession.
+
+We should be wrong in supposing that the barbarians were destitute of
+all moral convictions. Man, in that early epoch of civilization, does
+not reflect upon what we call duties; but he knows and respects, amongst
+his fellow-beings, certain rights, some traces of which are discoverable
+even under the empire of the most absolute force. A simple code of
+justice, often violated, and cruelly avenged, regulates the simple
+intercourse of associated savages. The Germans, unacquainted with any
+other laws or ties, found themselves suddenly transported into the midst
+of an order of things founded on different ideas, and demanding
+different restrictions. This gave them no trouble; their passage was too
+rapid to enable them to ascertain and supply what was deficient in their
+legislature and policy. Bestowing little thought on their new subjects,
+they continued to follow the same principles and customs which recently,
+in the forests of Germany, had regulated their conduct and decided their
+quarrels. Thus the conquered people were, at first, more forgotten than
+vanquished, more despised than oppressed; they constituted the mass of
+the nation, and this mass found itself controlled without being reduced
+to servitude, because they were not thought of, and because the
+conquerors never suspected that they could possess rights which they
+feared to defend. From thence sprang, in the sequel, that long disorder
+at the commencement of the Middle Ages, during which everything was
+isolated, fortuitous, and partial; hence also proceeded the absolute
+separation between the nobles and the people, and those abuses of the
+feudal system which only became portions of a system when long
+possession had caused to be looked upon as a right, what at first was
+only the produce of conquest and chance.
+
+The clergy alone, to whom the conversion of the victors afforded the
+means of acquiring a power so much the greater that its force and extent
+could only be judged by the opinion it directed, maintained their
+privileges, and secured their independence. The religion which the
+Germans embraced became the only channel through which they derived new
+ideas, the sole point of contact between them and the inhabitants of
+their adopted country. The clergy, at first, thought only of their own
+interest; in this mode of communication, all the immediate advantages of
+the invasion of the barbarians were reaped by them for themselves. The
+liberal and beneficent influences of Christianity expanded slowly; that
+of religious animosity and theological dispute was the first to make
+itself felt. It was only in the class occupied by those dissensions, and
+excited by those rancorous feelings, that energetic men were yet to be
+found in the Roman Empire; religious sentiments and duties had revived,
+in hearts penetrated with their importance, a degree of zeal long
+extinguished. St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose had alone resisted
+Constantine and Theodosius; their successors were the sole opponents who
+withstood the barbarians. This gave rise to the long empire of spiritual
+power, sustained with devotion and perseverance, and so weakly or
+fruitlessly assailed. We may say now, without fear, that the noblest
+characters, the men most distinguished by their ability or courage,
+throughout this period of misfortune and calamity, belonged to the
+ecclesiastical order; and no other epoch of history supplies, in such a
+remarkable manner, the confirmation of this truth, so honourable to
+human nature, and perhaps the most instructive of all others,--that the
+most exalted virtues still spring up and develope themselves in the
+bosom of the most pernicious errors.
+
+To these general features, intended to depict the ideas, manners, and
+conditions of men during the Middle Ages, it would be easy to add
+others, not less characteristic, and infinitely more minute. We should
+find poetry and literature, those beautiful and delightful emanations of
+the mind, the seeds of which have never been choked by all the follies
+and miseries of humanity, take birth in the very heart of barbarism, and
+charm the barbarians themselves by a new species of enjoyment. We should
+find the source and true character of that poetical, warlike, and
+religious enthusiasm which created chivalry and the crusades. We should
+probably discover, in the wandering lives of the knights and crusaders,
+the reflected influence of the roving habits of the German hunters, of
+that propensity to remove, and that superabundance of population, which
+ever exist where social order is not sufficiently well regulated for man
+to feel satisfied with his condition and locality; and before laborious
+industry has taught him to compel the earth to supply him with certain
+and abundant subsistence. Perhaps, also, that principle of honour which
+inviolably attached the German barbarians to a leader of their own
+choice, that individual liberty of which it was the fruit, and which
+gives man such an elevated idea of his own individual importance; that
+empire of the imagination which obtains such control over all young
+nations, and induces them to attempt the first steps beyond physical
+wants and purely material incitements, might furnish us with the causes
+of the elevation, enthusiasm, and devotion which, sometimes detaching
+the nobles of the Middle Ages from their habitual rudeness, inspired
+them with the noble sentiments and virtues that even in the present day
+command our admiration. We should then feel little surprised at seeing
+barbarity and heroism united, so much energy combined with so much
+weakness, and the natural coarseness of man in a savage state blended
+with the most sublime aspirations of moral refinement.
+
+It was reserved for the latter half of the fifteenth century to witness
+the birth of events destined to introduce new manners and a fresh order
+of politics into Europe, and to lead the world towards the direction it
+follows at present. Italy, we may say, discovered the civilization of
+the Greeks; the letters, arts, and ideas of that brilliant antiquity
+inspired universal enthusiasm. The long quarrels of the Italian
+Republics, after having forced men to display their utmost energy, made
+them also feel the necessity of a period of repose ennobled and charmed
+by the occupations of the mind. The study of classic literature supplied
+the means; they were seized with ardour. Popes, cardinals, princes,
+nobles, and men of genius gave themselves up to learned researches; they
+wrote to each other, they travelled to communicate their mutual labours,
+to discover, to read, and to copy ancient manuscripts. The discovery of
+printing came to render these communications easy and prompt; to make
+this commerce of the mind extended and prolific. No other event has so
+powerfully influenced human civilization. Books became a tribune from
+which the world was addressed. That world was soon doubled. The compass
+opened safe roads across the monotonous immensity of the seas. America
+was discovered; and the sight of new manners, the agitation of new
+interests which were no longer the trifling concerns of one town or
+castle with another, but the great transactions of mighty powers,
+changed entirely the ideas of individuals and the political intercourse
+of States.
+
+The invention of gunpowder had already altered their military relations;
+the issue of battles no longer depended on the isolated bravery of
+warriors, but on the power and skill of leaders. It has not yet been
+sufficiently investigated to what extent this discovery has secured
+monarchical authority, and given rise to the balance of power.
+
+Finally, the Reformation struck a deadly blow against spiritual
+supremacy, the consequences of which are attributable to the bold
+examination of the theological questions and political shocks which led
+to the separation of religious sects, rather than to the new dogmas
+adopted by the Reformers as the foundation of their belief.
+
+Figure to yourselves, gentlemen, the effect which these united causes
+were calculated to produce in the midst of the fermentation by which the
+human species was at that time excited, in the progress of the
+superabundant energy and activity which characterized the Middle Ages.
+From that time, this activity, so long unregulated, began to organize
+itself and advance towards a defined object; this energy submitted to
+laws; isolation disappeared; the human race formed itself into one great
+body; public opinion assumed influence; and if an age of civil wars, of
+religious dissensions, presents the lengthened echo of that powerful
+shock which towards the end of the fifteenth century staggered Europe,
+under so many different forms, it is not the less to the ideas and
+discoveries which produced that blow that we are indebted for the two
+centuries of splendour, order, and peace during which civilization has
+reached the point where we find it in the present day.
+
+This is not the place to follow the march of human nature during these
+two centuries. That history is so extensive, and composed of so many
+relations, alternately vast and minute, but always important; of so many
+events closely connected, brought about by causes so mixed together, and
+causes in their turn productive of such numerous effects, of so many
+different labours, that it is impossible to recapitulate them within a
+limited compass. Never have so many powerful and neighbouring States
+exercised upon each other such constant and complicated influence; never
+has their interior structure presented so many ramifications to study;
+never has the human mind advanced at once upon so many different roads;
+never have so many events, actors, and ideas been engaged in such an
+extended space, or produced such interesting and instructive results.
+Perhaps on some future occasion we may enter into this maze, and look
+for the clew to guide us through it. Called upon, at present, to study
+the first ages of modern history, we shall seek for their cradle in the
+forests of Germany, the country of our ancestors; after having drawn a
+picture of their manners, as complete as the number of facts which have
+reached our knowledge, the actual state of our information, and my
+efforts to reach that level will permit, we shall then cast a glance
+upon the condition of the Roman Empire at the moment when the barbarians
+invaded it to attempt establishment; after that we shall investigate the
+long struggles which ensued between them and Rome, from their irruption
+into the West and South of Europe, down to the foundation of the
+principal modern monarchies. This foundation will thus become for us a
+resting-point, from whence we shall depart again to follow the course of
+the history of Europe, which is in fact our own; for if unity, the fruit
+of the Roman dominion, disappeared with it, there are always,
+nevertheless, between the different nations which rose upon its ruins,
+relations so multiplied, so continued, and so important, that from them,
+in the whole of modern history taken together, an actual unity results
+which we shall be compelled to acknowledge. This task is enormous; and
+when we contemplate its full extent, it is impossible not to recoil
+before the difficulty. Judge then, gentlemen, whether I ought not to
+tremble at such an undertaking; but your indulgence and zeal will make
+up for the weakness of my resources: I shall be more than repaid if I am
+able to assist you in advancing even a few steps on the road which leads
+to truth!
+
+
+
+
+No. IV.
+
+THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_March 31st, 1815._
+
+
+I am not, my dear Sir, so lost to my friends that I have forgotten their
+friendship: yours has had many charms for me. I do not reproach myself
+with the poor trick I have played you. Your age does not run a long
+lease with mine. We can only show the public the objects worthy of their
+confidence; and I congratulate myself with having left them an
+impression of you which will not readily be effaced. I have been less
+fortunate on my own account, and can only deplore that fatality which
+has triumphed over my convictions, my repugnances, and the immeasurable
+consolations which friendship has bestowed on me. Let my example be
+profitable to you on some future occasion. Give to public affairs the
+period of your strength, but not that which requires repose alone; the
+interval will be long enough, at your time of life, to enable you to
+arrive at much distinction. I shall enjoy it with the interest which you
+know I feel, and with all the warm feelings with which your attachment
+has inspired me. Present my respects to Madame Guizot; it is to her I
+offer my apologies for having disturbed her tranquillity. But I hope her
+infant will profit by the strong food we have already administered to
+it. Allow me to request some token of remembrance from her as well as
+from yourself, for all the sentiments of respect and friendship I have
+vowed to you for life.
+
+
+THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+_Plaisance, June 8th, 1816._
+
+I was expecting to hear from you, my dear friend, with much impatience,
+and I now thank you sincerely for having written to me. It was not that
+I doubted your philosophy; you know that those who precede their age
+learn too soon the uncertainty of all human affairs; but I feared lest
+your taste for your early avocations might induce you to abandon public
+affairs, for which you have evinced such ready ability; and we are not
+rich enough to make sacrifices. I feel very happy at being satisfied on
+this point, and leave the rest to the caprices of that destiny which can
+scarcely be harsh towards you. You will be distinguished at the Council,
+as you have been in all other situations; and it must naturally follow,
+that the better you are known, your career will become the more
+brilliant and secure. Youth, which feels its power, ought always to say,
+with the Cardinal de Bernis, "My Lord, I shall wait." The more I see of
+France, the more I am impressed with the truth, that those who believe
+they have secured the State by compromising the royal authority in these
+distant departments, have committed a mistake. All that are honest and
+rational are royalists; but, thanks to our own dissensions, they no
+longer know how to show themselves such. They thought until then, that
+to serve the King was to do what he required through the voice of his
+ministers, and they have been lately told that this was an error, but
+they have been left in ignorance as to who are his Majesty's real
+organs. The enemies to our repose profit by this. The most absurd
+stories are propagated amongst the people, and all are the people at so
+great a distance. I can imagine that the character of these disturbers
+varies in our different provinces. In this, where we have no large
+towns, and no aristocracy, we lie at the mercy of all who pretend to
+know more than ourselves. Great credit thus attaches to the Half-pays,
+who, belonging more to the people than to any other class, and not being
+able to digest their last disappointment, trade upon it in every
+possible manner, and are always believed because they are the richest in
+their immediate locality. The gentlemen Deputies come next upon the
+list, estimating themselves as little proconsuls, disposing of all
+places, and setting aside prefects. Thus you see how little authority
+remains with the King, whose agents are masters and do nothing in his
+name. As to the administration of justice, you may readily suppose that
+no one thinks of it. The people are in want of bread; their harvest rots
+under continual rains; the roads are horrible, the hospitals in the
+greatest misery; nothing remains but dismissals, accusations, and
+deputations. If you could change them for a little royal authority, we
+might still see the end of our sufferings; but make haste, for when the
+month of October has arrived it will be too late.
+
+Adieu, my dear friend, present my respects to Madame Guizot, and receive
+the fullest assurance of my good wishes.
+
+
+
+
+No. V.
+
+_Fragments selected from a Pamphlet by_ M. GUIZOT, _entitled 'Thoughts
+upon the Liberty of the Press,' 1814._
+
+
+Many of the calamities of France, calamities which might be indefinitely
+prolonged if they were not attacked at their source, arise, as I have
+just said, from the ignorance to which the French people have been
+condemned as to the affairs and position of the State, to the system of
+falsehood adopted by a Government which required everything to be
+concealed, and to the indifference and suspicion with which this
+habitual deceit and falsehood had inspired the citizens. It is truth,
+therefore, which ought to appear in broad daylight; it is obscurity
+which ought to be dissipated, if we wish to re-establish confidence and
+revive zeal. It will not suffice that the intentions of Government
+should be good, or its words sincere; it is requisite that the people
+should be convinced of this, and should be supplied with the means of
+satisfying themselves. When we have been for a long time tricked by an
+impostor, we become doubtful even of an honest man; and all our proverbs
+on the melancholy suspicion of old age are founded on this truth ...
+
+The nation, so long deceived, expects the truth from every quarter; at
+present, it has a hope of accomplishing this object. It demands it with
+anxiety from its representatives, its administrators, and from all who
+are believed capable of imparting it. The more it has been withheld up
+to this period, the more precious it will be considered. There will be
+this advantage, that it will be hailed with transport by the people as
+soon as they satisfy themselves that it may be trusted; and there will
+be a corresponding evil,--they will listen to it without fear, when they
+discover that they are left in freedom to deliver their opinions, and to
+labour openly in its support. No one questions the embarrassments which
+truth will dissipate, or the references it will supply. A nation from
+whom it has been sedulously withheld, soon believes that something
+hostile is in agitation, and recoils back into mistrust. But when the
+truth is openly manifested, when a Government displays a noble
+confidence in its own sentiments and in the good feeling of its
+subjects, this confidence excites theirs in return, and calls up all
+their zeal.... The French, certain to understand, and quick to utter
+truth, will soon abandon that injurious tendency to suspicion which
+leads them from all esteem for their head, and all devotion to the
+State. The most indifferent spirits will resume an interest in public
+affairs, when they discover that they can take a part in them; the most
+apprehensive will cease their fears when they cease to live in clouds;
+they will no longer be continually occupied in calculating how much they
+should reject out of the speeches that are addressed to them, the
+recitals delivered and the portions presented for investigation; or how
+much artifice, dangerous intention, or afterthought remains hidden in
+all that proceeds from the throne.... An extended liberty of the press
+can alone, while restoring confidence, give back that energy to the King
+and the people which neither can dispense with: it is the life of the
+soul that requires to be revived in the nation in which it has been
+extinguished by despotism; that life lies in the free action of the
+press, and thought can only expand and develope itself in full
+publicity. No one in France can longer dread the oppression under which
+we have lived for ten years; but if the want of action which weakness
+engenders were to succeed that which tyranny imposes;--if the weight of
+a terrible and mute agitation should be replaced only by the languor of
+repose, we should never witness a renewal in France of that national
+activity, that brave and generous disposition which makes many
+sacrifices to duty;--finally, of that confidence in the sovereign, the
+necessity of which will be more acknowledged every day. We should merely
+obtain from the nation a barren tranquillity, the insufficiency of which
+would compel recourse to measures evil in themselves, and very far
+removed from the paternal intentions of the King.
+
+Let us, on the contrary, adopt a system of liberty and frankness; let
+truth circulate freely from the throne to the people, and from the
+people to the throne; let the paths be opened to those who ought to
+speak freely, and to others who desire to learn; we shall then see
+apathy dissipate, suspicion vanish, and loyalty become general and
+spontaneous, from the certainty of its necessity and usefulness.
+
+Unfortunately, during the twenty-five years which have recently elapsed,
+we have so deplorably abused many advantages, that, at present, to name
+them suffices to excite the most deplorable apprehensions. We are not
+inclined to take into consideration the difference of the times, of
+situation, of the march of opinion, or of the temperament of men's
+minds: we look upon as always dangerous what has once proved fatal; we
+think and act as mothers might do, who, because they saw the infant
+fall, would prevent the youth from walking.... This inclination is
+general; we retrace it under every form; and those who have closely
+observed it will have little trouble in satisfying themselves that
+perfect liberty of the press, at least with regard to political
+questions, would, in the present day, be almost without danger. Those
+who fear it fancy themselves still at the beginning of the
+Revolution--at that epoch when all passions sought only to display
+themselves, when violence was the popular characteristic, and reason
+obtained only a contemptuous smile. Nothing can be more dissimilar than
+that time and the present; and, from the very cause that unlicensed
+freedom then gave rise to the most disastrous evils, we may infer,
+unless I deceive myself, that very few would now spring from the same
+source.
+
+Nevertheless, as many people appear to dread such a result; as I am
+unwilling to affirm that the experiment might not be followed by certain
+inconveniences, more mischievous from the fear they would inspire than
+from the actual consequences they might introduce;--as in the state in
+which we find ourselves, without a guide in the experience of the past,
+or certain data for the future, it is natural that we should advance
+cautiously; and as the spirit of the nation seems to indicate that in
+every respect circumspection is necessary, the opinions of those who
+think that some restrictions should be imposed, ought, perhaps, to
+prevail. For twenty-five years the nation has been so utterly a stranger
+to habits of true liberty, it has passed through so many different forms
+of despotism, and the last was felt to be so oppressive, that, in
+restoring freedom, we may dread inexperience more than impetuosity; it
+would not dream of attack, but it might prove unequal to defence; in the
+midst of the necessity for order and peace which is universally felt, in
+the midst of a collision of opposing interests which must be carefully
+dealt with, Government may wish, and with reason, to avoid the
+appearance of clashing and disturbance, which might probably be without
+importance, but the danger of which would be exaggerated by imagination.
+
+The question then reduces itself to this:--What are, under existing
+circumstances, the causes which call for a certain restraint in the
+liberty of the press? and by what restrictions, conformable to the
+nature of these causes, can we modify without destroying its freedom?
+and how shall we gradually remove these qualifications, for the present
+considered necessary?
+
+All liberty is placed between oppression and license: the liberty of man
+in the social state is necessarily restrained by certain laws, the abuse
+or oblivion of which are equally dangerous; but the circumstances which
+expose society to either of these perils are different. In a
+well-established government, solidly constituted, the danger against
+which the friends of liberty have to contend is oppression: all is there
+combined for the maintenance of law; all tends to support vigorous
+discipline, against which every individual labours to retain the share
+of freedom which is his due; the function of government is to support
+order; that of the governed to watch over liberty.
+
+The state of things is entirely different in a government only
+commencing. If it follows a period of misfortune and disturbance, during
+which morality and reason have been equally perverted,--when passions
+have been indulged without curb, when private interests have been
+paraded without shame,--then oppression falls within the number of
+dangers which are only to be anticipated, while license is that which
+must be directly opposed. Our Government has not yet attained its full
+strength; it is not yet possessed of all the means which are to be
+placed at its disposal to maintain order and rule: before acquiring all,
+it will be careful not to abuse any; and the governed, who are still
+without some of the advantages of order, wish to possess all those of
+confusion. They are not yet sufficiently sure of their own tranquillity,
+to abstain from attacking that of others. Every one is ready to inflict
+the blow he is exposed to receive; we offend with impunity the laws
+which have not yet foreseen all the methods that may be adopted to elude
+them; we brave without danger the authorities which cannot yet appeal,
+in their own support, to the experience of the happiness enjoyed under
+their auspices. It is, then, against particular attempts that constant
+watch should be kept; thus it becomes necessary to protect liberty from
+the outrages of license, and sometimes to prevent a strong government
+from being reduced to defence when uncertain of commanding obedience.
+
+Thus, unrestricted liberty of the press, without detrimental
+consequences in a state of government free, happy, and strongly
+constituted, might prove injurious under a system only commencing, and
+in which the citizens have still to acquire liberty and prosperity. In
+the first case there is no danger in allowing freedom of thought and
+utterance to all, because, if the order of things is good, the great
+majority of the members of society will be disposed to support it, and
+also because the nation, enlightened by its actual happiness, will not
+be easily drawn to the pursuit of something always represented as
+better, but ever uncertain of acquirement. In the second case, on the
+contrary, the passions and interests of many individuals, differing in
+themselves, and all, more or less, abstracted from any feeling for the
+public good, are neither instructed by prosperity nor enlightened by
+experience; there exist therefore in the nation very few barriers
+against the plotters of evil, while in the government there are many
+gaps through which disorder may introduce itself: every species of
+ambition revives, and none can tell on what point to settle; all seek
+their place, without being sure of finding it; common sense, which
+invents nothing, but knows how to select, has no fixed rule upon which
+to act; the bewildered multitude, who are directed by nothing and have
+not yet learned to direct themselves, know not what guide to follow; and
+in the midst of so many contradictory ideas, and incapable of separating
+truth from falsehood, the least evil that can happen is, that they may
+determine to remain in their ignorance and stupidity. While information
+is still so sparingly disseminated, the license of the press becomes an
+important obstacle to its progress; men, little accustomed to reason
+upon certain matters, and poor in positive knowledge, adopt too readily
+the errors which are propagated from every quarter, and find it
+difficult to distinguish readily the truth when presented to them;
+thence originate a host of false and crude notions, a multiplicity of
+judgments adopted without examination, and a pretended acquirement, the
+more mischievous as, occupying the place which reason alone should hold,
+it for a long time interdicts her approach.
+
+The Revolution has proved to us the danger arising from knowledge so
+erroneously obtained. From this danger we are now called on to protect
+ourselves. It is better to confess the fact: we have learned wisdom from
+misfortune; but the despotism of the last ten years has extinguished,
+for the greater part of the French people, the light we might thence
+have derived. Some individuals, undoubtedly, have continued to reflect,
+to observe, and to study--they have been instructed by the very
+despotism which oppressed them; but the nation in general, crushed and
+unfortunate, has found itself arrested in the development of its
+intellectual faculties. When we look closely into the fact, we feel
+surprised and almost ashamed of our national thoughtlessness and
+ignorance; we feel the necessity of emerging from it. The most
+oppressive yoke alone was able to reduce, and could again reduce it for
+a certain time to silence and inaction; but it requires to be propped
+and guided, and, after so much experimental imprudence, for the interest
+even of reason and knowledge, the liberty of the press, which we have
+never yet enjoyed, ought to be attempted with caution.
+
+Regarded in this point of view, the restrictions which may be applied
+will less startle the friends of truth and justice; they will see in
+them nothing more than a concession to existing circumstances, dictated
+solely by the interest of the nation; and if care is taken to limit this
+concession so that it may never become dangerous; if, in establishing a
+barrier against license, a door is always left open for liberty; if the
+object of these restrictions is evidently to prepare the French people
+to dispense with them, and to arrive hereafter at perfect freedom; if
+they are so combined and modified that the liberty may go on
+increasing until the nation becomes more capable of enjoying it
+profitably;--finally, if, instead of impeding the progress of the human
+mind, they are only calculated to assure it, and to direct the course of
+the most enlightened spirits;--so far from considering them as an attack
+upon the principles of justice, we shall see in them a measure of
+prudence, a guarantee for public order, and a new motive for hoping that
+the overthrow of that order will never again occur to disturb or retard
+the French nation in the career of truth and reason.
+
+
+
+
+No. VI.
+
+_Report to the King, and Royal Decree for the Reform of Public
+Instruction, February 17th, 1815._
+
+
+Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all who may
+receive these presents, they come greeting.
+
+Having had an account delivered to us, of the state of public
+instruction in our kingdom, we have observed that it rested upon
+institutions destined to advance the political views of the Government
+which had formed them, rather than to extend to our subjects the
+advantages of moral education, conformable with the necessities of the
+age. We have rendered justice to the wisdom and zeal of all who were
+appointed to watch over and direct instruction. We have seen with
+satisfaction that they have never ceased to struggle against the
+obstacles which the times opposed to them, and also to the institutions
+which they were called to put in force. But we have felt the necessity
+of reforming these institutions, and of bringing back national education
+to its true object; which is, to disseminate sound doctrines, to
+maintain good manners, and to train men who, by their knowledge and
+virtue, may communicate to society the profitable lessons and wise
+examples they have received from their masters.
+
+We have maturely considered these institutions, which we now propose to
+reform; and it appears to us that a system of single and absolute
+authority is incompatible with our paternal intentions and with the
+liberal spirit of our government;
+
+That this authority, essentially occupied in the direction of the whole,
+was to a certain extent condemned to be in ignorance or neglectful of
+those details of daily examination, which can only be intrusted to local
+supervisors better informed as to the necessities, and more directly
+interested in the prosperity of the establishments committed to their
+charge;
+
+That the right of nomination to all these situations, concentrated in
+the hands of a single person, left too much opening for error, and too
+much influence to favour, weakening the impulse of emulation, and
+reducing the teachers to a state of dependence ill suited to the
+honourable post they occupied, and to the importance of their functions;
+
+That this dependence and the too frequent removals which are the
+inevitable result, rendered the position of the teachers uncertain and
+precarious; was injurious to the consideration they ought to enjoy to
+induce them to work zealously in their laborious vocations; and
+prevented, between them and the relations of their pupils, that
+confidence which results from long service and old habits; and thus
+deprived them of the most gratifying reward they could attain--the
+respect and affection of the countries to which they have dedicated
+their talents and their lives;
+
+Finally, that the tax of one-twentieth of the costs of instruction,
+levied upon all the pupils of the lyceums, colleges, and schools, and
+applied to expenses from which those who pay it derive no immediate
+advantage, and which charges may be considerably reduced, are in
+opposition to our desire of favouring good and profitable studies, and
+of extending the benefits of education to all classes of our subjects.
+
+Wishing to enable ourselves, as soon as possible, to lay before the two
+Chambers the bills which are intended to establish the system of public
+instruction throughout France, and to provide for the necessary
+expenses, we have resolved to establish provisionally the reforms best
+adapted to supply the experience and information which we still require,
+to accomplish this object; and in place of the tax of one-twentieth on
+the costs of instruction, the abolition of which we are not inclined to
+defer, it has pleased us to appropriate, from our Civil List, the sum of
+one million, which will be employed during the present year, 1815, for
+the use of public instruction in this our kingdom.
+
+For these reasons, and on the report of our Minister the Secretary of
+State for the Department of the Interior, and by and with the advice of
+our Council of State, we have decreed, and do decree, as follows:--
+
+
+TITLE I.
+
+_General Arrangements._
+
+Article 1. The divisions arranged under the name of _Academies_ by the
+decree of the 17th of May, 1808, are reduced to seventeen, conformably
+to the table at present annexed. They will assume the title of
+_Universities_.
+
+The Universities will be named after the Head Town assigned to each.
+
+The Lyceums at present established will be called _Royal Colleges_.
+
+2. Each University will be composed, first, of a council, presided over
+by a rector; secondly, of faculties; thirdly, of colleges; fourthly, of
+district colleges.
+
+3. The mode of teaching and discipline in all the Universities will be
+regulated and superintended by a Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+4. The Normal School of Paris will be common to all the Universities; it
+will provide, at the expense of the State, the number of professors and
+masters which may be required to give instruction in science and
+literature.
+
+
+TITLE II.
+
+_Respecting the Universities._
+
+
+Section 1.
+
+_The Councils of the Universities._
+
+5. The Council of each University will consist of a presiding rector, of
+the deans of faculty, of the provost of the royal college of the Head
+Town, or of the oldest provost if there are more than one royal college;
+and of at least three of the principal inhabitants, selected by our
+Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+6. The bishop and prefect will be members of this council, and will have
+votes in the meetings, above the rector.
+
+7. The council of the University can visit, whenever they consider it
+proper to do so, the royal and district colleges, the institutes,
+boarding-schools, and other seminaries of instruction, through two
+appointed inspectors; who will report on the state of teaching and
+discipline within the jurisdiction of the University, according to the
+instructions delivered to them.
+
+The number of inspectors for the University of Paris may amount to six.
+
+8. The council will select each of these inspectors from two candidates
+recommended by the rector.
+
+9. The council will also select, each from two candidates recommended by
+the rector, the provosts, the censors or inspectors of studies, the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and higher mathematics, the
+chaplains, and bursars of the royal colleges.
+
+10. The inspectors of the Universities will be selected from the
+provosts, the superintendent-masters, the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and mathematics of the royal colleges, and from the head
+masters of the district colleges; the superintendent-masters in the
+royal colleges will be chosen from the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, or superior mathematics in the same colleges.
+
+11. The council of the University can revoke, if they see cause, any
+appointment they may make: in these cases their resolutions must be
+notified and accounted for, and cannot take effect until sanctioned by
+our Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+12. No one can establish an institution or a boarding-school, or become
+head of an institution or a boarding-school already established,
+without having been previously examined and duly qualified by the
+council of the University, and unless their qualification has been
+approved of by the Royal Council of Public Instruction.
+
+13. The council of the University will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the faculties, and of the royal colleges; they will also
+examine the accounts of general expenditure handed in by the rector,
+and, after having decided on them, will transmit the same to our Royal
+Council of Public Instruction.
+
+14. The council will keep a registry of its proceedings, and will
+forward a copy once a month to our Royal Council.
+
+15. In public ceremonies, the council will rank after the Council of
+Prefecture.
+
+
+Section 2.
+
+_Of the Rectors of Universities._
+
+16. The rectors of the Universities are appointed by us, each selected
+from three candidates presented by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, and chosen from rectors already appointed, from
+inspectors-general of study, of whom we shall speak hereafter, from the
+professors of faculty, the professors of the Universities, the provosts,
+the censors, and the professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior
+mathematics in the royal colleges.
+
+17. The rectors of the Universities appoint the professors, doctors of
+faculty, and masters in all the colleges, with the exception of the
+professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the
+royal colleges, who are appointed as already named in Article 9.
+
+18. The rectors will select the candidates from amongst the professors,
+doctors of faculty, and masters already employed in the old or new
+establishments of education, or from the pupils of the Normal School,
+who, having completed their courses, have received the degree of
+Professor-Substitute.
+
+19. The professors and doctors of faculty thus appointed can only be
+removed by the council of the University upon the explained proposition
+of the rector.
+
+20. The professors and doctors of faculty, appointed by one or more
+rectors, not being those of the Universities in which they are actually
+employed, can choose the University and select the employment they may
+prefer; but they are bound to notify their decision, one month before
+the commencement of the scholastic year, to the rector of the University
+to which they belong.
+
+21. The pupils of the Normal School selected by rectors not belonging to
+the University from whence they were sent, have the same privilege of
+option, on giving similar notice.
+
+22. The rector of the University will preside, whenever he thinks
+proper, at the examinations which precede the conferring of degrees in
+the different faculties.
+
+23. The rector has the entire charge of correspondence.
+
+24. He will lay before the council of the University all matters that
+require to be submitted to them, appoint the reporters, if necessary,
+regulate the order of discussion, and sign the resolutions.
+
+25. If opinions are equally divided, he has the casting vote.
+
+
+Section 3.
+
+_Of the Faculties._
+
+26. The number and composition of the Faculties in each University are
+settled by us, on the proposition of our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.
+
+27. The faculties are placed immediately under the authority, direction,
+and supervision of that Council.
+
+28. The Council appoints their deans, each from two candidates, who will
+be nominated for selection.
+
+29. It appoints the professors for life, each from four candidates, two
+of whom must be presented by the faculty in which a chair has become
+vacant, and the other two by the council of the University.
+
+30. Over and above the special teaching with which they are charged, the
+faculties will confer, after examination, and according to the
+established rules, the degrees which are or may become necessary for the
+various ecclesiastical, political, and civil functions and professions.
+
+31. The diplomas of degrees are issued in our name, signed by the dean,
+and countersigned by the rector, who can refuse his _visa_ if he has
+reason to think that the prescribed conditions have not been correctly
+observed.
+
+32. In the Universities which as yet have no faculties of science or
+literature, the degree of Bachelor in Letters may be conferred after the
+prescribed examinations by the provost, the inspector of studies, and
+the professors of philosophy and rhetoric of the royal college of the
+Head Town of the district. The inspector of studies will perform the
+functions of dean; he will sign the diplomas, and will take his place in
+the sittings of the councils of the University, after the provost.
+
+
+Section 4.
+
+_Of the Royal and District Colleges._
+
+33. The Royal Colleges are governed by a provost, and the District
+Colleges by a principal.
+
+34. The provosts and principals will execute and cause to be executed
+the regulations regarding instruction, discipline, and compatibility.
+
+35. The administration of the royal college of the Head Town is placed
+under the immediate superintendence of the rector and the council of the
+University.
+
+36. All the other colleges, royal or provincial, are placed under the
+immediate superintendence of a committee of administration composed of
+the sub-prefect, the mayor, and at least three of the principal
+inhabitants of the place, appointed by the council of the University.
+
+37. This committee will propose, in each case, two candidates to the
+rector, who will select from them the principals of the local colleges.
+
+38. The principals, thus appointed, can only be removed by the council
+of the University, upon the proposition of the committee, and by the
+decision of the rector.
+
+39. The Committee of Administration will examine and decide on the
+accounts of the local colleges.
+
+40. The Committee will also examine and decide on the accounts of the
+royal colleges, except only on those of the royal college of the Head
+Town, and will transmit them to the council of the University.
+
+41. The Committee will also keep a register of its proceedings, and
+transmit the same once in every month to the council of the University.
+
+42. The president of this Committee will be the sub-prefect, or, in his
+absence, the mayor.
+
+43. The bishops and prefects are members of all the Committees in their
+diocese or department; and when present they will have votes above the
+presidents.
+
+44. The heads of institutions and masters of boarding-schools
+established within the boundaries of cities or towns in which there are
+either royal or local colleges, are required to send their boarders as
+day-scholars to the classes of the said colleges.
+
+45. The second Ecclesiastical School which has been or may be
+established in each department, in virtue of our decree of ..., is
+excepted from this obligation: but the said school cannot receive
+day-scholars of any description.
+
+
+TITLE III.
+
+_Of the Normal School._
+
+46. Each University will send, every year, to the Normal School at
+Paris, a number of pupils proportioned to the necessities of education.
+
+This number will be regulated by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction.
+
+47. The council of the University will select these pupils from those
+who, having finished their courses in rhetoric and philosophy, are
+intended, with the consent of their relatives, for public teachers.
+
+48. The pupils sent to the Normal School will remain there three years,
+after which they will be examined by our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will deliver to them, on approbation, the brevet of
+Professor-Substitute.
+
+49. The pupils who have received this brevet, if not summoned by the
+rector of other Universities, will return to that to which they
+originally belonged, where they will be placed by the rector, and
+advanced according to their capacity and services.
+
+50. The head master of the Normal School will hold the same rank, and
+exercise the same prerogatives, with the rectors of the Universities.
+
+
+TITLE IV.
+
+_Of the Royal Council of Public Instruction._
+
+51. Our Royal Council of Public Instruction will be composed of a
+president and eleven councillors appointed by us.
+
+52. Two of this number will be selected from the clergy, two from our
+State Council, or from the Courts, and the seven others from individuals
+who have become eminent for their talents or services in the cause of
+public instruction.
+
+53. The president of our Royal Council is alone charged with the
+correspondence; he will introduce all subjects of discussion to the
+Council, name the reporters, if necessary, establish the order of
+debate, sign and despatch the resolutions, and see them carried into
+effect.
+
+54. In case of an equal division of opinions, he will have the casting
+vote.
+
+55. Conformably with Article 3 of the present decree, our Royal Council
+will prepare, arrange, and promulgate the general regulations concerning
+instruction and discipline.
+
+56. The Council will prescribe the execution of these rules to all the
+Universities, and will watch over them through the Inspectors-General of
+Studies, who will visit the Universities whenever directed by the
+Council to do so, and will report on the state of all the schools.
+
+57. The number of the Inspectors will be twelve; that is to say, two for
+the faculties of law, two for those of medicine, and the remaining eight
+for the faculties of science and literature and for the royal and local
+colleges.
+
+58. The Inspectors-General of Studies will be appointed by us, each
+being selected from three candidates proposed by our Royal Council of
+Public Instruction, and who will have been chosen from amongst the
+rectors and inspectors of the Universities, the deans of faculty, the
+provosts, the censors of study, and the professors of philosophy,
+rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the royal colleges.
+
+59. On the report of the Inspectors-General of Studies, our Royal
+Council will give such instructions to the councils of the Universities
+as may appear essential; they will detect abuses, and provide the
+necessary reforms.
+
+60. The Council will furnish us with an annual account of the state of
+public instruction throughout our kingdom.
+
+61. It will propose all such measures as may be considered suitable to
+advance instruction, and for which it may be requisite to appeal to our
+authority.
+
+62. It will induce and encourage the production of such books as may
+still be wanting for general purposes of education, and will decide on
+those which are to be preferred.
+
+63. It will remove, if necessary, the deans of faculty, and will propose
+to us the removal of the rectors of Universities.
+
+64. It will examine and decide on the accounts of the general
+administration of the Universities.
+
+65. The Normal School is placed under the special authority of the Royal
+Council; the Council can either appoint or remove the administrators and
+masters of that establishment.
+
+66. The Council holds the same rank with our Court of Appeal and Court
+of Accounts, and will take place, in all public ceremonies, immediately
+after the last-named.
+
+67. It will keep a registry of all its proceedings, and will deposit a
+copy with our Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the
+Interior, who will furnish us with an account of the same, and on whose
+report we shall exercise the right of reforming or annulling them.
+
+
+TITLE V.
+
+_Of Receipts and Expenses._
+
+68. The tax of one-twentieth on the expenses of studies, imposed upon
+the pupils of colleges and schools, is abolished from the date of the
+publication of the present decree.
+
+69. Excepting always: 1. The charges for terms, examinations, and
+degrees, applied to the benefit of the faculties; 2. The subscriptions
+paid by the pupils of the royal and local colleges for the advantage of
+those establishments; 3. The annual contributions of the heads of
+seminaries and boarding-schools, for the use of the Universities.
+
+70. The townships will continue to supply the funds for scholars on the
+foundation, and the sums they have hitherto contributed under the title
+of help to their colleges: with this object, the total of these sums, as
+also of the burses, will be included in their respective budgets with
+the fixed expenses; and no deviation whatever from this will take place,
+unless previously submitted to our Royal Council of Instruction.
+
+71. The townships will also continue to supply and keep in repair the
+buildings requisite for the Universities, the faculties, and colleges.
+
+72. The councils of the Universities will settle the budgets for the
+colleges and faculties.
+
+73. The faculties and royal colleges, of which the receipts exceed the
+expenses, will apply the surplus to the treasury of the University.
+
+74. The councils of the universities will receive the annual
+contributions of the heads of seminaries and boarding schools.
+
+75. They will manage the property belonging to the University of France
+situated in the district of each provincial university, and will collect
+the revenue.
+
+76. In case the receipts of the faculties, or those assigned for the
+expenses of general administration, should prove inadequate, the
+councils of the universities will make a distinct requisition, and will
+state the sums required to replace each deficiency.
+
+77. This requisition will be addressed to our Royal Council of Public
+Instruction, who will transmit it, with suggestions, to our Minister the
+Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
+
+78. The expenses of the faculties and Universities, as settled by our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior, will
+be paid on his order from our Royal Treasury.
+
+79. There will also be paid from our Royal Treasury, in like manner--1,
+the expenses of our Royal Council of Public Instruction; 2, those of the
+Normal School; 3, the Royal donations.
+
+80. For these purposes the annual income of 400,000 francs, forming the
+appanage of the University of France, is placed at the disposal of our
+Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
+
+81. Further, and in provisional replacement of the tax abolished by Art.
+68 of this present Decree, our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior, is authorized by us for the promotion of
+public instruction in our kingdom, during the year 1815, to apply to the
+Minister of our Household, who will place at his disposal the sum of one
+million, to be deducted from the funds of our Civil List.
+
+82. The funds proceeding from the reduction of one twenty-fifth of the
+appointments in the University of France, will be applied to retiring
+pensions; our Royal Council is charged to propose to us the most
+eligible mode of appropriating this fund, and also to suggest the means
+of securing a new one for the same purpose, in all the universities.
+
+
+TITLE VI.
+
+_Temporary Arrangements._
+
+83. The members of our Royal Council of Public Instruction, who are to
+be selected in conformity with Art. 52, the inspectors-general of
+studies, the rectors and inspectors of universities, will be appointed
+by us, in the first instance, from amongst all those who have been or
+are now actually employed in the different educational establishments.
+
+The conditions of eligibility settled by that Article, as also by
+Articles 10, 16, and 58, apply to situations which may hereafter become
+vacant.
+
+84. The members of suppressed universities and societies, who have taken
+degrees as professors in the old faculties, or who have filled the posts
+of superiors and principals of colleges, or chairs of philosophy or
+rhetoric, as also councillors, inspectors-general, rectors and
+inspectors of academies, and professors of faculties in the University
+of France, who may find themselves out of employment by the effect of
+the present decree, are eligible to all places whatever.
+
+85. The fixed salaries of the deans and professors of faculties, and
+those of the provosts, inspectors of studies, and professors in the
+Royal colleges are not to be altered.
+
+86. The deans and professors of the faculties that will be continued,
+the provosts and doctors of faculty of the district colleges at present
+in office, are to retain the same rights and privileges, and will be
+subject to the same regulations of repeal, as if they had been appointed
+in pursuance of the present decree.
+
+We hereby inform and command our courts, tribunals, prefects, and
+administrative bodies to publish and register these presents wherever
+they may deem it necessary to do so. Moreover we direct our
+attorneys-general and prefects to see that this is done, and to certify
+the same; that is to say, the courts and tribunals to our Chancellor,
+and the prefects to our Minister the Secretary of State for the
+department of the Interior.
+
+Given at Paris, in our Castle of the Tuileries, February 17, in the year
+of grace 1815, and in the twentieth of our reign.
+
+   (Signed)  LOUIS.
+
+By the King; the Minister Secretary of State for the Interior.
+
+   (Signed)  THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU.
+
+
+
+
+No. VII.
+
+_Note drawn up and laid before the King and Council in August 1816, on
+the question of dissolving the Chamber of 1815; by M. Laine, Minister of
+the Interior._
+
+
+It being considered probable that the King may be obliged to dissolve
+the Chamber after its assembly, let us consider what will be the
+consequences.
+
+Dissolution during the session is an extreme measure. It is a sort of
+appeal made in the midst of passions in full conflict. The causes which
+lead to it, the feelings of resentment to which it will give rise, will
+spread throughout France.
+
+The convocation of a new Chamber will require much time, and will render
+it almost impossible to introduce a budget this year. To hold back the
+budget until the first month of the year ensuing, is to run the risk of
+seeing the deficit increase and the available resources disappear.
+
+This would in all probability render us incapable of paying the
+foreigners.
+
+After such an unusual dissolution, justified by the danger which the
+Chamber may threaten, it is difficult to suppose that the electoral
+assemblies would be tranquil. And if agitation should exhibit itself,
+the return of the foreigners is to be apprehended from that cause. The
+dread of this consequence, in either case, will induce the King to
+hesitate; and whatever attempts may be made to disturb the public peace
+or to assail the Royal authority, his Majesty's heart, in the hope that
+such evils would be merely transitory, will decide with reluctance on
+such an extreme remedy as dissolution.
+
+If then, the necessity of dissolving the Chamber becomes pressing, will
+it not be better, before it meets, to adopt means of preserving us from
+this menacing disaster?
+
+The renewal of one-fifth of the members, which, under any circumstances,
+seems to me indispensable to carry out the Charter, and which I regret
+to say we too much neglected in the month of July 1815, will scarcely
+diminish the probable necessity of dissolution.
+
+The members returned for the fourth series are, with a few exceptions,
+moderate; they have no disposition whatever to disturb public repose, or
+interfere with the Royal prerogative, which alone can maintain order by
+giving confidence to all classes. The other four-fifths remain
+unchanged; the apprehended dangers are consequently as imminent.
+
+This consideration induces me to recommend the adoption of a measure
+which might facilitate a complete return to the Charter, by recalling
+the decree of the 13th of July, which infringed it in the articles of
+age and number, and has also reduced to problems many more of its
+conditions.
+
+This measure would be to summon, by royal letters, only such deputies as
+have reached the age of forty, and according to the number stipulated in
+the Charter.
+
+To effect this, we should choose the deputies who have been first named
+in each electoral college. We should thus pay a compliment to the
+electors by summoning those who appear to hold the most distinguished
+places in their confidence.
+
+It is true it will be said that the Chamber not being dissolved, the
+present deputies have a kind of legal possession.
+
+But the electors and the deputies they have chosen, only hold their
+power from the Decree.
+
+The same authority which conferred that power can recall it by revoking
+the Decree.
+
+The King in his opening speech appeared to say that it was only owing to
+an extraordinary circumstance that he had assembled round the throne a
+greater number of deputies. That extraordinary circumstance has passed
+away. Peace is made, order is re-established, the Allies have retired
+from the heart of France and from the Capital.
+
+This idea furnishes an answer to the objection that the operations of
+the Chamber are nullified.
+
+The King had the power of making it what it is, in consequence of
+existing circumstances.
+
+The Chamber of Deputies does not alone make the laws. The Chamber of
+Peers, and the King, who in France is the chief branch of the
+legislative body, have co-operated in that enactment.
+
+If this objection could hold good in the present case, it would equally
+hold good in all the rest. In fact, either after the dissolution, or
+under any other circumstances, the King will return to the Charter, in
+regard to age and number. On this hypothesis, it might be said that the
+operations of the existing Chamber are nullified. Article 14 of the
+Charter could always be explained by the extraordinary circumstances,
+and its complete re-establishment by the most sacred motives. To return
+to the Charter without dissolution is not then to nullify the operations
+of the Chamber more than to return to the Charter after dissolution.
+
+Will it be said that the King is not more certain of a majority after
+the proposed reduction than at present? I reply that the probability is
+greatly increased.
+
+An assembly less numerous will be more easily managed; reason will be
+more readily attended to. The Royal authority which is exercised in the
+reduction will be increased and secured.
+
+Again, in the event of a dissolution, would the King be more certain of
+a majority? How many chances are against this! On one side the ultras,
+whose objection to transfer a portion of the Royal authority to what
+they call the aristocracy, occupy nearly all the posts which influence
+the operations of the electoral assemblies. On the other, they will be
+vehemently opposed by the partisans of a popular liberty not less
+hostile to the Kingly power. The struggles which will take place at the
+electoral assemblies, will be repeated in the Chamber, and what
+description of majority will emanate from such a contest?
+
+If the plan of reduction appears inadmissible;--if on the other hand, it
+should be decided that the hostile spirit of the Chamber compels the
+dissolution after convocation;--I should not hesitate to prefer
+immediate dissolution to the danger which seems so likely to arise from
+dissolution after assembly.
+
+But if immediate dissolution were to lead to the forming of a new
+Chamber animated by the same spirit and views, it would then become
+necessary to find remedies, to preserve the Royal authority, and to save
+France from the presence of foreigners.
+
+The first method would be to sacrifice the Ministers, who are ready to
+lay down their places and their lives to preserve the King and France.
+
+The above notes are exclusively founded on the probable necessity of
+dissolution after the Chamber is convoked.
+
+This measure will become necessary if, under the pretext of amendments,
+the King's wishes are trifled with; if the budget should be thrown out,
+or too long delayed; or if the amendments or propositions are of a
+nature to alarm the country, and in consequence to call in the
+foreigners.
+
+The customs adopted during the last session, the bills announced, the
+acrimony exhibited, the evidences we have thence derived, the hostility
+already prepared by ambitious disturbers, the determination evinced to
+weaken the Kingly authority by declaiming against the modified
+centralization of government, all supply powerful reasons for expecting
+the probable occurrences which will necessitate the dissolution of the
+Chamber.
+
+Taking another view, it ought not to be easily believed that a few
+misguided Frenchmen, compromising the fortune of their country by
+continuing to oppose the Royal authority, may go the length of exposing
+themselves to the double scourge of foreign invasion and civil war, or
+that they be content with the loss of certain provinces through
+imprudent propositions, legally unjust, or....
+
+Are we permitted to hope that in presenting such bills as religion and
+devotion to the King and the country may inspire us to frame, these
+bills will not be rejected?
+
+Shall we be enabled to draw up these bills in such a manner as to
+convince the Session and the world that malevolent opposition alone can
+defeat them?
+
+Notwithstanding the great probabilities that the dissolution may become
+necessary, the danger would be less formidable, if the King, at the
+opening of the session, were to express his wishes energetically; if he
+were to issue previous decrees, revoking all that has not been yet
+carried out in the Decrees of July 1815; if, above all, after having
+declared his will by solemn acts, his Majesty would firmly repeat those
+acts in the the immediate vicinity of the throne, by removing from his
+person all those who might be inclined to misrepresent or oppose his
+wishes.
+
+To avoid resistance and contest, would the following plan be available?
+
+When the bills, the decrees, and the other regulations are ready, would
+it be suitable for the King to hold an Extraordinary Council, to which
+he should summon the Princes of the Royal family, the Archbishop of
+Rheims, etc. Let all the bills to be brought forward be discussed and
+settled in that Council, and let the Princes and the chief Bishops
+declare which of these are to be adopted by unanimous consent. If, after
+this Council, all the great and influential personages summoned by his
+Majesty were to announce that such was the common wish of the King and
+the whole of the Royal family, France would perhaps be saved.
+
+But the great remedy lies in the King's pleasure. Let that once be
+manifested, and let its execution be recommended by his Majesty to all
+who surround him, and the danger disappears.
+
+"Domine dic tantum verbum, et sanabitur Gallia tua!"
+
+
+
+
+No. VIII.
+
+_Correspondence between the Viscount de Chateaubriand, the Count
+Decazes, Minister of General Police, and M. Dambray, Chancellor of
+France, on occasion of the seizure of 'Monarchy according to the
+Charter,' in consequence of an infraction of the laws and regulations
+relative to printing. September, 1816._
+
+
+1. OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE SEIZURE.
+
+_October 19th, 1816._
+
+On the 18th of September, in execution of the warrant of his Excellency,
+dated on that day, authorizing the seizure of a work entitled, 'Of
+Monarchy according to the Charter,' by M. de Chateaubriand, printed by
+Le Normant, Rue de Seine, No. 8, and which work had been on sale without
+the deposit of five copies having been made at the office for the
+general regulation of the book-trade, I went, with Messrs. Joly and
+Dussiriez, peace-officers and inspectors, to the house of the abovenamed
+M. Le Normant, where we arrived before ten o'clock in the morning.
+
+M. Le Normant admitted to us that he had given notice of the work of
+M. de Chateaubriand, but that he had not yet deposited the five copies.
+He affirmed that on the same morning, at nine o'clock, he had sent to
+the office for the general regulation of bookselling, but that he was
+told that the office was not open. Of this he produced no proof.
+
+He admitted that he had printed two thousand copies of this work,
+intending to make a fresh declaration, the first having only been for
+fifteen hundred copies; that he had delivered several hundreds copies to
+the author; that, finally, he had transmitted others on sale to the
+principal booksellers of the Palais-Royal, Delaunay, Petit, and Fabre.
+
+While I was drawing up a report of these facts and statements,
+M. de Wilminet, peace-officer, came in with an individual in whose hands
+he had seen, near the Bridge of the Arts, the work now in question, at
+the moment when the person, who says his name is Derosne, was looking
+over the title. M. Derosne has admitted that he bought it for four
+francs, on the same day, the 18th, at about nine and a half in the
+morning. This copy has been deposited in our hands, and M. Le Normant
+has reimbursed the cost to M. Derosne.
+
+We seized, in the second warehouse on the first floor, thirty stitched
+copies which we added to that of M. Derosne. In the workshops on the
+ground-floor, I seized a considerable quantity of printed sheets of the
+same work, which M. Le Normant estimates at nine thousand sheets; and
+thirty-one printing-forms which had been used for printing these sheets.
+
+As it was sufficiently proved, both by facts and the admissions of the
+printer, that the work had been offered for sale before the five copies
+were deposited, we took possession of the stitched copies, the sheets,
+and the forms. The sheets were subsequently piled up in a carriage in
+the courtyard, and the stitched volumes made into a parcel, were
+deposited at the foot of the staircase at the entrance of the house. The
+forms, to the number of thirty-one, were placed under the steps of the
+garden, tied together with cord. Our seal had been already placed on the
+top, and M. de Wilminet prepared to affix it also on the lower parts.
+All this was done without the slightest disturbance or opposition, and
+with a perfect respect for the authorities.
+
+Suddenly tumultuous cries were heard at the bottom of the entrance
+court. M. de Chateaubriand arrived at that moment, and questioned some
+workmen who surrounded him. His words were interrupted by cries of "Here
+is M. de Chateaubriand!" The workshops resounded with his name; all the
+labouring men came out in a crowd and ran towards the court, exclaiming,
+"Here is M. de Chateaubriand! M. de Chateaubriand!" I myself distinctly
+heard the cry of "Long live M. de Chateaubriand!"
+
+At the same instant a dozen infuriated workmen arrived at the gate of
+the garden, where I then was with M. de Wilminet and two inspectors,
+engaged in finishing the seals on the forms. They broke the seals and
+prepared to carry off the forms; they cried loudly and with a
+threatening air, "Long live the liberty of the press! Long live the
+King!" We took advantage of a moment of silence to ask if any order had
+arrived to suspend our work. "Yes, yes, here is our order. Long live the
+liberty of the press!" cried they with violent insolence: "Long live the
+King!" They approached close to us to utter these cries. "Well" said I
+to them, "if there is such an order, so much the better; let it be
+produced;" and we all said together, "You shall not touch these forms,
+until we have seen the order." "Yes, yes," cried they again, "there is
+an order; it comes from M. de Chateaubriand, he is a Peer of France. An
+order from M. de Chateaubriand is worth more than one from the
+Minister." Then they repeated violently the cries of "Long live the
+liberty of the press! Long live the King!"
+
+In the meantime, the peace-officers and inspectors continued to guard
+the articles seized or sequestered, and prevented their being carried
+off. They took the parcel of stitched copies from the hands of a workman
+who was bearing it away.
+
+The peace-officer who was affixing the seals, being compelled by
+violence to suspend the operation, addressed M. de Chateaubriand, and
+asked him if he had an order from the Minister. He replied, with
+passion, that an order from the Minister was nothing to him; he came to
+oppose what was going on; he was a Peer of France, the defender of the
+Charter, and particularly forbade anything to be taken away. "Moreover,"
+he added, "this proceeding is useless and without object; I have
+distributed fifteen thousand copies of this work through all the
+different departments." The workmen then repeated that the order of
+M. de Chateaubriand was worth more than that of the Minister, and
+renewed, more violently than before, their cries of "Long live the
+liberty of the press! M. de Chateaubriand for ever! Long live the King!"
+
+The peace-officer was surrounded. A man of colour, appearing much
+excited, said to him violently, "The order of M. de Chateaubriand is
+worth more than that of the Minister." Tumultuous cries were renewed
+round the peace-officer. I left the garden, leaving the forms in charge
+of the inspectors, to advance towards that side. During my passage,
+several workmen shouted violently, "Long live the King!" I held out my
+hand as a sign of peace, to keep at a respectful distance those who were
+disposed to come too near; and replied by the loyal cry of "Long live
+the King!" to the same shout uttered in a seditious spirit by the
+bewildered workmen.
+
+M. de Chateaubriand was at this time in the entrance court, apparently
+intent on preventing the carriage laden with the sheets of his work from
+departing for its destination. I ascended the staircase for the purpose
+of signifying to M. Le Normant that it would be better for him to second
+my orders by using whatever influence he might possess over his workmen,
+so as to induce them to return to their workshops; and to let him know
+before them that he would be held responsible for what might happen.
+M. de Chateaubriand appeared at the foot of the staircase, and uttered,
+in a very impassioned tone, with his voice vehemently raised, in the
+midst of the workmen, who appeared to second him enthusiastically,
+nearly the following words:--
+
+"I am a Peer of France. I do not acknowledge the order of the Ministry;
+I oppose it in the name of the Charter, of which I am the defender, and
+the protection of which every citizen may claim. I oppose the removal of
+my work. I forbid the transport of these sheets. I will only yield to
+force, and when I see the gendarmes."
+
+Immediately, raising my voice to a loud tone, and extending my arm from
+the first landing-place of the staircase on which I then stood, I
+replied to him who had just manifested to myself formally and personally
+his determined resistance to the execution of the orders of his
+Majesty's minister, and had thereby shown that he was the real exciter
+of the movements that had taken place; I said--
+
+"And I, in the name and on the part of the King, in my quality of
+Commissary of Police, appointed by his Majesty, and acting under the
+orders of his Excellency the Minister of General Police, demand respect
+for constituted authority. Let everything remain untouched; let all
+tumult cease, until the arrival of fresh orders which I expect from his
+Excellency."
+
+While I uttered these words, profound silence was maintained. Calm had
+succeeded to tumult. Soon after, the gendarmes arrived. I then ordered
+the workmen to return to their workshops. M. de Chateaubriand, as soon
+as the gendarmes entered, retired into the apartments of M. Le Normant,
+and appeared no more. We then finished our work and prepared the report
+of all that had occurred, after having despatched to the Ministry of
+Police the articles seized, and committed the forms to the guard, and
+under the responsibility of M. Le Normant.
+
+At the moment of the disturbance one of the stitched copies disappeared.
+Subsequently we seized, at the house of M. Le Marchand, a book-stitcher,
+and formerly a bookseller, in the Rue de la Parcheminerie, seven parcels
+of copies of the same work; and at No. 17, Rue des Pretres, in a
+wareroom belonging to M. Le Normant, we placed eight forms under seal,
+and seized four thousand sheets of the same work.
+
+I have forwarded to the Ministry of Police reports of these different
+operations, with the sheets and copies seized of the work of
+M. de Chateaubriand.
+
+M. Le Normant appeared to me to conduct himself without blame during
+these transactions, which were carried into effect at his
+dwelling-place, and during the tumult which M. de Chateaubriand promoted
+on the occasion of the seizure of his work. But it is sufficiently
+proved by his own admission and by facts, that he has issued for sale to
+various booksellers, and has sold himself copies of this work before he
+had deposited the five as required by the laws.
+
+As to M. de Chateaubriand, I am astonished that he should have so
+scandalously compromised the dignity of the titles with which he is
+decorated, by exhibiting himself under these circumstances, as if he had
+been nothing more than the leader of a troop of workmen, whom he had
+stirred up to commotion.
+
+He was the cause of the workmen profaning the sacred cry of "Long live
+the King!" by using it in an act of rebellion against the authority of
+the Government, which is the same as that of the King.
+
+He has excited these misguided men against a Commissary of Police, a
+public functionary appointed by his Majesty, and against three
+peace-officers in the execution of their duty, and without arms against
+a multitude.
+
+He has committed an offence against the Royal government, by saying that
+he would acknowledge force alone, in a system based upon quite a
+different force from that of bayonets, and which only uses such coercive
+measures against persons who are strangers to every sentiment of honour.
+
+Finally, this scene might have led to serious consequences if, imitating
+the conduct of M. de Chateaubriand, we had forgotten for a moment that
+we were acting by the orders of a Government as moderate as firm, and
+as strong in its wisdom as in its legitimacy.
+
+
+2. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Count,
+
+I called at your residence this morning to express my surprise. At
+twelve this day, I found at the house of M. Le Normant, my bookseller,
+some men who said they were sent by you to seize my new work, entitled
+'Of Monarchy according to the Charter.'
+
+Not seeing any written order, I declared that I would not allow the
+removal of my property unless gendarmes seized it by force. Some
+gendarmes arrived, and I then ordered my bookseller to allow the work to
+be carried away.
+
+This act of deference to authority has not allowed me to forget what I
+owe to my rank as a Peer. If I had only considered my personal
+interests, I should not have interfered; but the privileges of the
+Peerage having been compromised, I have thought it right to enter a
+protest, a copy of which I have now the honour of forwarding to you. I
+demand, in the name of justice, the restitution of my work; and I
+candidly add, that if I do not receive it back, I shall employ every
+possible means that the political and civil laws place within my reach.
+
+   I have the honour to be, etc. etc.,
+
+   (Signed)   COUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+3. THE COUNT DECAZES TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Viscount,
+
+The Commissary of Police and the peace-officers, against whom you have
+thought proper to excite the rebellion of M. Le Normant's workmen, were
+the bearers of an order signed by one of the King's ministers, and in
+accordance with a law. That order was shown to the printer named, who
+read it several times, and felt that he had no right to oppose its
+execution, demanded in the King's name. Undoubtedly it never occurred to
+him that your rank as a Peer could place you above the operation of the
+laws, release you from the respect due by all citizens to public
+functionaries in the execution of their duty, and, above all, justify a
+revolt of his work-people against a Commissary of Police, and officers
+appointed by the King, invested with the distinctive symbols of their
+office, and acting under legal instructions.
+
+I have seen with regret that you have thought otherwise, and that you
+have preferred, as you now require of me, to yield to force rather than
+to obey the law. That law, which M. Le Normant had infringed, is
+extremely distinct; it requires that no work whatever shall be published
+clandestinely, and that no publication or sale shall take place before
+the necessary deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of
+printing. None of these conditions have been fulfilled by M. Le Normant.
+If he has given notice, it was informal; for he has himself signed the
+Report drawn up by the Commissary of Police, to the effect that he
+proposed to strike off 1500 copies, and that he had already printed
+2000.
+
+From another quarter I have been informed that, although no deposit has
+been made at the office for the regulation of printing, several hundred
+copies have been despatched this morning before nine o'clock, from the
+residence of M. Le Normant, and sent to you, and to various booksellers;
+that other copies have been sold by M. Le Normant at his own house, for
+the price of four francs; and two of these last copies were in my hands
+this morning by half-past eight o'clock.
+
+I have considered it my duty not to allow this infraction of the law,
+and to interdict the sale of a work thus clandestinely and illegally
+published; I have therefore ordered its seizure, in conformity with
+Articles 14 and 15 of the Law of the 21st of October, 1814.
+
+No one in France, my Lord Viscount, is above the law; the Peers would be
+offended, on just grounds, if I thought they could set up such a
+pretension. Still less would they assume that the works which they feel
+disposed to publish and sell as private individuals and men of letters,
+when they wish to honour the literary profession with their labours,
+should enjoy exclusive privileges; and if these works are submitted to
+public criticism in common with those of other writers, they are not in
+any respect liberated from the control of justice, or the supervision of
+the Police, whose duty it is to take care that the laws, which are
+equally binding upon all classes of society, should be executed with
+equal impartiality.
+
+I must also observe, in addition, that it was at the residence and
+printing-office of M. Le Normant, who is not a Peer of France, that the
+order constitutionally issued for the seizure of a work published by him
+in contravention to the law, was carried into effect; that the execution
+of the order had been completed when you presented yourself; and upon
+your declaration that you would not suffer your work to be taken away,
+the workmen broke the seals that had been affixed on some articles, and
+placed themselves in open rebellion against the King's authority. It can
+scarcely have escaped you, that by invoking that august name they have
+been guilty of a crime of which, no doubt, they did not perceive the
+extent; and to which they could not have been led, had they been more
+impressed with the respect due to the act of the King and his
+representatives, and if it could so happen that they did not read what
+they print.
+
+I have felt these explanations due to your character; they will, I
+trust, convince you that if the dignity of the Peerage has been
+compromised in this matter, it has not been through me.
+
+     I have the honour to be,
+             My Lord Viscount,
+   Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
+         (Signed)  THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+
+4. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September 19th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Count,
+
+I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to address
+to me on the 18th of this month. It contains no answer to mine of the
+same day.
+
+You speak to me of works _clandestinely_ published (in the face of the
+sun, with my name and titles). You speak of revolt and rebellion, when
+there has been neither revolt nor rebellion. You say that there were
+cries of "Long live the King!" That cry has not yet been included in the
+law of seditious exclamations, unless the Police are empowered to decree
+in opposition to the Chambers. For the rest, all will appear in due time
+and place. There will be no longer a pretence to confound the cause of
+the bookseller with mine; we shall soon know whether, under a free
+government, a police order, which I have not even seen, is binding on a
+Peer of France; we shall learn whether, in my case, all the rights
+secured to me by the charter, have not been violated, both as a Citizen
+and a Peer. We shall learn, through the laws themselves, which you have
+the extreme kindness to quote for me (a little incorrectly, it may be
+observed), whether I have not the right to publish my opinions; we shall
+learn, finally, whether France is henceforward to be governed by the
+Police or by the Constitution.
+
+On the subject of my respect and loyalty to the King, my Lord Count, I
+require no lessons, and I might supply an example. With respect to my
+rank as a Peer, I shall endeavour to make it respected, equally with my
+dignity as a man; and I perfectly well knew, before you took the trouble
+to inform me, that it will never be compromised either by you or any one
+else. I have demanded at your hands the restitution of my work: am I to
+hope that it will be restored? This is the immediate question.
+
+   I have the honour to be,
+   My Lord Count,
+   Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
+   (Signed) THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+5. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY.
+
+   _Paris, September 18th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Chancellor,
+
+I have the honour to forward to you a copy of the protest I have
+entered, and the letter I have just written to the Minister of Police.
+
+Is it not strange, my Lord Chancellor, that in open day, by force, and
+in defiance of my remonstrances, the work of a Peer of France, to which
+my name is attached, and printed publicly in Paris, should have been
+carried off by the Police, as if it were a seditious or clandestine
+publication, such as the 'Yellow Dwarf,' or the 'Tri-coloured Dwarf'?
+Beyond what was due to my prerogative as a Peer of France, I may venture
+to say that I deserved _personally_ a little more respect. If my work
+were objectionable, I might have been summoned before the competent
+tribunals: I should have answered the appeal.
+
+I have protested for the honour of the Peerage, and I am determined to
+follow up this matter to the last extremity. I call for your support as
+President of the Chamber of Peers, and for your interference as the head
+of justice.
+
+   I am, with profound respect, etc. etc.,
+   (Signed) THE VISCOUNT CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+
+6. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
+
+   _Paris, September, 19th, 1816._
+
+I send you confidentially, my dear colleague, a letter which I received
+yesterday from M. de Chateaubriand, with the informal Protest of which
+he has made me the depository. I beg you will return these documents,
+which ought not to be made public. I enclose also a copy of my answer,
+which I also request you to return after reading; for I have kept no
+other. I hope it will meet your approbation.
+
+I repeat the expression of my friendly sentiments.
+
+   DAMBRAY.
+
+
+7. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
+
+   _Paris, September 19th, 1816._
+
+   My Lord Viscount,
+
+I have received with the letter you have addressed to me, the
+declaration relative to the seizure which took place at the residence of
+your bookseller; I find it difficult to understand the use you propose
+to make of this document, which cannot extenuate in any manner the
+infraction of law committed by M. Le Normant. The Law of the 21st of
+October, 1814, is precise on this point. No printer can publish or offer
+for sale any work, in any manner whatever, before having deposited the
+prescribed number of copies. There is ground for seizure, the Article
+adds, and for sequestrating a work, if the printer does not produce the
+receipts of the deposit ordered by the preceding Article.
+
+All infractions of this law (Art. 20) will be proved by the reports of
+the inspectors of the book-trade, and the Commissaries of Police.
+
+You were probably unacquainted with these enactments when you fancied
+that your quality as a Peer of France gave you the right of personally
+opposing an act of the Police, ordered and sanctioned by the law, which
+all Frenchmen, whatever may be their rank, are equally bound to respect.
+
+I am too much attached to you, Viscount, not to feel deep regret at the
+part you have taken in the scandalous scene which seems to have occurred
+with reference to this matter, and I regret sincerely that you have
+added errors of form to the real mistake of a publication which you
+could not but feel must be unpleasant to his Majesty. I know nothing of
+your work beyond the dissatisfaction which the King has publicly
+expressed with it; but I am grieved to notice the impression it has
+made upon a monarch who, on every occasion, has condescended to evince
+as much esteem for your person as admiration for your talents.
+
+Receive, Viscount, the assurance of my high consideration, and of my
+inviolable attachment.
+
+   The Chancellor of France,
+
+   DAMBRAY.
+
+
+
+
+No. IX.
+
+TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL REFORMS EFFECTED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF FRANCE
+FROM 1816 TO 1820.
+
+
+MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR (M. LAINE).
+
+_From May, 1816, to December, 1818._
+
+_Sept. 4th, 1816._--Decree for the reorganization of the Polytechnic
+School.
+
+_Sept. 25th, 1816._--Decree to authorize the Society of French Missions.
+
+_Dec. 11th, 1816._--Decree for the organization of the National Guards
+of the Department of the Seine.
+
+_Dec. 23rd, 1816._--Decree for the institution of the Royal Chapter of
+St. Denis.
+
+_Feb. 26th, 1817._--Decree relative to the administration of the Public
+Works of Paris.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the organization of the Schools of Arts and
+Trades at Chalons and Angers.
+
+_March 12th, 1817._--Decree on the administration and funds of the Royal
+Colleges.
+
+_March 26th, 1817._--Decree authorizing the presence of the Prefects and
+Sub-Prefects at the General Councils of the Department or District.
+
+_April 2nd, 1817._--Decree to regulate Central Houses of Confinement.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree to regulate the conditions and mode of carrying
+out the royal authority for legacies or donations to Religious
+Establishments.
+
+_April 9th, 1817._--Decree for the assessment of 3,900,000 francs,
+destined to improve the condition of the Catholic Clergy.
+
+_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the suppression of the Secretaries-General
+of the Prefectures, except only for the Department of the Seine.
+
+_April 16th, 1817._--Three Decrees to regulate the organization of, and
+persons employed in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
+
+_Sept. 10th, 1817._--Decree upon the system of the Port of Marseilles,
+with regard to Custom-house Duties and Storehouses.
+
+_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree to regulate the progressive reduction of the
+number of Councillors in each Prefecture.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Decree to increase Ecclesiastical Salaries,
+particularly those of the Curates.
+
+_June 9th, 1818._--Decree on the discontinuance of Compositions for
+Taxes payable at the Entrance of Towns.
+
+_July 29th, 1818._--Decree for the establishment of Savings Banks, and
+Provident Banks, in Paris.
+
+_Sept. 30th, 1818._--Decree which removes from his Royal Highness
+_Monsieur_, while leaving him the honorary privileges, the actual
+command of the National Guard of the Kingdom, to give it back to the
+Minister of the Interior, and the Municipal Authorities.
+
+_Oct. 7th, 1818._--Decree respecting the use and administration of
+Commons, or Town property.
+
+_Oct. 21st, 1818._--Decree respecting the premiums for the encouragement
+of the Maritime Fisheries.
+
+_Dec. 17th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and
+administration of the Educational Establishments called _Britannic_.
+
+
+COUNT DECAZES.
+
+_From December, 1818, to February, 1820._
+
+_Jan. 13th, 1819._--Decree to arrange public exhibitions of products of
+industry.--The first, to take place on the 25th of August, 1819.
+
+_Jan. 27th, 1819._--Decree for creating a Council of Agriculture.
+
+_Feb. 14th, 1819._--Decree for the encouragement of the Whale Fishery.
+
+_March 24th, 1819._--Decree introducing various reforms and improvements
+in the School of Law, at Paris.
+
+_April 9th, 1819._--Decree appointing a Jury of Manufacturers to select
+for reward the artists who have made the greatest progress in their
+respective trades.
+
+_April 10th, 1819._--Decree relative to the institution of the
+Council-General of Prisons.
+
+_April 19th, 1819._--Decree to facilitate the public sale of merchandise
+by auction.
+
+_June 23rd, 1819._--Decree to reduce the period of service of the
+National Guard of Paris.
+
+_June 29th, 1819._--Decree relative to holding Jewish Consistories.
+
+_Aug. 23rd, 1819._--Two Decrees upon the organization and privileges of
+the General Council of Commerce and Manufacture.
+
+_Aug. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the erection of 500 new Chapels
+of Ease.
+
+_Nov. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+teaching of the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
+
+_Dec. 22nd, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+the Public Treasury of Poissy.
+
+_Dec. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the mode of Collation, and the
+system of public Bursaries in the Royal Colleges.
+
+_Dec. 29th, 1819._--Decree authorizing the foundation of a permanent
+asylum for old men and invalids, in the Quartier du gros Caillon.
+
+_Feb. 4th, 1820._--Decree for the regulation of public carriages
+throughout the Kingdom.
+
+
+MINISTRY OF WAR (MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR).
+
+_From September, 1817, to November, 1819._
+
+_Oct. 22nd, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Corps of
+Geographic Engineers of War.
+
+_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Staff of the
+military division of the Royal Guard.
+
+_Dec. 10th, 1817._--Decree respecting the system of administration of
+military supplies.
+
+_Dec. 17th. 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Engineers.
+
+_Dec. 17th, 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
+the Corps of Artillery.
+
+_Dec. 24th, 1817._--Decree upon the organization of Military Schools.
+
+_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and sale of gunpowder
+for purposes of war, mining, or the chase.
+
+_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and organization of
+the Companies of Discipline.
+
+_April 8th, 1818._--Decree for the formation of Departmental Legions in
+three battalions.
+
+_May 6th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization of the Corps and
+School of the Staff.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Decree relative to the position and allowances of
+those not in active service, or on half-pay.
+
+_May 20th, 1818._--Instructions approved by the King relative to
+voluntary engagements.
+
+_June 10th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization, system, and
+teaching of the Military Schools.
+
+_July 8th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
+Regimental Schools in the Artillery.
+
+_July 15th, 1818._--Decree relative to the supply of gunpowder and
+saltpetre.
+
+_July 23rd, 1818._--Decree respecting the selection of the General Staff
+of the Army.
+
+_Aug. 3rd, 1818._--Decree relative to the military hierarchy, and the
+order of promotion, in conformity with the Law of the 10th of March,
+1818.
+
+_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the allowances of Staff Officers.
+
+_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and expenses of
+Barracks.
+
+_Sept. 2nd, 1818._--Decree relative to the Corps of Gendarmes of Paris.
+
+_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the organization and system of the
+Body-guard of the King.
+
+_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the allowances to Governors of
+Military Divisions.
+
+_Feb. 17th, 1819._--Decree on the composition and strength of the
+eighty-six regiments of Infantry.
+
+
+
+
+No. X.
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
+
+   _Paris, April 12th, 1820._
+
+   My dear Friend,
+
+I have not written to you in all our troubles. I knew that you would
+hear from this place a hundred different opinions, and a hundred
+opposite statements on the position of affairs; and, although I had not
+entire confidence in any of those who addressed you, as you are not
+called upon, according to my judgment, to form any important resolution,
+I abstained from useless words. Today all has become clearer and more
+mature; the situation assumes externally the character it had until now
+concealed; I feel the necessity of telling you what I think of it, for
+the advantage of our future proceedings in general, and yours in
+particular.
+
+The provisional bills have passed:--you have seen how: fatal to those
+who have gained them, and with immense profit to the Opposition. The
+debate has produced this result in the Chamber, that the right-hand
+party has extinguished itself, to follow in the suite of the
+right-centre; while the left-centre has consented to assume the same
+position with respect to the extreme left, from which, however, it has
+begun to separate within the last fifteen days. So much for the interior
+of the Chamber.
+
+Without, you may be assured that the effect of these two debates upon
+the popular masses has been to cause the right-hand party to be looked
+upon as less haughty and exacting; the left, as more firm and more
+evenly regulated than was supposed: so that, at present, in the
+estimation of many worthy citizens, the fear of the right and the
+suspicion of the left are diminished in equal proportions. A great evil
+is comprised in this double fact. Last year we gained triumphs over the
+left, without and within the Chamber; at present the left triumphs over
+us! Last year we still remained, and were considered, as ever since
+1815, a necessary and safe rampart against the _Ultras_, who were
+greatly dreaded, and whose rule seemed possible; today the _Ultras_ are
+less feared, because their arrival at power is scarcely believed. The
+conclusion is, that we are less wanted than formerly.
+
+Let us look to the future. The election bill, which Decazes presented
+eight days before his fall, is about to be withdrawn. This is certain.
+It is well known that it could never pass; that the discussions on its
+forty-eight articles would be interminable; the _Ultras_ are very
+mistrustful of this its probable results; it is condemned; they will
+frame, and are already framing, another. What will this new bill be? I
+cannot tell. What appears to me certain is, that, if no change takes
+place in the present position, it will have for object, not to complete
+our institutions, not to correct the vices of the bill of the 5th of
+February, 1817, but to bring back exceptional elections; to restore, as
+is loudly proclaimed, something analogous to the Chamber of 1815. This
+is the avowed object, and, what is more, the natural and necessary end.
+This end will be pursued without accomplishment; such a bill will either
+fail in the debate, or in the application. If it passes, and after the
+debate which it cannot fail to provoke, the fundamental question, the
+question of the future, will escape from the Chamber, and seek its
+solution without, in the intervention of the masses. If the bill is
+rejected, the question may be confined within the Chamber; but it will
+no longer be the Ministry in office who will have the power and mission
+of solving it. If a choice is left to us, which I am far from despairing
+of, it will lie between a lamentable external revolution and a
+ministerial revolution of the most complete character. And this last
+chance, which is our only one, will vanish if we do not so manage as to
+offer the country, for the future, a ministry boldly constitutional.
+
+In this position of affairs, what it is indispensable that you should be
+made acquainted with, and what you would discover in five minutes if you
+could pass five minutes here, is, that you are no longer a Minister, and
+that you form no portion of the Ministry in office. It would be
+impossible to induce you to speak with them as they speak, or as they
+are compelled to speak. The situation to which they are reduced has been
+imposed by necessity; they could only escape from it by completely
+changing their ground and their friends, by recovering eighty votes from
+the one hundred and fifteen of the actual Opposition, or by an appeal to
+a new Chamber. This last measure it will never adopt; and by the side of
+the powerlessness of the existing Cabinet, stands the impossibility of
+escaping from it by the aid of the right-hand party. An _ultra_ ministry
+is impossible. The events in Spain, whatever they may ultimately lead
+to, have mortally wounded the governments of _coups d'etat_ and
+ordinances.
+
+I have looked closely into all this, my dear friend; I have thought much
+on the subject when alone, more than I have communicated to others. You
+cannot remain indefinitely in a situation so critical and weak, so
+destitute of power for immediate government, and so hopeless for the
+future. I see but one thing to do at present; and that is, to prepare
+and hold back those who may save the Monarchy. I cannot see, in the
+existing state of affairs, any possibility of labouring effectively for
+its preservation. You can only drag yourselves timidly along the
+precipice which leads to its ruin. You may possibly not lose in the
+struggle your reputation for honest intentions and good-faith; but this
+is the maximum of hope which the present Cabinet can reasonably expect
+to preserve. Do not deceive yourself on this point; of all the plans of
+reform, at once monarchical and liberal, which you contemplated last
+year, nothing now remains. It is no longer a bold remedy which is sought
+for against the old revolutionary spirit; it is a miserable expedient
+which is adopted without confidence. It is not fit for you, my dear
+friend, to remain garotted under this system. Thank Heaven! you were
+accounted of some importance in the exceptional laws. As to the
+constitutional projects emanating from you, there are several--the
+integral renewing of the Chamber, for example--which have rather gained
+than lost ground, and which have become possible in another direction
+and with other men. I know that nothing happens either so decisively or
+completely as has been calculated, and that everything is, with time, an
+affair of arrangement and treaty. But as power is situated at present,
+you can do nothing, you are nothing; or rather, at this moment, you have
+not an inch of ground on which you can either hold yourself erect, or
+fall with honour. If you were here, either you would emerge, within a
+week, from this impotent position, or you would be lost with the rest,
+which Heaven forbid!
+
+You see, my dear friend, that I speak to you with the most unmeasured
+frankness. It is because I have a profound conviction of the present
+evil and of the possibility of future safety. In this possibility you
+are a necessary instrument. Do not suffer yourself, while at a distance,
+to be compromised in what is neither your opinion nor your desire.
+Regulate your own destiny, or at least your position in the common
+destiny of all; and if you must fall, let it be for your own cause, and
+in accordance with your own convictions.
+
+I add to this letter the Bill prepared by M. de Serre in November, 1819,
+and which he intended to present to the Chambers, to complete the
+Charter, and at the same time to reform the electoral law. It will be
+seen how much this Bill differed from that introduced in April, 1820,
+with reference to the law of elections alone, and which M. de Serre
+supported as a member of the second Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu.
+
+
+BILL FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATURE.
+
+Art. 1. The Legislature assumes the name of Parliament of France.
+
+Art. 2. The King convokes the Parliament every year.
+
+Parliament will be convoked extraordinarily, at the latest, within two
+months after the King attains his majority, or succeeds to the throne;
+or under any event which may cause the establishment of a Regency.
+
+
+_Of the Peerage._
+
+Art. 3. The Peerage can only be conferred on a Frenchman who has
+attained his majority, and is in the exercise of political and civil
+rights.
+
+Art. 4. The character of Peer is indelible; it can neither be lost nor
+abdicated, from the moment when it has been conferred by the King.
+
+Art. 5. The exercise of the rights and privileges of Peer can only be
+suspended under two conditions:--1. Condemnation to corporal punishment;
+2. Interdiction pronounced according to the forms prescribed by the
+Civil Code. In either case, by the Chamber of Peers alone.
+
+Art. 6. The Peers are admissible to the Chamber at the age of
+twenty-one, and can vote when they have completed their twenty-fifth
+year.
+
+Art. 7. In case of the death of a Peer, his successor in the Peerage
+will be admitted as soon as he has attained the required age, on
+fulfilling the forms prescribed by the decree of the 23rd of March,
+1816, which decree will be annexed to the present law.
+
+Art. 8. A Peerage created by the King cannot henceforward, during the
+life of the titulary, be declared transmissible, except to the real and
+legitimate male children of the created Peer.
+
+Art. 9. The inheritance of the Peerage cannot henceforward be conferred
+until a Majorat of the net revenue of twenty thousand francs, at least,
+shall be attached to the Peerage.
+
+
+_Dotation of the Peerage._
+
+Art. 10. The Peerage will be endowed--1, With three millions five
+hundred thousand francs of rent, entered upon the great-book of the
+public debt, which sum will be unalienable, and exclusively applied to
+the formation of Majorats; 2, With eight hundred thousand francs of
+rent, equally entered and inalienable, to be applied to the expenses of
+the Chamber of Peers.
+
+By means of this dotation, these expenses cease to be charged to the
+Budget of the State, and the domains, rents, and property of every kind,
+proceeding from the dotation of the former Senate, except the Palace of
+the Luxembourg and its dependencies, are reunited to the property of the
+State.
+
+Art. 11. Three millions five hundred thousand francs of rent, intended
+for the formation of Majorats, are divided into fifty majorats of thirty
+thousand francs, and one hundred majorats of twenty thousand francs
+each, attached to the same number of peerages.
+
+Art. 12. These Majorats will be conferred by the King exclusively upon
+lay Peers; they will be transmissible with the Peerage from male to
+male, in order of primogeniture, and in the real, direct, and legitimate
+line only.
+
+Art. 13. A Peer cannot unite in his own person several of these
+Majorats.
+
+Art. 14. Immediately on the endowment of a Majorat, and on the
+production of letters-patent, the titulary will be entered in the
+great-book of the public debt, for an unalienable revenue, according to
+the amount of his majorat.
+
+Art. 15. In case of the extinction of the successors to any one of these
+Majorats, it reverts to the King's gift, who can confer it again,
+according to the above-named regulations.
+
+Art. 16. The King can permit the titulary possessor of a Majorat to
+convert it into real property producing the same revenue, and which will
+be subject to the same reversion.
+
+Art. 17. The dotation of the Peerage is inalienable, and cannot under
+any pretext whatever, be applied to any other purpose than that
+prescribed by the present law. This dotation remains charged, even to
+extinction, with the pensions at present enjoyed by the former Senators,
+as also with those which have been or may hereafter be granted to their
+widows.
+
+
+_Of the Chamber of Deputies._
+
+Art. 18. The Chamber of Deputies to Parliament is composed of four
+hundred and fifty-six members.
+
+Art. 19. The Deputies to Parliament are elected for seven years.
+
+Art. 20. The Chamber is renewed integrally, either in case of
+dissolution, or at the expiration of the time for which the Deputies are
+elected.
+
+Art. 21. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is elected according
+to the ordinary forms for the entire duration of the Parliament.
+
+Art. 22. The rates which must be paid by an elector, or one eligible for
+an elector, consist of the principal of the direct taxes without regard
+to the additional hundredths. To this effect, the taxes for doors and
+windows will be separated from the the principal and additional
+hundredths, in such manner that two-thirds of the entire tax may be
+entered as principal and the remaining third as additional hundredths.
+For the future this plan will be permanent; the augmentations or
+diminutions of these two taxes will be made by the addition or
+reduction of the additional hundredths: the same rule will apply to the
+taxes on land, moveables, and other personal property, as soon as the
+principal of each is definitely settled. The tax on land and that on
+doors and windows will only be charged to the proprietor or temporary
+possessor, notwithstanding any contrary arrangement.
+
+Art. 23. A son is liable for the taxes of his father, and a son-in-law
+whose wife is alive, or who has children by her, for the taxes of his
+father-in-law, in all cases where the father or father-in-law have
+transferred to them their respective rights.
+
+The taxes of a widow, not re-married, are chargeable to whichever of her
+sons, or, in default of sons, to whichever of her sons-in-law, she may
+designate.
+
+Art. 24. To constitute the eligibility of an elector, these taxes must
+have been paid one year at least before the day of the election. The
+heir or legatee on the general title, is considered responsible for the
+taxes payable by the parties from whom he derives.
+
+Art. 25. Every elector and Deputy is bound to make affidavit, if
+required, that they pay really and personally, or that those whose
+rights they exercise pay really and personally, the rates required by
+the law; that they, or those whose rights they exercise, are the true
+and legitimate owners of the property on account of which the taxes are
+paid, or that they truly exercise the trade for the license of which the
+taxes are imposed.
+
+This affidavit is received by the Chamber, for the Deputies, and at the
+electoral offices for the electors. It is signed by them, without
+prejudice to contradictory evidence.
+
+Art. 26. Every Frenchman who has completed the age of thirty on the day
+of election, who is in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and
+who pays a direct tax amounting to six hundred francs in principal, is
+eligible to the Chamber of Deputies.
+
+Art. 27. The Deputies to Parliament are named partly by the electors of
+the department, and partly by the electors of the divisions into which
+each department is divided, in conformity with the table annexed to the
+present law.
+
+The electors of each electoral divisions nominate directly the number of
+Deputies fixed by the same table.
+
+This rule applies to the electors of each department.
+
+Art. 28. All Frenchmen who have completed the age of thirty years, who
+exercise political and civil rights, who have their residence in the
+department, and who pay a direct tax of four hundred francs in
+principal, are electors for the department.
+
+Art. 29. When the electors for the department are less than fifty in the
+department of Corsica, less than one hundred in the departments in the
+higher and lower Alps, of the Ardeche, of the Ariege, or the Correze, of
+the Creuse, of the Lozere, of the higher Marne, of the higher Pyrenees,
+of Vaucluse, of the Vosges; less than two hundred in the departments of
+the Ain, of the Ardennes, of the Aube, of the Aveyron, of the Central,
+of the Coasts of the North, of the Doubs, of the Drome, of the Jura, of
+the Landes, of the Lot, of the Meuse, of the lower Pyrenees, of the
+lower and upper Rhine, of the upper Saone; and less than three hundred
+in the other departments; these numbers are to be completed by calling
+on those who are next in the ratio of taxation.
+
+Art. 30. All Frenchmen aged thirty years complete, who exercise
+political and civil rights, who dwell in the electoral division, and who
+pay a direct tax of two hundred francs in principal, are electors for
+the division.
+
+Art. 31. The electors of departments exercise their rights as electors
+of division, each in the division in which he dwells. To this effect,
+the elections for the departments will not take place till after those
+for the division.
+
+Art. 32. The Deputies to Parliament named by the electors of division
+ought to be domiciled in the department, or at least to be proprietors
+there for more than a year, of a property paying six hundred francs in
+principal, or to have exercised public functions there for three years
+at the least.
+
+The Deputies nominated by the electors of departments may be selected
+from all who are eligible throughout the kingdom.
+
+
+_Forms of Election._
+
+Art. 33. At the hour and on the day fixed for the election, the Board
+will repair to the hall selected for its sittings. The Board is to be
+composed of a President appointed by the King, of the Mayor, of the
+senior Justice of the Peace, and of the two chief Municipal Councillors
+of the head-towns in which the election is held. At Paris, the senior
+Mayor and Justice of the Peace of the electoral division, and two
+members of the general Council of the Department, taken according to the
+order of their appointment, are to co-operate with the President in the
+formation of the Board.
+
+The duties of secretary will be fulfilled by the Mayor's secretary.
+
+Art. 34. The votes are given publicly by the inscription which each
+elector makes himself, or dictates to a member of the Board, of the
+names of the candidates upon an open register. The elector inscribes the
+names of as many candidates as there are Deputies to elect.
+
+Art. 35. In order that any eligible person may become a candidate, and
+that the register may be opened in his favour, it is necessary that he
+should have been proposed to the Board by twenty electors at least, who
+inscribe his name upon the register.
+
+At Paris, no one can be proposed, at the same election, as a candidate
+in more than two electoral districts at the same time.
+
+Art. 36. At the opening of each sitting, the President announces the
+names of the candidates proposed, and the number of votes that each has
+obtained. The same announcement is printed and posted in the town after
+every sitting.
+
+Art. 37. The register for the first series of votes remains open for
+three days at least, and for six hours every day.
+
+No Deputy can be elected by the first series of votes, except by an
+absolute majority of the electors of the district and department, who
+have voted during the three days.
+
+Art. 38. The third day and the hour appointed for voting having expired,
+the register is declared closed; the votes are summed up; the total
+number and the number given to each candidate are published, and the
+candidates who have obtained an absolute majority are announced.
+
+If all the Deputies have not been elected by the first scrutiny of
+votes, the result is published and posted immediately; and after an
+interval of three days, a second series of votes is taken during the
+following days, in the same manner and under the same formalities and
+delays. The candidates who obtain a relative majority at the second
+voting are elected.
+
+Art. 39. Before closing the registers at each voting, the President
+demands publicly whether there is any appeal against the manner in which
+the votes have been inscribed. If objections are made, they are to be
+entered on the official report of the election, and the registers,
+closed and sealed, are forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, who will
+decide.
+
+If there are no appeals, the registers are destroyed on the instant, and
+the official report alone is forwarded to the Chamber.
+
+The official report and registers are signed by all the members of the
+Board.
+
+If there are grounds for a provisional decision, the Board has the power
+of pronouncing it.
+
+Art. 40. The President is invested with full power to maintain the
+freedom of the elections. The civil and military authorities are bound
+to obey his requisitions. The President maintains silence in the hall
+in which the election is held, and will not allow any individual to be
+present who is not an elector or a member of the Board.
+
+
+_Arrangements common to the two Chambers._
+
+Art. 41. No proposition can be sent to a committee until it has been
+previously decided on in the Chamber. The Chamber, on all occasions,
+appoints the number of the members of the committee, and selects them,
+either by a single ballot from the entire list, or on the proposition of
+their own board.
+
+Every motion coming from a Peer or Deputy must be announced at least
+eight days beforehand, in the Chamber to which he belongs.
+
+Art. 42. No motion can be passed by the Chamber until after three
+separate readings, each with an interval between them of eight days at
+the least. The debate follows after each reading. When the debate has
+concluded, the Chamber votes on a new reading. After the last debate, it
+votes on the definitive adoption of the measure.
+
+Art. 43. Every amendment must be proposed before the second reading. An
+amendment decided on after the second reading will of necessity demand
+another reading after the same interval.
+
+Art. 44. Every amendment that may be discussed and voted separately from
+the motion under debate, will be considered as a new motion, and will
+have to undergo the same forms.
+
+Art. 45. Written speeches, except the reports of committees and the
+first opening of a motion, are interdicted.
+
+Art. 46. The Chamber of Peers cannot vote unless fifty Peers, at least,
+are present; the Chamber of Deputies cannot vote unless one hundred
+Members, at least, are present.
+
+Art. 47. The vote in both Chambers is always public.
+
+Fifteen Members can call for a division.
+
+The division is made with closed doors.
+
+Art. 48. The Chamber of Peers can admit the public to its sittings. On
+the demand of five Peers, or on that of the proposer of the motion, the
+sitting becomes private.
+
+Art. 49. The Chamber of Deputies can only form itself into a secret
+committee to hear and discuss the propositions of one of its Members,
+when a secret committee is asked by the proposer of the motion, or by
+five Members at least.
+
+Art. 50. The arrangements of the laws now in operation, and particularly
+those of the law of 17th February, 1817, and which are not affected by
+the present law, will continue to be carried on according to their form
+and tenour.
+
+
+_Temporary Arrangements._
+
+Art. 51. The Chamber of Deputies, from this date until the Session of
+1820, will be carried to the full number of 456 Members.
+
+To this effect, the departments of the fourth series will each name the
+number of Deputies assigned to them by the present law; the other
+departments will also complete the number of Deputies, in the same
+manner assigned to them. The Deputies appointed in execution of the
+present article will be for seven years.
+
+Art. 52. If the number of Deputies to be named to complete the
+deputation of any department, does not exceed that which the electors of
+the department ought to elect, they will all be elected by these
+electors. Should the case be otherwise, each Deputy exceeding this
+number will be chosen by the electors of one of the electoral divisions
+of the department, in the order hereinafter named:--
+
+1. By such of the electoral divisions as have the right of naming more
+than one Deputy, unless one at least of the actual Deputies has his
+political residence in this division.
+
+2. By the first of the electoral divisions in which no actual Deputy has
+his political residence.
+
+3. By the first of the electoral divisions in which one or more of the
+actual Deputies have their political residence, in such manner that no
+single division shall name more Deputies than those assigned to it by
+the present law.
+
+Art. 53. At the expiration of the powers of the present Deputies of the
+5th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd series, a new election will be proceeded with for
+the election of an equal number of Deputies for each respective
+department, by such of the electoral divisions as have not, in execution
+of the preceding article, elected the full number of Deputies which are
+assigned to them by the present law.
+
+Art. 54. The Deputies to be named in execution of the preceding article
+will be; those of the 5th series, for six years;--those of the 1st, for
+five years; those of the 2nd, for four years; and those of the 3rd, for
+three years.
+
+Art. 55. The regulations prescribed by the above articles will be
+observed, if, between the present date and the integral renewing of the
+Chamber, a necessity should arise for replacing a Deputy.
+
+Art. 56. All the elections that may take place under these temporary
+regulations, must be in accordance with the forms and conditions
+prescribed by the present law.
+
+Art. 57. In case of a dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it must be
+integrally renewed within the term fixed by Article 50 of the Charter,
+and in conformity with the present law.
+
+
+
+
+No. XI.
+
+_Letters relative to my Dismissal from the Council of State, on the 17th
+July, 1820._
+
+
+M. DE SERRE (KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL) TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+
+   _Paris, July 17th, 1820._
+
+I regret being compelled to announce to you that you have ceased to
+belong to the Council of State. The violent hostility in which you have
+lately indulged, without the shadow of a pretext, against the King's
+government, has rendered this measure inevitable. You will readily
+understand how much it is personally distressing to myself. My friendly
+feelings towards you induce me to express a hope that you may reserve
+yourself for the future, and that you will not compromise by false steps
+the talents which may still advantageously serve the King and the
+country.
+
+You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. This allowance will be continued. Rest
+assured that I shall be happy, in all that is compatible with my duty,
+to afford you proofs of my sincere attachment.
+
+   DE SERRE.
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
+
+   _July 17th, 1820._
+
+I expected your letter; I had reason to foresee it, and I did foresee it
+when I so loudly declared my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of
+the Ministers. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to change in my
+conduct. Tomorrow, as today, I shall belong to myself, and to myself
+alone.
+
+I have not and I never had any pension or allowance chargeable on the
+department of Foreign Affairs. I am therefore not necessitated to
+decline keeping it. I cannot comprehend how your mistake has arisen. I
+request you to rectify it, as regards yourself and the other Ministers,
+for I cannot suffer such an error to be propagated.
+
+Accept, I entreat you, the assurance of my respectful consideration.
+
+   GUIZOT.
+
+
+
+
+M. GUIZOT TO THE BARON PASQUIER, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
+
+   _Paris, July 17th, 1820._
+
+Baron,
+
+The Keeper of the Seals, on announcing to me that, in common with
+several of my friends, I am removed from the Council of State, writes to
+me thus: "You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs,
+chargeable on the department of Foreign Affairs; this allowance will be
+continued." I have been extremely astonished by this mistake; I am
+completely ignorant of the cause. I have not and I never had any pension
+or allowance of any description chargeable on the department of Foreign
+Affairs. Consequently I am not called upon to refuse its continuance. It
+will be very easy for you, Baron, to verify this fact, and I request you
+to do so, as well for the Keeper of the Seals as for yourself, for I
+cannot suffer the slightest doubt to exist on this subject.
+
+Accept, etc.
+
+   GUIZOT.
+
+
+THE BARON PASQUIER TO M. GUIZOT.
+
+   _Paris, July 18th, 1820._
+
+Sir,
+
+I have just discovered the cause of the mistake against which you
+protest, and into which I myself led the Keeper of the Seals.
+
+Your name, in fact, appears in the list of expenses chargeable on my
+department, for a sum of 6000 francs. In notifying this charge to me, an
+error was committed in marking it as annual: I therefore considered it
+from that time in the light of a pension.
+
+I have now ascertained that it does not assume that character, and that
+it related only to a specified sum which had been allowed to you, to
+assist in the establishment of a Journal. It was supposed that this
+assistance was to be continued, in the form of an annuity, towards
+covering the expenses.
+
+I shall immediately undeceive the Keeper of the Seals by giving him the
+correct explanation.
+
+Receive, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration.
+
+   PASQUIER.
+
+
+
+
+No. XII.
+
+
+M. BERANGER TO M. GUIZOT, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
+
+
+M. Minister,
+
+Excuse the liberty I take in recommending to your notice the widow and
+children of Emile Debraux. You will undoubtedly ask who was this Emile
+Debraux. I can inform you, for I have written his panegyric in verse and
+in prose. He was a writer of songs. You are too polite to ask me at
+present what a writer of songs is; and I am not sorry, for I should be
+considerably embarrassed in answering the question. What I can tell you
+is, that Debraux was a good Frenchman, who sang against the old
+Government until his voice was extinguished, and that he died six months
+after the Revolution of July, leaving his family in the most abject
+poverty. He was influential with the inferior classes; and you may rest
+assured that, as he was not quite as particular as I am in regard to
+rhyme and its consequences, he would have sung the new Government, for
+his only directing compass was the tricoloured flag.
+
+For myself, I have always disavowed the title of a man of letters, as
+being too ambitious for a mere sonneteer; nevertheless, I am most
+anxious that you should consider the widow of Emile Debraux as the widow
+of a literary man, for it seems to me that it is only under that title
+she could have any claim to the relief distributed by your department.
+
+I have already petitioned the Commission of Indemnity for Political
+Criminals, in favour of this family. But under the Restoration, Debraux
+underwent a very slight sentence, which gives but a small claim to his
+widow. From that quarter I therefore obtained only a trifle.
+
+If I could be fortunate enough to interest you in the fate of these
+unfortunate people, I should applaud myself for the liberty I have taken
+in advocating their cause. I have been encouraged by the tokens of
+kindness you have sometimes bestowed on me.
+
+I embrace this opportunity of renewing my thanks, and I beg you to
+receive the assurance of the high consideration with which I have the
+honour to remain,
+
+   Your very humble Servant,
+
+   BERANGER.
+
+   _Passy, Feb. 13th, 1834._
+
+
+END OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+   JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, PRINTER,
+   LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+The following changes have been made to the text:
+
+The spelling of the name, Chateaubriand, was standardized.
+
+Page 1: "MM. LAINE" changed to "MM. LAINE".
+
+Page 27: "ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU" changed to "ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU".
+
+Page 126: "mained intact" changed to "remained intact".
+
+Page 126: "deremanded for the clergy" changed to "demanded for the
+clergy".
+
+Page 141: "pusue their designs" changed to "pursue their designs".
+
+Page 153: "not to detroy" changed to "not to destroy".
+
+Page 222 (in this version): In the footnote "Historic Illustrations"
+has been changed to "Historic Documents".
+
+Page 247: "he Pyrenees" changed to "the Pyrenees".
+
+Page 263: "spread themelves abroad" changed to "spread themselves
+abroad".
+
+Page 264: "share the reponsibility" changed to "share the
+responsibility".
+
+Page 272: "sonnetteer" changed to "sonneteer"
+
+Page 276: "at the C urt" changed to "at the Court".
+
+Page 312: "leader vainly eadeavoured" changed to "leader vainly
+endeavoured".
+
+Page 317: "often controlls wills" changed to "often controls wills".
+
+Page 326: "When be learned" changed to "When he learned".
+
+Page 342: "renouced empty or" changed to "renounced empty or".
+
+Page 349: "crossed the saloon in her way" changed to "crossed the saloon
+on her way".
+
+Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "people surrounds" changed
+to "people surround".
+
+Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "worthy your having faith"
+changed to "worthy of your having faith".
+
+Page 366: "my thanks or them" changed to "my thanks for them".
+
+Page 367: "descripion of Jerusalem" changed to "description of
+Jerusalem".
+
+Page 407: "through the the Inspectors-General" changed to "through the
+Inspectors-General".
+
+Page 412: "Council in in August" changed to "Council in August".
+
+Page 441: "three mile lions" changed to "three millions".
+
+Page 441: "five hundred francs of rent" changed to "five hundred
+thousand francs of rent".
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of
+My Time, by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
+
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