diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/55070-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/55070-0.txt | 20806 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 20806 deletions
diff --git a/old/55070-0.txt b/old/55070-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e20e967..0000000 --- a/old/55070-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,20806 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de -Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to Engl, by François René Chateaubriand and Alexander Teixeira de Mattos - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England. volume 5 (of 6) - Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 5 - -Author: François René Chateaubriand - Alexander Teixeira de Mattos - -Release Date: July 8, 2017 [EBook #55070] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF FRANCOIS RENE, VOL 5 *** - - - - -Produced by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe at -Free Literature (online soon in an extended version, also -linking to free sources for education worldwide ... MOOC's, -educational materials,...) Images generously made available -by the Hathi Trust. - - - - - -THE MEMOIRS OF FRANÇOIS RENÉ - -VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND - -SOMETIME AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND - -BEING A TRANSLATION BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS -OF THE MÉMOIRES D'OUTRE-TOMBE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS -FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES. In 6 Volumes. Vol. V - - "NOTRE SANG A TEINT - LA BANNIÈRE DE FRANCE" - -LONDON: PUBLISHED BY FREEMANTLE -AND CO. AT 217 PICCADILLY MDCCCCII - - - - -CONTENTS - -VOLUME V - -BOOK XIII - -The Roman Embassy continued--Letter to Madame Récamier--Dispatch -to M. le Comte Portalis--Conclaves--Dispatches to M. le -Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. -le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to -M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame Récamier--Letter to -the Marchese Capponi--Letters to Madame Récamier--Letter to -M. le Duc de Blacas--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to -M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Monseigneur le Cardinal de -Clermont-Tonnerre--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame -Récamier--Dispatches to M. le Comte Portalis--Fête at the Villa -Medici for the Grand-duchess Helen--My relations and correspondence -with the Bonaparte Family--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Monte -Cavallo--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame -Récamier--Presumption--The French in Rome--Walks--My nephew Christian -de Chateaubriand--Letter to Madame Récamier--I return to Paris--My -plans--The King and his disposition--M. Portalis--M. de Martignac--I -leave for Rome--The Pyrenees--Adventures--The Polignac Ministry--My -consternation--I come back to Paris--Interview with M. de Polignac--I -resign my Roman Embassy - -BOOK XIV - -Sycophancy of the newspapers--M. de Polignac's first colleagues--The -Algerian Expedition--Opening of the Session of 1830--The Address--The -Chamber is dissolved--New Chamber--I leave for Dieppe--The -Ordinances of the 25th of July--I return to Paris--Reflexions on -the journey--Letter to Madame Récamier--The Revolution of July--M. -Baude, M. de Choiseul, M. de Sémonville, M. de Vitrolles, M. Laffitte, -and M. Thiers--I write to the King at Saint-Cloud--His verbal -answer--Aristocratic corps--Pillage of the house of the missionaries -in the Rue d'Enfer--The Chamber of Deputies--M. de Mortemart--A -walk through Paris--General Dubourg--Funeral ceremony--Under the -colonnade of the Louvre--The young men carry me back to the House of -Peers--Meeting of the Peers - -BOOK XV - -The Republicans--The Orleanist--M. Thiers is sent to -Neuilly--Convocation of peers at the Grand Refendary's--The letter -reaches me too late--Saint-Cloud--Scene between M. le Dauphin -and the Maréchal de Raguse--Neuilly--M. le Duc d'Orléans--The -Raincy--The Prince comes to Paris--A deputation from the Elective -Chamber offers M. le Duc d'Orléans the Lieutenant-generalship -of the Kingdom--He accepts--Efforts of the Republicans--M. le -Duc d'Orléans goes to the Hôtel de Ville--The Republicans at the -Palais-Royal--The King leaves Saint-Cloud--Madame la Dauphine arrives -at Trianon--The Diplomatic Body--Rambouillet--3 August: opening of -the Session--Letter from Charles X. to M. le Duc d'Orléans--The -mob sets out for Rambouillet--Flight of the King--Reflections--The -Palais-Royal--Conversations--Last political temptation--M. de -Sainte-Aulaire--Last gasp of the Republican Party--The day's work of -the 7th of August--Sitting of the House of Peers--My speech--I leave -the Palace of the Luxembourg, never to return--My resignations--Charles -X. takes ship at Cherbourg-What the Revolution of July will be--Close -of my political career - -PART THE FOURTH - -1830-1841 - -BOOK I - -Introduction--Trial of the ministers-Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois--Pillage -of the Archbishop's Palace--My pamphlet on the _Restauration et -la Monarchie élective_--_Études historiques_--Letters to Madame -Récamier--Geneva--Lord Byron--Ferney and Voltaire--Useless -journey to Paris--M. Armand Carrel--M. de Béranger--The Baude and -Briqueville proposition for the banishment of the Elder Branch of the -Bourbons--Letter to the author of the _Némésis_--Conspiracy of the Rue -des Prouvaires--Letter to Madame la Duchesse de Berry--Epidemics--The -cholera--Madame La Duchesse de Berry's 12,000 francs--General -Lamarque's funeral--Madame La Duchesse de Berry lands in Provence and -arrives in the Vendée - -BOOK II - -My arrest--I am transferred from my thieves' cell to Mademoiselle -Gisquet's dressing-room--Achille de Harlay--The examining -magistrate, M. Desmortiers--My life at M. Gisquet's--I am set at -liberty--Letter to M. the Minister of Justice and his reply--I -receive an offer of my peer's pension from Charles X.--My reply--Note -from Madame la Duchesse de Berry--Letter to Béranger--I leave -Paris--Diary from Paris to Lugano--M. Augustin Thierry--The -road over the Saint-Gotthard--The Valley of Schöllenen--The -Devil's Bridge--The Saint-Gotthard--Description of Lugano--The -mountains--Excursions round about Lucerne--Clara Wendel--The peasants' -prayer--M. Alexandre Dumas--Madame de Colbert--Letter to M. de -Béranger--Zurich--Constance--Madame Récamier--Madame la Duchesse de -Saint-Leu--Madame de Saint-Leu after reading M. de Chateaubriand's -last letter--After reading a note signed "Hortense"--Arenenberg--I -return to Geneva--Coppet--The tomb of Madame de Staël--A walk--Letter -to Prince Louis Napoleon--Letters to the Minister of Justice, to the -President of the Council, to Madame la Duchesse de Berry--I write my -memorial on the captivity of the Princess--Circular to the editors of -the newspapers--Extract from the _Mémoire sur la captivité de madame la -duchesse de Berry_--My trial--Popularity - -BOOK III - -The Infirmerie de Marie-Thérèse--Letter from Madame la Duchesse -de Berry from the Citadel of Blaye--Departure from Paris--M. de -Talleyrand's calash--Basle--Journal from Paris to Prague, from the 14th -to the 24th of May 1833, written in pencil in the carriage, in ink at -the inns--The banks of the Rhine--Falls of the Rhine--Mösskirch--A -storm--The Danube--Ulm--Blenheim--Louis XIV.--An Hercynian forest--The -Barbarians--Sources of the Danube--Ratisbon--Decrease in social -life as one goes farther from France--Religious feelings of the -Germans--Arrival at Waldmünchen--The Austrian custom-house--I am -refused admission into Bohemia--Stay at Waldmünchen--Letters to -Count Choteck--Anxiety--The Viaticum--The chapel--My room at the -inn--Description of Waldmünchen--Letter from Count Choteck--The -peasant-girl--I leave Waldmünchen and enter Bohemia--A pine -forest--Conversation with the moon--Pilsen--The high-roads of the -North-View of Prague - -BOOK IV - -The castle of the Kings of Bohemia--First interview with Charles -X.--Monsieur le Dauphin--The Children of France--The Duc and -Duchesse de Guiche--The triumvirate--Mademoiselle--Conversation -with the King--Dinner and evening at Hradschin--Visits--General -Skrzynecki--Dinner at Count Chotek's--Whit Sunday--The Duc de -Blacas--Casual observations--Tycho Brahe--Perdita: more casual -observations--Bohemia--Slav and neo-Latin literature--I take leave -of the King--Adieus--The children's letters to their mother--A -Jew--The Saxon servant-girl--What I am leaving in Prague--The Duc de -Bordeaux--Madame la Dauphine--Casual observations--Springs--Mineral -waters--Historical memories--The Teplitz Valley--Its flora--Last -conversation with the Dauphiness--My departure - -APPENDIX - -The Royal Ordinances of July 1830 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - -VOL. V - -Pope Pius VIII -Henry IX. (Cardinal of York) -Louise of Stolberg (Countess of Albany) -Guizot -The Princesse de Lieven -Charles X -Queen Hortense -Henry V. (Duc de Bordeaux) - - -[Illustration: Pope Pius VIII.] - - - - -THE MEMOIRS OF CHATEAUBRIAND - - - -VOLUME V - - - - -BOOK XIII[1] - - -The Roman Embassy continued--Letter to Madame Récamier--Dispatch -to M. le Comte Portalis--Conclaves--Dispatches to M. le -Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. -le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to -M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame Récamier--Letter to -the Marchese Capponi--Letters to Madame Récamier--Letter to -M. le Duc de Blacas--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to -M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Monseigneur le Cardinal de -Clermont-Tonnerre--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame -Récamier--Dispatches to M. le Comte Portalis--Fête at the Villa -Medici for the Grand-duchess Helen--My relations and correspondence -with the Bonaparte Family--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Monte -Cavallo--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame -Récamier--Presumption--The French in Rome--Walks--My nephew Christian -de Chateaubriand--Letter to Madame Récamier--I return to Paris--My -plans--The King and his disposition--M. Portalis--M. de Martignac--I -leave for Rome--The Pyrenees--Adventures--The Polignac Ministry--My -consternation--I come back to Paris--Interview with M. de Polignac--I -resign my Roman Embassy. - - - -ROME, 17 _February_ 1829. - -Before passing to important matters, I will recall a few facts. - -On the decease of the Sovereign Pontiff, the government of the Roman -States falls into the hands of the three cardinals heads of the -respective orders, deacon, priest and bishop, and of the Cardinal -Camerlingo. The custom is for the ambassadors to go to compliment, in -a speech, the Congregation of Cardinals who meet before the opening of -the conclave at St. Peter's. - -His Holiness' corpse, after first lying in state in the Sistine -Chapel, was carried on Friday last, the 13th of February, to the Chapel -of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Peter's; it remained there till Sunday -the 15th. Then it was laid in the monument which contained the ashes of -Pius VII., and the latter were lowered into the subterranean church. - - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, 17 _February_ 1829. - - "I have seen Leo XII. lying in state, with his face uncovered, on a - paltry state bed, amid the master-pieces of Michael Angelo; I have - attended the first funeral ceremony in the Church of St. Peter. - A few old cardinal commissaries, no longer able to see, assured - themselves with their trembling fingers that the Pope's coffin was - well nailed down. By the light of the candles, mingling with the - moon-light, the coffin was at last raised by a pulley and hung up - in the shadows to be laid in the sarcophagus of Pius VII.[2] - - "They have just brought me the poor Pope's little cat; it is quite - grey and very gentle, like its old master." - - [Sidenote: Dispatch to Portalis.] - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 17 February 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I had the honour to inform you in my first letter carried to Lyons - with the telegraphic dispatch, and in my Dispatch No. 15, of the - difficulties which I encountered in sending off my two couriers - on the 10th of this month. These people have not got beyond the - history of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, as though the fact of the - death of a pope becoming known an hour sooner or an hour later - could cause an imperial army to enter Italy. - - "The obsequies of the Holy Father were concluded on Sunday the - 22nd, and the Conclave will open on Monday evening the 23rd, after - attending the Mass of the Holy Ghost in the morning; they are - already furnishing the cells in the Quirinal Palace. - - "I shall not speak to you, monsieur le comte, of the views of the - Austrian Court or the wishes of the Cabinets of Naples, Madrid and - Turin. M. le Duc le Laval, in his correspondence with me in 1823, - has described the personal qualities of the cardinals, who are in - part those of to-day. I refer you to No. 5 and its appendix, Nos. - 34, 55, 70 and 82. There are also in the boxes at the office some - notes from another source. These portraits, pretty, often fanciful, - are capable of providing amusement, but prove nothing. Three things - no longer make popes: the intrigues of women, the devices of the - ambassadors, the power of the Courts. Neither do they issue from - the general interest of society, but from the particular interest - of individuals and families, who seek places and money in the - election of the Head of the Church. - - "There are immense things that could be effected nowadays by the - Holy See: the union of the dissenting sects, the consolidation - of European society, etc. A pope who would enter into the spirit - of the age and place himself at the head of the enlightened - generations might give fresh life to the Papacy; but these ideas - are quite unable to make their way into the old heads of the - Sacred College; the cardinals who have arrived at the end of life - hand down to one another an elective royalty which soon dies with - them: seated on the double ruins of Rome, the popes appear to be - impressed only with the power of death. - - "Those cardinals elected Cardinal Della Genga[3], after the - exclusion of Cardinal Severoli, because they thought that he - was going to die; Della Genga taking it into his head to live, - they detested him cordially for that piece of deceit. Leo XII. - chose capable administrators from the convents; another cause - for murmuring for the cardinals. But, on the other hand, this - deceased Pope, while advancing the monks, wanted to see regularity - established in the monasteries, so that no one was grateful to him - for the boon. The arrest of the vagrant hermits, the compelling of - the people to drink standing in the street in order to prevent the - stabbing in the taverns, unfortunate changes in the collection of - the taxes, abuses committed by some of the Holy Father's familiars, - even the death of the Pope, occurring at a time which makes the - theatres and tradesmen of Rome lose the profit arising from the - follies of the Carnival, have caused the memory to be anathematized - of a Prince worthy of the liveliest regret; at Cività-Vecchia they - wanted to burn down the house of two men who were thought to be - honoured with his favour. - - "Among many competitors, four are particularly designated: Cardinal - Capellari[4], the head of the Propaganda, Cardinal Pacca[5], - Cardinal Di Gregorio[6] and Cardinal Giustiniani[7]. - - "Cardinal Capellari is a learned and capable man. They say that he - will be rejected by the cardinals as being too young a monk and - unacquainted with worldly affairs. He is an Austrian and said to - be obstinate and ardent in his religious opinions. Nevertheless, - it was he who, when consulted by Leo XII., saw nothing in the - Orders in Council to warrant the complaint of our bishops; it was - he also who drew up the concordat between the Court of Rome and - the Netherlands and who was of opinion that canonical institution - should be granted to the bishops of the Spanish republics: all this - points to a reasonable, conciliatory and moderate spirit. I have - these details from Cardinal Bernetti, with whom, on Friday the - 13th, I had one of the conversations which I announced to you in my - Dispatch No. 15. - - "It is important to the Diplomatic Body, and especially to the - French Ambassador, that the Secretary of State in Rome should be a - man of ready intercourse and accustomed to the affairs of Europe. - Cardinal Bernetti is the minister who suits us best in every - respect; he has committed himself on our behalf with the _Zelanti_ - and the members of the lay congregations; we are bound to wish that - he should be re-employed by the next Pope. I asked him with which - of the four cardinals he would have most chance of returning to - power. He answered: - - "'With Capellari.' - - "Cardinals Pacca and Di Gregorio are faithfully depicted in the - appendix to No. 5 of the correspondence already mentioned; but - Cardinal Pacca is very much enfeebled by age, and his memory, like - that of the Senior Cardinal, La Somaglia[8], is beginning to fail - him entirely. - - [Sidenote: Candidates for the Papacy.] - - "Cardinal Di Gregorio would be a suitable Pope. Although he ranks - among the _Zelanti_, he is not without moderation; he thrusts back - the Jesuits, who have as many adversaries and enemies here as in - France. Neapolitan subject though he be, Cardinal Di Gregorio is - rejected by Naples, and still more by Cardinal Albani[9], the - executor of the high decrees of Austria. The cardinal is Legate at - Bologna, he is over eighty and he is ill; there is therefore some - chance of his not coming to Rome. - - "Lastly, Cardinal Giustiniani is the cardinal of the Roman - nobility; Cardinal Odescalchi is his nephew, and he will probably - receive a fairly good number of votes. But, on the other hand, he - is poor and has poor relations; Rome would fear the demands of this - indigence. - - "You are aware, monsieur le comte, of all the harm that Giustiniani - did as Nuncio in Spain, and I am more aware of it than anyone else - through the troubles which he caused me after the delivery of King - Ferdinand. In the Bishopric of Imola, which the cardinal governs at - present, he has shown himself no more moderate; he has revived the - laws of St. Louis against blasphemers; he is not the pope of our - period. Apart from that, he is a man of some learning, a hebraist, - a hellenist, a mathematician, but better suited for the work of the - study than for public business. I do not believe that he is backed - by Austria. - - "After all, human foresight is often deceived; often a man changes - on attaining power; the _zelante_ Cardinal Della Genga became the - moderate Pope Leo XII. Perhaps, amid the four competitors, a pope - will spring up, of whom no one is thinking at this moment. Cardinal - Castiglioni[10], Cardinal Benvenuti, Cardinal Galleffi[11], - Cardinal Arezzo[12], Cardinal Gamberini, and even the old and - venerable Dean of the Sacred College, La Somaglia, in spite of - his semi-childishness, or rather because of it, are presenting - themselves as candidates. The last has even some hope, because, as - he is Bishop and Prince of Ostia, his exaltation would bring about - alterations which would leave five great places free. - - "It is expected that the Conclave will be either very long or very - short: there will be no systematic contests as at the time of the - decease of Pius VII.; the 'conclavists' and 'anti-conclavists' - have totally disappeared, which will make the election easier. - But, on the other hand, there will be personal struggles between - the candidates who assemble a certain number of votes, and, as it - requires only one more than a third of the votes of the Conclave - to give the _exclusive_, which must not be confounded with the - right of _exclusion_[13], the balloting among the candidates may be - prolonged. - - "Does France wish to exercise the right of _exclusion_ which - she shares with Austria and Spain? Austria exercised it in the - preceding conclave against Severoli, through the intermediary of - Cardinal Albani. Against whom would the Crown of France exercise - that right? Would it be against Cardinal Fesch, if by chance he - were thought of, or against Cardinal Giustiniani? Would the latter - be worth the trouble of striking with this _veto_, always a little - odious, inasmuch as it trammels independence of election? - - "To which of the cardinals would His Majesty's Government wish - to entrust the exercise of its right of exclusion? Does it wish - the French Ambassador to appear armed with the secret of his - Government, and as though ready to strike at the election of the - Conclave, if it were displeasing to Charles X.? Lastly, has the - Government a choice of predilection? Is there such or such a - cardinal whom it wants to support? Certainly, if all the cardinals - of family, that is to say the Spanish, Neapolitan and even - Piedmontese cardinals, would add their votes to those of the French - cardinals, if one could form a party of the crowns, we should gain - the day at the Conclave; but those coalitions are chimerical, and - we have foes rather than friends in the cardinals of the different - Courts. - - [Sidenote: Reasons against interference.] - - "It is asserted that the Primate of Hungary and the Archbishop of - Milan will come to the Conclave. The Austrian Ambassador in Rome, - Count Lützow, talks very cleverly of the conciliatory character - which the new Pope must have. Let us await the instructions of - Vienna. - - "Moreover, I am persuaded that all the ambassadors on earth can do - nothing to-day to influence the election of the Sovereign Pontiff, - and that we are all perfectly useless in Rome. For the rest, I can - see no pressing interest in hastening or delaying (which, besides, - is in nobody's power) the operations of the Conclave. Whether the - non-Italian cardinals do or do not assist at this Conclave is of - the very slightest interest to the result of the election. If one - had millions to distribute, it might still be possible to make a - pope: I see no other means, and that method is not in keeping with - the customs of France. - - "In my confidential instructions to M. le Duc de Laval, on the 13th - of September 1823, I said to him: - - "'We ask that a prelate should be placed on the Pontifical Throne - who shall be distinguished for his piety and his virtues. We - desire only that he should possess sufficient enlightenment and - a sufficiently conciliatory spirit to enable him to judge the - political position of governments and not to throw them, owing to - useless exigencies, into inextricable difficulties as vexatious to - the Church as to the Throne.... We want a moderate member of the - Italian _zelante_ party, capable of being accepted by all parties. - All that we ask of them in our interest is not to seek to profit by - the divisions which may arise among our clergy in order to disturb - our ecclesiastical affairs.' - - "In another confidential letter, written with reference to the - illness of the new Pope Della Genga, on the 28th of January 1824, I - again said to M. le Duc de Laval: - - "'What we are concerned in obtaining (supposing there should be a - new conclave) is that the Pope should, through his inclinations, - be independent of the other Powers, that his principles should be - wise and moderate, and that he should be a friend of France.' - - "Am I, monsieur le comte, to-day, to follow as ambassador the - spirit of those instructions which I gave as minister? - - "This dispatch contains all. I shall only have to keep the King - succinctly informed of the operations of the Conclave and of the - incidents that may arise; the only questions will be the counting - of the votes and the variations of the suffrages. - - "The cardinals favourable to the Jesuits are Giustiniani, - Odescalchi, Pedicini[14] and Bertalozzi[15]. - - "The cardinals opposed to the Jesuits, owing to different causes - and different circumstances, are Zurla[16], Di Gregorio, Bernetti, - Capellari and Micara[17]. - - "It is believed that, out of fifty-eight cardinals, only - forty-eight or forty-nine will attend the Conclave. In that case - thirty-three or thirty-four would effect the election. - - "The Spanish Minister, M. de Labrador, a solitary and secluded man, - whom I suspect of being frivolous under an appearance of gravity, - is greatly embarrassed by the part he is called upon to play. The - instructions of his Court have foreseen nothing; he is writing in - that sense to His Catholic Majesty's _chargé d'affaires_ at Lucca. - - "I have the honour to be, etc. - - - "P.S.-They say that Cardinal Benvenuti has already twelve votes - certain. If that choice succeeded, it would be a good one. - Benvenuti knows Europe and has displayed capacity and moderation in - different employments." - -As the Conclave is about to open, I will rapidly trace the history -of that great law of election, which already counts eighteen hundred -years' duration. Where do the Popes come from? How have they been -elected from century to century? - -At the moment when liberty, equality and the Republic were completely -expiring, about the time of Augustus, was born at Bethlehem the -universal Tribune of the peoples, the great Representative on earth of -equality, liberty and the Republic, Christ, who, after planting the -Cross to serve as a boundary to two worlds, after allowing Himself -to be nailed to that Cross, after dying on it, the Symbol, Victim -and Redeemer of human sufferings, handed down His power to His Chief -Apostle. From Adam to Jesus Christ, we have society with slaves, with -inequality of men among themselves; from Jesus Christ to our time, we -have society with equality of men among themselves, social equality of -man and woman, we have society without slaves, or, at least, without -the principle of slavery. The history of modern society commences at -the foot and on this side of the Cross. - -[Sidenote: The early Popes.] - -Peter[18] Bishop of Rome inaugurated the Papacy: tribune-dictators -successively elected by the people, and most part of the time chosen -from among the humblest classes of the people, the Popes held their -temporal power from the democratic order, from that new society of -brothers which Jesus of Nazareth had come to found, Jesus, the workman, -the maker of yokes and ploughs, born of a woman according to the flesh, -and yet God and Son of God, as His works prove. - -The Popes had the mission to avenge and maintain the rights of man; the -heads of public opinion, all feeble though they were, they obtained the -strength to dethrone kings with a word and an idea: for a soldier they -had but a plebeian, his head protected by a cowl, his hand armed with -a cross. The Papacy, marching at the head of civilization, progressed -towards the goal of society. Christian men, in all regions of the -globe, gave obedience to a priest whose name was hardly known to them, -because that priest was the personification of a fundamental truth; -he represented in Europe the political independence which was almost -everywhere destroyed; in the Gothic world he was the defender of the -popular liberties, as in the modern world he became the restorer of -science, letters and the arts. The people enrolled itself among his -troops in the habit of a mendicant friar. - -The quarrel between the Empire and the priesthood is the struggle of -the two social principles of the middle ages, power and liberty. The -Popes, favouring the Guelphs, declared themselves for the governments -of the peoples; the Emperors, adopting the Ghibellines, urged the -government of the nobles: these were precisely the parts played by the -Athenians and Spartans in Greece. Therefore, when the Popes took side -with the kings, when they turned themselves into Ghibellines, they -lost their power, because they were disengaging themselves from their -natural principle, and, for an opposite and yet analogous reason, the -monks have seen their authority decrease, when political liberty has -returned directly to the peoples, because the peoples have no longer -needed to be replaced by the monks, their representatives. - -Those thrones declared vacant and delivered to the first occupant in -the middle ages; those emperors who came on their knees to implore -a pontiff's forgiveness; those kingdoms laid under an interdict; an -entire nation deprived of worship by a magic word; those anathematized -sovereigns, abandoned not only by their subjects, but also by their -servants and kindred; those princes avoided like lepers, separated from -the mortal race while waiting to be cut off from the eternal race; -the food they had tasted, the objects they had touched passed through -the flames as things sullied: all this was but the forceful effect of -popular sovereignty delegated to and wielded by religion. - -The oldest electoral law in the world is the law by virtue of which -the pontifical power has been handed down from St. Peter to the priest -who wears the tiara to-day: from that priest you go back from pope to -pope till you come to saints who touch Christ; at the first link of -the pontifical chain stands a God. The bishops were elected by the -general assembly of the faithful; from the time of Tertullian[19], the -Bishop of Rome was named the Bishop of Bishops. The clergy, forming -part of the people, concurred in the election. As passions exist -everywhere, as they debase the fairest institutions and the most -virtuous characters, in the measure that the papal power increased, it -attempted more, and human rivalries produced great disorders. In Pagan -Rome, similar troubles had broken out on the occasion of the election -of the Tribunes: of the two Gracchi, one[20] was flung into the Tiber, -the other[21] stabbed by a slave in a wood consecrated to the Furies. -The nomination of Pope Damasus[22], in 366, led to an affray attended -by bloodshed: one hundred and thirty-seven people succumbed in the -Sicinian Basilica, known to-day as Santa Maria Maggiore. - -[Sidenote: History of their election.] - -We find St. Gregory[23] elected Pope by the Clergy, the Senate and the -People of Rome. Any Christian could rise to the tiara: Leo IV.[24] was -promoted to the Sovereign Pontificate, on the 12th of April 847, to -defend Rome against the Saracens, and his ordination deferred until he -had given proofs of his courage. The same thing happened to the other -bishops: Simplicius[25] ascended the See of Bourges, layman though he -were. To this day (which is not generally known) the choice of the -Conclave might fall on a layman, even if he were married: his wife -would take the veil, and he would receive all the orders together with -the papacy. - -The Greek and Latin Emperors tried to suppress the liberty of the -popular papal election; they sometimes usurped it, and often exacted -that the election should at least be confirmed by them: a capitulary of -Louis the Débonnaire[26] restores its primitive liberty to the election -of the bishops, which was accomplished according to a treaty of the -same time, by "the unanimous consent of the clergy and the people." - -The dangers of an election proclaimed by the masses of the people or -dictated by the emperors made necessary certain changes in the law. -There existed, in Rome, priests and deacons known as "cardinals," -whether because they served at the horns or corners of the altar, _ad -cornua altaris_, or that the word cardinal is derived from the Latin -word _cardo_, a hinge. Pope Nicholas II.[27], in a council held in Rome -in 1059, carried a resolution that the cardinals alone should elect the -popes and that the clergy and the people should ratify the election. -One hundred and twenty years later, the Lateran Council[28] took away -the ratification from the clergy and the people, and made the election -valid by a majority of two-thirds of the votes in the assembly of -cardinals. - -But, as this canon of the Council fixed neither the duration nor the -form of this electoral college, it came about that discord was produced -among the electors, and there was no provision, in the new modification -of the law, to put an end to that discord. In 1268, after the death of -Clement IV.[29], the cardinals who had met at Viterbo were unable to -come to an agreement, and the Holy See remained vacant for two years. -The Podesta and the people were obliged to lock up the cardinals in -their palace, and even, it is said, to unroof that palace in order -to compel the electors to make a choice. At last Gregory X.[30] came -out of the ballot, and thereupon, to remedy this abuse in future, -established the Conclave, _cum clave_, with or under key; he regulated -the internal dispositions of the Conclave in much the same manner as -they exist to-day: separate cells, a common room for the balloting, -walled-up outer windows, from one of which the election is proclaimed, -by demolishing the plaster with which it is sealed, and so on. The -Council held at Lyons in 1274 confirms and improves these arrangements. -Nevertheless, one article of this rule has fallen into disuse: that in -which it was laid down that, if the choice of a pope were not made in -three days of confinement, during five days after those three days the -cardinals should have only one dish at their meals, and that, after -that, they should have only bread, wine and water until the Sovereign -Pontiff was elected. - -To-day the duration of a conclave is no longer limited, nor are the -cardinals now punished in their diet, like naughty children. Their -dinner, placed in baskets, carried on barrows, is brought to them -from the outside, accompanied by lackeys in livery; a dapifer follows -the convoy, sword at side, and drawn by caparisoned horses in the -emblazoned coach of the cardinal recluse. On reaching the conclave -tower, the chickens are drawn, the pies examined, the oranges cut into -quarters, the corks of the bottles cut up, lest some paper should be -concealed inside. These old customs, some childish, others ridiculous, -have their drawbacks. If the dinner be sumptuous, the poor man starving -of hunger who sees it go by makes his comparison and murmurs. If it -be mean, by another infirmity of human nature, the pauper laughs at -it and despises the Roman purple. It would be a good thing to abolish -this usage, which is no longer in keeping with our present customs; -Christianity has gone back to its source; it has returned to the time -of the Lord's Supper and the love-feasts, and Christ alone should -to-day preside over those banquets. - -[Sidenote: Intrigues of the Conclaves.] - -The intrigues of the conclaves are famous; some of them had baneful -results. During the Western Schism, different popes and anti-popes were -seen to curse and excommunicate one another from the top of the ruined -walls of Rome. The schism seemed on the point of extinction, when Pedro -de Luna[31] revived it, in 1394, through an intrigue of the conclave -at Avignon. Alexander VI.[32], in 1492, bought the votes of twenty-two -cardinals, who prostituted the tiara to him, leaving memories of -Lucrezia[33] behind him. Sixtus V. had no intrigue in the conclave -except with his crutches, and when he was Pope his genius no longer -had need of those supports. I have seen in a Roman villa a portrait of -Sixtus V.'s sister, a woman of the people, whom the terrible pontiff, -in all his plebeian pride, pleased himself by having painted: - -"The first arms of our house," he said to this sister, "are rags[34]." - -That was still the time at which some sovereigns dictated orders to the -Sacred College. Philip II. used to have notes passed into the conclave, -saying: - -"_Su Magestad no quiere que N. sea Papa; quiere que N. to tenga._" - -From that period, the intrigues of the conclave are scarcely more than -agitations without general results. Nevertheless, Du Perron[35] and -d'Ossat obtained the reconciliation of Henry IV. with the Holy See, -which was a great event. The _Ambassades_ of Du Perron are greatly -inferior to the Letters of d'Ossat. Before then, Du Bellay was at one -time on the point of preventing the schism of Henry VIII.[36] Having -obtained from that tyrant, before his separation from the Church, that -he should submit to the judgment of the Holy See, he arrived in Rome -at the moment when the condemnation of Henry VIII. was about to be -pronounced. He obtained a delay to send a man of trust to England; the -bad roads retarded the reply. The partisans of Charles V. caused the -sentence to be pronounced, and the bearer of the powers of Henry VIII. -arrived two days later. The delay of a message made England Protestant -and changed the political face of Europe. The destinies of the world -depend on no more potent causes: a too capacious goblet emptied at -Babylon caused Alexander to disappear. - -Next comes to Rome, in the time of Olimpia[37], the Cardinal de Retz, -who, in the conclave held after the death of Innocent X.[38], enlisted -in the "flying squadron," the name given to ten independent cardinals; -they carried with them "Sacchetti," who was "only good to paint," in -order to pass Alexander VII.[39], _savio col silenzio_, who, as Pope, -showed himself to be nothing much. - -[Illustration: Henry IX. (Cardinal of York)] - -The Président de Brosses describes the death of Clement XII.[40], which -he witnessed, and saw the election of Benedict XIV.[41]--as I saw -Leo XII. the Pontiff lying dead on his abandoned bed: the Cardinal -Camerlingo had struck Clement XII. twice or thrice on the forehead, -according to the custom, with a little hammer, calling him by his name, -Lorenzo Corsini. - - "He made no reply," says de Brosses, and adds, "That is how your - daughter comes to be dumb[42]." - -And that is how at that time the most serious things were treated: -a dead pope at whose head one knocks as it were at the gate of -understanding, while calling on the deceased and voiceless man by his -name, could, it seems to me, have inspired a witness with something -else than raillery, even though it were borrowed from Molière. What -would the frivolous Dijon magistrate have said had Clement XII. -answered him from the depths of eternity: - -"What do you want with me?" - -[Sidenote: Cynicism of de Brosses.] - -The Président de Brosses sends his friend the Abbé Courtois a list -of the cardinals of the Conclave, with a word on each of them to his -honour: - - "Guadagni[43], a bigot, a hypocrite, witless, tasteless, a poor - monk. - - "Aquaviva of Aragon, a fine presence, although somewhat heavy in - figure, as he is also in mind. - - "Ottoboni[44], no morals, no credit, debauched, ruined, a lover of - the arts. - - "Alberoni[45], full of ardour, anxious, restless, despised, no - morals, no decency, no consideration, no judgment: according to - him, a cardinal is a ----- dressed in red." - -The rest of the list is all of a piece; cynicism here takes the place -of wit. - -A singular piece of buffoonery took place: de Brosses went to dine with -some Englishmen at the Porta San Pancrazio; they had a mock election of -a pope: a certain Sir Ashwood took off his wig and represented the dean -of the cardinals; they sang _Oremus_, and Cardinal Alberoni was elected -by the ballot of that orgy. The Protestant soldiers in the Constable de -Bourbon's army nominated Martin Luther pope in the Church of St. Peter. -Nowadays the English, who are at once the plague and the providence of -Rome, respect the Catholic Religion which has permitted them to build a -church outside the Porta del Popolo. The government and manners of the -day would no longer suffer such scandals. - -So soon as a cardinal is imprisoned in the conclave, the first thing -he does is, with the aid of his servants, in the dark, to scratch at -the newly blocked-up walls until they have made a little hole. Through -this, during the night, they pass strings by means of which news is -sent and received between the inside and the outside. For the rest, the -Cardinal de Retz, whose opinion is above suspicion, after speaking of -the miseries of the conclave in which he took part, ends his story with -these fine words: - - "We lived there, always together, with the same mutual respect and - the same civility that are observed in the closets of kings; with - the same politeness that obtained at the Court of Henry III.; with - the same familiarity that is seen in the colleges; with the same - modesty that prevails in noviciates, and the same charity, at least - in appearance, that might exist among brothers wholly united." - -I am struck, in finishing this epitome of a vast history, by the -serious manner in which it commences and the almost burlesque manner in -which it ends: the greatness of the Son of God opens the scene which, -shrinking in proportion as the Catholic Religion moves farther from its -source, ends in the littleness of the son of Adam. We scarcely find -again the primitive loftiness of the Cross until we come to the decease -of the Sovereign Pontiff: that childless, friendless pope, whose corpse -lies neglected on its couch, shows that the man was reckoned as naught -in the head of the evangelical world. Honours are rendered to the Pope -as a temporal prince; as a man, his abandoned corpse is flung down at -the door of the church where of old the sinner did penance. - -[Sidenote: Dispatches to Portalis.] - - DISPATCHES TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 17 _February_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I do not know whether the King will be pleased to send an - extraordinary ambassador to Rome, or whether it will suit him to - accredit me to the Sacred College. In the latter case, I have the - honour to observe to you that I allowed M. le Duc de Laval, for his - expenses for extraordinary service in a similar circumstance, in - 1823, a sum which amounted, as far as I can remember, to 40,000 or - 50,000 francs. The Austrian Ambassador, M. le Comte d'Apponyi[46], - at first received from his Court a sum of 36,000 francs for the - first requirements, a supplementary allowance of 7,200 francs per - month over and above his ordinary salary during the sitting of the - Conclave, and 10,000 francs for presents, chancery expenses, etc. - I do not, monsieur le comte, pretend to compete in magnificence - with His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador, as M. le Duc de Laval - did; I shall hire no horses, carriages, nor liveries to dazzle the - Roman mob; the King of France is a great enough lord to pay for the - pomp of his ambassadors, if he wishes it: borrowed magnificence is - wretched. I shall therefore go modestly to the Conclave with my - ordinary footmen and in my ordinary carriages. It only remains for - me to know whether the King will not think that, as long as the - Conclave lasts, I shall be bound to keep up a display for which - my ordinary salary will not be sufficient I ask nothing, I merely - submit the question to your judgment and to the royal decision. - - "I have the honour to be, etc." - - - "ROME, 19 _February_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I had the honour yesterday to be presented to the Sacred College - and to deliver the little speech of which I sent you a copy in - advance in my Dispatch No. 17, which left on Tuesday the 17th inst. - by a special courier. I was listened to with the most auspicious - marks of satisfaction, and the Senior Cardinal, the venerable Della - Somaglia, replied to me in terms most affectionate towards the King - and France. - - "Having informed you of everything in my last dispatch, I have - absolutely nothing new to tell you to-day, unless it be that - Cardinal Bussi[47] arrived yesterday from Benevento. Cardinals - Albani, Macchi[48], and Oppizzoni are expected to-day. - - "The members of the Sacred College will lock themselves up in the - Quirinal Palace on Monday evening the 23rd of this month. Ten days - will then elapse to await the arrival of the foreign cardinals, - after which the serious operations of the Conclave will commence, - and, if they were to come to an understanding at once, the pope - could be elected in the first week of Lent. - - "I am, monsieur le comte, awaiting the King's orders. I presume - that you dispatched a courier to me after M. de Montebello's - arrival in Paris. It is urgent that I should receive either the - announcement of an extraordinary embassy, or my new credentials - together with the instructions of the Government. - - "Are my five French cardinals coming? Politically speaking, - their presence here is very little necessary. I have written to - Monseigneur le Cardinal de Latil[49] to offer him my services in - case he should decide to come, - - "I have the honour to be, etc. - - "_P.S._ I enclose a copy of a letter which M. le Comte de Funchal - has written to me. I have not replied to this ambassador in - writing; I only went to talk to him." - - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, _Monday_ 23 _February_ 1829. - - "Yesterday the Pope's obsequies were finished. The pyramid of - 'paper' and the four candelabra were fine enough, because they - were of immense proportions and reached up to the cornice of the - church. The last _Dies iræ_ was admirable. It is composed by an - unknown man, who belongs to the pope's chapel, and who seems to me - to possess a very different sort of genius from Rossini's. To-day - we pass from sorrow to joy; we sing the _Veni Creator_ for the - opening of the Conclave; then we shall go every evening to see if - the ballot-papers are burnt, if the smoke issues from a certain - chimney: on the day on which there is no smoke, the pope will - have been appointed, and I shall go to see you again; that is the - whole business as it affects me. The King of England's speech is - very insolent to France! What a deplorable expedition that Morean - Expedition is! Are they beginning to see it? General Guilleminot - wrote me a letter on the subject which made me laugh; he can only - have written as he did because he presumed me to be a minister." - - [Sidenote: Letters to Madame Récamier.] - - "25 _February._ - - "Death is here; Torlonia went yesterday evening after two days' - illness; I have seen him lying all painted on his death-bed, his - sword at his side. He lent money on pledges, but on such pledges! - On antiquities, on pictures huddled promiscuously in an old, dusty - palace. That was different from the shop in which the Miser put - away 'a Bologna lute, fitted with all its strings, or nearly... the - skin of a lizard three feet long... and a four-foot bedstead with - slips in Hungarian point[50].' - - "One sees nothing but dead people carried dressed-up through the - streets; one of them passes regularly under my windows when we - sit down to dinner. For the rest, everything proclaims the spring - parting; people are beginning to disperse; they are leaving for - Naples; they will come back a moment for Holy Week, and then - separate for good. Next year there will be different travellers, - different faces, a different society. There is something melancholy - in this journey over ruins: the Romans are like the remains of - their city; the world passes at their feet. I picture those persons - going back to their families in the various countries of Europe, - the young 'Misses' returning to the midst of their fogs. If, by - chance, thirty years hence, one of them is brought back to Italy, - who will remember to have seen her in the palaces whose masters - shall be no more. St. Peter's and the Coliseum: that is all that - she herself would recognise." - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 3 _March_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "My first courier having reached Lyons, on the 14th of last month, - at nine o'clock in the evening, you must have learned the news of - the Pope's death, by telegraph, on the morning of the 15th. It - is to-day the 3rd of March, and I am still without instructions - and without an official reply. The newspapers have announced the - departure of two or three cardinals. I had written to Paris to - Monseigneur le Cardinal de Latil to place the Embassy Palace at his - disposal; I have just written to him again at different points on - his road to renew my offers. - - "I am sorry to be obliged to tell you, monsieur le comte, that I - notice some little intrigues here to keep the cardinals away from - the Embassy, to lodge them where they might be placed more within - reach of the influences which it is hoped to exercise over them. - - "As far as I am concerned, this is a matter of indifference to me. - I shall show Their Eminences all the services which depend upon - myself. If they question me touching things which it is well that - they should know, I shall tell them what I can; if you transmit - the King's orders for them to me, I will communicate these to - them; but, if they were to arrive here in a spirit hostile to the - views of His Majesty's Government, if it were perceived that they - were not in agreement with the King's Ambassador, if they held a - language contrary to mine, if they went so far as to give their - votes in the Conclave to some exaggerated man, if even they were - divided among themselves, nothing would be more fatal. It would - be better for the King's service that I should instantly hand in - my resignation rather than present this public spectacle of our - discords. Austria and Spain have a line of conduct with reference - to their clergy which leaves no opening for intrigue. No Austrian - or Spanish priest, cardinal or bishop, can have any other agent or - correspondent in Rome than the ambassador of his Court himself; the - latter has the right to remove from Rome, at a moment's notice, any - ecclesiastic of his nationality who may obstruct him. - - "I hope, monsieur le comte, that no division will take place, that - Their Eminences the cardinals will have formal orders to submit to - the instructions which I shall before long receive from you, and - that I shall know which of them will be charged with the exercise - of the exclusion, in case of need, and which heads that exclusion - is to strike. - - "It is very necessary that we should be on our guard; the last - ballots revealed the awakening of a party. This party, which gave - twenty or twenty-one votes to Cardinals Della Marmora[51] and - Pedicini, forms what is known here as the Sardinian faction. The - other cardinals, alarmed, want all to give their suffrages to - Oppizzoni, a man both firm and moderate. Although an Austrian, - that is to say, a Milanese, he coped against Austria at Bologna. - He would be an excellent choice. The votes of the French might, - by settling on one candidate or another, decide the election. - Rightly or wrongly, these cardinals are believed to be hostile to - the present system of His Majesty's Government, and the Sardinian - faction is reckoning on them. - - "I have the honour to be, etc[52]." - - [Sidenote: To Portalis and Récamier.] - - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, 3 _March_ 1829. - - "I am quite surprised at your acquaintance with the story of my - excavation; I did not remember having written you so well on that - subject. I am, as you think, very busy: left without directions - or instructions, I am obliged to take everything upon myself. I - believe, however, that I can promise you a moderate and enlightened - pope, if God only grant that he be made at the expiration of the - interim of M. Portalis' ministry." - - - "4 _March._ - - "Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, I was on my knees alone in the Church of - Santa Croce, which rests against the walls of Rome, near the Porta - di Napoli. I heard the monotonous and lugubrious chanting of the - monks within that solitude: I should have liked myself to be in a - frock, singing among those ruins. What a spot to appease ambition - and to contemplate the vanities of earth! While I am suffering, - I hear that M. de La Ferronnays is getting better; he rides on - horseback, and his convalescence is looked upon in the country as - miraculous: God grant that it be so, and that he may resume work at - the end of the interim. What a number of questions that would solve - for me!" - - [Sidenote: Dispatch to Portalis.] - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "_Sunday_[53] 15 _March_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I have had the honour to inform you of the successive arrivals of - their Eminences the French cardinals. Three of them, Messieurs de - Latil, de La Fare[54] and de Croy[55] have done me the honour to - be my guests. The first entered the Conclave on Thursday evening - the 12th, with M. le Cardinal Isoard[56]; the two others locked - themselves in on Friday evening the 13th. - - "I told them all I know; I gave them important notes on the - minority and majority in the Conclave, and on the sentiments which - animate the different parties. We agreed that they should support - the candidates of whom I have already spoken to you, namely, - Cardinals Capellari, Oppizzoni, Benvenuti, Zurla, Castiglioni - and, lastly, Pacca and Di Gregorio; and that they should reject - the cardinals of the Sardinian faction: Pedicini, Giustiniani, - Galleffi, and Cristaldi[57]. - - "I hope that this good intelligence between the ambassadors and - cardinals will have the best effect: at least I shall have nothing - with which to reproach myself if passions or interests intervene to - deceive my hopes. - - "I have, monsieur le comte, discovered dangerous and contemptible - intrigues carried on between Paris and Rome through the channel - of Monsignor Lambruschini, the Nuncio[58]. It was no less a - question than to cause to be read, in open conclave, a copy of - some pretended secret instructions, divided into several clauses - and given (so it was impudently asserted) to M. le Cardinal de - Latil. The majority of the Conclave has pronounced strongly against - these machinations; it wished the Nuncio to be instructed to break - off all relations with those men of discord who, while troubling - France, would end by making the Catholic Religion hateful to all. - I am, monsieur le comte, making a collection of these authentic - revelations, and I will send it to you after the election of the - pope: that will be worth more than all the dispatches in the - world. The King will learn to know who are his friends and who his - enemies, and the Government will be able to rely on facts suited to - guide its conduct - - "Your Dispatch No. 14 informs me of the encroachments which His - Holiness' Nuncio endeavoured to renew in France in connection with - the death of Leo XII. The same thing had happened before, when - I was Foreign Minister, at the time of the death of Pius VII.: - fortunately, we always have means of defending ourselves against - those public attacks; it is much more difficult to escape the plots - laid in the dark. - - "The conclavists who accompany our cardinals appeared to me to be - reasonable men: the Abbé Coudrin[59] alone, whom you mentioned to - me, is one of those cramped and narrow minds into which nothing - can enter, one of those men who have mistaken their profession. - As you are well aware, he is a monk, head of an order, and he even - has bulls of institution: this is but little in agreement with our - civil laws and our political institutions. - - "It may happen that the pope will be elected at the end of this - week. But, if the French cardinals fail to make their presence - felt at once, it will become impossible to assign a limit to the - duration of the Conclave. New combinations would perhaps bring - about an unexpected nomination: to have done with it, they might - agree on some insignificant cardinal, such as Dandini[60]. - - "In times gone by, monsieur le comte, I have found myself placed - in difficult circumstances, whether as Ambassador to London, or as - Minister during the Spanish War, or as a member of the House of - Peers, or Leader of the Opposition; but nothing has given me so - much anxiety and care as my present position in the midst of every - kind of intrigue. I have to act upon an invisible body locked up in - a prison, the approaches to which are strictly guarded. I have no - money to give, no places to promise; the decaying passions of fifty - old men give me no hold on them. I have to fight against stupidity - in some, against ignorance of the times in others; fanaticism in - these, craft and duplicity in those; in almost all, ambition, - self-interest, political hatred: and I am separated by walls and - mysteries from the assembly in which so many elements of division - are fermenting. At each moment, the scene varies; every quarter of - an hour, contradictory reports plunge me into fresh perplexities. - I am not, monsieur le comte, telling you of these difficulties - to show my importance, but rather to serve as my excuse in case - the election should result in a pope contrary to what it seems - to promise and to the nature of our wishes. At the time of the - death of Pius VII., public opinion was not excited over religious - questions: to-day, these questions have begun to play their part in - politics, and never did the election of the Head of the Church fall - at a less auspicious moment - - "I have the honour to be, etc." - -[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Récamier.] - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - ROME, 17 _March_ 1829. - - "The King of Bavaria[61] has called in mufti to see me. We spoke of - you. This 'Greek' sovereign, though he wears a crown, seems to know - what he has on his head, and to understand that you cannot nail the - present to the past. He is to dine with me on Thursday, and wants - no one there. - - "For the rest, behold us in the midst of great events: a pope to be - made; what will he be like? Will Catholic Emancipation be passed? - A new campaign in the East: on which side will victory be? Shall - we profit by this position? Who will conduct our affairs? Is there - a head capable of perceiving all that this contains for France - and of profiting by it according to events? I am persuaded that - they do not so much as think of it in Paris and that, what with - the salons and the Chambers, pleasures and legislation, worldly - joys and ministerial anxieties, they don't trouble about Europe or - anything else. Only I myself, in my exile, have time to indulge in - dreams and to look about me. Yesterday I went for a walk in a sort - of gale on the old Tivoli Road. I came to the old Roman pavement, - which is so well preserved that one would believe it had been newly - laid. Yet Horace had trod the stones which I was treading: where is - Horace?" - -[Illustration: Louise of Stolberg (Countess of Albany)] - -The Marquis Capponi[62] arrived from Florence, bringing me letters of -recommendation from ladies in Paris. I replied to one of these letters -on the 21st of March 1829: - - "I have received your letters: the services I am able to do are - nothing, but I am entirely at your orders. I was already well - acquainted with the Marquis Capponi's merits. I can tell you that - he is still good-looking; he has weathered time. I did not answer - your first letter, so full of enthusiasm for the sublime Mahmud - and for 'disciplined' barbarism, for those slaves 'bastinadoed' - into soldiers[63]. I can imagine that women are carried away with - admiration for men who marry hundreds of them at a time, and that - they take that for the progress of enlightenment and civilization; - but, as for me, I cling to my poor Greeks; I desire their liberty - as I do that of France. I also want frontiers which will cover - Paris and ensure our independence; and it is not by means of the - triple alliance of the pale of Constantinople, the _schlag_ of - Vienna and the fisticuffs of London that you will obtain the bank - of the Rhine. Many thanks for the fur-coat of honour which our - glory might obtain from the invincible Commander of the Faithful, - who has not yet sallied from the outskirts of his seraglio; I - prefer that glory naked; she is a woman and beautiful: Phidias - would certainly never have robed her in a Turkish dressing-gown." - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - ROME, 21 _March_ 1829. - - "Well, I am right and you are wrong! I went yesterday, between - two ballots and while waiting for a pope, to Sant' Onofrio: and - it is two _orange-trees_ that grow in the cloister, and not an - evergreen oak. I am quite proud of this fidelity of my memory. I - ran, almost with my eyes shut, to the little stone that covers your - friend; I prefer it to the great monument they are going to raise - to him. What a charming solitude! What an admirable view! What - happiness to lie there between the frescoes of Domenichino[64] and - Leonardo da Vinci! I wish I were there, I never felt so tempted. - Did they let you enter the interior of the convent? Did you see, - in a long corridor, that delicious, though half-obliterated, head - of a Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci? Did you see in the library - Tasso's mask, his withered laurel-wreath, a mirror which he used, - his ink-stand, his pen and the letter written by his hand, pasted - to a board that hangs below his bust? In this letter, in a small, - scratched-out, but easily legible hand, he speaks of 'friendship' - and the 'wind of fortune;' the latter scarcely ever blew for him, - and the former often failed him. - - "No pope yet, we expect him hourly; but, if the choice has been - delayed, if obstacles have arisen on every hand, it is not my - fault: they ought to have listened to me a little more, and not - acted in a sense exactly opposite to that which they seemed to - decide upon. For the rest, it seems to me at present that every one - wants to be at peace with me. The Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre - himself has just written to tell me that he claims my former - kindness for him; and after all that he comes to stay with me - resolved to vote for the most moderate pope. - - "You have read my second speech. Thank M. Kératry[65], who has - spoken so obligingly of the first; I hope he will be still more - pleased with the other. We shall both of us try to make liberty - Christian, and we shall succeed. What do you say to the answer - Cardinal Castiglioni made me? Have I been finely enough praised 'in - open conclave'? You could not have done better in the days when you - spoilt me." - - [Sidenote: Letters to Madame Récamier.] - - "24 _March_ 1829. - - "If I were to believe the rumours of Rome, we should have a pope - to-morrow; but I am in a moment of discouragement, and I refuse to - believe in such happiness. You can understand that that happiness - is not political happiness, the joy of a triumph, but the happiness - of being free and seeing you again. When I speak to you so much - about the Conclave, I am like the people who have a fixed idea and - who believe that the whole world is interested in that idea. And - yet, in Paris, who thinks of the Conclave, who troubles about a - pope or my tribulations? French light-heartedness, the interests - of the moment, the discussions in the Chambers, excited ambitions - have very different things to do. When the Duc de Laval used also - to write to me of his cares about the Conclave, preoccupied with - the Spanish War as I was, I used to say, when I received his - dispatches, 'Oh, good Heavens, I have something else to think - of!' and M. Portalis is applying the _lex talionis_ to me to-day. - Nevertheless, one may fairly say that things at that time were not - what they are now: religious ideas were not mixed up with political - ideas as they have since been throughout Europe; the quarrel did - not lie there; the nomination could not, as it does now, disturb or - pacify States. - - "Since the letter which informed me that M. de La Ferronnays' leave - had been extended and that he had left for Rome, I have heard - nothing: still, I believe that news true. - - "M. Thierry has written me a touching letter from Hyères; he tells - me that he is dying, and still he wants a place in the Academy of - Inscriptions and asks me to write for him. I am going to do so. - My excavation continues to give me sarcophaguses; death can only - yield what it possesses. The Poussin monument is getting on. It - will be noble and large. You cannot imagine how the picture of the - Arcadian Shepherds was made for a bas-relief, nor how well it suits - sculpture." - - "28 _March._ - - "M. le Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre, who has been staying with - me, enters the Conclave to-day; this is an age of marvels. I - have with me the son of Marshal Lannes and the grandson of the - Chancellor[66]; _Messieurs du Constitutionnel_ dine at my table - beside _Messieurs de la Quotidienne._ That is the advantage of - being sincere; let every one think what he pleases, provided I am - allowed the same liberty; I only endeavour that my opinion shall - have the majority, because I think it, and rightly, better than - the others. I attribute to this sincerity the tendency of the most - diverging opinions to gather round me. I exercise the right of - sanctuary towards them: they cannot be seized beneath my roof." - - - TO M. LE DUC DE BLACAS[67] - - "ROME, 24 _March_ 1829. - - "I am sorry, monsieur le duc, that a phrase in my letter should - have been able to cause you any anxiety. I have no reason whatever - to complain of a man of sense and intelligence[68], who told me - nothing save diplomatic commonplaces. Do we ambassadors ever talk - anything else? As to the cardinal of whom you do me the honour - to speak, the French Government has not designated any one in - particular; it has left the matter entirely as I reported it. Seven - or eight moderate and peaceful cardinals, who seem to attract the - wishes of all the Courts alike, are the candidates among whom we - wish to see the votes fall. But, if we lay no claim to impose a - choice upon the majority of the Conclave, we do with all our might - and by every means repel two or three fanatical, intriguing, or - incapable cardinals, whom the minority are supporting. - - "I have no other possible means of sending you this letter, - monsieur le duc; I am therefore very simply posting it, because it - contains nothing that you and I cannot confess aloud. - - "I have the honour to be, etc." - - [Sidenote: To Blacas and Récamier.] - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, 31 _March_ 1829. - - "M. de Montebello has arrived and has brought me your letter, with - a letter from M. Bertin and from M. Villemain. - - "My excavations are doing well: I find plenty of empty - sarcophaguses; I shall be able to choose one for myself, without my - ashes being obliged to turn out those of the old dead men whom the - wind has carried away. Depopulated sepulchres afford the spectacle - of a resurrection, and yet they await only a more profound death. - It is not life but annihilation which has made those tombs deserted. - - "To finish my little diary of the moment, I will tell you that the - day before yesterday I climbed to the ball of St. Peter's during - a storm. You cannot imagine the noise of the wind in mid-sky, - around that cupola of Michael Angelo and above that temple of the - Christians which crushes Ancient Rome." - - "31 _March, evening._ - - "Victory! I have one of the Popes whom I had placed on my list: it - is Castiglioni, the very cardinal whom I was supporting for the - Papacy in 1823, when I was Minister, he who lately replied to me in - the Conclave with 'many praises.' Castiglioni is a moderate man and - devoted to France; it is a complete triumph. The Conclave, before - separating, gave orders to write to the Nuncio in Paris, to tell - him to express to the King the satisfaction of the Sacred College - with my conduct. I have already dispatched the news to Paris by the - telegraph. The Prefect of the Rhone is the intermediary of this - aerial correspondence, and this prefect is M. de Brosses, son of - that Comte de Brosses, the frivolous traveller to Rome, whom I have - often quoted in the notes which I collect while writing to you. The - courier who carries this letter to you carries my dispatch to M. - Portalis. - - "I never have two consecutive days of good health now; this makes - me furious, for I have no heart for anything in the midst of my - sufferings. Still, I am awaiting with some impatience to hear the - effect in Paris of the nomination of my Pope, what they will say, - what they will do, what will become of me. The most certain thing - is that my leave has been applied for. I have seen in the papers - the great quarrel raised by the _Constitutionnel_ about my speech; - it accuses the _Messager_ of not printing it, and we in Rome have - _Messagers_ of the 22nd of March (the quarrel belongs to the 24th - or 25th) containing the speech. Isn't it singular? It seems clear - that there are _two_ editions, one for Rome and the other for - Paris. Poor people! I am thinking of the mistake made by another - paper; it assures its readers that the Conclave was very much - dissatisfied with this speech: what can it have said when it read - the praises given me by Cardinal Castiglioni, who has become Pope? - - "When shall I have done talking to you of all these trifles? When - shall I busy myself only with finishing the Memoirs of my Life and - my life also, as the last page of those Memoirs? I have great need - of it; I am very weary, the weight of my days increases and makes - itself felt on my head; I amuse myself by calling it 'rheumatism' - but it is the kind that one cannot cure. One word only sustains me, - when I again say: - - "'Soon.'" - - "3 _April._ - - "I forgot to tell you that, as Cardinal Fesch behaved very well in - the Conclave and voted with our cardinals, I took a resolution and - invited him to dinner. He refused in a very tactful note." - - [Sidenote: Dispatch to Portalis.] - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 2 _April_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "Cardinal Albani has been appointed Secretary of State, as I had - the honour to inform you in my first letter carried to Lyons by - the mounted messenger dispatched on the evening of the 31st of - March. The new minister is not pleasing to the Sardinian faction, - nor to the majority of the Sacred College, nor even to Austria, - because he is violent, an Anti-Jesuit, rude in his manner, and an - Italian above everything. Rich and excessively avaricious, Cardinal - Albani is mixed up in all sorts of enterprises and speculations. I - went yesterday to pay him my first visit; the moment he saw me, he - exclaimed: - - "'I am a pig!' He was, in fact, exceedingly dirty. 'You shall see - that I am not an enemy.' - - "I am giving you his own words, monsieur le comte. I replied that I - was very far from regarding him as an enemy. - - "'You people' he resumed, 'want water, not fire: don't I know - your country? Haven't I lived in France?' He speaks French like a - Frenchman. 'You will be satisfied, and your master too. How is the - King? Good-morning. Let us go to St. Peter's!' - - "It was eight o'clock in the morning; I had already seen His - Holiness, and all Rome was hastening to the ceremony of the - Adoration. - - "Cardinal Albani is a man of intelligence, false by nature and - frank by temperament; his violence foils his cunning; one can make - use of him by flattering his pride and satisfying his avarice. - - "Pius VIII. is very learned, especially in matters of theology; he - speaks French, but with less facility and grace than Leo XII. He is - attacked on the right side with partial paralysis, and is subject - to convulsive movements: the supreme power will cure him. He is to - be crowned on Sunday next, Passion Sunday, the 5th of April. - - "Now, monsieur le comte, that the principal business which kept - me in Rome is ended, I shall be infinitely obliged to you if you - will obtain for me from His Majesty's kindness a leave of a few - months. I shall not take it until after I have handed the Pope the - letter in which the King will reply to that which Pius VIII. has - written or is going to write to him to announce his elevation to - the Chair of St Peter. Permit me to beg once more, on behalf of my - two secretaries of Legation, M. Bellocq[69] and M. de Givré[70], - the favours which I have asked of you for them. - - "The intrigues of Cardinal Albani in the Conclave, the partisans - whom he had won, even among the majority, had made me fear some - unexpected stroke to carry him to the Sovereign Pontificate. It - seemed to me impossible to allow ourselves to be thus surprised - and to permit the Austrian _chargé d'affaires_ to put on the tiara - under the eyes of the French Ambassador. I therefore availed myself - of the arrival of M. le Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre to charge - him against all eventualities with the letter enclosed, the terms - of which I framed on my own responsibility. Fortunately he was not - called upon to make use of this letter; he handed it back to me, - and I have the honour to send it to you. - - "I have the honour to be, etc." - - - TO HIS EMINENCE MONSEIGNEUR LE CARDINAL DE CLERMONT-TONNERRE - - "ROME, 28 _March_ 1829. - - "MONSEIGNEUR, - - "Unable to communicate with your colleagues, Messieurs the French - cardinals, confined in the Monte Cavallo Palace; obliged to provide - for every thing to the advantage of His Majesty's service, and - in the interests of our country; knowing how often unexpected - nominations have been made in the conclaves, I find myself, to my - regret, in the disagreeable necessity of confiding to Your Eminence - a power of eventual exclusion. - - "Although M. le Cardinal Albani appears to have no chance, he is - none the less a man of capacity on whom, in case of a prolonged - struggle, they might turn their eyes; but he is the cardinal - charged at the Conclave with the instructions of Austria: M. le - Comte de Lützow has already designated him in that quality in - his speech. Now it is impossible to allow the elevation to the - Sovereign Pontificate of a cardinal openly belonging to a crown, - whether it be the Crown of France or any other. - - "Consequently, monseigneur, I charge you, by virtue of my full - powers as His Most Christian Majesty's Ambassador, and taking all - the responsibility upon myself alone, to give the exclusion to M. - le Cardinal Albani, if, on the one hand, by a fortuitous juncture, - or, on the other, by a secret combination, he should come to - obtain the majority of the suffrages. - - "I am, etc., etc." - -[Sidenote: The letter of exclusion.] - -This letter of exclusion, entrusted to a cardinal by an ambassador who -is not formally authorized to that effect, is a piece of diplomatic -temerity: it is enough to send a shudder through all stay-at-home -statesmen, all the heads of departments, all the chief clerks, all -the copiers at the Foreign Office; but, as the Minister knew so -little about his business as not even to think of an eventual case of -exclusion, needs must that I should think of it for him. Suppose that -Albani had been made Pope by accident: what would have become of me? I -should have been ruined for ever as a politician. - -I say this, not for myself, who care little for a politician's fame, -but for the future generation of writers who would be browbeaten -because of my accident and who would expiate my misfortune at the -cost of their career, even as the whipping-boy is punished when M. le -Dauphin commits a blunder. But neither should my daring foresight, in -taking the letter of exclusion upon myself, be too much admired: that -which appears enormous, when measured by the stunted scale of the old -diplomatic ideas, is really nothing at all, in the actual order of -society. I owed my audacity on the one hand to my insensibility to all -disgrace, on the other to my knowledge of contemporary opinion: the -world as it is to-day does not care two sous for the nomination of a -pope, the rivalries of crowns, or the internal intrigues of a conclave. - - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - _Confidential._ - - "ROME, 2 _April_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I have the honour to-day to send you the important documents - which I promised you. These are nothing less than the secret - and official journal of the Conclave. It is translated, word - for word, from the Italian original; I have only removed any - part of it which might point too precisely to the sources whence - I drew it. If the smallest atom of these perhaps unexampled - revelations were to transpire, it would cost the fortune, the - liberty and perhaps the lives of several persons. This would be - the more deplorable inasmuch as we owe these revelations not to - interest and corruption, but to confidence in French honour. This - document, monsieur le comte, must therefore remain for ever secret - after it has been read in the King's Council; for, in spite of - the precautions which I have taken to keep names silent and to - suppress direct references, it still says enough to compromise its - authors. I have added a commentary, to facilitate its perusal. The - Pontifical Government is in the habit of keeping a register on - which its decisions, its acts and deeds are noted down day by day, - and so to speak hour by hour: what an historical treasure, if one - could delve into it, going back towards the earlier centuries of - the Papacy! I have been given a momentary glimpse of it, for the - present period. The King will see, through the documents which I - am sending you, what has never been seen before, the inside of a - Conclave; the most intimate sentiments of the Court of Rome will be - known to him, and His Majesty's Ministers will not be walking in - the dark. - - "The commentary which I have made of the journal dispensing me - from any other reflection, it but remains for me to offer you the - renewed assurance of the high regard with which I have the honour - to be, etc., etc." - -The Italian original of the precious document announced in this -confidential dispatch was burnt in Rome before my eyes; I have kept no -copy of the translation of this document which I sent to the Foreign -Office; I have only a copy of the "commentary" or "remarks" which -I added to that translation. But the same discretion which made me -charge the Minister to keep the document for ever secret obliges me -here to suppress my own remarks; for, however great the obscurity in -which those remarks are enveloped, in the absence of the document to -which they refer, that obscurity would still be daylight in Rome. Now -resentment is long in the Eternal City; it might happen that, fifty -years hence, it should fall upon some grand-nephew of the authors of -the mysterious confidence. I shall therefore content myself with giving -a general epitome of the contents of the commentary, while laying -stress on a few passages which bear a direct relation to the affairs of -France. - -We see, first, how greatly the Court of Naples was deceiving M. de -Blacas, or else how much it was itself deceived; for, while it was -causing me to be told that the Neapolitan cardinals would vote with us, -they were joining the minority or the so-called Sardinian faction. - -The minority of the cardinals imagined that the vote of the French -cardinals would influence _the form of our government._ How so? -Apparently by means of secret orders with which they were supposed to -be charged and by their votes in favour of a hot-headed pope. - -[Sidenote: A secret document.] - -The Nuncio Lambruschini declared to the Conclave that the Cardinal de -Latil had the King's secret; all the efforts of the faction tended -to create the belief that Charles X. and his Government were not in -agreement. - -On the 13th of March, the Cardinal de Latil announced that he had -a declaration purely of conscience to make to the Conclave; he was -sent before four cardinal-bishops: the acts of that secret confession -remained in the keeping of the Grand Penitentiary. The other French -cardinals knew nothing of the subject-matter of this confession, and -Cardinal Albani sought in vain to find out: the fact is important and -curious. - -The minority consisted of sixteen compact votes. The cardinals forming -this minority called themselves the "Fathers of the Cross;" they placed -a St. Andrew's cross on their doors as a sign that, having decided -on their choice, they did not want to communicate with any one. The -majority of the Conclave displayed reasonable sentiments and a firm -resolution in no way to mix in foreign politics. - -The minutes drawn up by the protonotary of the Conclave are worthy of -remark. They conclude with these words: - -"Pius VIII. determined to appoint Cardinal Albani Secretary of State, -in order also to satisfy the Cabinet of Vienna." - -The Sovereign Pontiff divides the lots between the two crowns: he -declares himself the French Pope, and gives the secretaryship of State -to Austria. - - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, _Wednesday_ 8 _April_ 1829. - - "This day I have had the whole Conclave to dinner. Tomorrow I - receive the Grand-duchess Helen. On Easter Tuesday, I give a ball - for the closing of the session; and then I shall prepare to come - to see you. You can judge of my anxiety: at the moment of writing - to you, I have no news yet of my mounted courier announcing the - death of the Pope, and yet the Pope is already crowned; Leo XII. - is forgotten; I have begun again to transact affairs with the - new Secretary of State, Albani; everything is going on as though - nothing had happened, and I do not even know whether you in Paris - know that there is a new Pontiff! How beautiful that ceremony of - the papal benediction is! The Sabine Range on the horizon, then - the deserted Roman Campagna, then Rome itself, then the Piazza San - Pietro and the whole people falling on its knees under an old man's - hand: the Pope is the only prince who blesses his subjects. - - "I had written so far when a courier arrived from Genoa bringing - me a telegraphic dispatch from Paris to Toulon, which dispatch, - replying to the one I had sent, informs me that, on the 4th of - April, at eleven o'clock in the evening, they received in Paris my - telegraphic dispatch from Rome to Toulon announcing the election of - Cardinal Castiglioni, and that the King is greatly pleased. - - "The rapidity of these communications is prodigious; my courier - left at eight o'clock in the evening on the 31st of March, and at - eight o'clock in the evening on the 8th of April I received a reply - from Paris." - - "11 _April_ 1829. - - "To-day is the 11th of April: in eight days we shall have Easter - with us, in fifteen days my leave, and then to see you! Everything - disappears before that hope; I am no more sad; I no longer think of - ministers or politics. To-morrow we begin Holy Week. I shall think - of all you have told me. Why are you not here to hear the beautiful - songs of sorrow with me! We should go to walk in the deserts of the - Roman Campagna, now covered with flowers and verdure. All the ruins - seem to become young with the new year: I am of their number." - - [Sidenote: To Récamier and Portalis.] - - _Wednesday in Holy Week_, 15 _April._ - - "I have just left the Sistine Chapel, where I attended Tenebræ and - heard the _Miserere_ sung. I remembered that you had talked to me - of this ceremony, which touched me a hundred times as much because - of that. - - "The daylight was failing; the shadows crept slowly across the - frescoes of the chapel, and one distinguished but a few bold - strokes of Michael Angelo's brush. The candles, extinguished one - by one in turns, sent forth from their stifled flames a slender - white smoke, a very natural image of life, which Scripture compares - to a little smoke[71]. The cardinals were kneeling, the Pope - prostrate before the same altar where a few days before I had - seen his predecessor; the admirable prayer of penance and mercy, - which succeeded the Lamentations of the prophet, rose at intervals - in the silence of the night. One felt overwhelmed by the great - mystery of a God dying that the sins of mankind might be wiped out. - The Catholic Heiress was there on her seven hills with all her - memories; but, instead of the powerful pontiffs, those cardinals - who contended for precedence with monarchs, a poor old paralyzed - Pope, without family or support, Princes of the Church, without - splendour, announced the end of a power which has civilized the - modern world. The master-pieces of the arts were disappearing with - it, were fading away on the walls and ceilings of the Vatican, that - half-abandoned palace. Inquisitive strangers, separated from the - unity of the Church, assisted at the ceremony on their way and took - the place of the community of the Faithful. The heart was seized - with a two-fold sadness. Christian Rome, while commemorating the - Agony of Jesus Christ, seemed to be celebrating her own, to be - repeating for the new Jerusalem the words which Jeremias addressed - to the old." - -[Sidenote: To Récamier and Portalis.] - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 16 _April_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "Things are developing here as I had the honour to foreshadow - to you; the words and actions of the new Pope are in complete - agreement with the pacificatory system followed by Leo XII.: Pius - VIII. goes even further than his predecessor; he expresses himself - with greater frankness on the Charter, of which he is not afraid to - pronounce the word nor to advise the French to follow the spirit. - The Nuncio, having again written about our business, has received - a dry intimation to mind his own. All is being concluded for the - Concordat with the Netherlands, and M. le Comte de Celles will - complete his mission next month. - - "Cardinal Albani, finding himself in a difficult position, is - obliged to pay for it: the protestations which he makes to me of - his devotion to France annoy the Austrian Ambassador, who is unable - to conceal his ill-humour. From the religious point of view we - have nothing to fear from Cardinal Albani; himself troubled with - very little religion, he will not feel the impulse to trouble us - either with his own fanaticism or with the moderate opinions of his - Sovereign. - - "As for the political point of view, Italy is not at this day to be - juggled away through police intrigues and a cypher correspondence; - to allow the Legations to be occupied or to place an Austrian - garrison at Ancona on some pretext or other would mean stirring up - Europe and declaring war against France: now we are no longer in - 1814, 1815, 1816 and 1817; a greedy and unjust ambition is not to - be satisfied before our eyes with impunity. And so, that Cardinal - Albani is in receipt of a pension from Prince Metternich; that - he is a kinsman of the Duke of Modena[72], to whom he declares - himself to be leaving his enormous fortune; that he is hatching - a little plot with that Prince against the Heir to the Crown of - Sardinia[73]: all that is true, all that would have been dangerous - at the time when secret and absolute governments set soldiers - dimly in movement behind the shelter of a dim dispatch; but, in - these days, with public governments, with liberty of the press - and of free speech, with the telegraph and general rapidity of - communication, with knowledge of affairs spread through the several - classes of society, we are protected against the conjuring tricks - and artifices of the old diplomacy. At the same time it cannot be - denied that there are drawbacks attached to an _Austrian chargé - d'affaires_ in the position of Secretary of State in Rome; there - are even certain notes (those for instance relating to the imperial - power in Italy) which it would not be possible to place in Cardinal - Albani's hands. - - "No one has yet been able to fathom the secret of an appointment - which everybody dislikes, including even the Cabinet of Vienna. - Has this to do with interests foreign to politics? They say that - Cardinal Albani is at this moment offering to make the Holy Father - an advance of 200,000 piastres of which the Roman Government stands - in need; others pretend that this sum will be lent by an Austrian - banker. Cardinal Macchi told me on Saturday last that His Holiness, - not wishing to re-appoint Cardinal Bernetti and desirous, - nevertheless, of giving him a big place, found no other means of - arranging things than to make vacant the Bologna Legation. Wretched - little difficulties often become the motives of the most important - resolutions. If Cardinal Macchi's version is the true one, all that - Pius VIII. is doing and saying for the _satisfaction_ of the Crowns - of France and Austria would be only an apparent reason, by the aid - of which he would seek to mask his own weakness in his own eyes. - For the rest, no one believes that Albania ministry will last. So - soon as he begins to enter into relations with the ambassadors, - difficulties will spring up on every hand. - - [Sidenote: The position of Italy.] - - "As to the position of Italy, monsieur le comte, you must read with - caution what will be written to you from Rome or elsewhere. It is, - unhappily, but too true that the Government of the Two Sicilies has - fallen into the last stage of contempt. The manner in which the - Court lives in the midst of its guards, for ever trembling, for - ever pursued by the phantoms of fear, presenting the sole spectacle - of ruinous hunting-parties and gibbets, contributes more and more - to debase royalty in this country. Yet they take for _conspiracies_ - what is only the general uneasiness, the product of the century, - the struggle of the old society with the new, the contest between - the decrepitude of the old institutions and the energy of the young - generations: in fine, the comparison which everybody makes of - that which is with that which might be. Let us not blind our eyes - to this fact: the great spectacle of a powerful, free and happy - France, that great spectacle which strikes the eyes of the nations - which have remained or relapsed under the yoke, excites regrets - or feeds hopes. The medley of representative governments and - absolute governments cannot long continue; one or the other must go - under, and politics must return to an even level, as in the time - of Gothic Europe. The custom-house on a frontier can henceforth - not separate liberty from slavery; a man can no longer be hung on - this side of a brook for principles reputed sacred on the other - side of that brook. It is in this sense, monsieur le comte, and - in this sense alone, that there is any _conspiracy_ in Italy; it - is in this sense too that Italy is _French._ On the day when she - shall enter on the enjoyment of the rights which her intelligence - perceives and which the progressive march of time is carrying to - her, on that day she will be peaceful and purely Italian. It is not - a few poor devils of _Carbonari_, stirred up by the manœuvres of - the police and mercilessly hanged, that will rouse the country to - revolt. Governments are given the falsest ideas of the true state - of things; they are prevented from doing what they ought to do to - ensure their safety by always having pointed out to them as the - private conspiracies of a handful of Jacobins what is really the - effect of a permanent and general cause. - - "This, monsieur le comte, is the real position of Italy. Each of - her States, in addition to the common working of men's minds, - is tortured with some local malady: Piedmont is delivered to a - fanatical faction; the Milanese is being devoured by the Austrians; - the domains of the Holy Father are being ruined by bad financial - administration; the taxes amount to nearly fifty millions and do - not leave the landlord one per cent, of his income; the customs - bring in hardly anything; smuggling is general; the Prince of - Modena has established shops in his Duchy (a place of immunity for - all ancient abuses) for the sale of prohibited merchandise, which - he passes at night into the Bologna Legation[74]. - - "I have already, monsieur le comte, spoken to you of Naples, where - the weakness of the government is saved only by the cowardice of - the population. - - "It is this absence of military valour that will prolong the - death-agony of Italy. Bonaparte did not have time to revive that - valour in the land of Marius and Cæsar. The habits of an idle life - and the charm of the climate contribute still more to deprive - the Southern Italians of the desire to agitate for an improved - condition. Antipathies arising from the territorial divisions add - to the difficulties of an inside movement; but, if some impulse - came from without, if some prince beyond the Alps granted a charter - to his subjects, a revolution would take place, because all is - ripe for such a revolution. Happier than we and instructed by our - experience, the people would be sparing in the crimes and miseries - with which we were lavish. - - "I have no doubt, monsieur le comte, that I shall soon receive the - leave for which I asked you: I shall perhaps use it. At the moment, - therefore, of leaving Italy, I have thought it my duty to place - a few general hints before you, in order to fix the ideas of the - King's Council and to warn it against reports inspired by narrow - minds or blind passions. - - "I have the honour to be, etc., etc." - - [Sidenote: Expensive visitors.] - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 16 _April_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "Messieurs the French cardinals are very eager to know what sum - will be allowed them for their expenses and their stay in Rome: - they have repeatedly asked me to write to you on the subject; I - shall therefore be infinitely obliged to you if you will inform me - as soon as possible of the King's decision. - - "As regards myself, monsieur le comte, when you were good enough - to allow me an additional sum of thirty thousand francs, you were - under the impression that none of the cardinals would stay with me. - Now M. de Clermont-Tonnerre put up here with his suite, consisting - of two conclavists, an ecclesiastical secretary, a lay secretary, a - valet, two men-servants and a French cook, besides a Roman groom of - the chambers, a master of ceremonies, three footmen, a coachman and - all the Italian establishment which a cardinal is obliged to keep - up here. The Archbishop of Toulouse, who is not able to walk[75], - does not dine at my table; he requires two or three courses at - different hours, and horses and carriages for his guests and - friends. My reverend visitor will certainly not pay his expenditure - here; he will go, and leave the bills to me; I shall have to pay - not only the cook, the laundress, the livery-stable keeper, etc., - etc., but also the two surgeons who came to look at His Lordship's - leg, the shoemaker who makes his white and purple slippers, and the - tailor who has 'confectioned' the cloaks, cassocks, neck-bands, the - whole outfit of the cardinal and his abbés. - - "If to this, monsieur le comte, you add my extraordinary expenses - for costs of representation, which expenses have been increased - by the presence of the Grand-duchess Helen, Prince Paul of - Wurtemberg[76] and the King of Bavaria, you will no doubt find that - the thirty thousand francs which you allowed me will have been - much exceeded. The first year of an ambassador's establishment - is a ruinous one, the grants allowed for that establishment being - far below its needs. It requires a residence of almost three years - for a diplomatic agent to find means to pay off the debts which - he has begun by making and to keep his expenses on a level with - his receipts. I know all the penury of the budget of the Foreign - Office; if I had any fortune of my own, I would not trouble you: - nothing is more disagreeable to me, I assure you, than these - details of money into which a rigorous necessity compels me to - enter, much against my will. - - "Accept, monsieur le comte, etc." - -I had given balls and evening-parties in London and Paris, and, -although a child of a different desert, I had not passed too badly -through those new solitudes; but I had had no glimmer of the nature -of the entertainments in Rome: they have something of ancient poetry, -which places death by the side of pleasures. At the Villa Medicis, -where I received the Grand-duchess Helen, the gardens themselves are -an adornment, and the frame of the picture is magnificent: on one -side, the Villa Borghese, with Raphael's house; on the other the Villa -Monte-Maria, and the slopes edging the Tiber; below the spectator, -the whole of Rome, like an old, abandoned eagle's nest. Amid the -groves thronged, together with the descendants of the Paulas and -Corinnas, beauties come from Naples, Florence and Milan: the Princess -Helen seemed to be their queen. Boreas, suddenly descending from the -mountain, tore the banqueting-tent and fled with shreds of canvas -and garlands, as though to give us an image of all that time has -swept away on this shore. The Embassy staff were in consternation; I -felt an indescribable ironical gaiety at seeing a breath from heaven -carry off my gold of a day and my joys of an hour. The mischief was -promptly repaired. Instead of lunching on the terrace, we lunched in -the graceful palace: the harmony of the horns and oboes, spread by the -wind, had something of the murmur of my American forests. The groups -disporting amid the squalls, the women whose tortured veils beat their -hair and faces, the _saltarello_ which continued during the storm, -the _improvisatrice_ declaiming to the clouds, the balloon escaping -crooked-wise with the cypher of the Daughter of the North: all this -gave a new character to those sports in which the customary tempests of -my life seemed to take part. - -What a fascination for any man who should not have counted his heap -of years, and who should have asked illusions of the world and the -storm! It is difficult indeed for me to remember my autumn when, -at my receptions, I see pass before me those women of spring-time -who penetrate among the flowers, the concerts and the lights of my -successive galleries: as who should sway swans swimming towards radiant -climes. To what _désennui_ are they going? Some seek what they already -love, others what they do not yet love. At the end of the road, -they will fall into those sepulchres, always open here, into those -ancient sarcophaguses which serve as basins to fountains hanging from -porticoes; they will go to swell so many light and charming ashes. -Those waves of beauties, diamonds, flowers and feathers roll to the -sound of Rossini's music, which is re-echoed and grows feebler from -orchestra to orchestra. Is that melody the sigh of the breeze to which -I listened in the savannahs of the Floridas, the moan which I heard in -the Temple of Erechtheus at Athens? Is it the distant wailing of the -north winds, which rocked me on the ocean? Could my sylph be hidden -beneath the form of some of these brilliant Italian women? No: my -hamadryad has remained united to the willow of the meadows where I used -to talk with her on the further side of the hedge at Combourg. I have -little in common with these frolics of the society which has attached -itself to my steps at the end of my race; and yet this fairy-scene -contains a certain intoxication that flies to my head: I get rid of it -only by going to cool my brow in the solitary square of St. Peter's or -in the deserted Coliseum. Then the puny sights of the earth are lost, -and I find nothing equal to the sudden change of scene but the old -melancholy of my early days. - - -[Sidenote: The exiled Bonapartes.] - -I will now set forth here my relations, as Ambassador, with the -Bonaparte Family, in order to clear the Restoration of one of the -calumnies that are incessantly being thrown at its head. - -France did not act alone in banishing the members of the Imperial -Family; she merely obeyed the hard necessity put upon her by the force -of arms; it was the Allies who provoked that banishment: diplomatic -conventions, formal treaties pronounce the exile of the Bonapartes, -lay down the very places they are to live at, forbid a minister or -ambassador to deliver a passport, by himself, to Napoleon's kinsmen; -the visa of the four other ministers or ambassadors of the four -other contracting Powers is exacted. To such a degree did the blood -of Napoleon frighten the Allies, even when it did not flow in his own -veins! - -Thank God, I never submitted to those measures. In 1823, without -consulting anybody, in spite of the treaties, and on my own -responsibility as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I delivered a passport -to Madame la Comtesse de Survilliers[77], then in Brussels, to enable -her to come to Paris to nurse one of her kinsmen, who was ill. Twenty -times over I called for the repeal of those laws of persecution; twenty -times over I told Louis XVIII. that I should like to see the Duc de -Reichstadt captain of his Guards, and the statue of Napoleon put back -on the top of the column in the Place Vendôme. Both as minister and -ambassador, I rendered all the services in my power to the Bonaparte -Family. That was the broad view I took of the Legitimate Monarchy: -liberty can look glory in the face. As Ambassador to Rome, I authorized -my secretaries and attachés to appear in the palace of Madame la -Duchesse de Saint-Leu; I threw down the barrier raised between -Frenchmen who had all known adversity. I wrote to M. le Cardinal Fesch -to invite him to join the cardinals who were to meet at my house; I -expressed to him my sorrow at the political measures which it had been -thought necessary to take; I reminded him of the time when I had formed -part of his mission to the Holy See; and I begged my old ambassador to -honour with his presence the banquet of his old secretary of embassy. I -received the following reply, full of dignity, discretion and prudence: - -[Sidenote: Fesch, Jerome Bonaparte.] - - "PALAZZO FALCONIERI, 4 _April_ 1829. - - "Cardinal Fesch greatly appreciates M. de Chateaubriand's obliging - invitation, but his position on returning to Rome was such as to - recommend him to forsake the world and lead a life quite apart - from any society except that of his family. The circumstances that - followed proved to him that this course was indispensable to his - tranquillity; and, as the amenities of the moment are no safeguard - against unpleasantness in the future, he is obliged not to change - his mode of life. Cardinal Fesch begs M. de Chateaubriand to be - convinced that nothing can equal his gratitude, and that it is - with much regret that he will not wait upon His Excellency as - frequently as he would have desired. - - 'His very humble, etc., - - "CARDINAL FESCH." - -The phrase, "the amenities of the moment are no safeguard against -unpleasantness in the future," is an allusion to the threat uttered -by M. de Blacas, who had given orders for M. le Cardinal Fesch to be -flung down his stairs if he presented himself at the French Embassy: -M. de Blacas was too much inclined to forget that he had not always -been so great a lord. I who, in order to be what I have to be, in so -far as I can, in the present, am constantly recalling my past, have -acted differently with His Eminence the Archbishop of Lyons: the little -misunderstandings that existed between him and me in Rome oblige me -to adopt a tone of propriety the more respectful inasmuch as I, in my -turn, belong to the triumphant and he to the beaten party. - -Prince Jerome, on his side, did me the honour to ask my intervention, -sending me a copy of a request which he was addressing to the Cardinal -Secretary of State; he says in his letter to me: - - "Exile is terrible enough, both in its principle and in its - consequences, for that generous France which witnessed his birth - [Prince Jerome's], that France which possesses all his affections - and which he has served for twenty years, not to wish to aggravate - his situation by permitting every government to abuse the delicacy - of his position. - - "Prince Jérôme de Montfort, confiding in the loyalty of the French - Government and in the character of its noble representative, does - not hesitate to believe that justice will be done him. - - "He takes this opportunity, etc. - - "JÉRÔME." - -In consequence of this request, I addressed a confidential note to the -Secretary of State, Cardinal Bernetti; it ends with these words: - - "The motives inferred by Prince Jérôme de Montfort appearing to - the undersigned to be founded on justice and reason, he could - not refuse the applicant the intervention of his good offices, - persuaded as he is that the French Government will always regret - to see the severity of the political laws aggravated by measures - likely to give umbrage. - - "The undersigned would set an especial value upon obtaining, in - this circumstance, the powerful interest of H. E. the Cardinal - Secretary of State. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -At the same time I replied to Prince Jerome as follows: - - "ROME, 9 _May_ 1829. - - "The French Ambassador to the Holy See has received the copy of the - note which Prince Jérôme de Montfort has done him the honour to - send him. He hastens to thank him for the confidence which he has - been good enough to show him; he will make it a duty to write to - His Holiness' Secretary of State in support of His Highness' just - claims. - - "The Vicomte de Chateaubriand, who has also been banished from his - country, would be only too happy to be able to soften the fate of - the Frenchmen who still find themselves placed under the blow of a - political law. The exiled brother of Napoleon, addressing himself - to an Emigrant formerly struck off the list of outlaws by Napoleon - himself, is one of those freaks of fortune which must needs have - the ruins of Rome for witnesses. - - "The Vicomte de Chateaubriand has the honour, etc." - - - DISPATCH TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 4 _May_ 1829. - - "I have had the honour to inform you, in my letter of 30 April, - acknowledging the receipt of your Dispatch No. 25, that the Pope - received me in private audience on the 29th of April at mid-day. - His Holiness appeared to me to be enjoying very good health. He - made me sit beside him and kept me nearly an hour and a quarter. - The Austrian Ambassador had had a public audience before me to hand - over his new credentials. - - "On leaving the closet of His Holiness at the Vatican, I called on - the Secretary of State, and, frankly broaching the question with - him, said: - - "'Well, you see what our newspapers are making you out to be! You - are "an Austrian, you hate France," you want to do her some bad - turns: what am I to believe of all that?' - - "He shrugged his shoulders and replied: - - "'Your newspapers make me laugh; I cannot convince you by my words - if you are not convinced already; but put me to the test and you - shall see if I do not love France, if I do not do what you ask me - in the name of your King!' - - "I believe, monsieur le comte, that Cardinal Albani is sincere. He - is profoundly indifferent in religious matters; he is not a priest; - he has even thought of giving up the purple and marrying; he does - not like the Jesuits, who tire him with the noise they make; he - is lazy, a glutton, a great lover of all kinds of pleasures; the - weariness which bishops' charges and pastoral letters produce in - him makes him extremely unfavourable to the cause of the authors of - those charges and pastoral letters: that old man of eighty wants to - die in peace and joyousness. - - "I have the honour, etc." - -[Sidenote: Monte Cavallo.] - -I often visit Monte Cavallo; there the solitude of the gardens is -increased by the solitude of the Roman Campagna, in search of which -one's eyes turn beyond Rome and up the right bank of the Tiber. The -gardeners are my friends; there are walks leading to the Panatteria, a -poor dairy-farm, aviary, or poultry-yard, the occupants of which are as -indigent and peaceful as the latter-day popes. Looking down from the -height of the terraces of the Quirinal enclosure, one sees a narrow -street in which women sit working at their windows on the different -storeys: some embroider, others paint, in the silence of this retired -quarter. - -The cells of the cardinals of the last Conclave do not interest me at -all. When St. Peter's was built, when master-pieces were ordered of -Raphael, when at the same time the Kings came to kiss the Pontiffs -slipper, there was something worthy of attention in the Temporal -Papacy. I would gladly see the cell of a Gregory VII.[78], of a Sixtus -V., just as I would look for the lions' den in Babylon; but dark holes, -deserted by an obscure company of septuagenarians, represent to me only -those _columbaria_ of Ancient Rome, which are empty to-day of their -dust and from which a family of dead have fled. - -I therefore pass rapidly by those cells, already half demolished, to -walk through the rooms of the palace: there everything speaks to me of -an event[79] for which one finds no precedent except by going back to -Sciarra Colonna[80], Nogaret[81] and Boniface VIII.[82] - -My first and my last visit to Rome are connected by memories of Pius -VII., to whose story I have referred when speaking of Madame de -Beaumont and of Bonaparte. My two visits are two pendentives outlined -under the vault of my monument. My faithfulness to the memory of my -old friends must give confidence to the friends who remain to me: for -me nothing sinks into the tomb; all that I have known lives around me: -according to the Indian doctrine, death, when it smites us, does not -destroy us; it only makes us invisible. - - TO M. LE COMTE PORTALIS - - "ROME, 7 _May_ 1829. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "I have at last received, by Messieurs Desgranges and Franqueville, - your Dispatch No. 25. This rude dispatch, made out by some ill-bred - Foreign-Office clerk, is not what I had the right to expect after - the services which I had had the honour to render the King during - the Conclave; and above all they might have remembered a little - whom they were addressing. Not an obliging word for M. Bellocq, - who obtained such exceptional documents; nothing in reply to the - request I made on his behalf; gratuitous comments on Cardinal - Albania nomination, a nomination made in the Conclave which no - one, therefore, could have foreseen or prevented, a nomination - concerning which I have never ceased to send you explanations. In - my Dispatch No. 34, which has doubtless now reached you, I again - offer you a very simple method of getting rid of this cardinal, if - he causes France such alarm, and that method will already be half - carried out when you receive this letter: to-morrow I shall take - leave of His Holiness; I shall hand over the Embassy to M. Bellocq, - as _chargé d'affaires_, in accordance with the instructions in your - Dispatch No. 24, and leave for Paris. - - "I have the honour to be, etc." - -This last note is a rude one, and puts an abrupt close to my -correspondence with M. Portalis. - -[Sidenote: To Portalis and Récamier.] - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "14 _May_ 1829. - - "My departure is fixed for the 16th. Letters from Vienna arriving - this morning announce that M. de Laval has refused the Foreign - Office; is it true? If he keeps to this refusal, what will happen? - God knows. I hope that all will be decided before my arrival in - Paris. It seems to me that we have become paralyzed and that we - have nothing free except our tongues. - - "You think I shall come to an arrangement with M. de Laval; I doubt - it. I am inclined to come to an arrangement with nobody. I was - going to arrive in the most peaceful mood, and those people think - fit to pick a quarrel with me. So long as I had a chance of office, - they could not praise and flatter me enough in their dispatches; - the day on which the place was taken, or thought to be taken, they - drily inform me of M. de Laval's nomination in the rudest and at - the same time the most stupid dispatch. But, before becoming so - flat and insolent between one post and another, they ought to have - reflected a little whom they were addressing, and M. Portalis will - have learnt as much from a word which I have sent him lately in - reply. It is possible that he merely signed without reading, just - as Carnot signed hundreds of death-warrants on trust." - -The friend of the great L'Hôpital[83], the Chancelier Olivier[84], -in his sixteenth-century language, which set politeness at defiance, -compares the French to monkeys which clamber to the tree-tops and never -cease climbing until they reach the top-most branch, where they show -what they ought to hide. All that has happened in France from 1789 to -our own time proves the correctness of the simile: every man, as he -ascends through life, becomes like the Chancellor's ape; he ends by -shamelessly exposing his infirmities to the passers-by. See, at the end -of my dispatches I am seized with a desire to boast: the great men who -swarm at this present time prove that a man is a dupe if he does not -himself proclaim his immortality. - -Have you read, in the archives of the Foreign Office, the diplomatic -correspondence relating to the most important events at the period of -that correspondence? - -"No." - -At least you have read the printed correspondence: you know the -negociations of Du Bellay, of d'Ossat, of Du Perron, of the Président -Jeannin[85], the State Memoirs of Villeroi[86], the _Économies -royales_ of Sully[87]; you have seen the Memoirs of the Cardinal de -Richelieu[88], numbers of letters of Mazarin, the papers and documents -relating to the Treaty of Westphalia[89], to the Peace of Munster[90]? -You know Barillon's[91] Dispatches on English affairs; the negociations -on the Spanish Succession are not unfamiliar to you; the name of Madame -des Ursins has not escaped you; M. de Choiseul's[92] Family Compact -has come under your notice; you are not unacquainted with Ximenes[93], -Olivarez[94] and Pombal[95], Hugo Grotius on the liberty of the -seas[96], his letters to the two Oxenstierns[97], the Negociations of -the Grand Pensionary de Witt[98] with Peter Grotius[99], the second son -of Hugo; in fine, the collection of diplomatic treaties has perhaps -attracted your attention? - -"No." - -[Sidenote: My diplomatic dispatches.] - -So you have read none of those sempiternal lucubrations? Well then, -read them; when you have done so, pass over my Spanish War, the success -of which troubles you, although it forms my chief claim to be classed -as a statesman; take my dispatches from Prussia, England and Rome, -place them beside the other dispatches which I have mentioned: and -then, with your hand on your conscience, tell me which have bored you -most; tell me if my work and the work of my predecessors are not quite -similar; if the grasp of small things and of "practical" matters is not -as manifest on my part as on that of the past ministers and defunct -ambassadors. - -First of all, you will notice that I have an eye for everything; -that I occupy myself with Reshid Pasha[100] and M. de Blacas; that -I defend my privileges and rights as Ambassador to Rome against all -comers; that I am crafty, false (an eminent quality!) and cunning to -such an extent that, when M. de Funchal, in an equivocal position, -writes to me, I do not reply to him, but go to see him with astute -politeness, so that he is unable to show a line in my handwriting -and is nevertheless satisfied. There is not an imprudent word to be -criticized in my conversations with Cardinals Bernetti and Albani, -the two secretaries of State; nothing escapes me; I descend to the -pettiest details; I restore the accounts of the affairs of the French -in Rome in such a way that they still exist on the basis on which I -have placed them. With an eagle's glance, I perceive that the Treaty of -Trinità de' Monti, between the Holy See and the Ambassadors Laval and -Blacas, is irregular, and that neither party had the right to conclude -it. Mounting higher, and coming to the greater diplomacy, I take upon -myself to give the exclusion to a cardinal, because a minister of -foreign affairs has left me without instructions and exposes me to -seeing a creature of Austria elected Pope. I procure the secret journal -of the Conclave: a thing that no ambassador has ever been able to -obtain; day by day I send the list of names and votes. Nor do I neglect -Bonaparte's family: I do not despair, by means of good treatment, of -persuading Cardinal Fesch to send in his resignation as Archbishop of -Lyons. If a _Carbonaro_ stirs, I am informed of it and able to judge -how much truth there is in the conspiracy; if an abbé intrigues, I am -aware of it, and I baffle the plans that had been formed to separate -the French cardinals from the French Ambassador. Lastly, I discover -that a great secret has been deposited by the Cardinal de Latil in -the bosom of the Grand Penitentiary. Are you satisfied? Is that a man -who knows his trade? Very well, and now see: I dispatched all this -diplomatic business like the first ambassador that comes, without -its costing me an idea, in the same way as a booby of a Lower Norman -peasant knits his stockings while watching his sheep: my sheep were my -dreams. - -Now here is another point of view: if you compare my official letters -with the official letters of my predecessors, you will see that mine -treat of general affairs as well as private affairs, that I am drawn -by the character of the ideas of my century into a loftier region of -the human mind. This may be observed more particularly in the dispatch -in which I speak to M. Portalis of the state of Italy, in which I set -forth the mistake of the cabinets which take for private conspiracies -that which is only the development of civilization. The _Memorandum on -the War in the East_ also exposes truths of a political order which -are out of the common. I have talked with two Popes of other things -than cabinet intrigues; I have obliged them to speak to me of religion, -liberty, the future destiny of the world. My speech delivered at the -door of the Conclave has the same character. I dared to tell old men to -go forward and place religion once again at the head of the march of -society. - -[Sidenote: My political successes.] - -Readers, wait for me to end my boasting so as next to come to the -object, in the manner of the philosopher Plato making a circuit round -his idea. I have become old Sidrac; age prolongs my weary road[101]. -I continue: I shall be a long while yet. Several writers of our time -have a mania for disdaining their literary talent in order to follow -their political talent, which they value far above the former. Thank -God, I am governed by a contrary instinct: I make little of politics, -for the very reason that I have been lucky at the game. To succeed in -public life, it is not a question of acquiring qualities, but a matter -of losing them. I shamelessly admit my aptitude for practical things, -without cherishing the smallest illusion touching the obstacle within -myself which opposes my complete success. That obstacle has nothing -to do with the Muse; it arises from my indifference to everything. -With this defect, it is impossible to achieve anything completely, in -practical life. - -Indifference, I admit, is one of the qualities of statesmen, but of -statesmen without conscience. They have to know how to look dry-eyed -upon any event, to swallow bitter pills like malmsey, and, where others -are concerned, to set at nought morality, justice, sufferings, provided -that, in the midst of revolutions, they know how to find their own -particular fortune. For, to those transcendent minds, the accident, be -it good or bad, is bound to bring something; it must pay at the rate -of a throne, a coffin, an oath, an outrage; the tariff is made out by -the Mionnets[102] of catastrophes and affronts: I am not an expert -in these numismatics. Unfortunately my indifference is a double one; -I grow no more excited about my person than about facts. Contempt for -the world came to St. Paul the Hermit[103] from his religious faith; -contempt for society comes to me from my political incredulity. This -incredulity would carry me high in a sphere of action, if, more careful -of my foolish self, I were able at the same time to humiliate it and to -clothe it. Do what I may, I remain a numskull of a decent man, naively -stupid and quite bare, unable either to cringe or to help myself. - -D'Andilly[104], speaking of himself, seems to have described one side -of my character: - - "I have never had any ambition," he says, "because I had too much, - being unable to endure the dependence which confines within such - narrow limits the effects of the inclination which God gave me for - great things, glorious to the State, and capable of procuring the - happiness of peoples, without its being possible for me to consider - my private interests in all that. I was fit only for a king who - would have reigned by himself and who would have had no other - desire than to render his glory immortal." - -In that case, I was not fit for the kings of the day. - -Now that I have led you by the hand through the most secret winding -ways of my merits, that I have made you feel all that is rare in -my dispatches, like one of my colleagues at the Institute who is -incessantly singing his own fame and teaching men to admire him, now I -will tell you what I am leading up to with my boasting: by showing what -they are able to do in public life, I wish to defend the men of letters -against the men of diplomacy, the counting-house and the offices. - -The latter must not be allowed to take it into their heads to think -themselves above men the smallest of whom overtops them by a head: when -one knows so many things, like these practical gentlemen, one should -at least not display gross ignorance. You talk of "facts;" well then, -recognize "facts:" the majority of the great writers of antiquity, of -the middle ages, of Modern England have been great statesmen, when they -have deigned to descend to public life: - - "I did not wish to give them to understand," says Alfieri, refusing - an embassy, "that their diplomacy and their dispatches seemed to - me and certainly were for me less important than my tragedies or - even those of others; but it is impossible to reclaim that kind of - people: they cannot and must not be converted." - -[Sidenote: Other literary diplomatists.] - -Who in France was ever more literary than L'Hôpital[105], the -reversioner of Horace, than d'Ossat[106], that capable ambassador, -than Richelieu, that great head, who, not content with dictating -"controversial treaties," with writing "Memoirs," and "histories," -constantly invented dramatic subjects, and rhymed with Mailleville -and Boisrobert[107], and gave birth, by the sweat of his brow, to the -Academy[108] and the _Grande Pastorale?_[109] Is it because he was a -bad writer that he was a great minister? But the question is not one -of the possession of more or less talent; it is one of the passion -for paper and ink: and M. de L'Empyrée[110] never showed more ardour -nor incurred greater expense than did the cardinal to snatch the palm -from Parnassus, seeing that the staging of his "tragi-comedy" of -_Mirame_ cost him two hundred thousand crowns! If, in one who is both -a political and a literary personage, the mediocrity of a poet caused -the superiority of the statesmen, one would have thence to conclude -that the weakness of the statesman would result from the strength of -the poet: yet did the literary genius destroy the political genius of -Solon[111], an elegist equal to Simonides[112]; of Pericles stealing -from the Muses the eloquence with which he subjugated the Athenians; of -Thucydides[113] and Demosthenes[114], who carried to so great a height -the glory of the writer and the orator, while devoting their days to -war and the public places? Did it destroy the genius of Xenophon[115], -who effected the retreat of the ten thousand while dreaming of the -_Cyropœdia_; of the two Scipios[116], one the friend of Lælius[117], -the other associated in the fame of Terence[118]; of Cicero[119], king -of letters, as he was the father of the country; of Cæsar[120], lastly, -author of works of grammar, astronomy, religion, literature, of Cæsar, -rival of Archilochus[121] in satire, of Sophocles[122] in tragedy, -of Demosthenes in eloquence, whose _Commentaries_ are the despair of -historians? - -In spite of these examples and a thousand others, literary talent, -which is very eminently the first of all, because it excludes no other -faculty, will always in this country be an obstacle to political -success. Of what use, indeed, is a high intelligence? It serves no -purpose whatever. The block-heads of France, a special and wholly -national type, grant nothing to the Grotiuses, the Frederics, -the Bacons[123], the Thomas Mores[124], the Spensers[125], the -Falklands[126], the Clarendons[127], the Bolingbrokes[128], the Burkes -and the Cannings of France[129]. - -[Sidenote: Envy of the common herd.] - -Never will our vanity recognise in a man even of genius aptitudes -and the faculty of doing common things as well as they are done by a -common mind. If you overpass the vulgar conception by a hairbreadth, -a thousand imbeciles exclaim, "You're losing yourself in the clouds," -delighted as they feel at dwelling underneath, where they insist -upon thinking. Those poor envious people, by reason of their secret -misery, kick against merit; they compassionately dismiss Virgil, -Racine, Lamartine[130] to their verses. But, proud sirs, to what are -we to dismiss you? To oblivion, which awaits you at twenty steps from -your doors, while twenty verses of those poets will carry them to the -furthermost posterity. - - -The first invasion of Rome by the French, under the Directorate, was -infamous and accompanied by spoliation; the second, under the Empire, -was iniquitous: but once accomplished, order reigned. - -The Republic demanded of Rome, for an armistice, twenty-two millions, -the occupation of the Citadel of Ancona, one hundred pictures and -statues, and one hundred manuscripts, to be selected by the French -commissaries. They especially wanted to have the busts of Brutus and -Marcus Aurelius: so many people in France called themselves Brutus in -those days, it was very simple that they should wish to possess the -pious image of their putative father; but Marcus Aurelius, whose father -was he? Attila, to go away from Rome, asked only a certain number of -pounds of pepper and silk: in our day, she for a moment redeemed her -liberty with pictures. Great artists, often neglected and unhappy, left -their master-pieces to serve as a ransom for the ungrateful cities that -slighted them. - -The Frenchmen of the Empire had to repair the ravages which the -Frenchmen of the Republic had committed in Rome; they also owed an -expiation for the sack of Rome accomplished by an army led by a French -Prince[131]: it was befitting that Bonaparte should set order in the -ruins which another Bonaparte[132] had seen grow, and whose overthrow -he described. The plan adopted by the French Administration for the -excavation of the Forum was that which Raphael proposed to Leo X.: -it caused to rise from the earth the three columns of the Temple of -Jupiter Tonans; it laid bare the portico of the Temple of Concord; -it exposed the pavement of the Via Sacra; it did away with the new -buildings with which the Temple of Peace was encumbered; it removed -the soil which covered the steps of the Coliseum, cleared the interior -of the arena and brought to view seven or eight rooms in the Baths of -Titus[133]. - -Elsewhere, the Forum of Trajan[134] was explored, the Pantheon, the -Baths of Diocletian, the Temple of Patrician Modesty repaired. Funds -were put aside for the maintenance, outside Rome, of the Walls of -Falerii and the Tomb of Cæcilia Metella. - -Repairing works were also undertaken for modern edifices: St. Paul's -Without the Walls, which no longer exists[135], had its roofing -repaired; St Agnes', San Martino ai Monti were protected against the -weather. A portion of the roof and the pavement of St. Peter's was -mended; lightning-conductors shielded the dome of Michael Angelo from -the lightning. The sites were marked out of two cemeteries in the east -and west of the city, and that on the east, near the Convent of San -Lorenzo, was finished. - -[Sidenote: The French in Rome.] - -The Quirinal arrayed its external poverty in the luxury of porphyry and -Roman marbles: designed as it was for the imperial palace, Bonaparte, -before taking up his residence there, wanted to remove all traces of -the abduction of the Pontiff, held captive at Fontainebleau. It was -proposed to pull down the part of the city lying between the Capitol -and Monte Cavallo, so that the triumpher might ride up to his Cæsarian -abode through an immense avenue; events caused these gigantic dreams to -fade away by destroying enormous realities. - -Among the plans decided was that of building a series of quays, from -Ripetta to Ripa Grande: the foundations of those quays would have been -laid; the four blocks of houses between the Castle of Sant' Angelo -and the Piazza Rusticucci were partly bought up and would have been -demolished. A wide thoroughfare would thus have been opened on to the -Square of St. Peter's, which would have been seen from the foot of the -Castle of Sant' Angelo. - -The French make walks wherever they go: at Cairo, I have seen a great -square which they had planted with palm-trees and surrounded with -cafés bearing names borrowed from the cafés of Paris; in Rome, my -fellow-countrymen created the Pincio; you reach it by a flight of -stairs. Going down this flight the other day, I saw a carriage pass in -which was seated a woman still possessed of a certain youth: with her -fair hair, the badly-outlined contour of her figure, the inelegance -of her beauty, I took her for a fat, white stranger from Westphalia; -it was Madame Guiccioli: nothing could go less well with the memory -of Lord Byron. What matter? The daughter of Ravenna (of whom, for the -rest, the poet was tired when he resolved to die) will none the less -go, conducted by the Muse, to take her place in the Elysian Fields, -adding one more to the divinities of the tomb. - -The western portion of the Piazza del Popolo was to have been planted -in the space occupied by work-yards and shops; from the end of the open -place one would have seen the Capitol, the Vatican and St. Peter's -beyond the quays of the Tiber: in other words, Ancient and Modern Rome. - -Lastly, a wood, created by the French, rises to-day to the east of the -Coliseum; one never meets anybody there: although it has shot up, it -has the look of a brush-wood growing at the foot of a tall ruin. - -Pliny the Younger[136] wrote to Maximus: - - "Consider that you are sent to... Greece, where politeness, - learning and even agriculture itself are supposed to have taken - their first rise.... Revere the gods their founders, their ancient - glory and even that very antiquity itself which, venerable in men, - is sacred in States. Honour them therefore for their deeds of old - renown, nay, their very legendary traditions. Grant to every one - his full dignities, privileges, yes, and the indulgence of his very - vanity. Remember it was from this nation we derived our laws; that - she did not receive ours by conquest, but gave us hers by favour. - Remember, it is Athens to which you go; it is Lacedæmon you govern; - and to deprive such a people of the declining shadow, the remaining - name of liberty would be cruel, inhuman, barbarous[137]." - - -When Pliny wrote those noble and touching words to Maximus, did he know -that he was drawing up instructions for peoples, then barbarian, that -would one day come to hold sway over the ruins of Rome? - - -I shall soon be leaving Rome, and I hope to return. I once more love -passionately this Rome so sad and so beautiful: I shall have a panorama -on the Capitol, where the Prussian Minister will give up to me the -little Caffarelli Palace; at Sant' Onofrio I have set up another -retreat. Pending my departure and my return, I never cease wandering in -the Campagna; there is no little road, running between two hedges, that -I do not know better than the Combourg lanes. From the top of the Monte -Mario and the surrounding hills, I discover the horizon of the sea in -the direction of Ostia; I take my rest under the light and crumbling -porticoes of the Villa Madama. In these architectural remains changed -into farms, I often find only a timid young girl, startled and agile -as her goats. When I go out by the Porta Pia, I walk to the Ponte -Lamentano over the Teverone; I admire, as I pass St Agnes', a Head of -Christ by Michael Angelo, which keeps watch over the almost abandoned -convent. The master-pieces of the great masters thus strewn through the -desert fill the soul with profound melancholy. It distresses me that -they should have collected the Roman pictures in a museum; I should -have much preferred to go along the slopes of the Janiculum, under -the fall of the Aqua Paola, across the solitary Via delle Fomaci, to -seek the _Transfiguration_ in the Recollect Monastery of San Pietro in -Montorio. When one looks at the place once occupied, on the high altar -of the church, by the ornament of Raphael's funeral, one's heart is -struck and saddened. - -[Sidenote: Walks in Rome.] - -Beyond the Ponte Lamentano, yellow pasture-lands stretch to the left -to the Tiber; the river which bathed the gardens of Horace here flows -unknown. Following the high road, you find the pavement of the ancient -Via Tiburtina. I there this year saw the first swallow arrive. - -I herborize at the Tomb of Cæcilia Metella: the undulated mignonette -and the Apennine anemone make a pretty effect against the whiteness of -the ruin and the ground. Taking the Ostia Road, I go to St. Paul's, -lately fallen a prey to the flames; I sit down to rest on some calcined -porphyry and watch the workmen silently building up a new church; they -pointed out to me some columns already outlined as I descended the -Simplon: the whole history of Christianity in the West begins at St. -Paul's Without the Walls. - -In France, when we build any bit of a house, we make a terrible noise -about it; numbers of machines, and multitude of men and cries: in -Italy, they undertake immense works almost without stirring. The Pope, -at this very moment, is rebuilding the fallen portion of the Coliseum; -half-a-dozen mason's labourers, without any scaffolding, are lifting up -the colossus under whose shoulders died a nation changed into workmen -slaves. Near Verona, I used often to stop to watch a village priest who -was building a huge steeple by himself; the glebe farmer acted as mason -under him. - -I often go round the walls of Rome on foot; as I take this circular -walk, I read the history of the queen of the pagan and Christian -universe written in the diverse constructions, architectures and ages -of the walls. - -Again, I go to discover some dilapidated villa within the walls of -Rome. I visit Santa Maria Maggiore, St. John Lateran with its obelisk, -Santa Croce di Girusalemme with its flowers: I listen to the singing; -I pray: I love to pray on my knees; in this way my heart is nearer the -dust and endless rest: I draw nigh to my tomb. - -My excavations are only a variation of the same pleasures. From the -upland of some hill one perceives the dome of St. Peter's. What does -one pay the owner of the place where treasures lie buried? The value of -the grass destroyed by the excavation. Perhaps I shall give my clay to -the earth in exchange for the statue which it will give me: we shall -only be bartering a man's image for a man's image. - -He has not seen Rome who has not walked through the streets of its -suburbs interspersed with empty spaces, with gardens full of ruins, -with enclosures planted with trees and vines, with cloisters where -rise palm-trees and cypresses, the first resembling Eastern women, -the second mourning nuns. Issuing from these ruins, one sees tall -Roman women, poor and handsome, going to buy fruits or to fetch water -from cascades of the aqueducts of the emperors and popes. To see the -native manners in their simplicity, I pretend to be in search of an -apartment to let; I knock at the door of a secluded house; they answer, -"_Favorisca_," and I enter. I find, in a bare room, either a workman -pursuing his trade, or a proud _zitella_, knitting her wool-work, a cat -upon her knees, watching me wander at random without rising from her -seat. - -In bad weather, I take shelter in St. Peter's, or else lose myself in -the museums of the Vatican, with its eleven thousand rooms and its -eighteen thousand windows[138]. What solitudes of master-pieces! You -come there through a gallery the walls of which are encrusted with -epitaphs and ancient inscriptions: death seems to be born in Rome. - -There are more tombs than dead in this city. I imagine that the -deceased, when they feel too warm in their marble resting-places, glide -into another that has remained empty, even as a sick man is moved from -one bed to another. One seems to hear the bodies pass, during the -night, from coffin to coffin. - -The first time I saw Rome, it was the end of June: the hot season -increases the abandonment of the city; the visitors fly, the -inhabitants of the country remain indoors; you meet no one in the -streets during the daytime. The sun darts its rays upon the Coliseum, -where grasses hang motionless and nothing stirs save the lizards. -The earth is bare; the cloudless sky appears even more desert than -the earth. But soon the night brings the inhabitants out of their -palaces and the stars out of the firmament; earth and the heavens -become repeopled; Rome revives; that life silently recommencing in the -darkness, around the tombs, has the air of the life and movement of the -shades which redescend to Erebus at the approach of day. - -[Sidenote: And in the Campagna.] - -Yesterday I roamed by moonlight in the Campagna, between the Porta -Angelica and the Monte Mario. A nightingale was singing in a narrow -dale railed in with canes. I there, for the first time, found that -melodious sadness of which the ancient poets speak in connection with -the bird of spring. The long whistle which we all know, and which -precedes the brilliant flourishes of the winged musician, was not -piercing like that of our nightingales; it had a veiled sound like -the whistle of the bullfinch of our woods. All its notes were lowered -by a half tone; its burden was transposed from the major to the minor -key; it sang softly; it appeared to wish to charm the sleep of the -dead and not to wake them. Over this untilled common-land had passed -Horace' Lydia, Tibullus' Delia, Ovid's Corinna; only Virgil's Philomela -remained. That hymn of love was potent in that spot and at that hour; -it gave an indescribable longing for a second life: according to -Socrates, love is the desire to be born again by the agency of beauty; -it was this desire that a Greek girl inspired in a youth when she said -to him: - -"If I had nothing left to me but the thread of my necklace of pearls, I -would share it with thee." - -If I have the happiness to end my days here, I have arranged to have a -retreat at Sant' Onofrio adjoining the chamber where Tasso breathed his -last. In the spare moments of my embassy, I shall continue my Memoirs -at the window of the cell. In one of the most beautiful positions on -earth, among orange-trees and evergreen oaks, with all Rome under my -eyes, every morning, as I sit down to work, between the deathbed and -the tomb of the poet, I shall invoke the genius of glory and misfortune. - - -In the early days after my arrival in Rome, wandering in this way at -random, I met a school of young boys between the Baths of Titus and the -Coliseum. They were in charge of a master in a slouched hat, a torn and -draggle-tailed gown, resembling a poor brother of Christian Doctrine. -As I passed near him, I looked at him and thought he had a false air -of my nephew, Christian de Chateaubriand, but I dared not believe my -eyes. He looked at me in his turn, and without showing any surprise, -said: - -"Uncle!" - -I rushed at him, quite moved, and pressed him in my arms. With a -motion of the hand, he stopped his obedient and silent flock behind -him. Christian was at the same time pale and brown, worn away with -fever and burnt by the sun. He told me that he was prefect of studies -at the Jesuit College, then taking its holiday at Tivoli. He had -almost forgotten his language, and expressed himself with difficulty -in French, talking and teaching only in Italian. My eyes filled with -tears, as I looked at my brother's son, become a foreigner, clad in a -black, dusty, worn-out coat, a school-master in Rome, covering with an -old cenobite's hat the noble brow which so well became the helmet. - -I had seen Christian born; a few days before my emigration, I assisted -at his baptism. His father, his grandfather, the Président de Rosanbo, -and his great-grandfather, M. de Malesherbes, were present. The last -stood sponsor for him and gave him his own name, Christian. The Church -of Saint-Laurent was deserted and already half devastated. The nurse -and I took the child from the priest's hands. - - Io piangendo ti presi, e in breve cesta - Fuor ti portai[139]. - -The new-born child was taken back to his mother and laid upon her bed, -where that mother and its grandmother, Madame de Rosanbo, received it -with tears of joy. Two years later, the father, the grandfather, the -great-grand-father, the mother and the grandmother had perished on the -scaffold, and I, a witness at the christening, was wandering in exile. -These were the recollections which the sudden apparition of my nephew -caused to revive in my memory amid the ruins of Rome. Christian has -already passed one half of his life as an orphan; he has vowed the -other half to the altar: the ever-open home of the common Father of -mankind. - -Christian had an ardent and jealous affection for Louis, his worthy -brother: when Louis married, Christian left for Italy; he knew the Duc -de Rohan-Chabot there and met Madame Récamier: like his uncle, he has -come back to live in Rome, he in a cloister, I in a palace. He entered -religion to restore to his brother a fortune of which he did not -consider himself the possessor under the new laws: and so Malesherbes -and Combourg now both belong to Louis. - -[Sidenote: Christian de Chateaubriand.] - -After our unexpected meeting at the foot of the Coliseum, Christian, -accompanied by a Jesuit brother, came to see me at the Embassy; his -bearing was sad, his aspect serious: in the old days he was always -laughing. I asked him if he was happy; he answered: - -"I suffered long; now my sacrifice is made and I feel contented." - -Christian inherited the iron character of his paternal grand-father, -M. de Chateaubriand, my father, and the moral virtues of his maternal -great-grandfather, M. de Malesherbes. His sentiments are locked up -within himself, although he shows them, without considering the -prejudices of the crowd, when his duties are concerned: as a dragoon -in the Guards, he would alight from his horse to go to the Communion -Table; his messmates did not laugh at him, for his valour and his -kindliness were their admiration. After he left the service, it was -discovered that he used secretly to assist a considerable number of -officers and soldiers; he still has pensioners in the Paris garrets, -and Louis discharges his brother's debts. One day, in France, I asked -Christian if he would ever marry: - -"If I were to marry," he replied, "I should take one of my little -cousins, the poorest." - -Christian spends his nights in prayer; he gives himself up to -austerities at which his superiors are alarmed: a sore which formed in -one of his legs came from his persistence in remaining on his knees for -hours on end; never did innocence indulge in so much repentance. - -Christian is not a man of this century: he reminds me of those dukes -and counts of the Court of Charlemagne who, after warring against the -Saracens, founded convents on the desert sites of Gellone or Madavalle -and became monks there. I look upon him as a saint: I would willingly -invoke him. I am persuaded that his good works, added to those of -my mother and my sister Julie, would obtain grace for me before the -Sovereign Judge. I, too, have a leaning for the cloister; but, were my -hour to come, I would go and ask for a solitude of the Portioncula, -under the protection of my Patron Saint, called Francis because he -spoke French. - -I want to trail my sandals alone; for nothing in the world would induce -me to have two heads in my frock. - - Upon that side - Where it doth break its steepness most, arose - A sun upon the world, as duly this - From Ganges doth: therefore let none, who speak - Of that place, say Ascesi; for its name - Were lamely so deliver'd; but the East, - To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled. - A dame, to whom none openeth pleasure's gate - More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will, - His stripling choice.......................... - ................................ She, bereaved - Of her first husband, slighted and obscure, - Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd - Without a single suitor till he came. - Nor aught avail'd, that, with Amyclas, she - Was found unmoved at rumour of his voice, - Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness - Whereby with Christ she mounted on the cross, - When Mary stay'd beneath. But not to deal - Thus closely with thee longer, take at large - The lovers' titles--Poverty and Francis[140]. - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "ROME, 16 _May_ 1829. - - "This letter will leave Rome a few hours after me and will reach - Paris a few hours before me. It will close this correspondence - which has not missed a single post and which must form a volume - in your hands. I feel a mixture of joy and sadness which I cannot - express to you; for three or four months I rather disliked Rome; - now I have again taken to these noble ruins, to this solitude so - profound, so peaceful, and yet so full of interest and remembrance. - Perhaps, also, the unhoped-for success which I have obtained - here has attached me to the place: I arrived in the midst of all - the pre-possessions raised against me, and I have conquered all; - people seem to regret me. What shall I find on returning to France? - Noise instead of silence, excitement instead of repose, unreason, - ambitions, contests of place and vanity. The political system which - I have adopted is one which perhaps no one would care for and - which, besides, I shall not be placed in a position to carry out I - would still undertake to give a great glory to France, even as I - contributed to obtaining a great liberty for her; but would they - discard all their previous opinions to make room for me? Would they - say to me, 'Be the master, act as you please at the peril of your - head?' No; so far are they from using this language to me, that - they would take anybody in preference to myself and admit me only - after receiving the refusals of all the mediocrities of France. - Even then they would think they were doing me a great favour by - relegating me to an obscure corner. I am coming to fetch you; - ambassador or not, I should like to die in Rome. In exchange for a - small life, I should at least have a great burying-place until the - day comes when I shall go to fill my cenotaph in the sand which - beheld my birth. Adieu; I am already many leagues nearer to you." - - -[Sidenote: I return to France.] - -It gave me great pleasure to see my friends again[141]: I dreamt only -of the happiness of taking them with me and ending my days in Rome. I -wrote to make still more sure of the little Caffarelli Palace, which I -contemplated hiring, on the Capitol and of the cell which I applied for -at Sant' Onofrio. I bought English horses and sent them to the fields -of Evander. I was already, in thought, taking leave of my country with -a joy that deserved to be punished. When one has travelled in his youth -and passed many years out of his country, one is accustomed to place -one's death anywhere: when crossing the seas of Greece, it seemed to -me that all those monuments which I perceived on the promontories were -hostelries in which my bed was prepared. - -I went to pay my court to the King at Saint-Cloud: he asked me when I -was returning to Rome. He was persuaded that I had a good heart and a -bad head. The fact is that I was exactly the converse of what Charles -X. thought me: I had a very cool and a very good head, and a heart -which was but so-so towards seven-eighths of the human race. - -I found the King very ill-disposed towards his Ministry: he caused it -to be attacked by certain royalist newspapers, or rather, when the -editors of those publications went to ask him if he did not think them -too hostile, he exclaimed: - -"No, no, go on." - -When M. de Martignac had made a speech: - -"Well," asked Charles X., "have you heard the Pasta[142]?" - -M. Hyde de Neuville's liberal opinions displeased him; he found more -complaisance in M. Portalis, the Federate, who bore cupidity stamped on -his face: it is to M. Portalis that France owes her misfortunes. When -I saw him at Passy, I perceived what I had in part guessed: the Keeper -of the Seals, while pretending to hold the Foreign Office ad interim, -was dying to keep it, although, in any event, he had provided himself -with the post of President of the Court of Appeal. The King, when the -question arose of the appointment of a Foreign Secretary, had said: - -"I do not say that Chateaubriand shall not be my minister; but not for -the present." - -The Prince de Laval had refused; M. de La Ferronnays was no longer -able to apply himself to regular work. In the hope that, weary of -resistance, the portfolio would remain in his hands, M. Portalis made -no effort to persuade the King. - -Full of my coming delights in Rome, I abandoned myself to them without -too deeply sounding the future; it suited me well enough that M. -Portalis should keep the _ad interim_ under the shelter of which my -position remained what it was. Not for a moment did I imagine that M. -de Polignac might be invested with power: his limited, unpliable and -perfervid mind, his fatal and unpopular name, his stubbornness, his -religious opinions, exalted to the pitch of fanaticism, appeared to me -so many causes for his eternal exclusion. He had, it is true, suffered -for the King; but he had been amply rewarded for it by the friendship -of his master and by the proud London Embassy, which I had given him -under my ministry, in spite of M. de Villèle's opposition. - -Of all the ministers in office whom I found in Paris, with the -exception of the excellent M. Hyde de Neuville, not one pleased me: I -felt them to possess a relentless capacity which left me uneasy as to -the duration of their empire. M. de Martignac, who was endowed with -an agreeable talent for speaking, had the sweet and worn-out voice of -a man to whom women have given something of their seduction and their -weakness! Pythagoras remembered having been a charming courtesan, named -Alcea. The former secretary of embassy to the Abbé Sieyès[143] had also -a restrained self-conceit, a calm and somewhat jealous mind. I had -sent him, in 1823, to Spain, in a high and independent position[144], -but he would have liked to be an ambassador. He was offended at not -receiving an employment which he thought due to his merit. - -My likes or dislikes mattered little. The Chamber committed a mistake -in overturning a ministry which it ought to have preserved at all -costs. That moderate ministry served as a hand-rail to abysses; it -was easy to overthrow it, for it had nothing to support it, and the -King was hostile to it: a reason the more for not quarrelling with -those men, for giving them a majority by the aid of which they could -have remained in office and made room one day, without accident, for a -strong government. In France, people are unable to wait for anything; -they loathe all that has the appearance of power until they possess it -themselves. For the rest, M. de Martignac has nobly given the lie to -his weaknesses by courageously expending the rest of his life in the -defense of M. de Polignac. - - -My feet burned to leave Paris; I could not grow accustomed to the grey -and dismal sky of France, my father-land: what should I have thought -of the sky of Brittany, my mother-land, to speak Greek? But there, at -least, there are sea-breezes and calms: _tumidis albens fluctibus_[145] -or _venti posuere._[146] My orders were given to make certain necessary -changes and extensions in my house and garden in the Rue d'Enfer, -so that, at my death, when I bequeathed this house to Madame de -Chateaubriand's Infirmary, it might be more profitable. I intended this -property to form a retreat for a few sick artists and men of letters. I -looked up at the pale sun and said: - -"I shall soon see you with a better face, and we shall not part again." - -[Sidenote: I set out again for Rome.] - -After taking leave of the King, and hoping to rid him of my presence -for ever, I climbed into my carriage. I was first going to the -Pyrenees, to take the waters of Cauterets; from there, passing through -Languedoc and Provence, I was to go to Nice, where I would join Madame -de Chateaubriand. We would drive along the Cornice together, arrive at -the Eternal City, which we would cross without stopping, and, after a -two months' stay in Naples, at Tasso's cradle, return to his tomb in -Rome. That moment is the only one in my life at which I was completely -happy, at which I longed for nothing more, at which my existence was -filled, at which I saw nothing to my last hour but a series of days of -rest. I was reaching the haven; I was entering under full sail like -Palinurus: _inopina quies._[147] - -My whole journey to the Pyrenees was a series of dreams: I stopped when -I wished; I followed on my road the chronicles of the middle ages, -which I found everywhere; in Berry I saw those little leafy roads which -the author of _Valentine_[148] calls _traînes_ and which reminded me of -my Brittany. Richard Cœur-de-Lion[149] had been slain at Chalus, at the -foot of the tower: - -"Mussulman child, hold thy peace! Here comes King Richard!" - -At Limoges, I took off my hat from respect for Molière; at Périgueux, -the partridges in their earthenware tombs no longer sang with different -voices as in the time of Aristotle. I there met my old friend Clausel -de Coussergues; he carried a few pages of my life with him. At -Bergerac, I could have looked at Cyrano's[150] nose without being -obliged to fight that cadet of the Guards: I left him in his dust with -"those gods whom men has made and who have not made man." - -At Auch, I admired the stalls sculptured after cartoons obtained -from Rome at the fine period of the arts. D'Ossat, my predecessor at -the Court of the Holy Father, was born near Auch[151]. The sun was -beginning to resemble that of Italy. At Tarbes, I should have liked -to lodge at the Star Inn, where Froissart[152] alighted with Messire -Espaing of Lyons, "valiant man and wise and fair knight," and where he -found "good hay, good oats and fair rivers." - -As the Pyrenees rose up on the horizon, my heart beat: from the depth -of three and twenty years issued memories to which the perspective of -time gave added beauty; I was returning from Palestine and Spain, when -I caught sight of the summits of those mountains from the other side -of their chain. I agree with Madame de Motteville; I think that it -was in one of those castles of the Pyrenees that Urganda the Unknown -dwelt. The past is like a museum of antiquities; in it one visits the -hours that have elapsed; each one can recognise his own. One day, -walking about a deserted church, I heard footsteps dragging along the -flag-stones, like those of an old man in search of his tomb. I looked -round and saw nobody; it was I that had awakened myself. - -[Sidenote: Romance at Cauterets.] - -The happier I was at Cauterets, the greater pleasure did I take in -the melancholy of what was ended. The narrow and confined valley is -enlivened by a mountain torrent; beyond the town and the mineral -springs, it divides into two defiles, one of which, famous for its -sites, ends in the Pont d'Espagne and glaciers. I benefited by the -baths; I made long excursions alone, imagining myself on the steeps of -the Sabina. I made every effort to be sad, and could not succeed. I -wrote a few stanzas on the Pyrenees[153]; it was impossible for me to -finish my ode: I had draped my drum lugubriously to beat the troop of -the visions of my past nights; but ever, amid these visions recalled, -mingled some dreams of the moment, whose happy look foiled the air of -consternation of their older fellows. - -One day as I was versifying I met a young woman seated beside the -torrent; she rose and walked straight towards me: she knew, by the -rumour of the hamlet, that I was at Cauterets. It appeared that the -stranger was an Occitanian[154] lady who had been writing to me for -two years without my having ever seen her: my mysterious anonymous -correspondent unveiled: _patuit Dea._ - -I went to pay a respectful visit to the naiad of the torrent. One -evening she saw me to the door as I was leaving, and wanted to go with -me; I was obliged to carry her indoors in my arms. I never felt so -ashamed; to inspire a sort of attachment at my age seemed to me really -ridiculous; the more I might have been flattered by this oddness, the -more humiliated was I, rightly taking it for a mockery. I would gladly -have hidden myself for shame among the bears, our neighbours. I was far -from saying to myself what Montaigne said: - -"Love would restore me the vigilancy, sobriety, grace and care of my -person[155]." - -My dear Michael, you say charming things, but, at our age, you see, -love does not restore us what you here suppose. There is but one thing -for us to do: to stand frankly aside. Instead, therefore, of returning -to "sound and wise studies, whereby I might procure more love," I have -allowed the fugitive impression of my Clémence Isaure to fade away; the -mountain breeze soon dissipated that caprice of a flower; the witty, -determined and charming stranger of sixteen was grateful to me for -doing her justice: she has married. - - -[Sidenote: The Polignac ministry.] - -Rumours of ministerial changes had reached our fir-groves. -Well-informed persons went so far as to speak of the Prince de -Polignac; but I was quite incredulous. At last the newspapers came: -I opened them, and my eyes were struck by the official ordinance -confirming the rumours that had been spread[156]. I had experienced -many a change of fortune since I had come into the world, but I had -never received so great a shock. My destiny had once more extinguished -my dreams; and this breath of fate not only put out my illusions, but -carried away the Monarchy. This blow hurt me terribly; I had a moment -of despair, for my mind was made up at once: I felt that I must retire. -The post brought me a crowd of letters; all urged me to send in my -resignation. Even persons with whom I was hardly acquainted thought -themselves obliged to order my retirement. - -I was shocked by this officious interest shown in my good fame. I thank -Heaven that I have never stood in need of counsels of honour; my life -has been one series of sacrifices, which have never been commanded -of me by any one; in matters of duty, I have a spontaneous mind. To -me, falls spell ruin, for I possess nothing save debts, debts which -I contract in places where I do not remain long enough to pay them; -in such a way that, every time that I retire from public life, I am -reduced to working as a bookseller's hireling. Some of those proud -obliging people, who preached honour and liberty to me through the post -and preached it even much more loudly when I arrived in Paris, handed -in their resignation as councillors of State; but some were rich, -and others took care not to resign the secondary places which they -held and which left them the means of existence. They acted like the -Protestants, who reject some of the dogmas of the Catholics and keep -others quite as difficult to believe in. There was no completeness in -those oblations, no full sincerity: men surrendered an income of ten -or fifteen thousand francs, it is true, but returned home opulent in -their patrimonies or, at least, provided with the daily bread which -they had prudently kept back. Where I was concerned, they made less -ceremony; for me they were filled with self-denial, they could never -strip themselves sufficiently of all that I possessed: - -"Come, George Dandin, pluck up courage; zounds, son-in-law, do us -credit; off with your coat! Throw out of window two hundred thousand -livres a year, a place to your liking, a high and magnificent place, -the empire of the arts in Rome, the happiness of at last receiving the -reward of your long and laborious struggle. Such is our good pleasure. -At that price you will have our esteem. In the same way as we have -stripped ourselves of our cloaks, leaving a good flannel waistcoat -underneath, so you must throw off your velvet mantle, and remain naked. -There is perfect equality, an exact level of altar and sacrifice." - -And, strange to relate, in this generous ardour to turn me out, the -men who intimated their wishes to me were neither my real friends nor -the joint sharers of my political opinions. I was to immolate myself -forthwith to Liberalism, to the doctrine which had continually attacked -me; I was to run the risk of shaking the Legitimist Throne in order -to deserve the praises of a few poltroons of enemies, who had not the -thorough courage to starve. - -I was to find myself swamped by a long embassy; the entertainments -which I had given had ruined me; I had not paid the expenses of my -first establishment. But what broke my heart was the loss of what I -had promised myself in the way of happiness for the rest of my life. - -I have not to reproach myself with bestowing upon anybody those -Catonian counsels which impoverish him who receives, not him who gives -them, fully convinced as I am that those counsels are of no use to the -man who does not feel them within himself. My resolve was fixed, as -I have said, from the first; it cost me nothing to take, but it was -painful to execute. When, at Lourdes, instead of turning south and -rolling towards Italy, I took the road for Pau[157], my eyes filled -with tears: I admit my weakness. What matter, if I none the less -accepted and held the challenge fortune sent me? I did not return -quickly, in order to let the days slip by. I slowly unwound the thread -of that road which I had wound up with such alacrity, but a few weeks -before. - -The Prince de Polignac dreaded my resignation. He felt that, if I -retired, I should deprive him of Royalist votes in the Chambers and -jeopardize his ministry. The idea was suggested to him of sending -an express to me in the Pyrenees with orders from the King to go at -once to Rome, to receive the King[158] and Queen of Naples[159], who -were coming to marry their daughter[160] in Spain. I should have -been greatly perplexed had I received that order. Perhaps I should -have felt obliged to obey it, free to send in my resignation after -fulfilling it. But, once in Rome, what might have happened? I should -perhaps have been delayed; the fatal days[161] might have surprised me -at the Capitol. Perhaps, also, the indecision in which I might have -remained would have given M. de Polignac the parliamentary majority of -which he was but a few votes short. Then the Address would not have -been passed; the Ordinances resulting from that address would not have -seemed necessary to their baleful authors: _Diis aliter visum._ - - -[Sidenote: I resign my Embassy.] - -I found Madame de Chateaubriand quite resigned in Paris. Her head was -turned at the idea of being Ambassadress in Rome, and assuredly many a -woman's head would be turned for less; but, in great circumstances, my -wife has never hesitated to approve of what she thought calculated to -add consistency to my life and to enhance my name in the public esteem: -in this she has more merit than most women. She loves display, titles -and fortune; she detests poverty and a mean establishment; she despises -those susceptibilities, those excesses of loyalty and self-sacrifice -which she looks upon as thorough duperies for which nobody thanks -you; she would never have cried, "Long live the King _quand même_;" -but, where I am in question, everything changes: with a firm mind she -accepts my disgraces, while cursing them. - -I had still to fast, to watch, to pray for the salvation of those who -took good care not to don the hair-cloth with which they hastened to -cover me. I was the sacred ass, the ass laden with the dry relics of -liberty, relics which they adored with great devotion, provided they -did not have the trouble of carrying them. - -The day after my return to Paris, I went to M. de Polignac. - -I had written him this letter on my arrival: - - "PARIS, 28 _August_ 1829. - - "PRINCE, - - "I have thought it more worthy of our old friendship, more becoming - to the high mission with which I was honoured, and above all more - respectful to the King to come myself to lay my resignation at his - feet rather than send it hastily through the post. I ask a last - service of you, to entreat His Majesty to consent to grant me an - audience and hear the reasons that oblige me to give up the Roman - Embassy. Believe me, prince, when I say that it costs me something, - at the moment when you are coming into power, to abandon that - diplomatic career which I had the happiness to open to you. - - "Pray accept the assurance of the sentiments which I have devoted - to you and of the high regard with which I have the honour to be, - prince, - - "Your most humble and most obedient servant, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -In reply to this letter, the following note was addressed to me from -the Foreign Office: - - "The Prince de Polignac has the honour to present his compliments - to M. le Vicomte de Chateaubriand and begs him to call at the - Foreign Office, if possible, at nine o'clock precisely to-morrow, - Sunday. - - "_Saturday_, 4 _o'clock._' - -I at once replied with this note: - - PARIS, 29 _August_ 1829, _evening._ - - "I have received a letter, prince, from your office inviting me to - call at the Foreign Office, if possible, at nine o'clock precisely - to-morrow, the 30th. As this letter does not give me the audience - of the King which I begged you to ask for, I will wait until - you have some official communication to make with regard to the - resignation which I desire to lay at His Majesty's feet. - - "With a thousand regards, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -Thereupon M. de Polignac wrote to me as follows in his own hand: - - "I have received your little note, my dear viscount; I shall be - charmed to see you at about ten o'clock to-morrow, if that time - suits you. - - "I renew the assurance of my old and sincere attachment. - - "THE PRINCE OF POLIGNAC." - -This note seemed to me to be of ill omen; its diplomatic reserve made -me fear a refusal on the King's part. I found the Prince de Polignac -in the large room which I knew so well. He ran up to me, squeezed my -hand with an effusion of the heart which I would have liked to think -sincere, and then, throwing one arm over my shoulder, made me walk with -him slowly up and down the room. He told me that he did not accept my -resignation; that the King did not accept it; that I must return to -Rome. Every time that he repeated this last phrase, he broke my heart: - -"Why," he asked, "will you not be in public life with me, as with La -Ferronnays and Portalis? Am I not your friend? I will give you all -you want in Rome; in France you shall be more of the minister than -I, I shall take your advice. Your retirement would bring about new -divisions. You do not want to injure the Government? The King will be -very much incensed if you persist in wishing to retire. I beseech you, -dear viscount, not to commit that folly." - -[Sidenote: I call on M. de Polignac.] - -I replied that I was not committing a folly; that I was acting in the -full conviction of my reason; that his ministry was most unpopular; -that those prejudices might be unjust, but that, in fine, they -existed; that all France was persuaded that he would attack the public -liberties, and that it was impossible for me, their defender, to row in -the same boat with those who passed for the enemies of those liberties. -I was somewhat embarrassed in making this rejoinder, because, at -bottom, I had nothing immediate to object to in the new ministers; I -could attack them only in a future the existence of which they were -entitled to deny. M. de Polignac swore to me that he loved the Charter -as much as I did; but he loved it in his own way, he loved it too -closely. Unfortunately, the affection which one shows to a daughter -whom one has dishonoured is of little use to her. - -The conversation was prolonged on the same lines for nearly an hour. M. -de Polignac concluded by telling me that, if I consented to take back -my resignation, the King would see me with pleasure and hear whatever I -wished to say to him against his ministry; but that, if I persisted in -my determination to resign, His Majesty thought that it would serve no -purpose to see me and that a conversation between him and myself could -be only an unpleasant thing. - -I rejoined: - -"Then, prince, look upon my resignation as given. I have never -retracted in my life, and, since it does not suit the King to see his -faithful subject, I do not insist." - -After those words, I took my leave. I begged the prince to restore the -Roman Embassy to M. le Duc de Laval, if he still wished for it, and I -recommended the members of my legation to him. Then I took my way on -foot, along the Boulevard des Invalides, for my Infirmary, poor wounded -man that I was. M. de Polignac, when I left him, appeared to me to be -in that state of imperturbable confidence which made of him a mute -eminently fitted to strangle an empire. - -My resignation as Ambassador to Rome having been sent in, I wrote to -the Sovereign Pontiff: - - "MOST HOLY FATHER, - - "As French Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1823, I had the happiness - to be the interpreter of the wishes of the late King Louis XVIII. - for the exaltation of Your Holiness to the Chair of St. Peter. As - Ambassador of His Majesty Charles X. to the Court of Rome, I had - the still greater happiness to see Your Beatitude raised to the - Sovereign Pontificate, and to hear from your lips words that will - always be the glory of my life. Now that I am ending the lofty - mission which I had the honour to fulfil, I come to express to Your - Holiness the very keen regrets with which I do not cease to be - penetrated. It but remains for me, Most Holy Father, to lay at your - sacred feet my sincere gratitude for your kindness, and to ask you - for your apostolic blessing. - - "I am, with the greatest veneration and the most profound respect, - - "Your Holiness' most humble and most obedient servant, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -For several days I finished rending my bowels in my Utica; I wrote -letters to demolish the edifice which I had raised with so much love. -As, in the death of a man, it is the little details, the familiar -domestic actions that touch us, so, in the death of a dream, the little -realities which destroy it are the keenest. An eternal exile on the -ruins of Rome had been my idle fancy. Like Dante, I had arranged never -to return to my country. - -These testamentary elucidations will not possess for the readers of -these Memoirs the same interest that they have for me. The old bird -falls from the branch where it has taken shelter; it quits life for -death. Dragged away by the current, it has but changed one stream for -the other. - - - -[Footnote 1: This book was written in Rome, from February to May 1829, -and in Paris, from August to September 1829.--T.] - -[Footnote 2: The following is the exact text of this letter, which -Chateaubriand modified somewhat for publication: - - "I have attended the first funeral ceremony for the Pope in the - Church of St. Peter. It was a strange medley of indecency and - grandeur. The strokes of the hammer nailing down a pope's coffin, - some interrupted singing, the mingling of the light of the candles - and the moon; lastly, the coffin raised by a pulley and hung in the - shadows, to be laid across a door in the sarcophagus of Pius VII., - whose ashes made room for those of Leo XII.: can you picture all - this, and the ideas to which the scene gave birth?"--B.] - -[Footnote 3: Leo XII.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 4: Bartolommeo Alberto Mauro Cardinal Capellari, later Pope -Gregory XVI. (1765-1846), Abbot of the Camaldolian Monastery at Murano, -created a cardinal in 1825. He was elected Pope after the death of Pius -VIII. in 1831, when he took the name of Gregory XVI. He is the founder -of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great.--T.] - -[Footnote 5: Bartolommeo Cardinal Pacca, Bishop of Velletri -(1756-1844), Cardinal Camerlingo to Pope Pius VII., created a cardinal -in 1801. Pacca became Prime Minister in 1808, drew up the bull of -excommunication hurled against Napoleon in 1809, and was arrested and -imprisoned with Pius VII. He returned to Rome with the Pope in 1814 -and, in 1816, was instrumental in bringing about the restoration of the -Jesuits.--T.] - -[Footnote 6: Emmanuele Cardinal Di Gregorio (1758-1839), created a -cardinal by Pius VII. in 1816.--B.] - -[Footnote 7: Giaccomo Cardinal Giustiniani, Bishop of Imola -(1769-1843), created a cardinal by Leo XII. in 1826.--B.] - -[Footnote 8: Giulio Maria Cardinal Della Somaglia (1744-1830), created -a cardinal in 1795, Bishop of Frascati (1814), and of Ostia and -Velletri (1820). He had been exiled with Pius VII., and imprisoned -for refusing to assist at Napoleon's wedding. As Dean of the Sacred -College, he presided at the Conclave in 1829. On his death he left all -his property to the Propaganda.--B.] - -[Footnote 9: Giuseppe Cardinal Albani (1750-1834), created a cardinal -by Pius VII. in 1801, was made Legate at Bologna in 1814, and appointed -Secretary of State by Pius VIII. in 1829.--T.] - -[Footnote 10: Francesco Xaviero Cardinal Castiglioni, Bishop of -Frascati, later Pope Pius VIII. (1761-1830). He was elected Pope on the -31st of March 1829, assumed the name of Pius VIII., and died on the -30th of November 1830, after a reign of twenty months only.--T.] - -[Footnote 11: Pietro Francesco Cardinal Galleffi (1770-1837), created a -cardinal by Pius VII. in 1803.--B.] - -[Footnote 12: Tommaso Cardinal Arezzo (1756-1833), created a cardinal -and Legate at Ferrara in 1815, and Vice-Chancellor of the Church in -1830.--T.] - -[Footnote 13: There is no canonical provision which gives the Powers -the right to intervene in the operations of a conclave; but, as a -matter of fact, France, Spain and Austria have up to these latter times -exercised what was called the _exclusion_, in other words, each of them -has been able to mention to the conclave the name of a cardinal whose -election would have been displeasing to her. Without recognising any -right whatever, the Sacred College takes note of these indications, -considering that it would lead to difficulties for the Holy See if it -were to elect a pope in the face of the declared hostility of a great -Catholic Power. The _exclusive_ is very different, and belongs to the -members of the conclave; it results from the votes which are refused -to the candidate who would otherwise receive the majority required to -ensure validity of election.--B.] - -[Footnote 14: Carlo Maria Cardinal Pedicini (1760-1843), created a -cardinal by Pius VII. in 1823.--B.] - -[Footnote 15: Francesco Cardinal Bertalozzi (1754-1830), created a -cardinal at the same time as Pedicini.--B.] - -[Footnote 16: Placido Cardinal Zurla (1769-1834), created a cardinal at -the same time as the two former.--B.] - -[Footnote 17: Luigi Cardinal Micara (1775-1847), created a cardinal by -Leo XII. in 1824.--B.] - -[Footnote 18: St. Peter, first Pope (_d._ 65 or 66), martyred in Rome -with St. Paul, with whom he is honoured on the 29th of June.--T.] - -[Footnote 19: Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (_circa_ -150--_circa_ 230), the great ecclesiastical writer, and one of the most -famous Fathers of the Church.--T.] - -[Footnote 20: Caius Sempronius Gracchus (_d._ 121 B.C.) was elected -Tribune of the People in 123, and re-elected in 122. He failed in his -election in 121, and was killed in a disturbance in the city and his -body thrown into the Tiber.--T.] - -[Footnote 21: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (_circa_ 169 B.C.--133 -B.C.), Caius' elder brother, was assassinated when on the point -of being elected Tribune of the People for the second year in -succession.--T.] - -[Footnote 22: St. Damasus I. (_circa_ 306-384), a native of Portugal, -elected to the Papacy in 366. His election was contested by the Deacon -Ursinus, who was expelled by force of arms. St. Damasus is honoured on -the 11th of December.--T.] - -[Footnote 23: St. Gregory I. (_circa_ 540-604), known as the Great, -was elected Pope in 590. He is commemorated on the 12th of March, the -anniversary of his death.--T.] - -[Footnote 24: St. Leo IV. (_d._ 855), honoured 17 July, the anniversary -of his death.--T.] - -[Footnote 25: St. Simplicius had followed a career of arms and married. -The See of Bourges was offered to him many times, and refused. He at -last accepted it, in 472, when elected by St. Sidonius Apollinaris, who -had been chosen arbitrator of the quarrels that had ensued at Bourges. -He is honoured on the 17th of June.--T.] - -[Footnote 26: Louis I. Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of -France (778-840), known as the Débonnaire, son of the Emperor-King -Charlemagne, whom he succeeded in 814.--T.] - -[Footnote 27: Gerard of Burgundy, later Pope Nicholas II. (_d._ 1061), -elected Pope in 1058.--T.] - -[Footnote 28: The third Lateran Council, held under Pope Alexander III. -in 1179.--T.] - -[Footnote 29: Guy de Foulques, or Fulcoldi, later Pope Clement IV. -(_d._ 1268), a native of Saint-Gilles in France, was first a soldier, -then a lawyer, then secretary to St. Louis IX. The death of his -wife led him to enter the Church. He became Bishop of Puy in 1256, -Archbishop of Narbonne in 1259, a cardinal in 1262, and was elected -Pope in 1265, while on a journey to England as Papal Legate.--T.] - -[Footnote 30: Teobaldo di Visconti, later Pope Gregory X. (_d._ 1276), -elected Pope in 1271, after an interregnum of over two years.--T.] - -[Footnote 31: Pedro de Luna (_d._ 1424), a native of Aragon, anti-pope, -under the style of Benedict XIII. He was elected by the French -cardinals, while the Italians chose Boniface IX., after the death of -the Anti-pope Clement VII. (1394).--T.] - -[Footnote 32: Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI. (1431-1503), -created a cardinal in 1456, Archbishop of Valencia, in succession to -his uncle, Pope Calixtus III., and elected Pope in 1492. There is no -doubt that Borgia's election was due to bribery.--T.] - -[Footnote 33: Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480-1519), -illegitimate daughter of Alexander VI. by Rosa Vanozza, married first -Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, in 1493. This marriage was annulled -by Alexander, who, in 1498, found a more ambitious match for her in -Alphonsus of Bisceglie, a natural son of Alphonsus II. of Naples. -Alphonsus having been murdered by her brother, Cesare Borgia, in 1500, -she married, in 1501, Alphonsus of Este, who subsequently succeeded to -the Duchy of Ferrara.--T.] - -[Footnote 34: _Lambeaux_, rags; _lambels_, labels.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 35: Jacques Davy, Cardinal Duperron (1556-1618), Bishop of -Evreux, later Archbishop of Sens. Himself a convert from Calvinism, -Duperron was largely instrumental in converting Henry IV. to -Catholicism.--T.] - -[Footnote 36: Henry VIII. King of England (1491-1547) procured the -title of Defender of the Faith from Pope Leo X. in 1521, and severed -his connection with the Faith in 1534. His successors have since -continued heretical to the Faith of which they continue to style -themselves the Defenders.--T.] - -[Footnote 37: Donna Olimpia Pamfili (1594-1656), _née_ Maldachini, -sister-in-law of Innocent X., under whose pontificate she wielded great -influence and amassed immense wealth. Alexander VII. ordered her to -retire to Orvieto, there to await the result of an inquiry into the -origin of her fortune (1655); but she died of the plague before the end -of the inquiry.--B.] - -[Footnote 38: Giovanni Battista Pamfili, later Pope Innocent X. -(1572-1655), elected Pope in 1644.--T.] - -[Footnote 39: Fabio Chigi, later Pope Alexander VII. (1599-1667), -elected Pope in 1655. It was during his pontificate that Christina -Queen of Sweden was converted to Catholicism.--T.] - -[Footnote 40: Lorenzo Corsini, later Pope Clement XII. (1652-1740), -elected Pope in 1730.--T.] - -[Footnote 41: Prospero Lambertini, later Pope Benedict XIV. -(1675-1758), elected to the Papacy in 1740.--T.] - -[Footnote 42: Letter to the Abbé Cortois de Quincey from Rome, -1740.--T.] - -[Footnote 43: Bernardo Gaetano Cardinal Guadagni (1674--_post_ 1733), -Bishop of Arezzo (1724), and a nephew of Clement XII., who created him -a cardinal in 1731. Guadagni became Vicar-General of Rome in 1732.--T.] - -[Footnote 44: Pietro Cardinal Ottoboni (1668-1740), nephew to Pope -Alexander VIII., and created a cardinal at the age of 22, in 1690.--T.] - -[Footnote 45: Giulio Cardinal Alberoni (1664-1752) had been Prime -Minister of Spain (1715-1719), thanks to the influence of Elizabeth -Farnese, whose marriage to Philip V. he had brought about while in -Madrid as Resident of the Duke of Parma at the Spanish Court. He was -subsequently disgraced and imprisoned in a convent by order of Innocent -XIII.; but, in 1723, he was reinstated in his rights as a cardinal, and -remained in favour with the Court of Rome till his death in 1752.--T.] - -[Footnote 46: Anton Rodolf Count Apponyi (1782-1852), Austrian -Ambassador successively to Florence, Rome, London and Paris.--T.] - -[Footnote 47: Giovanni Battista Cardinal Bussi, created a cardinal by -Leo XII. in 1824.--B.] - -[Footnote 48: Vincento Cardinal Macchi (1770-1860), Archbishop of -Nisibis, appointed Nuncio to Switzerland, to Paris (1819), and a -cardinal (1826).--B.] - -[Footnote 49: Jean Baptiste Marie Anne Antoine Cardinal Duc de Latil -(1761-1839) became chaplain to the Comte d'Artois in 1798, and returned -to France with him in 1814. He was appointed Bishop of Amycla _in -partibus_ in 1815, Bishop of Chartres in 1817, and a peer of France. -On the death of Louis XVIII., the new King created Latil a count, and -appointed him to the Archbishopric of Rheims. He crowned Charles X. in -1826, and received the cardinal's hat from Leo XII., the King adding -the title of duke. At the Revolution of July, the cardinal fled to -England, and later returned to France, where he resumed his see, but -not his seat in the House of Peers, as he refused to take the oath to -the usurping government--B.] - -[Footnote 50: MOLIÈRE, L'_Avare_: Act II. sc. I.--T.] - -[Footnote 51: Teresio Cardinal Ferrero Della Marmora (1757-1831), -created a cardinal in 1824.--B.] - -[Footnote 52: With the same pen with which he had just written this -dispatch to the Foreign Minister, on the same day, Chateaubriand wrote -M. de Marcellus, then Minister Plenipotentiary at Lucca, the following -letter, which is not exactly in the style of the chanceries: - - "ROME, 3 _March_ 1829. - - "No news here. Empty and varying ballots. Rain, wind, rheumatism, - and Torlonia buried sword at side, in a black coat and a laced - hat. That is all. To-night, at my house, they sing at nine, sup - at ten, and at midnight fast for tomorrow's ashes; with a little - penetration, you can guess that I am writing to you on Shrove - Tuesday. All this, Shrove Tuesday especially, makes me say with - Potier, in the part of Werther: - - "'My friend, do you know what life is? A wood in which we catch our - legs.' - - "If only mine could go a-hunting like yours! Good-bye. All this is - not very serious for an ambassador to a conclave. I weep so often - that, when laughter comes to me by chance, I let myself go. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND."--B.] - - -[Footnote 53: And not Thursday, as the preceding editions have it.--B.] - -[Footnote 54: Anne Louis Henri Cardinal Duc de La Fare (1752-1829), -grand-nephew of the Cardinal de Bernis, became Bishop of Nancy in 1787, -Archbishop of Sens in 1817, a peer of France in 1822, and a cardinal in -1823.--B.] - -[Footnote 55: Gustave Maximilien Juste Cardinal Prince de Croy -(1773-1844), was Canon of the Grand Chapter of Strasburg in 1789. -After the Emigration, he became Bishop of Strasburg in 1817, and Grand -Almoner of France in 1821, a cardinal in 1822, and Archbishop of Rouen -in 1824. He remained faithful to his legitimist principles in 1830, and -although, in 1840, he was obliged to assist at the baptism of the Comte -de Paris, he retired immediately after the ceremony.--B.] - -[Footnote 56: Joachim Jean Xavier Cardinal Duc d'Isoard (1766-1839), -after taking part in several royalist plots, had been appointed -secretary to Cardinal Fesch in 1803. He was ordained priest in 1805, -created a cardinal by Leo XII. in 1805, and Archbishop of Auch, a duke -and peer of France in 1829. The Revolution of July deprived him of his -peerage, but he retained his archdiocese.--B.] - -[Footnote 57: Belisario Cardinal Cristaldi (1764-1831), created a -cardinal in 1826.--B.] - -[Footnote 58: Luigi Lambruschini (1776-1854), Archbishop of Genoa, -Grand Prior of the Order of the Knights of Jerusalem, and Papal Nuncio -to Paris.--T.] - -[Footnote 59: The Abbé Pierre (in religion, Marie Joseph) Coudrin -(1768-1837) accompanied the Prince de Croy, Cardinal-Archbishop -of Rouen, as his conclavist. He did not deserve Chateaubriand's -strictures. The Abbé Coudrin was a man of virtue and intelligence, a -founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and -of the Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, -known as the Congregation of the Picpus.--B.] - -[Footnote 60: Ercole Cardinal Dandini (1759-1840), created a cardinal -in 1823.--B.] - -[Footnote 61: Louis I. King of Bavaria (1786-1868) ascended the throne -in 1825, in succession to his father, Maximilian I., the first King of -Bavaria. Louis was an ardent Philhellenist, and therefore acceptable -to Chateaubriand. He neglected no effort to turn Munich into a modern -Athens, and introduced an Aspasia into it in the shape of the dancer -Lola Montes, whom he created Countess von Lansfeld. Louis I. was driven -from his States in February 1848, and abdicated in the following month -in favour of his son Maximilian II.--B.] - -[Footnote 62: Gino Alessandro Giuseppe Gaspardo Marchese Capponi -(1792-1876), the Tuscan politician and historian, and author of, -among other important works, the _Storia della Republica di Firenze_ -(1875).--B.] - -[Footnote 63: Chateaubriand does not give the name of the correspondent -to whom he addressed this letter, but it is clearly the lady of whom he -spoke as "a furious Turcophile" in his letter to Madame Récamier of the -15th of January 1829 (_vide_ Vol. IV, p. 297).--B.] - -[Footnote 64: Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (1581-1641), the noted -painter of the Eclectic-Bologna School.--T.] - -[Footnote 65: Auguste Hilarion Comte de Kératry (1769-1859), one of -the editors of the _Courrier français_, and author of the _Dernier des -Beaumanoir_ (1824). He was made a peer of France by Louis-Philippe in -1837.--B.] - -[Footnote 66: The Vicomte de Sesmaisons, third Secretary of Embassy, -son of Donatien Comte de Sesmaisons and grandson, through his -mother, of the Chancelier Dambray. The two first secretaries were -Messieurs Bellocq and Desmousseaux de Givré, who will be mentioned -later. Attached to the embassy were Messieurs de Montebello (the -son of Marshal Lannes, referred to above), Du Viviers, de Mesnard, -d'Haussonville, and Hyacinthe Pilorge, Chateaubriand's faithful -secretary.--B.] - -[Footnote 67: Then Ambassador to Naples.--B.] - -[Footnote 68: M. Fuscaldo.--_Author's Note._ - -The Conte Fuscaldo was Neapolitan Ambassador to Rome.--B.] - -[Footnote 69: M. Bellocq was First Secretary of the Embassy.--B.] - -[Footnote 70: M. Desmousseaux de Givré (_b._ 1794) had served under -Chateaubriand in London in 1822. He resigned on the accession of -the Polignac Ministry, and re-entered the Diplomatic Service after -1830. Desmousseaux de Givré sat in the Chamber of Deputies, as a -Conservative, from 1837 to 1848, and in the Legislative Assembly from -1849 to 1851, when he retired into private life.--B.] - -[Footnote 71: _Wis._ II. 2.--T.] - -[Footnote 72: Francis IV. Duke of Modena (1779-1847).] - -[Footnote 73: Charles Albert King of Sardinia (1798-1849) ascended the -throne on the death of his kinsman, King Charles Felix, in 1831.--T.] - -[Footnote 74: The Duke of Modena defended himself against this -accusation. _Cf._ MARCELLUS, _Chateaubriand et son temps_, p. 363, -where the matter is explained.--B.] - -[Footnote 75: The Cardinal-Archbishop of Toulouse had sprained a sinew -on alighting from his carriage after crossing the Arno. This accident -delayed him for several days at Siena, and caused him to be the last of -the French cardinals to enter the Conclave (MARCELLUS, _Chateaubriand -et son temps_, p. 358).--B.] - -[Footnote 76: Prince Paul Charles Frederic Augustus of Wurtemberg -(1785-1852), son of Frederic I. King of Wurtemberg, brother of William -I. and father of the Grand-duchess Helen of Russia.--T.] - -[Footnote 77: Wife of King Joseph, who had adopted the title of Comte -de Survilliers, as his brother Louis had taken the name of Duc de -Saint-Leu, and his brother Jerome that of Comte de Montfort.--B.] - -[Footnote 78: Hildebrand, Pope St. Gregory VII. (_circa_ 1020-1085), -elected Pope in 1073, one of the greatest militant Popes. It was to St. -Gregory that the Emperor Henry IV. aid penance at Canossa in 1077.--T.] - -[Footnote 79: The abduction of Pius VII. (5 July 1809).--T.] - -[Footnote 80: Sciarra Colonna had been outlawed by Boniface VIII. and -was concerned with Nogaret in the attempt to carry off the Pontiff.--T.] - -[Footnote 81: Guillaume de Nogaret (_d._ 1314), Chancellor to Philip -the Fair, by whose orders, in 1303, together with Sciarra Colonna, he -seized the person of Pope Boniface VIII. at Anagni and subjected him -to the most culpable violence. Boniface was shortly released by the -populace, and Nogaret besought the Pope's absolution.--T.] - -[Footnote 82: Benedict Cajetan, Pope Boniface VIII. (_circa_ -1228-1303), elected Pope in 1294, issued the bull _Clericis laicos_ -against Philip the Fair in 1296 and in 1302, at a synod held in Rome, -promulgated the bull _Unam sanctam_, asserting the temporal as well -as the spiritual supremacy of the Pope. He died in Rome of a fever -induced by the ill-treatment which he had received while under arrest -at Anagni.--T.] - -[Footnote 83: Michel de L'Hôpital (_circa_ 1505-1573), Superintendent -of the Royal Finances (1554-1560) and Chancellor of France (1560-1568) -under Francis II. and Charles IX.; a wise and tolerant French -statesman.--T.] - -[Footnote 84: François Olivier (1493-1560), Chancellor of France -under Henry II. He was disgraced at the instance of Diane de Poitiers -and deprived of the Seals, but retained the title of Chancellor. He -withdrew to his estate of Montlhéri, where he was often visited by -L'Hôpital.--T.] - -[Footnote 85: Pierre Président Jeannin (1540-1622), the son of a -tanner, became a disciple of Cujas, and rose gradually to be First -President of the Parliament of Paris. He was employed on important -negociations by Sully and, in 1609, signed the treaty which ensured -the independence of the United Provinces. After the death of Henry -IV., Marie de Medici appointed him Superintendent of Finance. His -_Négociations_ were published in 1656.--T.] - -[Footnote 86: Nicolas de Neufville, Seigneur de Villeroi (1542-1617), -was employed by Catherine de Medici on two important negociations in -Italy, and was three times Secretary of State (1567-1588, 1594 and -1610-1614). His _Mémoires d'État_ were published in 1622.--T.] - -[Footnote 87: _Mémoires des sages et royales économies d'État -domestiques, politiques et militaires de Henri le Grand_ (Paris: -1634).--T.] - -[Footnote 88: _Histoire de la mère et du fils_ and _Histoire de -la régence_, published in a complete form as _Mémoires relatifs à -l'histoire de France_ in 1823.--T.] - -[Footnote 89: 1648.] - -[Footnote 90: 24 October 1648.] - -[Footnote 91: Nicolas Barillon was French Ambassador to England during -part of the reigns of Charles II. and James II. A very interesting -portion of his Correspondence with Louis XIV. on English Affairs was -published by Charles James Fox as an appendix to his _History of the -Early Part of the Reign of James II._ (London: 1808).--T.] - -[Footnote 92: Étienne François Comte de Stainville, later Duc de -Choiseul et d'Amboise (1719-1785), Ambassador to Rome (1756), to Vienna -(1756), and Foreign Minister (1758); Minister for War (1761) and, in -addition, for the Navy (1763). After the death of Madame de Pompadour, -his disdain for the new Favourite, the Comtesse Du Barry, procured his -disgrace (1770). In 1761, he negociated the "Family Compact" between -the Bourbon Kings of France, Spain and the Two Sicilies against -England.--T.] - -[Footnote 93: Francisco Cardinal Ximenes (1436-1517), Archbishop of -Toledo (1495), a cardinal (1507), and Inquisitor-General and Regent of -Spain (1516-1517).--T.] - -[Footnote 94: Gasparo de Guzman, Conde de Olivarez (1587-1645), the -Spanish statesman; Prime Minister from 1621-1643.--T.] - -[Footnote 95: Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello, Marques de Pombal -(1699-1782), the famous Portuguese statesman. He became Minister to -London (1739), to Vienna (1745), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1750) and -Premier (1756-1777).--T.] - -[Footnote 96: _Mare liberum_ (1608).--T.] - -[Footnote 97: Axel Count Oxenstiern (1583-1654), Chancellor of Sweden -from 1611 to 1654, and Benedikt Oxenstiern (1623-1702), his kinsman, -Chancellor under Charles XI. Christina Queen of Sweden, on Axel -Oxenstiem's recommendation, appointed Grotius her Ambassador to the -Court of France; he held that post from 1625-1645--T.] - -[Footnote 98: Jan de Witt (1625-1672), Grand Pensionary of Holland from -1653-1672, when he was overthrown by the Orange Party and murdered, -with his brother Cornelis, by the mob at the Hague.--T.] - -[Footnote 99: Pieter de Groot (1610-1680), known as Peter Grotius, son -of Hugo Grotius. Peter was Dutch Minister to the Courts of Denmark and -Sweden, and his correspondence in that capacity with Jan de Witt appear -in that statesman's _Negociations._ Peter Grotius was Ambassador to -France in 1669. He fled from Holland on the restoration of the House of -Orange, returned, and was afterwards arrested, tried and acquitted on a -charge of betraying State secrets (1676).--T.] - -[Footnote 100: Mustapha Mehemed Reshid Pasha (1802-1858), Turkish -Minister of Foreign Affairs under Mahmud II. and Abdul-Medjid, and -Grand Vizier at the time of the Crimean War.--T.] - -[Footnote 101: _Cf._ BOILEAU, _Le Lutrin_, Canto I.: - - Quand Sidrac, à qui l'âge allonge le chemin, - Arrive dans la chambre, un bâton à la main....--B. - - - -When Sidrac, for whom age prolongs his weary road, -His stick in his right hand, arrives at the abode....--T.] - -[Footnote 102: Théodore Mionnet (1770-1842) was Assistant-keeper of the -Cabinet of Antiquities at the National Library of France. He devoted -thirty years of his life to compiling his _Description des médailles -grecques et romaines, avec leur degré de rareté et leur estimation_ -(Paris: 1806-1837, 15 vols. 8vo), which is regarded as a standard work -among numismatists.--T.] - -[Footnote 103: St. Paul (229-342), the first hermit, retired to the -Thebaid at the age of twenty-two, and lived there for over ninety -years. St. Paul the Hermit is honoured on the 7th of March. He is known -also as St. Paul the Simple.--T.] - -[Footnote 104: Robert Arnauld, known as Arnauld d'Andilly ( 1589-1674), -son of Antoine Arnauld, known as the Great Arnauld, and father of Simon -Arnauld, Marquis de Pomponne. Amauld d'Andilly left Memoirs, published -in 1734, and a Journal, first published in 1857. The quotation is taken -from the former.--T.] - -[Footnote 105: L'Hôpital's Complete Works were edited by Dufey in -1824-1825. He excelled in Latin verse.--T.] - -[Footnote 106: I have already mentioned d'Ossat's famous Letters -addressed to Villeroi.--T.] - -[Footnote 107: The Abbé François Le Metel, Sieur de Boisrobert -(1592-1662), a poet and favourite of the Cardinal de Richelieu, who -endowed him with a number of livings, nearly all of which he lost at -play. He was one of the founders of the French Academy and worked on -its Dictionary.--T.] - -[Footnote 108: Richelieu created the French Academy in 1635.--T.] - -[Footnote 109: Richelieu's literary remains include an enormous number -of religious works, dramas, Memoirs, correspondence and State papers. -Of these, the purely literary works are of no considerable value.--T.] - -[Footnote 110: The name assumed by Damis in Piron's Comedy of -_Métromanie_ (Act I. Scene VIII. ).--B.] - -[Footnote 111: Solon (_circa_ 638 B.C.--_circa_ 559 B.C.), the great -law-giver: "When he had carried his great reforms, elegy became the -voice of his calm joy" (JEBB, _Greek Literature_).-T.] - -[Footnote 112: Simonides of Amorgos (_fl. circa_ 660 B.C.) "wrote the -_Archæology of Samos_ in two books of elegiacs, of which no trace now -remains" (MAHAFFY, _History of Classical Greek Literature_).-T.] - -[Footnote 113: Thucydides (_circa_ 471 B.C.--_circa_ 401 B.C.), the -famous Greek commander and historian.--T.] - -[Footnote 114: Demosthenes (385 B.C.--322 B.C.), the statesman and -greatest of Greek orators.--T.] - -[Footnote 115: Xenophon (_circa_ 430 B.C.--post 357 B.C.), the -Greek general, historian, essayist and author of the romance of the -_Cyropœdia_, led the 10,000 Greeks to the Black Sea after the Battle of -Cunaxa and the murder of the Greek generals.--T.] - -[Footnote 116: Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (_circa_ -234 B.C.--_circa_ 183 B.C.), and his grandson by adoption, Publius -Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus Africanus Major, surnamed also Numantinus -(_circa_ 185 B.C.--129 B.C.). It was the latter who was the friend of -both Lælius and Terence, in some of whose comedies he is said to have -collaborated.--T.] - -[Footnote 117: Caius Lælius, surnamed Sapiens (_fl. circa_ 140 B.C.), -the orator and philosopher, and the chief character in Cicero's _De -Amicitia._--T.] - -[Footnote 118: Publius Terendus Afer (_circa_ 185 B.C.--_circa_ 159 -B.C.), the celebrated Roman comic poet.--T.] - -[Footnote 119: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 B.C.--43 B.C.), the Roman -orator, philosopher and statesman.--T.] - -[Footnote 120: Caius Julius Cæsar (100 B.C.--44 B.C.). Only the -_Commentaries_ are extant of his many writings.--T.] - -[Footnote 121: Archilochus (_fl. circa_ 700 B.C.), the Greek lyric poet -of Paros, famous for his satiric iambic poetry.--T.] - -[Footnote 122: Sophocles (495 B.C.--406 B.C.), one of the three great -tragic poets of Greece.--T.] - -[Footnote 123: Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), later Lord Verulam -(1618), later Viscount St. Albans (1621), philosopher, jurist and -statesman.--T.] - -[Footnote 124: Blessed Sir Thomas More (1470-1535), statesman and -author, beatified by Pope Leo XIII., 9 December 1886.--T.] - -[Footnote 125: Edmund Spenser (_circa_ 1552-1599), the poet, went to -Ireland in 1580 as secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, was in 1581 made -clerk to the Irish Court of Chancery, and in 1588 clerk to the Council -of Munster. In his _View of the Stoic of Ireland_, written in 1596, but -not published till 1633, he advocates the most oppressive measures. His -unpopularity in Ireland was extreme.--T.] - -[Footnote 126: Lucius Cary, second Viscount Falkland (_circa_ -1610-1643), politician and man of letters.--T.] - -[Footnote 127: Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon (1608-1674), -statesman and historian.--T.] - -[Footnote 128: Henry St. John, first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751), -Secretary of State and writer.--T.] - -[Footnote 129: I have contented myself with giving the dates of the -figures celebrated in politics and literature who are here mentioned -for the first time in the Memoirs. It is curious that Chateaubriand, -while insisting on his not very strong point, should have omitted the -name of Joseph Addison.--T.] - -[Footnote 130: Alphonse Marie Louis Lamartine (1790-1869), the poet and -Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government of 1848.--T.] - -[Footnote 131: Charles Duc de Bourbon, known as the Constable de -Bourbon (1490-1527), fell in the assault of Rome which ended in the -sack of the city (6 May 1527).--T.] - -[Footnote 132: Giacomo Buonaparte, the first Bonaparte mentioned in -history, left a narrative of the _Sack of Rome_ in 1527, of which he -was an eye-witness. This document has been translated into French by -Charles Napoléon Louis Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon III.--B.] - -[Footnote 133: Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, Roman Emperor -(40-81), the son of Vespasian, and the "Delight of Mankind." He -succeeded to the throne in June 79 and, in the twenty-seven months of -his reign, finished the Coliseum and built the Baths of Titus.--T.] - -[Footnote 134: Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, Roman Emperor (53-117), surnamed -Dacicus and Parthicus, succeeded in 98. The forum constructed under him -is situated north of the Roman Forum.--T.] - -[Footnote 135: St. Paul's Without the Walls, a fourth-century basilica, -was burnt down in 1823.--T.] - -[Footnote 136: Caius Plinius Cæcilius Secundus (62-113), known as Pliny -the Younger, to distinguish him from his uncle, Pliny the Elder. He is -the author of the Epistles and of a Eulogy of Trajan.--T.] - -[Footnote 137: Melmoth's PLINY THE YOUNGER, Book I., Letter 24: To -Maximus.--T.] - -[Footnote 138: JUSTUS LIPSIUS.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 139: TASSO, _Gerusalemme Liberata._--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 140: Cary's DANTE: _Paradise_, Canto XI., 46-56, 59-69.--T.] - -[Footnote 141: Chateaubriand returned to Paris on the 28th of May 1829. -The subsequent pages, to the end of Book XIII., were written in Paris, -in the Rue d'Enfer, in August and September 1830.--B.] - -[Footnote 142: Madame Giuditta Pasta (1798-1865), _née_ Negri, the -Italian-Jewish opera-singer, who was one of the leading sopranos in -Paris and Italy from 1819 until about 1835.--T.] - -[Footnote 143: The Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Comte Sieyès (1748-1836), the -framer of constitutions, was Ambassador to Berlin in 1798-1799, a -member of the Directory 1799 and, provisionally, a Consul. Bonaparte -made him a senator and, later, a count of the Empire. He was exiled at -the Restoration, and lived in Brussels until the Revolution of 1830, -when he returned to Paris.--B.] - -[Footnote 144: M. de Martignac was appointed head of the Duc -d'Angoulême's political council on the outbreak of the Spanish War, and -received the title of Civil Commissary to the Army in Spain.--B.] - -[Footnote 145: OV., _Met._ XI.: - -Quum mare sub noctem tumidis albescere cœpit -Fluctibus.--B.] - -[Footnote 146: _Æn._ VII. 27.--B.] - -[Footnote 147: _Æn._ V. 857.--B.] - -[Footnote 148: Armandine Lucile Aurore Baronne Dudevant, known as -George Sand (1804-1876), _née_ Dupin. _Valentine_, her second novel, -was published in 1832.--T.] - -[Footnote 149: Richard I. King of England (1157-1199), surnamed -Cœur-de-Lion, was mortally wounded while besieging Chalus, near -Limoges, 6 April 1199.--T.] - -[Footnote 150: Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (_circa_ 1620-1655) was -born at Bergerac Castle, and entered the regiment of Guards, where he -was distinguished by his enormous nose. _Post hoc vel propter hoc_, he -achieved fame as a duellist, which he exchanged later for that of a -man of letters, a career which he adopted after being twice severely -wounded in war.--T.] - -[Footnote 151: The Cardinal d'Ossat was born at the Roque-en-Magnoac, -in the Diocese of Auch, on the 23rd of August 1536.--B.] - -[Footnote 152: Jean Froissart (1337--_circa_ 1410), the chronicler.--T.] - -[Footnote 153: I omit these verses.--T.] - -[Footnote 154: Occitania, a name often given to Languedoc, and to the -whole Mediterranean coast, during the middle ages.--T.] - -[Footnote 155: Florio's MONTAIGNE, Booke III., Chap. V.: _Upon some -Verses of Virgil._--T.] - -[Footnote 156: The _Moniteur_ of 9 August 1829 announced the formation -of a new ministry, composed as follows: the Prince de Polignac, Foreign -Affairs; M. de La Bourdonnaye, Interior; M. Courvoisier, Justice; M. de -Chabrol, Finance; General de Bourmont, War; Admiral de Rigny, Navy; M. -de Montbel, Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Instruction. Admiral de -Rigny, a nephew of the Baron Louis, and a Liberal, had been appointed -without being consulted. He refused to take office, and the Baron -d'Haussez, Prefect of Bordeaux, was appointed Minister for the Navy in -his stead.--B.] - -[Footnote 157: In the _Moniteur_ of 27 August 1829, I find: - - "We hear from Pau, 20 August: - - "'M. le Vicomte de Chateaubriand arrived at Pau yesterday. The - illustrious author of the _Génie du Christianisme_ visited part - of the town, and long surveyed the castle of Henry IV. At nine - o'clock, a serenade was given to the noble peer by the town band. - A considerable crowd filled the court-yard of the Hôtel de France - and the streets adjoining the Place Royale. A large number of - citizens were admitted to the noble viscount's apartments. Among - the pieces performed in this improvised serenade the delicious - ballad, _Combien j'ai douce souvenance!_ from the _Dernier des - Abencerrages_, attracted particular attention. M. de Chateaubriand - yielded to the assiduity of which he was the object and showed - himself at one of the windows. He was received with cheers, to - which he replied in these words: - - "'"Gentlemen, I am extremely sensible to the honour which you have - been pleased to do me; I will not own that I deserve it except for - my love of my country. It is very natural that the town in which - Henry IV. saw the light should have been pleased to remember my - devotion to the descendants of that illustrious King." - - "'Renewed cheers were raised, after which the crowd dispersed - peacefully. M. de Chateaubriand left at nine o'clock this morning - for Paris."--B.] - -[Footnote 158: Francis I. King of the Two Sicilies (1777-1830) married, -first, Clementina of Austria and, secondly,] - -[Footnote 159: Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies -(1789-1848), daughter of Charles IV. King of Spain.--T.] - -[Footnote 160: Maria Christina of Naples, Queen of Spain (1806-1878), -married, in December 1829, as his fourth wife, to Ferdinand VII. -King of Spain. It was at her instance that Ferdinand, on the 29th of -March 1830, signed the Pragmatic Sanction abolishing the Salic Law in -Spain, thus illegally securing the Crown to her daughter Isabella and -excluding Ferdinand's brother, Don Carlos (_de jure_ Charles V. King of -Spain), from the succession.--T.] - -[Footnote 161: The Days of 27 to 29 July 1830, ending in the overthrow -of Charles X.--T.] - - - - -BOOK XIV[162] - - -Sycophancy of the newspapers--M. de Polignac's first colleagues--The -Algerian Expedition--Opening of the Session of 1830--The Address--The -Chamber is dissolved--New Chamber--I leave for Dieppe--The -Ordinances of the 25th of July--I return to Paris--Reflexions on -the journey--Letter to Madame Récamier--The Revolution of July--M. -Baude, M. de Choiseul, M. de Sémonville, M. de Vitrolles, M. Laffitte, -and M. Thiers--I write to the King at Saint-Cloud--His verbal -answer--Aristocratic corps--Pillage of the house of the missionaries -in the Rue d'Enfer--The Chamber of Deputies--M. de Mortemart--A -walk through Paris--General Dubourg--Funeral ceremony--Under the -colonnade of the Louvre--The young men carry me back to the House of -Peers--Meeting of the Peers. - - -When the swallows near the moment of their departure, there is one -that flies away first to announce the approaching passage of the rest: -mine were the first wings that preceded the last flight of Legitimacy. -Did the praises with which the newspapers loaded me charm me? Not in -the least. Some of my friends tried to console me by assuring me that -I was on the point of becoming Prime Minister; that this party stroke -so frankly played decided my future: they thought they saw in me an -ambition of which I did not possess the very germ. I do not understand -how any man who has lived but eight days with me can fail to have -perceived my total lack of that passion--a very lawful one, for that -matter--which enables one to push through a political career. I was -ever on the watch for the occasion to retire: if I was so devoted to -the Roman Embassy, that was just because it led to nothing and because -it was a retreat in a blind alley. - -Lastly, at the bottom of my conscience I had a certain fear of having -already driven opposition too far; I was forcibly about to become its -bond, its centre and its object: I was frightened of it, and this fear -increased my regrets for the tranquil shelter I had lost. - -Be this as it may, much incense was burnt before the wooden idol that -had climbed down from its altar. M. de Lamartine, a new and brilliant -light of France, wrote to me on the subject of his candidature for the -Academy[163], and ended his letter thus: - - "M. de La Noue, who has just been spending a few minutes with - me, told me that he had left you occupying your noble leisure in - raising a monument to France. Each of your voluntary and courageous - disgraces will thus bring its tribute of esteem to your name and of - glory to your country." - -This noble letter from the author of the _Méditations poétiques_ was -followed by one from M. de Lacretelle[164]. He in his turn wrote: - - "What a moment they choose to outrage you, you the man of - sacrifices, you the man to whom fine actions come as easily as fine - works! Your resignation and the formation of the new Ministry had - appeared to me, in advance, in the light of two connected events. - You have accustomed us to acts of devotion, as Bonaparte accustomed - us to victory; but he had many companions, whereas you have not - many imitators." - - -Two very literary men, both writers of great merit, M. Abel -Rémusat[165] and M. Saint-Martin[166], alone at that time had the -weakness to rise up against me: they were attached to M. le Baron de -Damas. I can imagine that people are a little irritated by men who -despise places: that is one of those pieces of insolence that cannot be -endured. - -M. Guizot himself deigned to visit me in my abode; he thought he might -overcome the immense distance which Nature had set between us; on -accosting me, he said these words full of all that he owed to himself: - -"Monsieur, things are very different to-day!" - -[Illustration: Guizot.] - -In the year 1829, M. Guizot had need of me for his election; I -wrote to the electors of Lisieux, and they carried him[167]; M. de -Broglie[168] thanked me in the note that follows: - - "Permit me to thank you, monsieur, for the letter which you have - been good enough to address to me. I have made the right use of it, - and I am convinced that, in common with all that comes from you, it - will bear fruit and salutary fruit. For my part, I am as grateful - to you as though I myself were concerned, for there is no event - with which I have more closely identified myself nor which arouses - in me a keener interest." - -The July days found M. Guizot a deputy, and the result was that I am -partly the cause of his political rise: sometimes Heaven hearkens to -the prayer of the humble. - -[Sidenote: M de Polignac's colleagues.] - -M. de Polignac's first colleagues were Messieurs de Bourmont[169], de -La Bourdonnaye, de Chabrol, de Courvoisier[170] and de Montbel[171]. -On the 17th of June 1815, at Ghent, I had been waiting on the King, -when I met at the foot of the stairs a man in a frock-coat and muddy -boots who was going up to His Majesty. By his lively expression, his -finely-shaped nose, his beautiful, soft, adder-like eyes, I recognised -General Bourmont: he had deserted Bonaparte's army. The Comte de -Bourmont is a meritorious officer, skilful at extricating himself from -difficult situations, but one of those men who, when placed in the -front rank, see obstacles without being able to conquer them. They are -made to be led, not to lead. He is fortunate in his sons, and Algiers -will leave him a name. - -The Comte de La Bourdonnaye, formerly my friend, is certainly the most -disagreeable personage that ever lived: he lets fly at you the instant -you approach him; he attacks the speakers in the Chamber, as he does -his neighbours in the country; he cavils over a word, just as he goes -to law about a ditch or a drain. On the very morning of the day on -which I was appointed Foreign Minister, he came to tell me that he was -breaking with me: I was a minister. I laughed and let my male termagant -go about his business: laughing himself, he looked like a thwarted -bat[172]. - -M. de Montbel, at first Minister of Public Instruction, replaced M. -de La Bourdonnaye at the Interior when the latter resigned, and M. de -Guernon-Ranville[173] followed M. de Montbel at the Ministry of Public -Instruction. - -Men were preparing for war on both sides: the Ministerial Party -launched ironical pamphlets against the _Représentatif_; the Opposition -organized itself and spoke of refusing to pay taxes in the event -of a violation of the Charter. A public association, called the -Breton Association, was formed to resist the Administration: my -fellow-countrymen have often taken the lead in our later revolutions; -every Breton head has something in common with the winds that vex the -shores of our peninsula. - -A newspaper[174] set up with the avowed object of overthrowing the Old -Dynasty came to excite men's minds. The handsome young bookseller, -Sautelet[175], pursued with suicidal mania, had several times felt the -longing to make his death useful to his party by some bold stroke; he -was charged with the business part of the republican sheet: Messieurs -Thiers[176], Mignet[177] and Carrel[178] were its editors. The patron -of the National, M. le Prince de Talleyrand, did not put a sou into the -cash-box; he was content to defile the paper's spirit by adding to the -common fund his quotum of treason and rottenness. On this occasion I -received the following note from M. Thiers: - -[Sidenote: A note from M. Theirs.] - - "MONSIEUR, - - "Not knowing whether the service of a new paper will be performed - with exactness, I send you the first number of the _National._ All - my collaborators unite with me in begging you to consent to regard - yourself, not as a subscriber, but as a gentle reader. If, in this - first article, the object of great anxiety to me, I have succeeded - in expressing opinions that meet with your approval, I shall feel - reassured and certain of being in the right road. - - "Receive, monsieur, my homage. - - "A. THIERS." - -I shall return to the editors of the _National_; I shall tell how -I have known them; but I must at once place M. Carrel on one side: -superior to both Messieurs Thiers and Mignet, he had the simplicity to -look upon himself, at the time when I became connected with him, as -coming after writers whom he excelled; he upheld with his sword the -opinions which those penmen laid bare. - -While these men were making ready for the contest, the preparations -for the Algerian Expedition were being completed. General Bourmont, -the Minister for War, had had himself appointed to the command of that -expedition: was it his intention to escape responsibility for the _coup -d'État_ which he felt coming? That was likely enough, to judge from his -antecedents and his craftiness; but it was a misfortune for Charles -X. Had the general been in Paris at the time of the catastrophe, the -vacant portfolio of the War Office would not have fallen into the hands -of M. de Polignac. Before striking the blow, presuming that he would -have agreed to it, M. de Bourmont would doubtless have assembled the -whole of the Royal Guard in Paris; he would have got ready money and -the necessary provisions, so that the soldier should have wanted for -nothing. - -Our navy, brought to life again at the Battle of Navarino, sailed from -the French ports lately so abandoned. The roads were covered with ships -which saluted the land as they moved away. Steamboats, a new discovery -of man's genius, came and went, carrying orders from one division to -the other, like sirens or the aides-de-camp of the admiral. The Dauphin -stood on shore, where all the population of the town and mountains -had gathered. After snatching his kinsman, the King of Spain, from -the hands of the revolution, he beheld the dawn of the day on which -Christianity was to be delivered: could he have believed night to be so -near at hand[179]? - - -[Sidenote: The Algerian expedition.] - -The times were past in which Catherine de Medici begged from the Turk -the investiture of the Principality of Algiers for Henry III., not -yet King of Poland! Algiers was about to become our daughter and our -conquest, without anybody's permission, without England's daring to -prevent us from taking that "Emperor's Fort" which recalled Charles V. -and the change in his fortunes[180]. - -[Illustration: The Princesse de Lieven.] - -It was a great joy and a great happiness to the assembled French -spectators to greet, with Bossuet's greeting, the generous vessels, -ready to break the slave's chain with their prows; a victory increased -by the cry uttered by the Eagle of Meaux when he announced the future -success to the Great King, as though to console him one day in his tomb -for the dispersal of his dynasty: - - "Thou shalt yield, or fall under that victor, Algiers, rich in the - spoils of Christianity. Thou saidst in thy heart of greed: - - "I hold the sea under my laws and the nations are my prey!' - - "The swiftness of thy ships gave thee confidence, but thou shalt - see thyself attacked in thy walls like a ravenous bird which one - hunts amid its rocks and in its nest, where it shares its booty - among its young. Already thou art releasing thy slaves. Louis has - shattered the irons under which thou wert loading his subjects, - who are born to be free under his glorious empire. The astonished - pilots cry beforehand: - - "'Who is like unto Tyre? And yet she kept silence in the midst of - the sea[181].'" - -O splendid words, could you not retard the crumbling of the Throne? -Nations proceed towards their destinies; like certain of Dante's -shades, they cannot possibly be arrested, even in good fortune. - -Those vessels, which carried liberty to the seas of Numidia, were -carrying away the Legitimacy; that fleet under the White Flag was the -Monarchy getting under way, sailing from the ports where St. Louis -embarked when Death called him to Carthage. O slaves delivered from -imprisonment, they who have restored you to your native land have lost -their country; they who have saved you from eternal banishment are -banished. The master of that huge fleet has crossed the sea on a bark -as a fugitive, and France can say to him what Cornelia said to Pompey: - -"It is indeed the work of my fortune, not of thine, that I see thee -now reduced to one small ship where thou hadst wished to go before the -breeze with five hundred sail." - -Had I not friends among that crowd which, on the beach of Toulon, -followed with its eyes the fleet setting sail for Africa? Did not -M. du Plessix, my brother-in-law's brother, receive on board his -ship a charming woman, Madame Lenormant, who was awaiting the return -of the friend[182] of Champollion[183]? What came of that flight -executed in Africa, executed at a single swoop? Let us listen to M. de -Penhoen[184], my fellow-Breton: - - "Not two months had elapsed since we saw that same banner wave in - front of those same shores over five hundred ships. Then, sixty - thousand men were impatient to go to unfurl it on the battle-field - in Africa. To-day, a few sick, a few wounded, painfully dragging - themselves along the deck of our frigate, formed its only - retinue.... At the moment when the guard took up arms, according - to custom, to salute the flag as it was hoisted or lowered, all - conversation ceased on deck. I uncovered with the same respect that - I should have shown to the old King himself. I knelt within my - heart before the majesty of great misfortunes, of which I was sadly - contemplating the symbol[185]." - -The session of 1830 opened on the 2nd of March. In the Speech from the -Throne, the King was made to say: - - "If culpable manœuvres should raise in the way of my Government - obstacles which I cannot, or, rather, which I will not anticipate, - I shall find the means of overcoming them[186]." - -Charles X. uttered these words in the tone of a man who, habitually -timid and gentle, happens to find himself in a passion and excites -himself with the sound of his own voice: the more forcible the words -were, the feebler appeared the resolutions behind it. - -[Sidenote: The address of the Chamber.] - -The Address in reply was drawn up by Messieurs Étienne[187] and Guizot. -It said: - - "Sire, the Charter consecrates, as a right, the intervention - of the country in the discussion of its public interests. This - intervention renders the permanent accord between the political - views of the Government and the wishes of your people the - indispensable condition of the regular march of public affairs. - Sire, our loyalty, our devotion condemn us to tell you that this - accord does not exist." - -The Address was voted by a majority of 221 against 181. An amendment -was moved by M. de Lorgeril[188] to do away with the phrase relating to -the refusal of concurrence. This amendment obtained only 28 votes. If -the 221 had been able to foresee the result of their vote, the Address -would have been rejected by a huge majority. Why does Providence not -sometimes raise a corner of the veil that covers the future? It gives, -it is true, a presentiment to certain men; but they do not see clear -enough to make sure of their way, they fear to make a mistake, or, if -they venture upon predictions which are accomplished, no one believes -them. God does not push aside the cloud from the background in which -He acts; when He permits great evils to take place, it is because He -has great plans, plans extending over a general plane, unrolled in a -deep horizon beyond our view and beyond the reach of our short-lived -generations. - -The King, in his Reply to the Address, declared that his resolution -was unchangeable, in other words, that he would not dismiss M. de -Polignac. The dissolution of the Chamber was resolved upon: Messieurs -de Peyronnet and de Chantelauze replaced Messieurs de Chabrol -and Courvoisier, who resigned; M. Capelle was appointed Minister -of Commerce. They had a score of men around them capable of being -ministers; they might have sent for M. de Villèle again; they might -have taken M. Casimir Périer and General Sébastiani. I had already -proposed the two latter to the King when, after the fall of M. de -Villèle, the Abbé Frayssinous was told to offer me the Ministry of -Public Instruction. But no; they held capable men in abhorrence. In -their fervour for nullity, they sought, as though to humiliate France, -for the smallest thing she had to put at her head. They had dug up M. -Guernon de Ranville, who, however, was the bravest of the unknown band, -and the Dauphin had besought M. de Chantelauze to save the Monarchy. - -The decrees dissolving the Chamber summoned the district electoral -colleges for the 23rd of June 1830 and the departmental colleges for -the 3rd of July[189], only twenty-seven days before the death of the -Elder Branch. - -The parties, all exceedingly excited, drove everything to extremes: -the Ultra-Royalists spoke of giving the Crown the dictatorship; the -Republicans dreamt of a republic under a directorate or convention. The -Tribune[190], the organ of the latter party, appeared, and went beyond -the National. The great majority of the country was still in favour of -the Legitimate Monarchy, but with concessions and enfranchisement from -Court influences; every ambition was aroused, every one hoped to become -a minister: storms hatch insects. - -Those who wished to force Charles X. to become a constitutional -monarch thought they were right. They believed the Legitimacy to be -deep-rooted: they had forgotten the weakness of the man; the Royalty -might be driven, the King could not: it was the individual that ruined -us, not the institution. - -The deputies of the new Chamber arrived in Paris: of the 221, 202 had -been re-elected; the Opposition numbered 270 votes: the Ministry 145; -the Crown Party was therefore lost. The natural result would have been -the resignation of the Ministry: Charles X. was stubbornly determined -to defy everything, and the _coup d'État_ was resolved upon. - -[Sidenote: Dieppe and back to Paris.] - -I left for Dieppe at four o'clock in the morning on the 26th of July, -the very day on which the Ordinances appeared. I was in fairly good -spirits, delighted that I was going to see the sea again, and I was -followed, at some distance, by a terrible storm. I supped and slept -at Rouen without learning anything, regretting that I was not able -to visit Saint-Ouen and kneel before the beautiful Virgin in the -Museum, in memory of Raphael and Rome. I arrived at Dieppe the next -day, the 27th, at mid-day. I went to the hotel where M. le Comte de -Boissy[191], my former secretary of legation, had engaged rooms for -me. I dressed and went to call on Madame Récamier. She occupied an -apartment whose windows looked out on the sands. I spent a few hours -in talking and watching the waves. Suddenly Hyacinthe appeared; he -brought me a letter which M. de Boissy had received, telling with -great praises of the issue of the Ordinances. A moment later, my old -friend Ballanche entered; he had come straight from the diligence and -held the newspapers in his hand. I opened the _Moniteur_ and read the -official documents, without believing my eyes. One more government -which deliberately flung itself from the towers of Notre-Dame! I told -Hyacinthe to ask for horses, in order to set out for Paris again. I -climbed back into my carriage, at seven o'clock, leaving my friends in -anxiety. It is true that, for a month past, people had been murmuring -something about a _coup d'État_, but no one had taken any notice of the -rumour, which seemed absurd. Charles X. had lived on the illusions of -the Throne: a kind of mirage is formed around princes, and it imposes -upon them by displacing the object and making them see chimerical -landscapes in the sky. - -I took away the _Moniteur_ with me. So soon as it was light, on the -28th, I read, re-read and commented on the Ordinances[192]. The -Report to the King which served as a preamble struck me in two ways: -the observations on the drawbacks of the press were just; but, at the -same time, the author of those observations[193] displayed a complete -ignorance of the actual state of society. No doubt ministers, to -whatever shade of opinion they have belonged, have, since 1814, been -harassed by the newspapers; no doubt the press tends to subdue the -Sovereignty, to force the Royalty and the Chambers to obey it; no -doubt, during the last days of the Restoration, the press, listening -only to the dictates of its own passion, disregarding the interests -and the honour of France, attacked the Algerian Expedition, enlarged -on the causes, the means, the preparations, the chances of failure; it -divulged the secrets of our armament, instructed the enemy of the state -of our forces, enumerated our troops and vessels, and even indicated -the point selected for the disembarkation. Would the Cardinal de -Richelieu and Bonaparte have brought Europe to the feet of France, if -the mystery of their negociations had been thus revealed in advance, or -the halting-places of their armies set forth? - -All this is both true and hateful; but the remedy? The press is -an element till lately unknown, a force formerly unheard of, now -introduced into the world; it is speech in the shape of a thunder-bolt; -it is the electricity of society. How can you prevent its existence? -The more you aim at compressing it, the more violent the explosion. -You must therefore bring yourself to live with it, as you live with -the steam-engine. You must learn to use it while making it safe, -either by gradually weakening it by common and domestic usage, or by -gradually assimilating your manners and laws to the principles which -will henceforth govern humanity. One proof of the powerlessness of the -press in certain cases is derived from the very reproach which you -made against it in regard to the Algerian Expedition: you have taken -Algiers, in spite of the liberty of the press, in the same way as I had -caused the war with Spain to be waged, in 1823, under the hottest fire -of that liberty. - -But what is not to be endured in the Report of the ministers is that -shameless pretension, namely, that "the King has a power pre-existent -to the laws." What, then, is the meaning of constitutions? Why deceive -the nations with sham guarantees, if the monarch is able at will to -alter the order of established government? And yet the signatories of -the Report are so firmly persuaded of what they say that they hardly -quote Article XIV.[194] to which I had long been prophesying that "they -would confiscate the Charter;" they recall it, but only for memory, and -as a superfluity of right of which they had no need. - -[Sidenote: The Ordinances of July.] - -The first Ordinance established the suppression of the liberty of the -press in all its parts; this is the quintessence of all that had been -elaborated during the last fifteen years in the dark closet of the -police. - -The second Ordinance reforms the law of election. Thus the two first -liberties, the liberty of the press and electoral liberty, were torn -up by the roots: and that, not by an iniquitous and yet legal act, -emanating from a corrupt legislative power, but by "ordinances," as in -the days of the King's will and pleasure. And five men, not lacking -common-sense, were, with unexampled levity, precipitating themselves, -their master, the Monarchy, France and Europe into a whirlpool. I did -not know what was happening in Paris. I was hoping that a resistance, -without overturning the throne, would have obliged the Crown to dismiss -the ministers and recall the Ordinances. In the event of the triumph -of the latter, I had resolved not to submit to them, but to write and -speak against those unconstitutional measures. - -If the members of the Diplomatic Body exercised no direct influence -upon the Ordinances, they favoured them with their wishes; absolute -Europe abhorred our Charter. When the news of the Ordinances reached -Berlin and Vienna, where, for twenty-four hours, men believed in -their success, M. Ancillon exclaimed that Europe was saved, and M. -de Metternich displayed unspeakable delight. Soon, having learnt the -truth, the latter was as much dismayed as he had been overjoyed: he -declared that he had been mistaken, that public opinion was decidedly -liberal, and he was already accustoming himself to the idea of an -Austrian Constitution. - -The nominations of councillors of State following upon the Ordinances -of July throw some light upon the persons who, in the ante-chambers, -gave their assistance to the Ordinances either with their advice or -their composition. You there see the names of the men most opposed -to the representative system. Was it in the King's own closet, under -the Monarch's eyes, that those fatal documents were drawn up? Was it -in M. de Polignac's closet? Was it in a meeting of ministers alone, -or assisted by a few anti-constitutional pudding-heads? Was it "under -seal," in some secret sitting of the "Ten," that those decrees were -minuted by virtue of which the Legitimate Monarchy was condemned to -be strangled on the "Bridge of Sighs?" Was the idea M. de Polignac's -alone? Perhaps history will never tell us. - -On arriving at Gisors, I learnt that Paris had risen, and heard -alarming things said, which proved how seriously the Charter was -taken by people throughout France. At Pontoise, they had still more -recent, but confused and contradictory news. At Herblay, there were -no horses at the post-office. I waited nearly an hour. They advised -me to avoid Saint-Denis, because I should find barricades there. At -Courbevoie, the postillion had already left off his jacket with the -fleurs-de-lys on the buttons. They had fired that morning at a calash -which he was driving in Paris through the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. -In consequence, he told me that he would not take me by that avenue, -but that he would make for the Barrière du Trocadéro, to the right of -the Barrière de l'Étoile. This barrier gives a view over Paris. I saw -the tricolour flag waving; I judged that it was a case not of a riot, -but of a revolution. I had a presentiment that my role was about to -change: that, having hurried back to defend the public liberties, I -should be obliged to defend the Royalty. Here and there, clouds of -white smoke rose among blocks of houses. I heard some cannon-shots and -musketry-fire mixed with the droning of the tocsin. It seemed to me -that I saw the fall of the old Louvre from the top of the waste upland -destined by Napoleon for the site of the palace of the King of Rome. -The spot of observation offered one of those philosophical consolations -which one ruin carries to another. - -My carriage went down the hill. I crossed the Pont d'Iéna and drove up -the paved avenue skirting the Champ de Mars. All was solitary. I found -a picket of cavalry posted before the railings of the Military School; -the men looked sad and as though forgotten there. We took the Boulevard -des Invalides and the Boulevard du Mont-Parnasse. I met a few people -on foot who looked surprised to see a carriage driven post as at an -ordinary time. The Boulevard d'Enfer was obstructed by felled elm-trees. - -In my street[195], my neighbours were glad to see me arrive: I seemed -to them a protection for the quarter. Madame de Chateaubriand was both -pleased and alarmed at my return. - -[Sidenote: The revolution of July.] - -On Thursday morning, the 29th of July, I wrote Madame Récamier, at -Dieppe, a letter prolonged by postscripts: - - "_Thursday morning_, 29 _July_ 1830. - - "I write to you without knowing whether my letter will reach you, - for the post no longer goes out. - - "I entered Paris amid the booming of guns, the rattle of musketry, - the clanging of the tocsin. This morning the tocsin is still - sounding, but I no longer hear any firing; it seems that they are - organizing themselves, and that resistance will continue until - the Ordinances are repealed. There you see the immediate result - (without speaking of the definite result) of the act of perjury the - blame for which, at least in appearance, the ministers have allowed - to fall upon the Crown! - - "The National Guard, the Polytechnic School, all have taken part - in the business. I have seen no one yet. You can imagine in what a - state I found Madame de Chateaubriand. People who, like her, have - seen the 10th of August and the 2nd of September have remained - under the impression of terror. One regiment, the 5th of the Line, - has already gone over to the Charter. M. de Polignac is certainly - most guilty; his want of capacity is a poor excuse; ambition for - which one has not the talent is a crime. They say that the Court is - at Saint-Cloud and ready to leave. - - "I do not speak to you of myself; my position is painful, but - clear. I shall betray neither the King nor the Charter, neither - the Legitimate Power nor liberty. I have therefore nothing to say - or do, but to wait and weep for my country. God knows now what is - going to happen in the provinces: already they are talking of an - insurrection at Rouen. On the other side, the Congregation will arm - the Chouans and the Vendée. On what small things do empires depend! - An Ordinance and half-a-dozen stupid or unscrupulous ministers are - enough to turn the most peaceful and flourishing country into the - most disturbed and unhappy country." - - "The firing is recommencing. It appears they are attacking the - Louvre, where the King's troops have entrenched themselves. The - suburb in which I live is beginning to rise in insurrection. They - speak of a provisional government with General Gérard[196], the Duc - de Choiseul[197] and M. de La Fayette at its head. - - "This letter will probably not leave, Paris having been declared in - a state of siege. Marshal Marmont is commanding in the King's name. - He is said to be killed, but I do not believe it. Try not to alarm - yourself unduly. May God protect you! We shall meet again! - - "_Friday._ - - "This letter was written yesterday; it could not be sent. All is - over: the popular victory is complete; the King yields on all - points, but I fear they will not go far beyond the concessions made - by the Crown. I wrote to His Majesty this morning. For the rest, I - have a complete plan of sacrifices for the future which pleases me. - We will talk of it when you are here. - - "I am going to post this letter myself and to stroll through Paris." - -The Ordinances, dated 25 July, were published in the _Moniteur_ of -the 26th. Their secret had been so profoundly kept that neither the -Maréchal Duc de Raguse, who was major-general of the Guard on duty, nor -M. Mangin[198], the Prefect of Police, had been taken into confidence. -The Prefect of the Seine[199] heard of the Ordinances only through the -_Moniteur_: the same was the case with the Under-secretary of State -for War[200]; and this in spite of the fact that it was those several -officials who disposed of the different forces of the army. The Prince -de Polignac, who held M. de Bourmont's portfolio ad interim, concerned -himself so little with this trifling matter of the Ordinances that he -spent the day, on the 26th, presiding over an adjudication at the War -Office. - -The King left on a hunting-party on the 26th, before the _Moniteur_ had -reached Saint-Cloud, and did not return from Rambouillet till midnight. - -At last the Duc de Raguse received this note from M. de Polignac: - - "Your Excellency is aware of the extraordinary measures which the - King, in his wisdom and in his love for his people, has thought it - necessary to take for the maintenance of the rights of his crown - and of public order. In these important circumstances, His Majesty - relies on your zeal to ensure order and tranquillity throughout the - extent of your command." - - -[Sidenote: Action of the press.] - -This audacity displayed by the weakest men that ever lived against -the force that was about to pulverize an empire can be explained only -as being a sort of hallucination resulting from the counsels of a -wretched set which was no longer to be found at the hour of danger. The -newspaper-editors, after consulting Messieurs Dupin, Odilon Barrot, -Barthe[201] and Mérilhou[202], resolved to bring out their impressions -without authorization, in order to compel their seizure and to plead -the illegality of the Ordinances. They met at the office of the -_National_: M. Thiers drew up a protest which was signed by forty-four -editors[203] and which appeared, on the morning of the 27th, in the -_National_ and the _Temps._ - -In the evening, a few deputies met at M. de Laborde's[204]. They agreed -to meet again the next day at M. Casimir Périer's. There appeared, for -the first time, one of the three powers that were to occupy the scene: -the Monarchy was in the Chamber of Deputies, the Usurpation at the -Palais-Royal, the Republic at the Hôtel de Ville. Crowds gathered at -the Palais-Royal in the evening; stones were thrown at M. de Polignac's -carriage. The Duc de Raguse having seen the King at Saint-Cloud, on his -return from Rambouillet, the King asked him the news from Paris: - -"The stocks have fallen." - -"How much?" asked the Dauphin - -"Three francs," answered the marshal. - -"They will go up again," replied the Dauphin, and every one went away. - - -The day of the 27th began badly. The King invested the Duc de Raguse -with the command of Paris. This was relying on bad fortune. The marshal -came to instal himself at the Staff-office of the Guard on the Place du -Carrousel, at one o'clock. M. Mangin sent to seize the printing-presses -of the _National_; M. Carrel resisted; Messieurs Mignet and Thiers, -thinking the game lost, disappeared for two days: M. Thiers went to -hide in the Montmorency Valley with a Madame de Courchamp[205], a -relation of the two Messieurs Becquet[206], of whom one had worked on -the _National_, the other on the _Journal des Débats._ - -At the _Temps_, the matter assumed a more serious complexion: the real -hero of the journalists is incontestably M. Coste[207]. - -In 1823, M. Coste was managing the _Tablettes historiques_[208]: one -of his collaborators accusing him of having sold that paper, he fought -a duel and received a sword-thrust M. Coste was presented to me at the -Foreign Office; discussing the liberty of the press with him, I said: - -"Monsieur, you know how I love and respect that liberty; but how would -you have me defend it to Louis XVIII., when every day you attack -royalty and religion? I beg you, in your own interest and so as to -leave me full strength, to desist from undermining ramparts which are -already three-parts demolished, and which really a man of courage ought -to blush to attack. Let us make a bargain: do you cease falling foul -of a few feeble old men whom the Throne and the sanctuary are hardly -able to protect; in exchange I give you my own person. Attack me day -and night; say anything about me that you please: I shall never make a -complaint; I shall appreciate your legitimate and constitutional attack -on the minister, so long as you leave the King out of it." - -M. Coste has retained a grateful memory of his interview with me. - -[Sidenote: Parade of constitutionalism.] - -A parade of constitutionalism took place at the office of the _Temps_ -between M. Baude[209] and a commissary of police[210]. - -The Attorney-General[211] issued forty-four warrants against the -signatories to the protest of the journalists. - -At two o'clock, the monarchical faction of the revolution met at M. -Périer's[212], as had been agreed upon the day before: they came to no -conclusion. The deputies adjourned to the morrow, the 28th, at M. Audry -de Puyravault's[213]. M. Casimir Périer, a man of order and wealth, did -not wish to fall into the hands of the people; he continued still to -cherish the hope of an arrangement with the Legitimate Royalty; he said -sharply to M. de Schonen[214]: - -"You ruin us by departing from lawfulness; you make us give up a superb -position." - -This spirit of lawfulness prevailed everywhere: it showed itself at -two opposite meetings, one at M. Cadet-Gassicourt's[215] the other -at General Gourgaud's. M. Périer belonged to that middle class which -had constituted itself the heir of the people and the soldier. He -had courage, stability of ideas: he flung himself bravely across the -revolutionary torrent to dam it; but his life was too much taken up -with his health and he was too careful of his fortune: - -"What can you do with a man," said M. Decazes to me, "who is always -examining his tongue in a looking-glass?" - -The mob increased in size and began to appear under arms. The officer -of the Gendarmerie came to inform the Maréchal de Raguse that he had -not enough men and that he feared lest he should be driven back: then -the marshal made his military dispositions. - -It was half-past four in the evening of the 27th before orders reached -the barracks to take up arms. The Paris Gendarmerie, supported by a -few detachments of the Guard, tried to restore the traffic in the Rues -Richelieu and Saint-Honoré. One of these detachments was assailed, in -the Rue du Duc de Bordeaux[216], by a shower of stones. The leader -of the detachment refrained from firing, when a shot from the Hôtel -Royal, in the Rue des Pyramides, decided the question: it appeared that -a certain Mr. Folks, who lived at this hotel, had taken up his gun -and fired at the Guards from his window. The soldiers replied with a -volley at the house, and Mr. Folks fell dead with his two servants. -This is the way in which those English, who live safe and sheltered in -their island, go to carry revolutions to other nations; you find them -in the four corners of the world mixed up in quarrels with which they -have no concern: so long as they can sell a piece of calico, what care -they about plunging a nation into every kind of calamity? What right -had this Mr. Folks to shoot at French soldiers? Was it the British -Constitution that Charles X. had violated? If anything could stigmatize -the July fighting, it would be that it was begun by a bullet fired by -an Englishman[217]. - -[Sidenote: The first shot fired.] - -The first fighting, which began the day's work of the 27th a little -before five o'clock in the evening, ceased at nightfall. The gunsmiths -and sword-cutlers gave up their arms to the mob; the street-lamps were -broken or remained unlighted; the tricolour flag was hoisted in the -darkness on the towers of Notre-Dame: the seizure of the guard-houses, -the capture of the arsenal and the powder-magazines, the disarming of -the fixed posts, all this was effected without opposition at daybreak -on the 28th, and all was finished at eight o'clock. - -The democratic or proletarian party of the revolution, in blouses -or half-naked, was under arms: it was not sparing of its misery or -its rags. The mob, represented by electors whom it chose out of -different bands, had succeeded in having a meeting called at M. -Cadet-Gassicourt's. - -The party of the Usurpation did not yet show itself: its head, hiding -outside Paris, did not know whether he should go to Saint-Cloud or to -the Palais-Royal. The middle-class or monarchical party, the deputies -deliberated and were unwilling to be drawn into the movement. - -M. de Polignac went to Saint-Cloud and, at five o'clock in the morning, -on the 28th, made the King sign the Ordinance placing Paris in a stage -of siege. - -On the 28th, the groups formed again in greater numbers; already the -cry of "Liberty for ever! Down with the Bourbons!" was mingled with -the cry of "The Charter for ever!" which was heard on every side. They -also shouted, "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Black Prince!" the -mysterious Prince of Darkness who appears to the popular imagination -in all revolutions. Memories and passions had come down upon the -crowd; they pulled down and burned the French arms; they hung them -to the ropes of the shattered street-lanterns; they tore the badges -with the _fleurs-de-lys_ from the guards of the diligences and the -postmen; the notaries removed their scutcheons, the bailiffs their -badges, the carriers their stamps, the Court purveyors their coats of -arms. Those who but lately had covered the Napoleonic eagles, painted -in oil-colours, with the _fleurs-de-lys_ of the Bourbons in distemper -needed only a sponge to wipe away their loyalty: nowadays one effaces -gratitude and empires with a few drops of water. - -The Maréchal de Raguse wrote to the King that it was urgent that -methods of pacification should be taken and that the next day, the -29th, would be too late. A messenger had come from the Prefect of -Police to ask the marshal if it was true that Paris had been declared -in a state of siege: the marshal, who knew nothing about it, was -astonished; he hurried to the President of the Council; there[218] -he found the ministers assembled, and M. de Polignac handed him the -Ordinance. Because the man who had trodden the world under foot had -laid towns and provinces under martial law, Charles X. thought that he -could imitate him. The ministers told the marshal that they were coming -to establish themselves at the Head-quarters of the Guard. - -No orders having arrived from Saint-Cloud, at nine o'clock in the -morning, on the 28th, when it was no longer time to hold everything, -but to recapture everything, the marshal ordered the troops, which -had already shown themselves in part on the preceding day, to leave -barracks. No precautions had been taken to send provisions to the -Carrousel, the head-quarters. The bakehouse, which they had forgotten -to have sufficiently guarded, was carried by the mob. M. le Duc de -Raguse, a man of intelligence and merit, a brave soldier, a clever but -unlucky general, proved for the thousandth time that military genius is -not enough to overcome civil troubles: the first-come police-officer -would have known better what was to be done than the marshal. Perhaps -also his intellect was paralyzed by his memories; he remained as though -stifled under the weight of the fatality of his name. - -[Sidenote: The guards attacked.] - -Under the command of the Comte de Saint-Chamans[219], the first column -of the Guard set out from the Madeleine to proceed along the boulevards -to the Bastille. No sooner had they started, than the platoon commanded -by M. Sala[220] was attacked; the royalist officer briskly repulsed -the assault. As they advanced, the posts of communication left behind -on the road, too weak and too far removed one from the other, were -cut by the people and separated by felled trees and barricades. An -affray took place, attended with bloodshed, at the Portes Saint-Denis -and Saint-Martin. Passing by the scene of the future exploits of -Fieschi[221], M. de Saint-Chamans encountered numerous groups of women -and men on the Place de la Bastille. He called upon them to disperse, -distributing some money among them; but the people persisted in firing -from the surrounding houses. He was obliged to renounce his intention -of reaching the Hôtel de Ville by the Rue Saint-Antoine and, after -crossing the Pont d'Austerlitz, returned to the Carrousel along the -south boulevards. Turenne, acting on behalf of the mother of the infant -Louis XIV., had been more fortunate before the Bastille, then not yet -demolished. - -The column sent to occupy the Hôtel de Ville[222] followed the Quais -des Tuileries, du Louvre and de l'École, crossed the first half of -the Pont-Neuf, took the Quai de l'Horloge and the Marché-aux-Fleurs, -and reached the Place de Grève by the Pont Notre-Dame. Two platoons -of Guards effected a diversion by filing towards the new suspension -bridge. A battalion of the 15th Light Infantry supported the Guards, -and was to leave two platoons on the Marché-aux-Fleurs. - -There was some fighting as they crossed the Seine on the Pont -Notre-Dame. The mob, headed by a drum, bravely faced the Guards. The -officer in command of the Royal Artillery explained to the mass of -people that they were exposing themselves uselessly and that, as they -had no guns, they would be shot down without the smallest chance of -succeeding. The rabble persisted; the guns were fired. The soldiers -streamed on to the quays and the Place de Grève, where two other -platoons of Guards arrived by the Pont d'Arcole. They had been obliged -to force their way through crowds of students from the Faubourg -Saint-Jacques. The Hôtel de Ville was occupied. - -A barricade rose at the entrance to the Rue du Monton: a brigade of -Swiss carried the barricade; the rabble, rushing up from the adjacent -streets, recaptured its entrenchment with loud shouts. The barricade -remained finally in the hands of the Guards. - -In all those poor and popular quarters, they fought spontaneously, -without after-thought: mocking, heedless, intrepid, French giddiness -had mounted to all heads; glory, to our nation, has the lightness of -champagne. The women at the windows encouraged the men in the streets; -notes were written promising the marshal's baton to the first colonel -who should go over to the people; clusters of men marched to the -sound of a violin. It was a medley of tragic and clownish scenes, of -mountebank and triumphant spectacles: one heard shouts of laughter and -oaths in the midst of musket-shots and the dull roar of the crowd, -across masses of smoke. With foraging-cap on head, bare-footed, -improvised carmen, supplied with permits from unknown leaders, drove -convoys of wounded through the combatants, who separated to let them -pass. - -In the wealthy quarters reigned a different spirit. The National Guards -had resumed the uniforms of which they had been stripped, and assembled -in large numbers at the Mayor's Office of the 1st Ward to preserve -order. In these engagements, the Guards suffered more than the people, -because they were exposed to the fire of invisible enemies in the -houses. Others shall give the names of the drawing-room heroes who, -safely ambushed behind a shutter or chimney-pot, amused themselves -by shooting down the officers of the Guards whom they recognised. In -the streets, the animosity of the labourer and the soldier did not -go beyond striking the blow: once wounded, they mutually aided one -another. The mob saved several victims. Two officers, M. de Goyon and -M. Rivaux, after an heroic defense, owed their lives to the generosity -of the victors. Captain Kaumann of the Guards received a blow on the -head from an iron bar: dazed and with his eyes filled with blood, he -struck up with his sword the bayonets of his soldiers who were taking -aim at the workman. - -[Sidenote: Chivalry on both sides.] - -The Guard was full of Bonaparte's grenadiers. Several officers lost -their lives, among others Lieutenant Noirot, a man of extraordinary -valour, who in 1813 had received the cross of the Legion of Honour -from Prince Eugene for a feat of arms accomplished in one of the -redoubts at Caldiera. Colonel de Pleineselve, mortally wounded at the -Porte Saint-Martin, had been in the wars of the Empire in Holland, in -Spain, with the Grand Army and in the Imperial Guard. At the Battle -of Leipzig, he took the Austrian General Merfeld prisoner. Carried by -his soldiers to the Hôpital du Gros-Caillou, he refused to have his -wounds dressed until all the other wounded of July had been treated. -Dr. Larrey[223], whom he had met on other battle-fields, amputated -his leg at the thigh; it was too late to save him. Happy those noble -adversaries, who had seen so many cannon-balls pass over their heads, -if they did not fall before the bullet of one of those liberated -convicts whom justice has found again, since the day of victory, in -the ranks of the victors! Those galley-slaves were unable to pollute -the national republican triumph; they prejudiced only the royalty of -Louis-Philippe. Thus perished obscurely, in the streets of Paris, the -survivors of those famous soldiers who had escaped from the cannon of -the Moskowa, of Lutzen and Leipzig: we massacred under Charles X. those -heroes whom we had so greatly admired under Napoleon. They wanted but -one man: that man had disappeared at St. Helena. - -At fall of night, a non-commissioned officer in disguise came to -bring orders to the troops at the Hôtel de Ville to fall back upon -the Tuileries. The retreat was made hazardous because of the wounded, -whom they did not wish to abandon, and of the artillery, which it was -difficult to convey across the barricades. Nevertheless it was effected -without accident. When the troops returned from the different quarters -of Paris, they thought that the King and Dauphin had come back also: -looking in vain for the White Flag on the Pavillon de l'Horloge, they -uttered the energetic language of the camps. - -It is not true, as I have shown, that the Hôtel de Ville was captured -by the Guards from the people and recaptured from the Guards by the -people. When the Guards entered, they encountered no resistance, for -there was no one there: the Prefect himself had gone. This boasting -weakens and casts a doubt upon the real dangers. The Guards were -badly engaged in tortuous streets; the Line, at first by its show -of neutrality, and later by its defection, completed the harm which -plans fine in theory, but unfeasible in practice, had begun. The 50th -Regiment of the Line had arrived at the Hôtel de Ville during the -fighting; ready to drop with fatigue, they hastened to retire to the -inside of the Hôtel, and lent their exhausted comrades their unused and -useless cartridges. - -The Swiss battalion which had been left on the Marché des Innocents was -released by another Swiss battalion: together they came out at the Quai -de l'École and stood in the Louvre. - -For the rest, barricades are entrenchments in keeping with the Parisian -character; they are found in all our troubles, from Charles IX. to our -own times: - - "The people," says L'Éstoile, "seeing those forces disposed over - the streets, began to be agitated and made barricades in the manner - that all know: many Swiss were slain, who were buried in a ditch - dug in the enclosure of Notre-Dame; the Duke of Guyse passing - through the streets, all vied in crying loudly, 'Long live Guyse!' - and quoth he, doffing his large hat: - - "'My friends, it is enough; gentlemen, it is too much; shout, "Long - live the King!"'" - -Why do our barricades, which led to such mighty results, gain so -little in the telling, while the barricades of 1588, which produced -nothing, are so interesting to read of? This is due to the difference -in centuries and persons: the sixteenth century carried all before it; -the nineteenth century has left all behind it: M. de Puyravault is not -quite the Balafré. - - -While this fighting was continuing, the civil and political revolution -followed the military revolution on parallel lines. The soldiers locked -up in the Abbaye were set at liberty; the debtors at Sainte-Pélagie -escaped and the political prisoners were released: a revolution is a -jubilee; it absolves from every crime, permitting greater crimes. - -The Ministers sat in council at the Staff Office: they resolved to -arrest Messieurs Laffitte[224], La Fayette, Gérard, Marchais[225], -Salverte[226] and Audry de Puyravault as leaders of the movement; -the marshal gave the order for their arrest; but, when, later, they -appeared before him as delegates, he did not think it consistent with -his honour to put his order into execution. - -[Sidenote: Meetings of peers and deputies.] - -A gathering of the Monarchical Party, consisting of peers and deputies, -met at M. Guizot's: the Duc de Broglie was there, as were Messieurs -Thiers and Mignet, who had made their reappearance, and M. Carrel, -although he held different ideas. It was there that the name of the Duc -d'Orléans was first pronounced by the Usurpation Party. M. Thiers and -M. Mignet went to General Sébastiani to talk to him of the Prince. The -general replied in an evasive manner; the Duc d'Orléans, he asserted, -had never entertained such designs and had not authorized him to do -anything. - -About mid-day, on the same day, the 28th, the general meeting of the -deputies took place at M. Audry de Puyravault's[227]. M. de La Fayette, -the leader of the Republican Party, had reached Paris on the 27th; M. -Laffitte, the leader of the Orleanist Party, had arrived on the 27th, -at night; he went to the Palais-Royal, where he found no one; he sent -to Neuilly: the King in embryo was not there. - -At M. de Puyravault's, they discussed the proposal of a protest against -the Ordinances. This protest, which was of a more than moderate -character, left the great questions untouched. - -M. Casimir Périer was in favour of hastening to the Duc de Raguse; -while the five deputies selected were preparing to leave, M. Arago[228] -was with the marshal: he had decided, on receipt of a note from Madame -de Boigne, to be before-hand with the delegates. He represented to -the marshal the necessity for putting an end to the troubles of the -Capital. M. de Raguse went to obtain intelligence at M. de Polignac's; -the latter, hearing of the hesitation among the troops, declared that, -if they went over to the people, they were to be fired on like the -insurgents. General de Tromelin[229] was present at the conversation -and flew into a passion with General d'Ambrugeac[230]. Then came the -deputation. M. Laffitte spoke: - -"We come," he said, "to ask you to stop bloodshed. If the fighting -continues, it will carry with it not only the most frightful -calamities, but a real revolution." - -The marshal confined himself to a question of military honour, -maintaining that it was the duty of the people first to cease fighting; -nevertheless he added this postscript to a letter which he was writing -to the King: - - "I think it is urgent that Your Majesty should avail yourself - without delay of the overtures that have been made." - -Colonel Komierowski, aide-de-camp to the Duc de Raguse, was shown into -the King's closet at Saint-Cloud, and handed him the letter; the King -said to him: - -"I will read this letter." - -The colonel withdrew and waited orders; seeing that they were not -forthcoming, he begged M. le Duc de Duras to go to the King to ask for -them. The duke replied that etiquette made it impossible for him to -enter the closet. At last M. Komierowski was sent for by the King and -told to enjoin the marshal "to hold out." - -General Vincent on his side hurried down to Saint-Cloud; he forced the -door which was denied him, and told the King that all was lost: - -"My dear fellow," replied Charles X., "you are a good general, but -these are things that you know nothing about." - - -The 29th saw new combatants enter the field: the pupils of the -Polytechnic School, who were in correspondence with one of their old -schoolfellows, M. Charras[231], broke bounds and sent four of their -number, Messieurs Lothon, Perthelin, Pinsonnière and Tourneaux to offer -their services to Messieurs Laffitte, Périer and La Fayette. These -young men, distinguished by their studies, had already made themselves -known to the Allies, when the latter appeared before Paris in 1814; -during the Three Days, they became the leaders of the people, who, with -perfect simplicity, placed them at their head. Some repaired to the -Place de l'Odéon, others to the Palais-Royal and the Tuileries. - -[Sidenote: The King's obstinacy.] - -The Order of the Day published on the morning of the 29th offended the -Guards: it announced that the King, wishing to give a proof of his -satisfaction to his brave servants, awarded them six weeks' pay; an -impropriety which the French soldier resented: it was placing him on a -level with the English, who refuse to march or who mutiny, if their pay -is in arrears. - -During the night of the 28th, the people took up the street-pavement, -at each twenty yards' distance, and, at day-break the next morning, -there were four thousand barricades standing in Paris. - -The Palais-Bourbon was guarded by the Line, the Louvre by two Swiss -battalions, the Rue de la Paix, the Place Vendôme and the Rue -Castiglione by the 5th and 53rd Regiments of the Line. About twelve -hundred infantrymen had arrived from Saint-Denis, Versailles and Rueil. - -The military position was better: the troops were more concentrated, -and big empty spaces had to be crossed to reach them. General -Exelmans[232], who thought well of the dispositions, came at eleven -o'clock to place his courage and experience at the disposal of the -Maréchal de Raguse, while on his side General Pajol[233] presented -himself before the deputies to take command of the National Guard. - -The ministers had the idea of summoning the King's Court to the -Tuileries, so completely out of touch were they with the movement -surrounding them! The marshal pressed the President of the Council -to withdraw the Ordinances. During the interview, M. de Polignac was -asked for; he went out, and returned with M. Bertier[234], son of the -first victim sacrificed in 1789. M. Bertier had been through Paris, -and declared that all was going well for the royal cause: what a fatal -thing are those families which have a right to vengeance, cast into the -tomb, as they were, in our early troubles and conjured up by our later -misfortunes! Those misfortunes were novelties no longer; since 1793, -Paris was accustomed to witness the passing of events and kings. - -While all was going so well according to the Royalists, the defection -was announced of the 5th and 53rd of the Line, who were fraternizing -with the people. - -[Sidenote: Butchery at the Louvre.] - -The Duc de Raguse proposed a suspension of hostilities: it took -place at some points and was not carried out at others. The marshal -had sent for one of the two Swiss battalions posted at the Louvres. -They dispatched to him the battalion which lined the colonnade. The -Parisians, seeing the colonnade deserted, came up to the walls and -entered by the masked doors which lead from the Jardin de l'Infante -to the interior; they made for the windows and opened fire on the -battalion standing in the court-yard. Under the terror of the memory -of the 10th of August, the Swiss rushed from the Palace and hurled -themselves into their battalion, which was posted opposite the Parisian -outposts; here, however, the suspension of hostilities was being -observed. The mob, which from the Louvre had reached the gallery of -the Museum, began to fire from the midst of the master-pieces on the -Lancers drawn up in the Carrousel. The Parisian posts, carried away by -this example, broke off the suspension of hostilities. Flung headlong -under the Arc de Triomphe, the Swiss drove the Lancers to the porch of -the Pavillon de l'Horloge and debouched in confusion into the garden of -the Tuileries. Young Farcy[235] met his death in this scuffle: his name -is written up at the corner of the café where he fell; a beet-factory -stands at Thermopylae to-day. The Swiss had three or four men killed or -wounded: this small loss was changed into a frightful butchery. - -The mob entered the Tuileries, with Messieurs Thomas[236], Bastide[237] -and Guinard[238], by the Pont-Royal gate. A tricolour flag was planted -on the Pavillon de l'Horloge, as in the time of Bonaparte, apparently -in remembrance of liberty. Furniture was broken up, pictures slashed -with sword-cuts; in a cupboard they found the King's hunting journal, -with particulars of his fine exploits against the partridges: an old -custom of the gamekeepers of the Monarchy. They put a corpse on the -empty throne, in the Throne Room: that would be a formidable thing, if -the French of to-day were not always playing at drama. The artillery -museum, at Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, was pillaged, and the centuries passed -down the river, under the helmet of Godfrey of Bouillon and with the -lance of Francis I. - -Then the Duc de Raguse left the Staff Office, leaving 120,000 francs -in bags behind him. He went through the Rue de Rivoli and entered the -Tuileries Gardens. He gave the order for the troops to retire, first to -the Champs Élysées, and next to the Étoile. It was believed that peace -was made, that the Dauphin was coming; some carriages from the Royal -Mews and a baggage-wagon were seen to cross the Place Louis XV.: it was -the ministers going after their works. - -On arriving at the Étoile, Marmont received a letter: it informed him -that the King had given M. le Dauphin the command-in-chief of the -troops, and that he, the marshal, would serve under his orders. - -A company of the 3rd Guards had been forgotten in the house of a hatter -in the Rue de Rohan; after a long resistance the house was carried. -Captain Meunier, wounded in three places, jumped from a third-floor -window, fell on a roof below, and was taken to the Hôpital du -Grand-Caillou: he has survived. The Caserne Babylone, attacked between -twelve and one in the day by three pupils of the Polytechnic School, -Vaneau, Lacroix and Ouvrier, was guarded only by a depot of Swiss -recruits numbering about a hundred men; Major Dufay, an officer of -French descent, was in command: he had served with us for thirty years; -he had been an actor in the great exploits of the Republic and the -Empire. He was called upon to surrender, refused all conditions, and -locked himself up in his barrack. Young Vaneau was killed. Some firemen -set fire to the barrack-door, which fell in pieces; at once Major Dufay -issued through this mouth of flame, followed by his highlanders, with -fixed bayonets. He fell, struck by the musket-shot of a neighbouring -publican: his death saved his Swiss recruits; they joined the different -corps to which they belonged. - - -M. le Duc de Mortemart[239] arrived at Saint-Cloud on Wednesday the -28th, at ten o'clock in the evening, to take up his service as Captain -of the Hundred Swiss: he was not able to speak to the King till the -next day. At eleven o'clock, on the 29th, he made a few efforts to -induce Charles X. to recall the Ordinances; the King said to him: - -"I do not want to climb into the cart, like my brother; I will not go -back by a foot." - -A few minutes later, he was to go back by a kingdom! - -[Sidenote: Charles X. and his ministers.] - -The ministers had arrived: Messieurs de Sémonville, d'Argout[240], -Vitrolles were there. M. de Sémonville related that he had had a long -conversation with the King; that he had not succeeded in shaking his -resolution until he made an appeal to his heart by speaking to him of -the dangers to which Madame la Dauphine was exposed. He said to him: -"To-morrow, at noon, there will be no King, no Dauphin, no Duc de -Bordeaux." - -And the King replied: - -"You will surely give me till one o'clock." - -I do not believe a word of all this. Bragging is our national fault; -question a Frenchman and trust to his story: he will always have done -everything. - -The ministers went in to the King after M. de Sémonville; the -Ordinances were revoked, the Ministry dissolved, M. de Mortemart -appointed President of the new Council. - -In the Capital, the Republican Party had at last run some one to -earth. M. Baude, the man of the parade at the office of the _Temps_, -going through the streets, had found the Hôtel de Ville occupied by -only two men, M. Dubourg and M. Zimmer. He at once proclaimed himself -the emissary of a "Provisional Government" which was coming to instal -itself. He sent for the clerks of the Prefecture and ordered them -to set to work as though M. de Chabrol were present. In governments -which have become machines the weights are soon wound up again; every -one hastens to take possession of the deserted places: this one made -himself secretary-general, that other head of a division, a third took -the accounts, a fourth appointed himself to the staff and distributed -the places on the staff among his friends; there were some who went -so far as to send for their beds, so as not to leave the spot and to -be in a position to jump upon the first place that became vacant. -M. Dubourg, nicknamed "General" Dubourg, and M. Zimmer were styled -the heads of the "military" side of the "Provisional Government" M. -Baude represented the "civil" side of this unknown government, took -resolutions and issued proclamations. And yet placards had been seen -which came from the Republican Party and which were the production of -a different government, consisting of Messieurs de La Fayette, Gérard -and de Choiseul. It is difficult to explain the association of the last -name with the two others; besides, M. de Choiseul protested. This old -Liberal, who, emigrating and shipwrecked at Calais, to save his life -mimicked the stiffness of death[241], found no paternal home, on his -return to France, save a box at the Opera. - -At three o'clock in the afternoon came a new element of confusion. -An Order of the Day summoned the deputies in Paris to the Hôtel de -Ville, there to confer on the measures to be taken. The mayors were -to be restored to their mayoralties; they were also to send one of -their deputy-mayors to the Hôtel de Ville, in order to make up a -"consultative commission" there. This Order was signed, "J. Baude, for -the Provisional Government" and "Colonel Zimmer, by order of General -Dubourg." This audacity on the part of three persons speaking in the -name of a government that existed only in so far as it had placarded -itself at the street-corners proves the rare intelligence of the -French in revolution: such men as these are evidently leaders destined -to sway other nations. What a misfortune that, in delivering us from a -similar anarchy, Bonaparte should have snatched from us our liberty! - -[Sidenote: Meeting at M. Laffitte's.] - -The deputies had again met at M. Laffitte's[242]. M. de La Fayette, -going back to 1789, declared that he would also go back to the command -of the National Guard. This met with applause, and he proceeded to -the Hôtel de Ville. The deputies nominated a "Municipal Commission" -consisting of five members, Messieurs Casimir Périer, Laffitte, de -Lobau[243], de Schonen and Audry de Puyravault. M. Odilon Barrot -was elected secretary to the Commission, which installed itself at -the Hôtel de Ville, as M. de La Fayette had done. All these sat -promiscuously, beside the Provisional Government of M. Dubourg. M. -Mauguin[244], sent as an emissary to the "Commission," remained with -it. The friend of Washington ordered the black flag which had been -hoisted by the ingenuity of M. Dubourg to be removed. - -At half-past eight in the evening, M. de Sémonville, M. d'Argout -and M. de Vitrolles arrived from Saint-Cloud. They had hastened to -Paris immediately after hearing, at Saint-Cloud, of the repeal of the -Ordinances, the dismissal of the old ministers and the appointment of -M. de Mortemart to the Presidency of the Council. They appeared before -the Municipal Commission in the quality of mandatories of the King. M. -Mauguin asked the Grand Refendary if he had written powers; the Grand -Refendary replied that "he had not thought of it." The negociations of -the official commissaries went no further. - -M. Laffitte, informed at the meeting at his house of what had taken -place at Saint-Cloud, signed a permit for M. de Mortemart, adding -that the deputies assembled at his house would wait for him until one -o'clock in the morning. As the noble duke did not appear, the deputies -went home. - -M. Laffitte, left alone with M. Thiers, occupied himself with the Duc -d'Orléans and the necessary proclamations. Fifty years of revolution -in France had given the men of practice the facility for reorganizing -governments and the men of theory the habit of refurbishing charters -and preparing the cranes and cradles by which governments are hoisted -up or let down. - - -On this same day, the 29th, the day after my return to Paris, I was not -idle. My plan was fixed: I wanted to act, but only on an order, written -in the King's own hand, which would give me the necessary powers to -speak with the authorities of the moment; to meddle with everything and -do nothing did not suit me. That I had argued rightly is proved by the -affront received by Messieurs d'Argout, de Sémonville and de Vitrolles. - -I therefore wrote to Charles X. at Saint-Cloud. M. de Givré undertook -to carry my letter. I begged the King to instruct me as to his wishes. -M. de Givré returned empty-handed. He had given my letter to M. le Duc -de Duras, who had given it to the King, who sent me word that he had -appointed M. de Mortemart his Prime Minister and asked me to arrange -with him. Where to find the noble duke? I looked for him in vain on the -evening of the 29th. - -Rejected by Charles X., I turned my thoughts to the Chamber of Peers, -which was able, as a sovereign court, to evoke a trial and adjust the -difference. If it was not safe in Paris, it was at liberty to transfer -itself to some distance, even to the King's side, and from there to -pronounce a grand award. It had chances of success; there are always -chances of success in courage. After all, had it succumbed, it would -have undergone a defeat which would have been useful to the question of -principle. But should I have found twenty men in that Chamber prepared -to devote themselves? Of those twenty men, were there four who would -have agreed with me on public liberty? - -Aristocratic assemblies enjoy a glorious reign when they are sovereign -and alone invested, _de jure et de facto_, with power: they offer the -strongest guarantees; but, in mixed forms of government, they lose -their value and become pitiful in times of great crisis. Weak against -the king, they do not prevent despotism; weak against the people, -they do not stop anarchy. In any public commotion, they redeem their -existence only at the price of perjury or slavery. Did the House of -Lords save Charles I.? Did it save Richard Cromwell[245], to whom it -had taken the oath? Did it save James II.? Will it save the Hanoverian -Princes to-day? Will it save itself? Those self-styled aristocratic -counter-weights only disturb the balance and will sooner or later be -flung out of the scale. An ancient and wealthy aristocracy, having -the habit of business, has only one means of retaining power when the -latter is escaping from it: that is, to cross over from the Capitol to -the Forum and place itself at the head of the new movement, unless it -think itself still strong enough to risk civil war. - -While awaiting M. de Givré's return, I was pretty busy in defending -my quarter. The suburbs, the quarrymen of Montrouge came crowding -through the Barrière de l'Enfer. The latter resembled those quarrymen -of Montmartre who caused such great alarm to Mademoiselle de Mornay -when she was fleeing from the massacres of St. Bartholomew. As they -passed before the community-house of the Missionaries, in my street, -they entered it: a score of priests were obliged to take to flight; the -haunt of those fanatics was philosophically pillaged, their beds and -their books burnt in the street. This trifle has not been mentioned. -Was there any need to trouble about what the priesthood might have -lost? I gave hospitality to seven or eight fugitives; they remained -for several days hidden under my roof. I obtained passports for them -through the intermediary of my neighbour, M. Arago, and they went -elsewhere to preach the Word of God: _utilis populis fuga sanctorum._ - - -[Sidenote: The Municipal Commission.] - -The Municipal Commission, established at the Hôtel de Ville, appointed -the Baron Louis Provisional Commissary of Finance, M. Baude Minister -of the Interior, M. Mérilhou Minister of Justice, gave M. Chardel[246] -the Post Office, M. Marchal[247] the Telegraphs, M. Bavoux[248] -the Police, M. de Laborde the Prefecture of the Seine. Thus the -"voluntary" Provisional Government found itself destroyed in reality -by the promotion of M. Baude, who had created himself a member of that -government. The shops were opened again; the public services resumed -their course. - -At the meeting at M. Laffitte's, it had been decided that the deputies -should assemble, at noon, at the palace of the Chamber: some thirty -or thirty-five met there, under the presidency of M. Laffitte. -M. Bérard[249] announced that he had met Messieurs d'Argout, de -Forbin-Janson[250] and de Mortemart on their way to M. Laffitte's, -thinking that they would find the deputies there; that he had invited -those gentlemen to follow him to the Chamber, but that M. le Duc -de Mortemart, overwhelmed with fatigue, had gone away to see M. de -Sémonville. M. de Mortemart, according to M. Bérard, said that he had a -signature in blank and that the King consented to everything. - -In fact, M. de Mortemart brought five Ordinances: instead of -communicating them at once to the deputies, he was obliged by his -lassitude to go back to the Luxembourg. At mid-day he sent the -Ordinances to M. Sauvo[251]; the latter replied that he could not -publish them in the _Moniteur_ without the authorization of the Chamber -of Deputies or the Municipal Commission. - -M. Bérard having told his story, as I have said, in the Chamber, -a discussion followed to decide whether they should receive M. de -Mortemart or not General Sébastiani insisted on the affirmative; M. -Mauguin declared that, if M. de Mortemart were present, he would ask -that he should be heard, but that events were urgent and that they -could not wait on M. de Mortemart's good pleasure. - -Five commissaries were appointed, charged to go to confer with the -peers: these five commissaries were Messieurs Augustin Périer[252], -Sébastiani, Guizot, Benjamin Delessert[253], and Hyde de Neuville. But -soon the Comte de Sussy[254] was introduced into the Elective Chamber. -M. de Mortemart had charged him to present the Ordinances to the -deputies. Addressing the assembly, he said: - -"In the Chancellor's absence, a few peers met at my house. M. le Duc de -Mortemart handed us this letter, addressed to M. le Général Gérard or -M. Casimir Périer. I beg leave to communicate its contents to you." - -Here is the letter: - - "MONSIEUR, - - "After leaving Saint-Cloud during the night, I have in vain tried - to meet you. Please tell me where I can see you. I beg you to - give notice of the Ordinances which I have been carrying since - yesterday." - -[Sidenote: The Duc de Montemart.] - -M. le Duc de Mortemart had left Saint-Cloud during the night; he had -had the Ordinances in his pocket for twelve or fifteen hours, "since -yesterday," to use his own expression; he had been unable to find -General Gérard or M. Casimir Périer: M. de Mortemart was very unlucky! -M. Bérard made the following observation on the letter that had been -read aloud: - -"I cannot," he said, "refrain from calling attention here to a lack of -frankness: M. de Mortemart, who was proceeding to M. Laffitte's this -morning when I met him, formally told me that he would come here." - -The five Ordinances were read. The first recalled the Ordinances of the -25th of July, the second summoned the Chambers for the 3rd of August, -the third appointed M. de Mortemart Foreign Minister and President of -the Council, the fourth called General Gérard to the War Office, the -fifth M. Casimir Périer to the Ministry of Finance. When I at last met -M. de Mortemart at the Grand Referendary's, he told me that he had -been obliged to stay at M. de Sémonville's, because, having returned -on foot from Saint-Cloud, he had had to go out of his way and enter -the Bois de Boulogne by a gap: his boot or his shoe had taken the skin -off his heel. It is to be regretted that, before producing the acts of -the Throne, M. de Mortemart did not try to see the influential men and -bring them round to the King's side. These acts falling suddenly in the -midst of the unforewarned deputies, no one dared to declare himself. -They drew down upon themselves this terrible reply from Benjamin -Constant: - -"We know beforehand what the Chamber of Peers will say to us: it will -purely and simply accept the repeal of the Ordinances. As for myself, I -do not pronounce positively on the dynastic question; I will only say -that it would be too easy for a king to have his people shot down and -to avoid the consequences by saying afterwards, 'Everything is as it -was.'" - -Would Benjamin Constant, who "did not pronounce positively on the -dynastic question," have ended his phrase in the same way if words -had been addressed to him earlier suited to his talents and his just -ambition? I sincerely pity a man of courage and honour like M. de -Mortemart, when I come to think that the Legitimate Monarchy was -perhaps overthrown because the minister charged with the royal powers -was unable to find two deputies in Paris and because, tired with doing -three leagues on foot, he barked his heel. The Ordinance nominating -M. de Mortemart to the St. Petersburg Embassy has taken the place -for him of the Ordinances of his old master. Ah, how could I refuse -Louis-Philippe's request that I should be his Minister of Foreign -Affairs or resume my beloved embassy in Rome? But alas, what should I -have done with my "beloved" on the bank of the Tiber? I should always -have believed that she blushed as she looked at me. - - -On the morning of the 30th, I received a note from the Grand -Referendary summoning me to the meeting of the Peers, at the -Luxembourg. I wanted first to learn some news. I went down the Rue -d'Enfer, the Place Saint-Michel and the Rue Dauphine. There was still a -little excitement around the broken barricades. I compared what I saw -with the great revolutionary movement of 1789, and the present struck -me as orderly and silent: the change of manners was visible. - -At the Pont-Neuf, the statue of Henry IV., like an ensign of the -League, held a tricolour flag in its hand. Men of the people said, as -they looked at the bronze King: - -"You would never have been such a fool, old man." - -Groups had assembled on the Quai de l'École: I saw, in the distance, a -general accompanied by two aides-de-camp, all on horse-back. I went in -their direction. As I elbowed my way through the crowd, my eyes were on -the general: a tricolour sash across his coat, his hat cocked over the -back of his head, with one comer in front. He caught sight of me in his -turn, and cried: - -"See! The viscount!" - -[Sidenote: General Dubourg.] - -And I, surprised, recognised Colonel or Captain Dubourg, my companion -at Ghent, who was going, during our return to Paris, to take the open -towns in the name of Louis XVIII., and who brought us, as I have -related, half a sheep for dinner in a dirty lodging at Arnouville[255]. -This is the officer whom the newspapers had represented as an austere -soldier of the Republic, with grey mustachios, who had refused to serve -under the imperial tyranny and who was so poor that they had been -obliged to buy him a uniform of the days of Larevellière-Lepeaux[256] -at the rag-fair. Then I exclaimed: - -"Why, it's you! What..." - -He stretched out his arms to me, pressed my hand on Flanquine's neck; a -circle was formed around us: - -"My dear fellow," said the military head of the Provisional Government, -pointing out the Louvre to me, "there were twelve hundred of them in -there: we gave them prunes in their hinder parts! And they ran, oh, how -they ran!" - -M. Dubourg's aides-de-camp burst into loud roars of laughter; the -rabble laughed in unison, the general spurred his nag, which caracoled -like a broken-backed beast, followed by two other Rosinantes slipping -on the paving-stones as though ready to fall on their noses between -their riders' legs. - -Thus, proudly borne away, did the Diomedes of the Hôtel de Ville, a -man, for the rest, of courage and wit, abandon me. I have seen men -who, taking all the scenes of 1830 for serious, blushed at this story, -because it somewhat counteracted their heroic credulity. I myself was -ashamed on seeing the comical side of the gravest revolutions and how -easy it is to trifle with the good faith of the people. - -M. Louis Blanc, in the first volume of his excellent _Histoire de dix -ans_, published after what I have just written here, confirms my story: - - "A man," he says, "of middle height, with an energetic countenance, - and wearing a general's uniform, was crossing the Marché des - Innocents, followed by a great number of armed men. M. Évariste - Dumoulin[257], editor of the _Constitutionnel_, had supplied - this man with his uniform, obtained at an old-clothes shop; and - the epaulets which he wore had been given him by Perlet[258], the - actor: they came from the property-room of the Opéra-Comique. - - "'Who is that general?" was asked on every hand. - - "And when they who surrounded him answered, 'It is General - Dubourg,' 'Long live General Dubourg!' cried the people, who had - never heard the name before[259]." - -A few paces further, a different sight awaited me: a ditch had been dug -before the colonnade of the Louvre; a priest, in surplice and stole, -was praying beside the ditch: they were laying dead bodies in it. I -took off my hat and made the sign of the cross. The silent crowd stood -respectfully watching the ceremony, which would have been nothing if -religion had not appeared in it. So many memories and reflections -presented themselves to my mind that I remained quite motionless. -Suddenly I felt myself being crowded round; a cry arose: - -"Long live the defender of the liberty of the press!" - -I had been recognised by my hair. Forthwith some young men caught hold -of me and said: - -"Which way are you going? We are going to carry you." - -I did not know what to answer; I begged to be excused; I struggled; -I entreated them to let me go. The time fixed for the meeting in the -House of Peers had not yet come. The young men kept on shouting: - -"Which way are you going? Which way are you going?" - -I replied at random: - -"Well, to the Palais-Royal!" - -Forthwith I was escorted there, amid cries of "The Charter for ever! -The liberty of the press for ever! Chateaubriand for ever!" In the Cour -des Fontaines, M. Barba[260], the bookseller, left his house and came -to embrace me. - -We arrived at the Palais-Royal; I was plumped down in a café under the -wooden arcade. I was dying with heat. With clasped hands I reiterated -my request for remission of my glory: not a bit of it; the whole of -that youth refused to leave hold of me. In the crowd was a man in -a waistcoat-jacket with the sleeves turned up, with black hands, a -sinister face and gleaming eyes, such as I had seen so often at the -commencement of the Revolution: he continually tried to approach me, -and the young men always thrust him back. I learnt neither his name nor -what he wanted with me. - -I had to make up my mind at last to say that I was going to the House -of Peers. We left the café; the cheers began afresh. In the court-yard -of the Louvre, different kinds of shouts were raised: some cried, "To -the Tuileries! To the Tuileries!" others, "Long live the First Consul!" -and seemed to wish to make me the heir of Bonaparte the Republican. -Hyacinthe, who accompanied me, received his share of hand-shaking and -embraces. We crossed the Pont des Arts and took the Rue de Seine. The -people flocked on our passage; they crowded the windows. I suffered -under all these honours, for my arms were being torn from their -sockets. One of the young men who were pushing me from behind suddenly -slipped his head between my legs and lifted me on his shoulders. New -cheers; they shouted to the spectators in the street and at the windows: - -"Hats off! Hurrah for the Charter!" - -And I replied: - -"Yes, gentlemen, hurrah for the Charter! But hurrah for the King!" - -This cry was not taken up, but it provoked no anger. And that is how -the game was lost! All might still be arranged, but it was necessary -to present only popular men to the people: in revolutions, a name does -more than an army. - -[Sidenote: I am carried to the Luxembourg.] - -I besought my young friends to such good purpose that at last they put -me down. In the Rue de Seine, opposite M. Le Normant, my publisher, a -furniture-dealer offered an arm-chair to carry me in; I refused it and -arrived in the main court of the Luxembourg in the midst of my triumph. -My generous escort then left me, after shouting fresh cries of "The -Charter for ever! Chateaubriand for ever!" - -I was touched by the sentiments of this noble youth: I had shouted, -"Long live the King!" in the midst of them all, quite as safely as -though I had been alone in my house; they knew my opinions; they -carried me themselves to the House of Peers, where they knew that I was -going to speak and remain loyal to my King: and yet it was the 30th of -July and we had just passed by the ditch where they were burying the -citizens killed by the bullets of the soldiers of Charles X.! - - -The noise which I left outside contrasted with the silence which -reigned in the entrance-hall of the Palace of the Luxembourg. -This silence increased in the gloomy gallery which precedes M. de -Sémonville's apartments. My presence embarrassed the twenty-five or -thirty peers who had gathered there: I hindered the sweet effusions of -fear, the tender consternation to which they were yielding. I there -at last saw M. de Mortemart. I told him that, in accordance with the -King's wishes, I was ready to act in agreement with him. He replied -that, as I have already stated, he had barked his heel on returning: he -disappeared again in the throng of the assembly. He apprized us of the -Ordinances which he had already communicated to the Deputies through -M. de Sussy. M. de Broglie declared that he had just been through -Paris; that we were living on a volcano; that the middle classes were -no longer able to restrain the workmen; that, if we merely pronounced -the name of Charles X., they would cut all our throats and demolish the -Luxembourg as they had demolished the Bastille: - -"That's true, that's true!" muttered the prudent in a hollow voice, -shaking their heads[261]. - -M. de Caraman[262], who had been made a duke, apparently because he had -been M. de Metternich's lackey, maintained with great heat that it was -impossible to recognise the Ordinances: - -"And why not, monsieur?" I asked. - -This cold question iced his rapture. - -[Sidenote: Meeting of the peers.] - -The five commissaries from the Deputies arrived. M. le Général -Sébastiani led off with his customary phrase: - -"Gentlemen, this is a serious business." - -Next he sang the praises of M. le Duc de Mortemart's remarkable -moderation; he spoke of the dangers of Paris, pronounced a few words in -eulogy of H.R.H. Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans and concluded with the -impossibility of considering the Ordinances. I and M. Hyde de Neuville -were the only two who held the opposite opinion. I obtained leave to -speak: - -"M. le Duc de Broglie has told us, gentlemen, that he has walked about -the streets and seen hostile dispositions on every hand. I, too, have -just been through Paris: three thousand young men escorted me to the -court-yard of this palace; you may have heard their cheers: are these -thirsting for your blood, who have thus greeted one of your colleagues? -They shouted: - -"The Charter for ever!' - -"I replied: - -"'The King for ever!' - -"They showed no anger, and came and brought me safe and sound into -your midst. Are those such threatening symptoms of public opinion? -Personally, I maintain that nothing is lost, that we can accept the -Ordinances. It is not a question of considering whether there be danger -or not, but of keeping the oaths which we have taken to the King, to -whom we owe our dignities, and many of us our fortune. His Majesty, -by withdrawing the Ordinances and changing his ministry, has done all -that he should; let us, in our turn, do our duty. What! In the whole -course of our lives there comes one single day in which we are obliged -to enter the lists, and shall we decline the combat? Let us give France -the example of honour and loyalty; let us save her from falling a prey -to anarchical combinations in which her peace, her true interests and -her liberties would be lost: danger vanishes when one dares to look it -in the face." - -They made no reply; they hastened to close the meeting. There was -an impatience for perjury in that assembly, which was driven by an -intrepid fear; each one wished to save his rag of life, as though Time -were not waiting, on the morrow, to strip us of our old skins, for -which no sensible Jew would have given a groat. - - - -[Footnote 162: This book was written in Paris in August and September -1830.--T.] - -[Footnote 163: Lamartine was elected a member of the French Academy on -the 5th of November 1829, receiving nineteen votes against fourteen -given to General Philippe de Ségur.--B.] - -[Footnote 164: Charles Jean Dominique de Lacretelle (1766-1855), member -of the French Academy, and author of the _Histoire de France pendant le -XVIIIe. siècle._--T.] - -[Footnote 165: Jean Pierre Abel Rémusat (1788-1832), the distinguished -orientalist. He devoted the last years of his life to politics, -speaking and writing as an ardent adherent of the Legitimacy.--T.] - -[Footnote 166: Antoine Jean Saint-Martin (1791-1832), also an eminent -orientalist and fervent Monarchist. He founded, in 1829, the absolutist -organ, the _Universel._--T.] - -[Footnote 167: January 1829.--B.] - -[Footnote 168: Achille Charles Léonce Victor Duc de Broglie -(1785-1870), married in 1816 to Albertine, daughter of Madame de Staël. -He became a leading Orleanist statesman, was Minister of the Interior -and of Public Worship and Instruction (1830) and Minister of Foreign -Affairs (1832-1834 and 1834-1836), a peer of France, and a member of -the French Academy.--T.] - -[Footnote 169: Louis Auguste Victor de Ghaisne, Comte de Bourmont -(1773-1846), had commanded the Chouans in the Vendée from 1794 to 1799, -and, in 1800, was imprisoned for complicity in the conspiracy resulting -in the Infernal Machine. He made his escape from Besançon and fled to -Lisbon, where he joined the French during their reverses and was taken -into favour by Napoleon in 1808. He served under Bonaparte in all his -subsequent campaigns. After the return from Elba he accepted a command -from the Emperor, but reverted to the King a few days before the -Battle of Waterloo. He was created a peer of France in 1823 and became -Minister for War in 1829. In 1830, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief -of the Algerian Expedition. After the Revolution of July, true to his -latent royalist sympathies, he fought for the Duchesse de Berry in the -Vendée and subsequently for Dom Miguel in Portugal, but always without -success. Eventually he abandoned politics and returned to France, where -he died at the Château de Bourmont in 1846.--T.] - -[Footnote 170: Jean Joseph Antoine de Courvoisier (1775-1835). -He had emigrated and served in Condé's Army, and since 1818 was -Attorney-General to the Lyons Courts.--B.] - -[Footnote 171: Guillaume Isidore Baron, Comte de Montbel (1787-1861), -escaped after the Revolution of July and fled to Austria. He was -sentenced by contumacy to perpetual imprisonment, and was not amnestied -until 1836, when he returned to France, keeping out of politics. -Montbel died at Frohsdorff while on a visit to the Comte de Chambord, 3 -February 1861.--B.] - -[Footnote 172: When M. de Polignac became President of the Council, on -the 17th of November 1829, M. de La Bourdonnaye sent in his resignation -as Minister of the Interior. One of his friends asked him the reason of -his resignation: - -"They wanted to make me stake my head," was his reply. "I wanted to -hold the cards." (Villèle's Political Papers).--B.] - -[Footnote 173: Martial Côme Annibal Perpétue Magloire Comte de -Guernon-Ranville (1787-1866), a distinguished lawyer. After the -Revolution of July, he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment and -confined at Ham, where he remained until the amnesty of 1836. He then -withdrew to the Château de Ranville, in Calvados, where he died in -November 1866.--B.] - -[Footnote 174: The _National_, the first number of which was published -on the 3rd of January 1830. It was founded by Messieurs Thiers, Mignet -and Armand Carrel, each of whom was to have the management of the paper -for one year, commencing with M. Thiers.--B.] - -[Footnote 175: Sautelet (_d._ 1830), the publisher, did in fact commit -suicide a few months after the founding of the _National._--B.] - -[Footnote 176: Louis Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877) occupied Cabinet -positions from 1832 to 1836, and was Prime Minister from May to October -1840. His _Histoire du consulat et de l'empire_ was published from 1845 -to 1862. He was a conspicuous member of the Constituent and Legislative -Assemblies from 1848 to 1851, and was arrested by Louis Napoleon at the -time of the _coup d'État._ In 1863, he was elected to the Legislative -Body, and led the opposition against the Imperial Government. On the -31st of August 1871, he was declared President of the French Republic -for a term of three years, but resigned on the 24th of May 1873. Thiers -had been a member of the French Academy since 1834.--T.] - -[Footnote 177: Franços Auguste Marie Mignet (1796-1884), author of -the _Histoire de la révolution française de_ 1789 _à_ 1814 (1824) and -a number of other notable historical works. He was received into the -French Academy in 1836.--T.] - -[Footnote 178: Nicolas Armand Carrel (1800-1836), an historian and -journalist, killed in a political duel on the 22nd of July 1836.--T.] - -[Footnote 179: On the 5th of May 1830, the Duc d'Angoulême held a -review at Toulon of the fleet which was about to set sail for Algiers. -It consisted of 675 men-of-war and merchant-ships, including no less -than 11 battle-ships, 24 frigates and 70 war-ships of lesser strength. -This day represented Fortune's last smile upon the House of Bourbon, -which found France exhausted, impoverished, crushed beneath the weight -of unutterable disasters and was about to leave her free, prosperous -and powerful, with admirable finances and a superb fleet; which found -her vanquished, humiliated, trodden under foot by four hundred thousand -invaders and was about to bequeath to her the surest and fairest of -all conquests, accomplished under the eyes and despite the threats of -trembling England.--B.] - -[Footnote 180: Charles V. lost a fleet and an army at Algiers in -1545.--T.] - -[Footnote 181: Bossuet's funeral oration on the Empress Maria -Theresa.--T.] - -[Footnote 182: Charles Lenormant (1802-1859), the French archæologist -and numismatist.--T.] - -[Footnote 183: Jean Jacques Champollion Figeac (1778-1867), the noted -archæologist.--T.] - -[Footnote 184: Auguste Théodore Hilaire Baron Barchou de Penhoen -(1801-1855), was a staff-captain in the Algerian Expedition, resigned -his commission in order not to serve the government of Louis-Philippe, -and devoted himself to literature and philosophy.--B.] - -[Footnote 185: BARON BARCHOU DE PENHOEN: _Mémoires d'un officier -d'état-major_, p. 427.--_Authors Note._] - -[Footnote 186: In his Speech from the Throne, Charles X. announced the -Algerian Expedition, declaring that the insult shown to the French -flag by a barbarous Power would not long remain unpunished, and that -a brilliant reparation was about to satisfy the honour of France. The -same evening, some friends, among whom was M. Villemain, had gathered -in Chateaubriand's drawing-room: - - "This," said Chateaubriand, "is one of the things that belong to - the old French tradition, to the inheritance of St. Louis and - Louis XIV.; this is what the Legitimate Royalty does. In the - present crisis, with its wretched instruments, despite its fears, - exaggerated, I grant you, it conceives a generous and Christian - enterprise, one which I advised in 1816, one which it would have - undertaken with me, if it had had the sense to keep me. Yes, this - same Algiers which Bossuet shows us destroyed by our bomb-ketches, - and which saved its harbour only by handing over its Christian - slaves to us, may fall into our hands this summer. We shall do - better than Lord Exmouth. Nothing will surprise me of French - valour. Only, this delights me without reassuring me. Who knows the - unfathomable depths of Providence? It is able with the same blow to - lay low the conquered and the conqueror, to enlarge a kingdom and - overthrow a dynasty." - -(VILLEMAIN: _M. de Chateaubriand, sa vie, ses écrits, son influence -littéraire et politique sur son temps_).--B.] - -[Footnote 187: Charles Guillaume Étienne (1778-1845), a dramatist and -publicist, appointed Censor in 1810, and a member of the French Academy -in 1811. The Bourbons excluded him from his public employment and even -from his seat in the Academy, to which he was not re-admitted until -1820, in which year he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. In 1830 -he was one of the signatories to the Address of the 221. Some years -later (1839), Louis-Philippe raised him to the peerage.--T.] - -[Footnote 188: The Comte de Lorgeril (1778-1843) was elected in 1828 to -the seat vacated by M. de Corbière, who had been raised to the peerage. -Lorgeril lost his seat in 1830.--B.] - -[Footnote 189: The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved on the 16th of -May. The departments which had only one electoral college were summoned -to vote on the 23rd of June; in the other departments, the district -colleges were to meet on the 3rd of July and the departmental colleges -on the 20th of July. The opening of the new Chamber was fixed for the -3rd of August.--B.] - -[Footnote 190: The _Tribune des départements_, founded by Auguste and -Victornin Fabre. After 1830, this sheet became the most violent organ -of the Republican Opposition.--B.] - -[Footnote 191: Hilaire Étienne Octave Rouillé, Comte, later (on the -death of his father in 1840) Marquis de Boissy (1798-1866). He was -created a peer of France in 1839, and for ten years was the _enfant -terrible_ of the Upper Chamber, harassing the Chancelier Pasquier -with his continual interruptions and irreverent sallies. In 1853, he -was made a senator, having meantime, in 1851, married the Contessa -Guiccioli, who was then herself nearly fifty and had been Byron's -"widow" for more than a quarter of a century.--B.] - -[Footnote 192: For the full text of the Royal Ordinances of July, see -the Appendix at the end of this volume, p. 421.--T.] - -[Footnote 193: The Report to the King had been drawn up by M. de -Chantelauze.--B.] - -[Footnote 194: Article XIV. of the Charter ran thus: - - "The King is the Supreme Head of the State, commands the forces on - sea and land, declares war, makes treaties of peace, alliance and - commerce, appoints to all the offices of the public administration, - and makes the rules and _ordinances necessary for the execution of - the laws and the safety of the State._"--B.] - - -[Footnote 195: Chateaubriand was then living at 84, Rue d'Enfer.--B.] - -[Footnote 196: Étienne Maurice Maréchal Comte Gérard (1773-1853) had -distinguished himself as a general in the Napoleonic campaigns. He -was Minister for War for a few months in 1830, and again in 1834. He -was made a marshal of France in 1830 and, in 1831 and 1832, directed -the Siege of Antwerp, valorously defended by General Chassé. Gérard -became Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour in 1836. He lost all -his offices in 1848; but, in 1853, a few months before his death, was -appointed a Senator by Napoleon III.--T.] - -[Footnote 197: Claude Antoine Gabriel Duc de Choiseul-Stainville -(1760-1838), created a peer of France in 1814 and Governor of the -Louvre in 1820. Later, he became an aide-de-camp to Louis-Philippe.--B.] - -[Footnote 198: Jean Henri Claude Mangin (1786-1835), a noted lawyer and -writer on jurisprudence, had been Prefect of Police since 1829.--T.] - -[Footnote 199: The Comte de Chabrol-Volvic, brother of the Comte de -Chabrol-Croussol, who had been Minister of Finance in the Polignac -Cabinet until May 1830.--B.] - -[Footnote 200: The Vicomte de Champagny.--B.] - -[Footnote 201: Felix Barthe (1795-1863), in December 1830, succeeded -Mérilhou as Minister of Public Instruction in the Laffitte Cabinet. In -1831, he became Minister of Justice under Casimir Périer and continued -to hold the Seals until the fall of the Broglie Administration in 1834. -He was then created a peer of France and President of the _Cour des -Comptes._ Under the Second Empire, Barthe became a senator.--B.] - -[Footnote 202: Joseph Mérilhou (1788-1856), Minister of Public -Instruction and Public Worship in 1830, and a peer of France in -1837.--B.] - -[Footnote 203: The protest was drawn up by Thiers, Châtelain, and -Cauchois-Lemaire. Here are the names of the forty-four signatories: -Gauja, manager of the _National_; Thiers, Mignet, Chambolle, Peysse, -Albert Stapfer, Dubochet, Rolle, editors of the _National_; Châtelain, -Guyet, Moussette, Avenel, Alexis de Jussieu, J. F. Dupont, editors, -and V. de Lapelouse, manager of the _Courrier français_; Guizard, -Dejean, Charles de Rémusat, editors, and Pierre Leroux, manager of the -_Globe_; Anneé, Cauchois-Lemaire and Évariste Dumoulin, editors of the -_Constitutionnel_; Senty, Haussmann, Dussard, Chalas, A. Billard, J. -J. Baude, Busoni, Barboux, editors, and Coste, manager of the _Temps_; -Victor Bohain, Nestor Roqueplan, editors of the _Figaro_; Auguste -Fabre and Ader, editors of the _Tribune des départements_; Plagnol, -Levasseur and Fazy, editors of the _Révolution_; F. Larreguy, editor, -and Bert, manager of the _Journal du commerce_; Léon Pillet, manager of -the _Journal de Paris_; Vaillant, manager of the _Sylphe_; Sarrans the -Younger, manager of the _Courrier des électeurs._--B.] - -[Footnote 204: There were fourteen of them: Messieurs Bavoux, Bérard, -Bernard, de Laborde, Chardel, Daunou, Jacques Lefebvre, Marchai, -Mauguin, Casimir Périer, Persil, de Schonen, Vassal and Villemain.--B.] - -[Footnote 205: Madame de Courchamp was a sister of the Becquets.--B.] - -[Footnote 206: Étienne Becquet (1800-1838), one of the editors of the -_Débats_, is the only one of the two brothers who has left a name.--B.] - -[Footnote 207: Jacques Coste (1798-1859), after selling his paper, -the _Tablettes historiques_, remained the declared adversary of the -government of the Restoration. He founded the _Temps_ in 1829; it -lasted till 1842. The title was again taken by M. Xavier Durrieu in -1849, but this paper lasted only ten months, and lastly, in 1861, by M. -A. Nefftzer, who founded the _Temps_ which we know to-day.--B.] - -[Footnote 208: The full title of this paper was _Tablettes historiques, -ou Répertoire de documents historiques, politiques, scientifiques et -littéraires, avec une Bibliographie raisonnée._ In 1824, after he had -been fined and sentenced to a year's imprisonment, M. Coste sold the -_Tablettes_ to M. Sosthène de La Rochefoucauld, who was at that time -pursuing his policy of buying up the Opposition papers with the funds -of the Civil List and sometimes with his own money. One of Coste's -collaborators, M. Rabbe, wrote a strong letter to M. Coste, which was -inserted in the _Courrier français_, and led to a duel between the two -writers.--B.] - -[Footnote 209: Jean Jacques Baron Baude (_cf._ Vol. IV, p. 7, n. 2). -Baude was Prefect of Police from December 1830 to February 1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 210: "Another commissary of police went to the _Temps_, where -he was encountered by M. Baude, attached to the journal. He summoned -the commissary to desist, declaring that he was committing an illegal -act; that the laws protected the journals and their presses, and that -no ordonnance could avail in contradiction to them. The commissary -of police, however staggered by the obstinacy of Baude, sent for a -locksmith to break open the door of the printing-office, and then break -the press. Apostrophized by Baude, and warned that they were committing -an illegal act, the smith refused to obey, till the special smith of -the police and the gaols arrived. Seven hours were spent in altercation -before the order of the commissary could be accomplished by a forcible -entrance, and rendering the presses incapable of being worked any -more." (EYRE CROWE: _History of the Reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles -X._).--T.] - -[Footnote 211: M. Billot.--B.] - -[Footnote 212: Casimir Périer lived at 27, Rue Neuve-du-Luxembourg.--B.] - -[Footnote 213: Pierre François Audry de Puyravault (1783-1852), an -important manufacturer of strong liberal opinions. He continued to -figure in the Opposition during the Orleanist reign.--T.] - -[Footnote 214: Auguste Jean Marie Baron de Schonen (1782-1849). He -held high legal office under the Empire, the Restoration and the -Usurpation.--T.] - -[Footnote 215: M. Cadet de Gassicourt the Younger (1789-1861) became -mayor of the 4th arrondissement, or ward, of Paris.--B.] - -[Footnote 216: Changed soon after into Rue du 29 Juillet.--B.] - -[Footnote 217: Alfred Nettement, in his _Histoire de la Restauration_, -gives a somewhat different version of this incident: - - "It was then six o'clock in the evening. The Royal Guard came to - lend a necessary aid to the Gendarmerie and the Line, whose efforts - remained powerless. Musket-shots replied to the hail of stones - that fell upon the troop; they were fired by a detachment of the - 5th Regiment of the Line which entered the Rue Saint-Honoré from - the Rue de Rivoli. This discharge cost the life of a young English - student called Folks, who had taken refuge in the Hôtel Royal, at - the corner of the Rue des Pyramides. He had had the imprudence - to go to the window to watch the progress of the insurrectionary - movement, and was struck by one of the first bullets."--B.] - -[Footnote 218: The President of the Council occupied the building of -the Foreign Office, then situated at the comer of the Rue des Capucines -and the boulevards.--B.] - -[Footnote 219: Alfred Armand Robert Comte de Saint-Chamans -(1781-1848).--B.] - -[Footnote 220: Alexandre Sala, an officer in the 6th Infantry of the -Guard. He was with the Duchesse de Berry on the _Carlo-Alberto_ in -1832, was tried at Montbrison, and acquitted. In 1848, with Alfred -Nettement and Armand de Pontmartin, he founded the _Opinion publique_, -of which he was one of the chief editors until its suppression in -January 1852.--B.] - -[Footnote 221: Joseph Marie Fieschi (1790-1836), a native of Corsica, -set up an infernal machine in a house on the Boulevard du Temple, and -discharged it as Louis-Philippe, accompanied by his staff, was passing -before the windows on the 28th of July 1835. Eighteen persons were -killed, including Marshal Mortier, Duc de Trévise, and 22 severely -wounded. Louis-Philippe escaped. Fieschi and his two accomplices, Pépin -and Morey, were executed on the 16th of February 1836.--T.] - -[Footnote 222: This column was under the orders of General Talon, and -consisted of a battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Guard, reinforced -by 150 Lancers, a Swiss battalion and two guns.--B.] - -[Footnote 223: Jean Dominique Barron Larrey (1766-1842) was Napoleon's -famous surgeon in the Grand Army. But the surgeon who treated Colonel -de Pleine-Selve was his son, with whom Chateaubriand confuses -him, Félix Hyppolite Baron Larrey (_b._ 1808), who in 1830 was -assistant-surgeon at the hospital of the Royal Guards known as the -Hôpital du Gros-Caillou. He was appointed surgeon to Napoleon III. in -1853, and was Chief Surgeon to the Army of Italy in 1859 and to the -Army of the Rhine in 1870. Félix Baron Larrey sat in the Chamber of -Deputies from 1877 to 1881.--B.] - -[Footnote 224: Jacques Laffitte (1767-1844), the banker. He was a -prominent member of the Opposition throughout the Restoration and the -Orleanist Usurpation. He was a capable financier and a generous and -charitable individual.--T.] - -[Footnote 225: André Louis Augustin Marchais (1800-1857), a tried -and persistent conspirator. Under the Second Empire, in 1853, he was -arrested as a member of the secret society known as the Marianne, and -sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was released long before -the expiration of this term, and left France for good. He died in -Constantinople.--B.] - -[Footnote 226: Eusèbe Salverte (1771-1839), an ardent "patriot," and -author of some poems and a number of literary and political works.--T.] - -[Footnote 227: At 40, Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière.--B.] - -[Footnote 228: Dominique François Jean Arago (1786-1853), the famous -astronomer and Director of the Observatory. He was a deputy from 1831 -to 1848, a member of the Provisional Government in 1848, and a member -of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies from 1848 to 1849.--B.] - -[Footnote 229: General Jacques Jean Marie François Boudin, Comte de -Tromelin (1771-1842), served in the Army of the Princes in 1792 and -took part in the Quiberon Expedition. Attached afterwards to the Royal -Army in Normandy, he was captured at Caen (1798), escaped, and went to -the East, where he took part, in the Turkish Army, in the Syrian and -Egyptian campaigns. He returned to France in 1802, was locked up in -the Abbaye at the time of the Pichegru and Cadoudal Affair, and came -out, at the end of six months, to enter the 112th Regiment of the Line -as a captain. He was made a brigadier-general after Leipzig and fought -valiantly at Waterloo. He obtained great successes in Spain, in 1823, -and was made a lieutenant-general. Tromelin played a courageous and -honourable part during the Days of July.--B.] - -[Footnote 230: General Louis Alexandre Marie Valon de Boucheron, Comte -d'Ambrugeac (1771-1844), had been a colonel under the Empire, and -served, during the Hundred Days, in the Duc d'Angoulême's little army. -He was made a peer of France by Louis XVIII. in 1823, took the oath to -Louis Philippe in 1830, and remained a peer of France.--B.] - -[Footnote 231: Jean Baptiste Adolphe Charras (1800-1865) had been -expelled from the Polytechnic School, three months before the -Days of July, for drinking the health of La Fayette and singing -the _Marseillaise_ at a students' banquet. In 1848, he became -Under-secretary for War. He was arrested at the _coup d'État_ in 1851 -and taken to Brussels. He died at Basle in January 1865.--B.] - -[Footnote 232: Isidore Maréchal Comte Exelmans (1775-1852), one of the -most brilliant cavalry generals of the First Empire, became a peer of -France under Louis-Philippe, Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour -in 1849, and a marshal under Napoleon III.--B.] - -[Footnote 233: General Pierre Claude Comte Pajol (1772-1844) was -married to Élise Oudinot, the Maréchal Duc de Reggio's eldest daughter. -He too was a fine cavalry leader and had distinguished himself in -all the Napoleonic campaigns. Napoleon created him a baron in 1809, -Louis XVIII. a count in 1814, and, on the return from Elba, he took -his troops over to Napoleon and was created a peer of France on the -2nd of June 1815, a dignity which he enjoyed for a fortnight. He left -the service and France, returning to Paris on the 29th of July 1830, -after an absence of fourteen years, to take over the command of the -insurrection. In 1831, he was once more created a peer of France, by -Louis-Philippe.--T.] - -[Footnote 234: Albert Anne Jules Bertier de Sauvigny, a lieutenant -in the 34th Foot. Two years later he was tried and acquitted for -persistently attempting to run down King Louis-Philippe in the street -while driving his gig.--B.] - -[Footnote 235: Jean George Farcy (1800-1830), an old pupil of the -Polytechnic School. He had translated the recently-published third -volume of Dugald Stewart's _Elements of the Philosophy of the Human -Mind._ He was one of the first insurgents killed near the Louvre.--B.] - -[Footnote 236: Jacques Leonard Clement Thomas (1809-1871) -remained an insurgent all his life. In May 1848, he was appointed -Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, but was dismissed, a few -weeks later, for insulting the Legion of Honour in the Chamber. At -the time of the _coup d'État_, in 1851, he made vain efforts to bring -about a rising in the Gironde, for which he had been elected deputy in -1848, and was exiled in consequence. He refused to accept the amnesty -in 1859, and did not return till after the 4th of September 1870. -During the siege, he was given the command of the National Guards of -the Seine; he sent in his resignation to General Trochu on the 14th of -February 1871, and retired into private life. On the 18th of March, -at the beginning of the insurrection, he was recognised and arrested -by some National Guards on the Place Pigalle, taken to the central -committee-rooms at Montmartre, and promptly shot.--B.] - -[Footnote 237: Jules Bastide (1800-1870) was the first to plant the -tricolour flag on the Tuileries. After the Revolution of February, he -was Foreign Minister from 28 February to 20 December 1848.--B.] - -[Footnote 238: Joseph Augustin Guinard (1799-1874) plotted equally -against the Restoration and the Government of July. In 1849, he -plotted against the Second Republic, was arrested and sentenced to -transportation for life. He was liberated in 1854 and lived thenceforth -in retirement--B.] - -[Footnote 239: Casimir Louis Victurnien de Rochechouart, Prince de -Tonnay-Charente, Duc de Mortemart (1787-1875). He served under the -Empire, became a peer of France under the First Restoration, and -Colonel of the Hundred Swiss. During the Hundred Days, he followed the -King to Ghent and, after the return, was appointed Major-General of -the National Guard of Paris. The Duc de Mortemart was Ambassador to -St. Petersburg from 1828 to 1830. He continued to sit in the House of -Peers after the Revolution of July and, under the Second Empire, in -1852, accepted a seat in the Senate, while holding aloof from the new -Court.--B.] - -[Footnote 240: Apollinaire Antoine Maurice Comte d'Argout (1782-1858) -was created a peer of France in 1819, and, like M. de Sémonville, -belonged to the Moderate Right. He was several times a minister from -1830 to 1836, holding successively the portfolios of the Navy, Commerce -and Public Works, the Interior and Finance. During these six years, -his very long nose was the constant butt of the draughtsmen on the -Caricature and Charivari, and eventually they drove him to take refuge -in the less prominent post of Governor of the Bank of France. The Comte -d'Argout died a senator of the Second Empire.--B.] - -[Footnote 241: The Duc de Choiseul-Stainville was shipwrecked at Calais -in November 1795, arrested by the authorities, acquitted by the Court -Martial before which he was brought, and nevertheless kept in prison by -the Directorate and finally condemned to death. The 18 Brumaire saved -him.--B.] - -[Footnote 242: In the Rue d'Artois, soon to be renamed Rue -Laffitte.--B.] - -[Footnote 243: Georges Mouton, Maréchal Comte de Lobau (1770-1838), had -distinguished himself in the wars of Napoleon, who gave him his title. -He was taken prisoner after the Capitulation of Dresden, in 1813, and -taken to England, where he remained till 1814. He fought at Waterloo, -was exiled under the Restoration and returned to France in 1818. In -1828, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Lobau succeeded La -Fayette as Commandant of the National Guard in December 1830, and was -created a marshal in 1831.--T.] - -[Footnote 244: François Mauguin (1785-1854), a famous advocate. He -became a member of the Municipal Commission, sat in the Dynastic Left -during the Usurpation and played a lesser part in public life in 1848 -and the subsequent events.--T.] - -[Footnote 245: Richard Cromwell (1626-1712), son of Oliver Cromwell, -succeeded his father as Lord Protector of England in September 1658 and -resigned in May 1659.--T.] - -[Footnote 246: Casimir Marie Marcellin Pierre Célestin Chardel -(1777-1847) was a judge of the Seine Tribunal, in 1830, and a deputy -for Paris.--B.] - -[Footnote 247: Pierre François Marchal (1785-1864) sat in opposition -throughout the duration of the Orleans Government.--B.] - -[Footnote 248: Jacques François Nicolas Bavoux (1774-1848), a deputy -for Paris. He kept the Prefecture of Police for two days only and was -supplanted by M. Girod de l'Ain on the 1st of August.--B.] - -[Footnote 249: Auguste Simon Louis Bérard (1783-1859), the Paris -banker.--B.] - -[Footnote 250: Palamède de Forbin-Janson, brother-in-law to the Duc de -Mortemart.--B.] - -[Footnote 251: François Sauvo (1772-1859), manager of the _Moniteur -universel_ from 1800 to 1840.--B.] - -[Footnote 252: Augustin Charles Périer (1773-1833), brother of Casimir -Périer, had been a deputy since 1827. He was not re-elected in 1831, -and was created a peer of France in 1832.--B.] - -[Footnote 253: Jules Paul Benjamin Baron Delessert (1773-1847), a -great manufacturer, was the first to make beetroot-sugar in France -and to introduce the idea of the savings-bank from England. Napoleon -made him a baron of the Empire. Delessert was a member of the Chamber -of Deputies from 1817 to 1824 and from 1827 to 1842, sitting with -the Constitutional Opposition during the Restoration and with the -Conservatives after 1830.--T.] - -[Footnote 254: Jean Baptiste Henry Collin, Comte de Sussy (1776-1837), -had been a member of the House of Peers since 1827. He retained his -seat till his death, having sworn allegiance to the Government of -July.--B.] - -[Footnote 255: _Cf._ Vol. III, p. 181.--T.] - -[Footnote 256: Louis Marie La Revellière-Lepeaux (1753-1824), a -barrister-scientist, member of the Constituent Assembly and of -the Convention, and author of the _Propagande armée._ He resisted -the Terrorists in 1793, was, a very short while, a member of the -Directorate, but retired from politics for good and all in 1795.--T.] - -[Footnote 257: Évariste Dumoulin (1776-1833), a well-known French -publicist, and one of the founders of the _Constitutionnel_ in -1815.--T.] - -[Footnote 258: Adrien Perlet (1795-1850), an excellent comic actor. -Most of his successes were made at the Gymnase; he was not a member of -the Opéra-Comique.--T.] - -[Footnote 259: On the 9th of January of this present year 1841, I -received a letter from M. Dubourg containing these "phrases:" - - "How I have longed to see you since our meeting on the Quai du - Louvre! How often have I longed to pour out into your bosom - the sorrows that racked my soul! What an unhappy thing it is - passionately to love one's country, one's honour, one's glory, when - one lives at such a time!.... - - "Was I wrong, in 1830, to refuse to submit to what was being done? - I saw clearly the odious future which was being prepared for - France, I explained how nothing but evil could spring from such - fraudulent political arrangements; but no one understood me." - - -On the 5th of July of this same year 1841, M. Dubourg wrote to me again -to send me the rough draft of a note which he addressed, in 1828, to -Messieurs de Martignac and de Caux to engage them to admit me to the -Council. I have therefore put forward nothing concerning M. Dubourg -which is not most scrupulously true.--_Author's Note_ (Paris, 1841).] - -[Footnote 260: Gustave Barba (_b. circa_ 1805), the -publisher-bookseller.--T.] - -[Footnote 261: It is right that I should set the Duc du Broglie's -version against that of Chateaubriand: - - "I really do not know," says the duke (_Souvenirs_, vol. III.), - "if I spoke four words in a desultory conversation, in which we - were animated by the same sentiments and preoccupied with the same - object: but I am perfectly certain of this, that I never said that - I had just been through Paris; that we were living on a volcano; - that the employers were no longer able to restrain their workmen; - that, if the King's name were thenceforth pronounced, they would - cut the throat of whoever pronounced it; that we should all be - massacred; that they would take the Luxembourg by assault as they - had taken the Bastille in 1789. And as for the speech with which M. - de Chateaubriand confounded that language, it is perhaps my fault, - but I regret to say that I did not hear one word of it."--B.] - -[Footnote 262: Victor Louis Charles de Riquet de Caraman, Duc de -Caraman (1762-1839), of the Netherlands family of Riquet de Caraman, -was created a French baron in 1813, a marquis and peer of France -in 1815, a count and peer of France in 1827, Duc de Caraman, _ad -personam_, in 1828, and an hereditary French duke in June 1830.--T.] - - - - -BOOK XV[263] - - -The Republicans--The Orleanist--M. Thiers is sent to -Neuilly--Convocation of peers at the Grand Refendary's--The letter -reaches me too late--Saint-Cloud--Scene between M. le Dauphin -and the Maréchal de Raguse--Neuilly--M. le Duc d'Orléans--The -Raincy--The Prince comes to Paris--A deputation from the Elective -Chamber offers M. le Duc d'Orléans the Lieutenant-generalship -of the Kingdom--He accepts--Efforts of the Republicans--M. le -Duc d'Orléans goes to the Hôtel de Ville--The Republicans at the -Palais-Royal--The King leaves Saint-Cloud--Madame la Dauphine arrives -at Trianon--The Diplomatic Body--Rambouillet--3 August: opening of -the Session--Letter from Charles X. to M. le Duc d'Orléans--The -mob sets out for Rambouillet--Flight of the King--Reflections--The -Palais-Royal--Conversations--Last political temptation--M. de -Sainte-Aulaire--Last gasp of the Republican Party--The day's work of -the 7th of August--Sitting of the House of Peers--My speech--I leave -the Palace of the Luxembourg, never to return--My resignations--Charles -X. takes ship at Cherbourg-What the Revolution of July will be--Close -of my political career. - - -The three parties were beginning to take shape and to act against one -another: the deputies who were in favour of a monarchy as represented -by the Elder Branch were the strongest, legally: they rallied to -themselves all that tended towards order; but, morally, they were -the weakest: they hesitated; they did not speak out: it was becoming -manifest, from the tergiversation of the Court, that they would fall -into the Usurpation rather than see themselves swallowed up by the -Republic. - -The latter had a placard posted on the walls saying: - - "France is free. She grants the Provisional Government the right - only of consulting her, until the time when she shall have - expressed her will by new elections. No more Royalty. The executive - power entrusted to a temporary President. Mediate or immediate - co-operation of all the citizens in the election of Deputies. - Liberty of worship." - -This placard summed up the only just things in the republican opinion; -a new assembly of deputies would have decided if it was well or ill to -give way to that wish of "no more Royalty;" each would have pleaded his -cause, and the election of a government of whatever kind by a national -congress would have borne the character of legality. - -On another republican poster of the same date, 30 July, one read in -large letters: - - "No more Bourbons.... All is won: greatness, repose, public - prosperity, liberty." - -Lastly appeared an address to Messieurs the members of the Municipal -Commission forming a provisional government; it demanded: - - "That no proclamation be issued naming a ruler, so long as the - form itself of the government can not yet be decided; that the - Provisional Government remain in power until the wish of the - majority of Frenchmen be known, any other measure being ill-timed - and culpable." - -This address, emanating from the members of a commission appointed by -a large number of citizens of different wards in Paris, was signed -by Messieurs Chevalier[264], as chairman, Trélat[265], Teste[266], -Lepelletier, Guinard[267], Hingray[268], Cauchois-Lemaire[269], etc. - -In this popular assembly, they proposed to offer the Presidency of -the Republic by acclamation to M. de La Fayette; they relied upon -the principles which the Chamber of Representatives of 1815 had -proclaimed, when separating. Various printers refused to publish these -proclamations, saying that they had been forbidden to do so by M. le -Duc de Broglie. The Republic was casting the throne of Charles X. to -the ground, and it feared the prohibitions of M. de Broglie, who had no -character of any kind. - -[Sidenote: The Orleanist party.] - -I have told you how, during the night between the 29th and 30th of -July, M. Laffitte, with M. Thiers and M. Mignet, had made every -preparation to draw the eyes of the public on M. le Duc d'Orléans. On -the 30th appeared proclamations and addresses, the fruit of this cabal, -with "Let us avoid the Republic" for their burden. Next came the feats -of arms of Jemmapes[270] and Valmy[271], and the people was assured -that M. le Duc d'Orléans was not a Capet, but a Valois[272]. - -And meanwhile M. Thiers, sent by M. Laffitte, was ambling towards -Neuilly with M. Scheffer[273]: H.R.H. was not there. Great wordy -contests between Mademoiselle d'Orléans[274] and M. Thiers: it was -agreed that they should write to M. le Duc d'Orléans to persuade him -to rally to the Revolution. M. Thiers himself wrote a note to the -Prince, and Madame Adélaïde promised to precede her family to Paris. -Orleanism had made progress and, on the evening, of that same day, the -question had been raised among the Deputies of conferring the powers of -Lieutenant-general on M. le Duc d'Orléans. - -M. de Sussy, with the Saint-Cloud Ordinances, had met with an even more -indifferent reception at the Hôtel de Ville than in the Chamber of -Deputies. Armed with a "receipt" from M. de La Fayette, he returned to -M. de Mortemart, who exclaimed: - -"You have done more than save my life; you have saved my honour." - -The Municipal Commission issued a proclamation in which it declared -that "the crimes of his [Charles X.'s] power were ended," and that "the -people would have a government which should owe its origin to them [the -people]:" an ambiguous phrase which you were free to interpret as you -pleased. Messieurs Laffitte and Périer did not sign this document M. -de La Fayette, alarmed, a little late in the day, at the idea of the -Orleanist Royalty, sent M. Odilon Barrot to the Chamber of Deputies to -announce that the people, the authors of the Revolution of July, did -not mean to end it by a simple change of persons, and that the blood -that had been shed was well worth a few liberties. There was talk of -a proclamation of the Deputies to invite H.R.H. the Duc d'Orléans to -come to the Capital: after some communications with the Hôtel de Ville, -this plan of a proclamation was demolished. Nevertheless it led to the -formation of a sort of deputation of twelve members who were to go to -the Lord of Neuilly[275] to offer him that Lieutenant-generalship for -which they had not been able to make way in a proclamation. - -In the evening, the Grand Refendary assembled the Peers in his -apartments[276]: his letter, through negligence or policy, reached me -too late. I hurried to hasten to the meeting; they opened the gate of -the Allée de l'Observatoire for me; I crossed the Luxembourg garden: -when I reached the palace, I found no one there. I made my way back -past the flower-beds, my eyes fixed on the moon. I regretted the seas -and the mountains above which she had appeared to me, the forests in -whose tops, herself vanishing in silence, she had seemed to repeat to -me the maxim of Epicurus[277]: - -"Conceal thy life." - - -[Sidenote: Troops retire to Saint-Cloud.] - -I have left the troops falling back upon Saint-Cloud, on the evening -of the 29th. The citizens of Chaillot and Passy attacked them, killing -a captain of Carabineers and two officers, and wounding some ten -soldiers. Captain Le Motha[278] of the Guards was struck by a bullet -fired by a child whom he had been pleased to spare. This captain had -given in his resignation at the time of the Ordinances; but, seeing -that they were fighting on the 27th, he returned to his regiment to -share the dangers of his comrades. Never, to the glory of France, was -there a finer battle waged in the parties opposed between liberty and -honour. - -Children, always fearless because they know nothing of danger, played -a sad part in the work of the Three Days: sheltered behind their -weakness, they fired point-blank at officers who would have thought -themselves dishonoured in beating them back. Modern arms place -death at the disposal of the feeblest hand. Ugly, wizened little -monkeys, libertines before they have the power of being so, cruel and -perverse, these little heroes of the three days gave themselves up to -assassination with all the abandonment of innocence. Let us beware -lest, by imprudent praises, we give birth to the emulation of evil: the -children of Sparta used to go helot-hunting. - -Monsieur le Dauphin received the soldiers at the gate of the village of -Boulogne, in the wood, and then returned to Saint-Cloud. - -Saint-Cloud was guarded by the four companies of the Body-guards. -The battalion of the pupils of Saint-Cyr had arrived: in rivalry and -in contrast with the Polytechnic School, they had embraced the royal -cause. The attenuated troops, returning from a three days' battle, -by their wounds and dilapidated appearance caused only amazement -to the titled, gilded and well-fed flunkeys who dined at the royal -table. No one thought of cutting the telegraphic lines; couriers, -travellers, mail-coaches, diligences passed freely along the road, with -the tricolour flag, which urged the villages to revolt as it passed -through them. Seduction by means of money and women was commencing. -The proclamations of the Commune of Paris were hawked to and fro. The -King and Court still refused to be persuaded that they were in danger. -In order to prove that they despised the doings of a few mutinous -burgesses and that there was no revolution, they let everything go: -God's finger is seen in all this. - -At nightfall, on the 30th of July, at nearly the same hour when the -commission of the Deputies left for Neuilly, an adjutant announced to -the troops that the Ordinances were repealed. The soldiers shouted, -"Long live the King!" and resumed their gaiety at the bivouac; but this -announcement made by the adjutant sent by the Duc de Raguse had not -been communicated to the Dauphin, who was a great lover of discipline -and flew into a rage. The King said to the marshal: - -"The Dauphin is displeased; go and have your explanation with him." - -The marshal did not find the Dauphin in his own apartments, and waited -for him in the billiard-room with the Duc de Guiche[279] and the Duc de -Ventadour, the Prince's aides-de-camp. The Dauphin entered: at sight -of the marshal, he flushed to his eyes, crossed his ante-chamber with -those singular long strides of his, reached his drawing-room and said -to the marshal: - -"Come in!" - -The door closed behind them: a great noise was heard; their voices were -raised more and more; the Duc de Ventadour grew anxious and opened the -door; the marshal came out, pursued by the Dauphin, who called him a -double traitor: - -"Give up your sword! Give up your sword!" he cried and, flinging -himself upon him, tore his sword from him. - -[Sidenote: Anger of the Dauphin.] - -M. Delarue, the marshal's aide-de-camp, tried to throw himself between -him and the Dauphin, and was held back by M. de Montgascon. The Prince -endeavoured to break the marshal's sword and, in so doing, cut his -hands. He cried: - -"Help, Guards! Seize him!" - -The Body-guards rushed in; if the marshal had not made a movement of -the head, their bayonets would have struck him in the face. The Duc de -Raguse was placed under arrest in his room[280]. - -The King arranged this affair as best he could. It was the more -deplorable as neither of the actors inspired any great interest. When -the son[281] of the Balafré slew Saint-Pol[282], the marshal of the -League, men recognised in this sword-stroke the pride and blood of the -Guises; but, supposing even that Monsieur le Dauphin, a mightier lord -than a Prince of Lorraine, had cut down Marshal Marmont, what would -that have mattered? If the marshal had killed Monsieur le Dauphin, it -would only have been a little more singular. We should see Cæsar, the -descendant of Venus, and Brutus[283], the heir of Junius[284], pass -through the streets without looking at them. Nothing is great to-day, -because nothing is high. - -That is, how at Saint-Cloud, the last hour of the Monarchy was spent; -that pale Monarchy, disfigured and blood-stained, resembled the -portrait which d'Urfé makes for us of a great personage dying: - - "His eyes were wan and sunk; his lower jaw, covered only with a - little skin, seemed to have disappeared; his beard was bristling, - his colour yellow, his glance slow, his breath bated. Already from - his mouth issued no longer human words, but oracles." - -M. le Duc d'Orléans had, throughout his life, entertained for the -throne the inclination that every high-born soul feels for power. -This inclination is modified according to the possessor's character: -impetuous and aspiring, or slack and fawning; imprudent, open, declared -in the former, circumspect, hidden, shamefaced in the latter: one, in -order to elevate himself, is capable of any crime; the other, in order -to rise, can descend to any meanness. M. le Duc d'Orléans belonged to -this latter class of ambitious men. Follow this Prince in his career: -he never says and never does anything completely; he always leaves a -door open for escape. During the Restoration, he flattered the Court -and encouraged liberal opinion; Neuilly became the meeting-place of -discontent and the discontented. They sighed, they pressed each other's -hands with eyes raised to Heaven, but they did not utter a word of -enough significance to be reported in high places. When a member of the -Opposition died, a carriage was sent to the funeral, but the carriage -was empty: the livery is admitted to every door and every grave-side. -If, at the time of my disgrace at Court, I found myself at the -Tuileries on M. le Duc d'Orléans' path, he went past, taking care to -bow to the right, in such a manner that, I being on the left, he turned -his shoulder to me. That would be remarked and would do good. - -Was M. le Duc d'Orléans aware beforehand of the Ordinances of July? Was -he told of them by a person who held M. Ouvrard's secret? What did he -think of them? What were his hopes and fears? Did he conceive a plan? -Did he urge M. Laffitte to act as he did act, or did he let M. Laffitte -act as he pleased? To judge from Louis-Philippe's character, we must -presume that he took no resolve, and that his political timidity, -taking refuge in his falseness, awaited events as the spider awaits the -gnat which will be taken in its web. He allowed the moment to conspire; -he himself conspired only by his wishes, of which it is probable that -he was afraid. - -[Sidenote: M. le Duc D'Orléans.] - -There were two courses open to M. le Duc d'Orléans: the first, and the -more honourable, was to hasten to Saint-Cloud, to interpose himself -between Charles X. and the people, in order to save the crown of the -one and the liberty of the other; the second consisted in flinging -himself on the barricades, with the tricolour flag in his hand, and -placing himself at the head of the movement of the world. Philip had -to choose between the honest man and the great man: he preferred to -pilfer the crown from the King and liberty from the people. During the -confusion and misfortune of a fire, a pickpocket artfully purloins the -most valuable objects from the burning palace, without heeding the -cries of a child which the flames have surprised in its cradle. - -The rich prey once seized, plenty of hounds were there for the -distribution of the quarry: then came all those old corruptions of -the preceding systems, those receivers of stolen goods, filthy, -half-crushed toads that have been walked upon a hundred times and that -live, all flattened out as they are. And yet those are the men of whom -one boasts, whose ability one exalts! Milton thought otherwise when he -wrote this passage in a sublime letter: - - "If ever God poured a strong love for moral beauty in a man's - breast, he did so in mine. Wherever I meet a man despising the - false esteem of the vulgar, daring to aspire, by his opinions, his - language and his conduct, to the greatest excellence which the - lofty wisdom of the ages has taught us, I become united to that man - by a sort of necessary attachment. There is no power in Heaven or - upon earth which can prevent me from contemplating with respect and - fondness those who have attained the summit of dignity and virtue." - -The blind Court of Charles X. never knew where it stood or with whom it -had to do: it might have ordered M. le Duc d'Orléans to Saint-Cloud, -and it is probable that, at the first moment, he would have obeyed; -it might have had him kidnapped at Neuilly, on the very day of the -Ordinances: it took neither course. - -On receipt of advices which Madame de Bondy brought him, at Neuilly, -in the night of Tuesday the 27th, Louis-Philippe rose at three o'clock -in the morning and withdrew to a place known only to his family. He -had the double fear of being touched by the insurrection in Paris and -of being arrested by a captain of the Guards. He therefore went to the -Rainey, there in solitude to listen to the distant gun-shots of the -Battle of the Louvre, as I had listened under a tree to those of the -Battle of Waterloo. The feelings which doubtless stirred the Prince -must have had very little in common with those which oppressed me in -the plains of Ghent. - -I have told you how, on the morning of the 30th of July, M. -Thiers failed to find the Duc d'Orléans at Neuilly; but Madame la -Duchesse d'Orléans[285] sent to fetch H.R.H.: the Comte Anatole de -Montesquiou[286] was charged with the message. On arriving at the -Rainey, M. de Montesquiou had all the difficulty in the world to decide -Louis-Philippe to return to Neuilly, there to await the deputation from -the Chamber of Deputies. - -At last, persuaded by the Duchesse d'Orléans' lord-in-waiting, -Louis-Philippe stepped into his carriage. M. de Montesquiou started -in advance; at first he went pretty fast; but, when he looked back, -he saw H.R.H.'s calash stop and drive back again towards the Rainey. -M. de Montesquiou returned at full speed and entreated the future -majesty, who was hastening to conceal himself in the desert, like the -illustrious Christians who used to flee from the burdensome dignity of -the episcopate: the faithful servant obtained a last unhappy victory. - -On the evening of the 30th, the deputation of twelve members of the -Chamber of Deputies, which was to offer the Lieutenant-generalship -of the Kingdom to the Prince, sent him a message to Neuilly. -Louis-Philippe received the message at the park gates, read it by -torch-light, and at once set out for Paris, accompanied by Messieurs -de Berthois[287], Haymès and Oudart. He wore a tricolour favour in his -button-hole: he was going to carry off an old crown from the Royal -Furniture Repository. - - -On his arrival at the Palais-Royal, M. le Duc d'Orléans sent his -compliments to M. de La Fayette. - -The deputation of twelve members of the Chamber of Deputies appeared -at the Palais-Royal. They asked the Prince if he accepted the -Lieutenant-generalship of the Kingdom; he made an embarrassed reply: - -"I have come amongst you to share your dangers.... I have need of -reflection. I must consult various persons. The dispositions of -Saint-Cloud are not at all hostile; the King's presence lays duties -upon me." - -[Sidenote: Eating his words.] - -Thus replied Louis-Philippe. He was made to eat his words, as he -expected: after withdrawing for half-an-hour, he reappeared, bearing -a proclamation by virtue of which he accepted the functions of -Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom. The proclamation ended with this -declaration: - -"The Charter will henceforward be a reality!" - -The proclamation was taken to the Elective Chamber and received with -that fifty-year-old revolutionary enthusiasm: another proclamation was -issued in reply, drawn up by M. Guizot[288]. The deputies returned to -the Palais-Royal; the Prince became affected, accepted afresh, and -could not help bewailing the deplorable circumstances which forced him -to be Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom. - -Stunned by the blows that had been struck at it, the Republic tried -to defend itself; but its real head, General La Fayette, had almost -abandoned it. He delighted in the concert of adoration that reached -him from every side; he greedily inhaled the perfume of revolution; he -was enchanted at the idea that he was the arbiter of France, that he -was able, by stamping the earth with his foot, to cause a republic or -a monarchy to spring up, as he pleased; he loved to lull himself in -the uncertainty which pleases minds that dread conclusions, because an -instinct warns them that they cease to be anything when the facts are -accomplished. - -The other republican leaders had ruined themselves in advance by their -several works: the praises of the Terror had reminded Frenchmen of 1793 -and caused them to recoil. The re-establishment of the National Guard -at the same time killed the principle or the power of insurrection in -the combatants of July. M. de La Fayette did not perceive that, in -dreaming of the Republic, he had armed three millions of fighting men -against it. - -[Sidenote: The D'Orléans pedigree.] - -Be this as it may, ashamed of being duped so soon, the younger men made -some show of resistance. They replied by proclamations and posters -to the proclamations and posters of the Duc d'Orléans. He was told -that, if the deputies had so far lowered themselves as to beseech him -to accept the Lieutenant-generalship of the Kingdom, the Chamber of -Deputies, elected under an aristocratic law, had no right to manifest -the will of the people. It was proved to Louis-Philippe that he was the -son of Louis Philippe Joseph; that Louis Philippe Joseph was the son -of Louis Philippe[289]; that Louis Philippe was the son of Louis[290], -who was the son of Philip II.[291] the Regent; that Philip II. was the -son of Philip I.[292] who was the brother of Louis XIV.: therefore -Louis-Philippe d'Orléans was a Bourbon and Capet, not a Valois. M. -Laffitte nevertheless continued to look upon him as belonging to the -dynasty of Charles IX. and Henry III., and said: - -"Thiers knows all about it." - -Later, the Lointier gathering[293] protested that the nation was in -arms to maintain its rights by force. The central committee of the 12th -Ward declared that the people had not been consulted on the method -of its Constitution, that the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of -Peers, holding their powers from Charles X., had fallen with him and -could not, in consequence, represent the nation; that the Provisional -Government must remain in permanence, under the presidency of La -Fayette, until a Constitution had been discussed and fixed as the -fundamental basis of government. - -On the morning of the 30th, there was a question of proclaiming the -Republic. A few determined men threatened to kill the Municipal -Commission if it did not keep the power in its hands. Did they not -also blame the House of Peers? They were furious at its audacity. The -audacity of the House of Peers! Surely this must have been the last -outrage and the last injustice which it expected to receive at the -hands of public opinion! - -A plan was formed: twenty of the most fiery young men were to lie in -wait in a little street running into the Quai de la Ferraille and fire -on Louis-Philippe when he went from the Palais-Royal to the Hôtel de -Ville. They were stopped and told that they would at the same time be -killing Laffitte, Pajol and Benjamin Constant. Lastly it was proposed -to kidnap the Duc d'Orléans and put him on board ship at Cherbourg: a -strange meeting, if Charles X. and Philip had come together again in -the same port, on the same vessel, one dispatched to a foreign shore by -the middle class, the other by the Republicans! - - -The Duc d'Orléans, having made up his mind to go to have his title -confirmed by the tribunes of the Hôtel de Ville, went down into the -court-yard of the Palais-Royal, surrounded by eighty-nine deputies -in caps, in round hats, in dress-coats, in frock-coats. The royal -candidate mounted a white horse; he was followed by Benjamin Constant, -tossed about in a chair by two Savoyards. Messieurs Méchin[294] and -Viennet[295], covered with dust and perspiration, walked between the -white horse of the future monarch and the barrow of the gouty deputy, -quarrelling with the two porters to make them keep the required -distance. A half-drunken drummer beat the drum at the head of the -procession. Four ushers served as lictors. The more zealous deputies -bellowed: - -"Long live the Duc d'Orléans!" - -[Sidenote: Philip at the Palais-Royal.] - -Around the Palais-Royal these cries met with some response; but, as the -troop approached the Hôtel de Ville, the spectators became derisive -or silent. Philip threw himself about on his triumphal steed and -constantly took shelter beneath the buckler of M. Laffitte, from whom -he received a few patronizing words on the way. He smiled to General -Gérard, made signs of intelligence to M. Viennet and M. Méchin, and -begged the crown of the people with his hat adorned with a yard of -tricolour ribbon, putting out his hand to whosoever on his way was -willing to drop an alms into it. The strolling monarchy reached the -Place de Grève, where it was greeted with cries of "The Republic for -ever!" - -When the royal electoral matter made its way inside the Hôtel de -Ville, the postulant was received with more threatening murmurs: a -few zealous servants who shouted his name were punched for their -pains. He entered the Throne Room; here were crowded the wounded and -fighters of the Three Days: a general shout of "No more Bourbons! Long -live La Fayette!" shook the rafters of the hall. The Prince appeared -embarrassed. M. Viennet, on behalf of M. Laffitte, read the declaration -of the Deputies; it was heard in profound silence. The Duc d'Orléans -spoke a few words of adhesion. Then M. Dubourg said roughly to Philip: - -"You have taken serious engagements. If ever you fail to keep them, -we are the people to remind you of them." Whereupon the future King -replied, with great emotion: - -"Sir, I am an honest man." - -M. de La Fayette, seeing the growing uncertainty of the assembly, -suddenly took it in his head to abdicate the Presidency: he handed the -Duc d'Orléans a tricolour flag, stepped out on the balcony of the Hôtel -de Ville, and embraced the Prince before the eyes of the gaping crowd, -while the Duke waved the national flag. La Fayette's republican kiss -made a king: a curious outcome of the whole career of the "hero of the -Two Worlds!" - -And then, rub-a-dub! the litter of Benjamin Constant and the white -horse of Louis-Philippe went home again, half hooted, half blessed, -from the political factory on the Grève to the Palais-Marchand. - - "That same day," says M. Louis Blanc, "and not far from the Hôtel - de Ville, a wherry moored at the foot of the Morgue and surmounted - by a black flag, received corpses which were lowered in barrows. - These corpses were piled up in heaps and covered with straw; and - the crowd, which had gathered along the parapets of the Seine, - looked on in silence[296]." - -Speaking of the States of the League and the making of a king, -Palma-Cayet[297] exclaims: - - "I pray you to picture to yourselves what answer could have made - that little goodman Master Matthieu Delaunay and M. Boucher, - curate of Saint-Benoît, and any other of that condition to one who - should have told them that they must be employed to instal a king - in France to their fancy?... True Frenchmen have always held in - contempt that form of electing kings, which makes them masters and - servants together." - -Philip had not come to the end of his trials; he had many more hands -to shake, many more embraces to receive: he still had to blow very -many kisses, to bow very low to the passers-by, to humour the crowd -by coming many times on the balcony of the Tuileries to sing the -Marseillaise. - -A certain number of Republicans had met, on the morning of the 31st, -at the office of the _National_: when they knew that the Duc d'Orléans -had been appointed Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, they wished -to know the opinions of the man destined to become King in spite of -them. They were taken to the Palais-Royal by M. Thiers: there were -Messieurs Bastide, Thomas, Joubert[298], Cavaignac[299], Marchais, -Degousée[300], and Guinard. The Prince at first said many fine things -to them about liberty: - -"You are not King yet," retorted Bastide; "listen to the truth: soon -you will have no lack of flatterers." - -"Your father," added Cavaignac, "was a regicide like mine; that -separates you a little from the others." - -[Sidenote: Embraces La Fayette.] - -Followed mutual congratulations on the regicide, accompanied -nevertheless by a judicious remark from Philip, to the effect that -there are things which we should remember in order not to imitate them. - -Some Republicans who were not at the meeting at the _National_ entered. -M. Trélat said to Philip: - -"The people is the master; your functions are provisional; the people -must express its wish: do you consult it, yes or no?" - -M. Thiers interrupted this dangerous speech by tapping M. Thomas on the -shoulder and saying: - -"Monseigneur, have we not a fine colonel here?" - -"That is true," answered Louis-Philippe. - -"What is he talking about?" they exclaimed. "Does he take us for a band -that has come to sell itself?" - -And on every side rose contradictory phrases: - -"It's a tower of Babel! And that's what they call a Citizen King! The -Republic? You had better govern with Republicans!" - -And M. Thiers exclaiming: - -"Here's a fine embassy I've undertaken!" - -Then M. de La Fayette came down to the Palais-Royal: the citizen was -nearly stifled under the embraces of his King. The whole house was -ready to die. - -Men in jackets were at the posts of honour, men in caps in the -drawing-rooms, men in smocks sat down to table with the Princes -and Princesses; in the council-chamber there were chairs, but no -arm-chairs; all spoke who would; Louis-Philippe, seated between M. de -La Fayette and M. Laffitte, their arms entwined round each other's -shoulders, beamed expansively with equality and happiness. - -I would have liked to employ more gravity in my description of those -scenes which produced a great revolution, or, to speak more correctly, -of those scenes by which the transformation of the world will be -hastened: but I saw them; deputies who acted in them could not help -showing a certain confusion, when they told me how, on the 31st of -July, they went to forge--a king. - -To Henry IV., before he became a Catholic, men raised objections which -did not degrade him and which were measured by the level of the Throne -itself: they told him that "St. Louis had been canonized, not at -Geneva, but in Rome; that, if the King were not a Catholic, he would -not hold the first place among the kings of Christendom; that it was -not seemly that the King should pray in one wise and his people in -another; that the King could not be crowned at Rheims, nor buried at -Saint-Denis, if he were not a Catholic." - -What was the objection raised against Philip before his final election? -Men objected that he was not "patriot" enough. - -To-day, when the Revolution is consummated, men take offense if one -dare remind them of what took place at the start; they fear to diminish -the solidity of the position they have taken up, and whosoever does -not find in the origin of the incipient fact the gravity of the -accomplished fact is a traducer. - -When a dove descended to bring the Holy Oil to Clovis; when the -long-haired kings were raised upon a buckler; when St. Louis, in his -premature virtue, trembled at his coronation while pronouncing the -oath to employ his authority only for the glory of God and the welfare -of his people; when Henry IV., after his entry into Paris, went to -prostrate himself at Notre-Dame, and men saw, or thought they saw, on -his right, a beautiful child who defended him and who was taken to be -his guardian angel: I conceive that the diadem was a sacred thing; -the Oriflamme rested in the tabernacles of Heaven. But, now that a -sovereign, on a public square, with hair cut short and hands tied -behind his back, has lowered his head beneath the blade to the sound -of the drum; now that another sovereign, surrounded by the rabble, has -gone to beg votes for his "election," to the sound of the same drum, -on another public square: who keeps the smallest illusion touching -the crown? Who believes that that soiled and battered monarchy can -still impose upon the world? What man, feeling his heart beat ever so -little, would swallow power in that cup of shame and disgust which -Philip emptied at one draught without a qualm? European monarchy could -have continued its life, if in France they had preserved the parent -monarchy, the daughter of a saint and of a great man; but her seed has -been dispersed: nothing will be born of her again. - - -You have seen the Monarchy of the Grève march dusty and breathless -under the tricolour flag, in the midst of its insolent friends: see -now the Royalty of Rheims retire, with measured steps, in the midst of -its almoners and its guards, walking in accordance with the exactest -etiquette, hearing no word but words of respect, revered even by those -who detested it. The soldier, little though he esteemed it, died for -it; the White Flag, laid upon its bier before being folded away for -ever, said to the wind: - -"Salute me: I was at Ivry; I saw Turenne die; the English knew me at -Fontenoy; I made liberty triumph under Washington; I have delivered -Greece, and I still wave from the walls of Algiers!" - -[Sidenote: The Duc D'Angoulême.] - -On the 31st, at daybreak, at the very hour when the Duc -d'Orléans, after arriving in Paris, was preparing to accept the -Lieutenant-generalship, the servants at Saint-Cloud came to the bivouac -on the Sèvres Bridge, saying that they were discharged and that the -King had left at half-past three in the morning. The soldiers became -excited, but grew calm again when the Dauphin appeared: he rode up on -horse-back, as though to carry them with him by one of those phrases -which lead the French to death or victory; he stopped in front of the -ranks, stammered a few sentences, turned short, and went back to the -Palace. It was not courage that failed him, but speech. The miserable -education of our Princes of the Elder Branch, since Louis XIV., -rendered them incapable of supporting a contradiction, of expressing -themselves like everybody else, and of mixing with the rest of mankind. - -Meanwhile, the heights of Sèvres and the terraces of Bellevue were -crowned with men of the people: a few musket-shots were exchanged. The -captain commanding the advance-guard on the Sèvres Bridge went over -to the enemy; he took a piece of cannon and a part of his soldiers -to the bands that had gathered on the Point-du-Jour Road. Then the -Parisians and the Guards agreed that no hostilities should take place -until the evacuation of Saint-Cloud and of Sèvres was effected. The -retiring movement began; the Swiss were hemmed in by the inhabitants -of Sèvres and flung away their arms, although they were almost at once -extricated by the Lancers, whose lieutenant-colonel was wounded. The -troops passed through Versailles, where the National Guard had been on -duty since the preceding day, with La Rochejacquelein's Grenadiers, the -first under the tricolour, the second with the white cockade. Madame -la Dauphine arrived from Vichy and joined the Royal Family at Trianon, -the favourite residence of Marie-Antoinette. At Trianon, M. de Polignac -took leave of his master. - -It has been said that Madame la Dauphine was opposed to the Ordinances. -The only way to judge kings correctly is to consider them in their -essence: the plebeian will always be on the side of liberty; the -prince will always lean towards power. We must ascribe this to them as -neither a crime nor a merit: it is their nature. Madame la Dauphine -would probably have wished that the Ordinances had appeared at a more -opportune moment, after better precautions had been taken to ensure -their success; but in reality they pleased her and were bound to please -her. Madame la Duchesse de Berry was delighted with them. Those two -Princesses believed that the Royalty, once its own master, would be -free from the shackles which representative government fastens to the -sovereign's feet. - - -One is astonished, in the events of July, not to meet with the -Diplomatic Body, which was only too much consulted by the Court and -which interfered too much in our business. - -There was twice a question of the foreign ambassadors in our last -troubles. A man was arrested at the barriers and the packet of which he -was the bearer sent to the Hôtel de Ville: it was a dispatch from M. de -Lœwenhielm[301] to the King of Sweden. M. Baude sent back the dispatch -unopened to the Swedish Legation. Lord Stuart's[302] correspondence -fell into the hands of the popular leaders and was similarly returned -without being opened, which did wonders in London. Lord Stuart, like -all his fellow-countrymen, adored disorder in foreign countries: with -him, diplomacy was police-duty, dispatches reports. He liked me well -enough when I was Foreign Minister, because I treated him without -ceremony and because my door was always open to him; he used to come to -me at all hours, in boots, dirty, with disordered dress, after visiting -the boulevards and the ladies, whom he paid badly and who called him -"Stuart." - -I had conceived diplomacy on a new plan: having nothing to conceal, -I spoke aloud; I would have shown my dispatches to the first-comer, -because I had no project for the glory of France which I was not -determined to accomplish in spite of all opposition. - -I have said a hundred times to Sir Charles Stuart, laughing, and I -meant what I said: - -"Do not pick a quarrel with me: if you throw down the gauntlet to me, -I shall pick it up. France has never made war on you with a proper -understanding of your position; that is why you have beaten us: but -don't rely on this[303]." - -[Sidenote: Lord Stuart de Rothesay.] - -Lord Stuart, therefore, beheld our "troubles of July" with all that -good nature which rejoices over our misfortunes. But the members of -the Diplomatic Body hostile to the popular cause had more or less -urged Charles X. in the direction of the Ordinances; and yet, when -they appeared, the ambassadors did nothing to save the Sovereign. If -M. Pozzo di Borgo[304] showed some anxiety concerning a _coup d'État_, -this was on behalf of neither the King nor the people. - -Two things are certain: - -First, the Revolution attacked the treaties of the Quadruple Alliance: -the France of the Bourbons formed part of that alliance; the Bourbons -could not, therefore, be violently dispossessed without endangering the -new political right of Europe. - -Secondly, in a monarchy, the foreign legations are not accredited to -the government, but to the monarch. The strict duty of those legations, -therefore, was to gather round Charles X. and to attend on him so long -as he remained on French soil. - -Is it not singular that the only ambassador to whom this idea occurred -should have been the representative of Bernadotte, of a King who -did not belong to the old families of sovereigns? M. de Lœwenhielm -was on the point of bringing the Baron de Werther[305] over to his -opinion, when M. Pozzo di Borgo opposed a measure which his credentials -prescribed and honour demanded. - -Had the Diplomatic Body gone to Saint-Cloud, Charles X.'s position -would have been different: the partisans of the Legitimacy in the -Elective Chamber would have gained a strength which they lacked at -first; the fear of a war would have alarmed the working class; the -idea of preserving peace by keeping Henry V.[306] would have drawn a -considerable mass of the population over to the royal infant's party. - -M. Pozzo di Borgo stood aloof so as not to compromise his securities on -the Bourse or at his bankers', and especially not to expose his place. -He played at five per cent, on the corpse of the Capetian Legitimacy, -a corpse which will communicate death to the other living kings. He -will not fail, some time hence, to try, according to custom, to pass -off this irreparable fault, due to personal interest, as a profound -combination. - -Ambassadors left too long at the same Court adopt the manners of the -country in which they reside. Charmed to live in the midst of honours, -no longer seeing things as they are, they are afraid of passing in -their dispatches a truth which might bring about a change in their -position. It is, in fact, a different thing to be Esterhazy[307], -Werther, Pozzo in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, or to be Their -Excellencies the Ambassadors to the Court of France. It has been said -that M. Pozzo bore a grudge against Louis XVIII. and Charles X. in -the matter of the Blue Ribbon and the peerage. They were wrong not to -satisfy him; he had rendered services to the Bourbons, for hatred of -his fellow-countryman[308], Bonaparte. But if, at Ghent, he decided -the question of the throne, by provoking the sudden departure of Louis -XVIII. for Paris, he can now boast that, by preventing the Diplomatic -Body from doing its duty in the Days of July, he has helped to throw -from the head of Charles X. the crown which he assisted in placing on -the brow of his brother. - -[Sidenote: The diplomatic body.] - -I have long been of opinion that diplomatic bodies, born in centuries -subject to a different law of nations, are no longer in keeping with -the new society: public governments, easy communications bring about -that nowadays Cabinets are in a position to treat direct or simply -through the intermediary of their consular agents, whose number should -be increased and their condition improved: for, at this hour, Europe -is an industrial continent. Titled spies, with exorbitant pretensions, -who meddle with everything to give themselves an importance which they -cannot retain, serve only to disturb the Cabinets to which they are -accredited and to feed their masters with illusions. Charles X., on his -side, was wrong not to invite the Diplomatic Body to join his Court; -but what he saw seemed to him a dream: he went from one surprise to the -other. It was thus that he did not send for M. le Duc d'Orléans; for, -thinking himself in danger only from the side of the Republic, the risk -of an usurpation never entered his thoughts. - - -Charles X. set out in the evening for Rambouillet with the Princesses -and M. le Duc de Bordeaux. The new role played by M. le Duc d'Orléans -gave rise to the first ideas of abdication in the King's head. Monsieur -le Dauphin remained with the rear-guard, but did not mix with the -soldiers; at Trianon he ordered what remained of wine and food to be -distributed among them. - -At a quarter past eight in the evening, the different corps set -forward. There the fidelity of the 5th Light Regiment expired. Instead -of following the movement, it returned to Paris: its colours were -brought to Charles X., who refused to accept them, as he had refused to -accept those of the 50th. - -The brigades were all confused, the several arms intermingled; the -cavalry outpaced the infantry and halted separately. At midnight, on -the 31st of July, a stop was made at Trappes. The Dauphin slept at a -house at the back of the village. - -The next morning, the 1st of August, he started for Rambouillet, -leaving the troops bivouacked at Trappes. These broke up camp at -eleven. A few soldiers who had gone to buy bread in the hamlets were -massacred. - -On its arrival at Rambouillet, the army was cantoned round the Palace. - -During the night of the 1st of August, three regiments of heavy -cavalry went back to their old garrisons. It is believed that General -Bordesoulle[309], commanding the heavy cavalry of the Guard, had made -his capitulation at Versailles. The 2nd Grenadiers also went off on -the morning of the 2nd, after sending in its colours to the King. The -Dauphin met these deserting Grenadiers; they formed in line to do -honour to the Prince, and continued their road. Strange mixture of -disloyalty and good manners! In this three days' revolution, no one -betrayed any passion; each acted according to the idea he had formed of -his rights or his duties: the rights conquered, the duties fulfilled, -no enmity and no affection remained. The one feared lest the rights -should carry him too far, the other lest the duties should exceed their -limits. Perhaps it has only once happened, and perhaps it will never -happen again, that a people stopped within reach of its victory, and -that soldiers who had defended a King, so long as he seemed to wish -to fight, returned their standards to him before abandoning him. The -Ordinances had released the people from its oath; the retreat, on the -field of battle, released the grenadier from his flag. - - -Charles X. retiring, the Republicans withdrawing, there was nothing to -prevent the Elected Monarchy from moving forward. The provinces, always -sheep-like and the slaves of Paris, at each movement of the telegraph -and at each tricolour flag perched on the top of a diligence, shouted, -"Long live Philip!" or, "The Revolution for ever!" - -The opening of the session being fixed for the 3rd of August, the Peers -repaired to the Chamber of Deputies: I went there, for everything -was as yet provisional. There another act of melodrama was performed: -the throne remained empty, and the Anti-king sat down beside it, as -who should say the Lord Chancellor opening a session of the British -Parliament, in the Sovereign's absence. - -Philip spoke of the painful necessity in which he had found himself -of accepting the Lieutenant-generalship to save us all, of the -revision of Article XIV. of the Charter, of the feeling for liberty -which he, Philip, bore in his heart and which he was about to pour -over us, together with peace over Europe: a hocus-pocus of speech and -constitution repeated at each phase of our history since the last -half-century. But attention grew very lively when the Prince made the -following declaration: - -[Sidenote: Abdication of Charles X.] - - "Peers and deputies, - - "So soon as the two Chambers are constituted, I will communicate - to you the act of abdication of His Majesty King Charles X. By the - same act, Louis Antoine of France, the Dauphin, likewise renounces - his rights. This act was placed in my hands at eleven o'clock last - night, the 2nd of August. This morning I have ordered it to be - deposited in the archives of the House of Peers and to be inserted - in the official part of the _Moniteur_." - -By a contemptible trick and a cowardly omission, the Duc d'Orléans -here suppressed the name of Henry V., in whose favour the two Kings -had abdicated. If, at that time, every Frenchman could have been -individually consulted, it is probable that the majority would have -pronounced in favour of Henry V.; even a section of the Republicans -would have accepted him, giving him La Fayette for a mentor. Had the -germ of the Legitimacy remained in France and the two old Kings gone -to end their days in Rome, none of the difficulties which surround an -usurpation and render it suspicious to the various parties would have -existed. The adoption of the Younger Branch of Bourbon was not only a -danger, it was a political solecism: New France is Republican; she does -not want a king, at least she does not want a king of the old dynasty. -A few years more, and we shall see what will become of our liberties -and what that peace will be which is to gladden the world. If we may -judge of the future conduct of the new personage elected by what we -know of his character, it is safe to presume that this Prince will -think that the only way to preserve his monarchy is by oppression at -home and grovelling abroad. - -The real wrong done by Louis-Philippe is not that he accepted the -crown, an act of ambition of which there are thousands of examples and -which attacks only a political institution; his true crime is that he -was a faithless guardian, that he "robbed the child and the orphan," a -crime for which the Scriptures do not contain enough curses: now moral -justice (let who will call it fatality or Providence, I call it the -inevitable consequences of evil-doing) has never failed to punish the -infractions of moral law. - -Philip, his government, all that order of impossible and contradictory -things will perish, within a period more or less delayed by fortuitous -circumstances, by complications of internal and external interests, by -the apathy and corruption of individuals, by the levity of men's minds, -the indifference and effacement of their characters; but, whatever the -duration of the present system may be, it will never be long enough for -the Orleans Branch to take deep root. - -Charles X., apprized of the progress of the Revolution, possessing -nothing in his age or his character fitted to stem that progress, -thought that he was warding off the blow struck at his House by -abdicating together with his son, as Philip announced to the Deputies. -On the 1st of August he wrote a line approving of the opening of the -session and, counting on the sincere attachment of his cousin the Duc -d'Orléans, he in his turn appointed him Lieutenant-general of the -Kingdom. He went further on the 2nd, for he wanted nothing more than -to take ship, and he asked for commissaries to protect him as far as -Cherbourg. These apparitors were not at once received by the Military -Household. Bonaparte also had commissaries as guards: the first time -Russian, the second French; but he had not asked for them. - -[Sidenote: Letter from Charles to Philip.] - -Here is Charles X.'s letter: - - "RAMBOUILLET, 2 _August_ 1830. - - "COUSIN, - - "I am too deeply distressed at the evils with which my people are - afflicted and threatened not to seek the means of removing them. - I have therefore resolved to abdicate the crown in favour of my - grandson, the Duc de Bordeaux. - - "The Dauphin, who shares my sentiments, also renounces his rights - in favour of his nephew. - - "You will, therefore, in your capacity of Lieutenant-general of - the Kingdom, cause the accession of Henry V. to the crown to be - proclaimed. You will take all the other measures which concern - you, for regulating the forms of government during the minority of - the new King. I here confine myself to the communication of these - arrangements, as the means of avoiding yet many more evils. - - "You will communicate my intentions to the Diplomatic Body, and - you will take the earliest opportunity of making known to me the - proclamation by which my grandson is recognised as King, under the - title of Henry V.[310]... - - "I renew to you, cousin, the assurance of the sentiments with which - I am - - "Your affectionate cousin, - - "CHARLES." - -If M. le Duc d'Orléans had been capable of emotion or remorse, would -not this signature, "Your affectionate cousin," have struck him to the -heart? So little doubt had they at Rambouillet of the efficacy of the -abdications that the young Prince was being made ready for his journey: -his ægis, the tricolour cockade, was already fashioned by the hands -of the most zealous promoters of the Ordinances. Suppose that Madame -la Duchesse de Berry had suddenly set out with her son and appeared -in the Chamber of Deputies at the moment when M. le Duc d'Orléans was -delivering his opening speech, two chances remained: dangerous chances, -but, at least, the child removed to Heaven would not have dragged out -days of misery on foreign soil. - -My counsels, my prayers, my cries were powerless; I asked in vain for -Marie-Caroline: the mother of Bayard, as he was preparing to quit the -paternal castle, "wept," says the _Loyal Serviteur_: - -"The good gentle woman came out from the back of the tower, and sent -for her son, to whom she spake these words: - -"'Pierre, my friend, be sweet and courteous, putting from you all -pride; be humble and serviceable to all men; be loyal in deeds and -words; be helpful to poor widows and orphans, and God will recompense -you....' - -"Then the good ladye drew out of her sleeve a little purse in which -were only six crowns in gold and one in small silver, the which she -gave to her son." - -The knight without fear and without reproach rode away with six golden -crowns in a little purse to become the bravest and most renowned -of captains. Henry, who perhaps has not six gold crowns, will have -very different combats to wage; he will have to fight misfortune, -a difficult champion to throw. Let us glorify the mothers who give -such tender and good lessons to their sons! Blessed, then, be you, my -mother, from whom I derive all that may have honoured and disciplined -my life! - -Forgive me for all these recollections; but perhaps the tyranny of my -memory, by introducing the past into the present, takes from the latter -a part of its wretchedness. - -The three commissaries deputed to Charles X. were Messieurs de Schonen, -Odilon Barrot and Marshal Maison. They were sent back by the military -posts, and started to return to Paris. A wave of the populace carried -them back to Rambouillet. - - -The rumour spread, on the evening of the 2nd, that Charles X. refused -to leave Rambouillet before his grand-son was recognised. A multitude -gathered in the Champs-Élysées on the morning of the 3rd, shouting: - -"To Rambouillet! To Rambouillet! Not one of the Bourbons must escape -from it!" - -There were rich men mixed among these groups, but, when the moment -came, they allowed the "rabble" to set out without them. General Pajol -placed himself at their head, taking Colonel Jacqueminot[311] as his -chief of staff. The returning commissaries, meeting the scouts of this -column, turned on their steps and were then admitted to Rambouillet. -The King questioned them on the strength of the insurgents and then, -withdrawing, sent for Maison, who owed him his fortune and his -marshal's baton: - -"Maison, I ask you on your honour as a soldier, is what the -commissaries have told me the truth?" - -The marshal replied: - -"They have told you only half the truth." - -[Sidenote: Charles X. at Rambouillet.] - -There remained at Rambouillet, on the 3rd of August, 3500 men of the -Infantry of the Guard, and four regiments of Light Cavalry, forming -twenty squadrons and consisting of 2000 men. The Military Household, -Body-guards and so on amounted, horse and foot, to 1300 men: in all, -8800 men and seven batteries consisting of 42 pieces of artillery -with their teams. At ten o'clock at night, the signal was sounded to -saddle; the whole camp started for Maintenon, Charles X. and his Family -marching in the midst of the funeral column, which was scarce lighted -by the veiled moon. - -And before whom were they retreating? Before a band almost unarmed, -arriving in omnibuses, in cabs, in traps from Versailles and -Saint-Cloud. General Pajol thought that he was quite lost when he was -obliged to place himself at the head of that multitude[312], which, -after all, did not amount to more than 15,000 men, with the adjunction -of the newly-arrived Rouennese. Half of this band remained on the -roads. A few exalted, valiant and generous young men, mingled with this -troop, would have sacrificed themselves; the rest would probably have -dispersed. In the fields of Rambouillet, in the flat open country, they -would have had to face the fire of the Line and of the Artillery; by -all appearances, a victory would have been won. Between the people's -victory in Paris and the King's victory at Rambouillet, negociations -would have been entered upon. - -What! Among so many officers, was there not one with sufficient -resolution to seize the command in the name of Henry V.? For, after -all, Charles X. and the Dauphin were Kings no longer. - -If they did not wish to fight, why did they not retire to Chartres? -There, they would have been out of the reach of the Paris populace. -Or, better still, to Tours, supported by the Legitimist provinces? Had -Charles X. remained in France, the greater part of the army would have -remained loyal. The camps at Boulogne and Lunéville were raised and -were marching to his aid. My nephew, the Comte Louis, was bringing his -regiment, the 4th Light Infantry, which left the ranks only on hearing -of the retreat from Rambouillet. M. de Chateaubriand was reduced to -escorting the Monarch on a pony to his place of embarkation. If, -repairing to some town, protected against a first surprise, Charles -X. had convoked the two Chambers, more than half of those Chambers -would have obeyed. Casimir Périer, General Sébastiani and a hundred -others had waited, had struggled against the tricolour cockade; -they dreaded the dangers of a popular revolution: what am I saying? -The Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, summoned by the King and not -seeing the battle won, would have stolen away from his partisans and -conformed to the royal injunction. The Diplomatic Body, which did not -do its duty, would have done it then by placing itself around the -Sovereign. The Republic, installed in Paris amidst all the disorders, -would not have lasted a month in the face of a regular constitutional -government, established elsewhere. Never has the game been lost with so -fine a hand, and, when a game is lost in this way, there is no revenge -possible: go talk of liberty to the citizens and of honour to the -soldiers after the Ordinances of July and the retreat from Saint-Cloud! - -The time will perhaps come, when a new form of society will have taken -the place of the present social order, when war will appear a monstrous -absurdity, when its very principle will no longer be understood; -but we have not reached that stage yet. In armed quarrels, there -are philanthropists who distinguish between the species and who are -prepared to swoon away at the mere word of civil war: - -"Fellow-countrymen killing one another! Brothers, fathers, sons, face -to face!" - -All this is very sad, no doubt; and yet a nation has often been -regenerated and acquired new vigour in intestine discords. None has -ever perished by a civil war; many have disappeared in foreign wars. -See what Italy was, at the time of her divisions, and see what she -is now. It is a deplorable thing to be obliged to lay waste your -neighbour's property, to see your own home blooded by that same -neighbour; but, frankly, is it much more humane to slay a family of -German peasants whom you do not know, who have never had a discussion -with you of any kind, whom you rob, whom you kill without remorse, -whose wives and children you dishonour with a safe conscience, because -this is war? Whatever men may say, civil wars are less unjust, less -revolting and more natural than foreign wars, except when the latter -are undertaken to save the national independence. Civil wars are -based at least upon individual outrages, upon admitted and recognised -aversions; they are duels with seconds, in which the adversaries know -why they are wielding their swords. If the passions do not justify -the evil, they excuse it, they explain it, they give a reason for its -existence. How is foreign war justified? Generally, nations cut each -other's throats because a king is bored, because an ambitious man -wishes to rise, because a minister seeks to supplant a rival. The time -has come to do justice on those old common-places of sentimentalism, -better suited to poets than historians: Thucydides, Cæsar, Livy are -content to utter a word of sorrow and pass on. - -[Sidenote: Thoughts on Civil war.] - -Civil war, in spite of its calamities, has only one real danger: if -the contending factions have recourse to the foreigner, or if the -foreigner, profiting by the divisions of a people, attack it; such -a position might result in conquest. Great Britain, the Iberian -Peninsula, Constantinopolitan Greece, in our own days Poland offer -examples which we must not forget. Nevertheless, during the League, -the two parties calling Spaniards and English, Italians and Germans to -their aid, the latter counter-balanced each other and did not disturb -the equilibrium which the French in arms maintained among themselves. - -Charles X. was wrong to employ bayonets in support of his Ordinances; -his ministers have no justification to offer, whether they were acting -in obedience or not, for having shed the blood of the people and the -soldiers, whom no hatred divided, in the same way as the theoretical -Terrorists would gladly reproduce the system of the Terror, when no -Terror exists. But Charles X. was also wrong not to accept war when, -after he had yielded on every point, it was brought to his door. He had -no right, after placing the diadem on the brow of his grandson, to say -to that new Joas: - -"I have made you ascend the throne, to drag you into exile, so that, -wretched and banished, you may bear the weight of my years, my -proscription and my sceptre." - -He was not right at the same moment to give Henry V. a crown and to -rob him of France. When they made him King, they had condemned him to -die on the soil in which lie mingled the dust of St. Louis and that of -Henry IV. - -For the rest, after this ebullition of my blood, I return to my reason, -and I see in these things no more than the accomplishment of the -destinies of humanity. The Court, had it triumphed by force of arms, -would have destroyed the public liberties; they would none the less -have crushed it one day; but it would have retarded the development of -society for some years; all that had taken a wide view of the Monarchy -would have been persecuted by the re-established Congregation. In the -last result, events have followed the trend of civilization. God makes -men powerful according to His secret designs: He gives them faults -which undo them when they must be undone, because He does not wish that -qualities ill-applied by a false intelligence should oppose themselves -to the decrees of His Providence. - - -The retirement of the Royal Family reduced my part to myself. I no -longer thought of what I should be called upon to say in the House of -Peers. To write was impossible: if the attack had come from the enemies -of the Crown; if Charles X. had been overthrown by a conspiracy from -the outside, I should have taken up my pen and, if they had left me -independence of thought, I should have undertaken to rally an immense -party around the ruins of the throne; but the attack had come from -the Crown itself; the Ministers had violated both liberal principles; -they had made the Royalty commit perjury, not intentionally, no doubt, -but in fact; through this very act they had taken away my strength. -What could I put forward in favour of the Ordinances? How could I have -continued to extol the sincerity, the candour, the chivalry of the -Legitimate Monarchy? How could I have said that it was the strongest -guarantee of our interests, our laws and our independence? The champion -of the old Royalty, I had been stripped of my arms by that Royalty and -left naked to mine enemies. - -I was therefore quite astonished when, reduced to this state of -weakness, I saw myself sought out by the new Royalty. Charles X. has -disdained my services; Philip made an effort to attach me to himself. -First, M. Arago spoke to me, in lofty and lively terms, on behalf -of Madame Adélaïde; next the Comte Anatole de Montesquiou came one -morning to Madame Récamier's and met me there. He told me that Madame -la Duchesse d'Orléans and M. le Duc d'Orléans would be delighted to see -me, if I would go to the Palais-Royal. They were at that time engaged -upon the declaration which was to transform the Lieutenant-generalship -of the Kingdom into the Royalty. Perhaps H.R.H. had thought it well to -try to weaken my opposition before. I pronounced myself. He may also -have thought that I looked upon myself as released by the flight of the -three Kings. - -[Sidenote: The Duchesse D'Orléans.] - -These overtures of M. de Montesquiou's surprised me. However, I -did not reject them; for, without flattering myself with hopes of -success, I thought that I might utter some useful truths. I went to -the Palais-Royal with the lord-in-waiting to the future Queen. I was -admitted by the entrance leading out of the Rue de Valois, and found -Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans and Madame Adélaïde in their private -apartments. I had had the honour of being presented to them before. -Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans made me sit down beside her, and said to -me, off-hand: - -"Ah, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, we are very unhappy! If all the parties -would only unite together, perhaps we might yet be saved! What do you -think of all this?" - -"Madame," I replied, "nothing is easier: Charles X. and Monsieur le -Dauphin have abdicated; Henry is now the King; Monseigneur le Duc -d'Orléans is Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom: let him act as Regent -during the minority of Henry V., and all is settled." - -"But, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, the people are very much excited; we -shall fall into anarchy!" - -"Madame, may I venture to ask you what are the intentions of -Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans? Will he accept the crown, if it is -offered to him?" - -The two Princesses hesitated to answer. Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans -replied, after a momentary pause: - -"Think, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, of the misfortunes that may happen. -All honest men must combine to save us from the Republic. In Rome you -might render us such great services, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, or even -here, if you do not care to leave France again!" - -"Madame is aware of my devotion to the young King and his mother?" - -"Ah, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, they have treated you so well!" - -"Your Royal Highness would not have me give the lie to my whole life." - -"Monsieur de Chateaubriand, you do not know my niece[313]: she is -so frivolous!... Poor Caroline!... I am going to send for M. le Duc -d'Orléans: he will persuade you better than I can." - -The Princess gave instructions, and Louis-Philippe arrived after a -quarter of an hour. He was badly-dressed and looked extremely tired. I -rose, and the Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom accosted me with: - -"Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans must have told you how unhappy we are." - -And forthwith he spun me an idyll on the happiness which he enjoyed -in the country, on the peaceful life, so much to his liking, which he -spent in the midst of his children. I seized the moment of a pause -between two strophes to speak in my turn and respectfully to repeat, in -almost the same words, what I had said to the two Princesses. - -"Ah," he exclaimed, "that is what I should like! How happy I should -be to be the guardian and the upholder of that child! I think just as -you do, Monsieur de Chateaubriand: to accept the Duc de Bordeaux would -certainly be the best thing to do. I fear only that events will prove -more than a match for us." - -"More than a match for us, Monseigneur? Are you not invested with full -powers? Let us go to join Henry V.; summon the Chambers and the army to -your side, outside Paris. The mere noise of your departure will cause -all this effervescence to subside, and men will seek a shelter under -your enlightened and protective power." - -While speaking, I watched Philip. My advice put him ill at ease; I read -on his face his desire to be King: - -"Monsieur de Chateaubriand," he said, without looking at me, "the thing -is more difficult than you think; it won't go like that. You do not -know the danger in which we stand. A furious band might indulge in -the most violent excesses against the Chambers, and we have no one to -defend us." This phrase which M. le Duc d'Orléans let fall pleased me, -because it supplied me with a peremptory retort: - -[Sidenote: My conversation with the Duke.] - -"I can conceive that difficulty, Monseigneur, but there is a sure means -of removing it. If you do not think that you can join Henry V., as I -was suggesting, you can adopt another course. The session is about to -open: whatever proposal the Deputies may make first, declare that the -present Chamber does not possess the necessary powers (which is the -sheer truth) to dispose of the form of government; say that France -must be consulted and a new assembly elected with powers _ad hoc_ -to decide so important a question. Your Royal Highness will then be -placing yourself in the most popular position; the Republican Party, -which at this moment constitutes your danger, will extol you to the -skies. In the two months that will elapse before the meeting of the new -legislature, you will organize the National Guard; all your friends and -the friends of the young King will work for you in the provinces. Then -let the Deputies come, let the cause which I am defending be publicly -pleaded in the tribune. This cause, secretly favoured by yourself, will -obtain an immense majority of votes. The moment of anarchy will have -passed, and you will have nothing more to fear from the violence of the -Republicans. I do not even see that you will have much difficulty in -winning General La Fayette and M. Laffitte to your side. What a fine -part for you to play, Monseigneur! You can reign for fifteen years in -the name of your ward; in fifteen years, the age of rest will have -set in for all of us; you will have had the glory, unique in history, -of being able to ascend the throne and of leaving it to the lawful -heir; at the same time, you will have brought up that child in the -enlightenment of the century and you will have made him capable of -reigning over France: one of your daughters might one day wield the -sceptre with him." - -Philip cast his looks vaguely above his head: - -"Excuse me, Monsieur de Chateaubriand," he said; "I left an important -deputation to come to talk with you, and I must go back to it. Madame -la Duchesse d'Orléans will have told you how happy I should be to do -what you might wish; but, believe me, it is I alone who am holding back -a threatening crowd. If the Royalist Party is not massacred, it owes -its life to my efforts." - -"Monseigneur," I replied to this statement, so unexpected and so far -removed from the subject of our conversation, "I have seen massacres: -men who have gone through the Revolution are seasoned. Old soldiers -do not allow themselves to be frightened by objects that terrify -conscripts." - -H.R.H. withdrew, and I went to join my friends: - -"Well?" they exclaimed. - -"Well, he wants to be King." - -"And Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans?" - -"She wants to be Queen." - -"What did they say to you?" - -"One spoke to me of pastorals, the other of the dangers threatening -France and of 'poor Caroline's' frivolity; both were good enough to -convey to me that I might be of use to them, and neither of them looked -me in the face." - - -Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans wished to see me once more. M. le Duc -d'Orléans did not come to take part in this conversation. Madame la -Duchesse d'Orléans explained herself more clearly on the favours with -which Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans proposed to honour me. She was good -enough to remind me of what she called my power over public opinion, of -the sacrifices which I had made, of the aversion which Charles X. and -his family had always shown me, in spite of my services. She told me -that, if I wished to go back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.R.H. -would be most pleased to reinstate me in that office; but that perhaps -I would prefer to return to Rome, and that she (Madame la Duchesse -d'Orléans) would see me take this last course with an extreme pleasure, -in the interests of our holy religion. - -"Madame," I replied at once, with a certain animation, "I see that -Monsieur le Duc d'Orléans' mind is made up, that he has weighed the -consequences, that he foresees the years of misery and of various -dangers which he will have to pass; I have therefore no more to say. -I have not come here to show any lack of respect to the blood of the -Bourbons; I owe, besides, nothing but gratitude to Madame's kindness. -Leaving on one side, therefore, the main objections, the reasons drawn -from principles and events, I beseech Your Royal Highness to consent to -listen to what regards myself. You have been good enough to speak to -me of what you call my power over public opinion. Well, if this power -is real, it is founded only on public esteem; and I should lose this -esteem the moment I changed my flag. Monsieur le Duc d'Orléans would -think he was gaining support, whereas he would have in his service only -a wretched phrase-maker, a perjurer to whose voice none would hearken, -a renegade at whom every one would have the right to fling mud and -to spit in his face. To the wavering words which he would stammer in -favour of Louis-Philippe, they would oppose whole volumes which he had -published in favour of the fallen family. Was it not I, Madame, who -wrote the pamphlet _De Bonaparte et des Bourbons_, the articles on the -_Arrivée de Louis XVIII. à Compiègne_, the _Rapport dans le conseil du -roi à Gand_, the _Histoire de la vie et de la mort de M. le duc de -Berry?_ I doubt if I have written a single page in which the name of my -ancient kings does not appear in some connection and in which it is not -surrounded with protestations of my love and fidelity: a matter which -bears a character of individual attachment the more remarkable inasmuch -as Madame knows that I do not believe in kings. At the mere thought of -a desertion, the blushes rise to my face; I would go the next day to -throw myself into the Seine. I entreat Madame to excuse the animation -of my words; I am penetrated with your kindness; I will keep it in -profound and grateful remembrance, but you would not wish to dishonour -me: pity me, Madame, pity me!" - -[Sidenote: Mademoiselle D'Orléans.] - -I had remained standing and, bowing, I withdrew. Mademoiselle d'Orléans -had not uttered a word. She rose and, as she left the room, said to me: - -"I do not pity you, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, I do not pity you!" - -I was astonished at these few words and at the emphasis with which they -were spoken. - -That was my last political temptation; I might have thought myself -a just man according to St. Hilary[314], who declares that men are -exposed to the attempts of the devil in proportion to their godliness: -_Victoria ei est magis, exacta de sanctis._ My refusals were those of -a dupe: where is the public that shall judge them? Could I not have -taken my place among the men, virtuous sons of the land, who serve the -"country" before all things? Unfortunately, I am not a creature of -the present and I am not willing to capitulate with fortune. I have -nothing in common with Cicero; but his frailty is no excuse: posterity -has declined to forgive one great man his moment of weakness for -another great man; what would my poor life have been, losing its only -possession, its integrity, for Louis-Philippe d'Orléans? - -On the evening of the day on which I had this last conversation at the -Palais-Royal, I met M. de Sainte-Aulaire[315] at Madame Récamier's. I -did not amuse myself by asking him his secret, but he asked me mine. He -had just arrived from the country full of the events of which he had -read: - -"Ah," he cried, "how glad I am to see you! Here's a fine business! I -hope that all of us, at the Luxembourg, will do our duty. It would be a -curious thing for the Peers to dispose of the crown of Henry IV.! I am -quite sure that you will not leave me alone in the tribune." - -As my mind was made up, I was very calm; my reply appeared cold to M. -de Sainte-Aulaire's ardour. He went away, saw his friends and left me -alone in the tribune: long live your light-hearted and frivolous men of -intelligence! - - -The Republican Party was still struggling under the feet of the friends -who had betrayed it. On the 6th of August, a deputation of twenty -members appointed by the central committee of the twelve wards of Paris -appeared in the Chamber of Deputies to present an address of which -General Thiard[316] and M. Duris-Dufresne[317] eased the well-meaning -deputation. It was said in this address that "the nation could not -recognise as a constitutional power either an elective Chamber -appointed during the existence and under the influence of the royalty -which it has overthrown or an aristocratic Chamber, the institution of -which is in direct opposition to the principles that have caused it, -the nation, to take up arms; that the central committee of the twelve -wards, having granted, as a revolutionary necessity, only a _de facto_ -and very provisional power to the present Chamber of Deputies to -discuss any measure of urgency, now calls with all its wishes for the -free and popular election of mandatories who shall really represent the -needs of the people; that the primary assemblies alone can bring about -that result. If it were otherwise, the nation would render null and -void all that might tend to impede it in the exercise of its rights." - - -All this was pure reason; but the Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom was -aspiring to the crown, and the fearful and ambitious were in a hurry -to give it to him. The plebeians of to-day wanted a revolution and did -not know how to make it; the Jacobins, whom they have taken for their -models, would have flung the men of the Palais-Royal and the praters -of the two Chambers into the water. M. de La Fayette was reduced to -impotent wishes: pleased at having caused the revival of the National -Guard, he allowed himself to be tossed like an old swaddling-band by -Philip, whose wet-nurse he imagined himself to be; he grew torpid with -this felicity. The old general was no more than liberty fallen asleep, -as the Republic of 1793 was no more than a death's-head. - -The truth is that a truncated Chamber, with no special mandate, had no -right whatever to dispose of the crown: it was a Convention expressly -called together, formed of the House of Lords and a newly-elected -House of Commons, that disposed of the throne of James II. It is also -certain that that rump of the Chamber of Deputies, those 221, imbued -under Charles X. with the traditions of the hereditary monarchy, -brought no disposition fitted to the elective monarchy; they stopped -it at its commencement, and forced it to go back to principles of -quasi-legitimism. They who forged the sword of the new royalty -introduced into the blade a straw which sooner or later will cause it -to spring. - - -[Sidenote: The seventh of August.] - -The 7th of August is a memorable day for me; it is the day on which -I had the happiness of ending my political career as I had begun it: -a happiness rare enough to-day to give reason for rejoicing in it. -The declaration of the Chamber of Deputies concerning the vacancy of -the throne had been brought to the Chamber of Peers. I went to take -my seat, which, was in the highest row of arm-chairs, facing the -President. The Peers seemed to me at once busy and depressed. If some -bore on their foreheads the pride of their approaching disloyalty, -others bore the shame of a remorse to which they lacked the courage to -listen. I said to myself, as I watched this sad assembly: - -"What! Are they who received the favours of Charles X. in his -prosperity going to desert him in his ill-fortune? Will they whose -special mission it was to defend the Hereditary Throne, those men of -the Court who lived in the King's intimacy, will they betray him? -They kept watch at his door at Saint-Cloud; they embraced him at -Rambouillet; he clasped their hands in a last farewell: are they going -to raise against him those hands, still warm with that last pressure? -Is this Chamber, which for fifteen years has resounded with their -protestations of devotion, about to hear their perjury? And yet it was -for them that Charles X. ruined himself; it was they who drove him -towards the Ordinances: they stamped for joy when these appeared and -when they thought that they had won in that moment of silence which -precedes the fall of the thunder." - -These ideas rolled confusedly and sorrowfully through my mind. The -peerage had become the triple receptacle of the corruptions of the -old Monarchy, the Republic and the Empire. As for the Republicans of -1793, now transformed into senators, and the generals of Bonaparte, -I expected of them only what they have always done: they deposed the -extraordinary man to whom they owed all, they were going to depose the -King who had confirmed them in the benefits and honours with which -their first master had loaded them. Let the wind turn, and they will -depose the usurper to whom they were preparing to throw the crown. - -I ascended the tribune. A deep silence fell: the faces of the peers -seemed embarrassed; they all turned sidewards in their arm-chairs and -looked down at the floor. With the exception of a few peers who had -resolved to retire like myself, none dared to raise his eyes to the -level of the tribune. - -[Sidenote: My last speech in the Peers.] - -I reproduce my speech because it sums up my life and forms my principal -title to the esteem of posterity: - - "Gentlemen! - - "The declaration which has been brought to this Chamber is to - me much less complicated than it appears to those of my noble - colleagues who profess an opinion different from mine. There is - one fact in this declaration which appears to me to govern all - the others, or rather to destroy them. Were we under a regular - order of things, I should doubtless carefully examine the various - changes which it is proposed to make in the Charter. Many of these - changes have been proposed by myself. I am surprised only that - the reactionary measure regarding the peers created by Charles X. - should have been proposed to this Chamber. I shall not be suspected - of any fondness for the system by which these 'batches' were - created; and you know that, when threatened with them, I combated - the very menace: but to make ourselves the judges of our colleagues - and to erase whom we please from the list of the peerage, whenever - we find ourselves the stronger party, would seem to me to savour - of proscription. Do they want to destroy the peerage? Be it so: it - better becomes us to surrender our existence than to beg for our - lives. - - "I reproach myself already for the few words I have uttered on a - point which, important as it is, becomes insignificant when merged - in the great proposition before us. France is without a guide; and - I am now to consider what must be added to or cut away from the - masts of a vessel which has lost its rudder! I lay aside, then, - whatever is of a secondary interest in the declaration of the - Elective Chamber; and, fixing on the single enunciated fact of - the vacancy of the throne, whether true or pretended, I advance - directly to my object. - - "But a previous question ought first to be attended to: if the - throne be vacant, we are free to choose the future form of our - government. - - "Before offering the crown to any individual whatever, it is well - to ascertain under what political system the social body is to be - constituted. Are we to establish a republic or a new monarchy? - - "Does a republic or a new monarchy offer sufficient guarantees to - France of strength, durability and repose? - - "A republic would first of all have the recollections of the - republic itself to contend with. Those recollections are far from - being effaced. The time is not yet forgotten when Death made - his frightful progress among us, with Liberty and Equality for - supporters. If you were plunged again into anarchy, how would you - reanimate the Hercules on his rock who alone was able to stifle the - monster? In the course of a thousand years, your posterity may see - another Napoleon. As for you, you must not expect it. - - "Next, in the present state of our manners and of our relations - with surrounding governments, the idea of a republic seems to me - to be untenable. The first difficulty would be to bring the people - of France to an unanimous vote on the subject. What right has - the population of Paris to compel the population of Marseilles - or any other town to adopt the forms of a republic? Is there to - be but one republic, or are we to have twenty or thirty? And - are they to be federative or independent? Let us suppose these - obstacles to be removed. Let us suppose that there is to be but - one republic: can you imagine for a moment, with the habitual - familiarity of our manners, that a president, however grave, - however talented and however respectable he may be, could remain - for a year at the head of the government, without being tempted - to retire from it? Ill-protected by the laws and unsupported by - previous recollections, insulted and vilified, morning, noon - and night, by secret rivals and by the agents of faction, he - would not inspire the confidence which property and commerce - require; he would possess neither becoming dignity, in treating - with foreign governments, nor the power which is indispensable - to the maintenance of internal tranquillity. If he resorted to - revolutionary measures, the republic would become odious; all - Europe would become disturbed and would avail itself of our - divisions, first, to foment them and, afterwards, to interfere in - the quarrel; and we should again be involved in an interminable - struggle. A representative republic is, no doubt, to be the future - condition of the world; but its time has not yet come. - - "I proceed to the question of a monarchy. - - "A king named by the Chambers, or elected by the people, whatever - may be done, will always be a novelty. Now I take it for granted - that liberty is sought for, especially the liberty of the press, - by which and for which the people have obtained so brilliant - a triumph. Well, every new monarchy will, sooner or later, be - compelled to gag this liberty. Could Napoleon himself admit - of it? The offspring of our misfortunes and the slave of our - glory, the liberty of the press can exist, in security, only - under a government whose roots are deeply seated. A monarchy, - the illegitimate offspring of one bloody night, must always have - something to fear from the independent expression of public - opinion. While this man proclaims republican opinions, and that - some other system, is it not to be feared that laws of exception - must soon be resorted to, in spite of the anathema against the - censorship which has been added to Article VIII. of the Charter? - - [Sidenote: My speech continued.] - - "What, then, O friends of regulated liberty, have you gained by the - change which is now proposed to you? You must sink, of necessity, - either into a republic or into a system of legal slavery. The - monarch will be surrounded and overwhelmed by factions, or the - monarchy itself swept away by a torrent of democratical enactments. - - "In the first intoxication of success, we suppose that everything - is easy; we hope to satisfy every exigency, every interest, - every humour; we flatter ourselves that every one will lay aside - his personal views and vanities; we believe that the superior - intelligence and the wisdom of the government will surmount - innumerable difficulties; but, at the end of a few months, we find - that all our theories have been belied by practice. - - "I present to you, gentlemen, only a few of the inconveniences - attaching to the formation of a republic or of a new monarchy. If - either have its perils, there remained a third course, and one - which well deserved a moment's consideration. - - "The crown has been trampled on by horrible ministers, who have - supported, by murder, their violation of the law; they have trifled - with oaths made to Heaven and with laws sworn to on earth. - - "Foreigners, who have twice entered Paris without resistance, - learn the true cause of your success: you presented yourselves - in the name of legal authority. If you were to fly to-day to the - assistance of tyranny, do you think that the gates of the capital, - of the civilized world, would open as readily before you? The - French nation has grown, since your departure, under the influence - of constitutional laws; our children of fourteen are giants; our - conscripts at Algiers, our schoolboys in Paris have shown you that - they are the sons of the conquerors of! Austerlitz, Marengo and - Jena: but sons strengthened by all that liberty adds to glory. - - "Never was a defense more just and more heroic than that of the - people of Paris. They did not rise against the law: so long as the - social compact was respected, the people remained peaceable; they - bore insults, provocations and threats, without complaining; their - property and their blood were the price they owed for the Charter: - both have been lavished in abundance. - - "But when, after a system of falsehood pursued to the last moment, - slavery was suddenly proclaimed; when the conspiracy of folly and - hypocrisy burst forth unawares; when the panic of the palace, - organized by eunuchs, was prepared as a substitute for the terror - of the republic and the iron yoke of the empire, then it was - that the people armed themselves with their courage and their - intelligence. It was found that those 'shopkeepers' could breathe - freely amid the smoke of gunpowder and that it required more than - 'four soldiers and a corporal' to subdue them. A century could not - have ripened the destinies of a nation so completely as the three - last suns that have shone over France. A great crime was committed; - it produced the violent explosion of a powerful principle: was it - necessary, on account of this crime and the moral and political - triumph that resulted from it, to overthrow the established order - of things? Let us examine. - - "Charles X. and his son have forfeited, or abdicated, the throne, - understand it which way you will; but the throne is not vacant: - after them came a child, whose innocence ought not to be condemned. - - "What blood now rises against him? Will you venture to say that - it is that of his father? This orphan, educated in the schools of - his country, in the love of a constitutional government and with - the ideas of the age, would have become a king well suited to our - future wants. The guardian of his youth should have been made - to swear to the declaration on which you are about to vote; on - attaining his majority, the young Monarch would have renewed his - oath. In the meantime, the present King, the actual King would have - been M. le Duc d'Orléans, the regent of the kingdom, a Prince who - has lived among the people and who knows, that a monarchy, to-day - can only exist by consent and reason. This natural arrangement, as - it appears to me, would have united the means of reconciliation - and would perhaps have saved France those agitations which are the - consequence of all violent changes in a State. - - "To say that this child, when separated from his masters, would - not have had time to forget their very names, before arriving - at manhood; to say that he would remain infatuated with certain - hereditary dogmas, after a long course of popular education, after - the terrible lesson which, in two nights, has hurled two kings from - the throne, is, at least, not very reasonable. - - "It is not from a feeling of sentimental devotion, nor from a - nurse-like affection, transmitted from the swaddling-clothes of - Henry IV. to the cradle of the young Henry, that I plead a cause - where everything would again turn against me anew if it triumphed. - I am not aiming at romance, or chivalry, or martyrdom; I do not - believe in the right divine of royalty; but I do believe in the - power of facts and of revolutions. I do not even invoke the - Charter: I take my ideas from a higher source; I draw them from the - sphere of philosophy of the period at which my life terminates: I - propose the Duke of Bordeaux merely as a necessity of a purer kind - than that which is now in question. - - [Sidenote: My speech continued.] - - "I know that, by passing over this child, it is intended to - establish the principle of the sovereignty of the people: an - absurdity of the old school, which proves that our veteran - Democrats have advanced no further in political knowledge than our - superannuated Royalists. There is no absolute sovereignty anywhere; - liberty does not flow from political right, as was supposed in the - eighteenth century; it is derived from natural right, so that it - exists under all forms of government; and a monarchy may be free, - nay, much more free than a republic: but this is neither the time - nor the place to deliver a political lecture. - - "I shall content myself with observing that, when the people - dispose of thrones, they often dispose also of their own liberty; I - shall remark that the principle of an hereditary monarchy, however - absurd it may at first appear, has been recognised, in practice, as - preferable to that of an elective monarchy. The reasons for this - are so obvious that I need not enlarge upon them. You choose one - king to-day: who shall hinder you from choosing another to-morrow? - The law, you say. The law? And it is you who make it! - - "There is still a simpler mode of treating the question: it is - to say, we repudiate the Elder Branch of the Bourbons. And why? - Because we are victorious; we have triumphed in a just and holy - cause; we use a double right of conquest. - - "Very well: you proclaim the sovereignty of might. The take good - care of this might; for if, in a few months, escapes from you, you - will be in a bad position to complain. Such is human nature! The - most enlightened and the purest minds do not always rise above - success. Those minds were the first to invoke right in opposition - to violence; they supported that right with all the superiority - of their talent; and, at the very moment when the truth of what - they said has been demonstrated by the most abominable abuse of - force and by its signal overthrow, the conquerors recur to those - arms they have broken! They will find them to be dangerous weapons, - which will wound their own hands without serving their cause. - - "I have carried the war into my enemies' camp; I have not gone to - bivouac in the past under the old banner of the dead, a banner - which has not been inglorious, but which droops by the flag-staff - that supports it, because no breath of life is there to raise it. - Were I to move the dust of thirty-five Capets, I should not draw - from it an argument which should be as much as listened to. The - idolatry of a name is abolished; monarchy is no longer a tenet of - religious belief: it is a political form which is preferable at - this moment to every other, because it has the greatest tendency to - reconcile order with liberty. - - "Useless Cassandra, how often have I wearied the Throne and the - country[318] with my disregarded warnings! It only remains for me - to sit down on the last fragment of the shipwreck which I have so - often foretold. In misfortune I acknowledge every species of power - except that of absolving me from my oaths of allegiance. It is also - my duty to make my life uniform: after all that I have done, said - and written for the Bourbons, I should be the meanest of wretches - if I denied them at the moment when, for the third and last time, - they are on the road to exile. - - "Fear I leave to those generous royalists who have never sacrificed - a coin or a place to their loyalty; to those champions of the Altar - and the Throne who lately treated me as a renegade, an apostate - and a revolutionary. Pious libellers, the renegade now calls upon - you! Come, then, and stammer out a word, a single word, with him - for the unfortunate master who loaded you with his gifts and whom - you have ruined! Instigators of _coups d'État_, preachers of - constituent power, where are you? You hide yourselves in the mire - from under which you gallantly raised your heads to calumniate the - faithful servants of the King; your silence to-day is worthy of - your language of yesterday. Let all those doughty knights, whose - projected exploits have caused the descendants of Henry IV. to be - driven from their throne at the point of the pitchfork, tremble now - as they crouch under the three-coloured cockade: it is natural - that they should do so. The noble colours which they display will - protect their persons, but will not cover their cowardice. - - "In thus frankly expressing my sentiments in this tribune, I have - no idea that I am performing an act of heroism. Those times are - past when opinions were expressed at personal hazard: if such were - now the case, I should speak a hundred times louder. The best - buckler is a breast that does not fear to show itself uncovered - to the enemy. No, gentlemen, we need neither fear a people whose - reason is equal to its courage, nor that generous rising generation - which I admire, with which I sympathize with all the faculties of - my soul, and to which, as to my country, I wish honour, glory and - liberty. - - "Far from me, above all things, be the thought of sowing seeds of - discord in France, and that has been my motive for excluding from - my speech every accent of passion. If I could convince myself that - a child should be left in the happy ranks of obscurity in order to - procure the peace of thirty-three millions of men, I should have - regarded every word as criminal which was not consistent with the - needs of the time: but I am not so convinced. Had I the disposal - of a crown, I would willingly lay it at the feet of M. le Duc - d'Orléans. But all that I see vacant is, not a throne, but a tomb - at Saint-Denis. - - "Whatever destiny may await M. the Lieutenant-general of the - Kingdom, I shall never be his enemy, if he promotes my country's - welfare. I only ask to retain my liberty of conscience and the - right of going to die where I shall find independence and repose. - - "I vote against the declaration." - -I was fairly calm when I began my speech, but gradually I was overcome -with emotion. When I came to this passage: "Useless Cassandra, how -often have I wearied the Throne and the country with my disregarded -warnings," my voice became troubled, and I was obliged to put my -handkerchief to my eyes to keep back tears of love and bitterness. -Indignation restored my power of speech in the paragraph that follows: - -"Pious libellers, the renegade now calls upon you! Come, then, and -stammer out a word, a single word, with him for the unfortunate master -who loaded, you with his gifts and whom you have ruined!" - -[Sidenote: Its effect on the Peers.] - -I turned my glances upon the benches to which I addressed those words. -Several peers seemed crushed; they sank down in their arm-chairs till -I could no longer see them behind their colleagues seated motionless -before them. This speech made some noise: all parties were hurt in it, -but all remained silent, because, by the side of great truths, I had -placed a great sacrifice. I came down from the tribune; I left the -Chamber, went to the cloak-room, took off my peer's coat, my sword, my -feathered hat; I unfastened from the last the white cockade and placed -it in the little pocket on the left-hand side of the black frock-coat -which I put on and buttoned across my heart. My servant carried away -the cast-off clothes of the peerage, and I, shaking the dust from my -feet, quitted that palace of treachery, which I shall never enter again -in my life. - -On the 10th and 12th of August, I completed my self-divestment and sent -in the different resignations that follow: - - "PARIS, 10 _August_ 1830. - - "MONSIEUR LE PRÉSIDENT DE LA CHAMBRE DES PAIRS[319], - - "Being unable to take the oath of allegiance to Louis-Philippe - d'Orléans as King of the French, I find myself seized with a legal - incapacity which prevents me from attending the sittings of the - Hereditary Chamber. One mark of the kindness of King Louis XVIII. - and of the royal munificence remains to me: a peer's pension of - twelve thousand francs, which was given me to keep up, if not - brilliantly, at least independently of immediate needs, the high - position to which I was called. It would not be right that I should - retain a favour attached to the exercise of functions which I am - not able to fulfil. I therefore have the honour to resign into your - hands my pension as a peer." - - - "Paris, 12 _August_ 1830. - - "MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE DES FINANCES[320], - - "There remains to me, from the kindness of Louis XVII I. and the - national munificence, a peer's pension of twelve thousand francs, - transformed into an annuity inscribed on the ledger of the public - debt and transmissible only to the first direct generation of the - annuitant. Not being able to take the oath to Monseigneur le Duc - d'Orléans as King of the French, it would not be right that I - should continue to receive a pension attached to functions which I - no longer exercise. - - "I therefore write to resign it into your hands: it will have - ceased to accrue to me on the day (10 August) when I wrote to M. - the President of the Chamber of Peers that it would be impossible - for me to take the oath required. - - "I have the honour to be, with high regard, etc." - - - "PARIS, 12 _August_ 1830. - - - [Sidenote: I resign pension and place.] - - "MONSIEUR LE GRAND RÉFÉRENDAIRE[321], - - "I have the honour to send you a copy of the two letters which I - have addressed, one to M. the President of the Chamber of Peers, - the other to M. the Minister of Finance. You will there see that I - renounce my peer's pension and that consequently my attorney will - have to receive of this pension only the sum due to the 10th of - August, the day on which I declared my refusal to take the oath. - - "I have the honour to be, with high regard, etc." - - - "PARIS, 12 _August_ 1830. - - "MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE DE LA JUSTICE[322], - - "I have the honour to send you my resignation as Minister of State. - - "I am, with high regard, - - "Monsieur le ministre de la justice, - - "Your most humble and most obedient servant." - -I remained as naked as a little St. John; but I had long been -accustomed to live on wild honey, and I did not fear that the daughter -of Herodias would have a longing for my grey head. - -My gold-lace, tassels, bullioned fringe and epaulettes, sold to a Jew -and melted down by him, brought me in seven hundred francs, the net -produce of all my grandeurs. - -And now, what had become of Charles X.? He was travelling towards -his exile, accompanied by his Bodyguards, watched over by his three -commissaries, passing through France without exciting even the -curiosity of the peasants ploughing their furrows beside the high-road. -In two or three small towns, hostile movements were made; in some -others, townsmen and women showed signs of pity. It must be remembered -that Bonaparte roused no more commotion when going from Fontainebleau -to Toulon, that France grew no more excited and that the winner of so -many battles narrowly escaped death at Orgon. In this tired country, -the greatest events are no longer more than dramas played for our -diversion: they interest the spectator so long as the curtain is raised -and, when it falls, leave but a vain memory. Sometimes Charles X. and -his family stopped at wretched carters' rests to take a meal at a -corner of a dirty table where wagoners had dined before him. Henry V. -and his sister amused themselves in the yard by watching the chickens -and pigeons of the inn. I had said it: the Monarchy was going away, and -people stood at their windows to see it pass. - -Heaven at that moment was pleased to insult both the victorious and the -vanquished party. While it was being maintained that "all France" was -indignant at the Ordinances, King Philip was in frequent receipt of -provincial addresses sent to King Charles to congratulate the latter -"on the salutary measures which he had taken and which were saving the -monarchy." - -The Bey of Titteria, on his side, sent the following act of submission -to the dethroned monarch, who was at that time on the road to Cherbourg: - - "In the name of God, etc., etc., I recognise as my lord and - absolute sovereign great Charles X., the victorious; I will pay him - tribute, etc." - -It is not easy to imagine a more bitter mockery of both fortunes. -Nowadays, revolutions are manufactured by machinery; they are made so -fast that a sovereign, while still king on the frontiers of his States, -is already no more than an exile in his capital. - -This indifference of the country for Charles X. points to something -more than lassitude: we are bound to behold in it the progress of -democratic ideas and the assimilation of ranks. At an earlier period, -the fall of a king of France would have been an enormous event: time -has lowered the monarch from the height on which he was placed, has -brought him nearer to us, has diminished the space which separated him -from the class of the people. If men felt little surprise at meeting -the son of St. Louis on the high-road like everybody else, this was due -not to a spirit of hatred or system, but quite simply to the sense of -social levelling which has penetrated men's minds and which has acted -upon the masses without their knowing it. - -[Sidenote: Charles X. at Cherbourg.] - -A curse, Cherbourg, upon thy ill-omened precincts! It was near -Cherbourg that the wind of anger threw Edward III. to ravage our -country[323]; it was not far from Cherbourg that the wind of an -enemy's victory shattered Tourville's fleet[324]; it was at Cherbourg -that the wind of a deceptive prosperity drove Louis XVI. toward his -scaffold[325]; it was at Cherbourg that the wind from I know not what -shore carried away our last Princes. The coast of Great Britain, on -which William the Conqueror[326] landed, witnessed the disembarkation -of Charles the Tenth without lance or pennon: he went to Holyrood to -find the memories of his youth[327] hung upon the walls of the Stuart -palace like old engravings made yellow by time. - - -I have depicted the Three Days as they unrolled themselves before my -eyes: hence a certain contemporary colour, true at the passing moment, -false after the moment has passed, is diffused over my picture. There -is no revolution so prodigious but, described from minute to minute, -will find itself reduced to the slightest proportions. Events issue -from the womb of things, even as men from the womb of their mothers, -accompanied by the infirmities of nature. Misery and greatness are -twin sisters: they are born together; but where the confinement is a -vigorous one, misery at a certain period dies, and greatness alone -survives. To judge impartially of the truth that is to remain, we must -therefore place ourselves at the point of view from which posterity -will contemplate the accomplished fact. - -Getting away from the meannesses of character and action of which I had -been a witness, taking only what will remain of the Days of July, I -said with justice in my speech in the Chamber of Peers: - -"The people having armed themselves with their courage and their -intelligence, it was found that those 'shopkeepers' could breathe -freely amidst the smoke of gunpowder, and that it required rather more -than 'four soldiers and a corporal' to subdue them. A century could not -have ripened the destinies of a nation so completely as the three last -suns that have shone over France." - -In fact, the people properly so-called were brave and generous on the -day of the 28th. The Guards had lost more than 300 men killed and -wounded; they did ample justice to the poor classes, who alone fought -on that day and among whom were mingled men who were foul-minded, -but who were unable to dishonour them. The pupils of the Polytechnic -School, who left their school too late on the 28th to take part in the -fighting, were placed by the people at their head on the 29th with -admirable simplicity and ingenuousness. - -Champions who had been absent from the strife sustained by the people -came to join their ranks on the 29th, when the greatest danger was -past; others, likewise victors, first joined the conquering side on the -30th and 31st. - -On the side of the troops, things were very much the same; only the -soldiers and officers were engaged: the staff, which had once deserted -Bonaparte at Fontainebleau, kept to the heights of Saint-Cloud, -watching from which side the wind blew the smoke of the powder. They -pressed on each other's heels at Charles X.'s levee; not a soul was -present at his couchee. - -The moderation of the plebeian classes equalled their courage; order -resulted suddenly from confusion. One must have seen the half-naked -workmen, posted on sentry at the gate of the public gardens, preventing -other ragged workmen from passing, to form an idea of the power of duty -which had seized upon the men who remained the masters. They could -have paid themselves the price of their blood and allowed themselves -to be tempted by their wretchedness. One did not, as on the 10th of -August 1792, see the Swiss massacred in their flight. All opinions were -respected; never, with a few exceptions, was victory less abused. The -victors carried the wounded Guards through the crowd, crying: - -"Respect brave men!" - -If a soldier came to die, they said: - -"Peace to the dead!" - -The fifteen years of the Restoration, under a constitutional -government, had given rise among us to that spirit of humanity, -lawfulness and justice which twenty-five years of the revolutionary and -warlike spirit had been unable to produce. The law of force introduced -into our manners seemed to have become the common law. - -The consequences of the Revolution of July will be memorable. This -Revolution has pronounced a decree against all thrones: to-day, kings -will be able to reign only by force of arms; a sure means for a moment, -but incapable of enduring: the time of successive janissaries is ended. - -[Sidenote: Thoughts on the Three Days.] - -Neither Tacitus nor Thucydides could give us a good description of the -events of the Three Days; it would need Bossuet to explain to us the -events in the order of Providence: a genius that saw all, but without -overstepping the limits set to its reason and its splendour, like the -sun which moves between two dazzling boundaries and which the Orientals -call the "Slave of God." - -Let us not seek so near at hand the motive powers of a movement placed -so far away; the mediocrity of mankind, mad terrors, inexplicable -disagreements, hatreds, ambitions, the presumption of some, the -prejudice of others, secret conspiracies, buying and selling, well or -ill-advised measures, courage or the absence of courage: all these -things are the accidents, not the causes, of the event. When people say -that they no longer wanted the Bourbons, that these had become hateful -because they were supposed to have been forced upon France by the -foreigner, this lofty disgust explains nothing satisfactorily. - -The movement of July has not to do with politics properly so-called: -it has to do with the social revolution which is never idle. By the -concatenation of this general revolution, the 28th of July 1830 is -only the inevitable sequel of the 21st of January 1793. The work -of our first deliberative assemblies had been suspended; it had -not been finished. In the course of twenty years, the French had -accustomed themselves, like the English under Cromwell, to be governed -by other masters than their old sovereigns. The fall of Charles X. -is the consequence of the decapitation of Louis XVI., even as the -dethronement of James II. is the consequence of the murder of Charles -I. The Revolution seemed to die away in the glory of Bonaparte and in -the liberties of Louis XVIII., but its germ was not destroyed: lodged -at the bottom of our manners, it developed when the faults of the -Restoration gave it fresh heat, and soon it burst forth. - -The counsels of Providence are revealed in the anti-monarchical changes -that are taking place. That superficial minds should see merely a -scuffle in the Revolution of the Three Days is quite simple; but -reflective men know that an enormous step forward has been taken: -the principle of the sovereignty of the people has been substituted -for the principle of the royal sovereignty, the hereditary monarchy -changed into an elective monarchy. The 21st of January taught that one -could dispose of a king's head; the 29th of July has shown that one -can dispose of a crown. Now, any truth, good or bad, which manifests -itself, remains the acquisition of the crowd. A change ceases to -be unheard of, or extraordinary; it no longer presents itself to -the mind or the conscience as impious, when it results from an idea -that has become popular. The Franks used to exercise the sovereignty -collectively; next they delegated it to a few chiefs; then those -chiefs confided it to one alone; then this sole chief usurped it for -the benefit of his family. Now men are going back from the hereditary -royalty to the elective royalty, and from the elective royalty they -will glide into the republic. That is the history of society; these are -the stages by which the government comes from the people and returns to -it. - -Let us, then, not believe that the work of July is a superfetation of a -day; let us not imagine that Legitimacy is going to come incontinently -to re-establish succession by right of primogeniture: let us neither -try to persuade ourselves that July will suddenly die a natural death. -No doubt, the Orleans Branch will not take root: it is not to produce -that result that so much blood, calamity and genius has been expended -during the last half-century! But July, if it do not bring about the -final destruction of France with the ruin of all her liberties, will -bear its natural fruit: that fruit is democracy. The fruit will perhaps -be bitter and blood-red; but the Monarchy is an outlandish graft, which -will not take on a republican stem. - -And so let us not confound the improvised King with the Revolution from -which he sprang by chance: the latter, such as we see it, is acting in -contradiction with its principles; it seems to have been born without -the power to live, because it is punished with a throne: but let it -only drag on a few years, this Revolution, and what will have come and -gone will change the data that remain to be known. Grown-up men die, or -no longer see things as they used to see them; adolescents attain the -age of reason; new generations recruit corrupt generations; the linen -soaked in the sores of a hospital, when met by a great stream, soils -only the water that flows below those corruptions: down stream and up -stream, the current keeps or resumes its limpidity. - -[Sidenote: The monarchy of July.] - -July, free in its origin, produced only a fettered monarchy; but -the time will come when, rid of its crown, it will undergo the -transformations which are the law of existences; then it will live in -an atmosphere befitting its nature. - -The errors of the Republican Party, the illusions of the Legitimist -Party are both deplorable and go beyond democracy and royalty: the -first thinks that violence is the only means of success; the second -thinks that the past is the only harbour of safety. Now, there is a -moral law which rules society, a general legitimacy which dominates the -particular legitimacy. This great law and this great legitimacy are the -enjoyment of the natural rights of man, ruled by his duties; for it is -the duty that creates the right, and not the right that creates the -duty; the passions and the vices relegate us to the class of slaves. -The general legitimacy would have had no obstacle to overcome, if it -had kept, as belonging to the same principle, the particular legitimacy. - -For the rest, one observation will suffice to make us understand the -prodigious and majestic might of the family of our old sovereigns; I -have already said it and can not repeat it too often: all the royalties -will die with the French Royalty. - -In fact, the monarchical idea is wanting at the very moment when the -monarch is wanting; we find nothing left around us but the democratic -idea. My young King will carry away in his arms the monarchy of the -world. It is a good ending. - - -When I was writing all this on what the Revolution of 1830 might be in -the future, I had a difficulty in defending myself against an instinct -which spoke to me in contradiction to my argument. I took this instinct -for the impulse of my dislike of the troubles of 1830; I distrusted -myself and, perhaps, in my too loyal impartiality, I exaggerated the -future which the Three Days might bring forth. Well, ten years have -passed since the fall of Charles X.: has July sat down? We are now at -the commencement of December 1840: to what a depth has France sunk! -If I could find any pleasure in the humiliation of a government of -French origin, I should experience a sort of pride in re-reading, in -the _Congrès de Vérone_, my correspondence with Mr. Canning: certainly -it differs from that which has just been communicated to the Chamber -of Deputies. Whose is the fault? Is it that of the elected Prince? Is -it that of the incapacity of his ministers? Is it that of the nation -itself, whose character and genius seem to be exhausted? Our ideas -are progressive; but do our manners support them? It would not be -surprising if a people which has existed fourteen centuries and which -has ended that long career with an explosion of miracles should have -come to an end. If you read these Memoirs to their conclusion, you will -see that, while doing justice to all that has seemed fine to me in -the various epochs of our history, I am of opinion that, in the last -result, the old society is coming to an end[328]. - - -Here ends my political career. This career ought also to close my -Memoirs, since nothing is left for me but to sum up the experiences of -my course. Three catastrophes have marked the three preceding parts -of my life: I saw Louis XVI. die during my career as a traveller and -a soldier; at the end of my political career, Bonaparte disappeared; -Charles X., in falling, closed my political career. - -I have fixed the period of a revolution in literature, and, in the same -way, in politics, I have formulated the principles of representative -government: my diplomatic correspondence is worth quite as much, I -think, as my literary compositions. It is possible that both are worth -nothing at all, but it is certain that they are of equal value. - -In France, in the tribune of the House of Peers and in my writings, -I exercised so great an influence that I first placed M. de Villèle -in office and that, later, he was forced to retire in the face of my -opposition, after he had made himself my enemy. All this is proved by -what you have read. - -The great event of my political career is the Spanish War. It was for -me, in this career, what the _Génie du Christianisme_ had been in my -literary career. My destiny picked me out to entrust me with the -mighty venture which, under the Restoration, might have set in regular -order the world's progress towards the future. It took me out of my -dreams, and transformed me into a leader of facts. It set me down to -play at a table at which were seated, as my adversaries, the two first -ministers of the day, Prince Metternich and Mr. Canning: I won the -game against both of them. All the serious minds which the Cabinets at -that time numbered agreed that they had met a statesman in me[329]. -Bonaparte had foreseen it before them, in spite of my books. I am -entitled therefore, without boasting, to believe that the politician in -me equalled the writer; but I attach no value to political renown: that -is why I have allowed myself to speak of it. - -[Sidenote: End of my political career.] - -If, at the time of the Peninsular Enterprise, I had not been flung -aside by deluded men, the course of our destinies would have changed: -France would have resumed her frontiers, the equilibrium of Europe -would have been re-established; the Restoration, becoming glorious, -might have lived a long time yet, and my diplomatic work would also -have marked a stage in our history. Between my two lives, there is only -a difference of result. My literary career, completely accomplished, -has produced all that it had to produce, because it depended on myself -alone. My political career was suddenly stopped in the midst of its -successes, because it depended on others. - -Nevertheless, I admit that my politics were applicable only to the -Restoration. When a transformation takes place in principles, societies -and men, what was good yesterday becomes antiquated and lapsed to-day. -With regard to Spain, the relations between the Royal Families having -ceased, owing to the abolition of the Salic Law, there is no longer a -question of creating impenetrable frontiers beyond the Pyrenees; we -must accept the field of battle which Austria and England may one day -open up to us there; we must take things at the point to which they -have come and abandon, not without regret, a firm but reasonable line -of conduct, the certain benefits of which were, it is true, long-dated. -I feel conscious of having served the Legitimacy as it should be -served. I saw the future as clearly as I see it now; only I wished to -reach it by a less dangerous road, so that the Legitimacy, which was -essential to our constitutional instruction, might not stumble in a -precipitous course. To-day, my plans are no longer realizable: Russia -is going to turn elsewhere. If, as things now are, I were to enter the -Peninsula, whose spirit has had time to change, it would be with other -thoughts: I should occupy myself only with the alliance of the nations, -suspicious, jealous, passionate, uncertain and variable though it be, -and should not dream of relations between the kings. I should say to -France: - -"You have left the beaten track for the path of precipices: very -well, explore its wonders and its perils. Come to us, innovations, -enterprises, discoveries! Come, and let arms, if necessary, favour you! -Where is there anything new? In the East? Let us march there! Where -can we direct our courage and our intelligence? Let us hasten thither! -Let us place ourselves at the head of the great rising of the human -race; let us not allow ourselves to be outstripped; let the French name -go before the others on this crusade, as of old it did to the Tomb of -Christ!" - -Yes, if I were admitted to my country's councils, I would try to be -of use to it in the dangerous principles which it has adopted: to -restrain it at present, would mean to condemn it to a base death. I -should not be satisfied with speeches: adding works to faith, I should -prepare soldiers and millions, I should build ships, like Noe, to make -prevision for the deluge, and, if I were asked why, I should answer: - -"Because such is France's good pleasure." - -My dispatches would warn the Cabinets of Europe that nothing shall stir -on the globe without our intervention; that, if the world's shreds are -to be distributed, the lion's share shall fall to us. We should cease -humbly to ask our neighbours for leave to exist; the heart of France -would beat freely, no hand would dare to lay itself upon that heart to -count its throbbings; and, since we are seeking new suns, I should dart -towards their splendour and no longer await the natural rise of dawn. - -God grant that these industrial interests, in which we are to find a -prosperity of a new kind, may deceive nobody, that they may prove as -fruitful, as civilizing as the moral interests whence the old society -issued! Time will teach us whether they be not the barren dreams of -those sterile intellects which lack the faculty of rising above the -material world. - -[Sidenote: With the Legitimacy.] - -Although my part finishes with the Legitimacy, all my wishes are for -France, whatever be the powers which her improvident whim may lead her -to obey. As for myself, I ask for nothing more; I would wish only not -too long to outlive the ruins which lie crumbling at my feet. But -one's years are like the Alps: scarce has one surmounted the first, -before others rise before one. Alas, those last and higher mountains -are uninhabited, arid and topped with snow! - - - -[Footnote 263: This book was written in Paris, in August and September -1830, and revised in December 1840.--T.] - -[Footnote 264: Michel Chevalier (1806-1879), who later achieved -distinction as the promoter of the Treaty of Commerce between France -and England.--T.] - -[Footnote 265: Ulysse Trélat (_b._ 1795), a well-known mad-doctor and -politician. He was Minister of Public Works for six weeks in 1848.--T.] - -[Footnote 266: Jean Baptiste Teste (1780-1852), a famous lawyer, went -to Belgium after the Second Restoration and became attorney-general -to King William I. of the Netherlands. He returned to France at the -outbreak of the Revolution and filled several ministerial offices -during the reign of Louis-Philippe.--T.] - -[Footnote 267: Augustin Guinard has already been mentioned as being -among the first to enter the Tuileries on the 29th of July (_supra_, p. -109).--T.] - -[Footnote 268: Charles Hingray (1797-1870), a bookseller and -politician, and a consistent Radical.--T.] - -[Footnote 269: Louis François Auguste Cauchois-Lemaire (1789-1861), -a French publicist, founder of the _Nain jaune_ (1814) and author of -an _Histoire de la révolution de Juillet_ (1841). He continued his -opposition to the Monarchy after the Revolution of July.--T.] - -[Footnote 270: The Battle of Jemmapes (6 November 1792), in which -Dumouriez defeated the Austrians under the Duke of Saxe-Teschen. -Louis-Philippe, then Duc de Chartres, was present at the battle as a -lieutenant-general, and is said to have decided the victory, which led -to the occupation of Belgium.--T.] - -[Footnote 271: The Battle of Valmy (20 September 1792), in which -the French under Kellermann, acting under the orders of Dumouriez, -repulsed the Prussians, led by the Duke of Brunswick. In this battle, -which produced an immense moral effect, the Duc de Chartres also -distinguished himself.--T.] - -[Footnote 272: Here the _Souvenirs_ of the Duc de Broglie agree with -the _Mémoires d'Outre-tombe._ M. de Broglie says: - - "Posted up on M. Laffitte's own door, on the Bourse, and in all the - public places, one read a placard worded as follows: - - "'Charles X. cannot return to Paris: he has shed the blood of the - people. - - "'The Republic would expose us to horrible divisions; it would - embroil us with Europe. - - "'The Duc d'Orléans is a Prince devoted to the cause of the - Revolution. - - "'The Duc d'Orléans has never fought against us. - - "'The Duc d'Orléans was at Jemmapes. - - "'The Duc d'Orléans has worn the national colours, the Duc - d'Orléans alone can wear them still. - - "'The Duc d'Orléans has declared himself: he accepts the Charter as - we have always desired and understood it. - - "'He will hold his crown at the hands of the French People.' - - - "This last phrase was immediately modified as follows on a second - placard: - - "'The Duc d'Orléans makes no declaration: he awaits our will; let - us proclaim that will: he will accept the Charter as we have always - desired and understood it.'" - -The Duc de Broglie adds: - - "Whence did these placards proceed? We know to-day that they were - the work of Messieurs Thiers and Mignet, and that Paulin the - bookseller, strong in the support of his friends, gave attention to - the printing and the posting. Was M. Laffitte in the secret? There - is reason to presume so."(_Souvenirs du feu Duc de Broglie_, - vol. III.)--B.] - -[Footnote 273: Ary Scheffer (1785-1858), the Dutch painter. He -was appointed painting-master to the Orleans children, in 1821, -and remained on a very intimate footing with the Orleans Family -throughout.--T.] - -[Footnote 274: Madame Adélaïde (1777-1847), younger sister of -Louis-Philippe. She exercised a great ascendant over that Monarch's -mind, was his adviser during the whole of his reign, and her death -plunged him into a state of dejection which facilitated the Revolution -of 1848. She accumulated a large fortune, which she bequeathed to her -nephews.--T.] - -[Footnote 275: The Duc d'Orléans occupied a royal residence at Neuilly -which was demolished in 1848.--T.] - -[Footnote 276: The Marquis de Sémonville, as Grand Referendary, had a -set of official apartments at the Luxembourg.--T.] - -[Footnote 277: Epicurus (342 B.C.--270 B.C.), the Greek -philosopher.--T.] - -[Footnote 278: Captain Le Motha is the original of the officer -immortalized by Alfred de Vigny in the last and admirable episode of -his _Servitude et grandeur militaires_, entitled, _La Vie et la mort du -capitaine Renaud._--B.] - -[Footnote 279: Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, Duc de Guiche -(1755-1836), emigrated to England during the Revolution and, as -"Captain Gramont," served in the 10th Hussars. He returned to France -with the Duc d'Angoulême as first aide-de-camp, and was created a peer -of France in June 1814. He took the oath of allegiance to the new -Government after the Revolution of July, and remained a peer till his -death.--B.] - -[Footnote 280: M. de Guernon-Rainville, who was at Saint-Cloud at that -time, thus describes this deplorable scene in his Journal: - - "The Prince and the marshal were alone in the green drawing-room at - Saint-Cloud; the explanations of the Duc de Raguse did not satisfy - the Dauphin, who exclaimed: - - "'Do you mean to betray us too?' - - "At these words, the marshal laid his hand on the hilt of his - sword. The Prince saw the movement, rushed forwards and, trying - to snatch the sword from its scabbard, wounded his hand slightly; - then, flinging the sword on the floor, he seized the marshal by - the collar, threw him on a sofa, and called to the guards who were - in the next room. At that moment, the officer on duty, hearing the - noise, opened the door of the drawing-room; the Prince ordered him - to place the marshal under arrest in his room. - - "The King, hearing of this strange scene, reproached the Dauphin - for it, and asked him to become reconciled with the marshal, who - was at once sent for. He made some excuse to the Prince, who - answered: - - "'I myself have been in the wrong; but your sword has drawn my - blood, so we are quits....' - - "And he offered him his hand."--B.] - -[Footnote 281: Charles de Lorraine, Duc de Guise (1571-1640), son of -Henri I. Duc de Guise, the second duke who bore the surname of the -Balafré.--T.] - -[Footnote 282: Antoine Montbreton, Maréchal de Saint-Pol (_circa_ -1550-1593), one of the heads of the League, was assassinated by the -Duc de Guise at Rheims, where he had gone to maintain order among the -Spanish garrison.--T.] - -[Footnote 283: Marcus Junius Brutus (85 B.C.--42 B.C.), one of Cæsar's -assassins.--T.] - -[Footnote 284: Lucius Junius Brutus, Roman Consul in 509 B.C., after -bringing about the expulsion of the Tarquins.--T.] - -[Footnote 285: Marie-Amélie Duchesse d'Orléans, later Queen of the -French (1782-1866), daughter of Ferdinand I. King of the Two Sicilies, -and married to the Duc d'Orléans in 1809.--T.] - -[Footnote 286: Ambroise Anatole Augustin Comte, later Marquis de -Montesquiou-Fézensac (1788-1878), entered the service as a private in -1806, became a colonel and aide-de-camp to the Emperor in 1814 and, in -1816, aide-de-camp to the Duc d'Orléans. In 1823, he was appointed a -lord-in-waiting to the Duchess. He was promoted to brigadier-general in -1831, was a deputy from 1834 to 1841 and, in 1841, was created a peer -of France, and a grandee of Spain and a marquis in 1847.--B.] - -[Footnote 287: Auguste Marie Baron de Berthois (1787-1870) had served -in all the campaigns from 1809 to 1814. He became aide-de-camp to the -Duc d'Orléans under the Restoration, and was with him throughout the -Days of July. He was promoted to colonel, in 1831, and, later, to -brigadier-general. Berthois sat in the Chamber of Deputies from 1832 to -1848.--B.] - -[Footnote 288: I give below the text of the two proclamations issued by -the Duc d'Orléans and the Chamber of Deputies respectively: - - "Inhabitants of Paris! - - "The Deputies of France at this moment assembled in Paris have - expressed to me the desire that I should repair to this capital to - exercise the functions of Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom. - - "I have not hesitated to come and share your dangers, to place - myself in the midst of your heroic population, and to exert all - my efforts to preserve you from the calamities of civil war and - anarchy. - - "On returning to the City of Paris, I wear with pride those - glorious colours which you have resumed and which I myself long - wore. - - "The Chambers are going to assemble; they will consider of the - means of securing the reign of the laws and the maintenance of the - rights of the nation. - - "The Charter will henceforward be a reality. - - "LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS." - - "Frenchmen! - - "France is free. Absolute power raised its standard: the heroic - population of Paris has overthrown it. Paris, attacked, has made - the sacred cause triumph, by means which had triumphed in vain in - the elections. A power which usurped our rights and disturbed our - repose threatened at once both liberty and order. We return to the - possession of order and liberty. There is no more fear for acquired - rights, no further barrier between us and the rights which we still - require. A government which may, without delay, secure to us these - advantages is now the first want of our country. Frenchmen, those - of your Deputies who are already in Paris have assembled and, till - the Chambers can regularly intervene, they have invited a Frenchman - who has never fought but for France--the Duc d'Orléans--to exercise - the functions of Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom. This is, in - their opinion, the surest means promptly to accomplish, by peace, - the success of the most legitimate defense. - - "The Duc d'Orléans is devoted to the national and constitutional - cause. He has always defended its interests and professed its - principles. He will respect our rights, for he will derive his own - from us. We shall secure to ourselves, by laws, all the guarantees - necessary to strong and durable liberty: - - "The re-establishment of the National Guard, with the intervention - of the National Guards in the choice of their officers; - - "The intervention of the citizens in the formation of the - departmental and municipal administrations; - - "The jury for the transgressions of the press; the legally - organized responsibility of the ministers and of the secondary - agents of the administration; - - "The situation and rank of the military legally secured; and - - "The re-election of deputies in the place of those appointed - to public offices. Such guarantees will, at length, give to - our institutions, in concert with the head of the state, the - developments of which they have need. - - "Frenchmen, the Duc d'Orléans himself has already spoken, and his - language is that which is suitable to a free country: - - "'The Chambers,' he says, 'are going to assemble; they will - consider of means to insure the reign of the laws, and the - maintenance of the rights of the nation. - - "'The Charter will henceforward be a reality.'"--T.] - - -[Footnote 289: Louis Philippe, fourth Duc d'Orléans (1725-1785), -married, in 1743, to the Princesse Louise de Conti, who died in 1759. -In 1773, he married Madame de Montesson, secretly, as his second wife, -and passed the last years of his life at Bagnolet in protecting men of -letters and artists.--T.] - -[Footnote 290: Louis, third Duc d'Orléans (1703-1752), the only quite -respectable head of the House of Orléans. He led a life distinguished -for its erudition and piety: so much so that he was at one time, -although on insufficient grounds, suspected of Jansenism. Louis was -married, in 1724, to the Princess Augusta of Baden, who died two years -later.--T.] - -[Footnote 291: Philip II., second Duc d'Orléans (1674-1723), nephew -to Louis XIV. and married in 1692, to his legitimatized daughter, -Mademoiselle de Blois, was Regent of France during the minority of -Louis XV. ( 1715-1723). The Regent was one of the greatest statesmen -that France has seen: his private life was scandalous.--T.] - -[Footnote 292: Philip I., first Duc d'Orléans of the second creation -(1640-1701), married first, in 1661, to his cousin, the Princess -Henrietta of England, who died in 1670, daughter of King Charles I.; -secondly, in 1671, to the Princess Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, -who died in 1722. It will be seen that, as the descendants of Henry -IV., who was the grandfather of Philip I. of Orleans, the Orleans -Princes were a younger branch of the House of Bourbon, and that the -"Valois" pretensions were utter nonsense. The exact relationship of -Louis-Philippe to Charles X. was that of a sixth cousin. The Orleans -Princes were Princes of the Blood, but not of France, and were Serene -Highnesses down to Louis-Philippe, who was created a Royal Highness by -Charles X.--T.] - -[Footnote 293: Consisting of a certain number of Republicans who met, -musket in hand at a restaurant kept by one Lointier. The principal -members of this gathering, including Trélat, Guinard, Charles Teste, -Bastide, Poubelle, Charles Hingray, Chevalier and Hubert formed the -first rank of the enemies of the Monarchy of July.--B.] - -[Footnote 294: Alexandre Edme Baron Méchin (1772-1849), one of the -bitterest speakers in the Liberal Opposition during the Restoration. -The Government of July made him Prefect of the Nord and a councillor of -State.--B.] - -[Footnote 295: Jean Pons Guillaume Viennet (1777-1868), a deputy from -1820 to 1837, a peer of France from 1839 to 1848, and a member of the -French Academy (1830). He was an indefatigable rhymester; he became -the butt of the press, thanks to his ultra-classical and (after 1830) -ultra-conservative ideas, and retorted with infinite wit, giving -the papers a Roland for their Oliver throughout the duration of the -Monarchy of July, from 1830 to 1848.--B.] - -[Footnote 296: BLANC: _Histoire de dix ans_, Vol. I.--B.] - -[Footnote 297: Pierre Victoire Palma-Cayet (1525-1610), author of the -_Chronologie novennaire_, the _Chronologie septennaire_, etc.--T.] - -[Footnote 298: This Joubert was the man who, with his friend Dugied, -introduced the _Carbonari_ into France. They were both implicated in -the so-called Military Conspiracy of the Bazaar, in 1820, and took -refuge in Naples. In 1822, Joubert was one of the principal agents of -the Belfort Plot. He succeeded in escaping for the second time, to -Spain, where he fought against the French and was taken prisoner at -the battle of Llers. As he had been twice wounded, he was taken to the -Perpignan Hospital, whence Dugied, by means of bribery, procured his -escape. He reached Belgium, where he remained till 1830.--B.] - -[Footnote 299: Eléonore Louis Godefroy Cavaignac (1801-1845), son of -the Conventional, Jean Baptiste Cavaignac, and elder brother to General -Eugène Cavaignac. For fifteen years he remained a formidable adversary -of the Monarchy of July, fighting it with every weapon and on every -ground, in the streets, in the press, in the law-courts, in prison and -in exile. He died in harness on the 5th of May 1845.--B.] - -[Footnote 300: Marie Anne Joseph Degousée (1795-1862) conspired under -the Restoration and under Louis-Philippe, and fought at the barricades -in February 1848. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly and -supported General Cavaignac's candidature for the Presidency. He failed -to secure re-election to the Legislative Assembly and withdrew into -private life, resuming his work as a civil engineer.--B.] - -[Footnote 301: Gustav Karl Frederik Count Lœwenhielm (1771-1856), the -Swedish Minister Plenipotentiary, had been in Paris since 1818.--B.] - -[Footnote 302: Sir Charles Stuart, the British Ambassador, had been -raised to the peerage as Lord Stuart de Rothesay in 1828. He was -Ambassador to the Court of France from 1815 to 1824 and from 1828 to -1830.--T.] - -[Footnote 303: This is very nearly what I wrote to Mr. Canning in 1823 -(_Cf._ the _Congrès de Vérone_).--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 304: Russian Ambassador from 1814 to 1835. Pozzo was devoted -to Paris, and returned there after his retirement from the London -Embassy and diplomatic life in 1839.--T.] - -[Footnote 305: Wilhelm Baron von Werther (_d._ 1859), Prussian -Minister to Paris from 1824 to 1837 and Prussian Minister of Foreign -Affairs from 1837 to 1841. He was the father of Karl Anton Philipp -Baron von Werther, who was Ambassador of Prussia and the North -German Confederation to Paris from October 1869 until the rupture of -diplomatic relations in July 1870.--B.] - -[Footnote 306: Henry V. King of France and Navarre (1820-1883), son -of the Duc de Berry, was, to the time of his _de jure_ accession, in -August 1830, known as Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d'Artois, -Duc de Bordeaux. Later, he assumed the title of Comte de Chambord, by -which he was known till his death. He married, in 1846, Maria Teresa -Gaetana, daughter of Francis IV. Duke of Modena. Queen Marie-Thérèse -died in 1886.--T.] - -[Footnote 307: The context would lead the reader to think that Prince -Esterhazy was Ambassador to Paris at the time of the Revolution of -July. This is not so. The Austrian Ambassador to Paris in 1830 was -Count Apponyi.--B.] - -[Footnote 308: Pozzo di Borgo was a native of Ajaccio in Corsica. The -Blue Ribbon mentioned above was the ribbon of the Order of the Holy -Ghost.--T.] - -[Footnote 309: Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux, Comte de Bordesoulle -(1771-1837), took part in all the wars of the Revolution and the -Empire, and rallied to the Bourbons in 1814, accompanying Louis XVIII. -to Ghent. He distinguished himself greatly in the Spanish War of 1823 -and, on his return, was raised to the peerage. He took the oath of -allegiance to Louis-Philippe's Government, and remained a member of the -House of Peers till his death.--B.] - -[Footnote 310: The sentences here omitted by Chateaubriand ran as -follows: - - "I charge Lieutenant-general the Vicomte de Foissac-Latour with - this letter to you. He has orders to consult with you as to the - arrangements to be made in favour of those persons who have - accompanied me, as well as those which may be suitable for myself - and the rest of my family. - - "We shall afterwards regulate the other measures which may become - necessary in consequence of the change of reign."--T.] - -[Footnote 311: Jean François Jacqueminot, later Vicomte de Ham -(1787-1865), a colonel of the Empire, and a deputy at the time of -the Revolution of July. Louis-Philippe appointed him to various high -commands in the National Guard and created him a viscount.--B.] - -[Footnote 312: "General Pajol told me, shortly before his death, that, -in the course of his long military career, he had never thought himself -so near defeat." (MARCELLUS: _Chateaubriand et son temps_, p. 302).--B.] - -[Footnote 313: The Duchesse d'Orléans, later Queen of the French, was -the sister, the Duchesse de Berry the daughter of Francis I. King of -the Two Sicilies.--T.] - -[Footnote 314: Saint Hilary Bishop of Poitiers (_d._ 368), honoured on -the 14th of January. His chief works are _De Trinitate, De Synodis_ and -commentaries.--T.] - -[Footnote 315: Louis Clair Comte de Beaupoil de Sainte-Aulaire -(1778-1854), brother-in-law to M. Decazes. He sat in the Chamber of -Deputies from 1815 to 1829, when, on the death of his father, he -entered the Chamber of Peers. He was away from Paris at the time of the -Revolution of July, hurried back to Paris, and, after some hesitation, -adhered to the new Government and received the Roman Embassy, followed, -in 1833, by the Embassy in Vienna and, lastly, by that in London, -which he occupied from 1841 to 1847. He was the author of a remarkable -Histoire de la Fronde (1827) and, in 1841, was elected a member of the -French Academy.--B.] - -[Footnote 316: Auxonne Marie Théodose Comte de Thiard de Bissy -(1772-1852) was the son of Claude VIII. de Thiard, Comte de Bissy, -Lieutenant-general of the King's Armies, Governor of the Town and -Castle of Auxonne, Governor of the Palais-Royal and the Tuileries, in -Paris, and one of the forty of the French Academy; and nephew of the -Comte de Thiard, the King's Commandant in Brittany in 1789, guillotined -in 1794, who has been more than once mentioned in Vol. I. of the -Memoirs. Auxonne Marie Théodose emigrated in 1791 and served in Condé's -Army until 1799. Under the Empire, after being employed by Napoleon in -his armies and in diplomacy, he was disgraced, in 1807, and lived in -retirement until 1814. He was a representative during the Hundred Days -and a deputy from 1820 to 1834 and from 1837 to 1848. Ex-Emigrant and -born at the Tuileries though he were, he always sat with the Extreme -Left, both under the Restoration and the Government of July.--B.] - -[Footnote 317: François Duris-Dufresne (1769-1837) was also an -ex-officer. After forming part of the Legislative Body from the Year -XII. to 1809, he entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1827 and voted with -the Left. He adhered to the Revolution of July and the usurpation of -Louis-Philippe; but events soon drove him into the Dynastic Opposition. -From 1831 to 1834, he sat with the Extreme Left.--B.] - -[Footnote 318: Some editions have "peerage" instead of "country."--T.] - -[Footnote 319: The Baron Pasquier had been President of the House of -Peers since the 4th of August.--B.] - -[Footnote 320: The Baron Louis was Minister of Finance.--B.] - -[Footnote 321: The Marquis de Sémonville continued Grand Refendary.--B.] - -[Footnote 322: Dupont de l'Eure (1767-1855) had been President of -the Imperial Court at Rouen. He became Minister of Justice after the -Revolution of 1830, but soon went over to the Opposition, where he -won an enormous popularity. In 1848, he was elected, by acclamation, -President of the Provisional Government, a position which, owing to his -great age, he held only nominally.--T.] - -[Footnote 323: Edward III. landed near Cherbourg in 1346, besieged the -city and laid waste the surrounding country.--T.] - -[Footnote 324: Anne Hilarion de Contentin, Comte de Tourville -(1642-1701), was defeated off the Hogue in 1692 by the combined Dutch -and English fleets; his own fleet was destroyed.--T.] - -[Footnote 325: The famous dyke of Cherbourg, which turned that harbour -into a first-class port, was built under Louis XVI.--T.] - -[Footnote 326: William I. King of England (1027-1087), surnamed the -Conqueror, landed at Pevensey on the 28th of September 1066; Charles X. -landed, on the 17th of August 1830, at Spithead.--T.] - -[Footnote 327: Holyrood Palace had been the residence of Charles X. -during the First Emigration.--T.] - -[Footnote 328: Paris, 3 December 1840.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 329: _Cf._ the letters and dispatches of the different -Courts, quoted in the _Congrès de Vérone_; consult also the _Ambassade -de Rome.--Author's Note._] - - - - -PART THE FOURTH - -1830-1841 - -BOOK I[330] - -Introduction--Trial of the ministers-Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois--Pillage -of the Archbishop's Palace--My pamphlet on the _Restauration et -la Monarchie élective_--_Études historiques_--Letters to Madame -Récamier--Geneva--Lord Byron--Ferney and Voltaire--Useless -journey to Paris--M. Armand Carrel--M. de Béranger--The Baude and -Briqueville proposition for the banishment of the Elder Branch of the -Bourbons--Letter to the author of the _Némésis_--Conspiracy of the Rue -des Prouvaires--Letter to Madame la Duchesse de Berry--Epidemics--The -cholera--Madame La Duchesse de Berry's 12,000 francs--General -Lamarque's funeral--Madame La Duchesse de Berry lands in Provence and -arrives in the Vendée. - - -INFIRMERIE DE MARIE-THÉRÈSE. - -PARIS, _October_ 1830. - -Out of the turmoil of the Three Days, I am quite surprised to find -myself opening the fourth part of this work amid a profound calm; it -seems to me that I have doubled the Cape of Storms and penetrated into -a region of peace and silence. If I had died on the 7th of August of -this year, the last words of my speech in the House of Peers would have -been the last lines of my history; my catastrophe, being that of a past -of twelve centuries, would have augmented my memory. My drama would -have ended magnificently. - -But I did not fall under the blow, I was not struck to the ground. -Pierre de L'Estoile wrote this page of his Journal on the day following -the assassination of Henry IV.: - - "And here I end with the life of my King the second register of - my melancholic pastimes and my vain and curious researches, both - public and private, interrupted often since the past month by - the watches of the sad and irksome nights which I have suffered, - similarly this last, for the death of my King. - - "I had proposed to close my ephemerides with this register; but so - many new and curious occurrences have presented themselves through - this signal mutation, that I pass to another which also will go - before God pleases: and I doubt 'twill not be very long." - -L'Estoile saw the death of the first Bourbon; I have just seen the fall -of the last: ought I not to "close here the register of my melancholic -pastimes and of my vain and curious researches?" Perhaps; "but so many -new and curious researches have presented themselves through this -signal mutation, that I pass to another register." - -Like L'Estoile, I lament the adversities of the Dynasty of St. Louis; -nevertheless, I am obliged to admit, there mingles with my sorrow a -certain inward satisfaction: I reproach myself with it, but I cannot -prevent it; this satisfaction is that of the slave delivered from his -chains. When I abandoned the career of a soldier and a traveller, I -felt a certain sadness; now I feel joy, freed convict that I am of -the galleys of the world and the Court Faithful to my principles and -my oaths, I have betrayed neither liberty nor the King, I carry away -neither wealth nor honours; I go as poor as I came. Happy to end a -career which was hateful to me, I lovingly return to repose. - -Blessed be thou, O my native and dear independence, soul of my life! -Come, bring me my Memoirs, that _alter ego_ whose confidant, idol -and muse you are. The hours of leisure are fit for story-telling: a -shipwrecked mariner, I shall continue to relate my shipwreck to the -fishermen on shore. Returning to my primitive instincts, I become a -free man and a traveller once again; I end my course as I began it. The -closing circle of my days brings me back to the starting-point. On the -road which I once took as a careless conscript, I am going to travel -as an experienced veteran, with my furlough in my shako, the stripes -of time upon my arm, a knapsack full of years upon my back. Who knows? -Perhaps I shall, stage by stage, recover the reveries of my youth. I -shall call many dreams to my help, to defend me against that horde of -truths which are begotten in old days even as dragons hide themselves -in ruins. It will depend but on myself to knot together again the two -ends of my existence, to blend far-distant periods, to mingle illusions -of different ages, since the Prince whom I met in exile on leaving my -paternal home I now meet in banishment on my way to my last abode. - - -I rapidly wrote the little introduction to this part of my Memoirs in -the month of October of last year[331]; but I was unable to continue -this labour, because I had another on my hands: this was the work[332] -which concluded the edition of my Complete Works. From this work again -I was diverted, first, by the trial of the ministers and, next, by the -sack of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. - -[Sidenote: Trial of the ministers.] - -The trial of the ministers[333] and the flurry in Paris made no great -impression on me: after the trial of Louis XVI. and the revolutionary -insurrections, all is small in the matter of trials and insurrections. -The ministers, when coming from Vincennes to the Luxembourg and -returning to Vincennes while sentence was being passed, went through -the Rue d'Enfer: I could hear the wheels of their carriage from the -back of my retreat. How many events have passed before my door! - -The defenders of those men did not rise to the level of their task. -None took a high enough view of the matter: the advocate predominated -too greatly in the speeches. If my friend the Prince de Polignac had -chosen me for his second, with what an eye should I have looked upon -those perjurers setting themselves up for judges of a perjurer! - -"What!" I should have said to them. "It is you who dare to be my -client's judges; it is you who, all sullied with your oaths, dare to -impute it as a crime to him that he ruined his master when he thought -he was serving him: you, the instigators; you who urged him to issue -the Ordinances! Change places with him whom you claim the right to -judge: he who was accused becomes the accuser. If we have deserved to -be struck, it is not by you; if we are guilty, it is not towards you, -but towards the people: they are waiting for us in the yard of your -palace, and we shall take our heads to them." - -After the trial of the ministers, came the scandal of -Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois[334]. The Royalists, full of excellent -qualities, but sometimes stupid and often aggravating, never -calculating the range of their measures, always thinking that they -would restore the Legitimacy by affecting a colour in their cravats -or a flower in their button-holes, occasioned deplorable scenes. It -was evident that the Revolutionary Party would profit by the service -held in commemoration of the Duc de Berry to make a noise. Now, the -Legitimists were not strong enough to oppose this, and the Government -was not settled enough to maintain order; and so the church was -pillaged. A Voltairean and progressive apothecary[335] triumphed -fearlessly over a steeple of the year 1300 and a cross already -overthrown by other Barbarians at the end of the ninth century. - -Consequently upon the exploits of these enlightened pharmaceutics -come the devastation of the Archbishop's Palace, the profanation of -the sacred things, and the processions copied from those of Lyons. -The executioner and the victims were lacking; but there were plenty -of buffoons, masks and diverse carnival delights. The burlesque -sacrilegious procession marched on one side of the Seine, while the -National Guard, pretending to hasten in aid, defiled on the other. The -river separated order and anarchy. It is stated that a man of talent -was there as an onlooker and that he said, on seeing the chasubles and -books floating on the Seine: - -"What a pity they did not throw the Archbishop in!" - -A profound utterance, for indeed a drowned archbishop must be a -pleasant sight; that makes liberty and enlightenment take so great a -step forward! We old witnesses of old deeds are obliged to tell you -that you see here but pale and wretched copies. You still possess the -revolutionary instinct, but you no longer have its energy; you can be -criminal only in imagination; you would like to do evil, but your -heart lacks courage and your arm strength; you would like to see fresh -massacres, but you would no longer set to work to commit them. If you -want the Revolution of July to be great and to remain great, do not -let M. Cadet de Gassicourt be its real hero and "Mayeux" its ideal -personage[336]. - -[Sidenote: My new pamphlet.] - - PARIS, _end of March_ 1831. - - I was out of my reckoning when, after the Days of July were over, - I thought that I was entering a region of peace. The fall of the - three Sovereigns had obliged me to explain myself in the House of - Peers. The proscription of those Kings forbade me to remain dumb. - On the other hand, Philip's newspapers were asking me why I refused - to serve a revolution which consecrated the principles which I - had defended and diffused. I had needs to speak on behalf of the - general truths and to explain my personal conduct. An extract from - a little pamphlet which will be forgotten, _De la Restauration et - de la Monarchie élective_[337], will continue the thread of my - narrative and that of the history of my times: - - - "Despoiled of the present, possessing but an uncertain future - beyond the tomb, I feel a need that my memory should not be injured - by my silence. I must not hold my peace touching a Restoration in - which I have taken so much part, which is being daily outraged - and which is at length being proscribed before my eyes.... In the - middle-ages, at times of calamity, men used to take a religious and - lock him in a tower, where he fasted on bread and water for the - salvation of the world. I am not unlike this twelfth-century monk: - through the dormer-window of my expiatory jail, I have preached my - last sermon to the passers-by..." - -Here is the epitome of that sermon: - - "As I predicted in my last speech in the tribune of the Peers, the - Monarchy of July is in an absolute condition of glory or of laws - of exception; it lives by the press, and the press is killing it; - devoid of glory, it will be devoured by liberty; if it attack that - liberty, it will perish. It would be a fine thing if, after driving - out three Kings with barricades, on behalf of the liberty of the - press, we were to be seen erecting new barricades against that - liberty! And yet, what is to be done? Will the redoubled action - of the tribunals and the laws suffice to restrain the writers? A - new government is a child that can walk only in leading-strings. - Are we to put back the nation into swaddling-clothes? Will that - terrible nursling, which has sucked blood in the arms of victory - at so many bivouacs, not burst its bandages? There was but one old - stock, deeply rooted in the past, which could have withstood with - impunity the gales blowing from the liberty of the press. . . . - . . . . . . . . "To listen to the declamations of the moment, it - seems that the exiles of Edinburgh are the poorest fellows living - and that they are nowhere missed. The present, to-day, lacks - nothing but the past: a small thing! As though the centuries did - not make use of each other as pedestals, and as though the last - comer could support itself in mid-air!... It is useless for our - vanity to take offense at memories, to erase the fleurs-de-lys, to - proscribe names and persons: that family, the heir of a thousand - years, has left an immense void by its withdrawal; one feels it - everywhere. Those individuals, so paltry in our eyes, have shaken - Europe in their fall. To however small a degree events produce - their natural effects and bring about their rigorous consequences, - Charles X., in abdicating, will have made all those Gothic kings, - the grand vassals of the past under the suzerainty of the Capets, - abdicate with him. . . . . . . . . . . . "We are marching towards a - general revolution. If the transformation which is being effected - follows its inclination and meets with no obstacles, if popular - reason continues its progressive development, if the education - of the middle classes suffers no interruption, the nations will - become levelled in a uniform liberty; if that transformation is - stayed, the nations will become levelled in a uniform despotism. - This despotism will not last long, because of the advanced age of - intelligence, but it will be harsh, and a long social dissolution - will follow it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - -[Sidenote: Extracts from my pamphlet.] - - "Preoccupied as I am with these ideas, it is clear why I was; - bound, as an individual, to remain true to what seemed to me; the - best safeguard of the public liberties, the least perilous road by - which to attain the complement of those liberties. - - "It is not that I have the pretension to be a tearful preacher - of sentimental politics, an eternal repeater of white plumes and - commonplaces à la Henry IV. Casting my eyes over the space that - separates the tower of the Temple from the palace in Edinburgh, - I should doubtless find as many calamities heaped up as there - are centuries accumulated on a noble race. A woman of sorrow, - above all, has been loaded with the heaviest burden, as being the - strongest; there is not a heart but breaks at the thought of her: - her sufferings have risen so high that they have become one of the - grandeurs of the Revolution. But, when all is said and done, no - one is obliged to be king: Providence sends particular afflictions - to whom it pleases, always brief ones, because life is short; - and those afflictions are not counted in the general destinies - of the peoples. . . . . . . . . . . . . "Even if the proposition - which for ever banishes the deposed Family from French territory - be a corollary of the deposition of that Family, that corollary - carries no conviction for me.... I should in vain seek my place in - the several categories of persons who have become attached to the - actual order of things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "There are - men who, after taking the oath to the Republic One and Indivisible, - to the Directory of five persons, to the Consulate of three, to the - Empire of one alone, to the First Restoration, to the Additional - Act to the Constitutions of the Empire, to the Second Restoration, - have something left to swear to Louis-Philippe: I am not so rich. - - "There are men who flung their word on the Place de Grève, in July, - like those Roman goat-herds who play at odd or even among ruins. - Those men... treat as a fool and simpleton whosoever does not - reduce politics to a question of private interests: I am a fool and - a simpleton. - - "There are timorous people who would have much preferred not to - swear, but who saw themselves being butchered, together with their - grand-parents, their grandchildren, and all the landlords, if they - had not trembled out their oaths: this is a physical effect which I - have not yet experienced; I shall wait for the infirmity and, if it - comes to me, I shall consider. - - "There! are great lords of the Empire linked to their pensions by - sacred and indissoluble bonds, whatever be the hand they fall from: - a pension is in their eyes a sacrament; it stamps a character, like - orders or marriage; no pensioned head can ever cease to be so: - pensions being charged to the Treasury, they remain charged to the - same Treasury. As for me, I have the habit of divorce from Fortune: - I am too old for her and abandon her, lest she should leave me. - - "There are high barons of the Throne and the Altar who have not - betrayed the Ordinances: no! But the insufficiency of the means - employed to carry out the Ordinances has excited their spleen: - indignant to find shortcomings in despotism, they have gone to - seek another antechamber. It is impossible for me to share their - indignation and their abode. - - "There are men of conscience who are perjurers only to be - perjurers; who, while yielding to force, are none the less for - the right: they weep over that poor Charles X., whom they first - dragged to his ruin by their advice and then put to death by their - oaths; but, if ever he or his House revive, they will be very - thunder-bolts of legitimacy. As for me, I have always been devoted - to death, and I am the funeral procession of the Old Monarchy, like - the poor man's dog. - - "Lastly, there are trusty knights who have dispensations from - honour and permits of disloyalty in their pocket: I have none. - - "I was the man of the _possible_ Restoration, of the Restoration - accompanied by every kind of liberty. That Restoration took me for - an enemy; it is ruined: I must undergo its fate. Shall I go to - attach the few years that remain to me to a new fortune, like the - hems of dresses which women drag from court to court for all the - world to tread upon? At the head of the young generations, I should - be suspect; following them, is not my place. I am fully aware that - none of my faculties has aged; I understand my century better than - ever; I penetrate more boldly into the future than anybody; but - necessity has pronounced its decree; to end his life opportunely is - a necessary condition for the public man." - -[Sidenote: The _Études historiques._] - -Lastly, the _Études historiques_[338] have just appeared; I will quote -the Introduction, which is a real page of my Memoirs, and contains my -history at the very moment at which I am writing: - - INTRODUCTION - - "Remember, so as not to lose sight of the pace of the world, that - at that time[339]... there were citizens engaged, like myself, in - ransacking the archives of the past amid the ruins of the present, - in writing the annals of the old revolutions to the uproar of the - new revolutions; they and I taking as our table, in the crumbling - edifice, the stone that had fallen at our feet, while awaiting that - which was to crush our heads" (_Études historiques_). - - "I would not, for the sake of the days that remain for me to live, - begin again the eighteen months that have just elapsed. None will - ever have an idea of the violence which I have done on myself; I - have been forced to abstract my mind, for ten, twelve and fifteen - hours a day, from what was passing around me, in order childishly - to abandon myself to the composition of a work of which no one - will read a line. Who would peruse four stout volumes, when it is - already so difficult to read the _feuilleton_ of a newspaper? I - was writing ancient history, and modern history was knocking at my - door; in vain I cried, 'Wait, I am coming to you:' it passed on, - to the sound of the cannon, carrying with it three generations of - kings. - - "And how marvellously the times agree with the very nature of - these _Études!_ Men are overthrowing the Cross and persecuting the - priests, and the Cross and the priests occur on every page of my - narrative; they are banishing the Capets, and I am publishing a - history in which the Capets occupy eight centuries. The longest and - the last work of my life, that which has cost me most research, - care and years, that in which I have perhaps stirred up most ideas - and facts, appears at a time when it can find no readers; it is as - though I flung it into a pit, where it will sink down under the - mass of the rubbish that will follow it. When a society is being - composed and decomposed, when the existence of each and all is at - stake, when one is not sure of a future of an hour's duration, who - cares what his neighbour does, says, or thinks? Men have something - else to trouble their heads about than Nero, Constantine, Julian, - the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Fathers of the Church, the Goths, - the Huns, the Vandals, the Franks, Clovis, Charlemagne, Hugh Capet - and Henry IV.; they have something else to think of than the - shipwreck of the old world at a time when we are all involved in - the shipwreck of the new world! Does it not argue a sort of dotage, - a kind of feeble-mindedness, to busy one's self with literature at - such a time? That is true; but this dotage has nothing to do with - my brain, it comes from the antecedents of my spiteful fortune. If - I had not made so many sacrifices to the liberties of my country, I - should not have been obliged to contract engagements which are now - being fulfilled under circumstances doubly deplorable to myself. - No author has ever been put to such a proof; thank God, it is - nearly at an end: I have nothing left to do but to sit on ruins and - despise that life which I scorned in my youth. - - "After these very natural complaints, which have involuntarily - escaped me, one thought comes to console me: I began my literary - career with a work in which I considered Christianity in its - poetic and moral aspects; I end it with a work in which I regard - the same religion in its philosophical and historical aspects: I - began my political career under the Restoration, I end it with the - Restoration. It is not without a secret satisfaction that I observe - this consistency with myself." - - PARIS, _May_ 1831. - - I have not abandoned the resolution which I conceived at the moment - of the catastrophe of July. I have been considering the ways and - means of living abroad: difficult ways and means, because I have - nothing; the purchaser of my works has all but made me a bankrupt, - and my debts prevent me from finding anyone willing to lend me - money. - - [Sidenote: I leave for Geneva.] - - Be this as it may, I shall go to Geneva[340] with the sum that - has accrued to me from the sale of my last pamphlet[341]. I am - leaving a procuration to sell the house in which I write this page - for the sake of the order of dates. If I find a customer for my - bed, I can find another bed outside France. In these uncertainties - and movements, it will be impossible for me, until I am settled - somewhere, to resume the sequence of my Memoirs at the place where - I interrupted them[342]. I shall continue, therefore, to write down - the things of the actual moment of my life; I shall communicate - these things by means of the letters which I may happen to write - on the road or during my different stoppages; I shall afterwards - join the intermediary facts by a "journal" which will fill up the - intervals between the dates of those letters. - -[Sidenote: I leave for Geneva.] - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER[343] - - "LYONS, _Wednesday_ 18 _May_ 1831. - - "Here I am, too far away from you. I have never made so sad a - journey: wonderful weather, nature all arrayed, the nightingale - singing, a starry night; and all this for whom? I shall indeed have - to return to where you are, unless you be willing to come to my - aid[344]." - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "LYONS, _Friday_ 20 _May._ - - "I spent the day, yesterday, in wandering beside the Rhone; I - contemplated the town where you were born, the hill upon which rose - the convent where you were chosen as the fairest: an expectation - which you did not disappoint; and you are not here, and years have - elapsed, and you have since been exiled to your birth-place, and - Madame de Staël is no more, and I am leaving France! One singular - personage[345] belonging to those old days has appeared before - me: I send you his note, because of its unexpectedness and its - surprise. This personage, whom I had never seen, is planting pines - in the mountains of Lyonnais. It is a long cry from there to the - Rue Feydeau and the _Maison à vendre_: what different parts men - play on earth! - - "Hyacinthe has told me of the regrets and the newspaper articles: - I am not worth all that You know that I sincerely think so for - twenty-three hours out of the twenty-four; the twenty-fourth is - dedicated to vanity, which, however, is of slight duration and soon - passes. I wanted to see nobody here; M. Thiers, who was on his way - to the South, forced my door." - - NOTE ENCLOSED IN THE ABOVE LETTER - - "A neighbour, your fellow-countryman, who has no other claim upon - you than a profound admiration for your glorious talent and your - admirable character, would like to have the honour of seeing - you and offering you the homage of his respect. This next-door - neighbour at your hotel, this fellow-countryman is called - - "ELLEVIOU." - - TO MADAME RÉCAMIER - - "LYONS, _Sunday_ 22 _May._ - - "We leave to-morrow for Geneva, when I shall find more memories of - you. Shall I ever see France again, after I have once crossed the - frontier? Yes, if you will, that is to say, if you remain there. - I do not wish for the events which might offer me another chance - of returning; I shall never allow the misfortunes of my country - to enter among the number of my hopes. I shall write to you on - Tuesday, the 24th, from Geneva. When shall I again see your little - hand-writing, the younger sister of mine[346]?" - - [Sidenote: Letters to Madame Récamier.] - - "GENEVA, _Tuesday_ 24 _May._ - - "We arrived here yesterday and are looking at houses. We shall - probably make shift with a little summer-house on the edge of the - lake. I cannot tell you how sad I feel as I busy myself with these - arrangements. Again another future! Again to begin anew a life - which I thought I had ended! I mean to write you a long letter - when I am a little at rest: I dread that rest, for then I shall be - contemplating without distraction those dim years upon which I am - entering with a heart so much oppressed." - - - 9 _June_ 1831. - - "You know that a 'reformed' sect has been established in the midst - of the Protestants. One of the new pastors of the new church has - been to see me and has written me two letters worthy of the first - Apostles. He wants to convert me to his faith, and I want to turn - him into a 'Papist.' We argue as though living in Calvin's[347] - day, but loving each other in Christian brotherhood and without - burning one another. I do not despair of his salvation; he is quite - shaken by my arguments in favour of the Popes. You cannot conceive - the pitch of exaltation to which he has risen, and his candour - is admirable. If you come to me, accompanied by my old friend - Ballanche, we shall do wonders. In one of the Geneva newspapers, - a Protestant controversial book is advertised, and the authors - are urged to 'stand firm' because 'the author of the _Génie du - Christianisme_ is close at hand.' - - "There is a certain consolation in finding a little free people, - administered by the most distinguished men, among which religious - ideas form the basis of liberty and the chief occupation of life. - - "I lunched at M. de Constant's[348], beside Madame Necker[349], - who is unfortunately deaf, but a woman of rare qualities and the - greatest distinction: we spoke only of yourself. I had received - your letter and I told M. de Sismondi the amiable things you had - said for his benefit. You see I am taking your lessons. - - "Lastly, here are some verses. You are my 'star' and I am waiting - for you to go to that enchanted island. - - "Delphine[350] married: O Muses! I have told you in my last letter - why I could write neither on the peerage nor on the war: I should - be attacking a contemptible body to which I have belonged and - preaching honour to those who no longer possess it. - - "It needs a sailor to read the verses and understand them. I put - myself in M. Lenormant's hands. Your intelligence will suffice - for the last three stanzas, and the key to the riddle is at the - foot[351]." - - - "GENEVA, 18 _June_ 1831. - - "You have received all my letters. I am constantly expecting a - few words from you; I can see that there will be nothing for me, - but still I am always surprised when the post brings me only - newspapers. Not a soul writes to me, except yourself; not a soul - remembers me, except yourself, and that is a great charm. I love - your solitary letter, which does not arrive as it used to arrive in - the days of my magnificence, in the midst of packets of dispatches - and of all those letters of attachment, admiration and meanness - which vanish with fortune. After your little letters, I shall - see your fair self, if I do not go to join you. You shall be my - testamentary executrix; you shall sell my poor retreat; the price - will enable you to travel towards the sun. At this moment, the - weather is admirable: as I write to you I can see Mont Blanc in - its splendour; from the top of Mont Blanc one sees the Apennines: - it seems to me as though I have but three steps to take to arrive - in Rome, where we shall go, for all will get settled in France. - - "Our glorious country lacked but one thing in order to have passed - through every form of wretchedness: to have a government of - cowards; she has it now, and her youth is about to be swallowed up - in doctrine, literature and debauch, according to the particular - character of the individual. The chapter of accidents remains; - but, when a man drags along life's road, as I do, the most likely - accident is the end of the journey. - - "I do no work, I can do nothing more: I am bored; it is my nature, - and I am like a fish in water: nevertheless, if the water were a - little less deep, perhaps I should be better pleased in it" - -[Sidenote: Geneva.] - - -JOURNAL FROM THE 12TH OF JULY TO THE 1ST OF SEPTEMBER 1831 - -THE PÂQUIS, NEAR GENEVA. - -I am settled at the Pâquis[352] with Madame de Chateaubriand; I have -made the acquaintance of M. Rigaud, Chief Syndic of Geneva: above -his house, by the edge of the lake, going up the Lausanne Road, you -find the villa of two clerks of M. de Lapanouze[353], who have spent -1,500,000 francs in building it and laying out their gardens. When I -pass on foot before their dwelling-house, I wonder at Providence, which -has placed witnesses of the Restoration at Geneva in them and in me. -What a fool I am! What a fool! The Sieur de Lapanouze went through -royalism and misery with me: see to what his clerks have risen for -having favoured the Conversion of the Funds, which I had the simplicity -to oppose and by virtue of which I was turned out Here are the -gentlemen: they drive up in an elegant tilbury, hat on ear, and I am -obliged to step into a ditch lest the wheel should carry off a skirt -of my old frock-coat. And yet I have been a peer of France, a minister, -an ambassador, and in a cardboard box I have all the principal Orders -of Christendom, including the Holy Ghost and the Golden Fleece. If the -clerks of the Sieur César de Lapanouze, now millionaires, cared to buy -my box of ribbons for their wives, they would do me a lively pleasure. - -Nevertheless all is not roses for the Messieurs B---: they are not yet -Genevese nobles, that is to say, they have not yet reached the second -generation; their mother still lives in the lower part of the town and -has not risen to the Saint-Pierre quarter, the Faubourg Saint-Germain -of Geneva; but, with God's help, nobility will follow on money. - -It was in 1805 that I saw Geneva for the first time. If two thousand -years had elapsed between the dates of my two journeys, would they be -further separated from each other than they are? Geneva belonged to -France; Bonaparte was shining in all his glory, Madame de Staël in all -hers; there was no more question of the Bourbons than if they had never -existed. And Bonaparte, and Madame de Staël, and the Bourbons: what has -become of them? And I, I am still there! - -M. de Constant, a cousin of Benjamin Constant, and Mademoiselle de -Constant, an old maid full of wit, virtue and talent, live in their -cottage of "Souterre" on the bank of the Rhone; they are overlooked -by another country-house, which was formerly M. de Constant's: he -sold it to the Princesse Belgiojoso[354], a Milanese exile, whom I -saw pass like a flower through the fête which I gave in Rome for the -Grand-duchess Helen. - -During my boating excursions, an old oarsman tells me of the deeds of -Lord Byron, whose house we see standing on the Savoyard side of the -lake. The noble peer would wait for a tempest to rise before setting -sail; from the deck of his felucca, he leapt into the waves and swam -in the midst of the gale to land at the feudal prisons of Bonivard: he -was always the actor and the poet. I am not so eccentric: I also love -the storms; but my loves with them are secret, and I do not confide -them to the boatmen. - -I have discovered, behind Ferney[355], a narrow valley, in which runs -a tiny stream some seven or eight inches deep; this rivulet waters -the roots of a few willows, hides itself here and there under patches -of water-cress and shakes rushes on whose tips perch blue-winged -dragon-flies. Did the man of trumpets ever see this refuge of silence -right up against his resounding house? No, without a doubt: well, the -water is there; it still flows; I do not know its name; perhaps it has -none: Voltaire's days are spent; only his fame still makes a little -noise in a little corner of our little world, even as that streamlet -can be heard at a dozen paces from its banks. - -Men differ from one another: I am charmed with this deserted -water-furrow; within sight of the Alps, the palm-leaf of a fern which -I gather delights me; the murmuring of a ripple over pebbles makes -me quite happy; an imperceptible insect, seen only by myself, which -plunges into the moss, as into a vast solitude, occupies my gaze and -makes me dream. These are intimate trifles, unknown to the fine genius -who, disguised as Orosmane[356], played his tragedies, wrote to the -princes of the earth and forced Europe to come to admire him in the -hamlet of Ferney. But were not those trifles too? The transitions of -the world are not equal to the passing of those waters; and, as for -kings, I prefer my ant. - -[Sidenote: Memoires of Voltaire.] - -One thing always astonishes me, when I think of Voltaire: although -gifted with a superior, rational, enlightened mind, he remained -completely foreign to Christianity; he never saw what every one -sees: that the institution of the Gospel, to consider only the human -aspect of it, is the greatest revolution that ever took place on -earth. It is true to say that, in the age of Voltaire, this idea had -come into the head of nobody. The theologians defended Christianity -as an accomplished fact, as a verity based upon laws emanating from -spiritual and temporal authority; the philosophers attacked it as an -abuse springing from priests and kings: they went no further. I have -no doubt that, if one could suddenly have presented the other side -of the question to Voltaire, his quick and lucid intelligence would -have been struck with it: one blushes to think of the mean and limited -manner in which he treated a subject which embraces nothing less than -the transformation of peoples, the introduction of morality, a new -principle of society, another law of nations, another order of ideas, -the total change of humanity. Unfortunately, the great writer who ruins -himself in spreading baleful ideas drags many minds of lesser capacity -with him in his fall: he is like those old Eastern despots on whose -tombs men immolated slaves. - -There, to Ferney, which no one visits now, to that Ferney around which -I come to roam alone, how many celebrated personages at one time -hastened! They sleep, gathered together for all time at the bottom of -Voltaire's letters, their hypogæan Temple: the breath of one century -grows weaker by degrees and dies away in the eternal silence, as one -begins to hear the respiration of a new century. - - -THE PÂQUIS, NEAR GENEVA, 15 _September_ 1831. - -O gold, which I have so long despised and which I cannot love whatever -I may do, I am nevertheless forced to admit thy merit: the source of -liberty, thou arrangest a thousand things in our existence, in which -all is difficult without thee! Excepting glory, what is there that -thou canst not procure? With thee, one is handsome, young, adored; one -enjoys consideration, honours, qualities, virtues. You tell me that -with gold one has but the appearance of all that: what matter, if I -believe what is false to be true? Deceive me well, and I will release -you from the rest: is life other than a lie? When one has no money, -one is dependent upon everything and everybody. Two creatures who do -not suit one another could go each his own way; well, for want of a -few pistoles, they must remain face to face, sulking, fuming, souring, -bored to extinction, devouring each other's souls and the whites of -their eyes, furiously sacrificing to one another their tastes, their -inclinations, their natural methods of life: poverty presses them -close together, and, in those beggars' bonds, instead of embracing, -they bite each other, but not in the way in which Flora bit Pompey. -Without money, there is no means of escape; one cannot go in search of -another sun, and, with a proud soul, one wears chains without ceasing. -O happy Jews, dealers in crucifixes, who to-day govern Christendom, who -decide peace or war, who eat pig after selling old hats, who are the -favourites of kings and beauties, ugly and dirty though you be: ah, if -you would but change skins with me! If I could at least creep into your -iron chests, to rob you of that which you have stolen from young men -under age, I should be the happiest man in the world! - -True, I might have a means of existence: I could apply to the monarchs; -as I have lost all for the sake of their crown, it would be only fair -that they should feed me. But this idea, which ought to occur to them, -does not; and to me it occurs still less. Rather than sit at the -banquets of kings, I should even prefer once more to begin the regimen -which I kept in the old days, in London, with my poor friend Hingant. -However, the happy times of garrets are past: not that I was not most -comfortable there, but I should be ill at ease, I should take up too -much room with the flounces of my reputation; I should no longer be -there with my one shirt and the slender figure of an unknown person -who has not dined. My cousin de La Boüétardais is there no more to -play the violin on my truckle-bed in his red robes as a counsellor to -the Parliament of Brittany, and to keep himself warm at night, covered -with a chair by way of counterpane; Peltier is there no more to give us -dinner with King Christophe's money; and, above all, the witch is there -no more, Youth, who, with a smile, changes penury into a treasure, who -brings you her younger sister, Hope, for a mistress: the latter also -as deceptive as her elder, though she still returns when the other has -fled for ever. - -I had forgotten the distress of my first emigration and imagined that -it was enough to leave France in order peacefully to preserve one's -honour in exile: the larks fall ready roasted into the mouths only of -those who reap the harvest, not of those who have sown it If I alone -were concerned, I should do marvellously well in an alms-house: but -Madame de Chateaubriand? And so I have no sooner become settled than, -as I cast my eyes upon the future, anxiety seizes hold of me. - -[Sidenote: The value of money.] - -They wrote to me from Paris that there was no means of selling my house -in the Rue d'Enfer save at a price which was not sufficient to pay off -the mortgages with which that hermitage is loaded; that something might -nevertheless be arranged if I were there. Acting on this communication, -I have taken a useless journey to Paris, for I found neither goodwill -nor a purchaser; but I saw the Abbaye-aux-Bois again and a few of my -new friends. On the eve of my return here, I dined at the Café de Paris -with Messieurs Arago, Pouqueville[357], Carrel and Béranger, all more -or less dissatisfied and deceived by "the best of republics." - - -THE PÂQUIS, NEAR GENEVA, 26 _September_ 1831. - -My _Études historiques_ brought me into relations with M. Carrel, even -as they made me acquainted with Messieurs Thiers and Mignet. I had -copied into the Preface of those Studies a fairly long passage from the -_Guerre de Catalogne_[358], by M. Carrel, and especially the following: - - "Things, in their continual and fatal transformations, do not - always carry every intelligence with them; they do not master every - character with equal facility; they do not take the same care - of all interests: this is what we must understand and make some - allowance for the protests raised on behalf of the past. When a - particular period is finished, the mould is shattered, and it is - enough for Providence that it can not be made over again; but of - the fragments left upon the ground, there are occasionally some - that are beautiful to look upon." - -After these fine lines, I myself added this summary: - - "The man who was able to write those words has reasons for sympathy - with those who have faith in Providence, who respect the religion - of the past and who also have their eyes fixed upon fragments." - -M. Carrel came to thank me. He represented both the courage and the -talent of the _National_, on which he worked with Messieurs Thiers and -Mignet. M. Carrel belongs to a pious and royalist family of Rouen: -the blind Legitimacy, which rarely distinguished merit, misjudged M. -Carrel. Proud and alive to his worth, he had resort to dangerous -opinions, in which one finds a compensation for the sacrifices one lays -upon one's self: there happened to him what happens to all characters -fit for great movements. When unforeseen circumstances oblige them -to restrict themselves within a narrow circle, they consume their -super-abundant faculties in efforts which go beyond the opinions and -events of the day. Before revolutions, superior men die unknown: their -public has not yet come; after revolutions, superior men die neglected: -their public has disappeared. - -M. Carrel is not happy: there is nothing more material than his ideas, -nothing more romantic than his life. After being a republican volunteer -in Spain, in 1823, being captured on the battle-field, condemned to -death by the French authorities, and escaping a thousand dangers, he -finds love mingled with the pleasures of his private existence. He -has to protect a passion[359] which is the mainstay of his existence; -and this large-hearted man, ever ready to face a sword's point by -day-light, sets wicket-gates before him, and the shades of night: he -walks in the silent fields with a beloved woman at that first dawn at -which the reveille used to call him to the attack of the enemy's tents. - -I leave M. Armand Carrel in order to write a few words on our famous -song-writer. You will find my story too short, reader, but I have a -claim on your indulgence: his name and his songs must be engraved on -your memory. - - -M. de Béranger is not, like M. Carrel, obliged to conceal his -love-affairs. After singing the praises of liberty and the popular -virtues, while defying the gaols of the kings, he puts his _amours_ -into a couplet, and behold Lisette immortalized. - -[Sidenote: A flying visit to Paris.] - -Near the Barrière des Martyrs, below Montmartre, you see the Rue de la -Tour-d'Auvergne. In this half-built, half-paved street, in a little -house hiding behind a little garden and calculated upon the modesty of -present-day fortunes, you will find the illustrious song-writer. A bald -head, a somewhat rustic, but keen and voluptuous air announce the poet. -I love to rest my eyes on that plebeian countenance, after looking at -so many royal faces; I compare those so greatly different types: on -the monarchical brows one sees something of an exalted nature, but -blighted, impotent, effaced; on the democratic brows appears a common -physical nature, but one recognises a lofty intellectual nature: the -monarchical brow has lost a crown; the popular brow awaits one. - -One day I asked Béranger (I beg him to forgive me for becoming as -familiar as his fame), I asked him to show me some of his unknown works: - -"Do you know," he said, "that I began by being your disciple? I was mad -on the _Génie du Christianisme_, and I wrote Christian idylls: scenes -in the life of a country priest, pictures of religious worship in the -villages and in the midst of the harvest." - -M. Augustin Thierry has told me that the Battle of the Franks in the -_Martyrs_ suggested to him a new manner of writing history: nothing -has flattered me more than to find my memory occupying a place at -the commencement of the talent of the historian Thierry and the poet -Béranger. - -Our song-writer has the several qualities upon which Voltaire insists -for the ballad: - - "To succeed well in these little works," says the author of so many - graceful poems, "one needs refinement and sentiment of intellect, - to have harmony in one's head, not to lower one's self over much, - and to know how not to be too long." - -Béranger has many muses, all of them charming; and, when those muses -are women, he loves them all. When they betray him, he does not turn to -elegiacs; and nevertheless there is a feeling of sadness at the bottom -of his gaiety: his is a serious face that smiles; it is philosophy -saying its prayers. - -My friendship for Béranger earned me many expressions of astonishment -on the part of what was called my party. An old knight of St. Louis, -personally unknown to me, wrote to me from his distant turret: - -"Rejoice, sir, at being praised by one who has slapped the face of your -King and your God." - -Well said, my gallant nobleman! You are a poet too. - -[Sidenote: Béranger.] - -At the end of a dinner at the Café de Paris which I gave to Messieurs -de Béranger and Armand Carrel before my departure for Switzerland, M. -Béranger sang us his admirable printed song: - - Chateaubriand, pourquoi fuir ta patrie, - Fuir son amour, notre encens et nos soins[360]? - -In it occurred this stanza on the Bourbons: - - Et tu voudras t'attacher à leur chute! - Connais donc mieux leur folle vanité: - Au rang des maux qu'au ciel même elle impute, - Leur cœur ingrat met ta fidélité[361]. - -To this song, which belongs to the history of my time, I replied from -Switzerland by a letter which is printed at the head of my pamphlet on -the Briqueville[362] Motion. I said to M. de Béranger: - - "From the place whence I wrote to you, monsieur, I can see the - country-house where Lord Byron lived and the roofs of Madame de - Staël's château. Where is the bard of Childe-Harold? Where is the - author of Corinne? My too long life is like those Roman roads - bordered with funeral monuments[363]." - -I returned to Geneva; I next took Madame de Chateaubriand to Paris and -brought back the manuscript directed against the Briqueville Motion -for the banishment of the Bourbons, a motion which was taken into -consideration in the sitting of the Deputies of the 17th of September -of this year 1831: some attach their lives to success, others to -misfortune. - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _end of November_ 1831. - -Returning to Paris on the 11th of October, I published my pamphlet at -the end of the same month; it is entitled, _De la nouvelle proposition -relative au banissement de Charles X. et de sa famille, ou suite de mon -dernier écrit: De la Restauration et de la Monarchie élective._ - -When these posthumous Memoirs appear, will the daily polemics, the -events of which men are enamoured at this present hour of my life, -the adversaries against whom I am fighting, will even the act of -banishment of Charles X. and his Family count for anything? There you -have the drawback of all diaries: you find in them ardent discussions -of subjects that have become indifferent; the reader sees pass, like -shadows, a host of persons whose very names he does not remember: -silent supernumeraries, who fill the back of the stage. Yet it is -in these dryasdust portions of the chronicles that one gathers the -observations and facts of the history of mankind and men. - -I placed first at the commencement of the pamphlet the decree brought -forward successively by Messieurs Baude and Briqueville. After -examining the five courses that lay open after the Revolution of July, -I said: - - "The worst of the periods through which we have passed seems to - be that in which we are, because anarchy reigns in men's reasons, - morals and intellects. The existence of nations is longer than that - of individuals: a paralytic man often remains stretched on his - couch for many years before disappearing; an infirm nation lies - long on its bed before expiring. What the new Royalty needed was - buoyancy, youth, intrepidity, to turn its back upon the past, to - march with France to meet the future. - - "All this it neglects: it appeared before us reduced and - debilitated by the doctors who were physicking it. It arrived - piteous, empty-handed, having nothing to give, everything to - receive, playing the poor thing, begging everybody's pardon, and - yet snappish, declaiming against the Legitimacy and aping the - Legitimacy, against republicanism and trembling before it. This - abdominous 'system' beholds enemies only in two forms of opposition - which it threatens. To support itself it has built itself a phalanx - of re-enlisted veterans: if they bore as many stripes as they have - taken oaths, their sleeves would be more motley than the livery of - the Montmorencys. - - "I doubt whether liberty will long be content with this stew-pot - of a domestic monarchy. The Franks placed liberty in a camp; in - their descendants it has retained the taste and love of its first - cradle; like the old Royalty, it wants to be raised on the shield - and its deputies are soldiers." - -[Illustration: Charles X.] - -From this general argument I pass on to the details of the system -followed in our foreign relations. The immense mistake of the Congress -of Vienna is that it placed a military nation like France in a -condition of forced hostility with the neighbouring peoples. I point to -all that the foreigners have gained in territory and power, all that -we could have taken back in July. A mighty lesson! A striking proof of -the vanity of military glory and of the work of conquerors! If one were -to draw up a list of the Princes who have increased the possessions of -France, Bonaparte would not figure on it; but Charles X. would occupy a -remarkable place! - -[Sidenote: Yet another pamphlet.] - -Passing from argument to argument, I come to Louis-Philippe: - - "Louis-Philippe is King," I say; "he wields the sceptre of the - child whose immediate heir he is, of the ward whom Charles X. - placed in the hands of the Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom as - into those of a tried guardian, a faithful trustee, a generous - protector. In that Palace of the Tuileries, instead of an innocent - couch, free from insomnia, free from remorse, free from ghosts, - what has the Prince found? An empty throne presented to him by a - headless spectre bearing, in its blood-stained hand, the head of - another spectre.... - - "Must we, to finish the business, put a handle to Louvel's blade - in the shape of a law, in order to strike a last blow at the - proscribed Family? If it were driven to these shores by the - tempest; if Henry, too young as yet, had not attained the years - requisite for the scaffold, well then, do you, the masters, give - him a dispensation of age to die!" - -After speaking to the French Government, I turn to Holyrood and add: - - "Dare I, in conclusion, take the respectful liberty of addressing - a few words to the men of exile? They have returned to sorrow as - into their mother's womb: misfortune, a seduction from which it is - difficult for me to defend myself, seems to me to be always in the - right; I fear to offend its sacred authority and the majesty which - it adds to insulted grandeurs, which henceforth have none but me to - flatter them. But I will overcome my weakness, I will strive to - voice words which, in a day of ill-fortune, might give grounds for - hope to my country. - - "The education of a prince should be analogous to the form of - government and the manners of his native land. Now, there are - in France neither chivalry nor knights, neither soldiers of the - Oriflamme nor nobles barbed in steel, ready to march behind the - White Flag. There is a people which is no longer the people of - other days, a people which, changed by the centuries, has lost - the old habits and the ancient manners of our fathers. Whether we - deplore the social transformations that have arisen or glorify - them, we must take the nation as it is, facts as they are, enter - into the spirit of our time, in order to exercise an action over - that spirit. - - "All is in God's hand, except the past, which, once fallen from - that hand, does not return to it. - - "The moment will doubtless arrive when the orphan will leave that - palace of the Stuarts, the ill-omened refuge which seems to spread - the shadow of its fatality over his youth: the last-born of the - Bearnese must mix with children of his own age, attend the public - schools, learn all that is known to-day. Let him become the most - enlightened young man of his time; let him be acquainted with the - knowledge of the period; let him add to the virtues of a Christian - of the age of St. Louis the sagacity of a Christian of our age. - Let travel be his instructor in manners and laws; let him cross - the seas, compare institutions and governments, free peoples and - enthralled peoples; let him, if he find the occasion while abroad, - expose himself, as a simple soldier, to the dangers of war, for - none is fit to reign over Frenchmen who has not heard the hiss of - the cannon-ball. Then you will have done for him all that, humanly - speaking, you can do. But, above all, beware of fostering him in - ideas of invincible right: far from flattering him with the thought - of reascending the throne of his fathers, prepare him never to - reascend it; bring him up to be a man, not to be a king: those are - his best chances. - - "Enough: whatever God's counsel may provide, there will remain to - the candidate of my fond and pious loyalty a majesty of the ages - which men cannot take from him. A thousand years attached to his - young head will always deck him with a pomp exceeding that of all - monarchs. If, in a private condition, he bear bravely this diadem - of days, of memory and of glory, if his hand raise without effort - this sceptre of time which his ancestors have bequeathed to him, - what empire will he be able to regret?" - -[Sidenote: The Comte de Briqueville.] - -M. le Comte de Briqueville, whose motion I thus contested, printed some -reflections on my pamphlet; he sent them to me with the following note: - - "MONSIEUR, - - "I have yielded to the need, to the duty, to publish the - reflections brought to my mind by your eloquent words on my motion. - I obey a feeling no less sincere when I deplore that I should - find myself in opposition to you, monsieur, who add to the power - of genius so many claims to public consideration. The country is - in danger, and from that moment I cease to believe in a serious - dissension between us: this France of ours invites us to unite to - save her; assist her with your genius; we shall work, we shall - assist her with our strong arms. On that field, monsieur, is it not - true that we shall not be long in coming to an understanding? You - shall be the Tyrtæus[364] of a people of which we are the soldiers, - and it will be with the greatest happiness that I shall then - proclaim myself the most ardent of your political adherents, as I - am already the sincerest of your admirers. - - "Your most humble and obedient servant, - - "The Comte Armand de BRIQUEVILLE. - - "PARIS, 15 _November_ 1831." - -I was not slow in answering, and I broke a second still-born lance -against the champion: - - "PARIS, 15 _November_ 1831. - - "MONSIEUR, - - "Your letter is worthy of a gentleman: forgive me for using this - old word, which becomes your name, your courage, your love of - France. Like you, I detest the foreign yoke: if the question were - that of defending my country, I should not ask to wear the lyre - of the poet, but the sword of the veteran, in the ranks of your - soldiers. - - "I have not yet read your reflections, monsieur; but, if the state - of politics led you to withdraw the motion which has so strangely - saddened me, how happy I should be to find myself by your side, - with no obstacle between us, on the field of liberty, of honour, of - the glory of our country! - - "I have the honour to be, monsieur, with the most distinguished - regard, - - "Your most humble and most obedient servant, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -PARIS, INFIRMERIE DE MARIE-THÉRÈSE, RUE D'ENFER, - -_December_ 1831. - -A poet[365], mingling the proscriptions of the Muses with those of the -laws, attacked the widow and the orphan in a vigorous improvisation. -As these verses were by a writer of talent, they acquired a sort of -authority which forbade me to let them pass in silence; I faced about -to meet another enemy[366]. - -The reader would not understand my reply if he did not read the poet's -lampoon; I invite you, therefore to cast your eyes over those verses: -they are very fine and are to be found everywhere. My reply has not -been published: it appears for the first time in these Memoirs. -Wretched contentions in which revolutions end! See to what a struggle -we come, the feeble successors of those men who, arms in hand, treated -great questions of glory and liberty by shaking the universe! Pygmies -to-day utter their little cry among the tombs of the giants buried -beneath the mountains which they have overturned upon themselves. - - "PARIS, _Wednesday evening_, 9 _November_ 1831. - - "SIR, - - "I received this morning the last number of _Némésis_ which you - have done me the honour to send me. To protect myself against the - seduction of those praises awarded with so much brilliancy, grace - and charm, I need to recall the obstacles that exist between us. - We live in two worlds apart; our hopes and fears are not the same; - you burn what I adore, and I burn what you adore. You, sir, have - grown up amid a crowd of abortions of July; but, even as all the - influence which you attribute to my prose will not, according to - you, raise up a fallen House, so, according to me, will all the - might of your poetry fail to abase that noble House. Can it be that - both you and I are thus placed in two impossible positions? - - "You are young, sir, like the future which you dream of and which - will trick you; I am old, like time, which I dream of and which - escapes me. If you were to come to sit by my fireside, you - obligingly say, you would reproduce my features with your graver: - I should strive to make you a Christian and a Royalist. Since your - lyre, at the first chord of its harmony, sang my Martyrs and my - Pilgrimage, why should not you complete the course? Enter the holy - place; time has stripped me only of my hair, as it strips a tree of - its leaves in winter, but the sap remains in my heart: my hand is - still firm enough to hold the torch which would guide your steps - under the vaults of the sanctuary. - - [Sidenote: Letter to Barthélemy.] - - "You declare, sir, that it would need a people of poets to - understand my contradictions of 'extinct kingdoms and young - republics:' is it likely that you too have not celebrated liberty - and yet found some magnificent words for the tyrants who oppressed - it? You quote the Du Barrys, the Montespans, the Fontanges, the La - Vallières: you recall royal weaknesses; but did those weaknesses - cost France what the debauches of Danton and Camille Desmoulins - cost her? The morals of those plebeian Catalines were reflected - even in their speech: they borrowed their metaphors from the - piggeries of infamous persons and prostitutes. Did the frailties - of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. send the fathers and husbands to the - gallows, after dishonouring the daughters and wives? Did his - blood-baths do more to render chaste a revolutionary's lewdness - than did her milk-baths to render virginal a Poppæa's pollution? - If Robespierre's hucksters had retailed to the people of Paris - the blood from Danton's bathing-tub, as Nero's slaves sold to the - inhabitants of Rome the milk from his courtesan's _thermæ_, do - you think that any virtue would have been found in the rinsings of - the obscene headsmen of the Terror? - - "The swiftness and the height of the flight of your muse have - deceived you, sir: the sun, which laughs at all misery, must have - struck the garments of a widow; they must have seemed 'gilded' to - you: I have seen those garments, they were of mourning; they knew - nothing of pleasure; the child, in the entrails which bore him, was - rocked only to the sound of tears; if he had 'danced nine months in - his mother's womb,' as you say, he would then have known joy only - before being born, between conception and delivery, between the - assassination and the proscription! 'The pallor of fearsome omen' - which you remarked on Henry's face is the result of his father's - blood-letting, and not of a ball of two hundred and seventy nights. - The old curse was kept up for the daughter of Henry IV.: _In dolore - paries filios._ I know none save the Goddess of Reason whose - confinements, hastened by adultery, took place amid the dances of - Death. From her public flanks fell unclean reptiles which, at that - very instant, began to jig in the ring with the knitting-women - around the scaffold, to the sound of the rise and fall of the - knife, the refrain of that devils' dance. - - "Ah sir, I entreat you, in the name of your rare talent, cease to - reward crime and to punish misfortune by the sentences improvised - by your muse; do not condemn the first to Heaven, the second to - Hell. If, while remaining attached to the cause of liberty and - enlightenment, you were to afford an asylum to religion, humanity, - innocence, you would see another sort of Nemesis appear before - you in your waking hours, one worthy of all the earth's homage. - And, while waiting to pour over virtue, better than I know how, - 'the whole ocean of your fresh ideas,' continue, in the spirit of - vengeance which you have adopted, to drag our turpitude to the - _gemoniæ_; overthrow the false monuments of a revolution which - has not built the temple fit for its cult; turn up their ruins with - the plough-share of your satire; sow salt in that field to make it - barren, so that no new vileness can shoot there. I recommend above - all, sir, to your attention, that Government which has fallen so - low that it trembles before the pride of the obedience, the victory - of the defeats, and the glory of the humiliations of the country. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _end of March_ 1832. - -Those travels and those contests came to an end for me in the year -1831; at the beginning of the year 1832, a new annoyance. - -The Paris Revolution had left on the streets of Paris a host of Swiss, -of Body-guards, of men of all conditions kept by the Court, who were -now starving and whom certain monarchical dunderheads, young and -foolish under their grey hairs, thought of enlisting for a surprise. - -In this formidable plot there was no lack of serious, pale, lean, -diaphanous, bent persons, with noble faces, eyes still bright, white -heads; that past suggested honour resuscitated, coming to try, with -its shadowy hands, to restore the Family which it had been unable to -maintain with its living hands. Often men on crutches pretend to prop -crumbling monarchies; but, at this period of society, the restoration -of a mediæval monument has become impossible, because the genius which -quickened that architecture is dead: what we take for Gothic is merely -antiquated. - -On the other hand, the heroes of July, whom the _juste-milieu_ had -swindled out of the Republic, desired nothing more than to come to -an understanding with the Carlists to revenge themselves on a common -enemy, remaining free to cut each other's throats after the victory. -M. Thiers having extolled the system of 1793 as the work of liberty, -victory and genius, young imaginations became kindled at the flame of -a conflagration of which they saw only the distant reverberation; they -have got no further than the poetry of the Terror: a mad and hideous -parody which sets back the hour of liberty. This is to disregard at -once time, history and humanity; it is to oblige the world to recoil -under the whip of the convict-keeper in order to escape those fanatics -of the scaffold. - -Money was needed to feed all those malcontents, dismissed heroes of -July, or servants out of place: people clubbed together. Carlist and -republican cabals were held in every comer of Paris, and the police, -informed of all that went on, sent its spies from club to garret to -preach equality and liberty. I was told of these proceedings, which -I opposed. The two parties wanted to declare me their leader at the -assured moment of triumph: a Republican club asked me if I would accept -the Presidency of the Republic; I answered: - -"Yes, most certainly; but after M. de La Fayette." - -[Sidenote: The Marquis de La Fayette.] - -This was thought modest and proper. General La Fayette used sometimes -to come to Madame Récamier's; I used to make fun of his "best of -republics;" I asked him if he would not have done better to proclaim -Henry V. and to be the real President of France during the minority of -the royal infant. He agreed and took the jest in good part, for he was -a well-bred man. Each time we met, he would say: - -"Ah, you are going to pick your quarrel again!" - -I used to make him admit that no one had been more caught than himself -by his good friend Philip. - -In the midst of this excitement and these extravagant plottings, -arrived a man in disguise. He landed at my door with a tow wig on his -pate and a pair of green spectacles on his nose, hiding his eyes, -which could see quite well without spectacles. He had his pockets -stuffed with bills of exchange, which he displayed; and, suddenly -aware that I wanted to sell my house and settle my affairs, he offered -me his services. I could not help laughing at this gentleman (a man, -otherwise, of intelligence and resource) who thought himself obliged to -buy me for the Legitimacy. When his offers became too pressing, he saw -on my lips a certain scornfulness which obliged him to beat a retreat, -and he wrote to my secretary this little note, which I have kept: - - "SIR, - - "Yesterday evening I had the honour to see M. le Vicomte de - Chateaubriand, who received me with his customary kindness; - nevertheless, I seem to have perceived that he no longer showed his - usual geniality. Tell me, I beg of you, what can have caused me - to lose his confidence, which I valued more highly than anything - else. If he has been told 'stories' about me, I am not afraid to - expose my conduct to the light of day, and I am prepared to reply - to anything that he may have been told: he knows too well the - spitefulness of intriguing people to condemn me unheard. There are - timid persons too who make others so; but we must hope that the day - will come when we shall see people who are really devoted. Well, - he told me that it was of no use for me to meddle in his business; - I am sorry for that, because I flatter myself that it would have - been arranged according to his wishes. I have little doubt as to - the person who has wrought this change in him; if I had been less - discreet at the time, this person would not have been in a position - to injure me with your excellent 'patron.' However, I am none - the less devoted to him, as you may assure him once more with my - respectful homage. I venture to hope that a day will come when he - will be able to know me and to judge of me. - - "Pray accept, sir, etc." - -Hyacinthe answered this note with the following reply at my dictation: - - "My patron has nothing whatever in particular against the person - who has written to me; but he wishes to live outside everything, - and does not wish to accept any service." - -Shortly afterwards, the catastrophe came. - -[Sidenote: A Royalist conspiracy.] - -Do you know the Rue des Prouvaires[367], a narrow, dirty, populous -street, near Saint-Eustache and the markets? It was there that the -famous supper of the Third Restoration was held. The guests were armed -with pistols, daggers and keys; after drinking, they were to make their -way into the gallery of the Louvre and, passing at midnight through -a double row of master-pieces, go to strike the usurping monster in -the midst of a fête. The conception was a romantic one: the sixteenth -century had returned; one might have believed one's self in the times -of the Borgias, the Florentine Medicis and the Parisian Medicis: only -the men were different. - -On the 1st of February, at nine o'clock in the evening, I was going to -bed, when a zealous man and the individual of the bills of exchange -forced my door in the Rue d'Enfer to tell me that all was ready, that -in two hours Louis-Philippe would have disappeared; they came to -enquire if they might declare me the principal chief of the Provisional -Government and if I would consent to take the reins of the Provisional -Government, in the name of Henry V., with a council of Regency. They -admitted that the thing was dangerous, but said that I should reap all -the greater glory, and that, as I was acceptable to all parties, I was -the only man in France in a position to play such a part. - -This was pressing me very hard: two hours to decide upon my crown! Two -hours in which to sharpen the big mameluke's sabre which I had bought -in Cairo in 1806! However, I felt no embarrassment and I said to them: - -"Gentlemen, you know that I have never approved of your enterprise, -which seems to me a mad one. If I were disposed to meddle in it, I -would have shared your dangers and would not have waited for your -victory to accept the prize of your risks. You know that I have a -serious love of liberty, and it is clear to me, to judge by the -leaders of all this business, that they do not want liberty and that, -if they remained masters of the field of battle, they would begin by -establishing the reign of arbitrariness. They would have no one, they -would have me least of all, to support them in these plans; their -success would bring about complete anarchy, and other countries, -profiting by our discords, would come to dismember France. I cannot -therefore enter into all this. I admire your devotion, but mine is not -of the same character. I am going to bed; I advise you to do the same; -and I am very much afraid that I shall hear to-morrow morning of the -misfortune of your friends." - -The supper took place; the proprietor of the tavern, who had prepared -it only with the authorization of the police, knew what he was about. -The police-spies, at table, touched glasses to the health of Henry V. -with the best of them; the officers arrived, seized the guests, and -once more upset the cup of the Legitimate Royalty. The Renaud of the -royalist adventurers was a cobbler in the Rue de Seine[368], a hero of -July, who had fought valiantly during the Three Days and who seriously -wounded one of Louis-Philippe's policemen, even as he had killed -soldiers of the Guard to drive out Henry V. and the two old Kings. - -During this business, I had received a note from Madame la Duchesse de -Berry appointing me a "member of a secret government," which she was -establishing in her quality as Regent of France. I took advantage of -this occasion to write the following letter to the Princess[369]: - -[Sidenote: My letter.] - - "MADAME, - - "I have received with the deepest gratitude the mark of confidence - and esteem with which you have consented to honour me; it lays upon - my loyalty the duty of doubling my zeal, while not refraining from - placing before the eyes of Your Royal Highness what appears to me - to be the truth. - - "I will speak first of the so-called conspiracies, the rumour of - which will perhaps have reached Your Royal Highness. It is asserted - that these have been concocted or provoked by the police. Leaving - the fact on one side, and without insisting upon the intrinsically - reprehensible nature of conspiracies, be they true or false, I - will content myself with observing that our national character is - at once too light and too frank to succeed in such tasks. And so, - during the last forty years, this sort of guilty enterprise has - invariably failed. Nothing is more common than to hear a Frenchman - publicly boast of being in a plot: he tells the whole details of - it, without forgetting the day, place and hour, to some spy whom - he takes for a brother; he says aloud, or rather exclaims to the - passers-by: - - "'We have forty thousand men all told, we have sixty thousand - cartridges, in such a street, number so-and-so, the corner-house.' - - "And then our Cataline goes off to dance and laugh. - - "Secret societies have a long range only because they proceed - by revolutions and not by conspiracies; they aim at changing - doctrines, ideas and manners, before changing men and things; - their progress is slow, but their results certain. Publicity of - thought will destroy the influence of secret societies; it is - public opinion which will now effect in France that which occult - congregations accomplish among unemancipated nations. - - "The departments in the West and South, which they seem to wish to - drive to extremities by means of arbitrary measures and violence, - retain the spirit of loyalty for which our old manners were - distinguished; but that half of France will never conspire, in the - narrow sense of the word: it forms a sort of camp standing at ease - under arms. Admirable as a reserve force of the Legitimacy, it - would be insufficient as an advance-guard and would never assume - the offensive successfully. Civilization has made too much progress - to allow of the outburst of one of those intestine wars, leading to - great results, which were the outlet and the scourge of centuries - at once more Christian and less enlightened than our own. - - "What exists in France is not a monarchy; it is a republic: one, - truly, of the worst quality. This republic is plastroned with a - royalty which receives the blows and prevents them from striking on - the Government itself. - - "Besides, if the Legitimacy is a considerable force, the right - of election is also a preponderating power, even when it is only - fictitious, especially in this country where men live only on - vanity: the French passion for equality is flattered by the right - of election. - - "Louis-Philippe's Government abandons itself to a double excess of - arbitrariness and obsequiousness which the Government of Charles X. - had never dreamt of. This excess is endured; and why? Because the - people more easily endure the tyranny of a government which they - have created than the lawful strictness of the institutions which - are not their work. - - "Forty years of storms have shattered the strongest souls: apathy - is great, egoism almost general; men shrivel up to escape danger, - to keep what they possess, to make shift to live in peace. After a - revolution, there remain also cankered men who communicate their - contamination to everything even as, after a battle, there remain - corpses which pollute the air. If, by a mere wish, Henry V. could - be transported to the Tuileries without trouble, without a shock, - without compromising the slightest interest, we should be very near - a restoration; but, in order to effect it, if one had to spend as - much as one sleepless night, the chances would decrease. - - "The results of the Days of July have not turned to the profit of - the people, nor to the honour of the army, nor to the advantage of - literature, art, commerce or industry. The State has fallen a prey - to the professional ministerialists and to the class which sees the - country in its stew-pot, public affairs in its domestic economy. - It is difficult, Madame, for you at your distance to know what is - here called the _juste-milieu_: Your Royal Highness must imagine - a complete absence of elevation of soul, of nobility of heart, of - dignity of character; you must picture to yourself people swelled - up with their importance, bewitched with their employs, doting on - their money, determined to die for their pensions: nothing will - part them from those; it is a question of life or death to them; - they are wedded to them as were the Gauls to their swords, the - knights to the Oriflamme, the Huguenots to the white plume of Henry - IV., the soldiers of Napoleon to the tricolour; they will die only - when they are exhausted of oaths to every form of government, - after shedding the last drop of those oaths on their last place. - These eunuchs of the sham Legitimacy dogmatize about independence - while having the citizens bludgeoned in the streets and the - writers crowded into prison; they strike up songs of triumph - while evacuating Belgium at the bidding of an English minister - and, soon after, Ancona by order of an Austrian corporal. Between - the threshold of Sainte-Pélagie and the doors of the Cabinets of - Europe, they strut all puffed out with liberty and soiled with - glory. - - [Sidenote: To the Duchesse de Berry.] - - "What I have said concerning the temper of the French must not - discourage Your Royal Highness; but I wish that the road that leads - to the throne of Henry V. were better known. - - "You know my way of thinking as regards the education of my young - King: my opinions are expressed at the end of the pamphlet which I - have laid at Your Royal Highness' feet; I could only repeat myself. - Let Henry V. be brought up for his century, with and by the men - of his century: my whole system is summed up in those two words. - Let him, above all, be brought up not to be King. He may reign - tomorrow, he may reign only in ten years, he may never reign: for, - if the Legitimacy has the different chances of returning which I - will presently set out, nevertheless the present edifice might - crumble to pieces without the formers rising from its ruins. You - have a firm enough soul, Madame, to be able, without allowing - yourself to be cast down, to suppose a judgment of God which would - thrust back your illustrious House into the popular sources, even - as you have a large enough heart to cherish just hopes without - allowing them to intoxicate you. I must now place this other side - of the picture before you. - - "Your Royal Highness can defy, can dare everything at your age; - you have more years left to run than have elapsed since the - commencement of the Revolution. Now, what have these latter years - not seen? When the Republic, the Empire, the Legitimacy have - passed, shall the amphibious thing known as the _juste-milieu_ - not pass? What! Was it to arrive at the wretchedness of the men - and things of the present moment that we have gone through and - expended so many crimes, so much misfortune, talent, liberty and - glory? What! Europe overturned, thrones tumbling one over the - other, generations hurled into the common ditch with the steel in - their breasts, the world labouring for half a century, and all this - to bring forth the sham Legitimacy? One could conceive a great - republic emerging from this social cataclysm: it would at least - be fitted to inherit the conquests of the Revolution, that is, - political liberty, liberty and publicity of thought, the levelling - of ranks, the admission to all offices, the equality of all before - the law, popular election and sovereignty. But how can we suppose - a troop of sordid mediocrities, saved from shipwreck, to be able - to employ those principles? To what a proportion have they not - already reduced them! They detest them, they hanker only after laws - of exception; they would like to catch all those liberties in the - crown which they have forged, as in a trap; after which they would - fiddle-faddle sanctimoniously with canals, railways, a mish-mash - of arts, literary arrangements: a world of machinery, loquacity - and self-sufficiency denominated 'a model society.' Woe to any - superiority, to any man of genius ambitious of preferment, of glory - and pleasure, of sacrifice and renown, aspiring to the triumph of - the tribune, the lyre or arms, who should rise up some day in that - universe of boredom! - - "There is but one chance, Madame, for the sham Legitimacy to - continue to vegetate: that is, if the actual state of society were - the natural state of that very society at the period in which we - live. If the people, grown old, found itself in sympathy with its - decrepit government; if there were a harmony of infirmity and - weakness between the governors and the governed, then, Madame, - all would be over for Your Royal Highness and for the rest of the - French. But, if we have not come to the age of national dotage - and if the immediate Republic be impossible, then the Legitimacy - seems called to be born again. Live your youth, Madame, and you - shall have the royal tatters of the poor thing known as the - Monarchy of July. Say to your enemies what your ancestress, Queen - Blanche[370], said to hers during the minority of St. Louis: - - "'No matter; I can wait.' - - "Life's beautiful hours have been given you in compensation for - your sufferings, and the future will give you as many occasions of - happiness as the present has robbed you of days. - - "The first reason which militates in your favour, Madame, is the - justice of your cause and the innocence of your son. All the - eventualities are not against the good right." - -[Sidenote: On the prospects.] - -After setting forth in detail the reasons for hope which I hardly -entertained, but which I endeavoured to amplify in order to console the -Princess, I continued: - -"There, Madame, you see the precarious state of the -sham Legitimacy at home; abroad its position is no more -assured. If Louis-Philippe's Government had felt that the -Revolution of July cancelled the earlier transactions, that -a new national constitution entailed a new political right -and changed social interests; if it had shown judgment and -courage at the outset of its career, it could, without firing a -single cartridge, have endowed France with the frontier -which has been taken from her, so keen was the assent of -the peoples, so great the stupefaction of the kings. The -sham Legitimacy would have paid ready money for its -crown with an increase of territory and would have entrenched -itself behind that bulwark. Instead of profiting -by its republican element to go fast, it has been afraid of -its own principles; it has dragged itself on its belly; it -has abandoned the nations which have risen for it and -through it; it has turned them from the clients that they -were into adversaries; it has extinguished warlike enthusiasm; -it has changed into a pusillanimous wish for peace an -enlightened desire to restore the balance of power between -ourselves and the neighbouring States, or at least to claim -from those States, enlarged out of all proportion, the shreds -tom from our old country. Thanks to his faint-heartedness -and lack of genius, Louis-Philippe has recognised treaties -which are not connatural with the Revolution, treaties with -which it cannot live and which the foreigners themselves -have violated. - -"The _juste-milieu_ has left the foreign Cabinets time to -recover themselves and to form their armies. And, as the -existence of a democratic monarchy is incompatible with -the existence of the continental monarchies, a state of hostilities -might issue from this incompatibility in spite of -protocols, financial embarrassments, mutual fears, prolonged -armistices, gracious dispatches and demonstrations of friendship. -If our _bourgeois_ Royalty has resigned itself to accept -insult?, if men dream of peace, still the state of things may -become such as to necessitate war. - -"But whether war shatter the sham Legitimacy or not, I -know, Madame, that you will never fix your hopes in the -foreigner; you would rather that Henry V. should never -reign than see him triumph under the patronage of an -European coalition: you place your hopes in yourself and -in your son. In whatever manner we might argue about -the Ordinances, they could never affect Henry V.; innocent -of all, he has the election of the ages and his native misfortunes -in his favour. If unhappiness touches us in the solitude -of a tomb, it moves us still more when it keeps watch beside -a cradle: for then it is no longer the memory of a thing that -is past, of a being who is miserable but who has ceased to -suffer; it is a painful reality; it saddens an age which -ought to know only joy; it threatens a whole life which has -done nothing to deserve its rigours. - -"For you, Madame, your adversities provide a powerful -authority. Bathed in your husband's blood, you have carried -in your womb the son whom politics named "the child of -Europe" and religion "the child of miracle." What influence -do you not exercise over public opinion when you are seen -to be keeping unaided, for the exiled orphan, the heavy -crown which Charles X. shook from his whitened head -and from whose weight two other brows escaped, sufficiently -laden with sorrow to permit them to reject this new -burden! Your image presents itself to our memory with -those feminine graces which seem to occupy their natural -place, when seated on the throne. The people entertain no -prejudice against you; they pity your sorrows, they admire -your courage; they remember your days of mourning; they -are grateful to you for mingling later in their pleasures, for -sharing their tastes and their festivals; they find a charm in -the vivacity of this foreign Frenchwoman, who has come -from a land endeared to our glory by the days of Fornovo[371], -of Marignano[372], of Areola[373] and of Marengo[374]. The Muses -regret their protectress, born under that fair sky of Italy -which inspired her with the love of the arts and which -turned a daughter of Henry IV. into a daughter of Francis I. - -"France, since the Revolution, has often changed leaders, -and has not yet seen a woman at the helm of the State. -God wills, perhaps, that the reins of this unmanageable -people, which slipped from the devouring hands of the -Convention, broke in the victorious hands of Bonaparte, -and were taken up in vain by Louis XVIII. and Charles X., -should be fastened again by a young Princess, who would -know how to make them at once less fragile and less light." - -[Sidenote: On the legitimacy.] - -Lastly reminding Madame that she had been good enough to think of me as -a member of the secret government, I concluded my letter as follows: - - "In Lisbon there stands a magnificent monument on which one reads - this epitaph: - -HERE LIES BASCO FUGUERA AGAINST HIS WILL. - - My mausoleum shall be a modest one, and I shall not rest there - unwillingly. - - "You know, Madame, the order of ideas in which I perceive the - possibility of a restoration: the other combinations would be - beyond the range of my mind; I should confess my insufficiency. It - would be overtly, by proclaiming myself the man of your consent, - of your confidence, that I should find some strength; but I should - feel no aptitude to act as a nocturnal minister plenipotentiary, - a _chargé d'affaires_ to the darkness. If Your Royal Highness - were patently to appoint me your ambassador to the people of 'New - France' I should inscribe in large letters over my door: - -LEGATION OF OLD FRANCE. - - Things would happen as God pleased; but I would have nothing to do - with secret devotions; I know how to be guilty of loyalty only in - _flagrante delicto._ - - "Madame, without refusing Your Royal Highness the services which - you have the right to command of me, I entreat you to allow the - plan which I have formed of ending my days in retirement. My ideas - cannot be acceptable to the persons who enjoy the confidence of the - noble exiles of Holyrood: once misfortune were past, the natural - antipathy to my principles and person would revive with prosperity. - I have beheld the rejection of the plans which I had put forward - for the greatness of my country, to give France frontiers within - which she could exist safe from invasion, to remove from her - the disgrace of the Treaties of Vienna and Paris. I have heard - myself treated as a renegade, when I was defending religion; as a - revolutionary, when I was striving to establish the throne on the - basis of the public liberties. I should find the same obstacles - increased by the hatred which the faithful of the Court, the town - and the country would have conceived from the lesson inflicted - upon them by my conduct on the day of trial. I have too little - ambition, too great a longing for repose to make my attachment a - burden to the Crown and to thrust upon it my importunate presence. - I have done my duty without thinking for a moment that it gave me a - right to the favour of an august Family: happy in being permitted - to embrace its adversity, I see nothing higher than that honour; - it will find no more zealous servant than myself; but it will - find those who are younger and abler. I do not believe myself a - necessary man, and I think that there are no necessary men left at - this day: useless henceforth, I am going to retire into solitude - to busy myself with the past. I hope, Madame, still to live long - enough to add to the history of the Restoration the glorious page - which your future destinies promise to France. - - "I am, Madame, - - "with the most profound respect, - - "Your Royal Highness' most humble and most "obedient servant, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -The letter was obliged to await a safe messenger; time went on, and I -added the following postscript to my dispatch: - -[Sidenote: The cholera.] - - "PARIS, 12 _April_, 1832. - - "MADAME, - - "All things grow old early in France; each day opens out new - chances for politics and commences a series of events. We now have - M. Périer's illness[375] and the plague sent by God. I have sent - to M. the Prefect of the Seine the sum of 12,000 francs which the - outlawed daughter of St. Louis and Henry IV. has destined for the - relief of the unfortunate: a worthy use of her noble indigence! - I shall strive, Madame, to be the faithful interpreter of your - sentiments. I have never in my life received a mission with which I - felt myself more honoured. - - "I am, with the most profound respect, etc." - -Before speaking of the affair of the 12,000 francs for the -cholera-stricken sufferers mentioned in the above postscript, I must -speak of the cholera. I had not met with the plague during my journey -in the East: it came to visit me at home; the fortune which I had run -after awaited me seated at my door. - - -At the time of the plague of Athens, in the year 431 before our era, -already twenty-two great plagues had ravaged the world. The Athenians -imagined that their wells had been poisoned: a popular fancy renewed -in all contagions. Thucydides has left us a description of the Attic -scourge which has been copied, among the ancients, by Lucretius, -Virgil, Ovid, Lucan[376]; among the moderns, by Boccaccio[377] and -Manzoni. It is a remarkable thing that, when writing of the plague of -Athens, Thucydides does not say a word of Hippocrates[378], in the -same way as he does not name Socrates in connection with Alcibiades. -This pestilence first attacked the head, descended to the stomach, -thence to the bowels, lastly to the legs; if it went out by the feet, -after passing through the whole body, like a long serpent, the patient -recovered. Hippocrates called it the "divine evil" and Thucydides the -"sacred fire:" they both regarded it as the fire of the heavenly wrath. - -One of the most dreadful plagues was that of Constantinople, in the -fifth century, under the reign of Justinian: Christianity had already -modified the imagination of the peoples and given a new character to a -calamity, even as it had changed poetry; the sick seemed to see ghosts -hover around them and to hear threatening voices. - -The black plague of the fourteenth century, known by the name of the -Black Death, took rise in China: it was imagined that it moved rapidly -in the shape of a fiery vapour, while spreading a noxious smell. It -carried off four-fifths of the inhabitants of Europe. - -In 1575, descended upon Milan the contagion which immortalized the -charity of St Charles Borromeo. Fifty-four years later, in 1629, -that unfortunate city was again exposed to the calamities of which -Manzoni[379] has made a painting far superior to the celebrated picture -by Boccaccio. - -In 1660, the scourge was renewed in Europe and, in those two -pestilences of 1629 and 1660, were reproduced the same symptoms of -delirium as in the plague of Constantinople. - - "Marseilles," says M. Lemontey[380], "was in 1720 concluding the - festivals which had signalized the passage of Mademoiselle de - Valois[381], married to the Duke of Modena[382]. Beside the galleys - still decorated with garlands and filled with musicians lay some - vessels which brought from the ports of Syria the most terrible - calamity." - -The fatal ship of which M. Lemontey speaks, having exhibited a clean -bill, was for a moment admitted to pratique. That moment was enough to -poison the air: a storm increased the evil, and the plague spread to -the crash of thunder. - -The gates of the city and the windows of the houses were closed. In the -midst of the general silence, sometimes a window was heard to open and -a corpse to fall. The walls streamed with its cankered blood, and dogs -without a master waited below to devour it. In one quarter, all of -whose inhabitants had died, they had been walled up at home, as though -to prevent death from leaving the house. From these avenues of great -family-tombs, one came to open places in which the pavement was covered -with sick and dying persons stretched on mattresses and abandoned -without aid. Carcases lay half rotten with old clothes mixed with mud; -other corpses stood upright against the walls, in the attitude in which -they had expired. - -All had fled, even the doctors; the bishop, M. de Belsunce[383], wrote: - - "They ought to abolish the doctors, or at least to give us abler - and less timorous ones. I have had great difficulty in having one - hundred and fifty half-rotten corpses, which were lying around my - house, removed." - -[Sidenote: Earlier plagues.] - -One day, the galley-slaves hesitated to fulfil their funeral functions: -the apostle climbed into one of the tumbrils, sat down on a heap of -corpses and ordered the convicts to proceed; death and virtue went -off to the cemetery, drawn by vice and crime filled with dread and -admiration. On the Esplanade de la Tourette, beside the sea, bodies had -been lying for three weeks; and these, exposed to the sun and melted by -its rays, offered merely an infected lake to the sight On this surface -of liquefied flesh, only the worms imparted some movement to crushed, -vague forms which might possess human shape. - -When the contagion began to relax, M. de Belsunce, at the head of -his clergy, repaired to the church of the _Accoules_; mounting on an -esplanade commanding a view of Marseilles, the harbours and the sea, he -gave the benediction, even as the Pope, in Rome, blesses the city and -the world: what braver and purer hand could there be to bring down the -blessings of Heaven upon so many misfortunes? - -It was thus that the plague devastated Marseilles and, five years -after these calamities, the following inscription was placed upon the -frontage of the Town Hall, resembling the pompous epitaphs which we -read on a sepulchre: - - MASSILIA PHOCENSIUM FILIA, ROMÆ SOROR, CARTHAGINIS TERROR, - ATHENARUM ÆMULA. - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _May_ 1832. - -The cholera, starting from the delta of the Ganges in 1817, has spread -over a space measuring 2,200 leagues from north to south and 3,500 -leagues from east to west; it has wasted 1,400 towns and mowed down -40,000,000 inhabitants. We have a chart tracing the conqueror's march. -It has taken fifteen years to come from India to Paris: this means -going as fast as Bonaparte; the latter occupied almost the same number -of years in passing from Cadiz to Moscow, and he caused the death of -only two or three millions of men. - -What is the cholera? Is it a mortal wind? Is it insects which we -swallow and which devour us? What is this great black death armed with -its scythe which, crossing mountains and seas, has come, like one of -those terrible pagodas worshipped on the shores of the Ganges, to crush -us under its chariot-wheels on the banks of the Seine? If this scourge -had fallen in the midst of us in a religious age, if it had spread amid -the poetry of manners and of popular beliefs, it would have left a -striking picture behind it. Imagine a pall waving by way of a flag from -the top of the towers of Notre-Dame; the cannon firing single shots -at intervals to warn the imprudent traveller to turn back; a cordon -of troops surrounding the city and allowing none to enter or leave; -the churches filled with a growing multitude; the priests, by day and -night, chanting the prayers of a perpetual agony; the Viaticum carried -from house to house with bell and candle; the church-bells incessantly -tolling the funeral knell; the monks, crucifix in hand, in the open -places, summoning the people to repentance, preaching the wrath and -judgment of God, made manifest by the corpses already blackened by -Hell's fires. - -Then the closed shops; the pontiff, surrounded by his clergy, going, -with each rector at the head of his parish, to fetch the shrine of -St. Geneviève; the sacred relics carried round the town, preceded by -the long procession of the different religious orders, brotherhoods, -corporations, congregations of penitents, associations of veiled women, -scholars of the University, ministers of the alms-houses, soldiers -marching without arms or with pikes reversed; the Miserere chanted by -the priests mingling with the hymns of girls and children: all, at -certain signals, prostrating themselves in silence and rising to utter -fresh complaints. - -There was none of all this with us: the cholera came to us in an -age of philanthropy, of incredulity, of newspapers, of material -administration[384]. This scourge devoid of imagination came upon no -old cloisters, nor monks, nor cellars, nor Gothic tombs: like the -Terror of 1793, it stalked abroad with a mocking air, in the light of -day, in a quite new world, accompanied by its bulletin, which recited -the remedies that had been employed against it, the number of victims -that it had made, how matters stood, the hopes that were entertained -of seeing it come to an end, the precautions that had to be taken to -ensure one's self against it, what one should eat, how one ought to -dress. And every one continued to attend to his business, and the -theatres were filled. I have seen drunkards at the barrier, seated -outside the pot-house door, drinking, at a little wooden table, and -saying, as they raised their glasses: - -"Here's your health, Morbus!" - -[Sidenote: The visitation of 1832.] - -Morbus, out of gratitude, came running up, and they fell dead under the -table. The children played at cholera, calling it "Nicholas Morbus" -and "Morbus the Rascal." And yet the cholera had its terrible side: -the brilliant sunshine, the indifference of the crowd, the ordinary -course of life, which was continued everywhere, gave a new character -and a different sort of frightfulness to those days of pestilence. -You felt uncomfortable in every limb; you were parched by a cold, dry -north wind; the atmosphere had a certain metallic flavour which hurt -the throat. In the Rue du Cherche-Midi, wagons of the artillery-depot -were used to cart away the dead bodies. In the Rue de Sèvres, which was -completely devastated, especially on one side, the hearses came and -went from door to door; there were not enough of them to satisfy the -demand; a voice would shout from the window: - -"Here, hearse, this way!" - -The driver answered that he was full up and could not attend to -everybody. One of my friends, M. Pouqueville, on his way to dine at my -house on Easter Sunday, was stopped at the Boulevard du Mont-Parnasse -by a succession of biers, nearly all of which were carried by bearers. -He saw, in this procession, the coffin of a young girl, on which was -laid a wreath of white roses. A smell of chlorine spread a tainted -atmosphere in the wake of this floral ambulance. - -On the Place de la Bourse, where processions of workmen used to meet, -singing the Parisienne, one often saw funerals pass by towards the -Montmartre Cemetery as late as eleven o'clock at night, by the light -of pitch torches. The Pont-Neuf was blocked with litters laden with -patients for the hospitals or dead who had expired on the road. The -toll ceased for some days on the Pont des Arts. The booths disappeared -and, as the north-east wind was blowing, all the stall-holders and -all the shopkeepers on the quays closed their doors. One met tilted -conveyances preceded by a "crow," or mute, with a registrar of births, -deaths and marriages walking in front, dressed in mourning, and -carrying a list in his hand. There was a dearth of these tabellions, or -registrars; they had to send for more from Saint-Germain, the Villette, -Saint-Cloud. For the rest, the hearses were piled up with five or six -coffins, kept in place with ropes. Omnibuses and hackney-coaches were -employed for the same purpose: it was not uncommon to see a cab adorned -with a dead body stretched across the apron. A few of the dead were -laid out in the churches: a priest sprinkled holy water over those -collected faithful of Eternity. - -In Athens, the people believed that the wells near the Piræus had been -poisoned; in Paris, the tradesmen were accused of poisoning their wine, -spirits, sugar-plums and provisions. Several individuals had their -clothes torn from their backs, were dragged in the gutter, flung into -the Seine. The authorities were to blame for these stupid or guilty -opinions. - -How did the scourge, like an electric spark, pass from London to Paris? -It cannot be explained. This fantastic death often fixes on a spot of -the ground, on a house, and leaves the neighbourhood of that infested -spot untouched; then it retraces its steps and picks up what it has -forgotten. One night, I felt myself attacked: I was seized with a -shivering, together with cramp in my legs; I did not want to ring, for -fear of frightening Madame de Chateaubriand. I got up; I heaped all I -could find in my room on the bed, got back under the blankets, and a -copious perspiration pulled me through. But I remained shattered, and -it was in this condition of discomfort that I was obliged to write my -pamphlet on the 12,000 francs of Madame la Duchesse de Berry. - -[Sidenote: The 12,000 francs of Madame.] - -I should not have been too sorry to go, carried off under the arm -of the eldest son of Vishnu, whose distant glance killed Bonaparte -upon his rock at the entrance to the Indian Sea. If all mankind, -stricken with this general contagion, came to die, what would happen? -Nothing: the world, depopulated, would continue its solitary course, -without need of any other astronomer to count its steps than Him who -has measured them from all eternity; it would present no change to -the eyes of the inhabitants of the other planets; they would see it -fulfilling its accustomed functions; upon its surface, our little -works, our cities, our monuments would be replaced by forests restored -to the sovereignty of the lions; no void would manifest itself in -the universe. And nevertheless there would be lacking that human -intelligence which knows the stars and rises to a knowledge of their -Author. What art thou then, O immensity of the works of God, in which, -if the genius of man, which is equal to the whole of nature, came to -disappear, it would be no more missed than the smallest atom withdrawn -from Creation? - - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _May_ 1832. - -Madame de Berry has her chamber council in Paris, as Charles X. has -his: paltry sums were collected in her name to succour the poorer of -the Royalists. I proposed to distribute among the cholera patients -a sum of twelve thousand francs on behalf of the mother of Henry -V. We wrote to Massa, and not only did the Princess approve of the -disposition of the funds, but she would have liked us to apportion -a more considerable sum: her approval arrived on the day on which I -sent the money to the mayors' offices. Thus, everything is strictly -true in my explanations concerning the gift of the exile. On the -14th of April, I sent the whole sum to the Prefect of the Seine to -be distributed among the indigent class of the cholera-stricken -population of Paris. M. de Bondy was not at the Hôtel de Ville when -my letter was taken there. The Secretary-general opened my missive, -and did not consider himself authorized to receive the money. Three -days elapsed; M. de Bondy replied at last that he could not accept -the twelve thousand francs, because people would see in it, beneath -an apparent benevolence, "a political combination against which the -entire population of Paris would protest by its refusal[385]." Then -my secretary went to the twelve mayors' offices. Of five mayors -who were present, four accepted the gift of a thousand francs; one -refused it. Of the seven mayors who were absent, five kept silence; -two refused[386]. I was forthwith besieged by an army of paupers: -benevolent and charitable societies, workmen of all kinds, women -and children. Polish and Italian exiles, men of letters, artists, -soldiers, all wrote, all demanded a share in the bounty. If I had -had a million, it would have been distributed in a few hours. M. de -Bondy was wrong in saying that "the entire population of Paris would -protest by its refusal:" the population of Paris will always take money -from everybody. The scared attitude of the Government was enough to -make one die of laughing: one would have thought that this perfidious -legitimist money was going to stir up the cholera patients, to excite -an insurrection among the men dying in the hospitals to march to the -assault of the Tuileries, with coffins rolling, with tolling of funeral -knells, with winding-sheet unfurled under the command of Death. My -correspondence with the mayors was prolonged through the complication -of the refusal of the Prefect of Paris. Some of them wrote to me to -send me back my money or to ask for the return of their receipts for -the gifts of Madame la Duchesse de Berry. I sent these back loyally, -and I handed the following receipt to the office of the Mayor of the -12th Ward: - -[Sidenote: Attitude of the Mayors.] - - "I have received from the Mayor's office of the 12th Ward the sum - of one thousand francs which it had at first accepted and which it - has returned to me by order of M. the Prefect of the Seine. - - PARIS, 22 _April_ 1832." - -The Mayor of the 9th Ward, M. Cronier, was braver: he kept the thousand -francs and was dismissed. I wrote him this note: - - - "29 _April_ 1832. - - "SIR, - - "I hear with keen sorrow of the disgrace of which Madame la - Duchesse de Berry's benevolence has in your case been the cause or - the pretext. You will have, for your consolation, the esteem of the - public, the sense of your independence, and the happiness of having - sacrificed yourself to the cause of the unfortunate. - - "I have the honour, etc., etc." - -The Mayor of the 4th Ward is a very different man: M. Cadet de -Gassicourt, a poet-apothecary composing little verses, writing in his -time, in the time of liberty and the Empire, an agreeable classical -declaration against my romantic prose and that of Madame de Staël[387]. -M. Cadet de Gassicourt is the hero who took the cross of the front of -Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois by assault, and who, in a proclamation on -the cholera, gave us to understand that possibly those wicked Carlists -were the wine-poisoners to whom the people had already done ample -justice[388]. And so the illustrious champion wrote me the following -letter: - - "PARIS, 18 _April_ 1832. - - "SIR, - - "I was not at the Mayor's office when the person sent by you - called: this will explain to you the delay in my reply. - - "M. the Prefect of the Seine, when declining to accept the money - which you undertook to offer him, seems to me to have traced the - line of conduct which the members of the Municipal Council must - follow. I shall imitate M. the Prefect's example the more readily - inasmuch as I think that I know and as I share the sentiments which - must have prompted his refusal. - - "I will refer only in passing to the title of 4 Royal Highness' - given with some affectation to the person whose mouth-piece you - constitute yourself: the daughter-in-law of Charles X. is no more - a 'Royal Highness' in France than her father-in-law is King[389]! - But, Sir, there is no one who is not morally convinced that this - lady is very actively at work and that she is spending sums of - money very much more considerable than that of which she has - entrusted the employment to yourself to stir up trouble in our - country and bring about civil war. The alms which she pretends - to make are but a means for drawing upon herself and her party - an attention and a kindly feeling which her intentions are far - from justifying. You will therefore not think it extraordinary - that a magistrate, firmly attached to the constitutional royalty - of Louis-Philippe, should refuse a relief which comes from such - a source and should look to true citizens for purer bounties - addressed sincerely to humanity and the country. - - "I am, Sir, with a very distinguished regard, etc. - - "F. CADET DE GASSICOURT." - -[Sidenote: Cadet de Gassicourt.] - -This is a very proud revolt on the part of M. Cadet de Gassicourt -against "this lady" and her "father-in-law:" what a progress in -enlightenment and philosophy! What indomitable independence! Messieurs -Fleurant and Purgon dared not look people in the face except upon their -knees[390]; he, M. Cadet, says, with the Cid: - -"Then we rise up!" - -His liberty is the more courageous inasmuch as that "father-in-law" -(in other words, the descendant of St. Louis) is an outlaw. M. de -Gassicourt is above all that: he despises equally the nobility of time -and of misfortune. With the same contempt for aristocratic prejudices, -he takes away my "de" and assumes it for himself, as though it were -a conquest snatched from the petty gentry. But could there not have -been some ancient historic quarrels between the House of Cadet and the -House of Capet? Henry IV., the ancestor of that "father-in-law" who is -no more King than that "lady" is a Royal Highness, was one day passing -through the Forest of Saint-Germain: eight lords were lying in ambush -there to kill the Bearnese; they were taken. - - "One of those gallants," says L'Estoile, "was an apothecary who - asked to speak with the King, of whom His Majesty having enquired - of what condition he was, he answered that he was an apothecary. - - "'What!' said the King. 'Is it the habit to perform the condition - of an apothecary here? Do you lie in wait for the wayfarers to...?'" - -Henry IV. was a soldier, modesty troubled him but little, and he ran -away from a word no more than from the enemy. - -I suspect M. de Gassicourt, because of his ill-humour towards the -descendant of Henry IV., of being himself the descendant of the -apothecary-Leaguer. The Mayor of the 4th Ward had doubtless written to -me in the hope that I would engage him in mortal combat; but I do not -care to engage M. Cadet in anything: I hope that he will forgive me for -leaving him this little token of my remembrance. - -Since the days when the great revolutions and the great -revolutionaries passed before my eyes, everything had shrivelled -greatly. The men who caused the fall of an oak, replanted when too old -to take root, applied to me; they asked me for a portion of the widow's -mite to buy bread: the letter from the Committee of the _décorés de -Juillet_, or "Knights of July," is a document worth noting for the -instruction of posterity. - - "PARIS, 20 _April_ 1832. - - "Please address your reply to M. Gibert-Arnaud, "Manager and - Secretary to the Committee, "3, Rue Saint-Nicaise. - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "The members of our Committee approach you with confidence to ask - you kindly to honour them with a gift in favour of the Knights - of July. Any benevolence shown to these unhappy fathers of - families, at this time of plague and misery, inspires the sincerest - gratitude. We venture to hope that you will consent to allow your - illustrious name to figure beside those of General Bertrand, - General Exelmans, General Lamarque, General La Fayette, and several - ambassadors, peers of France and deputies. - - "We beg you to honour us with a word in reply, and if, contrary to - our expectation, our request should meet with a refusal, be good - enough to return us the present letter. - - "With the gentlest sentiments, we beg you, monsieur le vicomte, to - accept the homage of our respectful salutations. - - "The active members of the Constitutive Committee of the Knights of - July: - - "FAURE, Visiting Member. "CYPRIEN DESMARAIS, Special Commissary. - "GIBERT-ARNAUD, Manager and Secretary. "TOUREL, Assistant Member." - -I was too wise not to take the advantage which the Revolution of July -here gave me over itself. By distinguishing between persons, one would -create helots among the unfortunate, who, because of certain political -opinions, might never obtain relief. I lost no time in sending a -hundred francs to these gentlemen, with this note: - - "PARIS, 22 _April_ 1832. - - "GENTLEMEN, - - "I am infinitely grateful to you for applying to me to come to the - assistance of some unhappy fathers of families. I hasten to send - you the sum of one hundred francs: I regret that I am not able to - offer you a more considerable gift. - - "I have the honour, etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -The following receipt was sent to me by return: - -[Sidenote: The knights of July.] - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "I have the honour to thank you and to acknowledge the receipt - of the sum of one hundred francs devoted by your kindness to the - succour of the unfortunates of July. - - "Greetings and respects. - - "GIBERT-ARNAUD, - - "Manager and Secretary to the Committee. - - "23 _April._" - -And so Madame la Duchesse de Berry gave charity to those who had driven -her from the country. The transactions show things in their true light. -How can one believe in any reality in a country where no one looks -after the invalids of his party, where the heroes of yesterday are the -destitute persons of to-day, where a little gold makes the multitude -hurry to one like pigeons in a farm-yard flocking to the hand that -flings grain to them. - -Four thousand francs of my twelve remained. I addressed myself to -religion; Monseigneur the Archbishop of Paris[391] wrote me this noble -letter: - - "PARIS, 26 _April_ 1832. - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "Charity is catholic like faith, foreign to men's passions, - independent of their movements: one of its chief distinguishing - characteristics is that, as St. Paul says, it worketh no evil[392]: - _non cogitat malum._ It blesses the hand that gives and the hand - that receives, without attributing to the generous benefactor any - other motive than that of doing good and without asking of the - indigent poor any other condition than that of need. It accepts - with deep and feeling gratitude the gift which the august widow - has charged you to confide to it to be employed for the relief - of our unfortunate brothers, the victims of the plague which is - devastating the Capital. - - "It will distribute with the most scrupulous fidelity the four - thousand francs which you have handed me on her behalf, and for - which my letter is a new receipt; but I shall have the honour to - send you an account of the distribution when the intentions of the - benefactress have been fulfilled. - - "Be so good, monsieur le vicomte, as to present to Madame la - Duchesse de Berry the thanks of a pastor and a father who daily - offers his life to God for his sheep and his children and who calls - on every side for help capable of levelling their wretchedness. - Her royal heart has already doubtless found within itself its - reward for the sacrifice which she has devoted to our misfortunes: - religion ensures to her, moreover, the effect of the divine - promises set forth in the book of the Beatitudes for those who are - 'merciful[393].' - - "The money has been divided without delay among the rectors of the - twelve principal parishes of Paris, to whom I have addressed the - letter of which I enclose a copy. - - "Receive, monsieur le vicomte, the assurance, etc. - - "HYACINTHE, Archbishop of Paris." - -One is always amazed to realize in how high a degree religion -suits even style and gives an immediate gravity and seemliness to -commonplaces. This forms a contrast with the heap of anonymous letters -which have become mixed with the letters I have quoted. The spelling -of these anonymous letters is fairly correct, the hand-writing neat: -they are, properly speaking, "literary," like the Revolution of July. -They display scribbling jealousies, hatreds, vanities, safe in the -inviolability of a cowardice which, refraining to show its face, cannot -be made visible by a blow. Here are some samples: - - "Will you let us know, you old _républiquinquiste_, the day on - which you would like to grease your moccasins? It will be easy for - us to procure you some Chouan's fat, and, should you want some of - your friends' blood to write their history in, there is no lack of - it in the Paris mud, its element. - - "You old brigand, ask your rascally and worthy friend Fitz-James - if he liked the stone which he received in his feudal part Pack of - scoundrels that you are, we'll pull your guts from your stomachs," - etc., etc. - -In another missive, I find a very well-drawn gallows, with these words: - - "Go down on your knees to a priest and make an act of contrition, - for we want your old head to put an end to your treacheries." - -For the rest, the cholera still continues: the answer which I might -address to a known or unknown adversary would perhaps reach him when -he was lying on his threshold. If, on the contrary, he were destined -to live, where would his reply find me? Perhaps in that resting-place -of which no one can be frightened to-day, especially we men who have -lengthened out our years between the Terror and the Plague, the first -and last horizons of our lives. A truce: let the coffins pass. - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, 10 _June_ 1832. - -General Lamarque's[394] funeral has brought about two days of bloodshed -and the victory of the sham Legitimacy over the Republican Party[395]. -This incomplete and divided party has made an heroic resistance. - -[Sidenote: Paris in state of siege.] - -Paris has been declared in a state of siege[396]: this is the -censorship on the largest possible scale, a censorship in the manner -of the Convention, with this difference, that a military commission -takes the place of the Revolutionary Tribunal. They are shooting, in -June 1832, the men who achieved the victory in July 1830: that same -Polytechnic School, that same artillery of the National Guard are -being sacrificed; they conquered the power for those who are crushing, -disowning and disbanding them. The Republicans are certainly wrong to -have cried up measures of anarchy and disorder: but why did you not -employ such noble arms on our frontiers? They would have delivered -us from the ignominious yoke of the foreigner. Generous, if exalted -heads would not have remained to ferment in Paris, to blaze up against -the humiliation of our foreign policy and the bad faith of the new -Royalty. You have been pitiless, you who, without sharing the dangers -of the Three Days, have gathered their fruit. Go now with the mothers -to identify the corpses of those knights of July from whom you hold -places, riches and honours. Young men, you do not all obtain the -same lot on the same shore! You have a tomb under the colonnade of -the Louvre and a place in the Morgue: some for snatching, others for -bestowing a crown. Your names, who knows them, you sacrifices and -for-ever-unknown victims of a memorable revolution? Is the blood known -that cements the monuments which men admire? The workmen who built -the Great Pyramid for the corpse of an unglorious king[397], sleep -forgotten in the sand near the needy root that served to feed them -during their labours. - - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _end of July_ 1832. - -Madame la Duchesse de Berry[398] no sooner sanctioned the measure of -the 12,000 francs than she took ship for her famous adventure. The -rising of Marseilles failed; there remained but to try the West; but -the Vendean glory is a thing apart: it will live in our annals; in -any case, seven-eighths of France has chosen a different glory, the -object of jealousy or antipathy; the Vendée is an Oriflamme venerated -and admired in the treasure of Saint-Denis, under which youth and the -future will henceforth gather no longer. - -[Sidenote: Madame lands in France.] - -Madame, when she landed, like Bonaparte, on the coast of Provence, -did not see the White Flag fly from steeple to steeple: deceived in -her expectation, she found herself almost alone on shore with M. de -Bourmont. The marshal wanted to make her recross the frontier at once; -she asked to have the night to think it over; she slept well among the -rocks to the sound of the sea; in the morning, on waking, she found a -noble dream in her thoughts: - -"Since I am on French soil, I will not leave it; let us set out for the -Vendée." - -M. de ----[399], informed by a faithful man, took her in his carriage -as his wife, crossed the whole of France with her, and has put her down -at -----[400]. She has remained some time in a country-house without -being recognised by anybody, except the curate of the place. The -Maréchal de Bourmont is to join her in the Vendée by another road. - -Informed of all this in Paris, it was easy for us to foresee the -result. The enterprise has a further drawback for the Royalist Cause: -it will discover the weakness of that cause and dispel illusions. If -Madame had not gone to the Vendée, France would always have believed -that in the West there was a royalist camp standing at ease, as I -called it. - -But however, there remained still one means of saving Madame and -casting a new veil over the truth: the Princess should have left again -at once; arriving at her own risk and peril, like a brave general who -comes to review his army, to moderate its impatience and its ardour, -she would have declared that she had hastened to tell her soldiers that -the moment for action was not yet favourable, that she would return to -place herself at their head when the occasion should summon her. Madame -would at least have once shown a Bourbon to the Vendeans: the shades of -the Cathelineaus, the d'Elbées, the Bonchamps, the La Rochejacqueleins, -the Charettes would have rejoiced. - -Our committee met: while we were discoursing, there came from Nantes -a captain, who told us the place where the heroine is staying. The -captain is a good-looking young man, brave as a sailor, eccentric as -a Breton. He disapproved of the enterprise; he thought it mad; but he -said: - -"Madame is not going away: it is a question of dying, and that is all; -and then, gentlemen of the council, have Walter Scott hanged, for he is -the real culprit!" - -I thought that we ought to write what we felt to the Princess. M. -Berryer[401], who was preparing to go to defend a case at Quimper[402], -generously offered to take the letter and to see Madame if he could. -When it became necessary to draw up the note, no one thought of writing -it: I undertook to do so[403]. - -Our messenger set out, and we awaited events. I soon received, by post, -the following note, which had not been sealed and which had doubtless -come under the eyes of the authorities: - -[Sidenote: Letter from Berryer.] - - - "ANGOULÊME, 7 _June._ - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "I had received and forwarded your letter of Friday last, when, - on Sunday, the Prefect of the Loire-Inférieure[404] sent word - requiring me to leave the town of Nantes[405]. I was on my way - and at the gates of Angoulême; I have just been taken before the - Prefect, who has notified me of an order from M. de Montalivet[406] - by which I am to be taken back to Nantes under an escort of - gendarmes. Since my departure from Nantes, the Department of - the Loire-Inférieure has been placed under martial law, and, by - this entirely illegal transfer, I am made subject to the laws of - exception. I am writing to the Minister to ask him to have me taken - to Paris; he will receive my letter by the same post. The object - of my journey to Nantes seems to have been utterly misinterpreted. - Decide therefore whether, in the light of your prudence, you will - think it right to mention the matter to the Minister. I apologize - for addressing this request to you; but I have no one to whom to - apply but yourself. - - "Pray believe, monsieur le vicomte, in my old and sincere - attachment, and in my profound respect. - - "Your most devoted servant, - - "BERRYER the Younger." - - "_P.S._--There is not a moment to lose if you are willing to see - the Minister. I am going to Tours, where his new orders will still - find me on Sunday; he can dispatch them either by telegraph or - express." - -I informed M. Berryer, in the following reply, of the decision to which -I came: - - "PARIS, 10 _June_ 1832. - - "I received your letter, monsieur, dated Angoulême, the 7th - instant. It was too late for me to see M. the Minister of the - Interior, as you wished; but I wrote to him at once, sending him - your own letter enclosed in mine. I hope that the mistake which - occasioned your arrest will soon be admitted and that you will be - restored to liberty and to your friends, among whom I beg you to - number myself. - - "A thousand hearty compliments, with the renewed assurance of my - sincere and entire devotion. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -Here is my letter to the Minister of the Interior: - - "PARIS, 9 _June_ 1832. - - "MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE DE L'INTÉRIEUR, - - "I have this moment received the enclosed letter. As I should - probably not be able to see you as quickly as M. Berryer wishes, - I have decided to send you his letter. His complaint appears to - me to be justified: he will be innocent in Paris as at Nantes and - at Nantes as in Paris; this is a thing which the authorities must - admit and, by righting M. Berryer's complaint, they will avoid - giving a retroactive effect to the law. I venture to hope all, - monsieur le comte, from your impartiality. - - "I have the honour to be, etc., etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - - - -[Footnote 330: This book was written in Paris and Geneva, from October -1830 to June 1832.--T.] - -[Footnote 331: This and the following pages were written in March and -April 1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 332: The _Études historiques._--B.] - -[Footnote 333: The trial of the ministers before the Court of Peers -commenced on the 15th and ended on the 21st of December 1830. The -verdict condemned the Prince de Polignac to perpetual imprisonment -on the continental territory of the Kingdom, declared him to have -forfeited his titles, rank and Orders, declared him besides to be -civilly dead and subject to all the other effects of the penalty -of transportation. Messieurs de Peyronnet, de Chantelauze and de -Guernon-Ranville were condemned to imprisonment for life.--B.] - -[Footnote 334: The sack of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois and the pillage -of the Archbishop's Palace took place on the 14th and 15th of February -1831.--B. - -The Duc de Berry was murdered on the 13th of February 1820--T.] - -[Footnote 335: Félix Cadet de Gassicourt the Younger (1789-1861), -chemist and druggist and Mayor of the 4th Ward of Paris.--B.] - -[Footnote 336: "Mayeux," the hunchbacked type of the political -versatility of the French nation, was an invention of the caricaturists -and the comic papers of the year 1831. According to them, Messidor -Napoleon Louis Charles Philippe Mayeux, born on the 14th of July 1789, -while his father was engaged in taking the Bastille, had taken various -Christian names according to the different forms of government which -he had in turn espoused or repudiated. He had not been much heard of -before 1830, but the sun of July had at last brought him into the light -of day. For twelve months, Paris saw, talked, thought, swore, above -all, by none save Mayeux. He was in turns a Republican, a Bonapartist, -a juste-milieu man: everything, in short, except a Carlist; for he was -faithful to his resentment against a mounted Grenadier of the Royal -Guard who had failed to see him behind a curb-post and had laughed at -him when he said: - -"Take care, soldier; there's a man in front of you." - -Mayeux was a National Guard: that caused his death. One day he was -struck off the roll for being guilty of making his brother _bisets_ -laugh while under arms. He died of grief and shame a few weeks later: -on the 23rd of December 1821, to be exact (_Cf._ the chapter on -_Mayeux_ in BAZIN: _L'Époque sans nom_).--B.] - -[Footnote 337: Chateaubriand's pamphlet appeared on the 24th of March -1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 338: _Études et discours historiques sur la chute de l'Empire -romain, la naissance et le progrès du Christianisme et l'invasion des -Barbares; suivis d'une Analyse raisonnée de l'histoire de France_ -(Paris: 4 vols. 8vo). The _Études historiques_ were published on the -4th of April 1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 339: The fall of the Roman Empire.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 340: Chateaubriand left for Switzerland on the 16th of May -1831; he arrived at Geneva on the 23rd of May.--B.] - -[Footnote 341: _De la Restauration et de la Monarchie -élective.--Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 342: This refers to my literary and to my political career, -which had been left behind: the voids have since been filled by what I -have lately written in the last two years, 1838 and 1839.--_Author's -Note_ (Paris, 1839).] - -[Footnote 343: Hyacinthe has the habit of copying, almost in spite of -my wishes, the letters which I write and receive, because he maintains -that he has observed that I am often attacked by persons who once wrote -to me in terms of endless admiration and applied to me with requests -for services. When this happens, he rummages in bundles known to -him alone and, comparing the insulting article with the encomiastic -epistle, says to me: - - "You see, monsieur, that I acted well!" - - I do not agree with him at all: I attach not the smallest belief - nor the least importance to the opinion of men; I take them for - what they are and esteem them for what they are worth. As far - as I am concerned, I will never contrast for their benefit what - they have said of me in public with what they have said to me - in private; but this amuses Hyacinthe. I had kept no copy of my - letters to Madame Récamier; she has had the kindness to lend them - to me. #/ --_Author's Note_ (Paris, 1836).] - -[Footnote 344: This letter and those which follow are exactly true to -the originals: - - "The letters," says Madame Lenormant, "which M. de Chateaubriand - wrote to Madame Récamier during his stay in Switzerland, have been - printed in the _Mémoires d'Outre-tombe._ We have collated them with - the originals and, this time, have found them to be reproduced - with scrupulous fidelity" (_Souvenirs et Correspondance tirés des - papiers de Madame Récamier_, Vol. II.).--B. ] - -[Footnote 345: Elleviou (1772-1842) was this "singular personage," as -the enclosure shows. Elleviou was a famous singer, during the Consulate -and the Empire, at the Théâtre Feydeau. The _Maison à vendre_, words -by Alexandre Duval, music by Dalayrac, was one of the pieces in which -he made most success. He retired from the stage in 1813 and devoted -himself to agriculture in the neighbourhood of Lyons. Elleviou was, -like Chateaubriand, a Breton: he was born at Rennes, where his father -was a surgeon.--B.] - -[Footnote 346: It was easy for Madame Récamier's hand-writing to -be smaller than that of Chateaubriand, who wrote in characters -half-an-inch in height, and as though the alphabet contained only -capital letters.--B.] - -[Footnote 347: Jean Chauvin, Cauvin, or Caulvin (1509-1564), generally -known as John Calvin, the Protestant reformer, fled from France to -Geneva in 1536, was banished in 1538, returned in 1541, and lived -there till the day of his death. He founded the Academy of Geneva in -1559.--T.] - -[Footnote 348: A cousin of Benjamin Constant.--B.] - -[Footnote 349: Albertine Adrienne Necker de Saussure (1766-1841), -daughter to Horace Bénédicte de Saussure, the naturalist, and cousin -to Madame de Staël. Madame Necker was the author of the _Éducation -progressive, ou Étude du cours de la vie_, which was crowned by the -French Academy in 1839.--B.] - -[Footnote 350: Delphine Gay, later Madame Émile de Girardin -(1804-1855), daughter of Madame Sophie Gay, and married to Émile de -Girardin in 1831. She was the author of a number of comedies, novels -and poems, and of _Lettres parisiennes_, contributed to the _Presse_ -from 1836 to 1848.--T.] - -[Footnote 351: I omit this poem of nine stanzas, entitled the -_Naufragé._--T.] - -[Footnote 352: The Pâquis are a quarter of Geneva stretching along the -right bank of the lake from the Rue du Mont-Blanc to near the Lausanne -road.--B.] - -[Footnote 353: Alexandre César Comte de Lapanouze (1764-1836) was a -captain in the Navy at the time of the Revolution, resigned, and found -himself completely ruined. Under the Second Restoration, he founded a -banking-house in Paris which soon became one of the most important in -the Capital. He was a deputy from 1822 to 1827, supported the Villèle -Administration and, in 1827, was created a peer of France. Lapanouze -retired from politics after the events of July and withdrew to his -estate of Tiregant in Gascony.--B.] - -[Footnote 354: Cristina Principessa Belgiojoso (1808-1871), _née_ -Trivulzio. She settled in early life in Paris, where she was noted -for her wit and beauty and the independence of her opinions and her -life. She became the friend of many celebrated writers, particularly -of Alfred de Musset. In 1848, she flung herself with ardour into the -revolutionary movement, hastened to Milan, which had risen in revolt, -and furnished a battalion of volunteers at her own cost. She was the -author of a number of works of travel and history, and, according -to Balzac, was the original of the Duchesse de San-Severino in de -Stendhal's Chartreuse de Parme.--B.] - -[Footnote 355: Ferney is a village about four miles from Geneva, in -which Voltaire resided from 1758 to 1778.--T.] - -[Footnote 356: _Cf._ VOLTAIRE: _Zaïre_, in which tragedy Orosmane is -the name of the Sultan of Jerusalem.--T.] - -[Footnote 357: François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (1770-1838), -a noted French traveller and historian, author of a _Voyage en Morée et -à Constantinople_ (1805), a _Voyage en Grèce_ (1820-1822), an _Histoire -de la régénération de la Grèce_ (1825) and other works.--T.] - -[Footnote 358: Armand Carrel had published in the _Revue française_ -(March and May 1828) some remarkable articles on Spain and the war of -1823, describing the Minan and Catalonian Campaigns and the adventures -of the Liberal Foreign Legion.--B.] - -[Footnote 359: The passion to which Chateaubriand alludes perhaps -changed the course of Carrel's life. Shortly after the Revolution of -July, on the 29th of August 1830, he was appointed Prefect of the -Cantal. He refused, not because he was a Republican at that date, but -because his connection with a married woman, from whom he was not -willing to separate, made it impossible for him to accept any public -function in the country.--B.] - -[Footnote 360: _A. M. de Chateaubriand_, 1-2: - - "Chateaubriand, why flee from thy land, - Flee from its love, from our incense and care?"--T.] - - -[Footnote 361: _Ibid._, 45-48: - - "And in their fall thou wouldst wish to take part! - Learn their mad vanity better to know: - Thy faithfulness is by their thankless heart - Set 'midst the ills which to Heaven they owe."--T.] - - -[Footnote 362: Armand François Bon Claude Comte de Briqueville -(1785-1844) was a member of an old family of Norman nobles. His father -was shot by the Republicans on the 29th of May 1796. His mother, who -was one of the first women of the great world to make use of the new -divorce-law, caused her son to be given a republican education. He -served with distinction under the Empire and, as Colonel of the 25th -Dragoons, took part in the victory of Ligny. He was terribly wounded on -returning to Paris after Waterloo. During the Restoration, the Comte de -Briqueville was mixed up with several Bonapartist plots and, in 1827, -was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. He approved of the Revolution -of July and, on the 14th of September 1031, introduced a motion for the -banishment of Charles X. and his family. The Comte de Briqueville, when -the Duchesse de Berry was arrested, hastened to demand that she should -be brought to trial; and he remained true to his hatred of the Bourbons -to the last.--B.] - -[Footnote 363: Chateaubriand's Letter to M. de Béranger, printed at -the commencement of the pamphlet on the Briqueville Motion, was dated -24 September 1831. The pamphlet was published on the 31st of October -1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 364: Tyrtæus (_fl. circa_ 684 B.C.), the Spartan elegiac -poet.--T.] - -[Footnote 365: Auguste Marseille Barthélemy (1796-1867), the satirical -poet and prose-writer, kept up a wager from March 1831 to April 1832, -to publish a political satire weekly of several hundred verses and -irreproachable form. They commenced in the thirty-first number of the -_Némésis._ Finer talents were never prostituted to a baser cause.--B.] - -[Footnote 366: M. Barthélemy has since gone over to the juste-milieu, -not without an amount of imprecation on the part of many people who -rallied only a little later.--_Author's Note_ (Paris, 1837).] - -[Footnote 367: The Conspiracy of the Rue des Prouvaires was not devoid -of serious features. They were about three thousand in number. They -lacked neither money nor courage. They had accomplices even among the -palace servants; they were in possession of five keys opening the -gates of the Tuileries Gardens, and admission to the Louvre had been -promised them. A great ball was to take place at Court on the night -of the 1st of February 1832. The conspirators chose that night to put -their plot into execution. It was agreed that some should gather in -detachments at different points in the Capital, thence to set out, at -a preconcerted signal, and march towards the Palace; while others, -gliding along the shade of the little streets which lead to the Louvre, -were to make their way into the picture-gallery, burst through into the -ball-room and, thanks to the disorder caused by this unexpected attack, -seize hold of the Royal Family. "Crackers," or a kind of small bombs, -would have been flung into the midst of the carriages waiting to take -up at the doors of the Palace; _chevalets_, or pieces of wood fitted -with iron spikes, would have been scattered under the hoofs of the -horses; and, lastly, they thought themselves justified in hoping that -fireworks would be placed in the theatre in such a way as to augment -the confusion by setting fire to the wood-work. - -The chief conspirators were to meet, at eleven o'clock in the evening, -armed, at a tavern-keeper's at No. 12 in the Rue des Prouvaires. They -had assembled there, to the number of one hundred, when suddenly the -street filled with municipal guards and police-officers, who, in spite -of the resistance of the ringleaders and their followers, were able to -effect their arrest. - -The trial opened before the Assize Court of the Seine on the 5th of -July 1832. The accused were sixty-six in number, including eleven who -were not in custody, and the pleadings occupied no less than eighteen -sittings. Sentence was delivered on the 25th of July. Six of the -accused were condemned to transportation; twelve to five years', four -to two years', and five to one year's imprisonment. The remainder -were acquitted. Among those sentenced to imprisonment was M. Piégard -Sainte-Croix, an ardent Royalist, whose daughter, a "Carlist" like her -father, subsequently married the celebrated socialist writer, Pierre -Joseph Proudhon.--B.] - -[Footnote 368: Louis Poncelet, alias Chevalier (_d._ 1805), a -shoemaker, was the real leader of the plot, and gave proof throughout -of rare qualities of intelligence, energy and audacity. At the trial, -he was noted, above all the others, for the loyalty of his replies and -for his skill in refraining from compromising his accomplices, while -indifferent to his own danger. He was sentenced to transportation.--B.] - -[Footnote 369: I kept back some passages of this long letter to insert -them in my _Explications sur mes_ 12,000 _francs_ and, later, in my -_Mémoire sur la captivité de Madame la Duchesse de Berry.--Author's -Note._] - -[Footnote 370: Blanche of Castile, Queen of France (1187-1252), widow -of Louis VIII. and mother of St. Louis IX. She acted as Regent from -1226-1236, during her son's minority, and again from 1248 to 1252, -during his absence on a crusade to the Holy Land.--T.] - -[Footnote 371: At Fornovo, the French under Charles VIII. defeated the -Italians on the 6th of July 1495.--T.] - -[Footnote 372: At Marignano, Francis I. gained a victory over the Swiss -on the 13th and 14th of September 1515.--T.] - -[Footnote 373: The French under Bonaparte, Masséna and Augereau -defeated the Austrians at Areola on the 15th, 16th and 17th of November -1796.--T.] - -[Footnote 374: 14 June 1800, when the French defeated the Austrians and -finished the campaign in Northern Italy.--T.] - -[Footnote 375: Casimir Périer, the Premier, died of consumption on the -16th of May 1832.--T.] - -[Footnote 376: Marcus Annæus Lucanus, known as Lucan (39-65), the -author of the _Pharsalia_ etc.--T.] - -[Footnote 377: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the author of the -_Decamerone_, the hundred stones supposed to be told by a society of -seven ladies and three gentlemen to shut out the horrors of the great -plague of Florence in 1348.--T.] - -[Footnote 378: Hippocrates (_circa_ 460 B.C.--_circa_ 377 B.C.), the -famous Greek physician. "His alleged study of the great plague at -Athens is not corroborated by a comparison with Thucydides' account" -(MAHAFFY: _History of Classical Greek Literature_).--T.] - -[Footnote 379: In his _Promessi Sposi._--T.] - -[Footnote 380: Pierre Édouard Lemontey (1762-1826), elected a member -of the French Academy in 1817, author of an _Essai sur l'établissement -monarchique de Louis XIV._ and of the _Histoire de la régence_, from -which latter work, published after his death, the above extract is -quoted.--T.] - -[Footnote 381: Charlotte Mademoiselle de Valois (1700-1761), daughter -of the Regent Philippe II. Duc d'Orléans, and married in 1720 to ...] - -[Footnote 382: Francis III. Duke of Modena (1698-1780).--T.] - -[Footnote 383: Henri François Xavier de Belsunce de Castel Moron -(1671-1755), a Jesuit father promoted to the See of Marseilles in 1709. -He behaved with the greatest heroism during the plague which devastated -the town in 1720 and 1721; and afterwards persistently refused -promotion to a more important see.--T.] - -[Footnote 384: After ravaging Asia and then Russia, Poland, Bohemia, -Galicia, Austria, the cholera, passing over Western Europe, swooped -down upon England. It declared itself on the 12th of February 1832 in -London, whence it was not to disappear until the first week in May. On -the 15th of March, it was noted at Calais. It struck its first victim -in Paris, in the Rue Mazarine, on the 26th of March. The epidemic -did not come to an end before the 30th of September, having lasted -189 days, during which the number of deaths from cholera amounted -to 18,406. The population of Paris at that time was only 645,698 -souls: the death-rate from cholera alone, therefore, was over 23 per -1,000.--B.] - -[Footnote 385: M. de Bondy's letter ran as follows: - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "I regret that I cannot accept, in the name of the City of Paris, - the 12,000 francs which you have done me the honour to send me. In - the origin of the funds which you offer, people would see, beneath - an apparent benevolence, a political combination against which the - entire population of Paris would protest by its refusal. - - "I am, etc. - - "The Comte de BONDY, - - "Prefect of the Seine."--B.] - -[Footnote 386: The _Constitutionnel_ announced that M. Berger, the -Mayor of the 2nd Ward, had proposed to the Princess' envoy, "a former -aide-de-camp of the Duc de Berry," to give the thousand francs offered -in the Duchess' name "to the widow of a combatant of July, the mother -of three children, to whom this relief would be very useful." The envoy -whom the _Constitutionnel_ thus transformed into an aide-de-camp of -the Duc de Berry was none other than the worthy Hyacinthe Pilorge, -Chateaubriand's secretary. Pilorge at once wrote to the _Quotidienne_: - - "PARIS, 20 _April_ 1832. - - "SIR, - - "M. de Chateaubriand, although suffering from illness, is at this - moment occupied in writing a general reply with reference to - the gift of Madame la Duchesse de Berry; this reply will appear - shortly. Meantime, I owe it to the interests of truth to say - that M. the Mayor of the 2nd Ward did not present the widow of a - combatant of July to me and did not propose that I should give - her the thousand francs; he merely refused them: that is all. - M. de Chateaubriand instructs me to add that if the _widow_ of - the _Constitutionnel_ will be good enough to call on him, he is - prepared to give her a share in the bounty of the _mother_ of the - Duc de Bordeaux. You see, Sir, that I have not the honour of having - been an aide-de-camp of M. le Duc de Berry and that I am only the - poor and faithful secretary of a man as poor and as faithful as - myself. - - "Pray accept, Sir, the assurance of my most distinguished regard, - - "HYACINTHE PILORGE."--B.] - -[Footnote 387: Chateaubriand has confused the two Cadets de Gassicourt, -father and son. Cadet de Gassicourt the Elder (1760-1831) wrote -short verses and published two little pamphlets directed against -Chateaubriand and Madame de Staël: _Saint-Géran, au la Nouvelle -langue française_ (1807) and the _Suite de Saint-Géran, ou Itinéraire -de Lutèce au Mont-Valérien_ (1811). His son, F. Cadet de Gassicourt -(1789-1861), was Mayor of the 4th Ward and the individual referred to -above.--B.] - -[Footnote 388: This proclamation of Cadet de Gassicourt's was posted -on the walls of Paris on the 4th of April 1832. Couched in hateful and -ridiculous terms, it practically called upon the populace to murder -the Carlists, "those ancient tyrants, who are capable of adopting -all methods and who do not blush to have a horrible plague as their -auxiliary!"--B.] - -[Footnote 389: This was a piece of ignorant clap-trap. As the daughter -of Francis I. King of the Two Sicilies, the Duchesse de Berry was -entitled to be styled "Royal Highness" in France or anywhere else.--T.] - -[Footnote 390: Referring to the traditional attitude of the -surgeon-apothecary.--T.] - -[Footnote 391: Monseigneur de Quélen. (_Cf._ Vol. IV, p. III, n. -I.)--T.] - -[Footnote 392: _Rom._ XIII. 10.--T.] - -[Footnote 393: _Cf._ MATT. v. 7.--T.] - -[Footnote 394: Maximilien Comte Lamarque (1770-1832) took a -distinguished part in all the campaigns of the Revolution and the -Empire. He sat as a deputy throughout the Restoration on the side of -the Opposition. General Lamarque died of cholera on the 1st of June -1832.--T.] - -[Footnote 395: General Lamarque's funeral took place on the 5th of -June 1832. The members of the secret societies, the schools, the -men condemned for political offenses, the artillery of the National -Guard, the foreign refugees had arranged to meet there. At a signal -given by means of a red flag, the Republicans disarmed fixed posts, -threw up barricades, pillaged the Arsenal and the shops, but were -unable to draw over the workmen or the National Guard. General Lobeau, -at the head of serious forces, swept the main thoroughfares and -confined the insurrection between the Marché des Innocents and the -Faubourg Saint-Antoine. By the morning of the 6th, it was reduced to -impotence and abandoned by its own leaders. The day was none the less -slaughterous, especially at the Cloître Saint-Merry and in the Rue des -Arris.--B.] - -[Footnote 396: By Royal Ordinance dated 6th June 1832.--B.] - -[Footnote 397: Cheops, or Khufu, King of Egypt of the 4th Dynasty.--T.] - -[Footnote 398: On the 24th of April 1832 the Duchesse de Berry left -Massa on board a Sardinian steam-boat, the _Carlo-Alberto_, which she -had chartered. She called at Nice, put out to sea again, and arrived -in Marseilles waters on the 28th. She was accompanied by the Maréchal -de Bourmont, the Comte de Kergorlay, the Vicomte, later Comte de -Saint-Priest, Messieurs Emmanuel de Brissac, de Mesnard, Alexandre -Sala, Édouard Led'huy, the Vicomte de Kergorlay, Charles and Adolphe -de Bourmont, Alexis Sabatier, Ferrari, supercargo, and Mademoiselle -Mathilde Lebeschu. She disembarked at night, in a heavy sea, at one of -the most dangerous points of the coast. Concealed in the house of a -game-keeper, M. Maurel, she awaited the result of the movement planned -in Marseilles. At four o'clock in the afternoon on the 30th, Messieurs -de Bonrecueil, de Bermond, de Lachaud and de Candoles, who had escaped -from the town, arrived carrying this note: - - "The movement has failed; you must leave France."--B.] - -[Footnote 399: M. Alban de Villeneuve-Bargemont. He had furnished -himself with a passport for himself, his wife and a man-servant: the -Princess played the part of Madame de Villeneuve. The servant was the -Comte, later Duc, de Lorges.--B.] - -[Footnote 400: After spending nine days, from the 7th to the 16th of -May, at the Château de Plassac, a few leagues from Blaye, with M. le -Marquis de Dampierre, the Duchesse de Berry arrived, on the 17th, at -the Château de la Preuille, near Montaigu, in the Vendée. The owner was -Colonel de Nacquart.--B.] - -[Footnote 401: Pierre Antoine Berryer (1790-1868), known as Berryer the -Younger, to distinguish him from his father, Pierre Nicolas Berryer -(1757-1841), himself a most distinguished advocate and the defender of -Moreau and Ney. Berryer the Younger, after M. Chateaubriand's death, -became the most eloquent supporter of the Legitimist Cause and leader -of the party in France.--T.] - -[Footnote 402: It was not at Quimper, but at Vannes, that Berryer -was to go to defend a case, that of Commandant Guillemot, accused of -Chouanism and brought before the Morbihan Assize Court on that count. -Commandant Guillemot's trial was fixed for the 12th of June.--B.] - -[Footnote 403: The text of Chateaubriand's note to the Duchesse de -Berry ran as follows: - - "The persons in whom an honourable confidence has been placed - cannot refrain from expressing their regret at the counsels - in consequence of which the present crisis has arisen. Those - counsels were given by men who were doubtless filled with zeal, - but who are acquainted with neither the actual state of things - nor the disposition of men's minds. It is a mistake to believe in - the possibility of a movement within Paris. One would not find - twelve hundred men, unmixed with police agents, who, for a few - crown-pieces, would make a noise in the streets and who would - then have to fight the National Guard and a faithful garrison. - One is mistaken about the Vendée as one was mistaken about the - South. That land of devotion and of sacrifices is afflicted with - a numerous army, aided by the population of the towns, which are - almost all anti-legitimist. A rising of peasants would hereafter - lead only to the looting of the country-side and the consolidation - of the present Government by an easy triumph. We think that, if - the mother of Henry V. were in France, she ought to leave without - delay, after ordering all her leaders to remain quiet. In this way, - instead of coming to organize civil war, she would have come to - command peace; she would have had the double glory of achieving an - act of great courage and preventing the shedding of French blood. - The wise friends of the Legitimacy, who were never warned of what - it was proposed to do, who were never consulted on the hazardous - steps which it was proposed to take, and who learnt the facts only - after they had been accomplished, throw the responsibility of those - facts upon those who advised them and carried them through. They - can neither merit honour nor incur blame in the chances of either - fortune."--B.] - -[Footnote 404: The Comte de Saint-Aignan.--B.] - -[Footnote 405: Berryer was to leave not only the town of Nantes, but -France, and to go to the waters of Aix-en-Savoie, according to the -following itinerary endorsed on his passport: Bourbon-Vendée, Luçon, -the Rochelle, Rochefort, Saintes, Angoulême, Clermont, Montbrison, the -Puy, Lyons and Pont-de-Beau voisin.--B.] - -[Footnote 406: The Comte de Montalivet was Minister of the -Interior.--B.] - - - - -BOOK II[407] - - -My arrest--I am transferred from my thieves' cell to Mademoiselle -Gisquet's dressing-room--Achille de Harlay--The examining -magistrate, M. Desmortiers--My life at M. Gisquet's--I am set at -liberty--Letter to M. the Minister of Justice and his reply--I -receive an offer of my peer's pension from Charles X.--My reply--Note -from Madame la Duchesse de Berry--Letter to Béranger--I leave -Paris--Diary from Paris to Lugano--M. Augustin Thierry--The -road over the Saint-Gotthard--The Valley of Schöllenen--The -Devil's Bridge--The Saint-Gotthard--Description of Lugano--The -mountains--Excursions round about Lucerne--Clara Wendel--The peasants' -prayer--M. Alexandre Dumas--Madame de Colbert--Letter to M. de -Béranger--Zurich--Constance--Madame Récamier--Madame la Duchesse de -Saint-Leu--Madame de Saint-Leu after reading M. de Chateaubriand's -last letter--After reading a note signed "Hortense"--Arenenberg--I -return to Geneva--Coppet--The tomb of Madame de Staël--A walk--Letter -to Prince Louis Napoleon--Letters to the Minister of Justice, to the -President of the Council, to Madame la Duchesse de Berry--I write my -memorial on the captivity of the Princess--Circular to the editors of -the newspapers--Extract from the _Mémoire sur la captivité de madame la -duchesse de Berry_--My trial--Popularity. - - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _end of July_ 1832. - -One of my old friends, Mr. Frisell[408], an Englishman, had just lost, -at Passy, his only daughter, aged seventeen years. I had gone, on the -19th of June, to the funeral of poor Eliza, whose portrait the pretty -Madame Delessert was completing when Death put the finishing touch to -it. Returning to my solitude in the Rue d'Enfer, I had hardly gone to -bed, full of the melancholy thoughts that arise from the association -of youth, beauty and the grave, when, at four o'clock in the morning, -on the 20th of June[409], Baptiste, who had long been in my service, -entered my room, came up to the bed and said: - -"Sir, the court-yard is full of men who have placed themselves at all -the doors, after compelling Desbrosses to open the carriage-entrance; -and there are three gentlemen asking to speak to you." - -As he finished these words, the "gentlemen" entered, and the chief of -them, very politely approaching my bed, told me that he had an order to -arrest me and take me to the Prefecture of Police. I asked him if the -sun had risen, as the law demanded, and if he was the bearer of a legal -warrant; he did not answer for the sun, but he showed me the following -judicial notice: - - "Copy - - "PREFECTURE OF POLICE - - "In the King's name. - - "We, counsellor of State, Prefect of Police[410], - - "In view of information in our possession, - - "By virtue of Article X. of the Code of Criminal Instruction, - - "Call upon the commissary or, if he be prevented, another to repair - to the house of M. le Vicomte de Chateaubriand, or elsewhere - if need be, he being accused of plotting against the safety of - the State, in order there to seek for and seize all papers, - correspondence and writings containing provocations to crimes and - offenses against the public peace or liable to examination, as well - as any seditious objects or arms which may be in his possession." - -While I perused the declaration of the great "plotting against the -safety of the State," of which I, poor I was accused, the captain of -the police-spies said to his subordinates: - -"Gentlemen, do your duty!" - -The duty of those gentlemen consisted in opening every cupboard, -fumbling in every pocket, seizing all papers, letters and documents, -reading the same, where possible, and discovering all arms, as appears -from the warrant aforesaid. - -[Sidenote: I am arrested.] - -After reading over the document, addressing the worthy leader of those -thieves of men and liberties: - -"You know, sir," I said, "that I do not recognise your Government and -that I protest against the violence which you are doing me; but, as I -am not the stronger and as I have no wish to come to blows with you, I -will get up and accompany you: pray take the trouble to be seated." - -I dressed and, without taking anything with me, said to the venerable -commissary: - -"Sir, I am at your orders: are we going on foot?" - -"No, sir, I took care to bring you a coach." - -"You are very good, sir; let us start; but allow me to go to take leave -of Madame de Chateaubriand. Will you permit me to enter my wife's room -alone?" - -"Sir, I will go with you to the door and wait for you." - -"Very well, sir," and we went down. - -Everywhere, on my road, I found sentries; a picket had been posted even -on the boulevard, outside a little gate which opens at the bottom of my -garden. I said to the leader: - -"Those precautions were very useless; I have not the smallest wish to -run away from you and escape." - -The gentlemen had turned my papers topsy-turvy, but taken nothing. -My big mameluke's sabre caught their attention; they whispered among -themselves and ended by leaving the weapon under a heap of dusty -folios, in the midst of which it lay beside a yellow-wood crucifix -which I had brought from the Holy Land. - -This dumb-show would almost have made me inclined to laugh, but I was -cruelly distressed for Madame de Chateaubriand. Every one who knows -her knows also the affection which she bears me, her ready alarm, the -quickness of her imagination and the pitiful state of her health: this -descent of the police and my removal might do her a terrible harm. -She had already heard some noise and I found her sitting up in bed, -listening quite terrified, as I entered her room at so unusual an hour. - -"Ah, dear God!" she exclaimed. "Are you ill? Ah, dear God! What is -happening? What is happening?" - -And she was seized with a fit of trembling. I kissed her, with -difficulty kept back my tears, and said: - -"It is nothing; they have sent for me to make a statement as a witness -in a matter that has to do with a newspaper trial. It will all be over -in a few hours and I shall come back to breakfast with you." - -The police-spy had remained standing at the open door; he saw this -scene and I said to him, as I returned to place myself in his hands: - -"You see, sir, the effect of your somewhat matutinal visit." - -I crossed the court-yard with my bumbailiffs; three of them got into -the coach with me, the rest of the squad accompanied the capture on -foot and we reached the yard of the Prefecture of Police unmolested. - -The gaoler who was to put me under lock and key was not up: they woke -him by tapping at his wicket and he went to prepare my lodging. While -he was busy with this work, I walked up and down the yard with the -Sieur Léotaud, who was guarding me. He chatted and said to me, in a -friendly way, for he was very civil: - -"Monsieur le vicomte, I have the great honour of remembering you; I -have often presented arms to you, when you were a minister and used to -come to the King's: I used to serve in the Body-guards. But what would -you have one do? One has a wife and children; one must live!" - -"You are right, Monsieur Léotaud; how much does this pay you?" - -"Ah, monsieur le vicomte, that depends on our captures .... The -perquisites are sometimes good and sometimes poor, just as in war." - -During my walk, I saw the spies return in different disguises like -maskers on Ash Wednesday coming down from the Courtille: they came to -report on the doings of the night. Some were dressed as vendors of -green-stuff, as street-hawkers, as charcoal-sellers, as market-porters, -as old-clothes'-men, as rag-men, as organ-grinders; others wore -wigs under which appeared hair of a different colour; others had -false beards, whiskers and mustachios; others dragged their legs -like respectable invalids and wore a dazzling red ribbon at their -button-holes. They disappeared into a small yard and soon returned in -other clothes, without mustachios, without beards, without whiskers, -without wigs, without baskets, without wooden legs, without arms worn -in a sling: all these birds of day-break of the police flew away and -vanished as the light increased. - -My lodging was ready, the gaoler came to tell us, and M. Léotaud, hat -in hand, led me to the door of my honest dwelling, saying, as he left -me in the hands of the gaoler and his assistants: - -"Monsieur le vicomte, I am your humble servant; I trust to have the -pleasure of meeting you again." - -[Sidenote: And taken to prison.] - -The entrance-door closed behind me. Preceded by the gaoler, who carried -his keys, and went before his two men, who followed me to prevent me -from turning tail, I went up a narrow stair-case till I came to the -second floor. A little dark passage led to a door: the turnkey opened -it; I followed him into my box. He asked me if I wanted anything: I -answered that I would have breakfast in an hour. He told me that there -were a coffee-house and a tavern which supplied prisoners with all that -they wanted for their money. I bagged my keeper to send me some tea -and, if possible, some hot and cold water and towels. I gave him twenty -francs in advance: he withdrew respectfully, promising to return. - -Left alone, I inspected my den: its length was a little greater than -its width, and its height was perhaps some seven or eight feet. The -walls, stained and bare, were scribbled over with the prose and verse -of my predecessors, and especially with the scrawl of a woman who -said much that was insulting about the _juste-milieu._[411] A pallet, -with dirty sheets, took up half of my cell; a plank, supported by two -brackets fastened against the wall, two feet above the pallet, served -as a cupboard for the prisoners' linen, boots and shoes: a chair and a -sordid article composed the rest of the furniture. - -My faithful keeper brought me the towels and jugs of water that I -had asked for; I besought him to take away from the bed the dirty -sheets and the yellow woollen blanket, to remove the pail, which was -choking me, and to sweep out my den after first sprinkling it All -the works of the _juste-milieu_ having been carried off, I shaved; I -poured the water from my jug over myself, I changed my linen: Madame -de Chateaubriand had sent me a little parcel; I set out all my things -on the plank over my bed as though I were in the cabin of a ship. -When this was done, my breakfast arrived, and I took my tea on my -well-washed table, which I covered with a clean napkin. Soon they came -to fetch the utensils of my matutinal feast and I was left alone, duly -locked in. - -My cell was lighted only by a grated window which opened very high up; -I placed my table under this window and climbed on the table to breathe -and to enjoy the light Through the bars of my thieves' cell, I saw only -a yard, or rather a dark and narrow passage, with gloomy buildings -with bats fluttering around them. I heard the clanking of keys and -chains, the noise of policemen and spies, the foot-steps of soldiers, -the movement of arms, the shouting, the laughter, the licentious songs -of the prisoners, my neighbours, the yells of Benoît[412], condemned -to death for the murder of his mother and his obscene friend. I caught -these words uttered by Benoît between his confused exclamations of fear -and repentance: - -"Ah, my mother, my poor mother!" - -I was seeing the under side of society, the sores of humanity, the -hideous machines by which this world is moved. - -I thank the men of letters, those great partisans of the liberty of -the press, who formerly had taken me for their leader and fought under -my orders: but for them, I should have left this life without knowing -what prison was, and I should have missed this ordeal. I recognise in -this delicate attention the genius, the goodness, the generosity, the -honour, the courage of the placed penmen. But, after all, what was this -short trial? Tasso spent years in a dungeon; and shall I complain? No; -I have not the mad pride to measure my vexation of a few hours with the -prolonged sacrifices of the immortal victims whose names history has -preserved. - -Moreover, I was not at all unhappy; the genius of my past grandeurs -and of my thirty-year-old "glory" did not appear to me; but my Muse -of former days, very poor, very unknown, came all radiant to kiss me -through my window: she was charmed with my lodging and quite inspired; -she found me again as she had seen me in my wretchedness in London, -when the first visions of René were wafting in my head. What were -we going to compose, the solitary of Mount Pindus and I? A song, in -imitation of that poor poet Lovelace[413], who, in the gaols of the -English Commons, sang King Charles I., his master? No; the voice of -a prisoner would have seemed to me to be of ill-omen for my little -King Henry V.: it is from the foot of the altar that hymns should be -addressed to misfortune. I did not therefore sing the crown fallen from -an innocent brow; I contented myself with telling of another crown, -white also, laid on a young girl's bier: I remembered Eliza Frisell, -whom I had seen buried the day before in the cemetery at Passy. I began -a few elegiac verses of a Latin epitaph; but suddenly I was in doubt -as to the quantity of a word: I quickly sprang from the table on which -I was perched, leaning against the bars of the window, and ran to the -door, on which I rained blows with my fist. The neighbouring dens rang -out; the gaoler came up in dismay, followed by two gendarmes; he opened -my wicket, and I cried, as Santeuil[414] would have done: - -"A _Gradus!_ A _Gradus!_" - -[Sidenote: My life in prison.] - -The gaoler opened his eyes, the gendarmes thought that I was revealing -the name of one of my accomplices; they were quite ready to handcuff -me; I explained; I gave them money to buy the book, and they went off -to ask the astonished police for a _Gradus._ - -While they were attending to my commission, I clambered up on my table -again and, changing my ideas on that tripod, set myself to compose -strophes on the death of Eliza; but, when I was in the midst of my -inspiration, at about three o'clock, behold tipstaffs entering my -cell and bodily apprehending me on the banks of Permessus: they took -me to the examining magistrate, who sat drawing out instruments in a -gloomy office, opposite my prison, on the other side of the yard. The -magistrate, a fatuous and pompous young limb of the law, put the usual -questions to me as to my surname, Christian names, age and place of -residence. I refused to answer or sign anything whatever, declining to -recognise the political authority of a government which was able to -point neither to the ancient hereditary right nor the election of the -people, since France had not been consulted and no national congress -summoned. I was taken back to my mouse-trap. - -At six o'clock, they brought me my dinner, and I continued to turn -and turn over in my head the lines of my stanzas, at the same time -improvising an air which I thought charming. Madame de Chateaubriand -sent me a mattress, a bolster, sheets, a cotton blanket, candles and -the books which I read at night. I arranged my room, and still humming: - - Il descend le cercueil et les roses sans taches[415], - -I found my ballad of the Young Girl and the Young Flower finished[416]. - -I began to undress; a sound of voices was heard; my door opened; and -M. the Prefect of Police, accompanied by M. Nay,[417] appeared. He -made a thousand apologies for the prolongation of my detention in -custody at the police-station; he informed me that my friends, the Duc -de Fitz-James and the Baron Hyde de Neuville, had been arrested like -myself and that the Prefect's Offices were so full that they did not -know where to put the persons who had to be examined by the justiciary. - -"But," he added, "you shall come to me, monsieur le vicomte, and choose -in my apartment whatever suits you best." - -I thanked him and begged him to leave me in my hole; I was already -quite charmed with it, like a monk with his cell. M. the Prefect -declined my entreaties and I had to forsake my nest I saw again the -rooms which I had not visited since the day when Bonaparte's Prefect -of Police had sent for me to invite me to leave Paris. M. Gisquet -and Madame Gisquet opened all their rooms for me, begging me to pick -the one which I would like to sleep in. M. Nay offered to give up -his to me. I was confused at so much politeness; I accepted a lonely -little room which looked out on the garden and which was used, I -think, by Mademoiselle Gisquet as a dressing-room; I was allowed to -have my servant with me: he slept on a mattress outside my door, at -the entrance of a narrow stair-case leading down to Madame Gisquet's -large apartment Another stair-case led to the garden; but this one -was forbidden me and, every evening, a sentry was placed at the foot -against the railing which separates the garden from the quay. Madame -Gisquet is the kindest woman in the world and Mademoiselle Gisquet is -very pretty and an exceedingly good musician. I have every reason to be -satisfied with the care shown me by my hosts; they seemed anxious to -atone for the twelve hours of my first confinement. - -[Sidenote: The Disquiet family.] - -The day after my installation in Mademoiselle Gisquet's dressing-room, -I rose quite pleased, as I remembered Anacreon's song on the toilet -of a young Greek girl; I put my head to the window: I perceived a -small, very green garden and a great wall concealed behind japanned -varnish; to the right, at the back of the garden, offices in which -one caught glimpses of agreeable police-clerks, like beautiful nymphs -amid lilac-bushes; to the left, the quay along the Seine, the river -and a corner of old Paris, in the parish of Saint-André-des-Arcs. The -sound of Mademoiselle Gisquet's piano reached me with the voices of the -police-spies calling for head-clerks to receive their reports. - -How everything changes in this world! That little romantic English -garden of the police was a ragged and queer-shaped strip of the French -garden, with its closely-trimmed elms, of the mansion of the First -President of Paris. This old garden, in 1580, occupied the site of that -block of houses which stops the view to the north and west, and it -stretched to the bank of the Seine. It was there that, after the day of -the barricades, the Duc de Guise came to visit Achille de Harlay: - - "He found the First President, who was walking in his garden, who - was so little astonished at his coming, that he did not so much - as deign to turn his head nor discontinue the walk which he had - commenced, which having finished, and being at the end of his - alley, he turned, and, in turning, he saw the Duc de Guise, who - came to him; then that grave magistrate, raising his voice, said to - him: - - "'It is a great pity that the varlet should drive out the master; - for the rest, my soul is God's, my heart the King's and my body is - in the hands of the wicked: let them do with it what they please.'" - - The Achille de Harlay who walks in that garden to-day is M. - Vidocq[418], and the Duc de Guise is Coco Lacour; we have changed - great men for great principles. How free we are now! How free was - I especially at my window, watching that good gendarme standing - sentry at the foot of my staircase and prepared to shoot me flying, - if I had sprouted wings! There was no nightingale in my garden, but - there were plenty of frisky, shameless, quarrelsome sparrows, which - are to be found everywhere, in the country, in town, in palaces, - in prisons, and which perch as gaily on the instrument of death - as on a rose-bush: to one that can fly away, what matter earthly - sufferings? - -Madame de Chateaubriand obtained permission to see me. She had spent -thirteen months, under the Terror, in the Rennes prisons, with my -two sisters Lucile and Julie; her imagination, remaining under the -impression, can no longer endure the idea of a prison. My poor wife had -a violent attack of hysterics, on entering the Prefect's Offices, and -this was an obligation the more which I owed to the _juste-milieu._ On -the second day of my detention, the examining magistrate, the Sieur -Desmortiers[419], arrived, accompanied by his clerk. - -M. Guizot had obtained the appointment as attorney-general to the Royal -Court at Rennes of one M. Hello[420], a writer and, consequently, an -envious and irritable man, like all who spoil paper in a triumphing -party. - -M. Guizot's creature, finding my name and those of M. le Duc de -Fitz-James and M. Hyde de Neuville mixed up in the proceedings that -were being conducted against M. Berryer at Nantes, wrote to the -Minister of Justice that, if he were the master, he would not fail to -have us arrested and included in the trial, both as accomplices and -as witnesses for the prosecution. M. de Montalivet had thought it his -duty to yield to the advice of M. Hello: there was a time when M. de -Montalivet used to come to me to ask my opinion and my ideas relating -to the elections and the liberty of the press. The Restoration, -which made M. de Montalivet a peer, was unable to make him a man of -intelligence, and that is no doubt why it makes him "feel sick" to-day. - -[Sidenote: The examining magistrate.] - -So M. Desmortiers, the examining magistrate, entered my room; a mawkish -air was spread like a layer of honey over a contracted and violent face: - - Je m'appelle Loyal, natif de Normandie, - Et suis huissier à verge, en dépit de l'envie[421]. - -M. Desmortiers formerly belonged to the Congregation[422]: a great -communicant, a great Legitimist, a great partisan of the Ordinances, -since become a furious juste-milieu man. I begged this animal to take a -seat with all the politeness of the Old Order; I drew up an arm-chair -for him; I put a little table, a pen and ink before his clerk; I sat -down opposite M. Desmortiers and, in a mild voice, he read out to me -the little accusations which, duly proved, would have tenderly got my -head cut off: after which, he passed to his examination. - -I declared again that, not recognising the existing political order, -I had no answers to make; that I should sign nothing; that all these -judicial proceedings were superfluous; that they might spare themselves -the trouble and pass on; that, for the rest, I should always be charmed -to have the honour of receiving M. Desmortiers. - -I saw that this manner of acting was throwing the sainted man into a -fury; that, having once shared my opinions, he thought my conduct a -satire on his own. With this resentment was mingled the pride of a -magistrate who believed himself wounded in his functions. He tried to -argue with me; I was quite unable to make him grasp the difference -that exists between the social order and the political order of things. -I submitted, I told him, to the former, because it belongs to natural -law: I obeyed the civil, military and financial laws, the laws of -police and of public order; but I owed obedience to the political -law only in so far as that law emanated from the royal authority -consecrated by the ages or sprang from the sovereignty of the people. -I was not silly enough, or false enough to believe that the people had -been convoked, consulted, and that the established political order -was the result of a national decree. If they prosecuted me for theft, -murder, arson, or other social crimes or misdemeanours, I should reply -to justice; but, when they instituted a political trial against me, I -had nothing to reply to an authority which had no legal power and, in -consequence, nothing to ask me. - -A fortnight passed in this way. M. Desmortiers, whose fury I had heard -of (a fury which he endeavoured to communicate to the judges), used to -approach me with his sugary air, saying: - -"Won't you tell me your illustrious name?" - -In the course of one of the examinations, he read me a letter from -Charles X. to the Duc de Fitz-James, containing a phrase complimentary -to myself. - -"Well, sir," I said, "what is the meaning of that letter? It is a -matter of common knowledge that I have remained faithful to my old -King, that I have not taken the oath to Philip. As for the rest, I am -deeply touched by my exiled Sovereign's letter. In the time of his -prosperity, he never said anything of that kind to me, and this phrase -repays me for all my services." - - -Madame Récamier, to whom so many prisoners have owed consolation and -deliverance, had herself brought to my new retreat. M. de Béranger came -down from Passy to tell me in song, under the reign of his friends, -what used to happen in the gaols in the time of my friends: he was no -longer able to fling the Restoration in my face. My fat old friend -M. Bertin came to administer the ministerial sacraments to me; an -enthusiastic woman came hurrying from Beauvais in order to "admire" my -glory; M. Villemain performed an act of courage; M. Dubois[423], M. -Ampère[424], M. Lenormant[425], my generous and learned young friends, -did not forget me; the Republicans' lawyer, M. Ch. Ledru[426], never -left me: in the hope of a trial, he magnified the affair, and he would -have given up all his fees for the honour of defending me. - -[Sidenote: Visits from my friends.] - -M. Gisquet, as I have told you, had offered me the run of his rooms, -but I did not abuse his permission. Only, one evening I went down to -hear Mademoiselle Gisquet play the piano. I sat between M. Gisquet and -his wife. M. Gisquet scolded his daughter and maintained that she had -executed her sonata less well than usual. This little concert which -my host offered me in the bosom of his family, with myself for sole -audience, was exceedingly singular. While the most pastoral scene was -taking place in the intimacy of the home, policemen were bringing me -colleagues from the outside with blows of musket-butts and loaded -sticks; and yet what peace and harmony reigned in the very heart of the -police! - -I had the good fortune to obtain for M. Ch. Philipon[427] the grant of -a favour exactly similar to that which I enjoyed, the favour of the -gaol: sentenced, because of his talent, to some months' imprisonment, -he spent them in an asylum at Chaillot; he was called to Paris as a -witness in a law-suit, and availed himself of the opportunity not to -return to his lodging; but he repented of it: in the place where he lay -concealed, he was no longer able to see, in comfort, a child whom he -loved. Regretting his prison and not knowing how to enter it again, he -wrote me the following letter to ask me to arrange this matter with my -host: - - "SIR, - - "You are a prisoner and you would understand me even if you were - not Chateaubriand.... I also am a prisoner, a voluntary prisoner - since the proclamation of martial law, at the house of a friend, - a poor artist like myself. I wanted to escape from the justice of - the courts-martial with which I was threatened by the seizure of my - newspaper on the 9th of this month. But, in order to hide myself, I - have had to deprive myself of the kisses of a child whom I idolize, - an adopted daughter, five years old, my happiness and my joy. This - privation is a torture which I could not endure any longer: it is - death to me! I am going to give myself up and they will put me into - Sainte-Pélagie, where I shall see my poor child only rarely, if - they allow it at all, and at fixed hours, where I shall tremble for - her health and where I shall die of anxiety, if I do not see her - every day. - - "I appeal to you, sir, to you a Legitimist I a whole-hearted - Republican, to you a grave and parliamentary man I a caricaturist - and a partisan of the bitterest political personalities, to you - to whom I am quite unknown and who are a prisoner like myself, to - persuade M. the Prefect of Police to allow me to return to the - asylum to which I had been transferred. I pledge my word of honour - to appear before justice whenever I shall be called upon to do so - and I undertake not to flee _from any tribunal whatever_ if they - will leave me with my poor child. - - "You will believe me, sir, when I speak of honour and when I swear - not to run away, and I am persuaded that you will plead for me, - even though profound politicians may see in this a new proof of - alliance between the Legitimists and the Republicans, all men whose - opinions agree so well. - - "If to such a guest, to such an advocate, they refused what I ask, - I should know that I have nothing more to hope for and I should see - myself parted for _nine months_ from my poor Emma. - - "In any case, sir, whatever may be the result of your generous - intervention, my gratitude will be none the less eternal, for I - shall never doubt the urgent solicitations which your heart will - suggest to you. - - "Accept, sir, the expression of the sincerest admiration and - believe me - - "Your most humble and most devoted servant, - - "CH. PHILIPON, "Proprietor of the _Caricature_ (newspaper), - sentenced to thirteen months' imprisonment." - - "PARIS, 21 _June_ 1832. - -[Sidenote: Letters from Philipon.] - -I obtained the favour which M. Philipon asked: he thanked me in a note -which proves, not the greatness of the service, which was limited to -having my client guarded at Chaillot by a gendarme, but that secret joy -of the passions which can be well understood only by those who have -really felt it: - - "SIR, - - "I am leaving for Chaillot with my dear child. - - "I wanted to thank you, but I feel that words are too cold to - express the gratitude which I feel; I was right to think, sir, that - your heart would suggest eloquent entreaties to you. I am sure that - I am not deceived when I believe that it will tell you that I am - not ungrateful and that it will depict to you better than I could - the confusion of happiness into which your kindness has thrown me. - - "Accept, sir, I beg, my most sincere thanks and deign to believe me - the most affectionate of your servants. - - "CHARLES PHILIPON." - -To this singular mark of my credit, I will add this strange proof of -my "fame:" a young Clerk[428] in M. Gisquet's offices addressed to me -some very beautiful verses[429], which were handed to me by M. Gisquet -himself; for, after all, we must be fair: if a government of literary -men attacked me ignobly, the Muses defended me nobly; M. Villemain -pronounced in my favour courageously, and, in the _Journal des Débats_ -itself, my fat friend Bertin protested, under his own signature, -against my arrest. - -Mademoiselle Noemi, which I presume must be Mademoiselle Gisquet's -Christian name, used often to walk alone in the little garden, with a -book in her hand. She would cast a stealthy glance towards my window. -How sweet it would have been to be released from my irons, like -Cervantes, by my master's daughter! While I was assuming a romantic -air, handsome young M. Nay came to dispel my dream. I saw him talking -with Mademoiselle Gisquet with that air which does not deceive us -creators of sylphs. I tumbled down from my clouds, shut my window and -abandoned the idea of growing my mustachios, bleached by the wind of -adversity. - -After fifteen days, an order of non-suit restored me to liberty, on -the 30th of June, to the great happiness of Madame de Chateaubriand, -who would have died, I believe, if my detention had been prolonged. -She came to fetch me in a coach; I filled it with my little luggage -as nimbly as I had formerly left the ministry, and I returned to the -Rue d'Enfer with "that inexpressible finish which misfortune gives to -virtue." - -If history were to hand M. Gisquet down to posterity, perhaps he would -arrive there in a rather bad plight; I want what I have just written to -serve him here as a counter-poise to a hostile renown. I have nothing -but praise for his attentions and his obligingness; doubtless, if I had -been condemned, he would not have allowed me to escape; but, in short, -he and his family treated me with a decency, a good taste, a feeling -for my position, for what I was and for what I had been, which were -not displayed by a literary Administration and by men of law who were -the more brutal inasmuch as they were acting against the weak and had -nothing to fear. - -Of all the governments that have arisen in France during the last forty -years, Philip's is the only one that threw me into the highwayman's -cell; it laid its hand upon my head, upon my head respected even by an -incensed conqueror: Napoleon raised his arm, but did not strike me. And -why this anger? I will tell you: I dare to raise a protest in favour -of right against might in a country in which I have asked for liberty -under the Empire, for glory under the Restoration; in a country where, -solitary that I am, I reckon not by brothers, sisters, children, joys, -pleasures, but by tombstones. The last political changes have separated -me from the rest of my friends: some have gone towards fortune and, -all battered with their dishonour, pass by my poverty; others have -abandoned their homes exposed to insults. The generations so greatly -smitten with independence have sold themselves: from those generations, -common in their conduct, intolerable in their pride, mediocre or mad -in their writings, I expect nothing but scorn and I return it to them; -they have not the wherewithal to understand me: they know nothing of -loyalty to the sworn oath, love for generous institutions, respect for -one's own opinions, contempt for success and gold, the felicity of -sacrifice, the worship of what is weak and unhappy. - -After the order of non-suit, one duty remained to me to perform. The -offense with which I had been charged was connected with that for which -M. Berryer was awaiting trial at Nantes. I was unable to explain my -position to the examining magistrate, because I did not recognise the -competency of the tribunal. To repair the harm which my silence might -have done to M. Berryer, I wrote to M. the Minister of Justice[430] the -letter which you will find below and which I made public through the -medium of the newspapers: - -[Sidenote: Letter to M. Barthe.] - - "PARIS, 3 _July_ 1832. - - "MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE DE LA JUSTICE, - - "Permit me to perform with reference to yourself, in the interest - of a man too long deprived of liberty, a duty prompted by - conscience and honour. - - "M. Berryer the Younger, when questioned by the examining - magistrate at Nantes, on the 18th of last month, replied that 'he - had seen Madame la Duchesse de Berry; that he had, with the respect - due to her rank, her courage and her misfortunes, submitted to her - his personal opinion and that of honourable friends on the actual - situation of France and on the consequences of Her Royal Highness' - presence in the West.' - - "M. Berryer, developing this wide subject with his accustomed - talent, summed it up thus: - - "'No foreign or civil war, supposing it to be crowned with success, - can either subdue or rally opinions.' - - "Questioned as to the honourable friends of whom he had spoken, M. - Berryer nobly said that, 'grave men having manifested to him an - opinion on the present circumstances agreeing with his own, he had - thought that he ought to strengthen his opinion with the authority - of theirs; but that he would not give their names without their - consent.' - - "I, monsieur le ministre de la justice, am one of those men - consulted by M. Berryer. Not only did I approve of his opinion, - but I drew up a note in the sense of that very opinion. It was to - be handed to Madame la Duchesse de Berry in the event that that - Princess should really be on French soil, which I did not believe. - As this first note was not signed, I wrote a second, which I signed - and in which I still more earnestly entreated the intrepid mother - of the grandson of Henry IV. to leave a country which has been torn - by so many discords. - - "This declaration was due from me to M. Berryer. The real culprit, - if culprit there be, is I. This declaration will serve, I hope, for - the prompt deliverance of the prisoner of Nantes; it will allow - the guilt to rest upon my head alone of a fact, no doubt very - innocent, of which, however, in the final result, I accept all the - consequences. - - "I have the honour to be, etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND. "RUE D'ENFER SAINT MICHEL, No. 84. - - - "I wrote on the 9th of last month to M. le Comte de Montalivet - on a matter relating to M. Berryer, but M. the Minister of the - Interior did not think it incumbent upon him even to inform me that - he had received my letter: as it is very important to me to know - what becomes of that which I have the honour to write to-day to M. - the Minister of Justice, I shall be infinitely obliged to him if - he will instruct his office to send me an acknowledgment of its - receipt. - - "CH." - -The reply of M. the Minister of Justice was not long in coming; here it -is: - - "PARIS, 3 _July._ - - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "As the letter which you have addressed to me contains information - which may enlighten justice, I am forwarding it without delay - to the King's Attorney to the Nantes Court[431], so that it may - be added to the documents in the proceedings pending against M. - Berryer. - - "I am, with respect, etc., - - "BARTHE, "Keeper of the Seals." - -By this reply, M. Barthe graciously reserved to himself the right to -institute a new prosecution against me. I remember the proud disdain -of the great men of the juste-milieu when I allowed a glimpse to -pass of the possibility of any violence exercised upon my person or -my writings. What! Good Heavens! Why deck myself with an imaginary -danger? Who troubled about my opinion? Who thought of touching a hair -of my head? Trusty and well-beloved friends of the stew-pan, dauntless -heroes of peace at any price, you have nevertheless had your Terror -of the counting-house and the police, your martial law in Paris, your -thousand press trials, your military commissions to condemn the author -of the Cancans[432] to death; you nevertheless flung me into your -gaols: the punishment applicable to my "crime" was nothing less than -capital punishment With what pleasure would I yield you my head, if, -thrown into the scales of justice, it made them lean on the side of the -honour, the glory and the liberty of my country! - -[Sidenote: I prepare to depart.] - -I was more than ever determined to resume my exile; Madame de -Chateaubriand, terrified at my adventure, would already have wished -to be very far away; the only question was to seek the spot where we -should pitch our tents. The great difficulty was to find some money -with which to live on foreign soil and pay a debt which was drawing -down upon me threats of law-suits and distress. - -The first year of an embassy always ruins the ambassador: that is what -happened to me in Rome. I resigned on the succession of the Polignac -Ministry, and I went away adding to my ordinary afflictions sixty -thousand francs of borrowed money. I had applied to all the royalist -purses; none was opened to me: I was advised to ask Laffitte. M. -Laffitte advanced me ten thousand francs, which I at once gave to -the more pressing creditors. I recovered the sum on the proceeds of -my pamphlets and repaid it to him with gratitude; but there still -remained some thirty thousand francs to be paid, over and above my -old debts, for I have some that have grown a beard, so aged are they: -unfortunately that beard is a golden beard which has to be cut upon my -chin once a year. - -M. le Duc de Lévis, on his return from a journey to Scotland, had told -me, on behalf of Charles X., that that Prince wished to continue to pay -me my peer's pension: I thought it my duty to refuse the offer. The -Duc de Lévis returned to the charge when he saw me, on leaving prison, -in the most cruel difficulties, finding nothing left of my house and -garden in the Rue d'Enfer, and harassed by a swarm of creditors. I had -already sold my plate. The Duc de Lévis brought me twenty thousand -francs, nobly saying that these were not the two years' peerage pension -which the King admitted owing me and that my debts in Rome were simply -a debt of the Crown. This sum set me free; I accepted it as a temporary -loan and wrote the King the following letter[433]: - - "SIRE, - - "In the midst of the calamities with which it has pleased God to - hallow your life, you have not forgotten those who suffer at the - foot of the throne of St. Louis. You deigned to send word to me, - some months ago, of your generous intention to continue the peer's - pension which I renounced when refusing to take the oath to the - unlawful power; I thought that Your Majesty had servants poorer - than I and worthier of your bounty. But the last writings which I - have published have cost me damages and brought prosecutions down - upon me; I have in vain tried to sell the little that I possess. I - find myself obliged to accept, not the annual pension which Your - Majesty proposed to allow me out of your royal poverty, but a - provisional succour to free me from the difficulties which prevent - me from reaching a refuge where I can live by my work. Sire, I must - needs be very unhappy to make myself a burden, even for a moment, - on a crown which I have supported with all my efforts and which I - shall continue to serve for the rest of my life. - - "I am, with the most profound respect, etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -My nephew, the Comte Louis de Chateaubriand, on his side lent me a -similar sum of twenty thousand francs. Thus rid of material obstacles, -I made my preparations for my second departure. But a reason based upon -honour stopped me: Madame la Duchesse de Berry was on French soil; what -would become of her, and was I not bound to remain on the spot where -her dangers might summon me? A note from the Princess, which reached me -from the depths of the Vendée, set me completely free: - -[Sidenote: Letter from Madame.] - - "I was going to write to you, monsieur le vicomte, touching this - 'Provisional Government' which I thought it my duty to form, when - I did not know when nor even if I might return to France, and of - which I am informed that you consented to form part. It did not - exist in fact, because it never met, and some of the members came - to an understanding only to communicate to me an opinion which I - was not able to follow. I do not take it in the least unkindly of - them. You judged in accordance with the report on my position and - that of the country made to you by those who had reason to know - better than I the effects of a _fatal influence_ in which I was - never willing to believe, and I am sure that, if M. de Ch. had been - with me, his noble and generous heart would also have refused to do - so. I rely therefore none the less on the good individual services - and even the counsels of the persons who formed part of the - Provisional Government and whose choice had been dictated to me by - their enlightened zeal and their devotion to the Legitimacy in the - person of Henry V. I see that it is your intention to leave France - again: I should regret this greatly, if I could have you near me; - but you have weapons which strike at a distance and I hope that you - will not cease to fight for Henry V. - - "Believe, monsieur le vicomte, in all my esteem and friendship. - - "M. C. R." - -With this note, Madame dispensed with my services and did not yield to -the advice which I had ventured to give her in the note of which M. -Berryer was the bearer; she even seemed a little hurt by it, although -she admitted that a _fatal influence_ had led her astray. - -Thus restored to my liberty and released from all engagements, on this -day, 7 August, having nothing left to do but go away, I wrote my -letter to M. de Béranger, who had visited me in prison: - - TO M. DE BÉRANGER - - "PARIS, 7 August 1832. - - "I wanted, monsieur, to go to say good-bye to you and thank you for - your remembrance; time failed me and I was obliged to start without - having the pleasure of seeing you and embracing you. I am ignorant - as to my future: is there a clear future for anybody to-day? We are - living not in a time of revolution, but of social transformation: - now transformations are realized slowly, and the generations which - find themselves placed in the period of metamorphosis perish - obscure and miserable. If Europe, as might well be the case, - has reached the age of decrepitude, it is another matter: it - will produce nothing and will die out in an impotent anarchy of - passions, morals and doctrines. In that event, monsieur, you will - have sung over a tomb. - - "I have fulfilled all my engagements, monsieur: I returned at - the sound of your voice; I have defended what I came to defend; - I have undergone the cholera; I am returning to the mountain. Do - not break your lyre, as you threaten to do; I owe to it one of my - most glorious titles to the memory of mankind. Continue to make - France smile and weep: for it so happens, by a secret known to you - alone, that, in your popular songs, the words are gay and the music - plaintive. - - "I recommend myself to your friendship and your muse. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -I am to set out to-morrow. Madame de Chateaubriand will meet me at -Lucerne. - -[Sidenote: I leave for Switzerland.] - -BASLE, 12 _August_ 1832. - -Many men die without losing sight of their steeple: I cannot meet with -the steeple which is to see me die. In quest of a refuge in which to -finish my Memoirs, I am taking the road anew, dragging at my heels an -enormous luggage of papers, diplomatic correspondence, confidential -notes, letters from ministers and kings; it is history riding pillion -with romance. - -At Vesoul, I saw M. Augustin Thierry, living with his brother the -prefect[434] When, formerly, in Paris, he sent me his _Histoire de la -conquête des Normands_, I went to thank him. I found a young man in a -room with half-closed shutters; he was almost blind; he tried to rise -to receive me, but his legs no longer carried him and he fell into my -arms. He blushed when I expressed to him my sincere admiration; it -was then that he replied that his work was mine and that it was when -reading the Battle of the Franks in the _Martyrs_ that he had conceived -a new idea of writing history[435]. When I took leave of him, he then -made an effort to follow me and dragged himself to the door, leaning -against the wall: I went out quite affected by so much talent and so -much misfortune. - -At Vesoul, after a long banishment, appeared Charles X.[436], now -setting sail for the new exile which will be for him the last. - -I passed the frontier without accident with all my rubbish: let us -see if, on the other side of the Alps, I may not enjoy the liberty of -Switzerland and the sun of Italy, the needs of my opinions and my years. - -At the entrance to Basle, I met an old Swiss, a custom-house officer; -he made me undergo "a liddle quarandine of a quarder of an hour;" my -luggage was taken down into a cellar; they set in movement something -or other which made the same sound as a stocking-frame; there rose a -vinegary fume; and, thus purified from the contagion of France, I was -released by my good Swiss. - -I have said, in the _Itinéraire_, speaking of the storks of Athens: - - "From the height of their nests, which revolutions cannot reach, - they have seen the race of mortals change beneath them: while - impious generations have risen on the tombs of the religious - generations, the young stork has always nourished its old father." - -I find again at Basle the storks nest which I left there six years -ago; but the hospital in whose roof the stork of Basle has built its -nest is not the Parthenon, the sun of the Rhine is not the sun of -the Cephissus, the Council is not the Areopagus, Erasmus[437] is not -Pericles; nevertheless, the Rhine, the Black Forest, Roman and Germanic -Basle are something. Louis XIV. extended France to the gates of that -city and three hostile monarchs[438] passed through it, in 1813, to -come to sleep in the bed of Louis the Great, defended by Napoleon in -vain. Let us go to see Holbein's[439] _Dance of Death_; it will tell us -a tale of human vanities. - -The _Dance of Death_ (always presuming that it was not even then a real -painting) took place in Paris, in 1424, in the Cimetière des Innocents: -it came to us from England. The performance of this spectacle was -recorded in pictures: these were exhibited in the cemeteries of -Dresden, Lübeck, Minden, of the Chaise-Dieu, Strasburg and Blois in -France; and Holbein's pencil immortalized these joys of the tomb at -Basle. - -These dances of death of the great artist have in their turn been -carried away by death, which does not spare its own follies: there -remain at Basle, of Holbein's labour, only six pieces sawn from the -stones of the cloisters and lodged in the library of the University. A -coloured drawing has preserved the harmony of the work. - -Those grotesque figures on a terrible back-ground partake of the genius -of Shakespeare, a genius blended of comedy and tragedy. The persons -bear a lively expression: rich and poor, old and young, men and women, -popes, cardinals, priests, emperors, kings, queens, princes, dukes, -nobles, magistrates, warriors, all struggle and argue with Death; not -one accepts it with a good grace. - -Death is infinitely various, but always clownish, like life, which is -only a serious piece of buffoonery. This Death of the satirical painter -goes one leg short, like the wooden-legged beggar whom it accosts; it -plays the mandoline behind its back-bone, like the musician whom it -drags away. It is not always bald: tufts of fair, brown, or grey hair -flutter on the skeleton's neck and make it more frightful by making it -nearly alive. In one of the cartoons, Death has almost hair, it is -almost young, like a young man, and it carries off a young girl who -is looking at herself in a glass. Death has in its wallet the tricks -of a crafty schoolboy: with a pair of scissors, it cuts the string of -a dog which leads a blind man, and the blind man is at two steps from -an open pit; elsewhere, Death, in a short mantle, accosts one of its -victims with the gestures of a Pasquin. Holbein may have taken the idea -of this formidable gaiety in nature itself: enter a reliquary, all the -death's-heads seem to grin, because they uncover their teeth; that is -laughter. What are they grinning at? At death or at life? - -[Sidenote: Basle.] - -I liked the cathedral at Basle and especially the ancient cloisters. As -I passed through the latter, filled with funeral inscriptions, I read -the names of some Reformers. Protestantism chooses its place and takes -its time badly when it sets itself in Catholic monuments; one sees less -what it has reformed than what it has destroyed. Those dry pedants -who thought that they would re-make a primitive Christianity within -an old Christianity which had created society for fifteen centuries -were unable to raise a single monument. To what would that monument -have responded? What connection would it have had with the manners of -the day? Men were not made like Luther[440] and Calvin in the time of -Luther and Calvin; they were made like Leo X.[441] with the genius of -Raphael, or like St. Louis with the Gothic genius; the few believed in -nothing, the many believed in everything. And so Protestantism has as -its temples only school-rooms, or as churches only the cathedrals which -it has devastated: it has there established its nudity. Jesus Christ -and His apostles, no doubt, did tot resemble the Greeks and Romans of -their age, but they did not come to _reform_ an old creed; they came to -_establish_ a new religion, to replace the gods by a God. - - -LUCERNE, 14 _August_ 1832. - -The road from Basle to Lucerne through Aargau presents a series of -valleys, some of which resemble the Valley of Argelès, minus the -Spanish sky of the Pyrenees. At Lucerne, the mountains, differently -grouped, shelved, profiled, coloured, end, as they withdraw one behind -the other and sink away into the perspective, in the snows bordering on -the Saint-Gotthard. If one suppressed the Righi and Mount Pilatus and -kept only the hills, with their surfaces of grass and rabbit-warrens, -which run down directly to the Lake of the Four Cantons, one would -reproduce an Italian lake. - -The arcades of the cloister of the cemetery surrounding the cathedral -are like boxes from which this spectacle can be enjoyed. The monuments -of this cemetery have for standards small iron crosses bearing a gilt -Christ. In the rays of the sun, these are so many points of light -escaping from the tombs; from space to space, there are holy-water -fonts in which soaks a twig with which one can bless mourned ashes. I -wept none there in particular, but I sprinkled the lustral dew upon -the silent community of the Christians and unfortunates, my brothers. -One epitaph said to me, "_Hodie mihi, cras tibi_;" another, "_Fuit -homo_;" a third, "_Siste, viator; abi, viator._" And I await to-morrow; -and I shall have been a man; and a traveller I stop; and a traveller -I go away. Leaning against one of the arcades of the cloister, I long -contemplated the theatre of the adventures of William Tell and his -companions: the theatre of Helvetian liberty so well sung and described -by Schiller and Johann von Müller[442]. My eyes sought in the vast -picture for the presence of the most illustrious dead and my feet trod -on the most unknown ashes. - -When I saw the Alps again, four or five years ago, I asked myself what -I had come to seek there: what, then, shall I say to-day? What shall I -say to-morrow and again tomorrow? Woe to me who cannot grow old and who -am always growing old! - - -LUCERNE, 15 _August_ 1832. - -The Capuchins went this morning, according to the custom on the Feast -of the Assumption, to bless the mountains. Those monks profess the -religion under whose protection Swiss independence was born: that -independence still endures. What will become of our modern liberty, all -accursed by the blessing of the philosophers and the hangmen? It is not -forty years old and it has been sold and sold again, bishoped and dealt -in at every street-corner. There is more liberty in the frock of a -Capuchin blessing the Alps than in all the frippery of the legislators -of the Republic, the Empire, the Restoration and the Usurpation of July. - -[Sidenote: Lucerne.] - -A French traveller in Switzerland is touched and saddened; our history, -for the misfortune of those regions, is too closely connected with -their history; the blood of Helvetia has been shed for us and by us; we -wasted the hut of William Tell with fire and sword; we engaged in our -civil wars the peasant warrior who guarded the throne of our kings. The -genius of Thorwaldsen has fixed the memory of the 10th of August at the -gate of Lucerne. The Helvetian Lion lies dying, pierced by an arrow, -and covering with its drooping head and one of its paws the escutcheon -of France, of which we see only one of the fleurs-de-lys. The chapel -consecrated to the victims, the clump of green trees which accompanies -the bas-relief sculptured in the rock, the soldier escaped from the -massacre of the 10th of August who shows the monument to strangers, the -note from Louis XVI. ordering the Swiss to lay down their arms, the -frontal presented by Madame la Dauphine to the expiatory chapel, upon -which that perfect model of sorrow has embroidered the image of the -immolated Lamb of God!... By what counsel does Providence, after the -last fall of the throne of the Bourbons, send me to seek a refuge near -this monument? At least, I can look upon it without blushing, I can lay -my feeble but not perjured hand upon the shield of France, even as the -lion covers it with its mighty claws, now distended in death. - -Well, a member of the Diet has proposed to destroy this monument! -What does Switzerland demand? Liberty? She has enjoyed it for four -centuries. Equality? She has it. The republic? It is her form of -government. The lightening of taxes? She pays hardly any. What does she -want then? She wants to change, it is the law of beings. When a people, -transformed by time, is no longer able to remain what it has been, the -first symptom of its malady is a hatred of the past and of the virtues -of its fathers. - -I returned from the monument to the 10th of August by the great covered -bridge, a kind of wooden gallery hung over the lake. Two hundred and -thirty-eight triangular pictures, set between the rafters of the roof, -adorn this gallery. They are popular annals in which the Swiss, as he -passed, used to learn the story of his religion and his liberty. - -I have seen the tame moor-fowl; I prefer the wild moor-fowl of the pond -at Combourg. - -In the town, I was struck by the sound of a choir of voices; it issued -from a Lady-chapel. I entered that chapel and thought myself carried -back to the days of my childhood. In front of four devoutly-decked -altars, women were reciting the rosary and the litanies with the -priest. It was like the evening-prayer by the sea-shore in my poor -Brittany, and I was on the shore of the Lake of Lucerne! Thus did a man -knot together the two ends of my life, the better to make me feel all -that had been lost in the chain of my years. - - -ON THE LAKE OF LUCERNE, 16 _August_ 1832, _noon._ - -Alps, lower your crests, I am no longer worthy of you: young, I should -be solitary; old, I am merely isolated. I would certainly depict -nature again; but for whom? Who would care for my pictures? What arms, -other than those of time, would, in reward, embrace my "genius," with -its stripped forehead? Who would repeat my songs? What Muse should I -inspire with any? Under the vault of my years, as under that of the -snowy heights which surround me, no ray of sun will come to warm me. -What a pity to drag across those heights tired footsteps which no one -would care to follow! What a misfortune not to find myself free to -wander anew until at the end of my life! - -_Two o'clock._ - -My bark has stopped at the landing-stage of a house on the right bank -of the lake, before entering the Bay of Uri. I climbed up to the -orchard of that inn and came to sit under two walnut-trees which give -shelter to a stable. Before me, a little to the right, on the opposite -bank of the lake, the village of Schwyz unfolds itself among orchards -and the inclined planes of those pastures called "Alps" in this part; -it is surmounted by a rock broken into a semi-circle, the two points of -which, the _Mythen_ and the _Haken_, the Mitre and the Hook, owe their -names to their shapes. This horned capital rests upon turfy slopes, as -the crown of the rude Helvetian independence rests on the head of a -nation of shepherds. The silence around me is interrupted only by the -tinkling of the bells of two heifers left in the neighbouring stable; -they seem to ring out to me the glory of the pastoral liberty which -Schwyz has given, with its name, to a whole people: a little canton -in the neighbourhood of Naples, called "Italia," has in the same way, -but with less sacred rights, communicated its name to the land of the -Romans. - -_Three o'clock._ - -We are starting; we are entering the Bay or Lake of Uri. The mountains -grow taller and darker. There is the grass-grown ridge of the Grütli -and the three fountains at which Fürst, Arnold von Melchthal and -Stauffacher[443] swore to deliver their country; there, at the foot -of the Achsenberg, is the chapel that marks the place at which Tell, -jumping from Gessler's[444] bark, pushed it back with his foot to the -midst of the billows. - -[Sidenote: On the Lake of Lucerne.] - -But did Tell and his companions ever exist? Might they not be only -persons of the North, born in the songs of the Scalds, whose heroic -traditions are to be found on the shores of Sweden? Are the Swiss -to-day what they were at the time when they won their independence? -Those bear-paths see cal-ashes roll along where Tell and his companions -used to bound, bow in hand, from peak to peak: am I myself a traveller -in harmony with these regions? - -A storm comes luckily to assail me. We are landing in a creek, at a few -paces from Tell's chapel: it is always the same God that raises the -winds and the same confidence in that God that reassures men. As in -former days, when crossing the Ocean, the lakes of America, the seas -of Greece, of Syria, I am writing on drenched paper. The clouds, the -waves, the rolling of the thunder blend better with the ancient liberty -of the Alps than the voice of that effeminate and degenerate nature -which my century has placed in my bosom despite myself. - - -ALTDORF. - -I have disembarked at Flüelen and reached Altdorf, where the absence -of horses will keep me one night at the foot of the Bannberg. Here, -William Tell shot the apple from his son's head: the bow-shot was of -the length that separates those two fountains. Let us believe, in spite -of the fact that the same story was told by Saxo Grammaticus[445], as -quoted first by myself in my _Essai sur les révolutions_[446]; let us -have faith in religion and liberty, the two great things about man: -glory and power are brilliant, not great. - -To-morrow, from the top of the Saint-Gotthard, I shall greet once again -that Italy which I have greeted from the summit of the Simplon and the -Mont-Cenis. But of what avail is that last look cast upon the regions -of the South and the Dawn? The pine-tree of the glaciers cannot descend -among the orange-trees which it sees below it in the flowery valleys! - - -_Ten o'clock in the evening._ - -The storm is beginning again; the lightning-flashes twist around the -rocks; the echoes swell and prolong the sound of the thunder; the -roaring of the Schœchen and the Reuss welcome the bard of Armorica. -It is long since I found myself alone and free; nothing in the room -in which I am locked: two beds for a waking traveller who has neither -loves to put to sleep, nor dreams to dream. Those mountains, that -storm, this night are treasures lost for me. What life, nevertheless, I -feel in the depths of my soul! Never, when the most ardent blood flowed -from my heart into my veins, did I speak the language of the passions -with such energy as I might do at this moment. It seems to me as though -I saw my sylph of the Combourg woods issue from the flanks of the -Saint-Gotthard. Hast thou come to see me again, O charming phantom of -my youth? Hast thou pity for me? Thou seest, I am changed only in face: -ever chimerical, devoured by a causeless and unfed fire. I am leaving -the world, and I was entering it when I created thee in a moment of -ecstasy and delirium. This is the hour at which I invoked thee in my -tower. I can still open my Window to let thee in. If thou art not -satisfied with the charms which I lavished upon thee, I will make thee -a hundred times more seductive; my palette is not exhausted; I have -seen more beauties and I know how to paint better than I did. Come to -sit upon my knees; do not be afraid of my hair, stroke it with thy -fairy or shadowy fingers: it will turn brown again under thy kisses. -This head, which these falling hairs do not make wiser, is quite as -mad as it was when I gave thee being, eldest daughter of my illusion, -sweet fruit of my mysterious loves with my first solitude! Come, we -will once more mount the clouds together; we will go with the lightning -to plough, illumine, set fire to the precipices by which I shall pass -to-morrow. Come! Carry me away as in former days, but do not carry me -back again. - -A knock at my door: it is not thou, it is the guide! The horses have -arrived, we must start. Of this dream all that remains is the rain, the -wind and I, an endless dream, an eternal storm. - -17 _August_ 1832 (AMSTEG). - -From Altdorf to here, a valley between mountains close together, as -one sees everywhere; the noisy Reuss in the middle. At the Hart Inn, -a little German student, who has come from the Rhone glaciers and who -said to me: - -"You gome vrom Altdorf this morning? You go vast!" - -He thought I was on foot, like himself; then, seeing my _char-à-bancs_: - -"Oh! Horses! Dat's tifferent!" - -If the student were willing to "swap" his young legs for my -_char-à-bancs_ and my even worse car of glory, with what pleasure would -I take his stick, his grey blouse and his blonde beard! I should go -to the Rhone glaciers; I should talk the language of Schiller to my -mistress; and I should ponder deeply on Teutonic liberty: he would -go his way old as time, bored as one dead, undeceived by experience, -having fastened round his neck, like a bell, a fame by which he would -be more wearied after a quarter of an hour than by the din of the -Reuss. The exchange will not take place: good bargains are not for my -use. My scholar is going; he said to me, taking off and putting back -his Teuton cap, with a little nod of the head: - -"_Permis!_" - -One more shadow vanished. The scholar does not know my name; he will -have met me and will never know it: I am delighted with this idea; I -yearn for obscurity with more eagerness than formerly I longed for -light; the latter worries me either as making my miseries visible or as -showing me objects which I can no longer enjoy: I am in a hurry to pass -the torch to my neighbour. - -Three little boys are drawing the cross-bow: William Tell and Gessler -are everywhere. Free peoples retain the remembrance of the foundations -of their independence. Ask a poor little boy in France if he has ever -thrown the hatchet in memory of King Hlodwigh or Khlodwig or Clovis! - -The new Saint-Gotthard road, on leaving Amsteg, goes to and fro in a -zig-zag for two leagues, now joining the Reuss, now quitting it when -the fissure of the torrent grows wider. On the perpendicular reliefs of -the landscape, slopes flat or tufted with beech-clumps, peaks shooting -into the sky, domes topped with ice, summits bald or retaining a few -stripes of snow, like locks of white hair; in the valley, bridges, -posts made of blackened planks, walnut-trees and fruit-trees which -gain in luxury of branches and leaves what they lose in succulence of -fruits. The Alpine nature forces those trees to become wild again; -the sap breaks through in spite of the grafting: a vigorous character -bursts the bonds of civilization. - -A little higher, on the right margin of the Reuss, the scene changes: -the stream flows with cascades in a pebbly rut, under a double and -triple avenue of pines; this is like the valley of Pont d'Espagne at -Cauterets. On the skirts of the mountain, the larch-trees grow on the -sharp edges of the rock; holding fast by their roots, they resist the -shock of the tempests. - -The road and a few potato-patches alone bear witness to man's presence -in this spot: he must eat and he must walk; that sums up his history. -The herds, consigned to the pasture-lands in the loftier regions, do -not appear in sight; birds, none; eagles, no question of them: the -great eagle fell into the ocean when crossing to St. Helena; there is -no flight so high or so strong but falters in the immensity of the -skies. The royal eaglet has just died.[447] Other eaglets of July 1830 -were announced to us; apparently they have come down from their eyry -to nestle with the feather-legged pigeons. They will never carry off -chamois in their talons: weakened by the domestic light, their blinking -glance will never contemplate from the summit of the Saint-Gotthard the -free and dazzling sun of France's glory. - - -After crossing the Pfaffensprung Bridge and passing round the pap of -the village of Wasen, one again takes the right bank of the Reuss; at -either extremity, cascades gleam white among the sods, spread like -green tapestries on the travellers' passage. Through a defile, one -perceives the Ranz glacier, which joins the Furka glaciers. - -At last, one makes one's way into the Valley of Schöllenen, where the -first ascent of the Saint-Gotthard commences. This valley is a notch -two thousand feet in depth, cut out of a solid block of granite. The -faces of the block form gigantic overhanging walls. The mountains no -longer present aught save their flanks and their ardent and reddened -crests. The Reuss thunders down its vertical bed, lined with stones. -The ruin of a tower bears witness to a former time, even as nature here -points to unremembered ages. Supported in the air by walls along the -granite masses, the road, an immobile torrent, winds parallel to the -mobile torrent of the Reuss. Here and there, stone-work vaults form -a shelter for the traveller against the avalanche; one turns for yet -a few more paces in a sort of tortuous gallery, and suddenly, at one -of the volutes of the shell, finds one's self face to face with the -Devil's Bridge. - -[Sidenote: The Devil's Bridge.] - -This bridge to-day intersects the arch of the new bridge, which is -higher, built behind it and overlooks it; the old bridge thus debased -no longer resembles anything but a short two-storeyed aqueduct. The new -bridge, when one comes from Switzerland, conceals the cascade at the -back. To enjoy the rain-bows and the leaping of the cascade, one must -stand upon the bridge; but, when one has seen the Falls of Niagara, no -water-fall remains. My memory is constantly contrasting my journeys -with my journeys, mountains with mountains, rivers with rivers, forests -with forests, and my life destroys my life. The same thing happens to -me with respect to societies and men. - -The modern roads, which the Simplon has taught us to make and which the -Simplon effaces, have not the picturesque effect of the old roads. The -latter, bolder and more natural, avoided no difficulty; they scarcely -deviated from the course of the torrents; they rose and descended with -the ground, surmounted the rocks, plunged into the precipices, passed -under the avalanches, taking nothing away from the pleasure of the -imagination and the joy of danger. The old Saint-Gotthard Road, for -instance, was adventurous in quite a different way from the present -road. The Devil's Bridge deserved its reputation, when, on approaching -it, one saw the cascade of the Reuss above, and when it marked out -an obscure arch, or rather a narrow path, through the gleaming spray -of the fall. Then, at the end of the bridge, the road ascended -perpendicularly to reach the chapel of which we still see the ruin. At -least, the inhabitants of Uri have had the pious thought of building -another chapel at the cascade. - -Lastly, it was not men like ourselves who crossed the Alps in former -days: it was hordes of Barbarians or Roman legions; caravans of -merchants, knights, _condottieri_, freebooters, pilgrims, prelates, -monks. Strange adventures were related. Who built the Devil's Bridge? -Who flung the Devil's Rock into the Wasen Thal? Here and there rose -castle-keeps, crosses, oratories, monasteries, hermitages, preserving -the memory of an invasion, a meeting, a miracle, or a misfortune. Each -mountain tribe kept its language, its dress, its manners, its customs. -It is true, one did not find, in a desert, an excellent inn; one drank -no champagne there; one read no newspapers; but, if there were more -robbers on the Saint-Gotthard, there were less cheats in society. What -a fine thing is civilization! I leave that "pearl" to the "handsome -first lapidary." - -Suwaroff[448] and his soldiers were the last travellers in this defile, -at the end of which they met Masséna. - -After passing out from the Devil's Bridge and the Urner Loch tunnel, -one reaches the Urseren Thai, closed by redans like the stone benches -of an arena. The Reuss flows peacefully in the midst of the verdure; -the contrast is striking: it is thus that society seems tranquil after -and before revolutions; men and empires slumber at two steps from the -abyss into which they are about to fall. - -At the village of Hospital commences the second ascent, leading to the -summit of the Saint-Gotthard, which is overrun by masses of granite. -Those voluminous, swollen, broken masses, festooned at their tops with -a few garlands of snow, resemble the fixed and frothy waves of an ocean -of stone upon which man has left the undulation of his road. - - Au pied du mont Adule, entre mille roseaux, - Le Rhin, tranquille et fier du progrès de ses eaux, - Appuyé d'une main sur son urne penchante, - Dormait au bruit flatteur de son onde naissante[449]. - -[Sidenote: The Saint-Gotthard.] - -Very fine lines, but inspired by the marble rivers of Versailles. -The Rhine does not spring from a bed of reeds: it rises from a -bed of hoar-frost; its urn, or rather its urns are of ice; its -origin is congenerous with those peoples of the North of which it -became the adopted stream and the martial girdle. The Rhine, born -of the Saint-Gotthard in the Grisons, sheds its waters into the -sea of Holland, Norway and England; the Rhone, also a child of the -Saint-Gotthard, bears its tribute to the Neptune of Spain, Italy and -Greece: sterile snows form the reservoirs of the fecundity of the -ancient world and the modern world. - -Two pools, on the Saint-Gotthard table-land, give birth, one to the -Ticino, the other to the Reuss. The source of the Reuss is lower than -the source of the Ticino, so that, by digging a canal of a few hundred -paces, one would throw the Ticino into the Reuss. If one were to repeat -this work in the case of the principal tributaries of those streams, -one would produce strange metamorphoses in the regions at the foot of -the Alps. A mountaineer can afford himself the pleasure of suppressing -a river, of fertilizing or sterilizing a country: there is something to -take down the pride of power. - -It is a marvellous thing to see the Reuss and the Ticino bid each other -an eternal farewell and take their opposite ways down the two sides of -the Saint-Gotthard: their cradles touch; their destinies are separate: -they go to seek different lands and different suns; but their mothers, -always united, do not cease, from the height of solitude, to feed their -disunited children. - -There was formerly, on the Saint-Gotthard, a hospice served by -Capuchins; now one sees only the ruins of it; there remains of religion -but a cross of worm-eaten wood with its Christ: God remains when men -withdraw. - -On the Saint-Gotthard upland, a desert in mid-sky, one world ends and -another commences: the German names are replaced by Italian names. I -take leave of my companion, the Reuss, which had brought me, as I went -up, from the Lake of Lucerne, to go down to the Lake of Lugano with my -new guide, the Ticino. - -The Saint-Gotthard is hewn perpendicularly on the Italian side; the -road which plunges into the Val Tremola does credit to the engineer -obliged to trace it in the narrowest gorge. Seen from above, this -road is like a ribbon folded and folded again; seen from below, the -walls supporting the embankments give the impression of the works of a -fortress, or resemble those dykes which are built one above the other -to resist the invasion of the waters. Sometimes, also, the double row -of mile-stones planted regularly on both sides of the road suggests -a column of soldiers descending the Alps once more to invade unhappy -Italy. - -_Saturday_, 18 _August_ 1832 (LUGANO). - -During the night I passed Airolo, Bellinzona and the Val Levantina: -I did not see the ground, I only heard the torrents. In the sky, the -stars rose among the cupolas and needles of the mountains. The moon -was not at first above the horizon, but her dawn spread before her -by degrees, like those "glories" with which the fourteenth-century -painters used to surround the head of the Virgin: she appeared at last, -scooped out and reduced to a quarter of her disc, on the denticulated -top of the Furca; the tips of her crescent were like wings, one would -have said of a white dove escaping from its nest in the rocks: by -her light, enfeebled and rendered more mysterious, the hollowed-out -luminary revealed to my eyes the Lago Maggiore at the end of the Val -Levantina. Twice I had seen that lake, once when proceeding to the -Congress of Verona, and again when going on my embassy to Rome. I -then contemplated it in the sun, on the high-way of prosperity; now I -caught a glimpse of it at night, from the opposite bank, on the road -of misfortune. Between my journeys, separated by only a few years, a -monarchy fourteen centuries old had passed away. - -It is not that I bear those political revolutions the smallest grudge; -by restoring me to liberty, they have restored me to my own nature. I -have still pith enough to reproduce the first fruit of my dreams, fire -enough to renew my connexion with the imaginary creature of my desires. -The time and the world which I have traversed have been for me but a -double solitude in which I have kept myself such as Heaven made me. Why -should I complain of the swiftness of the days, since I lived in one -hour as much as those who spend years in living? - -[Sidenote: Lugano.] - -Lugano is a little town of Italian aspect: porticoes as at Bologna, -people keeping house in the streets as at Naples, Renascence -architecture, roofs without cornices, long and narrow windows, bare -or adorned with a pediment and pierced up to the architrave. The town -leans against a vine-grown hill-side commanded by two superposed -mountain plains, one covered with pastures, the other with forests: -the lake lies at its feet. - -On the topmost summit of a mountain to the east of Lugano, exists a -hamlet whose women, tall and fair-skinned, have the reputation of the -Circassians. The eve of my arrival was the festival of that hamlet; -people had gone on a pilgrimage to beauty: that tribe is doubtless some -remains of a race of northern Barbarians preserved unmixed above the -populations of the plain. - -I have been taken to the different houses that had been mentioned to me -as likely to suit me: I found one of them charming, but the rent was -much too high. - -To see the lake better, I took a boat. One of my two boatmen spoke a -Franco-Italian jargon interlarded with English. He told me the names of -the mountains and of the villages on the mountains: the San Salvator, -from the summit of which one discovers the dome of Milan Cathedral; -Castagnola, with its olive-trees, of which the visitors put little -twigs in their button-holes; Gandria, the boundary of the Canton of -Ticino on the lake; the San Giorgio, crowned with its hermitage: each -of those places had its history. - -Austria, who takes all and gives nothing, retains at the foot of -Monte Caprino a village enclosed in the Ticino territory. Facing -this again, on the other side, at the foot of the San Salvator, she -possesses a sort of promontory on which stands a chapel; but she has -graciously lent this promontory to the Luganese to execute their -criminals upon and erect their gallows. Some day she will use this -"high jurisdiction," exercised by her permission upon her territory, as -a proof of her suzerainty over Lugano. Nowadays the condemned are no -longer subjected to the penalty of the rope: their heads are chopped -off; Paris has supplied the instrument, Vienna the scene of execution: -presents worthy of two great monarchies. - -These images were pursuing me when, on the azure water, to the breath -of the breeze scented by the amber of the pines, there came to pass the -boats of a brotherhood which flung bouquets of flowers into the lake to -the sound of horns and hautboys. Swallows sported around my sail. Among -those travellers, shall I not recognise those which I met one evening -as I wandered along the ancient Tibur Road and by the house of Horace? -The Lydia of the poet was not then with those swallows of the plain of -Tibur; but I knew that, at that very moment, another young woman was -furtively taking a rose laid in the abandoned garden of a villa of -Raphael's century, seeking naught but a flower on the ruins of Rome. - -The mountains which surround the Lake of Lugano, scarce joining their -bases except on the level of the lake, resemble islands separated -by narrow channels; they reminded me of the grace, the form and -the verdure of the archipelago of the Azores. Was I then going to -consummate the exile of my last days under those smiling porticoes -where the Princesse de Belgiojoso allowed a few days to slip by of the -exile of her youth? Was I then to finish my Memoirs at the entrance -to that classic and historic land where Virgil and Tasso sang, where -so many revolutions have been accomplished? Was I to recall my Breton -destiny at the sight of those Ausonian mountains? If their curtain -were to be raised, it would lay bare to me the plains of Lombardy; -beyond that, Rome; beyond that, Naples, Sicily, Greece, Syria, Egypt, -Carthage: distant shores which I have measured, I who do not possess -the extent of ground which I press under the soles of my feet! But yet, -to die here, to end here? Is it not what I want, what I am looking for? -I cannot tell. - - -LUCERNE, 20, 21 _and_ 22 _August_ 1832. - -I left Lugano without sleeping there; I have re-crossed the -Saint-Gotthard, I have seen again what I had seen: I have found nothing -to correct in my sketch. At Altdorf, everything was changed since -twenty-four hours ago: no more storm, no more apparition in my lonely -room. I came to spend the night in the inn at Flüelen, having twice -covered the road the ends of which come out upon two lakes and are held -by two nations joined by the same political bond and separate in every -other respect I crossed the Lake of Lucerne; it had lost a portion of -its merit in my eyes: it is to the Lake of Lugano what the ruins of -Rome are to the ruins of Athens, the fields of Sicily to the gardens of -Armida. - -For the rest, it is vain for me to exert myself to attain the Alpine -exaltation of the mountain authors: I waste my pains. - -Physically, that virgin and balmy air, which is supposed to revive my -strength, rarefy my blood, clear my tired head, give me an insatiable -hunger, a dreamless sleep, produces none of those effects for me. I -breathe no better, my blood circulates no faster, my head is no less -heavy under the sky of the Alps than in Paris. I have as much appetite -in the Champs-Élysées, as on the Montanvers, I sleep as well in the Rue -Saint-Dominique as on the Mont Saint-Gotthard, and, if I have dreams in -the delicious plain of Montrouge, the fault lies with the sleep. - -Morally, in vain do I scale the rocks: my mind becomes no loftier for -it, my soul no purer; I carry with me the cares of earth and the weight -of human turpitudes. The calm of the sublunary region of a marmot is -not communicated to my awakened senses. Poor wretch that I am, across -the mists that roll at my feet I always perceive the full-blown face -of the world. A thousand fathoms climbed into space change nothing in -my view of the sky; God appears no greater to me from the top of a -mountain than from the bottom of a valley. If, to become a robust man, -a saint, a towering genius, it were merely a question of searing over -the clouds, why do so many sick men, miscreants and fools not take the -trouble to clamber up the Simplon? Surely they must be very obstinately -bent upon their infirmities. - -[Sidenote: A plague upon mountains!] - -The landscape is created only by the sun; it is the light that makes -the landscape. A Carthaginian shore, a heath on the edge of Sorrento, -a border of dried canes in the Roman Campagna are more magnificent, -when lit up by the rays of the setting sun or the dawn, than all the -Alps on this side of the Gauls. Those holes which they call valleys, -where one sees nothing at full noon-day; those high fixed screens -dubbed mountains; those soiled torrents which bellow with the cows on -their banks; those violet-coloured faces, those goitrous necks, those -dropsical bellies: a plague upon them! - -If the mountains of our climes can justify the panegyrics of their -admirers, it is only when they are wrapped in the night of which they -thicken the chaos: the effect of their angles, their protuberances, -their sweeping lines, their immense projected shadows is heightened by -moonlight. The stars carve and engrave them on the sky in pyramids, -cones, obelisks, in an architecture of alabaster, now casting over them -a gauzy veil and harmonizing them with uncertain tints, faintly washed -with blue; now sculpturing them one by one and separating them by -lines of great precision. Every valley, every reduct, with its lakes, -its rocks, its forests, becomes a temple of silence and solitude. -In winter, the mountains offer us the image of the polar zones; in -autumn, under a rainy sky, in their different shades of darkness, they -resemble grey, black, bistre lithographs: the tempests also suit them, -as do the vapours, half mists, half clouds, which roll at their feet or -hang suspended at their flanks. - -But are the mountains not favourable to meditations, to independence, -to poetry? Do fine deep solitudes, mingled with sea, receive nothing -from the soul, add nothing to its delights? Does a sublime nature -not render us more susceptible to passion, and does passion not -make us better understand a sublime nature? Is an intimate love not -increased by the vague love of all the beauties of the senses and the -intelligence which surround it, even as similar principles attract and -blend with one another? Does not the feeling of the infinite, entering -through a vast spectacle into a limited feeling, grow and spread to the -boundaries at which commences an eternity of life? - -I admit all this; but let us well understand one another: it is not -the mountains that exist such as we think that we see them then; it is -the mountains as the passions, the talents and the muses have drawn -their lines, coloured their skies, their snows, their peaks, their -declivities, their irised cascades, their "soft" atmosphere, their -light and tender shadows: the landscape is on Claude Lorrain's palette, -not on the Campo Vaccino. Make me to love, and you shall see that -a solitary apple-tree, weather-beaten, flung crooked-wise amid the -wheat-fields of the Beauce; the flower of an arrow-head in a marsh; -a little water-course in a road; a scrap of moss, a fern, a tuft of -maiden-hair fern on the side of a rock; a moist, smoky sky; a tomtit -in a vicarage garden; a swallow, flying low, on a rainy day, under the -thatch of a barn or along a cloister; even a bat taking the place of -the swallow around a country steeple, fluttering on its gauzy wings in -the last gloaming of the twilight: all these little things, attached to -a few memories, will become enchanted by the mystery of my happiness or -the sadness of my regrets. On the upshot, it is the youth of life, it -is the persons that make fine sites. The ice-floes of Baffin's Bay can -be smiling, with company after one's heart: the banks of the Ohio and -the Ganges mournful, in the absence of all affection. A poet has said: - - La patrie est aux lieux où l'âme est enchantée[450]. - -It is the same with beauty. - -Here is too much about mountains: I love them as great solitudes; I -love them as the frame, the border and the distance of a fine picture; -I love them as the rampart and refuge of liberty; I love them as -adding something infinite to the passions of the soul: equitably and -reasonably, that is all the good to be said of them. If I am not to -settle down on the other side of the Alps, my journey across the -Saint-Gotthard will remain a disconnected fact, an optical view in the -midst of the pictures of my Memoirs: I will put out the lamp and Lugano -will relapse into darkness. - -[Sidenote: Lucerne cathedral.] - -Scarce arrived at Lucerne, I quickly hastened once more to the -cathedral, the _Hofkirche_, built on the site of a chapel dedicated to -St. Nicholas[451], the patron saint of sailors: this primitive chapel -served also as a beacon, for, during the night, it was seen lighted -up in a supernatural manner. It was Irish missionaries that preached -the Gospel in the almost desert country of Lucerne; they brought it -the liberty which their unhappy mother-land has not enjoyed. When I -returned to the cathedral, a man was digging a grave; in the church, -they were finishing a service around a bier, and a young woman was -having a child's cap blessed at an altar: she placed it, with a visible -expression of joy, in a basket which she carried on her arm, and went -away laden with her treasure. The next day, I found the grave in the -cemetery closed up, a vessel of holy water placed on the fresh earth, -and some fennel-seed sprinkled for the little birds: already they were -alone, beside that corpse of a night. - -I took some walks in the neighbourhood of Lucerne, in magnificent -pine-woods. The bees, whose hives are placed above the farm-doors, -under the shelter of the overhanging roofs, live with the peasants. -I saw the famous Clara Wendel[452] go to Mass behind her companions -in captivity, in her prison dress. She is very common; I found in her -the look of all those brutes in France who are present at so many -murders, without for that reason being more distinguished than a fierce -beast, in spite of all that the theory of crime and the admiration of -slaughter would attribute to them. A simple foot-soldier, armed with a -carbine, here takes the convicts to perform their day's work and brings -them back to the prison. - -This evening, I prolonged my walk along the Reuss, to a chapel built -on the road: one goes up to it by a little Italian portico. From this -portico, I saw a priest praying alone on his knees inside the oratory, -while, on the top of the mountains, I saw the last gleams of the -setting sun. On returning to Lucerne, I heard women saying the rosary -in the cottages; the voices of children made the responses to the -maternal adoration. I stopped, I listened through the twining vines to -those words addressed to God from within a hut. The comely and graceful -young girl who waits on me at the Golden Eagle also most regularly says -her _Angelus_ as she draws the curtains of the windows in my room. When -I come in, I give her a few flowers which I have gathered; she says to -me, gently patting her breast with her hand: - -"_Per me?_" - -I answer: - -"For you." - -There our conversation ends. - - -LUCERNE, 26 _August_ 1832. - -Madame de Chateaubriand has not yet arrived: I shall take a trip -to Constance. M. A. Dumas[453] is here; I had already seen him at -David's, while he was being modelled by the great sculptor. Madame de -Colbert[454], with her daughter Madame de Brancas, is also passing -through Lucerne[455]. It was at Madame de Colbert's, in Beauce, that, -nearly twenty years ago, I wrote, in these Memoirs, the story of my -youth at Combourg[456]. The places seem to travel with me: they are as -mobile, as fleeting as my life. - -The mail-post brings me a very fine letter from M. de Béranger, in -reply to that which I wrote to him on leaving Paris: this letter has -already been printed as a note, with a letter from M. Carrel, in the -Congrès de Vérone[457]. - -[Sidenote: Constance.] - -GENEVA, _September_ 1832. - -Going from Lucerne to Constance, one passes through Zurich and -Winterthur. Nothing pleased me at Zurich, except the memory of -Lavater[458] and Gessner[459], the trees of an esplanade overlooking -the lakes, the course of the Limmat, an old crow and an old elm; I -prefer this to all Zurich's historic past, with due deference even to -the Battle of Zurich. Napoleon and his captains, passing from victory -to victory, brought the Russians to Paris. - -Winterthur is a new and industrial little market-town, or rather one -long clean street. Constance has an air of belonging to nobody; it is -open to all the world. I entered it, on the 27th of August, without -seeing a custom-house officer or a soldier and without being asked for -my passport. - -Madame Récamier had arrived, three days earlier[460], to pay a visit to -the Queen of Holland. I was waiting for Madame de Chateaubriand, who -was coming to join me at Lucerne. I proposed to weigh whether it would -not be preferable to settle first in Swabia, remaining free to go down -into Italy later. - -In the decayed town of Constance, the inn was very gay; they were -making preparations for a wedding. The day after my arrival, Madame -Récamier wanted to escape the rejoicings of our hosts: we took a boat -on the lake and, crossing the sheet of water from which the Rhine -flows to become a river, we reached the strand of a park. Setting foot -on land, we passed through a hedge of willows, on the other side of -which we found a sanded walk winding among thickets of shrubs, groups -of trees and grassy lawns. A summer-house stood in the middle of the -gardens and an elegant villa leant against a forest of old trees. I -noticed on the grass some meadow-saffron, always melancholy for me -because of the reminiscences of my various and numerous autumns. We -strolled at random and then sat down on a bench at the edge of the -water. From the summer-house in the grove rose harmonies of harp and -horn which ceased when, charmed and surprised, we began to listen: it -was a scene from a fairy-tale. The harmonies did not recommence and I -read to Madame Récamier my description of the Saint-Gotthard; she asked -me to write something on her tablets, already half-filled with details -of the death of J. J. Rousseau. Below these last words of the author of -the _Héloïse_: "Wife, open the window, that I may see the sun again," I -wrote these words in pencil: - - "What I wanted on the Lake of Lucerne, I have found on the Lake of - Constance: the charm and intelligence of beauty. I do not want to - die like Rousseau; I want to see the sun for long, if I am to end - my life near you. Let my days expire at your feet, like those waves - whose murmur you love.--28 _August_ 1832." - -The blue of the lake kept watch behind the foliage; on the southern -horizon, gathered the summits of the Grisons Alps; a breeze passing to -and fro across the willows harmonized with the rise and fall of the -billows: we saw no one; we did not know where we were. - - -As we returned to Constance, we saw Madame la Duchesse de Saint-Leu -and her son Louis Napoleon[461]: they came up to Madame Récamier. I -had not known the Queen of Holland under the Empire; I knew that she -had shown herself generous at the time of my resignation on the death -of the Duc d'Enghien and when I tried to save my cousin Armand; under -the Restoration, when Ambassador in Rome, I had had only relations -of politeness with Madame la Duchesse de Saint-Leu; unable to go to -her myself, I had left the secretaries and attachés free to pay their -court to her, and I had invited Cardinal Fesch to a diplomatic dinner -of cardinals. Since the last fall of the Restoration, chance had made -me exchange a few letters with Queen Hortense and Prince Louis. These -letters are a rather singular monument of faded grandeurs; here they -are: - -[Sidenote: Letter from Queen Hortense.] - - MADAME DE SAINT-LEU, AFTER READING THE LAST LETTER OF M. DE - CHATEAUBRIAND - - "ARENENBERG, 15 _October_ 1831. - - "M. de Chateaubriand has too much genius not to have understood - the whole extent of the Emperor Napoleons. But his so brilliant - imagination required more than admiration: memories of youth, an - illustrious fortune attracted his heart; he devoted his person - and talent to them and, like the poet who lends to everything the - sentiment which animates him, he clothed what he loved with the - features which were to kindle his enthusiasm. Ingratitude did not - discourage him, for misfortune was always there to draw it to him; - nevertheless his wit, his reason, his truly French sentiments make - him the antagonist of his party in spite of himself. He loves, - of the olden times, only honour, which makes men faithful, and - religion, which makes men good; the glory of his country, which - makes its strength; liberty of conscience and opinion, which gives - a noble impulse to the faculties of men; the aristocracy of merit, - which opens up a career to every intelligence: these constitute - his domain more than any others. He is therefore a Liberal, a - Napoleonist and even a Republican rather than a Royalist And - therefore new France, its new lights would know how to appreciate - him, whereas he will never be understood by those whom he has set - so near to the Divinity in his heart; and, if there be now naught - left for him but to sing unhappiness, were it the most interesting, - high misfortunes have become so common in this age of ours that his - brilliant imagination, without any real object or motive, will die - out for want of nutriment sufficiently lofty to inspire his fine - talent. - - "HORTENSE." - - AFTER READING A NOTE SIGNED, "HORTENSE" - - "M. de Chateaubriand is exceedingly flattered and in the highest - degree grateful for the sentiments of good-will so gracefully - expressed in the first part of the note; in the second there lurks - the seductiveness of a woman and a queen which might carry with it - a self-love less sophisticated than M. de Chateaubriand's. - - "There are certainly to-day plenty of occasions of infidelity among - such high and numerous misfortunes; but, at the age to which M. de - Chateaubriand has attained, reverses which reckon but few years - would scorn his homage: needs therefore must he remain attached to - his old unhappiness, however much he might be tempted by younger - adversities. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND. - - PARIS, 6 _November_ 1831." - - PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON TO THE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND - - "ARENENBERG, 4 _May_ 1832. - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "I have just read your last pamphlet. How happy the Bourbons are - to be supported by a genius such as yours! You raise a cause with - the same arms that have served to lay it low; you find words that - send a thrill through every French heart. All that is national - finds an echo in your soul; thus, when you speak of the great man - who rendered France illustrious during twenty years, the loftiness - of the subject inspires you, your genius embraces it entirely, - and then your mind, naturally pouring itself out, surrounds the - greatest glory with the greatest thoughts. - - "I too, monsieur le vicomte, grow enthusiastic on behalf of all - that contributes to the honour of my country; that is why, giving - vent to my impulse, I venture to express to you the sympathy which - I feel for one who displays so much patriotism and so much love of - liberty. But, permit me to tell you, you are the only formidable - defender of the Old Monarchy; you would make it national, if one - could believe that it would think as you do; and so, to give it any - worth, it is not enough to declare yourself on its side, but rather - to prove that it is on yours. - - "However, monsieur le vicomte, if we differ in opinions, at least - we are agreed in the wishes which we form for France's happiness. - - "Pray accept, etc., etc. - - "LOUIS-NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE." - -[Illustration: Queen Hortense.] - -[Sidenote: And Louis Napoleon.] - - THE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE COMTE DE SAINT-LEU (PRINCE - LOUIS NAPOLEON) - - "PARIS, 19 _May_ 1832. - - "MONSIEUR LE COMTE, - - "It is never easy to reply to praises; but, when he who awards them - with as much wit as propriety is moreover in a social condition - to which peerless memories are attached, then the difficulty is - doubled. At least, Monsieur, we meet in a common sympathy; you with - your youth, as I with my old days, desire the honour of France. It - needed no more for either of us, to die of confusion or laughter, - than to see the juste-milieu blockaded in Ancona[462] by the - soldiers of the Pope. Ah, Monsieur, where is your uncle? To others - than yourself I should say: - - "'Where is the guardian of kings and the master of Europe?' - - "In defending the cause of the Legitimacy, I entertain no - illusions; but I think that every man who cares for public esteem - must remain faithful to his oaths: Lord Falkland, a friend of - liberty and an enemy of the Court, got himself killed at Newbury in - the army of Charles I. You shall live, Monsieur le Comte, to see - your country free and happy; you are passing through ruins among - which I shall remain, because I myself form part of those ruins. - - "I had for a moment entertained the flattering hope of laying - the tribute of my respect, this summer, at the feet of Madame la - Duchesse de Saint-Leu: fortune, accustomed to baffle my plans, has - deceived me once again. I should have been happy to thank you by - word of mouth for your obliging letter; we should have spoken of a - great glory and of France's future, two things, Monsieur le Comte, - which touch you nearly. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - - -Have the Bourbons ever written letters to me similar to those which I -have just produced? Did they ever entertain the idea that I rose above -this versifier or that pamphleteering politician? - -When, as a little boy, I used to wander, the companion of the herdsmen, -over the heaths of Combourg, could I have believed that a time would -come at which I should walk between the two highest powers on earth, -powers now overthrown, giving my arm on one side to the family of St. -Louis, on the other to that of Napoleon: hostile magnificences which -alike lean, in the misfortune which brings them together, on the feeble -and faithful man, the man scorned by the Legitimacy? - -Madame Récamier went to fix herself at Wolfsberg, a country-house -occupied by M. Parquin[463], near Arenenberg, where Madame la Duchesse -de Saint-Leu was living; I stayed two days at Constance. I saw all that -there was to see: the market containing the public granary christened -the "Hall of the Council," the so-called statue of Huss[464], the -square in which Jerome of Prague[465] and John Huss were, they say, -burnt; in fine, all the ordinary abominations of history and society. - -The Rhine, issuing from the lake, announces itself very much like -a king: nevertheless it was not able to defend Constance, which -was, if I am not mistaken, sacked by Attila[466], besieged by the -Hungarians[467], the Swedes[468], and twice taken by the French[469]. - -Constance is the Saint-Germain of Germany: the old people of the old -society have retired to it. When I knocked at a door to look for rooms -for Madame de Chateaubriand, I came upon some canoness, a girl past -her minority; some prince of an ancient house, an elector on half-pay: -which went very well with the abandoned steeples and the deserted -convents of the city. Condé's Army fought gloriously under the walls -of Constance and seems to have left its ambulance there. I had the -misfortune to meet a veteran Emigrant; he did me the honour to have -known me in former times; he had more days than hairs; his words were -endless; he was unable to contain himself and allowed his years to run. - - -[Sidenote: Diner at Arenenberg.] - -On the 29th of August, I went to dine at Arenenberg. - -Arenenberg stands on a sort of promontory in a chain of steep hills. -The Queen of Holland, whom the sword had made and whom the sword had -unmade, built the _château_, or, if you prefer, the summer-house of -Arenenberg. From it, one enjoys an extensive, but melancholy view. This -view commands the Lower Lake of Constance, which is only an expansion -of the Rhine over swamped fields. On the other side of the lake, one -sees gloomy woods, remains of the Black Forest, a few white birds -fluttering under a grey sky and driven by an icy wind. There, after -having sat on a throne, after being outrageously slandered, Queen -Hortense came to perch upon a rock; below is the isle of the lake on -which, they say, the tomb of Charles the Fat[470] was discovered and on -which, at present, canaries are dying which ask in vain for the sun of -their native islands. Madame la Duchesse de Saint-Leu was better off in -Rome; nevertheless, she has not descended in proportion to her birth -and her early life: on the contrary, she has risen; her abasement is -only relative to an accident of her fortune; this is not one of those -descents like that of Madame la Dauphine, who has fallen from all the -height of the centuries. - -The companions, male and female, of Madame la Duchesse de Saint-Leu -were her son, Madame Salvage[471], Madame-----. By way of visitors, -there were Madame Récamier, M. Vieillard[472] and myself. Madame la -Duchesse de Saint-Leu acquitted herself very well in her difficult -position as a queen and a Demoiselle de Beauharnais. - -After dinner, Madame de Saint-Leu sat down to her piano with M. -Cottreau[473], a tall young painter in mustachios, a straw hat, a -blouse, a turned-down shirt-collar, an eccentric costume, who hunted, -painted, sang, laughed, in a witty and noisy fashion. - -Prince Louis occupies a summer-house standing apart, where I saw arms, -topographical and strategical charts; industries which made one, as -though by accident, think of the blood of the Conqueror without naming -him: Prince Louis is a studious and well-informed young man, full of -honour and naturally grave. - -Madame la Duchesse de Saint-Leu read me a few fragments of her Memoirs: -she showed me a cabinet filled with relics of Napoleon. I asked myself -why this wardrobe left me cold; why that little hat, that sash, that -uniform worn at such and such a battle found me so indifferent: I -was much more perturbed when writing of the death of Napoleon at St. -Helena. The reason of this is that Napoleon is our contemporary; we -have all seen him and known him: he lives in our memory; but the hero -is still too close to his glory. A thousand years hence, it will be a -different thing: it is only the centuries that have lent a perfume to -Alexander's sweat; let us wait: of a conqueror one should show only the -sword. - -I returned to Wolfsberg with Madame Récamier and set out at night: the -weather was dark and rainy; the wind whistled through the trees and the -wood-owl hooted: a real Germanian scene. - -Madame de Chateaubriand soon arrived at Lucerne: the dampness of -the town frightened her and, as Lugano was too dear, we decided to -come to Geneva. We took our route over Sempach: the lake preserves -the memory of a battle[474] which ensured the enfranchisement of the -Swiss, at a time when the nations on this side of the Alps had lost -their liberties. Beyond Sempach, we passed before the Abbey of St. -Urban's, crumbling like all the monuments of Christianity. It stands -in a melancholy spot, on the skirt of a heath which leads to a wood: -if I had been free and alone, I would have asked the monks for a hole -in their walls, there to finish my Memoirs beside an owl; then I -should have gone to end my days in doing nothing under the beautiful -do-nothing sun of Naples or Palermo: but beautiful countries and -spring-time have become insults, disasters and regrets. - -On reaching Berne, we were told that there was a great revolution in -progress in the city; I looked in vain: the streets were deserted, -silence reigned, the terrible revolution was realized without a word, -to the peaceful smoke of a pipe in the corner of some coffee-house. - -Madame Récamier was not long in joining us at Geneva. - -[Sidenote: A visit to Coppet.] - - -GENEVA, _end of September_ 1832. - -I have begun to take up my work again seriously: I write in the morning -and walk in the evening. Yesterday, I went to pay a visit to Coppet. -The house was shut up; they opened the doors for me; I wandered through -the deserted rooms. The companion of my pilgrimage recognised all the -places, where she still seemed to see her friend, seated at her piano, -or coming in, or going out, or talking on the terrace alongside of -the gallery; Madame Récamier has seen again the room which she used -to occupy; days gone by have come up again before her; it was like a -rehearsal of the scene which I described in _René_: - - "I passed through the sonorous apartments where nothing was heard - but the sound of my footsteps.... Everywhere the rooms were without - hangings and the spider spun its web in the abandoned couches.... - How sweet, but how rapid are the moments which brothers and sisters - pass in their youthful years, gathered under the wing of their - old parents! Man's family is but of a day; God's breath disperses - it like a bubble. The son has scarce time to know the father, the - father the son, the brother the sister, the sister the brother! The - oak sees its acorns shoot up around itself: it is not thus with the - children of men!" - -I also remembered what I said, in these Memoirs, of my last visit -to Combourg, before leaving for America. Two different worlds, but -connected by a common sympathy, occupied Madame Récamier and myself. -Alas, each of us carries within himself one of those isolated worlds; -for where are the persons who have lived long enough together not to -have separate memories? - -From the _château_, we entered the park; the early autumn began to -redden and to loosen a few leaves; the wind fell by degrees and let -one hear a stream that turns a mill. After following the alleys along -which she had been accustomed to walk with Madame de Staël, Madame -Récamier wanted to greet her ashes. At some distance from the park -stands a coppice mingled with taller trees and surrounded by a damp and -dilapidated wall. This coppice resembles those clusters of trees in the -midst of plains which sportsmen call "covers:" it is there that death -has driven its prey and shut up its victims. - -A burial-place had been built beforehand in that wood to receive M. -Necker, Madame Necker and Madame de Staël: when the last of these -arrived at the trysting-place, they walled-up the door of the crypt. -The child of Auguste de Staël remained outside, and Auguste himself, -who died before his child, was laid under a stone, at his relations' -feet. On the stone are carved these words taken from Scripture: - -WHY SEEK YOU THE LIVING WITH THE DEAD[475]? - -I did not go into the wood; Madame Récamier alone obtained permission -to enter it. Remaining seated on a bench before the surrounding wall, -I turned my back on France, and fixed my eyes, now on the summit of -Mont Blanc, now on the Lake of Geneva: the golden clouds covered the -horizon behind the dark line of the Jura; it was as though a halo of -glory were rising above a long coffin. On the other side of the lake, I -saw Lord Byron's[476] house, the ridge of which was touched by a ray of -the setting sun. Rousseau was no more there to admire that spectacle, -and Voltaire, who had also disappeared, had never cared about it. It -was at the foot of the tomb of Madame de Staël that so many illustrious -absentees on the same shore presented themselves to my recollection: -they seemed to come to seek the shade their equal to fly away into the -sky with her and escort her during the night At that moment, Madame -Récamier, pale and in tears, came out from the funeral grove herself -like a shadow. If ever I have felt at one time the vanity and the -verity of glory and life, it was at the entrance of that silent, dark, -unknown wood, where she sleeps who had so much lustre and fame, and -when seeing what it is to be truly loved. - -[Sidenote: With Madame Récamier.] - -That same evening, the day after my devotions to the dead of Coppet, -tired of the edge of the lake, I went, still with Madame Récamier, in -search of less frequented walks. We discovered, going down the Rhone, -a narrow gorge through which the stream flows bubbling under several -mills, between rocky cliffs intersected by meadows. One of these -meadows stretches at the foot of a hill on which a house is planted -amid a cluster of elms. - -We several times climbed and descended, talking the while, this narrow -strip of grass which separates the boisterous stream from the silent -hillock: how many persons are there whom one can weary with what -one has been and carry back with one on the track of one's days? We -spoke of those days, always painful and always regretted, in which -the passions form the happiness and the martyrdom of youth. Now I am -writing this page at midnight, while all is at rest around me, and -through my window I see a few stars glimmering over the Alps. - -Madame Récamier is going to leave us: she will return in the spring, -and I shall spend the winter in evoking my vanished hours, in summoning -them one by one before the tribunal of my reason. I do not know if I -shall be very impartial nor if the judge will not be too indulgent -towards. the culprit I shall spend next summer in the land of Jean -Jacques. God grant that I may not catch the dreamer's malady. And then, -when autumn shall have returned, we shall go to Italy: "_Italian!_" -that is my eternal refrain. - - -GENEVA, _October_ 1832. - -Prince Louis Napoleon having given me his pamphlet entitled, _Rêveries -politiques_, I wrote him this letter: - - "PRINCE, - - "I have read attentively the little pamphlet which you were so good - as to entrust to me. I have jotted down, as you wished, a few - reflections, springing naturally from yours, which I had already - submitted to your judgment. You know, Prince, that my young King - is in Scotland, that, so long as he lives, there can be no other - King of France for me than he; but, if God, in his impenetrable - counsels, had rejected the House of St. Louis, if the habits of our - country did not render the republican state possible, there is no - name which goes better with the glory of France than yours. - - "I am, etc., etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, _January_ 1833. - -I had dreamt much of that approaching future which I had made for -myself and which I thought so near. At night-fall, I used to go -wandering in the windings of the Arve, in the direction of Salève. One -evening, I saw M. Berryer enter; he was returning from Lausanne and -told me of the arrest of Madame la Duchesse de Berry[477]; he did not -know any details. My plans for repose were once more upset. When the -mother of Henry V. believed in her success, she discharged me; her -misfortune destroyed her last note and recalled me to her defense. I -started on the spot from Geneva, after writing to the ministers. On -arriving in my Rue d'Enfer, I addressed the following circular letter -to the editors of the newspapers: - - "SIR, - - "I arrived in Paris on the 17th of this month and wrote, on the - 18th, to M. the Minister of Justice[478] to ask if the letter which - I had had the honour to send him from Geneva, on the 12th, for - Madame la Duchesse de Berry had reached him and if he had had the - goodness to forward it to Madame. - - "I begged M. the Keeper of the Seals at the same time to give me - the necessary authorization to go to the Princess at Blaye. - - "M. the Keeper of the Seals was so good as to reply, on the 19th, - that he had handed my letters to the President of the Council[479] - and that I must apply to the latter. I wrote, consequently, on - the 20th, to M. the Minister for War. To-day, the 22nd, I receive - his answer of the 21st: he 'regrets to be under the necessity of - informing me that the Government does not consider it expedient to - grant my request.' This decision has put an end to my applications - to the authorities. - - "I have never, sir, pretended to think myself capable of defending - unaided the cause of misfortune and of France. My plan, if I had - been permitted to reach the feet of the august prisoner, was to - propose to her, in this emergency, the formation of a council of - men more enlightened than myself. In addition to the honourable and - distinguished persons that have already come forward, I would have - taken the liberty to suggest to Madame's choice M. le Marquis de - Pastoret[480], M. Lainé, M. de Villèle, etc., etc. - - "Now, sir, that I am officially turned away, I return to my right - as a private individual. My _Mémoires sur la vie et la mort de - M. le Duc de Berry_, wrapped in the hair of the widow to-day a - captive, lie near the heart which Louvel made to resemble even more - that of Henry IV. I have not forgotten that signal honour, of which - the present moment asks me for a reckoning and makes me feel all - the responsibility. - - "I am, sir, etc., etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -[Sidenote: My circular to the press.] - -While I was writing this circular letter to the newspapers, I found -means to have the following note handed to Madame la Duchesse de Berry: - - "PARIS, 23 _November_ 1832. - - "MADAME, - - "I had the honour to address to you from Geneva an earlier letter - dated the 12th of this month. This letter, in which I begged you - to do me the honour to choose me as one of your defenders, has been - printed in the newspapers[481]. - - "Your Royal Highness' cause may be taken up by all those who, - without being authorized to do so, might have useful truths to - make known; but, if Madame wishes that it be carried on in her own - name, it is not one man, but a council of men, of politicians and - lawyers, that must be charged with this high affair. In that case, - I would ask that Madame would consent to assign to me as coadjutors - (with the persons whom she would have already selected) M. le Comte - de Pastoret, M. Hyde de Neuville, M. de Villèle, M. Lainé, M. - Royer-Collard, M. Pardessus[482], M. Mandaroux-Vertamy[483], M. de - Vaufreland. - - "I had also thought, Madame, that one might summon to this council - a few men of great talent and of an opinion contrary to ours; but - perhaps it would be to place them in a false position, to oblige - them to make a sacrifice of honour and principle to which lofty - minds and upright consciences do not readily lend themselves. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - -An old disciplined soldier, I was therefore hastening up to take my -place in the ranks and to march under my captains: reduced by the will -of the authorities to a duel, I accepted it I had scarcely expected to -come, from the tomb of the husband, to fight by the tomb of the widow. - -Supposing that I were bound to remain alone, that I had misunderstood -what suits France, I was none the less in the path of honour. Nor is -it of little use for men that a man should immolate himself to his -conscience; it is good that some one should consent to ruin himself to -remain steadfast to principles of which he is convinced and which have -to do with what is noble in our nature: those dupes are the necessary -contestants of the brutal fact, the victims charged to utter the veto -of the oppressed against the triumph of might. We praise the Poles: is -their devotion other than a sacrifice? It has saved nothing; it could -save nothing: even in the minds of my opponents, will that devotion be -barren of results for the human race? - -I prefer a family before my country, they say: no, I prefer fidelity -to my oaths before perjury, the moral world before material society; -that is all: in so far as the family is concerned, I devote myself to -it because it was essentially beneficial to France; I confound its -posterity with that of the country and, when I deplore the misfortunes -of the one, I deplore the disasters of the other: beaten, I have -prescribed duties to myself, even as the victors have laid interests -upon themselves. I am trying to withdraw from the world with my -self-respect; in solitude we have to be careful whom we choose for our -companion. - - -[Sidenote: On the arrest of Madame.] - -In France, the land of vanity, so soon as an occasion offers for making -a fuss, a crowd of people seize it: some act from good-heartedness, -others from their consciousness of their own merits. I therefore had -many competitors; they begged, as I had done, of Madame la Duchesse de -Berry, the honour to defend her. At least, my presumption in offering -myself to the Princess as a champion was a little justified by former -services; though I did not fling the sword of Brennus[484] into the -scale, at least I put my name there: however unimportant that may be, -it had already gained some victories for the Monarchy. I opened my -_Mémoire sur la captivité de Madame la duchesse de Berry_[485] with a -consideration by which I am forcibly struck; I have often reprinted -it, and it is probable that I shall reprint it again: - - "We never cease," I said, "to be astonished at events; ever - we imagine that we have come to the last; ever the revolution - recommences. Those who, since forty years, are marching to reach - the goal, repine; they thought they were sitting for a few hours by - the edge of their tomb: vain hope! Time strikes those travellers - gasping for breath, and forces them to move onward. How many times, - since they have been on the road, has the Old Monarchy fallen at - their feet! Scarce escaped from those successive crumblings, they - are obliged once more to pass over its rubbish and its dust. Which - century will see the end of the movement?... - - "Providence has willed that the transient generations destined for - unremembered days should be small, in order that the damage might - not be great. And so we see that everything proves abortive, that - everything is inconsistent, that no one is like himself or embraces - his whole destiny, that no event produces what it contained and - what it ought to produce. The superior men of the age which is - expiring are dying away; will they have successors? The ruins of - Palmyra end in sands." - -Passing from this general observation to particular facts, I show, in -my reasoning, that they might deal with Madame la Duchesse de Berry by -arbitrary measures, regarding her as a prisoner of police, of war, of -State, or asking the Chambers to pass a bill of attainder; that they -might bring her within the competence of the laws by applying to her -the Briqueville Law of Exception or the common law of the Code; that -they might regard her person as inviolable and sacred. The ministers -maintained the first opinion, the men of July the second, the Royalists -the third. - -I go through the several suppositions: I prove that, if Madame la -Duchesse de Berry made a descent upon France, she had been drawn -thither only because she heard men's opinions asking for a different -present, calling for a different future. - -False to its popular extraction, the revolution proceeding from the -Days of July repudiated glory and courted shame. Except in a few -hearts worthy of giving it an asylum, liberty, become the object of -the derision of those who made it their rallying-cry, that liberty -which buffoons bandy about with kicks, that liberty strangled after -dishonour by the tourniquet of the laws of exception will, through its -destruction, transform the Revolution of 1830 into a cynical fraud. - -Thereupon, and to deliver us all, Madame la Duchesse de Berry arrived. -Fortune betrayed her; a Jew sold her; a minister bought her[486]. If -they are not willing to proceed against her by police measures, the -only alternative is to indict her at the assizes. I suppose this to -have been done, and I bring on the stage the Princess's defending -counsel; then, after making the defending counsel speak, I address the -counsel for the prosecution: - -[Sidenote: My pamphlet.] - - "Advocate.... stand up.... - - "Establish learnedly that Caroline Ferdinande of Sicily, Widow de - Berry, niece of the late Marie-Antoinette of Austria, Widow Capet, - is guilty of opposition to a man, the reputed uncle and guardian of - an orphan called Henry, which uncle and guardian is said, according - to the calumnious allegation of the prisoner, unlawfully to detain - the crown of a ward, which ward impudently pretends to have been - King from the day of the abdication of the ex-King Charles X. and - the ex-Dauphin till the day of the election of the King of the - French.... - - "In support of your argument, let the judges first call up - Louis-Philippe as evidence for or against the prisoner, unless - he prefer to excuse himself as a kinsman. Next, let the judges - confront the prisoner and the descendant of the Great Traitor; let - the Iscariot into whom Satan had entered[487] say how many pieces - of silver he received for the bargain. - - ... Then it will be proved, by those who have examined the spot, - that the prisoner for six hours suffered the Gehenna of fire in - a space too narrow for her, in which four people could hardly - breathe, which caused the tortured person contumeliously to say - that they 'were making war upon her as though she were a St. - Laurence[488]. Now, Caroline Ferdinande being pressed by her - accomplices against the red-hot slab, her clothes twice caught - fire, and, at each blow of the gendarmes on the outside of the - fiery furnace, the shock was communicated to the prisoner's heart, - causing her to vomit blood. - - "Next, in the presence of the image of Christ, they will lay on the - desk, as a piece of direct evidence, the burnt garments: for there - must always be lots cast upon garments in these Judas bargains." - - -Madame la Duchesse de Berry was set at liberty by an arbitrary act -of the authorities, after they thought that they had dishonoured -her. The picture which I drew of the proceedings made Philip see the -invidiousness of a public trial and determined him to grant a pardon -to which he believed that he had attached a punishment: the pagans, -under Severus[489], used to throw to the lions a newly-delivered young -Christian woman. My pamphlet, of which only some phrases survive, had -its important historical result. - -I am melted again, as I copy out the apostrophe which ends my work; it -is, I admit, a foolish waste of tears: - - "Illustrious captive of Blaye, Madame! May your heroic presence in - a land which knows something of heroism lead France to repeat to - you what my political independence has won for me the right to say: - - "'Madame, your son is my King!' - - "If Providence inflict yet a few hours upon me, shall I behold - your triumphs, after having had the honour of embracing your - adversities? Shall I receive that guerdon of my faith? At the - moment when you return happy, I would joyfully go to end in - retirement the days commenced in exile. Alas, I am disconsolate to - be able to do nothing for your present destinies! My words die away - in mere waste around the walls of your prison: the noise of the - winds, of the waves and of men, at the foot of the lonely fortress, - will not even allow the last accents of a faithful voice to ascend - to where you are." - -PARIS, _March_ 1833. - -Some newspapers, having repeated the phrase, "Madame, your son is my -King!" were indicted in the courts for a press offense; I found myself -involved in the proceedings. This time, I could not take exception to -the competency of the judges; I had to try to save by my presence the -men attacked for my sake; my honour was at stake and I had to answer -for my works. - -Moreover, the day before my summons before the court, the _Moniteur_ -had given the declaration of Madame la Duchesse de Berry[490]; if I -had stayed away, they would have thought that the Royalist Party was -retreating, that it was abandoning misfortune and blushing for the -Princess whose heroism it had celebrated. - -There was no lack of timid counsellors who said to me: - -"Do not put in an appearance; you will be too much embarrassed with -your phrase, 'Madame, your son is my King!'" - -"I shall shout it louder than ever," I replied. - -I went to the very court where the revolutionary tribunal had formerly -been installed, where Marie-Antoinette had appeared, where my brother -had been condemned. The Revolution of July has ordered the removal of -the crucifix whose presence, while consoling innocence, caused the -judge to tremble. - -[Sidenote: My trial in Paris.] - -My appearance before the judges had a fortunate effect; it -counterbalanced for a moment the effect of the declaration in the -_Moniteur_ and maintained the mother of Henry V. in the rank in which -her courageous adventure had placed her: men hesitated, when they saw -that the Royalist Party dared to face the event and did not consider -itself beaten. - -I did not want a counsel, but M. Ledru, who had attached himself -to me at the time of my imprisonment, wished to speak: he grew -disconcerted and gave me great uneasiness. M. Berryer, who represented -the _Quotidienne_, indirectly took up my defense. At the end of -the proceedings, I called the jury the "universal peerage," which -contributed not a little towards the acquittal of all of us[491]. - -Nothing remarkable occurred to signalize this trial in the terrible -chamber that had resounded with the voices of Fouquier-Tinville and -Danton; there was nothing amusing in it, except the arguments of M. -Persil[492]: wishing to prove my guilt, he quoted this phrase from my -pamphlet, "It is difficult to crush what flattens itself underfoot," -and, exclaiming, "Do you feel, gentlemen, all the scorn comprised -in that paragraph, 'It is difficult to crush what flattens itself -underfoot'?" he made the movement of a man who crushes something under -his feet He resumed his speech triumphantly: the laughter of the -audience was renewed. The worthy man perceived neither the delight of -the audience at his unlucky phrase nor the perfectly absurd figure -which he cut while stamping his feet, in his black robes, as though he -were dancing, at the same time that his face was pale with inspiration -and his eyes haggard with eloquence. - -When the jury returned and pronounced their verdict of "not guilty," -applause broke out and I was surrounded by young men who had put on -barristers' robes to get in: M. Carrel was there. - -The crowd increased as I went out; there was a scuffle in the -court-yard of the palace between my escort and the police. At last, I -succeeded, with great difficulty, in reaching home in the midst of the -crowd which followed my cab shouting: - -"Long live Chateaubriand[493]!" - -[Sidenote: I am acquitted.] - -At any other time, this acquittal would have been very significant; -to declare that it was not guilty to say to the Duchesse de Berry, -"Madame, your son is my King!" was to condemn the Revolution of July; -but to-day this verdict means nothing, because there is no opinion nor -duration in anything. In four and twenty hours, everything is changed: -I should be condemned to-morrow for the fact on which I was acquitted -to-day. - -I have been to leave my card on the jurymen and notably on M. -Chevet[494], one of the members of the "universal peerage." It was -easier for that worthy citizen to find a conscientious verdict in my -favour than it would have been for me to find in my pocket the money -necessary to add to the happiness of my acquittal the pleasure of -eating a good dinner at my judge's establishment: M. Chevet arbitrated -with more equity on the Legitimacy, the Usurpation and the author of -the _Génie du Christianisme_ than many publicists and censors. - - -PARIS, _April_ 1833. - -The _Mémoire sur la captivité de madame la duchesse de Berry_ -has obtained for me an immense popularity in the Royalist Party. -Deputations and letters have reached me from every quarter. I have -received from the North and South of France declarations of adhesion -covered with many thousands of signatures. All of these, referring to -my pamphlet, demand the liberation of Madame la Duchesse de Berry. -Fifteen hundred young men of Paris have come to congratulate me, not -without great excitement on the part of the police. I have received a -cup in silver gilt, with this inscription: - -TO CHATEAUBRIAND FROM THE LOYAL MEN OF VILLENEUVE (LOT-ET-GARONNE) - -A town in the South sent me some very good wine to fill this cup, but -I do not drink. Lastly, Legitimist France has taken as its motto the -words, "Madame, your son is my King!" and several newspapers have -adopted them as an epigraph; they have been engraved on necklaces -and rings. I am the first to have uttered, in the face of the -Usurpation, a truth which no one dared to speak, and, strange to say, -I believe less in the return of Henry V. than the most contemptible -_juste-milieu_ man or the most violent Republican. - -For the rest, I do not understand the word usurpation in the narrow -sense given to it by the Royalist Party; there would be many things -to say about this word, as about that of legitimacy: but there really -is usurpation, and usurpation of the worst kind, in the guardian who -plunders his ward and proscribes the orphan. All those grand phrases, -that "the country had to be saved," are so many pretexts furnished -to ambition by an immoral policy. Truly, ought we not to regard the -meanness of your usurpation as an effort of virtue on your part? Are -you Brutus[495], by chance, sacrificing his sons to the greatness of -Rome? - -I have been able, in the course of my life, to compare literary renown -and popularity. The former pleased me for a few hours, but that love -of renown soon passed. As for popularity, it found me indifferent, -because, in the Revolution, I have seen too much of men surrounded by -those masses which, after raising them on the shield, flung them into -the gutter. A democrat by nature, an aristocrat by habit, I would most -gladly sacrifice my fortune and my life to the people, provided I need -have little relation with the crowd. Anyhow, I was extremely sensible -of the impulse of the young men of July who carried me in triumph to -the Chamber of Peers, and this inasmuch as they did not carry me there -to be their leader or because I thought as they did: they were only -doing justice to an enemy; they recognised in me a man of honour and -liberty: that generosity touched me. But this other popularity which I -have lately acquired in my own party has caused me no emotion; there is -an icy barrier between the Royalists and myself: we want the same King; -with that exception, most of our wishes are opposed one to the other. - - - -[Footnote 407: This book was written in Paris, between the end of July -and the 8th of August 1832; at Basle, Lucerne and Lugano, between -August and October 1832; and again in Paris, between January and April -1833.--T.] - -[Footnote 408: John Fraser Frisell (1772-1846), a member of a Scotch -family, came to France at the age of eighteen to "see the Revolution," -out of curiosity. He was arrested and imprisoned at Dijon under the -Terror, and did not recover his liberty until the 18 Brumaire. The -First Consul authorized Frisell, "as a savant," to reside on the -Continent, at a time when all the English were under suspicion; and -he remained almost permanently in France and Italy, to the great -displeasure of his family. He wrote a great deal, but would consent -to the publication of only one of his works, _De la Constitution de -l'Angleterre_, which is remarkably well written in French. He made the -acquaintance of M. and Madame de Chateaubriand under the Empire and -remained most attached to them until his death, which shortly preceded -that of his two old friends. Frisell died at Torquay, in Devonshire, in -February 1846. _Cf._ an article by Mr. J. Fraser, entitled, _Un ami de -Chateaubriand_, in the _Correspondant_ of 25 September 1897.--B.] - -[Footnote 409: There is a slight error here. Chateaubriand, as well -as his friends Hyde de Neuville and Fitz-James, were arrested on the -16th of June. The details of his arrest are in the newspapers of the -17th, and Hyde de Neuville also gives the 16th as the date. Probably -this date of the 20th, in the _Mémoires de Outre-tombe_, is a copyist's -error, the more so inasmuch as, in the whole course of the Memoirs, -Chateaubriand has made no other mistake in his dates.--B.] - -[Footnote 410: M. Henri Joseph Gisquet.--B.] - -[Footnote 411: The _juste-milieu_ was the political system of -government which consisted in conciliating all opinions. Louis-Philippe -used it (after Montesquieu and others) in replying to a deputation from -the town of Gaillac, on the 29th of January, in these words: - -"As for our home policy, we shall strive to keep to a _juste milieu._" - -The phrase was very soon turned into one of general derision.--T.] - -[Footnote 412: Frédéric Benoît (1813-1832), aged 19, the son of a -magistrate at Vouxiers, had been sentenced to death on the eve of -Chateaubriand's arrest, 15 June 1832. He had killed his mother, on the -night of the 8th of November 1829, and his friend Alexandre Formage, a -youth of 17, on the 21st of July 1831.--B.] - -[Footnote 413: Richard Lovelace (1618-1658), the Cavalier poet, was -imprisoned by the Commons in 1642, subsequently released on £20,000 -bail, was abroad from 1646 to 1648 in the French service, taking part -in the Siege of Dunkirk, and was again incarcerated on his return to -England. He was released once more towards the close of 1649 and spent -the remainder of his life in want. His best-known prison poems include -his _To Althea from Prison_ and the lines commencing: - - Stone walls do not a prison make - Nor iron bars a cage.--T.] - - -[Footnote 414: Jean Baptiste Santeuil (1630-1697), a modern Latin poet, -almost as celebrated for his gaiety and eccentricities as for his -undoubted poetic talent.--T.] - -[Footnote 415: "The coffin sinks down and the unspotted roses."--T.] - -[Footnote 416: I omit a poem of sixteen lines, entitled, _Jeune fille -et jeune fleur_, on the death of Eliza Frisell.--T.] - -[Footnote 417: M. Nay was engaged to M. Gisquet's daughter.--T.] - -[Footnote 418: François Eugène Vidocq (1775-1857) was in early life -a soldier and a thief and was several times imprisoned. He became -connected with the Paris police as a detective in 1809 and resigned, as -chief of the detective force, in 1825. In 1832, he started a private -detective establishment, which was soon dosed by the Government. He was -the reputed author of a famous set of Memoirs and other works.--T.] - -[Footnote 419: Louis Henri Desmortiers had been appointed a counsellor -to the Paris Courts by the Restoration; the Revolution of 1830 made -him King's Attorney to the Tribunal of First Instance of the Seine. -These functions he preserved during the greater part of the reign of -Louis-Philippe; and he was therefore not an examining magistrate in -1832. The examining magistrate charged in the affair of Messieurs de -Chateaubriand, Hyde de Neuville and de Fitz-James was M. Poultier, who -"fulfilled his painful duty towards the accused with as much delicacy -as consideration" (_Mémoires du baron Hyde de Neuville_, vol. III. p. -496).--B.] - -[Footnote 420: Charles Guillaume Hello (1787-1850). He had been -appointed attorney-general at Rennes in 1830. He was the author of -_Philosophie de l'histoire de France_ and other works, and was the -father of M. Ernest Hello (1828-1885), author of _L'Homme, Paroles -de Dieu_, etc., which gave him an eminent rank among the writers and -thinkers of his time.--B.] - -[Footnote 421: - - "My name is Loyal, sirs, I come from Normandy, - And am a tipstaff, in despite of jealousy."--T.] - - -[Footnote 422: This is one of the very few errors of fact that occur in -the _Mémoires d'Outre-tombe_, nor is it a very serious one. M. Geoffroy -de Grandmaison, in his fine work on the _Congrégation_ (pp. 389 et -seq.), publishes the complete list of its members: M. Desmortiers' name -does not appear upon it.--B. - -The Congregation was an association of laymen, formed, under the -auspices of the Jesuits, to practise, under their direction, works of -charity and piety.--T.] - -[Footnote 423: Paul François Dubois (1793-1874) had founded the -_Globe_, in 1824, with Pierre Leroux. He sat as Deputy for Nantes from -1831 to 1848.--B.] - -[Footnote 424: Jean Jacques Ampère (1800-1864), son of the celebrated -physicist and a member of the French Academy. His fidelity to -Chateaubriand was the more meritorious inasmuch as he had conceived, -from his youth, an ardent passion for Madame Récamier which time was -unable to allay.--B.] - -[Footnote 425: Charles Lenormant (1802-1859) had married, in 1826, -Mademoiselle Amélie Cyvoct, niece to Madame Récamier.--B.] - -[Footnote 426: Charles Ledru, a young advocate gifted with a real -talent, was soon eclipsed by another republican advocate of the same -surname, Auguste Ledru. The latter, wishing to avoid the confusion -that would certainly have been established between himself and Charles -Ledru, added the name of his maternal great-grandmother to his own, and -became known as Ledru-Rollin.--B.] - -[Footnote 427: Charles Philipon (1800-1862), the brilliant draughtsman, -founder of the _Caricature_ (1831), the _Charivari_ (1834) and, after -1848, the _Journal amusant_, the _Musée français_ and the _Petit -journal pour rire._ It was during one of his many trials that Philipon -invented and drew the "pear" which was thenceforth to become the symbol -of the head of Louis-Philippe. The next day, the walls of Paris were -covered with it.--T.] - -[Footnote 428: He signs his verses, "J. Chopin, _employé au -cabinet._"--T.] - -[Footnote 429: I omit these twenty lines.--T.] - -[Footnote 430: Félix Barthe (1795-1863), after being linked with the -Carbonari and taking an active part in the Revolution of July, entered -M. Laffitte's dislocated ministry on the 27th of December 1830, to -replace the Minister of Public Instruction, M. Mérilhou. On the 12th -of March 1831, in the new Casimir-Périer Cabinet, he exchanged the -portfolio of Public Instruction for that of Justice. He kept the Seals -until the 4th of April 1834, when he fell with the Broglie Ministry. He -was then made a peer of France and President of the Audit Office. The -Second Empire made him a senator.--B.] - -[Footnote 431: M. Demangeat.--B.] - -[Footnote 432: Pierre Clément Bérard (1798--_circa_ 1890). During the -Hundred Days, being then seventeen years of age, he had enlisted in the -corps of Royal Volunteers of the Paris School of Law and accompanied -King Louis XVIII. to Ghent. In 1831 and 1832, he published a little -weekly pamphlet, the _Cancans_, whose title varied with every number: -_Cancans parisiens, Cancans accusateurs, Cancans courtisans, Cancans -inflexibles, Cancans saisis, Cancans prisonniers_, etc. Each issue -ended with a song. It was, as it were, a resurrection, after 1830, of -the _Actes des Apôtres_ of Rivarol, Champeenetz and their friends, -with the same violence and also the same pluck and spirit. Only, the -Cancans were edited, not by a company of wits, but by M. Bérard alone: -true, he was as witty as any four or forty. Seizures and prosecutions -rained upon the Cancans and their author, who was at last condemned to -fourteen years' imprisonment and a fine of thirteen thousand francs. -Fortunately, he succeeded in escaping to Holland, thus exchanging -prison for exile. In 1833, he published _Mon Voyage à Prague_ and then -went to Rome, where the Legitimists had founded a bank in which Bérard -accepted a clerkship. He was not again to leave the Eternal City, -where he died, not very many years ago, an impenitent Royalist. His -_Souvenirs sur Sainte-Pélagie en_ 1832 appeared in 1886.--B.] - -[Footnote 433: The reader will see in my account of my first journey -to Prague my conversation with Charles X. on the subject of this -loan.--_Author's Note_ (Paris, 1834). _Cf._ Vol. I, pp. 369-370.--T.] - -[Footnote 434: Amédée Simon Dominique Thierry (1797-1873). In 1810, he -was tutor to Talleyrand's grand-nephews and, in 1828, published his -_Histoire des Gaulois_, with great success. After the Days of July, he -was appointed Prefect of the Haute-Saône. Later he filled more than -one judicial office, under the Usurpation and the Second Empire, and -was made a senator in 1860. He continued throughout to produce his -historical works.--B.] - -[Footnote 435: _Cf._ AUGUSTIN THIERRY, _Récits des temps mérovingiens_: -Preface.--B.] - -[Footnote 436: The Comte d'Artois entered France by Vesoul, in February -1814, and from there, on the 27th of February, dated his Proclamation -to the French.--B.] - -[Footnote 437: Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1538), the great Dutch scholar -and satirist, settled at Basle in 1521 and died there on the 12th of -July 1528.--T.] - -[Footnote 438: The Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of -Prussia.--B.] - -[Footnote 439: Hans Holbein the Younger (_circa_ 1497-1543) lived in -Basle from 1515 to 1523 and from 1528 to 1532. The _Dance of Death_ at -Basle, if really Holbein, was painted in the earlier period.--T.] - -[Footnote 440: Martin Luther (1483-1546), founder of the heretical sect -called after his name.--T.] - -[Footnote 441: Giovanni de' Medici, Pope Leo X. (1475-1521), elected -Pope in 1513. It was during his Papacy, in the year 1517, that -the Reformation began with Luther's protest against the sale of -indulgences.--T.] - -[Footnote 442: Johann von Müller (1752-1809), a noted Swiss historian, -author of the _Geschichte der Schweizer_, etc.--T.] - -[Footnote 443: Walther Fürst, Arnold von Melchthal and Werner -Stauffacher were the three companions of William Tell, perhaps less -legendary than he, who, according to tradition, liberated their country -in the fourteenth century. The date of the oath on the Grütli, or -Rütli, is 8 November 1307.--T.] - -[Footnote 444: Hermann Gessler, the imperial magistrate in Uri and -Schwyz, said to have been shot by Tell in 1307.--T.] - -[Footnote 445: Saxo Grammaticus (_fl._ 13th century), the Danish -historian, whose chronicles contain the stories of William Tell, Hamlet -and other oral traditions, myths and legends.--T.] - -[Footnote 446: _Cf._ CHATEAUBRIAND, _Essai sur les révolutions_: the -chapter entitled, _La Suisse pauvre et vertueuse_, in which the author -describes as "very doubtful" the story of Tell and the apple.--B.] - -[Footnote 447: The Duc de Reichstadt had died on the 22nd of July 1832, -a month earlier than the date of Chateaubriand's journey.--T.] - -[Footnote 448: Alexander Count Suwaroff (1729-1800), after defeating -the French at Cassano, the Trebbia and Novi, in April, June and August -1799, was himself defeated by Masséna, who had already beaten one -Russian army at Zurich (25-26 September 1799). Suwaroff was recalled in -disgrace and died in the following year.--T.] - -[Footnote 449: - - "At Mount Adula's foot, amid a thousand reeds, - The still Rhine, proud of how his great stream speeds, - Slept with one hand upon his tilted urn, - To the grateful music of the just-born burn."--T.] - - -[Footnote 450: - - "One's country's to be found where'er the soul's enchanted."--T.] - - -[Footnote 451: St. Nicholas Bishop of Myra (_d. circa_ 342), the patron -saint of sailors, thieves, virgins and children. The Church honours St. -Nicholas on the 6th of December.--T.] - -[Footnote 452: Clara Wendel was one of a company of vagabonds arrested, -in 1825, for the murder, on the 15th September 1816, of Xavier Keller, -a State councillor of Lucerne, the cause of whose death had for many -years been a mystery. Revelations made by the band showed that Xavier -Keller had been the victim of a political crime, the instigators of -which were two official persons of Lucerne. Five individuals, including -a brother and sister of Clara Wendel, had been guilty of committing -this crime. The trial excited an European interest and ended in a -number of condemnations. Clara Wendel was sentenced to imprisonment for -life and served her sentence in the prison at Lucerne.--B.] - -[Footnote 453: On the 5th of June 1832, Alexandre Dumas had followed -the funeral of General Lamarque in the uniform of an artillery-man; it -was rumoured that he had distributed arms at the Porte Saint-Martin. -On the 9th of June, a newspaper announced that the author had been -arrested with arms in his hands and that he had been shot on the -morning of the 6th. An aide-de-camp of the King's hurried to his house, -found him in perfect health and informed him that the question of his -arrest had been seriously discussed. He was advised to go to spend a -month or two abroad, in order that he might be forgotten. He put his -dramatic affairs in order, obtained some money from Harel (no easy -matter) and, on the 21st of July 1832, left for Switzerland, furnished -with a regular passport. He returned to Paris at the commencement of -October. His _Impressions de Voyage_, the publication of which began -in 1833, have remained the best of his works. In the third volume, he -tells of his visit to the author of the _Génie du Christianisme_, in a -chapter entitled, _Les Poules de M. de Chateaubriand._--B.] - -[Footnote 454: _Cf._ Vol. I., p. 72, n. I.--T.] - -[Footnote 455: Both ladies are no more.--_Author's Note_ (Paris, 1836).] - -[Footnote 456: _Cf._ Vol. I., pp. 71-72.--T.] - -[Footnote 457: Béranger's letter is dated 19 August 1832; Armand -Carrel's 4 October 1834. They were both printed at the end of the -second volume of the _Congrès de Vérone._--B.] - -[Footnote 458: Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801), the Swiss poet and -theologian and founder of the so-called science of physiognomy, was -born and died at Zurich.--T.] - -[Footnote 459: Salomon Gessner (1730-1788), the poet, landscape-painter -and engraver was also born and died at Zurich.--T.] - -[Footnote 460: Madame Récamier had been very much alarmed by the -cholera, which had made many victims around her, in the Rue de Sèvres, -and had decided, in the month of August, to leave Paris and travel in -Switzerland. In spite of her real courage, and although she had often -been known to be prodigal and fearless in her attendance on persons -attacked by infectious complaints, she had an invincible and almost -superstitious terror of cholera. Was it a presentiment? She died of -cholera on the 11th of May 1849.--B.] - -[Footnote 461: Prince Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Comte de -Saint-Leu, later Prince President of the French Republic, later -Napoleon III. Emperor of the French (1808-1873), third son of Hortense -de Beauhamais and, putatively, of Louis King of Holland, younger -brother of Napoleon I.--T.] - -[Footnote 462: Ancona, in the Papal States, was held by the French from -1831 to 1837.--T.] - -[Footnote 463: Charles Parquin, an ex-officer of the Imperial Army, -had known Prince Louis since 1822. In 1824, he bought the estate of -Wolfsberg, situated near Arenenberg, and married Mademoiselle Cochelet, -who was a maid-of-honour of Queen Hortense and who had been brought -up with the Queen, when the latter was Mademoiselle de Beauhamais, at -Madame Campan's. Major Parquin took a most active part in the Strasburg -enterprise, 30 October 1836. He was arrested by the Prince's side, -tried and acquitted (6 January 1837).--B.] - -[Footnote 464: John Huss (1369-1415), the Bohemian reformer and -Wyclifite, was cited before the Council of Constance, in Baden, and -burned at the stake as a heretic on the 6th of July 1415.--T.] - -[Footnote 465: Jerome of Prague (_circa_ 1365-1416) was a -fellow-countryman, associate and follower of Huss. He was burned at -Constance on the 30th of May 1415.--T.] - -[Footnote 466: Constance was sacked by the Huns in the fifth -century.--T.] - -[Footnote 467: In the early part of the tenth century.--T.] - -[Footnote 468: 30 August to 5 October 1633.--T.] - -[Footnote 469: In 1796 and 1799.--T.] - -[Footnote 470: Charles III. Emperor of the Romans and II. King of -France (839-888), surnamed the Fat, died and was buried at the Abbey of -Reichenau, in the Lake of Constance, one year after his deposition.--T.] - -[Footnote 471: _Cf._ Vol. IV, p. 287, n. I.--T.] - -[Footnote 472: Narcisse Vieillard (1791-1857) had been through the -Campaigns of Russia (1812), Germany (1813) and France (1814). Queen -Hortense selected him as tutor for her eldest son, Charles Napoleon -Louis Bonaparte, and afterwards for the latter's brother, the future -Napoleon III. He sat as a deputy or as a representative of the people -from 1842 to 1846 and from 1848 to 1851; assisted in preparing and -carrying out the _coup d'État_ of the 2nd of December 1851 and was -appointed a senator in January 1852. His republicanism, however, -marched abreast with his Bonapartism, and he voted against the -restoration of the Empire.--B.] - -[Footnote 473: Cottreau was a friend of Prince Louis Napoleon's and -lived permanently at Arenenberg. He accompanied the Prince on a visit -to England.--B.] - -[Footnote 474: The Swiss defeated the Imperials at the Battle of -Sempach, on the Lake of Sempach, on the 9th of July 1386, thus securing -Swiss independence.--T.] - -[Footnote 475: LUKE, XXIV., 5.--T.] - -[Footnote 476: Byron abandoned England for good on the 25th of April -1816 and, in the summer of that year, spent some months at Diodati, -near Geneva. It was here that he wrote the third canto of _Childe -Harold_, the _Prisoner of Chillon_ and _Manfred_, the third act of -which, however, he subsequently rewrote.--T.] - -[Footnote 477: The Duchesse de Berry was arrested at Nantes on the 7th -of November 1832. On the 12th, Berryer walked into Chateaubriand's -study at Geneva and told him the news, without being able to give him -any details. Chateaubriand at once left for Paris.--B.] - -[Footnote 478: Félix Barthe.--T.] - -[Footnote 479: Marshal Soult combined the offices of President of the -Council and Minister for War.--T.] - -[Footnote 480: Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre Marquis de Pastoret -(1756-1840) filled various legal offices under Louis XVI. and was -Minister of Justice and the Interior for a short while. He emigrated -during the Terror and returned to France in 1795. After being elected -to the Council of the Five Hundred, he was again obliged to flee, and -remained in Switzerland till 1800. He obtained a professorial chair -at the College of France in 1804 and became a senator in 1809. Under -the Restoration, he received a peerage, was appointed President of the -House of Peers in 1820, a minister of State in 1826 and Chancellor -of France in 1829. In 1834, he was chosen to be tutor to the Duc de -Bordeaux. Pastoret was the author of several important works, including -a fine _Histoire générale de la législation des peuples_, and was a -member of the French Academy and of the Academies of Inscriptions and -of Moral Science.--T.] - -[Footnote 481: The text of the letter of the 12th November ran as -follows: - - "MADAME, - - "You will think me very daring to come to importune you at such - a moment to beg you to grant me a favour, the last ambition of - my life: I desire ardently to be chosen by you as one of your - defenders. I have no personal claim to the high favour which I - solicit of your new grandeurs; but I dare to ask it in memory of a - Prince of whom you deigned to name me the historian, and I hope for - it again as the price of the blood of my family. My brother had the - honour to die with his illustrious grandfather, M. de Malesherbes, - on the same day, at the same hour, for the same cause and on the - same scaffold. - - "I am, etc. - - "CHATEAUBRIAND."] - -[Footnote 482: Jean Marie Pardessus (1772-1853), a meritorious jurist -and historian. He was a member of the various legislative assemblies -from 1806 to 1830 and occupied different professorial and legal -offices, which he relinquished after the Usurpation, devoting the -remainder of his life to his historical and critical writings on -law.--T.] - -[Footnote 483: M. Mandaroux-Vertamy was one of Chateaubriand's -executors.--T.] - -[Footnote 484: Brennus, the leader of the Senonian Gauls who overran -Italy and captured Rome, about 390 B.C., laid siege to the Capitol for -six months, until bought off by the garrison with 1,000 pounds of gold. -According to a later legend, when the gold was being weighed, a Roman -tribune remonstrated against the use of false weights by the Gauls. -Brennus threw his sword into the scale with the famous exclamation, _Væ -victis!_--T.] - -[Footnote 485: This pamphlet was published on the 29th of December -1832.--B.] - -[Footnote 486: The Duchesse de Berry was betrayed by Simon Deutz, a -converted Jew, to Thiers, for a sum variously named as 500,000 and -100,000 francs. She was discovered in hiding, with her confidants, -behind the movable slab or plate of a chimney, in which a fire had been -lighted by the gendarmes.--T.] - -[Footnote 487: LUKE, XXII., 3.--T.] - -[Footnote 488: St. Laurence (_d._ 258) was martyred by being roasted -alive in an iron chair or on a gridiron in Rome. The Church honours him -on the 10th of August.--T.] - -[Footnote 489: Lucius Septimus Severus, Roman Emperor (146-211). He -became Emperor in 193; his persecution of the Christians was decreed in -201. Severus died in Britain, at York.--T.] - -[Footnote 490: This is the text of the declaration, which was inserted -in the _Moniteur_ of the 26th of February 1833: - - "Driven by circumstances and by the measures ordered by the - Government, although I had the gravest reasons to keep my marriage - secret, I think it my duty to myself, as well as to my children, to - declare that I was secretly married during my residence in Italy. - - "MARIE-CAROLINE. - - "At the CITADEL OF BLAYE, 22 _February_ 1833."--B.] - -[Footnote 491: Chateaubriand appeared before the Assize Court of the -Seine on the 27th of February 1833. With him were prosecuted the -editors of the _Quotidienne_, the _Gazette de France_, the _Revenant_, -the _Écho français_, the _Mode_, the _Courrier de l'Europe_ and a young -student, M. Victor Thomas, who had, on the 4th of January, acted as -spokesman for 1,200 young men who had gone to make a display of their -enthusiasm to Chateaubriand and who had repeated with him: - -"Madame, your son is my King!" - -All were acquitted after an admirable speech for the defense by M. -Berryer, who appeared for the _Quotidienne_ and the _Gazette de -France._ Maître Charles Ledru appeared for the defense of the _Écho -français_ and, incidentally and, as it seems, somewhat unfortunately, -for Chateaubriand.--B.] - -[Footnote 492: Jean Charles Persil (1785-1870) was a deputy from 1830 -to 1839, a peer of France from 1839 to 1848 and a Councillor of State -under the Second Empire. Immediately after the Revolution of July, he -was appointed Attorney-general to the Royal Court of Paris. His zeal -in prosecuting the republican and legitimist papers alike won him a -formidable unpopularity.--B.] - -[Footnote 493: M. de Falloux, who had made his way into court in -a barrister's robes, describes the scene in his Memoirs. When the -presiding judge had announced the acquittal of all the defendants, the -crowd pressed around Berryer and Chateaubriand. The latter was obliged -to cling to M. de Falloux' arm so as not to be thrown down. - -"I don't like fuss!" he kept saying. "I don't like fuss! Take me -quickly to my carriage!" - -But on the steps the cheers were redoubled: - -"Long live Chateaubriand! The liberty of the press for ever!" - -They wanted to unharness the horses and yoke themselves to the carriage: - -"Don't!" he entreated. "It's very far, it's very far, you can't do it!" - -At last the driver succeeded in clearing a way, and set out at a -gallop. (_Cf._ FALLOUX, _Mémoires d'un royaliste_, vol. I. p. 60.)--B.] - -[Footnote 494: The famous restaurateur in the Palais-Royal. Alas, at -the moment of writing this note, Chevet's has just put out its fires -and closed its doors!--B.] - -[Footnote 495: Lucius Junius Brutus, Roman Consul (_fl._. 509 B.C.), -condemned his own sons, Titus and Tiberius, to death, for conspiring to -restore Tarquin.--T.] - - - - -BOOK III[496] - - -The Infirmerie de Marie-Thérèse--Letter from Madame la Duchesse -de Berry from the Citadel of Blaye--Departure from Paris--M. de -Talleyrand's calash--Basle--Journal from Paris to Prague, from the 14th -to the 24th of May 1833, written in pencil in the carriage, in ink at -the inns--The banks of the Rhine--Falls of the Rhine--Mösskirch--A -storm--The Danube--Ulm--Blenheim--Louis XIV.--An Hercynian forest--The -Barbarians--Sources of the Danube--Ratisbon--Decrease in social -life as one goes farther from France--Religious feelings of the -Germans--Arrival at Waldmünchen--The Austrian custom-house--I am -refused admission into Bohemia--Stay at Waldmünchen--Letters to -Count Choteck--Anxiety--The Viaticum--The chapel--My room at the -inn--Description of Waldmünchen--Letter from Count Choteck--The -peasant-girl--I leave Waldmünchen and enter Bohemia--A pine -forest--Conversation with the moon--Pilsen--The high-roads of the -North-View of Prague. - - -PARIS, RUE D'ENFER, 9 _May_ 1833. - -I have brought the sequence of the most recent facts up to this day; -shall I at last be able to resume my work? This work consists of the -different portions of these Memoirs which are not yet finished, and -I shall have some difficulty in applying myself to them again _ex -abrupto_, for my head is filled with the things of the moment; I am -not in the mood suited for gathering my past in the calm where it is -sleeping, agitated though it was when in the state of life. I have -taken up my pen to write; what on and what about I know not. - -On glancing through the journal in which, for the last six months, I -have kept a record of what I do and of what happens to me, I see that -most of the pages are dated from the Rue d'Enfer. - -The small house which I occupy near the barrier may be worth sixty -thousand francs or so; but, at the time of the rise in the price of -ground, I bought it much dearer and I have never been able to pay -for it: it was a question of saving the Infirmerie de Marie-Thérèse, -founded by the care of Madame de Chateaubriand and adjoining the house; -a company of builders was proposing to establish a café and _montagnes -russes_[497] in the aforesaid house, a noise which does not go very -well with the death-agony. - -Am I not glad of my sacrifices? Certainly: one is always glad to -succour the unfortunate; I would willingly share the little I possess -with those in need; but I do not know that this disposition amounts -to virtue in my case. My goodness is like that of a condemned man who -is lavish of that for which he will have no use in an hour's time. In -London, the convict whom they are about to hang sells his skin for -drink: I do not sell mine, I give it to the grave-diggers. - -Once the house was bought, the best that I could do was to live in it; -I have arranged it as it is. From the windows of the drawing-room one -sees first what the English call a "pleasure-ground," a proscenium -consisting of a lawn and some blocks of shrubs. Beyond this enclosure, -on the other side of wall, the height of a man's breast, surmounted by -a white, lozenged fence, is a field of mixed cultivation, reserved for -the provender of the cattle of the Infirmary. Beyond this field comes -another piece of ground separated from the field by another breast-high -wall in green open-work, interlaced with viburnums and Bengal roses; -these marches of my State embrace a clump of trees, a meadow and an -alley of poplars. This nook is extremely solitary; it does not smile to -me like Horace' nook: "_angulus ridet._[498]" On the contrary, I have -sometimes shed tears there. The proverb says that "youth must have its -fling." The decline of life also has some freaks to overlook: - - Les pleurs et la pitié, - Sorte d'amour ayant ses charmes[499]. - -My trees are of a thousand kinds. I have planted twenty-three cedars of -Lebanon and two druid oaks: they make game of their short-lived master, -_brevem dominum._ A mall, a double avenue of chesnuts, leads from the -upper to the lower garden; the ground slopes rapidly along the field -between. - -I did not choose these trees, as at the Vallée aux Loups, in memory of -the spots which I have visited: he who takes pleasure in recollection -cherishes hopes. But, when one has no children, nor youth, nor -country, what attachment can one bear to trees whose foliage, -flowers, fruits are no longer the mysterious numerals employed in the -calculation of the periods of illusion. In vain people say to me, "You -are growing younger:" do they think that they will make me take my -wisdom-teeth for my milk-teeth? And even the latter have been given me -only to eat a bitter loaf under the Royalty of the 7th of August. For -the rest, my trees are not much interested to know whether they serve -as a calendar for my pleasures or as a death-certificate of my years; -they increase daily, from the day that I decrease: they wed those of -the grounds of the Foundling Hospital and the Boulevard d'Enfer which -surround me. I do not see a single house; I should be less separated -from the world at two hundred leagues from Paris. I hear the bleating -of the goats which feed the abandoned orphans. Ah, if I had been, like -these, in the arms of St. Vincent de Paul[500]! Born of a frailty, -obscure and unknown as they are, I should to-day be some nameless -workman, having no concern with men, nor knowing either why or how I -entered life or how and why I was to quit it. - -[Sidenote: Infirmerie de Marie-Thérèse.] - -By pulling down a wall, I have placed myself in communication with -the Infirmerie de Marie Thérèse; I find myself at the same time in -a monastery, a farm, an orchard and a park. In the morning, I wake -to the sound of the _Angelus_; I hear from my bed the singing of the -priests in the chapel; I see from my window a Calvary which stands -between a walnut-tree and an elder-tree: cows, chickens, pigeons and -bees; sisters of Charity in black taminy gowns and white dimity caps, -convalescent women, old ecclesiastics go roaming among the lilacs, -azaleas, calycanthuses and rhododendrons of the flower-garden, among -the rose-trees, gooseberry-bushes, strawberry-plants and vegetables of -the kitchen-garden. Some of my octogenarian vicars were exiled with me: -after mingling my poverty with theirs on the lawns of Kensington, I -have offered the grass-plots of my hospice to their failing foot-steps; -they there drag their pious old age like the folds of the veil of the -sanctuary. - -I have as a companion a fat red-gray cat with black cross stripes, -born at the Vatican in the Raphael Gallery: Leo XII. brought it up in a -skirt of his robe, where I used to watch it with envy, when the Pontiff -gave me my audiences as Ambassador. On the death of the successor of -St. Peter, I inherited the cat without a master, as I have told in -writing of my Roman Embassy. They called it Micetto, surnamed the -Pope's Cat. In this capacity it enjoys an extreme consideration among -pious souls. I strive to make it forget exile, the Sistine Chapel and -the sun of Michael Angelo's dome, on which it used to take its walks -far removed from earth. - -My house and the different buildings of the Infirmary, with their -chapel and the Gothic sacristy, present the appearance of a colony -or hamlet. On ceremonial days, religion hiding under my roof, the -Old Monarchy in my alms-house form up in marching order. Processions -composed of all our valetudinarians, preceded by the young girls of -the neighbourhood, pass under the trees, singing, with the Blessed -Sacrament, the cross and the banner. Madame de Chateaubriand follows -them, beads in hand, proud of the flock which is the object of her -solicitude. The blackbirds whistle, the red-breasts warble, the -nightingales compete against the hymns. I am carried back to the -Rogations, of which I have described the rustic pomp[501]; from the -theory of Christianity, I have passed to its practice. - -My home faces west. In the evening, the tree-tops lighted from behind -imprint their black, serrate outlines on the horizon. My youth returns -at that hour; it revives those lapsed days which time has reduced -to the unsubstantiality of phantoms. When the constellations pierce -through their blue arch, I remember that splendid firmament which -I admired from the bosom of the American forests or the lap of the -Ocean. The night is more favourable than the day to the traveller's -reminiscences: it hides from his eyes the landscapes that would -remind him of the regions which he inhabits; it shows him only the -luminaries, which look the same under the different latitudes of the -same hemisphere. Then he recognises those stars which he contemplated -in such a country, at such a time; the thoughts which he entertained, -the feelings which he underwent in the different portions of the world -shoot up and fix themselves at the same point in the sky. - -[Sidenote: Life at the Infirmary.] - -We hear speak of the world, in the Infirmary, only at the two public -collections and a little on Sundays: on those days, our hospice -changes into a kind of parish-church. The Sister Superior pretends -that beautiful ladies come to Mass in the hope of seeing me; skilful -manager that she is, she lays their curiosity under contribution: by -promising to show me to them, she attracts them to the laboratory; once -she has entrapped them, she forces sweet-stuff on them, willy-nilly, -in exchange for money. She makes me serve at the sale of the chocolate -manufactured for the profit of her patients, even as La Martinière took -me into partnership for the trade in the gooseberry-syrup which he used -to quaff to the success of his love-affairs[502]. The sainted woman -also steals stumps of quills from Madame de Chateaubriand's ink-stand; -she trades in them among the thorough-bred Royalists, declaring that -with those precious stumps were written the "superb _Mémoire sur la -captivité de madame la duchesse de Berry._" - -A few good pictures of the Spanish and Italian Schools, a Virgin by -Guérin, the _St. Theresa_, the last master-piece of the painter of -_Corinne_[503], make us attached to the arts. As for history, we shall -soon have at the hospice a sister of the Marquis de Favras and a -daughter of Madame Roland: the Monarchy and the Republic have set me to -expiate their ingratitude and to feed their invalids. - -All are anxious to be received at Marie-Thérèse. The poor women who -are obliged to leave when they have recovered their health take up -their lodgings near the Infirmary, in the hope of falling ill again -and returning to it. Nothing smacks of the hospital: the Jewess, the -Protestant, the Catholic, the foreigner, the Frenchwoman receive the -cares of a delicate charity disguising itself as an affectionate -relationship; each afflicted woman seems to have found her mother. I -have seen a Spaniard, beautiful as Dorothea the "Pearl of Seville," -die at sixteen of consumption, in the common dormitory, congratulating -herself upon her happiness, looking as she smiled, with great, black, -half-dimmed eyes, a pale and emaciated face, at Madame la Dauphine, -who asked after her and assured her that she would soon be well. She -expired that same evening, far from the Mosque of Cordova and the banks -of the Guadalquivir, her native stream: - -"'What are you?' - -"'A Spaniard.' - -"'A Spaniard and here[504]!'" - - -We have many widows of knights of the Holy Ghost among our frequenters; -they bring with them the only thing that remains to them, the portraits -of their husbands in the uniform of a captain of foot: a white coat -with rose-pink or sky-blue facings, with their hair dressed _à l'oiseau -royal._ They are put in the lumber-room. I cannot look at the regiment -of them without laughing: if the Old Monarchy had survived, I should -to-day be adding to the number of those portraits, I should be acting -as the solace of my grand-nephews in some deserted gallery: - -"That's your great-uncle François, the captain in the Navarre Regiment: -he was a very witty man! He wrote the riddle in the _Mercure_ beginning -with the words, 'Cut off my head,' and the fugitive poem, in the -_Almanach des Muses_, called the _Cri du cœur._" - -When I am tired of my gardens, the plain of Montrouge takes their -place. I have seen that plain change: what have I not seen change! -Twenty-five years ago, I used to pass by the Barrière du Maine when -going to Méréville, to the Marais, to the Vallée aux Loups; to the -right and left of the road one saw only mills, the wheels of the -cranes at the stone-pits and the nursery-garden of Cels, Rousseau's -old friend. Desnoyers built his rooms of a "hundred covers" for the -soldiers of the Imperial Guard, who came to clink glasses between each -battle won, each kingdom overthrown. A few public-houses stood round -the mills, from the Barrière du Maine to the Barrière du Montparnasse. -Higher up were the _Moulin janséniste_ and Lauzun's pleasure-house, by -way of a contrast. Near the public-houses, acacias were planted, the -poor man's shade, even as seltzer-water is the beggar's champagne. A -travelling theatre fixed the migratory population of the public-house -balls; a village was formed with a paved street, song-writers and -gendarmes, the Amphions and Cecropses of the police. - -While the living were settling down, the dead were claiming their -place. A cemetery was fenced in, not without opposition on the part of -the drunkards, in an enclosure containing a ruined mill, like the "Tour -des Abois:" there death brings every day the corn which it has gleaned; -a mere wall separates it from the dancing, the music, the nightly -uproar; the sounds of a moment, the marriages of an hour separate them -from infinite silence, endless night and eternal nuptials. - -I often stroll through this cemetery younger than myself, in which the -worms that gnaw the dead are not yet dead; I read the epitaphs: how -many women between sixteen and thirty years old have become the prey of -the tomb! Happy they to have lived only in their youth! The Duchesse -de Gèvres, the last drop of the blood of Du Guesclin, a skeleton of -another age, dozes in the midst of the plebeian sleepers. - -In this new exile, I already have old friends: M. Lemoine lies there; -he was secretary to M. de Montmorin and was bequeathed to me by Madame -de Beaumont. He used to bring me almost every evening, when I was in -Paris, the simple conversation which I like so much, when it is joined -to goodness of heart and singleness of character. My sick and wearied -mind finds relaxation in a healthy and restful mind. I left the ashes -of M. Lemoine's noble patroness on the banks of the Tiber. - -[Sidenote: My daily walks.] - -The boulevards which encompass the Infirmary share my walks with the -cemetery; I no longer dream there: having no future, I have no dreams -left. A stranger to the new generations, I appear to them a dusty and -very bare wallet-bearer; scarce am I covered now with a rag of docked -days at which time gnaws, even as the herald-at-arms used to cut the -jacket of an inglorious knight. I am glad to stand aside. I like to -be at a musket-shot's distance from the barrier, on the edge of a -high-road and always ready to set out. From the foot of the mile-stone, -I watch the mail pass: my image and life's. - -When I was in Rome, in 1828, I formed a plan to build, in Paris, at -the end of my hermitage, a green-house and a gardener's cottage, all -to be paid for out of the savings of my embassy and the fragments of -antiquities found in my excavations at Torre Vergata. M. de Polignac -assumed office; I sacrificed to the liberties of my country a place -which charmed me; relapsed into poverty, good-bye to my green-house: -_fortuna vitrea est._ - -The evil habit of paper and ink brings about that one cannot prevent -one's self from scribbling. I have taken up my pen, not knowing what -I was going to write, and have scrawled this description, at least a -third too long: if I have time, I will cut it down. - -I must ask pardon of my friends for the bitterness of some of my -thoughts. I can laugh only with my lips; I have the spleen, a physical -melancholy, a real complaint; whoever has read these Memoirs has seen -what my lot has been. I was not a swimmer's stroke from my mother's -breast before the torments had assailed me. I have wandered from -ship-wreck to shipwreck; I feel a curse upon my life, a burden too -heavy for that hut of reeds. Let not those whom I love, therefore, -think themselves denied; let them excuse me, let them allow my fever to -pass: between those attacks, my heart is wholly theirs. - - -I had written thus much on these loose pages, flung pell-mell on my -table and blown about by the wind that entered through my open windows, -when they handed me the following letter and Note from Madame la -Duchesse de Berry. Come, let us return once more to the second part of -my double life, the practical part: - - "BLAYE CITADEL, 7 _May_ 1833. - - "I am painfully annoyed at the refusal of the Government to allow - you to come to me, after the two requests which I have made. Of - all the numberless vexations which I have had to undergo, this is - certainly the most painful. I had so many things to tell you, so - much advice to ask of you! Since I must relinquish the thought of - seeing you, I will at least try, by the only means left to me, to - send you the commission which I intended to give you and which you - will accomplish: for I rely without reserve on your devotion to my - son. I charge you therefore, monsieur, specially to go to Prague - and tell my kinsfolk that, if I refused until the 22nd of February - to declare my secret marriage, my design was the better to serve - my son's cause and to prove that a mother, a Bourbon, was not - afraid to endanger her life. I proposed to make my marriage known - only when my son came of age; but the threats of the Government, - the moral tortures, driven to the utmost degree, decided me to - make my declaration. In the ignorance in which I am left as to the - period at which my liberty will be restored to me, after so many - frustrated hopes, the time has come to give to my family and to - the whole of Europe an explanation which shall prevent injurious - suppositions. I would have liked to be able to give it earlier; - but absolute sequestration and unsurmountable difficulties in - communicating with the outside have prevented me until now. You - will tell my family that I was married in Italy to Count Hector - Lucchesi-Palli, of the Princes of Campo-Franco. - - "I ask you, O Monsieur de Chateaubriand, to convey to my dear - children the expression of all my affection for them. Be sure to - tell Henry that I rely more than ever on all his efforts to become - daily worthier of the love and admiration of Frenchmen. Tell Louise - how happy I should be to embrace her and that her letters have been - my only consolation. Lay my homage at the King's feet and give my - affectionate regards to my brother and my kind sister. I ask you - to report to me, wherever I may be, the wishes of my children and - my family. Shut up within the walls of Blaye, I find a comfort in - having such an interpreter as Monsieur le Vicomte de Chateaubriand; - he can reckon on my attachment for all time. - - "MARIE-CAROLINE." - - [Sidenote: Letters from Madame.] - - NOTE - - "I have felt a great satisfaction at the agreement that reigns - between you and M. le Marquis de Latour-Maubourg[505], as I attach - a great value to this in the interest of my son. - - "You can show Madame la Dauphine the letter which I am writing to - you. Assure my sister that, so soon as I have recovered my liberty, - I shall think nothing more urgent than to send her all the papers - relating to political affairs. My great wish would have been to - proceed to Prague so soon as I was free; but the sufferings of all - kinds that I have undergone have so greatly destroyed my health - that I shall be obliged to stop some time in Italy so as to recover - a little and not to frighten my poor children too much by the - change in me. Study my son's character: his good qualities, his - inclinations, even his faults; you will tell the King, Madame la - Dauphine and myself what there is to correct, to change, to make - perfect, and you will let France know what she has to expect from - her young King. - - "Through my different relations with the Emperor of Russia, I - know that he has on several occasions very favourably received - propositions for a marriage between my son and the Princess - Olga[506]. M. de Choulot will give you the most precise information - touching the persons who are at present at Prague. - - "Desiring to remain French above all, I ask you to obtain leave - from the King for me to keep my title of Princess and my name. The - mother[507] of the King of Sardinia[508] continues to call herself - Princess of Carignan in spite of her marriage with M. de Montléart, - to whom she has given the title of prince. Marie-Louise Duchess - of Parma kept her title of Empress, when she married Count von - Neipperg, and remained the guardian of her son: her other children - are called Neipperg. - - "I beg you to set out as promptly as possible for Prague, as I - desire more eagerly than I can tell you that you should arrive in - time for my family to learn all these details only through you. - - "I wish the fact of your departure to be as little known as - possible, or at least that no one will be aware that you are the - bearer of a letter from me, so as not to reveal my only means of - correspondence, which is so precious, although very rare. M. le - Comte Lucchesi[509], my husband, is descended from one of the - four oldest families in Sicily, the only ones that remain of - the twelve companions of Tancred. This family has always been - noted for the noblest devotion to the cause of its kings. The - Prince de Campo-Franco, Lucchesi's father, was First Lord of the - Bed-chamber to my father[510]. The present King of Naples[511], - having an entire confidence in him, has placed him with his young - brother[512], the Viceroy of Sicily. I do not speak to you of his - feelings; they agree with ours in every respect. - - [Sidenote: My mission to Prague.] - - "Convinced as I am that the only way to be understood by the - French is always to address to them the language of honour and to - make them look towards glory, I have had the thought of marking - the commencement of my son's reign by joining Belgium to France. - Count Lucchesi was charged by me to make the first overtures in - this matter to the King of Holland[513] and the Prince of Orange; - and he was of great aid in obtaining a good hearing for them. I - was not so fortunate as to conclude this treaty, the object of all - my wishes; but I believe that there are still chances of success: - before leaving the Vendée, I gave M. le Maréchal de Bourmont powers - to continue this affair; no one is more capable than he to carry - it to a successful issue, because of the esteem which he enjoys in - Holland. - - "M. C. - - "BLAYE, 7 _May_ 1833. - - "As I am not certain of being able to write to the Marquis de - Latour-Maubourg, try to see him before your departure. You can - tell him whatever you think fit, but in the most absolute secrecy. - Arrange with him as to the direction to be given to the newspapers." - -I was moved at reading these documents. The daughter of so many kings, -that woman fallen from so high a station, after closing her ear to -my counsels had the noble courage to apply to me, to forgive me for -foreseeing the failure of her enterprise: her confidence went to my -heart and honoured me. Madame de Berry had judged me rightly; the very -nature of that enterprise which made her lose all did not alienate -me. To play for a throne, glory, the future and destiny is no vulgar -thing: the world understands that a princess can be an heroic mother. -But what must be consigned to execration, what is unexampled in history -is the immodest torture inflicted on a weak woman, alone, cut off from -assistance, overwhelmed by all the forces of a government conspiring -against her, as though it were a question of conquering a formidable -Power. Parents themselves abandoning their daughter to the laughter of -the lackeys, holding her by her four limbs so that she may be delivered -in public, calling the authorities from their comer, the gaolers, -spies, passers-by, to see the child brought forth from their prisoner's -womb, even as though they had called France to witness the birth of -her King! And what prisoner? The grand-daughter of Henry IV.! And what -mother? The mother of the orphan whose throne they were occupying! Do -the hulks contain a family so low-born as to conceive the thought of -branding one of its children with so great an ignominy? Would it not -have been nobler to kill Madame la Duchesse de Berry rather than submit -her to the most tyrannous humiliation? Whatever indulgence was shown in -this business belongs to the century, whatever infamy to the Government - -Madame la Duchesse de Berry's letter and Note are remarkable in more -than one place: the portion relating to the incorporation of Belgium -and the marriage of Henry V. shows a head capable of serious things; -the portion concerning the Family in Prague is touching. The Princess -fears that she will be obliged to stop in Italy, "so as to recover a -little and not to frighten her poor children too much by the change in -her." What can be sadder and more sorrowful! She adds: - - "I ask you, O Monsieur de Chateaubriand, to convey to my dear - children the expression of all my affection," etc. - -O Madame la Duchesse de Berry, what can I do for you, I a weak creature -already half broken-down? But how to refuse anything to such words as -these: - - "Shut up within the walls of Blaye, I find a comfort in having such - an interpreter as Monsieur de Chateaubriand; he can reckon on my - attachment for all time." - -Yes: I will set out on the last and greatest of my embassies; I shall -go on the part of the prisoner of Blaye to find the prisoner of the -Temple[514]; I shall negociate a new family compact, take the kisses of -a captive mother to her exiled children and present letters in which -courage and misfortune accredit me to innocence and virtue. - - -A letter for Madame la Dauphine and a note for the two children were -added to the letter addressed to me. - -There were left to me, of my past grandeurs, a brougham in which I had -once shone at the Court of George IV. and a travelling-calash, built in -former days for the use of the Prince de Talleyrand. I had the latter -repaired, in order to make it capable of going against nature; for, by -origin and habit, it is disinclined to run after fallen kings. On the -14th of May, the anniversary of the murder of Henry IV., at half-past -eight in the evening, I set out in search of Henry V., child, orphan -and outlaw. - -I was not without anxiety as to my passport: taken out at the Foreign -Office, it bore no description, and it was dated eleven months back; -it had been delivered for Switzerland and Italy and had already served -to enable me to leave France and return; different visas witnessed -these several circumstances. I did not care either to have it renewed -or to ask for a fresh one. The police of every country would have, -been warned, every telegraph set in motion; at every custom-house they -would have searched my trunks, my carriage, my person. If my papers had -been seized, what a pretext for persecution, what domiciliary visits, -what arrests! What a prolongation of the royal captivity! For it would -have been proved that the Princess had secret means of correspondence -outside. It was therefore impossible for me to call attention to my -departure by asking for a passport: I placed my trust in my star. - -[Sidenote: I leave for Prague.] - -Avoiding the too much beaten road of Frankfort and that of Strasburg, -which runs under the line of telegraphs, I took the Basle Road with -Hyacinthe Pilorge, my secretary, used to all my fortunes, and Baptiste, -my _valet de chambre_ when I was "My Lord," and once more plain _valet_ -on the downfall of My Lordship[515]: we get in and out of the carriage -together. My cook, the famous Montmirel, retired when I left the -ministry, declaring that he would not return "to office" till I did. -It had been wisely decided, by the Introducer of Ambassadors under the -Restoration, that any ambassador who died re-entered "private life:" -Baptiste had re-entered domestic service. - -When we reached Altkirch, the frontier stage, a gendarme appeared and -asked for my passport. On seeing my name, he told me that he had served -in the Spanish Campaign, in 1823, under my nephew Christian, a captain -in the Dragoons of the Guard. Between Altkirch and Saint-Louis, I met -a rector and his parishioners; they were making a procession against -the cock-chafers, nasty insects much multiplied since the Days of July. -At Saint-Louis, the officers of the custom-house, who knew me, let me -pass. I arrived gaily at the gate of Basle, where I was met by the old -Swiss drum-major who, in the previous month of August, had inflicted on -me "a liddle quarandine of a quarder of an hour;" but the cholera was -over and I put up at the Three Kings, on the banks of the Rhine; it was -ten o'clock on the morning of the 17th of May. - -The landlord procured me a travelling footman called Schwartz, a native -of Basle, to act as my interpreter in Bohemia. He spoke German just as -my good Joseph, the Milanese tinman, spoke Greek, in Messenia, when -enquiring for the ruins of Sparta. - -On the same day, the 17th of May, at six o'clock in the evening, I -moved out of port. As I stepped into the calash, I was amazed to see -the Altkirch gendarme among the crowd; I did not know if he had not -been sent after me: he had simply escorted the mail from France. I gave -him some money to drink to the health of his old captain. - -A school-boy came up to me and threw a paper to me with the -inscription, "To the Virgil of the Nineteenth Century;" it contained -this passage, altered from the _Æneid_: - - Macte animo, generose puer[516]. - -And the postillion whipped up the horses and I drove off quite proud -of my high renown at Basle, quite astonished at being Virgil, quite -charmed to be called a child: "_generose puer._" - - -[Sidenote: The Rhine.] - -I crossed the bridge, leaving the burgesses and peasants at war in the -midst of their Republic[517] and fulfilling in their own fashion the -part which they are called upon to play in the general transformation -of society. I went up the right bank of the Rhine and contemplated with -a certain sadness the high hills of the Canton of Basle. The exile -which I had come to seek last year in the Alps seemed to me a happier -life's ending, a gentler lot than the affairs of empire in which I had -re-engaged. Did I cherish the smallest hope for Madame la Duchesse de -Berry or her son? No; and I was, moreover, convinced that, in spite -of my recent services, I should find no friends in Prague. One who -has taken the oath to Louis-Philippe and who nevertheless praises the -fatal Ordinances must be more acceptable to Charles X. than I, who have -never forsworn myself. It is too much for a king that one should twice -have been in the right: flattering treachery is preferred to austere -devotion. I went, therefore, going to Prague even as the Sicilian -soldier who was hung in Paris at the time of the League went to the -gallows; the confessor of the Neapolitans tried to put heart into him -by saying on the way: - -"_Allegramente! Allegramente!_" - -Thus sped my thoughts while the horses were drawing me onwards; -but, when I thought of the misfortunes of the mother of Henry V., I -reproached myself for my regrets. - -The banks of the Rhine flying along my carriage diverted me pleasantly: -when one looks at a landscape out of a window, even though he be -dreaming of other things, a reflection of the picture which he has -under his eyes nevertheless enters into his mind. We drove through -meadows decked with the flowers of May; the green was fresh in the -woods, orchards and hedges. Horses, donkeys and cows, pigs, dogs and -sheep, hens and pigeons, geese and turkeys were in the fields with -their masters. The Rhine, that warlike stream, seemed pleased in the -midst of that pastoral scene, like an old soldier quartered, on his -march, on husbandmen. - -The next morning, the 18th of May, before reaching Schaffhausen, I was -driven to the Falls of the Rhine; I stole a few moments from the fall -of kingdoms to improve myself at its image. I should have done well for -myself to end my days in the castle overlooking the chasm. I placed at -Niagara the dream of Atala, not yet realized; I met at Tivoli another -dream, already passed away upon earth: who knows if, in the keep -standing over the Falls of the Rhine, I should not have found a fairer -vision which, but now wandering on its banks, would have consoled me -for all the shades that I had lost! - -From Schaffhausen I continued my road towards Ulm. The country presents -tilled basins, in which detached and wooded hillocks bathe their feet. -In those woods, which were then being cultivated for sale, the eye saw -oaks, some felled, others left standing: the first stripped of their -bark where they lay, their trunks and branches white and bare, like -the skeleton of a strange beast; the second bearing the fresh green of -spring on their hirsute and dark, moss-grown limbs: they combined what -is never found in man, the two-fold beauty of old age and youth. - -In the fir-plantations of the plain, uprootings had left empty spaces; -the land had been turned into meadows. Those circuses of grass in the -middle of the slate-grey forests have something severe and smiling and -recall the prairies of the New World. The cottages retain the Swiss -character; the hamlets and inns are distinguished by that appetizing -cleanliness unknown in our country. - -Stopping for dinner, between six and seven o'clock, at Mösskirch, I sat -musing at the window of my inn: herds were drinking at a fountain, a -heifer leapt and frolicked like a roe-deer. Wherever men are kind to -their beasts, they are lively and love man. In Germany and England, -the horses are not beaten, they are not ill-treated with words: they -back towards the pole of themselves; they start and stop at the least -sound of the voice, at the smallest movement of the bridle-rein. Of all -nations, the French are the most inhumane: do you see our postillions -harnessing their horses? They drive them into the shafts with kicks -of their boots in the flanks, with blows of their whip-handles on -the head, breaking their mouths with the bit to make them go back, -accompanying the whole with oaths, shouts and insults at the poor -brute. Beasts of burden are compelled to draw or carry loads which are -beyond their strength and, to oblige them to go on, the drivers cut up -their hides with twists of the thong. The fierceness of the Gauls is -with us still: it is only hidden under the silk of our stockings and -neckcloths. - -I was not alone in gaping; the women were doing as much at all the -windows of their houses. I have often asked myself, when passing -through unknown hamlets: - -"Would you live here?" - -I have always answered: - -"Why not?" - -Who, in the mad hours of youth, has not said with Pierre Vidal[518], -the troubadour: - - Don n'ai mais d'un pauc cordo - Que Na Raymbauda me do, - Quel reys Richartz ab Peitieus - Ni ab Tors ni ab Angieus[519]. - -[Sidenote: Mösskirch.] - -There is matter for dreams everywhere; pleasures and pains belong to -all places: those women of Mösskirch who looked at the sky or at my -posting-chariot, who looked at me or who looked at nothing, had not -they joys and sorrows, interests of the heart, of fortune, of family, -even as we have in Paris? I should have made great progress in the -history of my neighbours, if dinner had not been poetically announced -to the crash of a thunder-clap: that was much ado about little. - - -19 _May_ 1833. - -At ten o'clock at night, I got into the carriage again; I fell asleep -to the patter of the rain on the hood of the calash. The sound of my -postillion's little horn aroused me. I heard the murmur of a river -which I could not see. We had stopped at the gate of a town; the -gate opened; my passport and luggage were examined: we were entering -the vast empire of His Wurtemberg Majesty. I greeted in memory the -Grand-duchess Helen, the graceful and delicate flower now confined in -the hot-houses of the Volga. On only one single day did I conceive the -value of high rank and fortune: it was when I gave the fête to the -young Russian Princess in the gardens of the Villa Medici. I felt how -the magic of the sky, the charm of the spot, the spell of beauty and -power can inebriate one; I imagined myself both Torquato Tasso, and -Alphonsus of Este[520]: I was worth more than the Prince, less than the -poet; Helen was more beautiful than Leonora[521]. The representative -of the heir of Francis I. and Louis XIV., I had the dream of a king of -France. - -They did not search me: I had nothing against the rights of sovereigns, -I who recognised those of a young Monarch which the sovereigns -themselves failed to recognise. The vulgarity, the modernity of the -custom-house and the passport formed a contrast with the storm, the -Gothic gate, the sound of the horn and the noise of the torrent. - -Instead of the lady of the castle whom I was prepared to deliver from -oppression, I found, on leaving the town, an old, simple fellow; he -asked me for _seechs Kreutzer_, raising his left hand, which held a -lantern, to the level of his grey head, putting out his right hand to -Schwartz on the box and opening his mouth like the gills of a hooked -pike: Baptiste, wet and sick as he was, could not hold himself for -laughing. - -And what was this torrent over which I had just passed. I asked the -postillion, who cried: - -"Donau!" - -The Danube! One more famous river crossed by me unknowingly, even as -I had descended into the bed of the oleanders of the Eurotas without -knowing it! What has it availed me to drink of the waters of the -Mississippi, the Eridanus, the Tiber, the Cephissus, the Hermus, the -Jordan, the Nile, the Guadalquivir, the Tagus, the Ebro, the Rhine, -the Spree, the Seine and a hundred other obscure or celebrated rivers? -Unknown, they have not given me their peace; illustrious, they have not -communicated to me their glory: they will be able to say only that they -have seen me pass as their banks see their waves pass. - -[Sidenote: Ulm.] - -I arrived at Ulm fairly early on Sunday the 19th of May, after -travelling through the scene of the battles of Moreau and Bonaparte. -Hyacinthe, who is a member of the Legion of Honour, was wearing the -ribbon: this decoration obtained for us an incredible amount of -consideration. I, wearing in my button-hole only a little flower, -according to my custom, passed, until they heard my name, for a -mysterious being: my Mamelukes at Cairo used to insist, whether I would -or no, that I was a general of Napoleon disguised as a literary man; -they would not give in and every quarter of an hour expected to see me -put away Egypt in the sash of my caftan. And yet it is among nations -whose villages we have burnt and whose harvests we have laid waste that -those sentiments exist. I rejoiced in this glory; but, if we had done -nothing but good to Germany, should we be as greatly regretted there? O -inexplicable human nature! - -The evils of war are forgotten; we have left on the soil of our -conquests the spark of life. That inert mass set in movement continues -to ferment because its intelligence is commencing. When travelling -nowadays, we see the nations watching, knapsack on back: ready to -start, they seem to be waiting for us in order to place us at the head -of the column. A Frenchman is always taken for the aide-de-camp who -brings the order to march. - -Ulm is a clean little town, with no particular character; its -dismantled ramparts have been converted into kitchen-gardens or walks, -which happens to all ramparts. Their fortune has something in common -with that of the military: the soldier bears arms in his youth; when -invalided, he becomes a gardener. - -I went to see the cathedral, a Gothic fabric with a tall spire. The -aisles are divided into two narrow vaults, supported by a single row of -pillars, so that the interior of the edifice partakes at one time of -the character of the cathedral and the basilica. The pulpit has for a -canopy a graceful steeple ending in a point, like a mitre; the inside -of this steeple consists of a newel around which winds a helicoid vault -in stone filigree-work. Symmetrical spikes, piercing the outside, seem -destined to carry candles; these used to light up this tiara when the -bishop preached on feast-days. Instead of priests officiating, I saw -little birds hopping in that granite foliage; they were celebrating the -Word that gave them a voice and wings on the fifth day of the Creation. - -The nave was deserted; in the apse of the church, two separate groups -of boys and girls were receiving religious instruction. - -The Reformation, as I have already said, makes a mistake when it shows -itself in the Catholic monuments upon which it has encroached; it -cuts a mean and shameful figure there. Those tall porches call for a -numerous clergy, the pomp of the celebrations, the chants, pictures, -ornaments, silk veils, draperies, laces, gold, silver, lamps, flowers -and incense of the altars. Protestantism may say as much as it pleases -that it has returned to Primitive Christianity; the Gothic churches -reply that it has denied its fathers: the Christians who were the -architects of its wonders were other than the children of Luther and -Calvin. - -19 _May_ 1833. - -I had left Ulm at noon, on the 19th. At Dillingen, the horses were -wanting. I stayed an hour in the High Street, having as a recreation -the sight of a stork's nest, planted on a chimney as though on a -minaret at Athens; a number of sparrows had insolently made their nests -in the bed of the peaceful "queen with the long neck." Below the stork, -a lady, living on the first floor, looked at the passers-by in the -shade of a half-raised blind; below the lady was a wooden saint in a -niche. The saint will be thrown down to the pavement, the woman from -her window into the grave: and the stork? It will fly away: thus will -end the three storeys. - -Between Dillingen and Donauwörth, you cross the battle-field of -Blenheim. The footsteps of the armies of Moreau over the same ground -have not obliterated those of the armies of Louis XIV.; the defeat of -the great King prevails in the country-side over the successes of the -great Emperor. - -The postillion who drove me belonged to Blenheim; on coming up to his -village, he blew the horn: perhaps he was announcing his passage to the -peasant-girl whom he loved; she leapt for joy in the midst of the same -fields where twenty-seven French battalions and twelve squadrons of -cavalry were taken prisoner, where the Navarre Regiment, whose uniform -I have had the honour to wear, buried its standards to the mournful -sound of the trumpets: those are the commonplaces of the succession of -the ages. In 1793, the Republic carried off from the church at Blenheim -the colours taken from the Monarchy in 1704: it avenged the Kingdom and -slew the King; it cut off Louis XVI.'s head, but it allowed only France -to tear the White Flag to pieces. - -Nothing better conveys the greatness of Louis XIV. than to find -his memory at the bottom of the ravines dug by the torrent of the -Napoleonic victories. That monarch's conquests left our country the -frontiers that still guard it[522]. The Brienne scholar, to whom -the Legitimacy gave a sword, for a moment enclosed Europe in his -ante-chamber; but it escaped: the grandson of Henry IV. laid that same -Europe at the feet of France; and it remained there. This does not -mean that I am comparing Napoleon and Louis XIV.: men of different -destinies, they belong to dissimilar centuries, to different nations; -one completed an era, the other began a world. One can say of Napoleon -what Montaigne says of Cæsar: - -"I excuse Victorie in that shee could not well give him over[523]." - -[Sidenote: Blenheim.] - -The unworthy tapestries at Blenheim Palace, which I saw with Peltier, -show the Maréchal de Tallart[524] taking off his hat to the Duke of -Marlborough[525], who stands in a swaggering attitude. Tallart none -the less remained the favourite of the old lion; a prisoner in London, -he conquered, in the mind of Queen Anne[526], the Marlborough who had -beaten him at Blenheim, and he died a member of the French Academy: - -"He was," says Saint-Simon, "a man of middling height -with somewhat jealous eyes, full of fire and spirit, but with -an incessant demon of restlessness in him, owing to his -ambition." - -I am writing history in my calash: why not? Cæsar wrote plenty in his -litter: he won the battles of which he wrote; I did not lose those of -which I speak. - -From Dillingen to Donauwörth stretches a rich plain of unequal level in -which the corn-fields intermingle with the meadows: one goes closer to -or further from the Danube according to the windings of the road and -the bends of the river. At that height, the waters of the Danube are -still yellow, like those of the Tiber. - -Scarce have you left the village before you see another; those villages -are clean and smiling: often the walls of the houses have frescoes. A -certain Italian character becomes manifest as one goes towards Austria; -the inhabitant of the Danube is no longer the _Peasant of the Danube_: - - Son menton nourrissait une barbe touffue; - Toute sa personne velue - Représentait un ours, mais un ours mal léché[527]. - -But the sky of Italy is lacking here: the sun is low and pale; those -close-sown market-towns are not the little cities of the Romagna, which -brood upon the master-pieces of the arts hidden underneath them: you -scratch the ground, and that tillage makes some marvel of the antique -chisel shoot up like a blade of corn. - -At Donauwörth, I regretted to have arrived too late to enjoy a fine -view of the Danube. On Monday the 20th, the same appearance of the -landscape; yet the soil becomes less good and the peasants seem poorer. -One begins again to see the pine-woods of the hills. The Hercynian -forest used to project as far as this: the trees of which Pliny left us -a singular description were felled by generations now buried with the -secular oaks. - -When Trajan threw a bridge over the Danube, Italy heard, for the first -time, that name so fatal to the world of antiquity, the name of the -Goths. The road was opened up to myriads of savages who marched to the -Sack of Rome. The Huns and their Attila built their wooden palaces -opposite the Coliseum, on the bank of the stream which was the rival -of the Rhine and, like the latter, the enemy of the Tiber. The hordes -of Alaric crossed the Danube, in 376, to overthrow the civilized Greek -Empire, at the same spot where the Russians traversed it, in 1828, with -the design of overthrowing the Barbaric Empire seated on the ruins of -Greece. Could Trajan have guessed that a civilization of a new kind -would one day be established on the other side of the Alps, on the -borders of the stream which he had almost discovered? Born in the -Black Forest, the Danube goes to die in the Black Sea. Where does its -chief source lie? In the court-yard of a German baron, who employs the -naiad to wash his linen. A geographer having taken it into his head -to deny the fact, the noble owner brought an action against him. It -was decided by a judicial verdict that the source of the Danube was -in the court-yard of the said baron and could not be elsewhere. How -many centuries were needed to arrive from the errors of Ptolemy[528] -at this important discovery! Tacitus makes the Danube descend from -Mount Abnoba: _Montis Abnobæ._ But the Hermondurian, Cheruscan, -Marcomannian, Quadian barons, who are the authorities upon whom the -Roman historian relies, are not so cautious as my German baron. Eudorus -did not know so much, when I made him travel to the mouths of the -Ister, where the Euxine, according to Racine, was to carry Mithridates -in "two days[529]:" - - "Having passed the Ister near its mouth.... I discovered a stone - tomb on which grew a laurel. I pulled out the grasses which covered - some Latin characters, and soon I succeeded in reading this first - verse of the elegies of an unfortunate poet: - - "'My book, you will go to Rome, and you will go to Rome - without me.'"[530] - -[Sidenote: The Danube.] - -The Danube, on losing its solitude, saw recurring on its banks the -evils inseparable from society: plagues, famines, destructive fires, -sacks of towns, wars and those divisions incessantly springing up from -human passions and errors[531]. - - -After Donauwörth, one comes to Burkheim and Neuberg. At breakfast, -at Ingolstadt, they served me with roe-buck: it is a great pity to -eat that charming beast. I have always been horrified at reading the -account of the inaugural banquet of George Neville, Archbishop of -York[532], in 1466: they roasted four hundred swans singing in chorus -their funeral hymn! There is also a question at that repast of four -hundred bitterns[533]: I can well believe it! - -Regensburg, which we call Ratisbon, presents an agreeable view to one -approaching it from Donauwörth. Two o'clock was striking, on the 21st, -when I pulled up before the post-office. While they were putting the -horses to, which always takes long in Germany, I entered a neighbouring -church, called the Old Chapel, and painted white and gilded like new. -Eight old black priests, with white hair, were singing vespers. I had -once prayed, in a chapel at Tivoli, for a man who was himself praying -by my side[534]; in one of the pits at Carthage, I had offered up -my vows to St. Louis, who died not far from Utica and who was more -philosophical than Cato, more sincere than Hannibal, more pious than -Æneas: in the chapel at Ratisbon, I had a thought of recommending to -Heaven the young King whom I had come to seek; but I feared the wrath -of God too much to ask for a crown: I besought the dispenser of all -mercies to grant the orphan happiness and to give him a disdain for -power. - -I hurried from the Old Chapel to the cathedral. It is smaller than that -of Ulm, but more religious and handsomer in style. Its stained-glass -windows wrap it in the darkness appropriate to contemplation. The white -chapel was better suited to my wishes for the innocence of Henry; the -sombre basilica made me feel quite moved for my old King Charles. - -I cared little for the house in which they used to elect the Emperors -of old: which proves at least that there were elective sovereigns, -even sovereigns who were judged. The eighteenth clause in Charlemagne's -will says: - - "If any of our grandsons, born or to be born, be accused, we order - that their heads be not shaved, their eyes not put out, their limbs - not cut off, nor they condemned to death without fair argument and - enquiry." - -One emperor of Germany, I know not which, on being deposed, asked only -for the sovereignty of a vineyard for which he had an affection. - -[Sidenote: Rastibon.] - -At Ratisbon, in former days the factory of sovereigns, they used to -coin emperors, often of inferior standard; this industry has died away: -one of Bonaparte's battles and the Prince Primate, the insipid courtier -of our universal Gendarme, have failed to resuscitate the dying city. -The Regensburghers, dressed and slovenly like the people of Paris, have -no particular physiognomy. The town, in the absence of a sufficient -number of inhabitants, is dull; grass and thistles are laying siege -to its suburbs: soon they will have hoisted their plumes and their -lances on its turrets. Kepler[535], who made the earth turn, as did -Copernicus[536], sleeps for ever at Ratisbon. - -We left by the bridge on the Prague Road, a greatly extolled and very -ugly bridge. On quitting the basin of the Danube, one climbs steep -inclines: Kirn, the first stage, is perched on a rough slope from the -top of which, through watery mists, I discerned dead hills and pale -valleys. The facial aspect of the peasants changes; the children, -yellow and bloated, have a sickly look. From Kirn to Waldmünchen, the -poverty of the landscape increases: one sees few more hamlets; only -huts made of pine logs, plastered with mud, as on the more barren necks -of the Alps. - -France is the heart of Europe; as one goes further from it, social life -decreases: a man might judge the distance at which he is from Paris by -the greater or lesser languor of the country to which he is retiring. -In Spain and Italy, the diminution in movement and the progress of -death are less noticeable: in the former country, a new people, a new -world, Christian Arabs occupy your attention; in the latter, the charms -of climate and art, the enchantment of love and ruins leave you no time -for depression. But, in England, despite the perfection of physical -society, in Germany, despite the morality of the inhabitants, one feels -one's self die. In Austria and Prussia, the military yoke weighs upon -your ideas, even as the sunless sky weighs upon your head; something, I -know not what, admonishes you that you cannot write, speak, nor think -with independence; that you must lop off from your existence the whole -of the nobler portion, leaving man's chief faculty to lie idle within -you, as a useless gift of God. No arts, no beauties of nature come to -beguile your hours and there is nothing left to you but to plunge into -gross debauchery or into those speculative truths in which the Germans -indulge. For a Frenchman, at least for me, this manner of existence -is impossible; without dignity, I fail to understand life, which is -difficult to understand even with all the seductions of liberty, glory -and youth. - -However, one thing charms me in the German people: its religious -sentiment. If I were not too tired, I would leave the inn at Nittenau, -where I am pencilling this diary; I would go to the evening prayer with -those men, women and children whom a church calls with the sound of its -bell. That crowd, seeing me on my knees in its midst, would welcome me -by virtue of the unity of a common faith. When will the day come when -Philosophers in their temple shall bless a Philosopher newly-arrived -by the post, and offer up a like prayer with that stranger to a God -respecting whom all Philosophers are in disagreement? The rosary of the -parish-priest is safer: I stand by that. - - -21 _May._ - -Waldmünchen, where I arrived on Tuesday morning, the 21st of May, is -the last Bavarian village on this side of Bohemia. I was congratulating -myself on being able promptly to fulfil my mission; I was only fifty -leagues from Prague. I plunged into water cold as ice, I made my toilet -at a spring, like an ambassador preparing for a triumphal entry; I set -out and, half a league from Waldmünchen, full of confidence I accosted -the Austrian custom-house. A lowered toll-gate barred the road; I got -down with Hyacinthe, his red ribbon blazing. A young custom-house -officer, armed with a musket, took us to the ground-floor of a -house, into a vaulted room. There, sitting at his desk, as though in -court, was an old and fat chief of German customs, with red hair, red -mustachios, thick eye-brows, sloping over two greenish, half-opened -eyes, and a spiteful look: a mixture of the Viennese police-spy and the -Bohemian smuggler. - -[Sidenote: Delayed at the Customs.] - -He took our passports without uttering a word; the young official -timidly handed me a chair, while the chief, before whom he seemed to -tremble, examined the passports. I did not sit down, but went to look -at some pistols hanging on the wall and a carbine leaning against a -corner of the room: it reminded me of the musket with which the aga of -the Isthmus of Corinth fired on the Greek peasant. After five minutes' -silence, the Austrian barked out two or three words which my Baslese -translated thus: - -"You can't pass." - -What! I couldn't pass; and why? The explanation began: - -"Your description is not on the passport." - -"My passport is a Foreign-Office passport" - -"Your passport is an old one." - -"It is not a year old; it is legally valid." - -"It has not been endorsed at the Austrian Embassy in Paris." - -"You are mistaken: it has." - -"It has not the blank stamp on it." - -"An omission on the part of the embassy; you can see, besides, that -it has the _visa_ of the other foreign legations. I have just passed -through the Canton of Basle, the Grand-duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of -Wurtemberg, the whole of Bavaria, and I have not met with the smallest -difficulty. I had merely to declare my name, and my passport was not -even opened." - -"Have you a public character?" - -"I have been a minister in France and His Most Christian Majesty's -Ambassador to Berlin, London and Rome. I am known personally to your -Sovereign and to Prince Metternich." - -"You can't pass." - -"Shall I leave you a security? Will you give me a guard who will be -responsible for me?" - -"You can't pass." - -"If I send an express to the Bohemian Government?" - -"As you please." - -I lost my patience; I began to wish the custom-house officer at the -devil. As ambassador of a king on his throne, I should not have minded -a few hours wasted; but as ambassador of a Princess in irons, I thought -myself faithless to misfortune, a traitor to my captive Sovereign. - -The man was writing: the Baslese did not translate my monologue, but -there are certain French words which our soldiers have taught Austria -and which she has not forgotten. I said to the interpreter: - -"Explain to him that I am going to Prague to offer my devotion to the -King of France." - -The custom-house officer, without interrupting his writing, answered: - -"Charles X. is not King of France for Austria." - -I retorted: - -"He is for me." - -These words flung back to the Cerberus seemed to make some impression -on him; he eyed me up and down. I thought that his long annotation -might, in the last result, be a favourable _visa._ He scrawled -something on Hyacinthe's passport as well and returned the whole to -the interpreter. It appeared that the _visa_ was an explanation of the -reasons which did not permit him to allow me to continue my road, so -that not only was it impossible for me to go to Prague, but my passport -was stamped as bad for the other places to which I might repair. I -climbed back into the calash and said to the postillion: - -"Waldmünchen." - -My return did not surprise the landlord of the inn. He spoke a little -French; he told me that a similar thing had happened before: foreigners -had been obliged to stop at Waldmünchen and to send their passports to -Munich to be endorsed at the Austrian Legation. My host, a very worthy -man, was the postmaster of the village and undertook to forward to the -Grand Burgrave of Bohemia[537] the letter of which the following is a -copy: - -[Sidenote: Letter to Count Von Chotek.] - - WALDMÜNCHEN, 21 _May_ 1833. - - "MONSIEUR LE GOUVERNEUR, - - "Having the honour to be known personally to His Majesty the - Emperor of Austria and to M. le Prince de Metternich, I thought - that I could travel in the Austrian State with a passport which, - being not yet one year old, was still legally valid and which had - been endorsed by the Austrian Ambassador in Paris for Switzerland - and Italy. As a matter of fact, monsieur le comte, I have travelled - through Germany and my name has been sufficient to allow me to - pass. Only this morning, the gentleman at the head of the Austrian - custom-house at Haselbach did not think himself authorized to be - equally accommodating and this for the reasons set forth in his - _visa_ on my passport, enclosed, and on that of M. Pilorge, my - secretary. He has compelled me, to my great regret, to retrace - my steps to Waldmünchen, where I await your orders. I venture to - hope, monsieur le comte, that you will be good enough to remove the - little difficulty which stops me, by sending me, by the express - which I have the honour of dispatching to you, the necessary - permission to go to Prague and thence to Vienna. - - "I am, monsieur le gouverneur, with high regard, - - "Your most humble and most obedient servant, - - "CHATEAUBRIAND." - - "Pray pardon, monsieur le comte, the liberty which I am taking of - enclosing an open note for M. le Duc de Blacas." - -Some little pride appears in this letter: I was hurt; I was as -much humiliated as Cicero, when, on his return in triumph from his -government of Asia, his friends asked him if he came from Baiæ or from -his house at Tusculum. What! My name, which flew from pole to pole, -had not reached the ears of a custom-house officer in the mountains at -Haselbach! A thing which seems all the more cruel when one thinks of my -successes at Basle. In Bavaria, I had been addressed as "My Lord" or -"Your Excellency;" a Bavarian officer, at Waldmünchen, said aloud, in -the inn, that my name required no _visa_ from an Austrian ambassador. -Those were great consolations, I admit; but, after all, a sad truth -remained: the world contained a man who had never heard speak of me. - -Who knows, however, if the Haselbach customs-officer did not know me a -little! The police of all countries are so affectionately related! A -politician who neither admires nor approves of the Treaties of Vienna, -a Frenchman who loves the honour and liberty of France, who remains -faithful to the fallen power, might well be on the index in Vienna. -What a noble revenge to deal with M. de Chateaubriand as with one of -those bagmen so suspicious to the spies! What a sweet satisfaction to -treat as a vagabond whose papers are not in order an envoy charged to -carry traitor-wise to a banished child the adieus of his captive mother! - -The express left Waldmünchen on the 21st, at eleven o'clock in the -morning; I calculated that it could be back on the second day, the -23rd, between twelve and four; but my imagination was at work: what -was to be the fate of my message? If the Governor was a strong man and -a man of the world, he would send me the permit; if he was a timid -and unintelligent man, he would reply that my request did not come -within his powers, he would hasten to refer it to Vienna. This little -incident might at the same time please and displease Prince Metternich. -I knew how he feared the newspapers; I had seen him at Verona leave the -most important business and lock himself up distractedly with M. de -Gentz[538] to draft out an article in reply to the _Constitutionnel_ -and the _Débats._ How many days would elapse before the Imperial -Minister's orders were transmitted? - -On the other hand, would M. de Blacas[539] be glad to see me at Prague? -Would not M. de Damas[540] think that I had come to dethrone him? -Would M. le Cardinal de Latil[541] be quite free from anxiety? Would -not the triumvirate turn my mishap to account to have the doors closed -against me instead of opened to me? Nothing easier: a word in the -Governor's ear, a word of which I should never know! In what a state -of anxiety would my friends be in Paris! When the adventure was noised -abroad, what would not the newspapers make of it! What wild statements -would they not indulge in! - -[Sidenote: Waldmünchen.] - -And, if the Grand Burgrave did not think fit to reply to me, if he -were away, if no one dared act in his absence, what would become of -me without a passport? Where could I be sure of being recognised? At -Munich? In Vienna? What postmaster would give me horses? I should be -practically a prisoner at Waldmünchen. - -Those are the cares that passed through my brain. I thought besides -of my remoteness from what was dear to me: I have too short a time to -live to waste that little. Horace said, "_Carpe diem_:" a counsel of -pleasure at twenty, of reason at my age. - -Tired of "ruminating on every case in my head," I heard the noise of a -crowd outside; my inn stood on the village square. I looked through the -window and saw a priest carrying the Last Sacraments to a dying man. -What mattered to that dying man the affairs of kings, of their servants -and of the world? Every one left his work and started to follow the -priest; young women, old women, children, mothers with their babies -in their arms repeated the prayer for the dying. On reaching the sick -man's door, the priest gave the benediction with the Holy Viaticum. -The by-standers knelt down and made the Sign of the Cross with lowered -heads. The pass-port to Eternity will not be disowned by Him who -distributes bread and opens the hostel to the traveller. - - -Although I had not been to bed for seven days, I was unable to stay -indoors; it was only a little past one: leaving the village on the -Ratisbon side, I caught sight of a white chapel, on the right, in the -middle of a corn-field; I went in that direction. The door was locked; -through a sloping window one saw an altar with a cross. The date of the -erection of that sanctuary, 1830, was inscribed on the architrave: a -monarchy was being overthrown in Paris while a chapel was being erected -at Waldmünchen. The three banished generations were to come to live in -a place of exile within fifty leagues of the new shelter raised to the -King crucified. Millions of events are realized at one and the same -time: what does a black man sleeping under a palm-tree on the bank of -the Niger care for the white man who falls at the same moment under -the dagger on the shore of the Tiber? What does he who weeps in Asia -care for him who laughs in Europe? What did the mason who built this -chapel, the Bavarian priest who exalted that Christ in 1830 care for -the demolisher of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, the feller of the crosses -in 1830? Events count only for those who suffer through them or benefit -by them; they are nothing to those who have not heard of them, who are -not touched by them. A certain race of herdsmen, in the Abruzzi, has -witnessed, without descending from its mountain, the passage of the -Carthaginians, the Gauls, the Romans, the Goths, the generations of the -middle-ages and the men of the present age. That race has not mingled -with the successive dwellers in the valley, and religion alone has -mounted up to it. - -Returning to the inn, I flung myself on two chairs, in the hope of -sleeping; but in vain: the movement of my imagination was stronger -than my lassitude. I repeated the contents of my express over and over -again: dinner did not affect the matter. I went to bed amid the lowing -of the herds returning from the fields. At ten o'clock, a new noise: -the watchman sang the hour; fifty dogs barked, after which they went to -their kennels as though the watchman had ordered them to be silent: I -recognised German discipline. - -Civilization has made progress in Germany since my journey to Berlin: -the beds are now almost long enough for a man of ordinary stature; -but the top sheet is still sewn to the blanket and the bottom sheet, -which is too narrow, ends by twisting and curling up in such a way -as to make you very uncomfortable; and, since I am in the country of -Auguste Lafontaine[542], I will imitate his genius: I want to inform -the latest posterity of what existed in my time in the room of my inn -at Waldmünchen. Know then, grand-nephews, that that room was like an -Italian room, with bare, white-washed walls, without any wood-work or -hangings, a wide coloured band or skirting at the bottom, a ceiling -with a circle of three fillets, a cornice painted with blue roses with -a garland of chocolate-coloured laurel-leaves and, above the cornice, -on the wall, foliage painted in red on an American-green ground. Here -and there, little French and English engravings, in frames. Two windows -with white cotton curtains. Between the windows, a looking-glass. In -the middle of the room, a table for at least twelve people, covered -with an oil-cloth with a raised ground, stamped with roses and -different flowers. Six chairs upholstered in red tartan. A chest of -drawers, three bedsteads round the room; in a corner, near the door, -a stove in black glazed earthen-ware, of which the sides show the -Bavarian arms in relief; it is topped with a receiver shaped like a -Gothic crown. The door is furnished with a complicated iron mechanism -capable of closing the gates of a gaol and baffling the picklocks of -thieves or lovers. I describe, for the benefit of travellers, the -excellent room in which I am writing this inventory, which competes -with the Miser's[543]; I recommend it to future Legitimists who may -be stopped by the red-headed wild-goat of Haselbach. This page of my -Memoirs will give pleasure to the modern literary school. - -[Sidenote: My room at the Inn.] - -After counting, by the light of the night-lamp, the astragals of the -ceiling and looking at the engravings of the _Young Milanese_, the -_Beautiful Greeks_, the _Young Frenchwoman_, the _Young Russian_, the -late King of Bavaria[544], the late Queen of Bavaria[545], who is -like a lady whom I know and whose name I cannot possibly remember, I -snatched a few minutes' sleep. I rose from bed at 7 o'clock on the -22nd. A bath took away the rest of my fatigue and I was interested only -in my village, like Captain Cook discovering an islet in the Pacific -Ocean. - -Waldmünchen is built on the slope of a hill; it is not unlike a -dilapidated village in the Papal States: a few house-fronts painted -in fresco, an archway at either end of the main street, no ostensible -shops, a dry well in the square, a frightful pavement of large flags -mixed with small pebbles, of the kind which one no longer sees except -in "the neighbourhood of Quimper-Corentin." - -The people, whose appearance is rustic, wear no special dress. The -women go with their heads bare or wrapped in a handkerchief in the -manner of the Paris milk-maids; their skirts are short; they walk with -Bare legs and feet, as do the children. The men are dressed, some like -the men of the people in our towns, some like our old peasants. Heaven -be praised, they have only hats, and the filthy cotton caps of our -burgesses are unknown to them. - -Every day, _ut mos_, there is a performance at Waldmünchen and I used -to assist at it in the front row. At six o'clock in the morning, an -old shepherd, tall and lean, goes through the village, stopping at -different places; he blows a straight horn, six feet long, which one -would take at a distance for a speaking-trumpet or a sheep-hook. He -first produces three metallic and rather harmonious notes from it; then -he sounds the quick tune of a sort of gallop or _ranz des vaches_, -imitating the lowing of oxen and the grunting of pigs. The fanfare ends -with a long, rising _falsetto_ note. - -Suddenly from every gate debouch cows, heifers, calves, bulls; -bellowing, they flood the village-square; they climb up or descend -from all the circumjacent streets and, forming into columns, take -the accustomed road to the pasturage. Follows the prancing squadron -of swine, which look like wild boars and grunt The sheep and lambs, -disposed as a rearguard, form the third part of the concert with their -bleating; the geese compose the reserve: in a quarter of an hour all -are out of sight - -At seven o'clock in the evening, the horn is heard again; it is the -herds returning. The order of the march is changed: the pigs form the -van-guard, with the same music as before; a few, detached as scouts, -run at hap-hazard or stop at every corner. The sheep defile; the cows, -with their sons, daughters and husbands, bring up the rear; the geese -waddle on the flanks. All these animals reach their own homes again, -none mistakes its gate; but there are Cossacks that go marauding, -madcaps that play about and refuse to go in, young bulls that persist -in remaining with a mate which does not belong to their manger. Then -come the women and children with their little switches; they compel -the stragglers to rejoin the main body and the rebellious recruits -to submit to the rules. I delighted in this performance, just as, -formerly, Henry IV., at Chauny, used to be amused by the cow-keeper -called "Tout-le-Monde," who collected his herds to the sound of the -trumpet - -[Sidenote: A study in Cattle.] - -Many years ago, staying at the Château de Fervacques, in Normandy, at -Madame de Custine's, I occupied the bed-room of Henry IV.: my bed was -enormous; the Bearnese had slept in it with some Florette or other: I -gained royalism there, for I did not have it by nature. Moats filled -with water surround the castle. The view from my window spread over -meadows edged by the little River Fervacques. In those meadows I -perceived, one morning, an elegant sow of extraordinary whiteness; it -looked as though it might be the mother of Prince Marcassin. It lay at -the foot of a willow, on the cool grass, in the dew: a young boar-pig -gathered a little fine, serrate moss with its ivory tusks and came to -lay it on the sleeper; it repeated this operation so many times that -the white wild-sow was entirely hidden: one saw only its black feet -stick out from under the downy verdure in which it was buried. - -Be this told to the glory of an ill-famed beast of which I should -blush to have spoken at too great length, if Homer had not sung it I -perceive, in fact, that this part of my Memoirs is nothing less than -an Odyssey: Waldmünchen is Ithaca; the shepherd is the faithful Eumæus -with his swine; I am the son of Laertes, returning after wandering on -land and sea. I should, perhaps, have done better to intoxicate myself -with the nectar of Evanthes, to eat the flower of the moly-plant, to -linger in the land of the Lotus-eaters, to remain with Circe, or to -obey the song of the Syrens saying: - -"Approach, come to us!" - - -22 _May_ 1833. - -If I were twenty years old, I should seek some adventures at -Waldmünchen, as a means of shortening the hours; but, at my age, we -have no silk ladders left, save in our memory, and we no longer scale -walls except with the shadows. Formerly, I was very intimate with my -body; I used to advise it to live wisely, in order to show itself quite -lively and quite jolly in forty years' time. It laughed at the sermons -of my soul, persisted in making merry and would not have given two -doits to be one day what is called "a well-preserved man:" - -"Out upon you!" it used to say. "What have I to gain by being niggardly -with my spring, in order to enjoy life's days when there will be none -left to care to share them with me?" And it steeped itself over head -and ears in happiness. - -I am obliged, therefore, to accept it as it now is: I took it for -a walk, on the 22nd, to the south-east of the village. We followed -through the marshes a little water-current which put some works in -motion. They manufacture linen at Waldmünchen; breadths of linen were -unrolled on the fields; young girls whose business it was to damp them -ran bare-foot on the white strips, preceded by the water that spouted -from their watering-pots, just as gardeners would water a border of -flowers. Along the stream I thought of my friends, I was touched by -their memory; then I asked what they must be saying of me in Paris: - -"Has he arrived? Has he seen the Royal Family? Will he come back soon?" - -And I was deliberating as to whether I would not send Hyacinthe to -fetch some fresh butter and brown bread, in order to eat cress at the -edge of a spring under a tuft of alder-shoots. My life was no more -ambitious than that: why has Fortune fastened the skirt of my doublet -to her wheel with the hem of the mantle of our Kings? - -Returning to the village, I passed near the church: two outer -sanctuaries prop up the wall; one of these shows St. Peter ad Vincula, -with a poor-box for the prisoners: I dropped in a few kreutzers -in memory of the Pellico's[546] prison and of my own cell at the -Prefecture of Police. The other sanctuary showed the scene in the -Garden of Olives: a scene so touching and so sublime that it is not -destroyed even here by the grotesqueness of the figures. - -I hurried through my dinner and hastened to the evening prayer for -which I heard them ringing. As I turned the corner of the narrow street -in which the church stands, a vista opened out over some distant hills: -a little light still lingered on the horizon, and that dying light -came from the side of France. A profound feeling gripped my heart -When shall my pilgrimage be over? I passed through Germanic territory -very miserably, when I was returning from the Army of the Princes, -very triumphantly when, as Ambassador of Louis XVIII., I was going -to Berlin: after so many and such different years, I was penetrating -stealthily into the depths of that same Germany to seek the King of -France banished anew. - -[Sidenote: An evening service.] - -I entered the church: it was quite dark; not even a lighted lamp. -Through the blackness, I recognised the sanctuary, standing in a Gothic -recess, only through its thicker gloom. The walls, the altars, the -pillars seemed to me laden with ornaments and pictures veiled in crape; -the nave was occupied by close-set parallel benches. - -An old woman was reciting aloud, in German, the _Our Father_ of the -rosary; women, young and old, whom I could not see, replied with -the _Hail Marys._ The old woman spoke her words well, her voice was -clear, her accent grave and pathetic; she was two benches away from -me; her head bent slightly in the dusk each time she uttered the -word Christo in some prayer which she added to the _Our Father._ The -rosary was followed by the Litany of the Blessed Virgin: the _Ora pro -nobis_, chanted in German by the invisible worshippers, sounded in -my ear like a repetition of the word "hope:" "_espérance, espérance, -espérance!_[547]" We left the church promiscuously; I went to sleep -with Hope: it was long since I had clasped her in my arms; but she does -not grow older and one always loves her, despite her infidelities. - -According to Tacitus, the Germans believe the night to be older than -the day: _nox ducere diem videtur._ Yet I have reckoned young nights -and sempiternal days. The poets tell us also that Sleep is the brother -of Death: I do not know; but Old Age is certainly its nearest relation. - - -23 _May_ 1833. - -On the morning of the 23rd, Heaven mingled some sweetness with my -pains: Baptiste told me that the most eminent man of the place, the -brewer, had three daughters and owned my works, set out in a row -among his beer-jugs. When I went out, this gentleman and two of his -daughters watched me go by: what was the third young lady doing? In -former days, a letter had come to me from Peru, written with her own -hand by a lady, a cousin of the sun, who admired _Atala_; but to be -known at Waldmünchen, under the very nose of the wolf of Haselbach, -was a thousand times more glorious: it was true that this occurred in -Bavaria, at a league from Austria, the curse of my renown. Do you know -what would have happened if my trip to Bohemia had been taken out of -my own head alone: but why should I have wanted to go to Bohemia for -myself only? Once I had been stopped at the frontier, I should have -gone back to Paris. There was a man who contemplated a voyage to Pekin; -one of his friends met him on the Pont Royal in Paris: - -"Why, I thought you were in China!" - -"I have come back: those Chinamen put difficulties in my way at Canton, -so I left them in the lurch." - -While Baptiste was telling me of my triumphs, the passing-bell of a -funeral called me to my window. The priest went by, preceded by the -cross; men and women crowded after, the men in cloaks, the women in -black gowns and mob-caps. The corpse, taken up at the third door -from mine, was carried to the grave-yard: half-an-hour later, the -procession-goers returned, _minus_ the procession. Two young women held -their handkerchiefs to their eyes, one of the two uttered loud cries: -they were mourning their father; the deceased was the man who had -received the Viaticum on the day of my arrival. - -If my Memoirs reach Waldmünchen, when I myself am no more, the family -in mourning to-day will find the date of its sorrow past. Perhaps, as -he lay on his bed, the dying man heard the noise of my carriage: it is -the only noise of me that he will have heard upon earth. - -After the crowd had dispersed, I took the road which I had seen the -funeral take in the direction of the winter sunrise. I found first a -fish-pond of stagnant water, beside which a stream flowed rapidly, like -life beside the tomb. Crosses on the other side of a rising ground -showed me the position of the cemetery. I crossed a sunk road and made -my way, through a gap in the wall, into the consecrated ground. - -Clay furrows represented the bodies under the soil; here and there -stood crosses: they marked outlets through which the travellers had -entered the new world, even as beacons at the mouth of a river indicate -the passages open to ships. A poor old man was digging the grave of a -child: alone, perspiring and bare-headed, he did not sing, he did not -jest like the clowns in Hamlet. Further away was another grave, near -which one saw a stool, a lever and a rope for the descent into Eternity. - -I went straight up to this grave, which seemed to say: - -"Here is a fine opportunity!" - -At the bottom of the hole lay the recent coffin, covered with a few -shovelfuls of white dust, while awaiting the rest. A piece of linen -was gleaming upon the grass: the dead took care of their shroud. Far -from his country, the Christian has it always in his power suddenly -to waft himself there; he has but to visit man's last resting-place -around the churches: the cemetery is the family field and religion the -universal mother-land. - -It was noon when I returned; by every calculation, the express could -not be back before three o'clock; nevertheless every stamping of horses -made me run to the window: as the hour approached, I grew convinced -that the permit would not come. - -To destroy the time, I asked for my bill; I set myself to reckon up the -chickens I had eaten: a greater than I did not disdain this trouble. -Henry Tudor, seventh of the name, in whom ended the Wars of the Roses, -red and white, even as I am going to unite the white and the tricolour -cockades, Henry VII.[548] initialled one after the other the pages of a -little account-book which I have seen: - - "To a woman for three apples, 12 pence; for discovering three - hares, 6 shillings 8 pence; to Master Bernard, the blind poet, - 100 shillings [this was better than Homer]; to a little man at - Shaftesbury, 20 shillings." - -We have many little men to-day, but they cost more than twenty -shillings. - -[Sidenote: Country road to Waldmünchen.] - -At three o'clock, the hour at which the express might be back, I went -with Hyacinthe along the road to Haselbach. It was a windy day, the -sky was strewn with clouds that passed across the sun, casting their -shadows over the fields and fir-groves. We were preceded by a herd of -cattle from the village, which raised, as it went, the noble dust of -the army of the Grand-duke of Quirocia, to which the Knight of the -Mancha so valiantly gave battle[549]. A Calvary rose at the top of one -of the ascents of the road; from there one discerned a long ribbon of -the high-way. Seated in a ravine, I questioned Hyacinthe: - -"Sister Anne, seest thou no one coming?" - -Some village carts seen from afar made our hearts beat; as they -approached, they proved to be empty, like everything that bears dreams. -I had to return home and dine very sadly. A plank offered after the -shipwreck: the diligence was to pass at six o'clock; might it not bring -the Governor's reply? Six o'clock struck: no diligence. At a quarter -past six, Baptiste entered the room: - -"The ordinary post from Prague has just arrived; there is nothing for -Monsieur." - -The last ray of hope was extinguished. - - -Scarcely had Baptiste left my room, when Schwartz appeared, waving a -big letter, with a big seal, in the air and shouting: - -"Here is de bermid!" - -I threw myself upon the dispatch; I tore open the envelope: it -contained, together with a letter from the Governor, the permit and a -note from M. de Blacas. Here is M. le Comte de Chotek's letter: - - "PRAGUE, 23 _May_ 1833. - - - "MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, - - "I much regret that, at your entrance into Bohemia, you should have - met with difficulties and a delay in your journey. But, in view - of the very severe orders prevailing on our frontiers regarding - all the travellers who come from France, orders which you yourself - must think very natural in the circumstances, I cannot but approve - of the conduct of the head of the customs at Haselbach. In spite - of the quite European celebrity of your name, you must be so good - as to excuse this official, who has not the honour to know you - personally, if he had doubts as to the identity of your person, - the more so as your passport was endorsed only for Lombardy, and - not for all the Austrian States. As to your plan for travelling - to Vienna, I am writing about it to-day to Prince Metternich and - will hasten to communicate his reply to you immediately after your - arrival in Prague. - - "I have the honour to send you herewith the reply of M. le Duc de - Blacas and I beg you to be good enough to accept the assurance of - the high regard with which I have the honour to be, etc. - - "The Comte de CHOTEK." - -This reply was polite and proper: the Government could not abandon the -inferior authority, which had, after all, done its duty. I had myself, -in Paris, foreseen the cavilling of which my old passport might become -the cause. As for Vienna, I had referred to it with a political object, -in order to set M. le Comte de Chotek's mind at rest and show him that -I was not trying to avoid the Prince de Metternich. - -[Sidenote: I receive my permit.] - -At eight o'clock in the evening, on Thursday the 23rd of May[550], -I drove off. Who would believe it: I left Waldmünchen with a sort -of regret! I had already grown used to my hosts; my hosts had grown -accustomed to me. I knew all the faces at the windows and doors; -when I walked out, they used to welcome me with a kindly air. The -neighbourhood came running up to witness the departure of my calash, as -dilapidated as was the monarchy of Hugh Capet. The men took off their -hats, the women gave me a little nod of congratulation. My adventure -was the subject of the village gossip; every one took my part: the -Bavarians and the Austrians detest one another; the first were proud at -having allowed me to pass. - -I had often noticed, standing on the threshold of her cottage, a young -Waldmünchen girl with a face like a Virgin in Raphael's first manner. -Her father, with the peasant's civil bearing, used to take off his -broad-brimmed felt hat to the ground to me and give me a greeting in -German which I returned cordially in French: standing behind him, his -daughter used to blush as she looked at me over the old man's shoulder. -I caught sight of my virgin again, but she was alone. I waved good-bye -to her with my hand; she remained motionless; she seemed astonished; I -tried to imagine I know not what vague regrets in her thought: I left -her like a wild flower which one has seen in a ditch by the road-side -and which has scented one's way. I passed the flocks of Eumæus; he -uncovered his head grown grey in the service of the sheep. He had -finished his day's work; he was returning to sleep with his ewes, while -Ulysses went to continue his wanderings. - -I had said to myself, before receiving the permit: - -"If I get it, I shall crush my persecutor." - -On arriving at Haselbach, it happened to me, as to George Dandin, -that my accursed good-nature was too much for me[551]; I had no heart -for the triumph. Like a real poltroon, I cowered in a comer of the -carriage, and Schwartz showed the order from the Governor; I should -have suffered too much from the customs-officer's confusion. He, on -his side, did not appear and did not even have my trunk searched. Peace -be with him! Let him pardon me for the insults which I addressed to -him, but which, owing to a remnant of spite, I will not erase from my -Memoirs. - -As one leaves Bavaria on that side, a vast black forest of pine-trees -serves as a porch to Bohemia. Mists hovered in the valleys, the -light was fading and the sky, towards the west, was the colour of -peach-blossoms; the horizons fell till they almost touched the earth. -Light is lacking at that latitude and, with light, life; all is dim, -wintry, pale; winter seems to charge summer to keep the hoar-frost for -it until its speedy return. A small piece of the moon, which shone -faintly, pleased me; all was not lost, since I found a face that I -knew. It seemed to say to me: - -"What? Are you there? Do you remember how I saw you in other forests? -Do you remember the pretty things you used to say to me when you were -young? Really, you used to talk very nicely about me. Why are you so -silent now? Where are you going alone and so late? Will you never end -recommencing your career?" - -O moon, you are right; but, if I did speak of your charms, you know -the services which you used to do me: you used to light my steps, at -the time when I wandered with my phantom of love; to-day, my head is -silvered like your face, and you are surprised to find me solitary! -And you scorn me! Yet I have spent whole nights wrapped in your veils: -dare you deny our meetings on the lawns and by the sea-side? How often -have you looked upon my eyes passionately fixed on yours! Ungrateful -and mocking planet, you ask me where I am going so late: it is hard to -be reproached with the continuation of my journeys. Ah, if I travel -as much as you, I do not grow young again as you do, you who return -monthly into the brilliant circle of your cradle! I reckon no new -moons: my abatement has no limit other than my complete disappearance -and, when I go out, I shall not rekindle my torch as you do yours. - -I travelled all night; I passed through Teinitz, Stankau and Staab. In -the morning of the 24th, I went on to Pilsen, the "beautiful barrack," -Homeric style. The town is stamped with that air of melancholy which -prevails in this country. At Pilsen, Wallenstein[552] hoped to seize a -sceptre: I too was in quest of a crown, but not for myself. - -The country is cut and slashed with heights called Bohemian mountains: -paps whose tip is marked by pine-trees and whose swelling outlined by -the green of the harvests. - -[Sidenote: And leave Bavaria.] - -The villages are scarce. A few fortresses, hungering for prisoners, -roost on the rocks like old vultures. Between Zditz and Beraun, the -mountains on the right become bald. One goes through a village: the -roads are spacious, the posts well equipped; all points to a monarchy -that imitates Old France. - -Johann the Blind[553], under Philip of Valois[554], the ambassadors of -George[555], under Louis XI.: by what forest paths did they pass? Of -what use are the modern roads of Germany? They will remain deserted, -for there is no history, art nor climate to call foreigners to their -lonely causeways. For purposes of commerce it is unnecessary that the -public thoroughfares should be so wide and so costly to keep in repair: -the richest trade in the world, that of India and Persia, is conducted -on the backs of mules, asses and horses, by narrow paths, hardly traced -over the mountain-chains or sandy zones. The present high-roads, in -unfrequented countries, will serve only for war, as vomitories for the -use of the new Barbarians who, issuing from the North with the immense -bustle of fire-arms, will come to flood regions favoured by intellect -and the sun. - -At Beraun passes the little river of the same name, rather spiteful, -like all curs. In 1748, it rose to the level marked on the walls of -the post-house. After Beraun, gorges twist round a few hills and -spread out at the entrance to an upland. From this upland the road -plunges into a valley with vague lines, the lap of which is occupied -by a hamlet. There commences a long ascent which leads to Duschnik, -the posting-station and the last stage. Soon, descending towards an -opposite eminence, at the top of which stands a cross, one discerns -Prague, on both banks of the Moldau. It is in that town that the sons -of St. Louis are ending a life of exile, that the heir of their House -is beginning a life of proscription, while his mother languishes in -a fortress on the soil from which he has been driven. Frenchmen, you -have sent the daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette, her to whom -your fathers opened the gates of the Temple, to Prague: you have not -cared to keep among you that unique monument of greatness and virtue! -O my old King, you whom I love to call my master, because you have -fallen! O young lad, whom I was the first to proclaim King, what am I -to say to you? How shall I dare to appear in your presence, I who am -not banished, I who am free to return to France, free to return my last -breath to the air which fired my breast when I breathed for the first -time, I whose bones may rest in their native land. Captive of Blaye, I -am going to see your son! - - - -[Footnote 496: This book was written, first, in Paris, on the 9th of -May 1833 and the following days, and then, from the 14th to the 24th of -May, on the road from Paris to Prague.--T.] - -[Footnote 497: An erection of a similar character to the modern -switchback railway.--T.] - -[Footnote 498: HOR.: _Od._ II, vi. 14.--T.] - -[Footnote 499: LA FONTAINE: - -"Pity and tears, -A sort of love not without charm."--T.] - - -[Footnote 500: St. Vincent of Paul (1576-1660) founded the Congregation -of Lazarists, or Mission Priests, in 1625, the Institution of Sisters -of Charity in 1634, and the Foundling Hospital in Paris in 1648. Still -later, he founded, in 1653, the Hospice of the Name of Jesus and, two -years later, the general hospital for the poor of Paris. St. Vincent -was canonized in 1737 and is honoured on the 19th of July.--T.] - -[Footnote 501: _Cf._ the _Génie du Christianisme_, Part IV. Book I. -Chap. 8: _Des Rogations._--T.] - -[Footnote 502: _Cf._ Vol. I. p. 106.--T.] - -[Footnote 503: Gérard.--T.] - -[Footnote 504: LOPE DE VEGA.--_Author's Note._] - -[Footnote 505: Marie Victor Nicolas de Fay, Marquis de Latour-Maubourg -(1768-1850), was an officer in the Body-guard under Louis XVI. He -emigrated in 1792, returned to France after the 18 Brumaire, served -under Bonaparte in Egypt, Germany, Spain and Russia, and lost a leg -and thigh at Leipzig (16 October 1813). He was created a baron of -the Empire in 1808 and a count of the Empire in 1814. In the same -year, the Restoration created him a peer of France. He received a -marquisate in 1817 and was sent to London as Ambassador. In 1819, he -was appointed Minister for War and, in 1821, Governor of the Invalides. -Latour-Maubourg resigned his offices and his peerage after the -Revolution of 1830 and joined the Bourbons in exile. He was appointed -Governor to the Duc de Bordeaux (Henry V.) in 1835.--T.] - -[Footnote 506: Olga Nicolaiëvna Grand duchess of Russia, later Queen of -Wurtemberg (1822-1892), married in 1846 to Charles Frederic Alexander -Prince Royal, later Charles I. King of Wurtemberg.--T.] - -[Footnote 507: Maria Christina Albertina Carlotta of Saxe-Courlande, -Princess of Savoy-Carignan (1779-1851), married, first, Charles Emanuel -Ferdinand Prince of Savoy-Carignan, by whom she became the mother of -Prince Charles Albert, later King of Sardinia (_vide infra_). The -Prince of Carignan died in 1800 and his widow married the Prince de -Montléart.--T.] - -[Footnote 508: Charles Albert King of Sardinia (1798-1849) succeeded -on the death, without male issue, of his cousin King Charles Felix, -in 1831. He abdicated, immediately after losing the Battle of Novara -against the Austrians (23 March 1849), in favour of his son Victor -Emanuel II. Charles Albert died, a few months after, at Oporto (28 July -1849).--T.] - -[Footnote 509: Ettore Conte di Lucchesi-Palli (1805-1864) is described -by some genealogists as Marchese di Lucchesi-Palli di Campo Franco e -Pignatelli, Duca Della Gracia. He married the Duchesse de Berry in 1831 -and had several children by her.--T.] - -[Footnote 510: Francis I. King of the Two Sicilies (1777-1830).--T.] - -[Footnote 511: Ferdinand II. King of the Two Sicilies (1810-1859), -half-brother to the Duchesse de Berry, had succeeded his father at the -death of the latter on the 8th of November 1830.--T.] - -[Footnote 512: Charles Ferdinand Prince of Capua (1811-1862).--T.] - -[Footnote 513: William I. King of the Netherlands had united Belgium -and Holland under his sceptre since 1815. But, after the Insurrection -of Brussels on the 25th August 1830, the Belgian Congress had voted -the deposal of the House of Orange-Nassau. On the 21st of July 1831, -Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was elected and proclaimed King of -the Belgians. William I. continued to hold the Citadel of Antwerp, -refused to recognise the new kingdom and persisted in his resistance -even after the Siege of Antwerp and the capitulation of the citadel -(23 December 1832). On the date when the Duchesse de Berry wrote her -Note (7 May 1833), he had not yet yielded. It was only on the 21st of -May that he signed a convention for the suspension of hostilities and -the resumption of navigation on the Scheldt and the Meuse. He did not -definitely agree to the separation of Holland and Belgium until five -years later, in 1838. He abdicated in 1840, was succeeded by his son, -William II., the Prince of Orange mentioned above, and died suddenly, -in Berlin, on the 12th of December 1843, in his seventy-first year.--T.] - -[Footnote 514: Queen Marie-Thérèse (the Dauphine-Duchesse -d'Angoulême).--T.] - -[Footnote 515: The prefix of "My Lord" and "His Lordship," _Monseigneur -et sa seigneurie_, were borne by those nobles only who were peers of -France. Chateaubriand resigned his peerage, in 1830, by refusing to -take the oath of allegiance to Louis-Philippe.--T.] - -[Footnote 516: The verse in the _Æneid_ (IX. 641) is as follows: - - Macte nova virtute, puer! sic itur ad astra. - -It was Statius who, slightly modifying Virgil's verse, said (_Th._ VII. -280): - - Macte animo, generose puer! sic itur ad astra. - -_Cf._ Vol. I, p. 56.--T.] - -[Footnote 517: Serious troubles had lately broken out in the Canton -of Basle between the peasants of the country and the burgesses of the -town. The former claimed the right of a separate constitution and -administration, as the conditions of joint government offered them by -the town did not seem fair to them. Before long, the dispute came to an -armed quarrel, attended with some bloodshed.--B.] - -[Footnote 518: Pierre Vidal (_d._ 1229), the Provençal troubadour, who -accompanied Richard Cœur-de-Lion to Cyprus in 1190.--T.] - -[Footnote 519: - - "Richer I with ribbon owed - To the favour of Raimbaude - Than King Richard with Poitiers - And with Tours and with Angiers."--T.] - - -[Footnote 520: Alphonsus II. of Este, Duke of Ferrara and Modena -(1533-1597), the patron and persecutor of Tasso and brother of Leonora -of Este (_vide infra_).--T.] - -[Footnote 521: Leonora of Este (_d._ 1581), sister of Alphonsus II. -Tasso went mad for love of her in 1577.--T.] - -[Footnote 522: They were lost to France by the second Napoleon in -1870.--T.] - -[Footnote 523: Florio's MONTAIGNE, Booke II. Chap. 33: _The Historie of -Spurina._--T.] - -[Footnote 524: Camille d'Hostun, Maréchal Duc de Tallart (1652-1728), -defeated the Imperials at Speyer, in 1703, and was beaten by -Marlborough and Prince Eugene at Blenheim, or Hochstadt, in 1704. He -was taken prisoner and carried to England, where he was kept captive -for eight years. During his stay in London, where he had before been -Ambassador, he intrigued to bring about Marlborough's disgrace. On his -return to France, he was created a duke and peer and, later, a member -of the Council of Regency. He became a minister of State under Louis -XV. and was a member of the Academy of Science, but not of the French -Academy, as Chateaubriand says in error.--B.] - -[Footnote 525: John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), -Captain-general of the English Forces from 1702 to 1711.--T.] - -[Footnote 526: Anne Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1655-1714), -long under the influence of Marlborough and his wife. This influence -did, in fact, come to an end in 1711, the year before Tallart's -release.--T.] - -[Footnote 527: LA FONTAINE, _Le Paysan du Danube_: - - "Upon his chin there grew a bushy beard; - His person shaggy and weird - Resembled a bear, but an unlicked bear at that."--T.] - - -[Footnote 528: Claudius Ptolemæus, known as Ptolemy (_fl._. 150), the -famous Alexandrian astronomer, geographer and mathematician: - - "Ptolemy believed that the sun, planets and stars revolved round - the earth. His error in calculating the circumference of the globe - warranted Columbus in supposing that the distance from the western - coast of Europe to the eastern coast of Asia was about one-third - less than it actually is; and thus encouraged the enterprise which - led to the discovery of America" (JEBB: _Greek Literature_, Part - III. Chap. II.: _From Augustus to Justinian_).--T] - -[Footnote 529: RACINE, _Mithridate_, Act III. sc. i.: - - Doutez-vous que l'Euxin ne me porte en deux jours - Aux lieux où le Danube y vient finir son cours. - - "Do you doubt that the Euxine will take me in two days - To the spot where the Danube its last tribute pays."--T. - - -"We are told that, on hearing these verses from _Mithridate_, an old -soldier, who had waged war in those countries, exclaimed aloud: - -"'Yes, certainly, I doubt it.' - -"He was quite right." (LA HARPE: _Cours de Littérature_, Part II. Book -i. Chap. 3.)-B.] - -[Footnote 530: CHATEAUBRIAND: _Martyrs_, Book VII.--T.] - -[Footnote 531: I omit a stanza of eight lines quoted from -Régnier-Desmarais.--T.] - -[Footnote 532: George Neville, Archbishop of York (_circa_ 1433-1476), -a younger brother of Warwick the King-maker. He was Lord Chancellor -from 1460 to 1467 and became Archbishop of York in 1465.--T.] - -[Footnote 533: There is a play upon words here which I cannot render: -_butor_, in French means a bittern and also a booby, a block-head, a -dolt.--T.] - -[Footnote 534: _Cf._ the _Lettre à M. de Fontanes._--B.] - -[Footnote 535: Johann Kepler (1571-1630), the German astronomer, -inventor of the laws of planetary motion known as Kepler's Laws and -author of _De Motibus Stella Martis_ (1609).--T.] - -[Footnote 536: Copernicus (1473-1543), the founder of modern Astronomy -and author of _De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus_ (1543).--T.] - -[Footnote 537: Karl Count von Chotek (1783-1868) was appointed Governor -of the Tyrol in 1819, Court Chancellor in 1825 and Grand Burgrave of -Bohemia in 1826; he retained this post until 1843.--T. - -The Marquis de Villeneuve speaks of Count von Chotek as follows, in his -Memoirs on Charles X. in exile: - - "His title of Grand Burgrave corresponds in its functions with - those of our prefects, with less additional burdens and less - diversity in the matter of details. But his prefecture was a - whole kingdom. He ruled four millions of inhabitants. Although - he possessed an immense fortune, he occupied a modest house. His - political opinions bore a strong impress of Liberalism."--B.] - -[Footnote 538: Friedrich von Gentz (1764-1832), a German publicist and -diplomatist (_Cf._ Vol. III. p. 79, n. 1), first in the Prussian and, -later, in the Austrian service, was Chief secretary at the Congresses -of Vienna (1814-1815), Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), Carlsbad and Vienna -(1819), Troppau (1820), Laibach (1821) and Verona (1822).--T.] - -[Footnote 539: The Duc de Blacas d'Aulps (_cf._ Vol. III. p. 100, n. 1) -had followed King Charles X. into exile and exercised a preponderating -influence over the little Court in Prague. He died in Prague on the -17th of November 1839.--B.] - -[Footnote 540: Anne Hyacinthe Maxence Baron de Damas (1785-1862) was -only six years old when he emigrated from France with his family. At -the age of ten, he was entered as a cadet in the artillery-school in -St. Petersburg; he served with distinction in the Russian Army and was -a brigadier-general in 1813. At the First Restoration, he was attached -to the Duc d'Angoulême as a lord of the Bed-chamber and aide-de-camp. -Louis XVIII. made him a lieutenant-general in 1815. In the Spanish -Campaign of 1823, at the head of a division, he handled his troops so -well that, at Llers and Llado (15 and 16 September), he captured a -whole column of the enemy. In reward for his services, the Baron de -Damas was created a peer of France, on the 9th of October 1823, and -appointed Minister for War on the 19th of the same month. One year -later, he succeeded Chateaubriand at the Foreign Office; and, in 1828, -he found himself involved in the fall of the Villèle Cabinet. In 1827, -after the death of the Duc de Rivière, he became Governor to the Duc -de Bordeaux, followed his pupil into exile, and retained his functions -till 1833. In 1834, he retired to his estate of Hautefort and devoted -the remainder of his life to passionate well-doing.--B.] - -[Footnote 541: The Cardinal de Latil (_cf._ p. 18, n. 3, _supra_) was -First Chaplain to Charles X., followed his master into exile, and did -not return to France until 1836, after the King's death. He himself -died in 1839, in the same year as the Duc de Blacas.--B.] - -[Footnote 542: August Heinrich Julius Lafontaine (1759-1831), author -of a number of novels of a domestic character which attained a great -popularity.--T.] - -[Footnote 543: _Cf._ MOLIÈRE: L'_Avare_, Act II. sc. i.--T.] - -[Footnote 544: Maximilian I. King of Bavaria (1756-1825).--T.] - -[Footnote 545: Maria Wilhelmina Augusta of Hesse-Dannstadt, Queen of -Bavaria (1765-1796), is, I presume, the Queen referred to: Maximilian's -second consort, Frederica Carolina Wilhelmina of Baden (1776-1841) did -not die till eight years later.--T.] - -[Footnote 546: Silvio Pellico (1788-1854), an Italian poet and -prose-writer, arrested as a _Carbonaro_ in 1820 and imprisoned for two -years in Milan and Venice. In 1822, he was condemned to death, but his -sentence was commuted and he was kept as a prisoner, from 1822 to 1830, -at the Spielberg, near Brünn. Pellico's chief works are his tragedies, -_Francesca da Rimini_ and _Laodamia_, and his autobiographical work, -_Le mie Prigioni_ (1833), which achieved an immense popularity -throughout Europe.--T.] - -[Footnote 547: The two last syllables of the German _Bitte für uns!_ -and the French _espérance_ form a rough rhyme.--T.] - -[Footnote 548: Henry VII. King of England (1457-1509) united the Houses -of Lancaster (in his own person) and York (in that of his wife, Queen -Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.). He was noted for his avarice.--T.] - -[Footnote 549: _Cf._ CERVANTES: _El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la -Mancha_, Part I. Chap. 18.--T.] - -[Footnote 550: And not Thursday the 24th, as the earlier editions have -it.--B.] - -[Footnote 551: _Cf._ MOLIÈRE: _George Dandin_, Act. III. sc. 10.--T.] - -[Footnote 552: Albrecht Eusebius von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, -Mecklemburg and Sagan (1583-1634), the famous Austrian general. There -is little or no doubt that he was contemplating treachery and intending -to make himself independent in Bohemia, when he was outlawed by the -Emperor Ferdinand II., in January 1634. He was on the point of going -over to the Swedes, who were then on the borders of Bohemia, when he -was assassinated, at Eger, on the 25th of February 1634.--T.] - -[Footnote 553: John King of Bohemia (_circa_ 1296-1346), surnamed the -Blind, King of Bohemia, of the House of Luxemburg, from 1310 to 1346. -He was killed at the Battle of Crécy, 26 August 1346.--T.] - -[Footnote 554: Philip VI. King of France (1293-1350), the first King of -the House of Valois. He ascended the throne in 1328 and in his reign -(1338) began the Hundred Years' War with England.--T.] - -[Footnote 555: George Podiebrad, King of Bohemia (1420-1471), was -elected King in 1458. He subsequently joined the Hussite sect and, in -1466, commenced a persecution of the Catholics, with the result that he -was dethroned in 1468.--T.] - - - - -BOOK IV[556] - - -The castle of the Kings of Bohemia--First interview with Charles -X.--Monsieur le Dauphin--The Children of France--The Duc and -Duchesse de Guiche--The triumvirate--Mademoiselle--Conversation -with the King--Dinner and evening at Hradschin--Visits--General -Skrzynecki--Dinner at Count Chotek's--Whit Sunday--The Duc de -Blacas--Casual observations--Tycho Brahe--Perdita: more casual -observations--Bohemia--Slav and neo-Latin literature--I take leave -of the King--Adieus--The children's letters to their mother--A -Jew--The Saxon servant-girl--What I am leaving in Prague--The Duc de -Bordeaux--Madame la Dauphine--Casual observations--Springs--Mineral -waters--Historical memories--The Teplitz Valley--Its flora--Last -conversation with the Dauphiness--My departure. - - -I entered Prague on the 24th of May, at seven o'clock in the evening, -and alighted at the Bath Hotel, in the old town built on the left bank -of the Moldau. I wrote a note to M. le Duc de Blacas to inform him of -my arrival and received the following reply: - - "If you are not too tired, monsieur le vicomte, the King will be - charmed to receive you this evening, at a quarter to ten; but, if - you wish to rest, His Majesty would see you with great pleasure - to-morrow morning, at half-past eleven. - - "Pray accept my sincere compliments. - - "_Friday_ 24 _May_ seven o'clock. - - "BLACAS D'AULPS." - -I did not feel that I ought to avail myself of the alternative offered -to me: I set out at half-past nine; a man belonging to the inn, who -knew a few words of French, led the way for me. I climbed up silent, -gloomy streets, without street-lamps, to the foot of the tall hill -which is crowned by the immense castle of the Kings of Bohemia. The -building outlined its black mass against the sky; no light issued from -its windows: there was there something akin to the solitude, the site -and the grandeur of the Vatican, or of the Temple of Jerusalem, seen -from the Valley of Jehoshaphat. One heard nothing but the sound of my -footsteps and my guide's. I was obliged to stop at intervals on the -landings of the steps that formed the roadway, so steep was the incline. - -As I climbed, I discovered the town below me. The links of history, -the fate of men, the destruction of empires, the designs of Providence -presented themselves to my recollection, identified themselves with the -memory of my own destiny: after exploring dead ruins, I was summoned to -the spectacle of living ruins. - -When we had reached the platform on which Hradschin[557] is built, we -passed through an infantry post whose guard-room was near the outer -wicket-gate. Through this wicket-gate we entered a square court-yard, -surrounded by uniform and deserted buildings. On the ground-floor, on -the right, we threaded a long corridor lighted at wide intervals by -glass lanterns hung on the wall on either side, as in a convent or -barracks. At the end of this corridor was a stair-case, at whose foot -two sentries marched up and down. - -As I was climbing the second flight, I met M. de Blacas, who was coming -down. I entered the apartments of Charles X. with him; there two more -grenadiers were standing sentry. This foreign guard, those white -uniforms at the door of the King of France made a painful impression on -me: the idea of a prison came to me, rather than a palace. - -We passed through three pitch-dark and almost unfurnished rooms: I felt -as though I were wandering once more through the terrible monastery -of the Escorial. M. de Blacas left me in the third room to inform the -King, with the same etiquette as at the Tuileries. He came back to -fetch me, showed me into His Majesty's closet and withdrew. - -Charles X. came up to me, held out his hand to me cordially and said: - -"Good-evening, good-evening, Monsieur de Chateaubriand: I am delighted -to see you. I expected you. You ought not to have come this evening, -for you must be very tired. Don't stand; let us sit down. How is your -wife?" - -[Sidenote at Hradschin.] - -Nothing breaks one's heart so much as simplicity of speech in the high -positions of society and the great catastrophes of life. I began to -cry like a child; I found a difficulty in stifling the sound of my -sobs with my handkerchief. All the bold things which I had resolved -to say, all the vain and relentless philosophy with which I intended -to arm my conversation failed me. Should I become the pedagogue of -misfortune! Should I dare to remonstrate with my King, my white-haired -King, my King outlawed, exiled, ready to lay his mortal remains on -foreign soil! My old Sovereign again took my hand on seeing the trouble -of that "relentless enemy," that "opponent" of the Ordinances of July. -His eyes were moist; he made me sit beside a little wooden table, on -which stood two candles; he sat down by the same table, leaning his -good ear towards me to hear me better, thus apprizing me of his years, -which came to mingle their common misfortunes with the extraordinary -calamities of his life. - -It was impossible for me to recover my voice at the sight, in the -residence of the Emperors of Austria, of the sixty-eighth King of -France, bent under the weight of those reigns and of seventy-six -years: of those years, twenty-four had been spent in exile, five on -a tottering throne; the Monarch was ending his last days in a last -exile, with the grandson whose father had been assassinated and whose -mother was a prisoner. Charles X. to break this silence, addressed -a few questions to me. Thereupon I briefly explained the object of -my journey: I said that I was the bearer of a letter from Madame la -Duchesse de Berry, addressed to Madame la Dauphine, in which the -prisoner of Blaye confided the care of her children to the prisoner of -the Temple, as to one practised in misfortune. I added that I also had -a letter for the children. The King replied: - -"Do not give it to them: they know only a part of what has happened to -their mother; you must hand me that letter. However, we will talk of -all that at two o'clock tomorrow: go to bed now. You shall see my son -and the children at eleven o'clock and you will dine with us." - -The King rose, wished me good-night and retired. - -I went out; I joined M. de Blacas in the entrance-room; the guide was -waiting for me on the stair-case. I returned to my inn, descending the -streets on their slippery pavements in as short a time as I had taken -long to climb them. - -PRAGUE, 25 _May_ 1833. - -The next day, the 25th of May, I received a visit from M. le Comte -de Cossé, staying at my inn. He told me of the disagreements at the -Castle relative to the education of the Duc de Bordeaux. At half-past -ten, I went up to Hradschin; the Duc de Guiche[558] took me in to M. -le Dauphin. I found him grown old and thin; he was dressed in a shabby -blue coat, buttoned up to the chin; it was too wide for him and looked -as though it had been bought at a rag-fair: the poor Prince excited a -great pity in me. - -M. le Dauphin has personal courage; his obedience to Charles X. alone -prevented him from proving himself at Saint-Cloud and Rambouillet -what he proved himself at Chiclana: his bashfulness has increased in -consequence. He finds it difficult to bear the sight of a new face. He -often says to the Duc de Guiche: - -"Why are you here? I have no need of any one. There is no mouse-hole -small enough to hide me." - -He has said also, repeatedly: - -"Don't talk about me; don't trouble about me; I am nobody; I don't want -to be anybody. I have twenty thousand francs a year; it is more than I -need. I have to think only of saving my soul and making a good end." - -Again he has said: - -"If my nephew had need of me, I would serve him with my sword; but I -signed my abdication, against my own feeling, out of obedience to my -father: I shall not renew it; I shall sign nothing more; let them -leave me in peace, word is enough: I never lie." - -[Sidenote: The Dauphin (Louis XIX.)] - -And that is true: his mouth has never uttered a lie. He reads much; he -has considerable attainments, even in languages; his correspondence -with M. de Villèle during the Spanish War has its value, and his -correspondence with Madame la Dauphine, which was intercepted and -inserted in the _Moniteur_, makes one love him. His probity is -incorruptible; his religion is profound; his filial piety rises to the -height of virtue; but an unconquerable shyness deprives him of the full -use of his faculties. - -To put him at his ease, I avoided entering upon politics with him and -only enquired after his father's health: this is a subject on which -he is inexhaustible. The difference in climate between Edinburgh and -Prague, the King's prolonged attacks of gout, the waters of Teplitz -which the King was going to take, the good which they would do him: -there you have the purport of our conversation. M. le Dauphin watches -over Charles X. as over a child; he kisses his hand when he goes up to -him, asks how he has slept, picks up his pocket-handkerchief, speaks -loud so as to make himself heard by him, prevents him from eating what -might disagree with him, makes him put on or leave off an over-coat -according to the state of the weather, takes him out walking and brings -him back again. I was careful to speak to him of nothing else. Of the -Days of July, of the fall of an empire, of the future of the Monarchy, -not a word. - -"It is eleven o'clock," he said: "you are going to see the children; we -shall meet again at dinner." - -I was taken to the apartment of the Governor; the doors opened: -I saw the Baron de Damas with his pupil, Madame de Gontaut with -Mademoiselle[559], M. Barrande[560], M. La Villate[561] and a few other -devoted servants; all were standing. The young Prince, scared, looked -at me sideways, looked at his governor as though to ask him what he -was to do, how to act in this danger, or as though to obtain permission -to speak to me. Mademoiselle smiled with a half-smile and a timid and -independent air; she seemed to be paying attention to her brother's -movements and gestures. Madame de Gontaut looked proud of the education -which she had given her pupils. After bowing to the two children, I -went up to the orphan and said: - -"Will Henry V. allow me to lay the homage of my respect at his feet? -When he has ascended his throne, perhaps he will remember that I had -the honour to say to his illustrious mother, 'Madame, your son is my -King!' So I was the first to proclaim Henry V. King of France, and a -French jury, by acquitting me, allowed my proclamation to stand good. -God save the King!" - -The child, flurried at hearing himself greeted as King, at hearing me -speak of his mother, of whom no one spoke to him now, recoiled and took -refuge between the Baron de Damas' knees, uttering a few emphatic but -almost whispered words. I said to M. de Damas: - -"Monsieur le baron, my words seem to surprise the King. I see that he -knows nothing of his courageous mother and that he is ignorant of what -his servants have sometimes had the happiness to do for the cause of -the Legitimate Royalty.' - -The governor replied: - -"Monseigneur is taught what loyal subjects like yourself, monsieur le -vicomte...." - -He did not finish his sentence. - -M. de Damas hastened to state that the moment for study had arrived. -He invited me to the riding-lesson at four o'clock. - -I went to pay a visit to Madame la Duchesse de Guiche, who lived at -some distance in another part of the Castle; it took nearly ten minutes -to go to her through corridor after corridor. When Ambassador in -London, I had given a little fête in honour of Madame de Guiche, then -in all the brilliancy of her youth and followed by a host of adorers; -in Prague, I found her changed, but the expression of her face pleased -me more. Her head was dressed in a way that suited her delightfully: -her hair, plaited in little tresses, like that of an odalisk or a -Sabine medal, was festooned in ringlets on either side of her forehead. -The Duchesse and Duc de Guiche represented in Prague beauty chained to -adversity. - -Madame de Guiche had heard of what I had said to the Duc de Bordeaux. -She told me that they wanted to send away M. Barrande; that there was -a talk of calling in some Jesuits[562]; that M. de Damas had postponed -but not abandoned his plans. - -[Sidenote: The triumvirate.] - -A triumvirate existed, composed of the Duc de Blacas, the Baron de -Damas and the Cardinal de Latil: this triumvirate tended to take -possession of the coming reign by isolating the young King and -bringing him up in principles and under men antipathetic to France. -The remainder of the inhabitants of the Castle caballed against the -triumvirate; the children themselves headed the opposition. The -opposition, however, had different shades: the Gontaut party was not -quite the same as the Guiche party; the Marquise de Bouillé, a deserter -from the Berry party, took sides with the Abbé Moligny[563]. Madame -la Dauphine, placed at the head of the impartials, was not exactly -favourable to the Young France party, represented by M. Barrande; but, -as she spoilt the Duc de Bordeaux, she often leant towards his side and -stood by him against his governor. Madame d'Agoult[564], devoted body -and soul to the triumvirate, had no credit with the Dauphiness other -than that which she enjoyed thanks to her presence and importunity. - -After paying my respects to Madame de Guiche, I went to Madame de -Gontaut's. She was expecting me with the Princesse Louise. - -Mademoiselle somewhat recalls her father: she is fair-haired; her -blue eyes have a shrewd expression; she is short for her age and is -not so full-grown as her portraits represent her. Her whole person is -a mixture of the child, the young girl and the young princess: she -looks up, lowers her eyes, smiles with an artless coquetry mingled -with art; one does not know if one ought to tell her fairy-stories, -make her a declaration, or talk to her with respect as to a queen. The -Princesse Louise adds to the agreeable accomplishments a good deal of -information: she speaks English and is beginning to know German well; -she even has a little foreign accent, and exile is already marking -itself in her language. - -Madame de Gontaut presented me to my little King's sister; innocent -fugitives, they were like two gazelles hiding among ruins. Mademoiselle -Vachon, the under-governess, an excellent and distinguished spinster, -arrived. We sat down and Madame de Gontaut said to me: - -"We can speak, Mademoiselle knows all; she deplores with us what we -see." - -Mademoiselle said to me at once: - -"Oh, Henry was very silly this morning; he was frightened. Grand-papa -said to us, 'Guess whom you will see to-morrow: it's one of the -powers of the earth!' We said, 'Well, it's the Emperor.' 'No,' said -Grand-papa. We tried again; we could not guess. He said, 'It's the -Vicomte de Chateaubriand.' I hit myself on the forehead for not -guessing.' - -The Princess struck her forehead, blushing like a rose, smiling wittily -through her moist and gentle eyes; I was dying with the respectful -longing to kiss her little white hand. She continued: - -"You did not hear what Henry said when you asked him to remember you? -He said, 'Oh yes, always,' but he said it so low! He was afraid of you -and afraid of his governor. I was making signs to him: did you see? You -will be more pleased this evening; he will speak: wait!" - -This solicitude of the young Princess on her brother's behalf was -charming; I was almost committing a crime of lezemajesty. Mademoiselle -remarked it, and this gave her a bearing of conquest that was -captivating in its grace. I put her mind at rest as to the impression -which Henry had made upon me. - -"I was very glad," she said, "to hear you speak of Mamma before M. de -Damas. Will she soon have left prison?" - -My readers know that I had a letter from Madame la Duchesse de Berry -for the children: I did not tell them of it, because they did not know -of the details subsequent to the captivity. The King had asked me for -this letter; I considered that I was not at liberty to give it to him -and that I ought to take it to Madame la Dauphine, to whom I was sent -and who was then taking the waters at Carlsbad. - -[Sidenote: Mademoiselle.] - -Madame de Gontaut repeated what M. de Cossé and Madame de Guiche had -already told me. Mademoiselle groaned with childish seriousness. Her -governess having spoken of M. Barrande's discharge and the probable -arrival of a Jesuit, the Princesse Louise crossed her hands and said, -with a sigh: - -"That would be very unpopular!" - -I could not help laughing; Mademoiselle began to laugh also, still -blushing. - -A few moments remained before my audience of the King. I got into my -calash and went to call on the Grand Burgrave, Count Chotek. He lived -in a country-house half a league from the town, on the side of the -Castle. I found him at home and thanked him for his letter. He invited -me to dinner for Monday the 27th of May. - - -On returning to the Castle at two o'clock, I was introduced to the -King's presence, as on the preceding day, by M. de Blacas. Charles X. -received me with his customary kindness and with that elegant ease -of manner which the years render more perceptible in him. He made -me sit again at the little table. Here is a detailed account of our -conversation: - -"Sire, Madame la Duchesse de Berry commanded me to come to see you -and to hand a letter to Madame la Dauphine. I do not know what the -letter contains, although it is open; it is written in invisible ink, -as is the letter for the children. But in my two letters of credence, -one intended to be shown, the other of a confidential character, -Marie-Caroline explains to me what is in her mind. During her -captivity, she commits her children, as I told Your Majesty yesterday, -to the special protection of Madame la Dauphine. Madame la Duchesse -de Berry charges me besides to report to her on the education of -Henry V., whom they here call the Duc de Bordeaux. Lastly, Madame la -Duchesse de Berry declares that she has contracted a secret marriage -with Count Hector Lucchesi-Palli, a member of an illustrious family. -These secret marriages of princesses, for which there are many -precedents, do not deprive them of their rights. Madame la Duchesse de -Berry asks to preserve her rank as a French princess, the Regency and -the guardianship. When she is free, she proposes to come to Prague to -embrace her children and lay her respects at Your Majesty's feet." - -The King answered with severity. I made the best reply that I could out -of a recrimination: - -"I beg Your Majesty to pardon me, but it seems to me that you have been -prejudiced; M. de Blacas is no doubt an enemy of my august client." - -Charles X. interrupted me: - -"No; but she has treated him badly, because he prevented her from -committing follies, from embarking on mad enterprises." - -"It is not given to everybody," I said, "to commit follies of that -kind: Henry IV. fought like Madame la Duchesse de Berry and, like her, -he was not always sufficiently strong. Sire," I continued, "you do -not wish Madame de Berry to be a princess of France: she will be so -in spite of you; the whole world will always call her the Duchesse de -Berry, the heroic mother of Henry V.; her dauntless courage and her -sufferings overtower everything; you cannot, like the Duc d'Orléans, -wish to brand at one blow the children and the mother: is it so -difficult for you, then, to forgive a woman's glory?" - -"Well, _monsieur l'ambassadeur_," said the King, with good-natured -emphasis, "let Madame la Duchesse de Berry go to Palermo; let her there -live with M. Lucchesi as husband and wife, in sight of all the world; -then her children shall be told that their mother is married; she shall -come to embrace them." - -I felt that I had pushed the matter far enough; the principal points -were three-fourths obtained: the preservation of the title and the -admission to Prague at a more or less distant period; feeling surer of -completing my task with Madame la Dauphine, I changed the conversation. -Obstinate minds jib at persistency; one spoils everything, with such -minds, when one tries to carry everything by main force. - -I passed to the Prince's education in the interest of the future: on -this subject I was not clearly understood. Religion has made a solitary -of Charles X.; his ideas are cloistered. I slipped in a few words on -the capacity of M. Barrande and the want of capacity of M. de Damas. -The King said: - -[Sidenote: Conversations with Charles X.] - -"M. Barrande is a man of attainments, but he takes too much upon -himself; he was chosen to teach the Duc de Bordeaux the exact sciences, -but he teaches everything: history, geography, Latin. I have sent for -the Abbé MacCarthy[565], to share M. Barrande's labours; he will be -here soon." - -These words made me shudder, for the new tutor could evidently be only -a Jesuit replacing a Jesuit. The fact that, in the present state of -society in France, the mere idea of attaching a disciple of Loyola to -the person of Henry V. had entered into the head of Charles X. was -enough to make one despair of the House. When I had recovered from my -astonishment, I asked: - -"Is not the King afraid of the effect upon public opinion of a tutor -taken from the ranks of a famous, but calumniated society?" - -The King exclaimed: - -"Pooh! Are they still at the Jesuits?" - -I spoke to the King of the elections and the desire of the Royalists to -know his wishes. The King replied: - -"I cannot say to a man, 'Take an oath against your conscience.' Those -who think that they ought to take it are doubtless acting with good -intentions. I have no prejudice, my dear friend, against men; their -past lives matter little, when they are sincerely anxious to serve -France and the Legitimacy. The Republicans wrote to me in Edinburgh: -I accepted, as concerns them personally, all that they asked of me; -but they wanted to impose conditions of government upon me: I rejected -them. I will never yield on matters of principle; I want to leave my -grandson a more solid throne than mine was. Are the French happier -and freer to-day than they were with me? Do they pay less taxes? -What a milch-cow France is! If I had allowed myself to do a quarter -of the things that M. le Duc d'Orléans has done, what outcries, what -curses! They plotted against me, they have owned it: I wanted to defend -myself...." - -The King stopped, as though embarrassed by the number of his thoughts -and by the fear of saying something that might hurt me. - -All this was well and good; but what did Charles X. understand by -"principles?" Had he accounted for the cause of the real or imaginary -conspiracies hatched against his government? After a moment of silence, -he resumed: - -"How are your friends the Bertins? They have no reason to complain of -me, as you know: they are very severe upon a banished man who has done -them no harm, at least as far as I know. But, my dear fellow, I bear no -one ill-will; let everybody behave as he thinks right." - -This sweetness of temperament, this Christian meekness on the part of -an expelled and slandered King brought tears to my eyes. I tried to say -a few words about Louis-Philippe: - -"Ah!" said the King. "M. le Duc d'Orléans... he judged.. . What do you -expect?... Men are like that." - -Not a bitter word, not a reproach, not a complaint could escape from -the mouth of the thrice-banished old man. And yet French hands had cut -off his brother's head and pierced his son's heart; to such an extent -have those hands been mindful and implacable towards him! - -I praised the King with all my heart and in a voice broken with -emotion. I asked him if it was not part of his intention to put a stop -to all that secret correspondence, to dismiss all those commissaries -who, for forty years, have been deceiving the Legitimacy. The King -assured me that he was resolved to put an end to that impotent -mischief; he had already, he said, named a few serious persons, -including myself, to compose a sort of council, in France, competent to -keep him informed of the truth. M. de Blacas would explain all that. I -begged Charles X. to assemble his servants and hear me; he referred me -to M. de Blacas. - -I called the King's attention to the time of the majority of Henry V.; -I spoke to him of a declaration as a necessary thing to be made. The -King, who, inwardly, would have nothing to say to this declaration, -invited me to draft the model for him. I replied, respectfully, but -firmly, that I would never formulate a declaration at the foot of which -my name should not appear below the King's. My reason was that I did -not wish to have put to my account the eventual changes introduced into -any deed by Prince Metternich and M. de Blacas. - -I pointed out to the King that he was too far from Paris, that one -would have time to make two or three revolutions before he was informed -of it in Prague. The King replied that the Emperor had left him free to -choose his place of residence in all the Austrian States, the Kingdom -of Lombardy excepted. - -[Sidenote: The King's poverty.] - -"But," added His Majesty, "the towns in Austria that one can live in -are all at more or less the same distance from France; in Prague, -I am lodged for nothing, and my position obliges me to make that -calculation." - -A noble calculation for a Prince who had, for five years, enjoyed a -civil list of twenty millions, without counting the royal residences; -for a Prince who had left to France the Colony of Algiers and the -ancient patrimony of the Bourbons, valued at twenty-five to thirty -millions per annum! - -"Sire, your loyal subjects have often thought that your royal indigence -might have some needs; they are ready to club together, each according -to his means, in order to make you independent of foreigners." - -"I believe, my dear Chateaubriand," said the King, laughing, "that you -are not much richer than myself. How have you paid for your journey?" - -I said: - -"Sire, it would have been impossible for me to come to you, if Madame -la Duchesse de Berry had not instructed her banker, M. Jauge, to pay me -six thousand francs." - -"That's very little!" exclaimed the King. "Do you want any more?" - -"No, Sire; I ought even, by careful management, to be able to return -something to the poor prisoner; but I am not good at bargaining." - -"You were a magnificent lord in Rome." - -"I always conscientiously squandered what the King gave me; I did not -have two sous left." - -"You know that I still have your peer's salary at your disposal: you -refused it." - -"No, Sire, because you have more unfortunate servants than myself. You -helped me out of my difficulty for the twenty thousand francs of debts -that remained over from my Roman embassy, after the ten thousand which -I borrowed from your great friend M. Laffitte." - -"I owed them to you," said the King. "It did not even amount to -what you sacrificed in salary when sending in your resignation as -ambassador, which, by the way, hurt me not a little." - -"However that may be, Sire, whether it was due to me or not, Your -Majesty, by coming to my assistance, did me a service at the time and I -will pay you back your money when I can; but not at present, for I am -as poor as a rat. My house in the Rue d'Enfer is not paid for. I live -promiscuously with Madame de Chateaubriand's poor, while waiting for -the lodging which I have already visited, for Your Majesty's sake, at -M. Gisquet's. When I pass through a town, I first enquire if there is -an alms-house; if there is, I sleep peacefully: 'board and lodging, who -asks for more?'" - -"Oh, it won't end like that. How much would you want, Chateaubriand, to -be rich?" - -"Sire, you would be wasting your time; if you gave me four millions -this morning, I should not have a farthing to-night." - -The King shook my shoulder with his hand: - -"Capital! But what the devil do you throw away your money on?" - -"Faith, Sire, I don't know, for I have no tastes and no expenses: it's -incomprehensible! I am such a fool that, when I went to the Foreign -Office, I would not take the twenty-five thousand francs allowed for -the expenses of installation and that, when leaving, I scorned to -purloin the secret-service money! You are talking to me of my fortune -to avoid talking to me of your own." - -"That is true," said the King. "Here is my confession in my turn: -by spending my capital in equal portions from year to year, I have -calculated that, at my age, I can live till my last day without -needing anybody. If I found myself in distress, I should prefer, as -you suggest, to apply to Frenchmen rather than foreigners. They have -offered to raise loans for me, among others one of thirty millions -which would have been subscribed in Holland; but I knew that that loan, -when quoted on the principal exchanges in Europe, would send down the -French funds; this prevented me from adopting that plan: nothing that -would affect the public fortune in France could suit me." - -A sentiment worthy of a king! - -[Illustration: Henry V. (Duc de Bordeaux)] - -In this conversation, the reader will have remarked the generous -character, the gentle manners and the good sense of Charles X. It would -have been a curious sight for a philosopher to see the subject and the -King questioning each other as to their fortunes and making mutual -confidences as to their poverty inside a castle borrowed from the -Sovereigns of Bohemia! - -[Sidenote: Henry V.] - -PRAGUE, 25 _and_ 26 _May_ 1833. - -At the end of this conference, I attended Henry's riding-lesson. He -rode two horses, the first without stirrups, the horse being led, the -second with stirrups, performing volts without his holding the reins, -with a stick passed between his back and arms. The child is daring and -nothing less than elegant in his white trousers, his short coat, his -little ruff and his cap. M. O'Heguerty the Elder, the teaching equerry, -shouted: - -"What's that leg doing? It's like a stick! Let your leg go! Good! -Awful! What's the matter with you to-day?" and so on. - -The lesson over, the young page-King pulled up on horse-back in the -middle of the riding-school, took off his cap, suddenly, to salute me -in the gallery where I was standing with the Baron de Damas and some -French people, and sprang from his horse as nimbly and gracefully as -the Little Jehan de Saintré[566]. - -Henry is slender, agile, well-built; he is fair; he has blue eyes with -a trait in the left eye which reminds one of his mother's look. His -movements are sudden; he accosts you frankly; he is curious and asks -questions; he has none of the pedantry which the newspapers ascribe -to him; he is a genuine little boy, like any little boy of twelve. I -complimented him on his good appearance on horse-back: - -"You have seen nothing," he said; "you ought to see me on my black -horse; he's as vicious as a demon: he kicks, he throws me; I get up -again, we jump the gate. The other day, he hit himself; he's got a leg -as thick as that. Isn't the last horse I was riding a pretty one? But I -was not in form." - -Henry at present detests the Baron de Damas, whose appearance, -character and ideas are repellent to him. He frequently loses his -temper with him. In consequence of these rages, the Prince must needs -be punished; he is sometimes condemned to stay in bed: a stupid -punishment. Next comes an Abbé Moligny, who confesses the rebel and -tries to frighten him out of his wits. The obstinate one will not -listen and refuses to eat Then Madame la Dauphine decides in favour of -Henry, who eats and laughs at the baron. The education proceeds in this -vicious circle. - -What M. le Duc de Bordeaux ought to have is a light hand which would -lead him without making him feel the bit, a governor who should be his -friend rather than his master. - -If the family of St. Louis were, like that of the Stuarts, a kind of -private family expelled by a revolution, confined within an island, -the destiny of the Bourbons would, in a short time, be foreign to the -new generations. Our old royal power is more than that; it represents -the Old Royalty: the political, moral and religious past of the people -is born of that power and grouped around it. The fate of a House so -closely intertwined with the social order that was, so nearly allied -to the social order that is, can never be indifferent to mankind. But, -destined though that House be to live, the condition of the individuals -composing it, with whom a hostile fate had not made a truce, would be -deplorable. In perpetual misfortune, those individuals would march -forgotten on a parallel line along the glorious memory of their family. - -There is nothing sadder than the existence of fallen kings; their -days are no more than a tissue of realities and fictions; remaining -sovereigns by their own fire-sides, among their people and their -memories, they have no sooner crossed the threshold of their house -than they find the ironical truth at their door: James II. or Edward -VII.[567], Charles X. or Louis XIX. behind closed doors become, with -opened doors, James or Edward, Charles or Louis, without numerals, like -the labourers their neighbours; they suffer the two-fold drawbacks -of Court life and private life: the flatterers, the favourites, the -intrigues, the ambitions of the one; the affronts, the distress, the -gossiping of the other: it is a continual masquerade of menials and -ministers, changing clothes. The mood sours in this situation, hopes -weaken, regrets increase; one recalls the past; one recriminates; -one exchanges reproaches which are the more bitter inasmuch as the -utterance ceases to be confined within the good taste of a high origin -and the proprieties of a superior fortune: one becomes vulgar through -vulgar sufferings; the cares of a lost throne degenerate into domestic -worries: Popes Clement XIV.[568] and Pius VI.[569] were never able to -restore peace in the Pretender's Household. Those discrowned aliens -remain under supervision in the middle of the world, repelled by the -princes as infected with adversity, suspected by the peoples as smitten -with power. - - -[Sidenote: Dinner at Hradschin.] - -I went to dress: I had been informed that I might keep on my frock and -my boots; but misfortune is too high in station to be approached with -familiarity. I reached the Castle at a quarter to six; the dinner was -laid in one of the entrance-rooms. I found the Cardinal de Latil in the -drawing-room. I had not met him since he had dined with me in Rome, at -the Embassy Palace, at the time of the meeting of the conclave after -the death of Leo XII. What a change of destiny for me and for the world -between those two dates! - -He was still the hedge-priest with the plump belly, the pointed nose, -the pale face, just as I had seen him in the Chamber of Peers with an -ivory paper-knife in his hand. People asserted that he had no influence -and that he was put in a comer and received more kicks than half-pence: -perhaps; but there are different sorts of credit: the cardinal's is -none the less sure because it is secret; he derives this credit from -the long years spent beside the King and from his priestly character. -The Abbé de Latil has been an intimate confidant; the remembrance -of Madame de Polastron[570] hangs about the confessor's surplice: -the charm of the last human frailties and the sweetness of the first -religious sentiments are prolonged as memories in the old Monarch's -heart. - -There arrived in succession M. de Blacas, M. A. de Damas[571], the -baron's brother, M. O'Heguerty the Elder, M. and Madame de Cossé. -At six o'clock precisely, the King appeared, followed by his son; -we hurried in to dinner. The King put me on his right; he had M. le -Dauphin on his left; M. de Blacas sat down opposite the King, between -the cardinal and Madame de Cossé: the other guests were placed at -random. The children dine with their grand-father on Sundays only; this -is to deprive one's self of the only happiness that remains in exile: -family life and intimacy. - -It was a fish-dinner and none too good at that. The King extolled to me -the merits of a fish from the Moldau which possessed none at all. Four -or five footmen in black roamed like lay-brothers about the refectory; -there was no house-steward. Every one helped himself and offered to -help others from the dish before him. - -The King ate well, asked to be served and himself served what he was -asked for. He was in a good humour; the fear which he had had of me -was past. The conversation turned within a circle of commonplaces, on -the Bohemian climate, the health of Madame la Dauphine, my journey, -the Whit Sunday ceremonies which were to take place to-morrow; not a -word of politics. M. le Dauphin, after sitting with his nose deep in -his plate, would sometimes emerge from his silence and, addressing the -Cardinal de Latil, said: - -"Prince of the Church, the gospel of this morning was according to St. -Matthew, was it not?" - -"No, Monseigneur, according to St. Mark." - -"What, St. Mark?" - -A great dispute followed between St. Mark and St. Matthew, and the -cardinal was beaten. - -Dinner lasted nearly an hour; the King rose, and we followed him to the -drawing-room. The newspapers lay on a table; we all sat down and began -to read then and there as if in a café. - -[Sidenote: The royal children.] - -The children came in, the Duc de Bordeaux escorted by his governor, -Mademoiselle by her governess. They ran up to kiss their grandfather -and then rushed to me; we ensconced ourselves in the embrasure of a -window overlooking the town and commanding a splendid view. I renewed -my compliments on the riding-lesson. Mademoiselle hastened to tell me -again what her brother had already told me, that I had seen nothing; -that one could not form an opinion while the black horse was lame. -Madame de Gontaut came to sit near us, M. de Damas a little further -away, giving an ear, in an amusing state of anxiety, as though I were -going to eat his pupil or drop a few words on the liberty of the press -or the glory of Madame la Duchesse de Berry. I would have laughed at -the fears with which I inspired him, if I had been able to laugh at a -poor man after M. de Polignac. Suddenly Henry said to me: - -"Have you ever seen a constrictor?" - -"A boa-constrictor, Monseigneur means: there are none either in Egypt -or at Tunis, the only places in Africa at which I have touched; but I -have seen many snakes in America." - -"Oh yes," said the Princesse Louise, "the rattle-snake, in the _Génie -du Christianisme._" - -I bowed to thank Mademoiselle. - -"But you have seen plenty of other snakes?" asked Henry. "Are they very -vicious?" - -"Some of them, Monseigneur, are exceedingly dangerous; others have no -venom and one makes them dance." - -The two children came close up to me with delight, keeping their four -beautiful eyes fixed on mine. - -"And then there is the glass-snake," I said; "he is splendid to look at -and does you no harm; he is as transparent and brittle as glass: you -break him as soon as you touch him." - -"Can't the pieces come together again?" asked the Prince. - -"No, no, dear," Mademoiselle answered for me. - -"You went to the Falls of Niagara?" Henry resumed. - -"They roar terribly, don't they? Can you go down in a boat?" - -"Monseigneur, one American amused himself by sending a great barge -down; another American, they say, himself jumped into the cataract: he -was not destroyed the first time; he tried again and was killed at the -second attempt." - -The two children lifted up their hands and said: - -"Oh!" - -Madame de Gontaut joined in the conversation: - -"M. de Chateaubriand has been to Egypt and Jerusalem." - -Mademoiselle clapped her hands and came still closer to me: - -"M. de Chateaubriand," she said, "do tell my brother about the Pyramids -and Our Lord's Sepulchre." - -I told them a story as best I could of the Pyramids, the Holy -Sepulchre, the Jordan, the Holy Land. The children were marvellously -attentive: Mademoiselle took her pretty face in her two hands, with -her elbows almost resting on my knees, and Henry, perched on a high -arm-chair, swung his legs to and fro. - -After that fine talk about serpents, cataracts, pyramids and the Holy -Sepulchre, Mademoiselle said: - -"Will you put me a question in history?" - -"How, in history?" - -"Yes, ask me about a year, the least important year in the whole -history of France, except the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, -which we have not yet begun." - -"Oh, I," exclaimed Henry, "I prefer a famous year: ask me something -about a famous year!" - -He was not so sure of his facts as his sister. - -I began by obeying the Princess and said: - -"Well, then! Will Mademoiselle tell me what happened and who was -reigning, in France, in 1001?" - -And the brother and sister began to try, Henry pulling at his -fore-lock, Mademoiselle shading her face with her two hands, a familiar -trick with her, as though she were playing at hide-and-seek, and then -she suddenly reveals her young and merry countenance, her smiling -mouth, her limpid look. She was the first to say: - -"Robert[572] was reigning, Gregory V.[573] was Pope, Basil II.[574] -Emperor of the East..." - -"And Otto III.[575] Emperor of the West," cried Henry, hurrying so -as not to remain behind his sister, and added, "Veremund II.[576] in -Spain." - -Mademoiselle, interrupting him, said: - -"Ethelred[577] in England." - -"No, no," said her brother, "it was Edmund Ironside[578]." - -[Sidenote: Questions in History.] - -Mademoiselle was right; Henry was a few years out in favour of -Ironside, who had fascinated him; but it was none the less prodigious. - -"And my famous year?" asked Henry, in a half-vexed tone. - -"That's true, Monseigneur: what happened in the year 1593?" - -"Pooh!" exclaimed the young Prince. "The abjuration of Henry IV.[579]" - -Mademoiselle turned red at not having been able to answer first. - -Eight o'clock struck: the Baron de Damas' voice cut short our -conversation, just as when the hammer of the clock, striking ten, used -to arrest my father's steps in the great hall at Combourg. - -Dear children, the old crusader has told you his adventures -in Palestine, but not by the fire-side in the Castle of Queen -Blanche[580]! To find you, he came knocking with his palmer's staff and -his dusty sandals at the foreigner's icy threshold. Blondel[581] has -sung in vain at the foot of the tower of the Dukes of Austria[582]: -his voice could not open the road to the mother-land for you. Young -outlaws, the traveller to distant lands has concealed a part of his -story from you: he has not told you that, a poet and prophet, he -dragged through the forests of Florida and on the mountains of Judea -as much despair, sadness and passion as you have hope, gladness and -innocence; that there was a day when, like Julian, he threw his blood -at Heaven, blood of which God, in His mercy, has preserved a few drops -for him so that he may redeem those which he gave up to the god of -curses. - -The Prince, taken away by his governor, invited me to his -history-lesson, fixed for next Monday, at eleven o'clock in the -morning. Madame de Gontaut withdrew with Mademoiselle. Then began a -scene of another kind: the future Royalty, in the person of a child, -had just drawn me into its games; and now the past Royalty, in the -person of an old man, made me assist at its diversions. A rubber of -whist, lighted by two candles in the corner of a dark room, began -between the King and the Dauphin and the Duc de Blacas and the Cardinal -de Latil. I was the only onlooker, with O'Heguerty, the equerry. -Through the windows, whose shutters were not closed, the twilight -came to mingle its pallor with that of the candles: the Monarchy was -dying out between those two expiring lights. Profound silence reigned, -but for the shuffling of the cards and a few exclamations from the -King, who was angry. Cards were renewed after the Latins in order to -solace the adversity of Charles VI.[583]: but there is no Ogier[584] -nor Lahire[585] nowadays to give his name, under Charles X., to those -distractions of misfortune. - -When the cards were over, the King wished me good-night I went through -the deserted and gloomy rooms through which I had passed on the -previous evening, the same stairs, the same court-yards, the same -guards, and, descending the slope of the hill, I returned to my inn, -after losing my way in the streets and the dark. Charles X. remained -shut up in the black mass which I had just left: nothing can equal the -sadness of his forlornness and of his years. - - -PRAGUE, 27 _May_ 1833. - -I had great need of my bed; but the Baron Capelle[586], newly-arrived -from Holland, was lodged in a room next to mine and came hurrying to me. - -When the torrent falls from on high, the abyss which it hollows out and -in which it is swallowed up fixes one's gaze and leaves one dumb; but I -have neither patience nor pity to waste on the ministers whose feeble -hands let the crown of St. Louis fall into the whirl-pool, as though -the waves would carry it back! Those of his ministers who claim to have -opposed the Ordinances are the most guilty; those who say that they -were the most moderate are the least innocent: if they saw so clearly, -why did they not resign? - -"They did not want to abandon the King; Monsieur le Dauphin treated -them as cowards." - -A poor evasion; they were unable to tear themselves from their -portfolios. Whatever they may say, there is nothing else at the bottom -of that immense catastrophe. And what a fine composure after the event. -One[587] is scribbling about the history of England, after bringing -the history of France to so pretty a plight; the other[588] laments -the life and death of the Duc de Reichstadt, after sending the Duc de -Bordeaux to Prague. - -I knew M. Capelle: it is only fair to remember that he had remained -poor; his pretensions did not exceed his value; he would very readily -have said, with Lucian: - -"If you come to listen to me in the hope of smelling amber and hearing -the song of the swan, I call the gods to witness that I have never -spoken of myself in terms so magnificent." - -At the present day, modesty is a rare quality and the only wrong that -M. Capelle did was to allow himself to be appointed a minister. - -[Sidenote: The Baron de Damas.] - -I received a visit from M. le Baron de Damas: the virtues of that brave -officer had flown to his head; a religious congestion was puzzling -his brain. There are some associations which are fatal: the Duc de -Rivière[589], when dying, recommended M. de Damas as Governor to -the Duc de Bordeaux; the Prince de Polignac was a member of that set -Incapacity is a form of freemasonry which has its lodges in every -country; that secret society has oubliettes of which it opens the plugs -and in which it causes States to disappear. - -The domestic condition came so naturally to the Court that M. de Damas, -when choosing M. La Villatte, would never grant him any title other -than that of First Groom of the Bed-chamber to Monseigneur le Duc de -Bordeaux. I took a liking at first sight to this grey-mustachioed -soldier, whose business it was, like a faithful dog, to bark round his -sheep. He belonged to those loyal "grenade-throwers" whom the terrible -Maréchal de Montluc[590] used to esteem, saying: - -"They have no back-shop in them." - -M. La Villatte will be dismissed because of his sincerity, not because -of his bluntness: one can put up with barrack-room bluntness; often -adulation in camp imparts an air of independence to flattery. But, with -the brave old soldier of whom I am speaking, it was all frankness; he -would have taken off his mustachios with honour to himself, if he had -borrowed 30,000 piastres on them like João de Castro[591]. His crabbed -face was only the expression of liberty; he merely informed one, by his -appearance, that he was ready. Before taking the field with their army, -the Florentines used to warn the enemy of their intention by the sound -of the bell Martinella. - -PRAGUE, 27 _May_ 1833. - -I had intended to hear Mass at the Cathedral, within the castle -precincts, but, being detained by visitors, I had time only to go to -what was formerly the Jesuit Church. They were singing to an organ -accompaniment A woman near me had a voice which made me look round at -her. At the communion, she covered her face with her two hands and did -not approach the Holy Table. - -Alas, I have already explored many churches in the four quarters -of the globe, without being able to lay aside, even at the Tomb of -the Saviour, the rough hair-cloth of my thoughts! I have depicted -Aben-Hamet wandering in the Christian mosque at Cordova: - -"He caught a glimpse, at the foot of a pillar, of a motionless figure -which he took, at first sight, for a statue on a tomb-stone." - - -The original of that knight of whom Aben-Hamet caught sight was a -religious whom I had met in the church of the Escorial and whom I had -envied his faith. Who knows, however, the storms deep down in that -contemplative soul or what entreaty ascended towards the "holy and -innocent pontiff?" I had been admiring, in the unfrequented sacristy -of the Escorial, one of Murillo's most beautiful Virgins; I was with a -woman: it was she who first showed me the monk deaf to the sound of the -passions that passed through the formidable silence of the sanctuary -around him. - -After Mass in Prague, I sent for a calash; I took the road laid out -along the old fortifications by which carriages drive up to the Castle. -They were busy marking out gardens on the ramparts: the euphony of -a forest will take the place here of the noise of the Battle of -Prague[592]; the whole will be very handsome in forty years or so: God -grant that Henry V. may not stay here long enough to enjoy the shade of -a leaf as yet unborn[593]! - -Having to dine at the Governor's to-morrow, I thought that it would be -polite to go to call on Madame la Comtesse de Chotek: I should have -thought her amiable and pretty, even if she had not quoted passages -from writings to me from memory. - -[Sidenote: General Skrzynecki.] - -I went to Madame de Guiche's evening, where I met General -Skrzynecki[594] and his wife. He told me the story of the Polish -Insurrection and the Battle of Ostrolenka. When I rose to go, the -general asked me to permit him to press my "venerable hand" and to -embrace the "patriarch of the liberty of the press;" his wife wished to -embrace in me the author of the _Génie du Christianisme_: the Monarchy -accepted with all its heart the fraternal kiss of the Republic. I felt -an honest man's satisfaction: I was glad to rouse noble sympathies, on -different scores, in two foreign hearts; to be pressed, in turn, to the -breast of husband and wife, through liberty and religion. - -On Monday the 27th, in the morning, the "Opposition" came to tell me -that I could not see the young Prince: M. de Damas had tired his pupil -by dragging him from church to church to the Stations of the Jubilee. -This weariness served as a pretext for a holiday and was made to -justify a trip to the country: they wanted to hide the child from me. I -spent the morning in visiting the town. At five o'clock, I went to dine -at Count Chotek's. - - -The house belonging to Count Chotek was built by his father[595], -who was also Grand Burgrave of Bohemia, and presents externally the -form of a Gothic chapel: nothing is original nowadays, everything is -copied. The drawing-room gives a view over the gardens; they slope -down into a valley: the light is always dull, the soil greyish, as in -those many-cornered recesses of the mountains of the North, where gaunt -nature wears the hair-shirt. - -The table was laid under the trees in the "pleasure-ground[596]." We -dined without our hats: my head, which so many storms have insulted by -carrying off my hair, was sensitive to the breath of the wind. While -I strove to keep my mind on my dinner, I could not help watching the -birds and clouds that flew over the banquet: passengers embarked on the -breezes and having secret relations with my destinies; travellers, the -objects of my envy, whose aerial course my eyes cannot follow without a -sort of emotion. I was more at home with those parasites wandering in -the sky than with the guests seated near me on the earth: happy those -anchorites who had a raven for _dapifer!_ - -I cannot speak to you of Prague society, because I met it only at that -dinner. There was a woman present who was very much in the fashion in -Vienna and very witty, I was told; she seemed to me an acrimonious and -foolish person, although she still had a certain youthfulness, like -those trees which keep in summer the dried clusters of the flower which -they have borne in spring. - -[Sidenote: Society in Prague.] - -I know, therefore, of the manners of this country only those of the -sixteenth century, as told by Bassompierre[597]: he loved Anna Esther, -eighteen years of age and six months a widow. He spent five days and -six nights in disguise and hidden in a room with his mistress. He -played tennis in Hradschin with Wallenstein. Being neither Wallenstein -nor Bassompierre, I laid claim to neither empire nor love. The modern -Esthers ask for Assueruses who are able, disguised though they be, to -get rid of their dominoes at night: one does not lay aside the mask of -the years. - -PRAGUE, 27 _May_ 1833. - -After the dinner was over, at seven o'clock, I waited on the King; I -there met the same persons as before, excepting M. le Duc de Bordeaux, -who was said to be ailing from his Stations on the Sunday. The King was -half reclining on a sofa, and Mademoiselle sitting on a chair right up -against the knees of Charles X., who was stroking his grand-daughter's -arm and telling her stories. The young Princess listened attentively: -when I appeared, she looked at me with the smile of a reasonable person -who should say: - -"I must do something to amuse my grand-papa." - -"Chateaubriand," exclaimed the King, "I did not see you yesterday!" - -"Sire, I was told too late that Your Majesty had done me the honour to -name me for your dinner-party: also, it was Whit Sunday, a day on which -I am not allowed to see Your Majesty." - -"How is that?" asked the King. - -"Sire, it was on Whit Sunday, nine years ago, that, when I came to pay -my Court to you, they forbade me your door." - -Charles X. seemed touched: - -"They won't drive you away from the Castle of Prague." - -"No, Sire, for I do not see those good servants here who showed me out -on the day of prosperity." - -The whist-playing began and the day came to an end. After the rubber, I -returned the Duc de Blacas' visit: - -"The King," he said, "has told me that we were to have a talk." - -I replied that, as the King had not thought it expedient to summon his -Council, before which I could have set forth my ideas regarding the -future of France and the majority of the Duc de Bordeaux, I had nothing -more to say. - -"His Majesty has no council," rejoined the Duc de Blacas with a -tremulous laugh and a self-satisfied look in his eyes; "he has no one -but me, absolutely no one." - -The Grand-master of the Wardrobe has the highest opinion of himself: a -French complaint. To hear him speak, he does everything, he is equal to -everything: he married the Duchesse de Berry; he does what he pleases -with the Kings; he leads Metternich by the nose; he has Nesselrode[598] -under his thumb; he reigns in Italy; he has carved his name on an -obelisk in Rome; he has the keys of the conclaves in his pocket; the -three last Popes owe their elevation to him; he knows public opinion -so well, he measures his ambition so well by his strength that, when -accompanying Madame la Duchesse de Berry, he had himself given a -diploma appointing him Head of the Council of Regency, Prime Minister -and Minister of Foreign Affairs! And that is how those poor people -understand France and the times. - -Nevertheless, M. de Blacas is the most intelligent and the most -moderate of the band. In conversation he is reasonable; he always -agrees with you: - -"Is that what you think? It is just what I was saying yesterday. We -have absolutely the same ideas!" - -He bemoans his slavery; he is tired of business, he would like to live -in an unknown corner of the earth, to die there in peace, far from the -world. As to his influence with Charles X., don't speak of it to him; -they think that he sways Charles X.: they are wrong! He can do nothing -with the King! The King refuses a thing in the morning; at night he -grants the same thing, and nobody knows why he has changed his mind, -and so on. When M. de Blacas tells you these tales, he is telling -the truth, because he never thwarts the King; but he is not sincere, -because he inspires Charles X. only with those wishes which are in -accordance with that Prince's inclinations. - -[Sidenote: The Duc de Blacas.] - -For the rest, M. de Blacas possesses courage and honour; he is not -without generosity; he is devoted and faithful. By rubbing himself -against the high aristocracy and acquiring wealth, he has caught the -ways of both. He is very well-born; he comes of a poor, but ancient -house, known in poetry and arms[599]. His stiff and formal manners, -his assurance, his strictness in matters of etiquette preserve for his -masters an air of nobility which one loses too easily in misfortune: at -least, in the Museum in Prague, the inflexibility of a suit of armour -holds erect a body which would fall without it M. de Blacas does not -lack a certain energy; he dispatches ordinary affairs quickly; he -is orderly and methodical. A fairly enlightened connoisseur in some -branches of archaeology, a lover of the arts without imagination and -an icy libertine, he does not grow excited even over his passions; -his coolness would be a statesmanlike quality if his coolness were -other than his confidence in his genius, and his genius betrays him: -one feels in him the abortive great lord, even as one feels it in his -fellow-countryman, La Valette, Duc d'Épernon[600]. - -Either there will or there will not be a restoration: if there is a -restoration, M. de Blacas will come back with places and honours; -if there is no restoration, the fortune of the Grand-master of the -Wardrobe is almost all invested out of France; Charles X. and Louis -XIX. will be dead; he, M. de Blacas, will be very old: his children -will remain the companions of the exiled Prince, illustrious foreigners -at foreign Courts. Praise God for all things! - -Thus the Revolution, which exalted and ruined Bonaparte, will have -enriched M. de Blacas: that makes amends. M. de Blacas, with his long, -impassive, colourless face, is the Monarchy's undertaker-in-ordinary: -he buried it at Hartwell, he buried it at Ghent, he buried it again -in Edinburgh and he will bury it again in Prague or elsewhere, always -attending to the remains of the high and mighty defunct, like those -peasants on the coasts who pick up the wreckage which the sea casts up -on its shores. - - -PRAGUE, 28 _and_ 29 _May_ 1833. - -On Monday the 28th of May, as the history lesson at which I was to have -been present at eleven o'clock did not take place, I found myself free -to go through, or, rather, to revisit the town which I had already -seen and seen again in coming and going. I do not know why I had -imagined that Prague was nestled in a gap of mountains that threw their -black shadow over a huddled kettleful of houses. Prague is a bright -city, in which twenty-five or thirty graceful towers and steeples -rise up to the sky; its architecture reminds one of a town of the -Renascence. The long sway of the Emperors over the Cisalpine countries -filled Germany with artists from those countries; the Austrian villages -are villages of Lombardy, Tuscany or the Venetian main-land: one would -think one's self under the roof of an Italian peasant, if, in the -farm-houses, with their great bare rooms, a stove did not take the -place of the sun. - -The view enjoyed from the windows of the Castle is agreeable: on -one side, you see the orchards of a cool valley, with green slopes, -enclosed by the denticulated walls of the town, which run down to the -Moldau, almost as the walls of Rome run from the Vatican down to the -Tiber; on the other side, you perceive the city, cut in two by the -river, which is beautified by an island set up stream and embraces -another island down stream, after leaving the northern suburb. The -Moldau flows into the Elbe. A boat might have taken me on board at the -bridge of Prague and landed me at the Pont-Royal in Paris. I am not the -work of the ages and kings; I have neither the weight nor the duration -of the obelisk[601] which the Nile is now sending to the Seine; the -girdle of the Vestal of the Tiber would be strong enough to tow my -galley. - -The Moldau Bridge, which was first built in wood, in 795, by Mnata, -has been rebuilt, at different times, in stone. While I was taking the -measure of this bridge, Charles X. was walking on the pavement; he -carried an umbrella; his son accompanied him like a paid _cicerone._ I -had said, in the _Conservateur_, that "men would go to the window to -see the Monarchy pass:" I saw it pass on the bridge of Prague. - -In the constructions of which Hradschin is composed one sees historic -halls, museums hung with the restored portraits and the furbished arms -of the Dukes and Kings of Bohemia. Not far from the shapeless masses, -there stands detached against the sky a pretty building decked with -one of the graceful porticoes of the Cinquecento: this architecture -has the drawback of being out of harmony with the climate. If at least -one could, during the Bohemian winter, put those Italian palaces in -the hot-house, with the palm-trees? I was always preoccupied with the -thought of the cold which they must feel at night. - -[Sidenote: History of Prague.] - -Prague, often besieged, taken and re-taken, is known to us, in a -military respect, by the battle called after it and by the retreat -in which Vauvenargues[602] took part. The bulwarks of the town are -demolished. The moat of the Castle, on the side of the high plane, -forms a deep and narrow groove, now planted with poplars. At the -time of the Thirty Years' War, this moat was filled with water. The -Protestants, having penetrated into the Castle, on the 23rd of May -1618, threw two Catholic lords, together with the Secretary of State, -out of window: the three divers saved their lives. The Secretary, like -a well-bred man, begged a thousand pardons of one of the lords for his -rudeness in falling on his head. In this present month of May 1833, we -are no longer so polite: I am not sure what I should say in a similar -case, although I have been a secretary of State myself. - -Tycho Brahe died in Prague[603]: would you, for all his knowledge, have -a false nose in wax or silver as he did? Tycho consoled himself in -Bohemia, like Charles X., by contemplating the heavens; the astronomer -admired the work, the King adores the Workman. The star which appeared -in 1572 (and died out in 1574) and which passed successively from -dazzling white to the red yellow of Mars and the leaden white of Saturn -presented to Tycho's observations the spectacle of the conflagration -of a world. What is the revolution whose breath blew the brother of -Louis XVI. to the tomb of the Danish Newton beside the destruction of a -globe, accomplished in less than two years? - -General Moreau came to Prague to concert with the Emperor of Russia a -restoration which he, Moreau, did not live to see. - -If Prague were by the sea-side, nothing would be more charming; and -Shakespeare, striking Bohemia with his wand turns it into a shipping -country: - -"Thou art perfect then," says Antigonus to a Mariner in the _Winter's -Tale_: - - Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd upon - The deserts of Bohemia? - -Antigonus lands, charged to abandon a little girl, to whom he addresses -these words: - - Blossom, speed thee well! - . . . . . . . . . - . . The storm begins - . . . . . . . . . - . . . . Thou art like to have - A lullaby too rough[604]. - -Does not Shakespeare seem to have told in advance the story of the -Princesse Louise, that young "blossom," that new Perdita transported to -the deserts of Bohemia? - -PRAGUE, 28 _and_ 29 _May_ 1833. - -Confusion, blood, catastrophes compose the history of Bohemia; her -dukes and kings, in the midst of civil wars and foreign wars, fight -with their subjects or come to logger-heads with the Dukes and Kings of -Silesia, Saxony, Poland, Moravia, Hungary, Austria and Bavaria. - -During the reign of Wenceslaus VI.[605], who spitted his cook for -roasting a hare badly, arose John Huss, who, having studied at Oxford, -brought back the doctrine of Wyclif[606]. The Protestants, who were -looking for ancestors everywhere without being able to find any, report -that, from the top of his funeral pile, John sang and prophesied the -coming of Luther: - - "The world filled with acidity," says Bossuet, "gave birth to - Luther and Calvin, who canton Christendom." - -From the Christian and pagan struggles, the precocious heresies of -Bohemia, the importation of foreign interests and foreign manners, -resulted a state of confusion favourable to lying. Bohemia passed as -the native land of the sorcerers. - -Some old poems, discovered, in 1817, by M. Hanka[607], the Librarian of -the Prague Museum, in the archives of the church at Königinhof, have -become famous. A young man whom I have pleasure in naming, the son of -an illustrious scholar, M. Ampère, has made known the spirit of those -lays. Czelakovsky[608] has spread popular songs in the Slav idiom. - -The Poles think the Bohemian dialect effeminate: it is the quarrel of -the Doric and Ionic. The Lower Breton of Vannes treats the Lower Breton -of Tréguier as a barbarian. Slav as well as Magyar lends itself to the -translation of all languages: my poor _Atala_ has been rigged out in a -robe of Hungarian point-lace; she also wears an Armenian dolman and an -Arab veil. - -[Sidenote: Bohemian literature.] - -There is another literature that has flourished in Bohemia: the modern -Latin literature. The prince of this literature, Bohuslas Hassenstein, -Baron Lobkowitz[609], born in 1462, took ship, in 1490, in Venice and -visited Greece, Syria, Arabia and Egypt Lobkowitz preceded me in those -celebrated places by three hundred and sixteen years and, like Lord -Byron, sang his pilgrimage. With what a difference in mind, heart, -thoughts, manners have we, at an interval of over three centuries, -meditated on the same ruins and under the same sun: Lobkowitz, the -Bohemian; Byron, the Englishman; and I, the child of France! - -At the time of Lobkowitz' voyage, wonderful monuments, since -overthrown, were standing. It must have been an astonishing spectacle, -that of barbarism in all its strength, holding civilization on the -ground under its feet, the janissaries of Mahomet II.[610] drunk with -opium, victories and women, scimitar in hand, their foreheads girt -with the blood-stained turban, drawn up in line for the assault on the -rubbish of Egypt and Greece: and I have seen the same barbarism, among -the same ruins, struggling under the feet of civilization. - -As I surveyed the town and suburbs of Prague, the things which I have -just told came to apply themselves on my memory like transfers on a -canvas. But, in whatever corner I happened to be, I saw Hradschin and -the King of France leaning on the windows of that castle, like a ghost -over-towering all those shades. - - -PRAGUE, 29 _May_ 1833. - -Having finished my review of Prague, I went, on the 29th of May, to -dine at the Castle, at six o'clock. The King was in high spirits. When -we left the table, sitting down on the sofa in the drawing-room, he -said: - -"Chateaubriand, do you know that the _National_ which arrived this -morning declares that I had the right to issue my Ordinances?" - -"Sire," I replied, "Your Majesty is making innuendoes against me." - -The King, undecided, hesitated; then, taking his resolution: - -"I have something on my mind: you dealt me devilish hard measure in the -first part of your speech in the House of Peers." And at once the King, -without giving me the time to answer, cried, "Oh, the end, the end!... -The empty grave at Saint-Denis.... That was admirable! That was very -fine, very fine! Do not let us talk of it any more. I did not want to -keep that... it's done with, it's done with." And he excused himself -for venturing to risk those few words. I kissed the royal hand with -pious respect. - -"Let me tell you," Charles X. resumed: "perhaps I was wrong not to -defend myself at Rambouillet; I still had great resources... but I did -not want blood to flow for me; I retired." - -I did not combat this noble excuse; I replied: - -"Sire, Bonaparte retired twice like Your Majesty, in order not to -prolong the ills of France." - -I thus put the weakness of my old King under the shelter of Napoleon's -glory. - -The children arrived and we went up to them. The King spoke of -Mademoiselle's age: - -"What, you little doll," he exclaimed, "are you fourteen already?" - -"Oh, when I'm fifteen!" said Mademoiselle. - -"Well, what will you do then?" - -Mademoiselle stopped short. - -Charles X. was telling something: - -"I don't remember that," said the Duc de Bordeaux. - -"I should think not," said the King; "it happened on the very day when -you were born." - -"Oh," replied Henry, "so it's very long ago!" - -Mademoiselle, leaning her head a little on one shoulder, lifting her -face towards her brother, while casting a glance aslant at me, said, -with an ironical little look: - -"Is it so very long, then, since you were born?" - -The children retired; I took leave of the orphan: I was to start -during the night I said good-bye to him in French, English and German. -How many languages will Henry learn in which to tell his wandering -miseries, to ask for bread and a shelter from the stranger? - -When the rubber began, I took His Majesty's orders: - -"You will see Madame la Dauphine at Carlsbad," said Charles X. "A good -journey, my dear Chateaubriand. We shall read about you in the papers." - -I went from door to door to pay my last respects to the inhabitants of -the Castle. I saw the young Princess again at Madame de Gontaut's; she -gave me a letter for her mother at the foot of which were a few lines -from Henry. - -[Sidenote: I take leave of my Kings.] - -I was to have left at five o'clock, on the morning of the 30th; Count -Chotek had had the goodness to order horses along the road: a jobbing -transaction detained me till noon. I was the bearer of a letter of -credit for 2000 francs payable in Prague; I had called upon a fat -little monkey of a Jew who uttered cries of admiration when he saw me. -He summoned his wife to his aid; she ran, or, rather, rolled up to -my feet; she sat down opposite me, quite short, fat and black, with -two arms like fins, staring at me with her round eyes: if the Messiah -had come in by the window, this Rachel would not have appeared more -delighted; I thought myself threatened with an "Hallelujah." The broker -offered me his fortune, letters of credit for the whole extent of the -Israelitish dispersion; he added that he would send me my 2000 francs -to my hotel. - -The money was not paid on the evening of the 29th; on the 30th, in -the morning, when the horses were already put to, came a clerk with a -parcel of bills, paper of different sources, which loses more or less -on change and which is not current outside the Austrian States. My -account was made out on a bill which said, in discharge, "good money." -I was astounded: - -"What good is this to me?" I asked the clerk. "How am I to pay the -posting and my hotel-bills with this paper?" - -The clerk ran off in search of explanations. Another clerk came and -made me endless calculations. I sent back the second clerk; a third -brought me cash in the form of Brabant crowns. I set out, thenceforth -on my guard against the affection with which I might inspire the -daughters of Jerusalem. - -My calash was surrounded, under the gate-way, by the people of the -hotel, among whom squeezed a pretty Saxon servant-girl, who used to run -off to a piano every time she could snatch a moment between two rings -at the bell: just ask Léonarde of Limousin, or Fanchon of Picardy to -sing or play _Tanti palpiti_ to you on the piano, or _Moses' Prayer!_ - - -PRAGUE AND ON THE ROAD, 29 _and_ 30 _May_ 1833. - -I had come to Prague with the greatest apprehension. I had said to -myself: - -"To ruin us, it is often enough for God to place our own destinies -in our hands; God works miracles in men's favour, but He leaves the -conduct of these to them; but for which it would be He that would -govern in person: now men make the fruits of those miracles abortive. -Crime is not always punished in this world; mistakes always. Crime is -part of the infinite and general nature of men; Heaven alone knows -the depth of it and sometimes reserves its punishment to Itself. The -mistakes of a limited and accidental nature come within the scope of -the narrow justice of the earth: that is why it would be possible for -the last mistakes of the Monarchy to be rigorously punished by men." - -I had said to myself also: - -"Royal families have been seen to fall into irreparable errors, by -becoming infatuated with a false idea of their own nature: at one -time they look upon themselves as divine and exceptional families, -at another as mortal and private families; they set themselves above -the common law or within that law, as the case may require. When they -violate political constitutions, they cry that they have the right to -do so, that they are the fount of the law, that they cannot be judged -by ordinary rules. When they want to make a domestic mistake, to give -a dangerous education, for instance, to the Heir to the Throne, they -reply to the protests made: - -"'A private person can act towards his children as he pleases, and we -cannot!'" - -[Sidenote: Reflections on the road.] - -Well no, you cannot: you are neither a divine family, nor a private -family; you are a public family; you belong to society. The mistakes -made by royalty do not affect royalty alone; they are detrimental to -the whole nation: a king trips and goes away; but does a nation go -away? Does it suffer no hurt? Are not those victims of their honour -who have remained attached to the absent Royalty interrupted in their -careers, persecuted in the persons of their kin, trammelled in their -liberty, threatened in their lives? Once more, the Royalty is not a -private possession, it is a public property, held in joint tenancy, -and third parties are involved in the fortune of the Throne. I feared -that, in the confusion inseparable from misfortune, the Royalty had not -perceived these truths and had done nothing to come back to them at the -expedient time. - -On the other hand, while recognising the immense advantages of the -Salic Law, I did not conceal from myself the fact that the duration of -a House has some serious draw-backs for both nations and kings: for the -nations, because it blends their destiny too closely with that of the -kings; for the kings, because permanent power intoxicates them; they -lose earthly notions: all that is not a part of their altars, prostrate -prayers, humble vows, profound abasement, is impiousness. Misfortune -teaches them nothing: adversity is but a coarse plebeian who fails to -show them respect, and catastrophes are, for them, but so many displays -of insolence. - -I had fortunately deceived myself: I did not find Charles X. in those -high errors which take their rise at the pinnacle of society; I found -him only in the common illusions of an unexpected accident, which are -more easily explained. Everything serves to console the self-esteem of -the brother of Louis XVIII.; he sees the political world falling into -decay, and, with some justice, he attributes this decay to his epoch, -not to himself: did not Louis XVI. perish? Did not the Republic fall? -Was not Bonaparte compelled twice to forsake the scene of his glory -and did he not go to die a captive on a rock? Are not the thrones of -Europe threatened? What, then, could he, Charles X., do more than those -overthrown powers? He wanted to defend himself against his enemies; -he was warned of the danger by his police and by public symptoms: he -took the initiative; he attacked so as not to be attacked. Did not -the heroes of the three riots admit that they were conspiring, that -they had been playing a part for fifteen years? Well then, Charles -thought that it was his duty to make an effort; he tried to save the -French Legitimacy and, with it, the European Legitimacy: he gave battle -and lost; he sacrificed himself to save the monarchies; that is all: -Napoleon had his Waterloo, Charles X. his Days of July. - -This is the light in which things present themselves to the unfortunate -Monarch; he remains immutable, leaning upon events which wedge in -and fasten down his mind. By dint of his immovability, he achieves a -certain greatness: a man of imagination, he listens to you, he does not -get angry with your ideas, he appears to enter into them and does not -enter into them at all. There are certain general axioms which a man -puts in front of himself like gabions; taking up his position behind -that shelter, he takes shots from there at intellects which march ahead. - -The mistake of many is to persuade themselves, according to events -repeated in history, that mankind is always in its primitive place; -they confound passions and ideas: the first are the same in every -century, the second change in successive ages. If the material effects -of certain actions are alike at different periods, the causes which -have produced them vary. - -Charles X. looks upon himself as a principle and, in fact, there are -men who, by dint of living with fixed ideas, alike from generation -to generation, are no longer more than so many monuments. Certain -individuals, through the lapse of time and their own preponderance, -become "things transformed into persons;" those individuals perish when -those things come to perish: Brutus and Cato were the Roman Republic -incarnate; they could not survive it, any more than the heart can beat -when the blood ceases to flow. - -In former days, I drew this portrait of Charles X.: - - "You have seen him for ten years, that loyal subject, that - respectful brother, that tender father, so greatly afflicted in one - of his sons, so greatly consoled by the other! You know him, this - Bourbon who was the first to come after our misfortunes, a worthy - herald of Old France, to throw himself between you and Europe, with - a branch of lilies in his hand! Your eyes are fixed with love and - gladness on this Prince who, in the fulness of age, has preserved - the charm and the noble elegance of youth and who now, adorned - with the diadem, is still 'but one Frenchman the more in the midst - of you!' You repeat with emotion so many happy phrases escaped from - this new Monarch, who derives from the loyalty of his heart the - grace of speaking well! - - "Where is that one among us who would not trust him with his - life, his fortune, his honour? That man, whom we would all wish - to have as our friend, we have to-day as our King. Ah, let us try - to make him forget the sacrifices of his life! May the crown lie - light upon the whitened head of that Christian Knight! Pious as - Louis XII.[611], courteous as Francis I., frank as Henry IV., may - he be happy with all the happiness which he has lacked during so - many long years! May the throne, on which so many monarchs have - encountered storms, be to him a place of rest[612]!" - -Elsewhere I have again celebrated the same Prince: the model has only -grown older, but one recognises it in the youthful touches of the -portrait; age withers us by taking from us a certain truth of poetry -which gives colour and bloom to our faces and yet one loves, in spite -of one's self, the face which has faded at the same time as our own -features. I have sung hymns to the House of Henry IV.; I would begin -them again with all my heart, while combating anew the mistakes of the -Legitimacy and bringing down upon myself anew its disgraces, if it were -destined to rise again. The reason of this is that the Constitutional -Legitimate Royalty has always appeared to me the gentlest and safest -road to entire liberty. I believed and I should still believe that -I was playing the part of a good citizen even when exaggerating the -advantages of that royalty, in order to give it, if so much should -depend on me, the duration necessary for the accomplishment of the -gradual transformation of society and manners. - -[Sidenote: Memoires of Charles X.] - -I am doing a service to the memory of Charles X. by opposing the -pure and simple truth to what will be said of him in the future. The -hostility of parties will represent him as a man faithless to his -oaths and the violator of the public liberties: he is nothing of the -sort. He acted in good faith in attacking the Charter; he did not, nor -did he need to think himself forsworn; he had the firm intention of -restoring the Charter after he had "saved" it, in his own way and as he -understood it. - -Charles X. is what I have described him to be: mild, although subject -to anger, kind and affectionate to his intimates, lovable, easy-going, -free from malice, having all the knightly qualities, devotion, -nobleness, an elegant courtesy, mixed, however, with weakness, which -does not exclude passive courage and the glory of a fine death; -incapable of carrying out to the end a good or bad resolution; built -up of the prejudices of his century and his rank; in ordinary times, -a proper king; in extraordinary times, a man of perdition, not of -misfortune. - - -As for the Duc de Bordeaux, they would like, at Hradschin, to make -of him a King ever on horse-back, ever flourishing his sword. It is -necessary, no doubt, that he should be brave; but it is a mistake to -imagine that in these times the right of conquest will be recognised, -that it would be enough to be Henry IV. to reascend the throne. Without -courage, one cannot reign; but one no longer reigns with courage alone: -Bonaparte has killed the authority of victory. - -An extraordinary part might be conceived by Henry V.; I will suppose -that, at the age of twenty, he feels his position and says to himself: - -"I can no longer remain inactive; I have the duties of my Blood to -fulfil towards the past; but am I then obliged to trouble France -because of myself alone? Must I weigh upon centuries yet to come with -all the weight of the centuries that are done with? Let us solve the -question; let us inspire with regrets those who unjustly outlawed me in -my childhood; let us show them what I could be. It but depends on me to -devote myself to my country by consecrating anew, whatever be the issue -of the contest, the principle of the hereditary monarchies." - -Then the son of St. Louis would land in France with a double idea of -glory and sacrifice; he would descend upon it with the firm resolve to -remain there with a crown upon his head or a bullet in his heart: in -the latter case, his inheritance would go to Philip. The triumphant -life or the sublime death of Henry V. would restore the Legitimacy, -stripped only of that which the century no longer understands and which -no longer suits the times. For the rest, supposing the sacrifice of my -young Prince made, he would not have made it for me: after the death -of Henry V. without children, I should never recognise a monarch in -France! - -[Sidenote: Thoughts on the elder branch.] - -I have abandoned myself to these dreams, but what I suppose in relation -to the resolution to be taken by Henry is impossible: by arguing in -this wise, I placed myself, in thought, in an order of things above us, -an order which would be natural at a time of elevation and magnanimity, -but which would to-day look like the exaltation of romance; it is as -though I were to speak at the present time in favour of going back to -the Crusades, whereas we have become common-place in the sad reality -of a deteriorated human nature. Such is the disposition of men's souls -that Henry V. would encounter invincible obstacles in the apathy of -France within and in the royalties without. He will therefore have -to submit, to consent to await events, unless indeed he decided on a -part which men would not fail to brand as that of an adventurer. He -will have to enter into the sequence of ordinary facts and see the -difficulties which surround him, without, however, allowing them to -overwhelm him. - -The Bourbons held good after the Empire, because they were succeeding -an arbitrary government: can one see Henry transported from Prague to -the Louvre after men have grown used to the most complete liberty? -The French nation does not, at bottom, love that liberty; but it -adores equality: it admits absolutism only for and through itself and -its vanity commands it to obey only what it imposes upon itself. The -Charter made a vain attempt to cause two nations which had become -foreign to one another to live under the same law: Ancient France -and Modern France; how would you make the two Frances understand one -another, now that prejudices have increased? You would never appease -men's minds by placing incontestable truths under their eyes. - -To listen to passion or ignorance, the Bourbons are the authors of all -our misfortunes; to reinstate the Elder Branch would mean to restore -the domination of the castles; the Bourbons are the abettors and -accomplices of those oppressive treaties of which, with good reason, I -never ceased to complain: and yet nothing could be more absurd than all -those accusations, in which both dates are forgotten and facts grossly -distorted. The Restoration exercised no influence in diplomatic acts -except at the time of the first invasion. It is admitted that men did -not want that Restoration, because they were treating with Bonaparte at -Châtillon, and that, had he pleased, he could have remained Emperor -of the French. When his genius proved obstinate, for want of anything -better, they took the Bourbons, who were on the spot Monsieur, as -Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, then took a certain part in the -transactions of the day; we have seen, in the life of Alexander, what -the Treaty of Paris of 1814 left to us. - -In 1815, there was no longer any question of the Bourbons; they had -nothing to do with the predatory contracts of the second invasion: -those contracts were the result of the escape from Elba. In Vienna, the -Allies declared that they were only uniting against one man; that they -did not intend to impose any sort of master nor any kind of government -upon France. Alexander even suggested to the Congress another King than -Louis XVIII. If the latter had not, by coming to seat himself in the -Tuileries, hastened to snatch his throne, he would never have reigned. -The treaties of 1815 were abominable for the very reason that men -refused to hearken to the voice of the Legitimacy, and it was in order -to destroy those same treaties that I wanted to rebuild our power in -Spain. - -The only moment at which we again find the spirit of the Restoration is -at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle; the Allies had agreed to take from -us our northern and eastern provinces: M. de Richelieu intervened. The -Tsar, touched by our misfortune and influenced by his leanings towards -fairness, handed to M. le Duc de Richelieu the map of France on which -the fatal line had been drawn. I have, with my own eyes, seen that map -of Styx in the hands of Madame de Montcalm, the sister of the noble -negociator[613]. - -With France occupied as she was, our fortified towns garrisoned by -foreign troops, could we have resisted? Once deprived of our military -departments, how long should we have groaned under conquest? If we -had had a sovereign of a new family, a prince at second-hand, he -would never have been respected. Among the Allies, some bowed before -the illusion of a great House, others thought that, under a worn-out -authority, the Kingdom would lose its energy and cease to be an object -of anxiety: Cobbett[614] himself agrees to this in his Letter. It is -therefore a monstrous piece of ingratitude to refuse to see that, if we -are still Old Gaul, we owe it to the blood which we have cursed most -loudly. That blood which, since eight centuries, had flowed in the very -veins of France, that blood which made her what she is saved her once -more. Why persist in eternally denying the facts? They took advantage -of victory against us, even as we had taken advantage of it against -Europe. Our soldiers had gone to Russia; they brought after them, upon -their footsteps, the soldiers who had fled before them. After action, -reaction: that is the law. That makes no difference to the glory of -Bonaparte, an isolated glory which remains complete; that makes no -difference to our national glory, all covered as it is with the dust of -Europe, whose towers have been swept by our flags. It was unnecessary, -in a moment of but too justifiable spite, to go in search of any cause -for our misfortunes other than the real cause. So far from their being -that cause, had we not had the Bourbons in our reverses, we should have -been portioned out. - -Appreciate now the calumnies of which the Restoration has been made -the object: examine the archives of the Foreign Office, and you shall -be convinced of the independence of the language held to the Powers -under the reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X. Our sovereigns had -the sentiment of the national dignity; they were kings above all to -the foreigner, who never frankly wanted the re-establishment and who -witnessed the resurrection of the Elder Monarchy with regret. The -diplomatic language of France at the time of which I am speaking is, it -must be said, peculiar to the aristocracy; the democracy, full of broad -and prolific virtues, is nevertheless arrogant when it governs: capable -of incomparable munificence when there is a need for immense devotion, -it splits on the rock of details; it is rarely elevated, especially in -prolonged misfortunes. Part of the hatred of the Courts of England -and Austria for the Legitimacy is due to the firmness of the Bourbon -Cabinet. - -Instead of throwing down that Legitimacy, it would have been better -policy to shore up its ruins; sheltered inside it, one would have -erected the new edifice, as one builds a ship that is to brave the -deep under a covered dock hewn out of the rock: in this way English -liberty took its form in the breast of the Norman law. It was wrong to -repudiate the monarchic phantom: that centenarian of the middle-ages, -like Dandolo[615], "had fine eyes in his head; and, if it could not -see out of them," was an old man who could guide the young Crusaders -and who, adorned with his white hair, still vigorously printed his -ineffaceable footsteps in the snow. - -It is conceivable that, in our prolonged fears, we should be blinded -by prejudice and vain and ridiculous shame; but distant posterity will -not fail to see that, historically speaking, the Restoration was one of -the happiest phases of our revolutionary cycle. Parties whose heat is -not extinguished may cry, "We were free under the Empire, slaves under -the Monarchy of the Charter!" but future generations, going beyond this -mock praise, which would be ludicrous if it were not a sophism, will -say that the recalled Bourbons prevented the dismemberment of France, -that they laid the foundations of representative government among us, -that they brought prosperity to our finances, discharged debts which -they had not contracted, and religiously paid the pension even of -Robespierre's sister. Lastly, to make good our lost colonies, they left -us, in Africa, one of the richest provinces of the Roman Empire. - -Three things remain standing to the credit of the restored Legitimacy: -it entered Cadiz; at Navarino it gave Greece her independence; it -freed Christianity by seizing Algiers: enterprises in which Bonaparte, -Russia, Charles V. and Europe had failed. Show me a Power of a few days -(and a Power so much disputed) which has accomplished such things as -these. - -I believe, with my hand on my heart, that I have exaggerated nothing -and set forth nothing but facts in what I have just said of the -Legitimacy. It is certain that the Bourbons neither would nor could -have restored a castle monarchy or cantoned themselves in a tribe of -nobles and priests; it is certain that they were not brought back by -the Allies; they were the accident, not the cause of our disasters: the -cause is evidently due to Napoleon. But it is certain also that the -return of the Third Dynasty unfortunately coincided with the success -of the foreign arms. The Cossacks appeared in Paris at the moment when -Louis XVIII. returned there: hence, for France humiliated, for private -interests, for all excited passions, the Restoration and the invasion -are two identical things; the Bourbons have become the victims of a -confusion of facts, of a calumny changed, like so many others, into a -truth-lie. Alas, it is difficult to escape those calamities produced by -nature and the times: fight them as we may, right does not always carry -victory with it. The Psylli, a nation of Ancient Africa, had taken up -arms against the South wind; a whirlwind arose and swallowed up those -brave men: - - "The Nasamonians," says Herodotus, "seized upon their abandoned - country." - -[Sidenote: The death of Henry IV.] - -When speaking of the last calamity of the Bourbons, I am reminded of -their commencement: an indescribable omen of their grave made itself -heard in their cradle. Henry IV. no sooner saw himself master of Paris -than he was seized with a fatal presentiment. The repeated attempts -at assassination, without alarming his courage, had an influence on -his natural gaiety. In the procession of the Holy Ghost, on the 5th of -January, he appeared clad in black, wearing a plaister on his upper -lip, on the wound which Jean Châtel[616] had given him when aiming at -his heart. He wore a gloomy visage; Madame de Balagni asking him the -reason: - -"How," he said, "could I be pleased to see a people so ungrateful that, -while I have done and am still doing daily what I can for it and for -whose safety I would sacrifice a thousand lives, if God had given me -so many, it daily prepares new attempts on me, for, since I am here, I -hear speak of naught else?" - -Meantime the people cried: - -"Long live the King!" - -"Sire," said one of the Court lords, "see how all your people rejoices -to see you." - -Henry, shaking his head: - -"What a people it is. If my greatest enemy were here where I am and it -saw him pass, it would do for him as much as for me and would shout -still louder." - -A Leaguer, seeing the King huddled at the back of his carriage, said: - -"There he is already at the cart's tail." - -Does it not seem to you as though that Leaguer were speaking of Louis -XVI. going from the Temple to the scaffold? - -On Friday the 14th of May 1610, returning from the Feuillants with -Bassompierre and the Duc de Guise, the King said to them: - -"You do not know me now, none of you, and when you have lost me, you -will then know what I was worth and the difference between me and other -men." - -"My God, Sire," answered Bassompierre, "will you never have done -troubling us by telling us that you will soon die?" - -And then the marshal recounts to Henry his glory, his prosperity, his -good health which was prolonging his youth. - -"My friend," said the King, "I must leave all that." - -Ravaillac was at the gate of the Louvre. - -Bassompierre withdrew and did not see the King again except in his -closet: - -"He was stretched out," he says, "on his bed; and M. de Vic[617], -sitting on the same bed as he, had laid his cross of the Order on his -mouth and reminded him of God. M. le Grand on arriving knelt down -between the bed and the wall and held one of his hands which he kissed, -and I had flung myself at his feet which I held clasped, weeping -bitterly." - - -That is Bassompierre's story. - -Pursued by these sad memories, it seemed to me that, in the long halls -of Hradschin, I had seen the last Bourbons pass "sad and melancholy," -like the first Bourbon in the gallery of the Louvre; I had come to kiss -the feet of the Royalty after its death. Whether it die for ever or -be resuscitated, it will have my last oaths: the day after its final -disappearance, the Republic will commence for me. In the case that the -Fates, who are to edit my Memoirs, do not publish them forthwith, you -will know, when they appear, when you have read all, weighed all, how -far I was mistaken in my regrets and in my conjectures. Respecting -misfortune, respecting that which I have served and will continue to -serve at the cost of the repose of my last days, I am writing my words, -true or deluded, on my falling hours, dry and light leaves which the -breath of Eternity will soon have blown away. - -Supposing the high dynasties to be nearing their limit, omitting, -however, the possibilities of the future and the lively hopes that -spring incessantly at the bottom of men's hearts, would it not be -better that they should make an end worthy of their greatness and -withdraw with the centuries into the night of the past? To prolong -one's days beyond a dazzling illustriousness is good for nothing; the -world tires of you and your fame; it is angry with you for being still -there: Alexander, Cæsar, Napoleon have disappeared in accordance with -the rules of fame. To die beautiful, one must die young; do not make -the children of spring say: - -"What, is that the genius, the person, the dynasty that the world -applauded, for a hair of whose head, a smile, a glance one would have -thrown away one's life!" - -How sad it is see old Louis XIV. find no one near him, to talk to him -of his century, except the old Duc de Villeroi! It was a last victory -of the Great Condé to have met Bossuet by his grave-side: the orator -revived the mute waters of Chantilly; out of the old man's childhood -he kneaded again the young man's adolescence; he made brown again the -hair on the forehead of the victor of Rocroi while bidding an undying -farewell to his white hairs. You who love glory, look to your tomb; lie -down comfortably in it; try to cut a good figure in it, for you will -remain there. - - -[Sidenote: My journey to Carlsbad.] - -The road from Prague to Carlsbad stretches out through the tedious -plains which the Thirty Years' War stained with blood. As I cross those -battle-fields at night, I humble myself before the God of Armies, who -bears the sky on His arm like a buckler. One can see at some distance -the wooded hillocks at whose foot the waters lie. The wits among the -doctors at Carlsbad compare the road to Æsculapius' snake which came -down the hill to drink of Hygieia's cup. - -On the top of the tower of the town, the _Stadtthurm_, a tower mitred -with a steeple, watchmen blow the horn, so soon as they perceive a -traveller. I was greeted by the joyous sound like a dying man, and -every one in the valley began to say with delight: - -"Here's a gouty man, here's an hypochondriac, here's a myopic subject!" - -Alas, I was better than all that: I was an incurable! - -At seven o'clock, on the morning on the 31st, I was installed at -the Golden Shield, an inn kept for the benefit of Count Bolzona, a -very high-born ruined man. In the same hotel were staying the Comte -and Madame la Comtesse de Cossé, who had gone before me, and my -fellow-countryman General de Trogoff[618], formerly Governor of the -Château de Saint-Cloud, born long ago at Landivisiau, within the rays -of the moon of Landerneau, and, squat of figure though he be, a captain -of Austrian Grenadiers in Prague during the Revolution. He had just -been to see his banished lord, the successor of St. Clodoald[619], -a monk in his time at Saint-Cloud. Trogoff, after his pilgrimage, -was returning to Lower Brittany. He was taking with him an Hungarian -nightingale and a Bohemian nightingale which prevented everybody in the -hotel from sleeping, so loudly did they complain of Tereus' cruelty. -Trogoff used to cram them with grated bullock's heart, without being -able to get the better of their sorrow. - - Et mœstis late loca questibus implet[620]. - -Trogoff and I embraced like two Bretons. The general, short and square -like a Celt of Cornouailles, has a certain shrewdness under an air of -candour and an amusing way of telling a story. Madame la Dauphine was -inclined to like him and, as he knows German, she used to walk with -him. On hearing of my arrival from Madame de Cossé, she sent to me to -propose that I should go to see her at half-past nine or at twelve: I -was with her at twelve. - -[Sidenote: The Duchesse D'Angoulême.] - -She occupied a house standing by itself, at the end of the village, -on the right bank of the Tepl, the little river which rushes from the -mountain and flows through Carlsbad from one end to the other. As I -climbed the stairs to the Princess' apartment, I felt perturbed: I was -going, almost for the first time, to see that perfect model of human -suffering, that Antigone of Christendom. I had not talked for ten -minutes with Madame la Dauphine in my life; she had addressed scarcely -two or three words to me during the rapid course of her prosperity; -she had always shown herself at a loss in my presence. Though I had -never written or spoken of her except in terms of profound admiration, -Madame la Dauphine was necessarily bound to entertain towards me the -prejudices of that antechamber gang in whose midst she lived: the Royal -Family used to vegetate isolated in that citadel of stupidity and envy -to which the young generations laid siege, without being able to force -their way in. - -A man-servant opened the door to me; I saw Madame la Dauphine seated, -at the further end of a drawing-room, on a sofa between two windows, -embroidering a piece of tapestry-work. I entered feeling so agitated -that I did not know whether I should be able to reach the Princess. She -raised her head, which she had kept lowered right against her work, as -though herself to hide her emotion, and, addressing me, said: - -"I am glad to see you, Monsieur de Chateaubriand; the King wrote to me -that you were coming. You travelled at night? You must be tired." - -I respectfully handed her Madame la Duchesse de Berry's letters; she -took them, laid them on the table beside her and said: - -"Sit down, sit down." - -Then she began her embroidery again, with a quick, mechanical and -convulsive movement. - -I did not speak; Madame la Dauphine kept silence: I could hear the -pricking of the needle and the drawing of the wool as the Princess -passed it smartly through the canvas, on which I saw some tears fall. -The illustrious victim of misfortune wiped them from her eyes with the -back of her hand and, without raising her head, said: - -"How is my sister? She is very unhappy, very unhappy. I am very sorry -for her, I am very sorry for her." - -These brief and repeated phrases failed to open a conversation for -which neither of the two interlocutors could find the necessary -expressions. The redness of the Dauphine's eyes, caused by the habit of -tears, gave her a beauty which made her look like the Spasimo Virgin. - -"Madame," I replied at last, "Madame la Duchesse de Berry is very -unhappy, without a doubt; she has charged me to come to place her -children under your protection during her captivity. It is a great -relief to think that Henry V. finds a second mother in Your Majesty." - -Pascal was right to connect the greatness and wretchedness of man: -who would have believed that Madame la Dauphine attached any value, -to those titles of Queen, of Majesty, which were so natural to her -and of which she had known the vanity? Well, the word Majesty was, -nevertheless, a magic word; it beamed upon the Princess's forehead, -from which, for a moment, it removed the clouds: they soon returned to -place themselves there like a diadem. - -"Oh no, no, Monsieur de Chateaubriand," said the Princess, looking at -me and ceasing her work, "I am not Queen." - -"You are, Madame, you are, by the laws of the realm: Monseigneur le -Dauphin was able to abdicate only because he was King. France looks -upon you as her Queen, and you will be the mother of Henry V." - -The Dauphiness discussed no longer: this little weakness, by making her -a woman again, veiled the glamour of so many different greatnesses, -gave them a sort of charm and brought them into closer connexion with -the human condition. - -I read out my credentials, in which Madame la Duchesse de Berry -declared her marriage to me, ordered me to go to Prague, asked to be -allowed to keep her title as a French Princess and placed her children -in her sister's care. - -The Princess resumed her embroidery; when I finished reading, she said -to me: - -"Madame la Duchesse de Berry does well to rely on me; that's quite -right, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, quite right: I am very sorry for my -sister-in-law, you must tell her so." - -This persistency on the part of Madame la Dauphine in saying that she -was sorry for Madame la Duchesse de Berry, without going further, -showed me how little sympathy there was, at bottom, between those -two souls. It also seemed to me as though an involuntary impulse had -stirred the saint's heart. A rivalry in misfortune! Nevertheless, the -daughter of Marie-Antoinette had nothing to fear in this struggle; the -palm would have remained hers. - -"If Madame," I resumed, "would like to read the letter which Madame -la Duchesse de Berry sends her and that which she addresses to her -children, she will perhaps find some new explanations there. I hope -that Madame will give me a letter to take back to Blaye." - -[Sidenote: A question of invisible ink.] - -The letters were written in invisible ink. - -"I don't understand this at all," said the Princess. "What are we to -do?" - -I suggested the expedient of a chafing-dish with a few sticks of white -wood; Madame pulled the bell, the rope of which hung down behind the -sofa. A footman came, took the order and set up the apparatus on the -landing, at the door of the drawing-room. Madame rose and we went to -the chafing-dish. We put it on a little table standing against the -stair-rail. I took one of the two letters and held it parallel to the -flame. Madame la Dauphine watched me, and smiled because I did not -succeed. She said: - -"Give it to me, give it to me, let me try my hand." - -She passed the letter over the flame; Madame la Duchesse de Berry's -large, round hand-writing appeared: the same operation was performed -for the second letter. I congratulated Madame on her success. It was a -strange scene: the daughter of Louis XVI. deciphering with me, at the -top of a stair-case at Carlsbad, the mysterious characters which the -captive of Blaye was sending to the captive of the Temple! - -We went back to our seats in the drawing-room. The Dauphiness read -the letter which was addressed to her. Madame la Duchesse de Berry -thanked her sister for the concern she had shown in her misfortune, -recommended her children to her, and specially placed her son under -the guardianship of his aunt's virtues. The letter to the children -consisted of a few loving words. The Duchesse de Berry invited Henry to -make himself worthy of France. - -Madame la Dauphine said to me: - -"My sister does me justice, I have been very much concerned at her -troubles. She must have suffered much, suffered much. You must tell -her that I will look after M. le Duc de Bordeaux. I am very fond of -him. How did you find him? His health is good, is it not? He is strong, -although a little nervous." - -I spent two hours in private conversation with Madame, an honour rarely -granted: she seemed satisfied. Having never known anything about me -except from hostile reports, she no doubt believed me to be a violent -man, puffed up with my own merits; she was pleased with me for having a -human aspect and being a good fellow. She said to me, cordially: - -"I am going out walking: I am keeping to the regimen of the waters; we -shall dine at three: you must come, if you do not want to go to bed. I -want to see you, so long as it does not tire you." - -I do not know to what I owed my success; but certainly the ice was -broken, the prejudice wiped out; that glance which had been fixed, in -the Temple, on the eyes of Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette, had rested -kindly upon a poor servant. At the same time, though I had succeeded -in putting the Dauphiness at her ease, I felt myself exceedingly -constrained: the fear of passing a certain level took from me that -faculty for every-day intercourse which I had with Charles X. Whether -it was that I did not possess the secret of drawing what was sublime -from the soul of Madame; whether it was that my feeling of respect -closed the road to the intercommunication of thought, I felt a -distressing sterility which came from within myself. - -At three o'clock, I was back at Madame la Dauphine's. I there met -Madame la Comtesse Esterhazy and her daughter, Madame d'Agoult, -Messieurs O'Heguerty the Younger and de Trogoff, who had the honour -of dining with the Princess. Countess Esterhazy, once a beautiful -woman, is still good-looking: she had been intimate with M. le Duc de -Blacas in Rome. They say that she meddles in politics and tells M. le -Prince de Metternich all that she hears. When, on leaving the Temple, -Madame was sent to Vienna, she met Countess Esterhazy, who became her -companion. I noticed that she listened attentively to what I said; she -had the simplicity, the next morning, to tell me that she had spent -the night in writing. She was preparing to leave for Prague; a secret -interview was arranged at a spot agreed upon with M. de Blacas; from -there she was going to Vienna. Old attachments made young again by -espionage! What a business and what pleasures! Mademoiselle Esterhazy -is not pretty: she looks witty and mischievous. - -The Vicomtesse d'Agoult, a devotee to-day, is an important person of -the class which one finds in all princesses' closets. She has pushed on -her family as much as she could, by applying to everybody, especially -to myself: I have had the satisfaction of placing her nephews; she had -as many as the late Arch-chancellor Cambacérès. - -[Sidenote: I dine with the Dauphiness.] - -The dinner was so bad and so scanty that I rose dying of hunger; it -was served in Madame la Dauphine's own drawing-room, for she had no -dining-room. After the meal, the table was cleared; Madame went back -to sit on the sofa, took up her work again and we formed a circle -round. Trogoff told stories; Madame likes them. She interests herself -particularly in women. The Duchesse de Guiche was mentioned: - -"Her tresses do not suit her," said the Dauphiness, to my great -surprise. - -From her sofa, Madame saw through the window what was happening -outside: she named the ladies and gentlemen walking. Came two little -horses, with two grooms dressed in the Scotch fashion; Madame ceased -working, looked long and said: - -"It is Madame-----[I forget the name] going into the mountains with her -children." - -Marie-Thérèse curious, knowing the habits of the neighbourhood, the -Princess of thrones and scaffolds descending from the heights of her -life to the level of other women, interested me singularly; I watched -her with a sort of philosophic tenderness. - -At five o'clock, the Dauphiness went out driving; at seven, I was back -for the evening gathering. The same arrangement: Madame on the sofa, -the guests of the dinner and five or six young and old water-drinkers -enlarged the circle. The Dauphiness made touching, but visible -efforts to be gracious; she addressed a word to every one. She spoke -to me several times, making a point of calling me by my name to make -me known; but she became absent-minded again after each sentence. -Her needle multiplied its movements, her face drew nearer to her -embroidery; I saw the Princess's profile and was struck by a sinister -resemblance: Madame has begun to look like her father; when I saw her -head lowered under the blade of sorrow, I thought that I saw Louis -XVI.'s head awaiting the fall of the blade. At half-past eight, the -evening ended; I went to bed overcome by sleep and lassitude. - -On Friday the 31st of May[621], I was up at five o'clock; at six, I -went to the Mühlenbad: the men and women water-drinkers crowded round -the spring, walked under the gallery of wooden pillars, or in the -garden next to the gallery. Madame la Dauphine arrived, dressed in a -shabby grey silk gown; she wore a thread-bare shawl on her shoulders -and an old hat on her head. She looked as though she had mended her -clothes, as her mother did at the Conciergerie. M. O'Heguerty, her -equerry, gave her his arm. She mixed with the crowd and handed her -cup to the women who draw the water from the spring. No one paid any -attention to Madame la Comtesse de Marnes[622]. Maria Theresa, her -grandmother, in 1762, built the house known as the Mühlenbad: she also -presented Carlsbad with the bells which were to call her grand-daughter -to the foot of the Cross. - -Madame having entered the garden, I went up to her: she seemed -surprised at this courtier-like flattery. I had seldom risen so early -for royal personages, except, perhaps, on the 13th of February 1820, -when I went to look for the Duc de Berry at the Opera. The Princess -allowed me to take five or six turns round the garden by her side, -talked kindly and told me that she would receive me at two o'clock -and give me a letter. I left her, out of discretion; I breakfasted -hurriedly and spent the time remaining to me in visiting the valley. - -[Sidenote: Carlsbad.] - -CARLSBAD, 1 _June_ 1833. - -As a Frenchman, I found none but painful memories at Carlsbad. The town -takes its name from Charles IV.[623] King of Bohemia, who came here to -be cured of three wounds received at Crécy, while fighting beside his -father John. Lobkowitz pretends that John was killed by a Scotchman, a -circumstance not known to the historians: - - Sed cum Gallorum fines et arnica tuetur - Arva, Caledonia cuspide fossus obit. - -Cannot the poet have written _Caledonia_ for the sake of the quantity? -In 1346, Edward was at war with Robert Bruce[624], and the Scotch were -Philip's[625] allies. - -The death of the blind John of Bohemia, at Crécy, is one of the most -heroic and touching adventures of chivalry. John wanted to go to the -assistance of his son Charles; he said to his companions: - -"My lords, you are my friends; I call upon you to lead me so far -forwards that I may strike a blow with my sword." - - "They replied that gladly would they do so.... The King of Bohemia - went so far forwards that he struck a blow with his sword, indeed - more than four, and combated most vigorously, and so did they of - his company; and so much forward they pushed against the English - that all remained there and were on the morrow found on the field - around their lord, and all the horses tied together." - -Few people know that John of Bohemia was buried at Montargis, in the -church of the Dominicans, and that on his tomb one used to read this -remnant of an obliterated inscription: - - "He died at the head of his attendants, together recommending them - to God the Father. Pray to God for that sweet King." - -May this remembrance of a Frenchman expiate the ingratitude of France, -when, in the days of our new calamities, we appalled Heaven by our -sacrilege and cast out of his tomb a Prince who died for us in the days -of our old misfortunes! - -At Carlsbad, the chronicles relate that, Charles IV., the son of King -John, having gone out hunting, one of his hounds, darting after a deer, -fell from the top of a hill into a bason of boiling water. Its howls -caused the huntsmen to hurry in its direction and the source of the -Sprudel was discovered. A hog which scalded itself in the waters of -Teplitz showed them to the herdsmen. - -Such are the traditions of Germania. I have been to Corinth: the -ruins of the temple of the courtesans were dispersed over the ashes of -Glycera; but the fountain of Pyrene, which sprang from the tears of -a nymph, still flowed among the oleanders through which Pegasus flew -in the times of the Muses. The waters of a port without ships bathed -fallen columns whose capitals lay steeped in the sea, like heads of -drowned girls stretched upon the sands; the myrtle had grown in their -hair and replaced the acanthus leaves: there you have the traditions of -Greece. - -Carlsbad numbers eight springs: the most celebrated is the Sprudel, -discovered by the stag-hound. This spring issues from the ground -between the church and the Tepl with a hollow sound and a white steam; -it leaps up with irregular bounds to a height of six or seven feet. The -hot-springs of Iceland are superior to the Sprudel, but none goes to -seek health in the deserts of the Hecla, where life expires; where the -summer's day, issuing from the day, knows neither sunset nor sunrise; -where the winter's night, born again of the night, is without dawn or -twilight. - -The water of the Sprudel boils eggs and serves to wash plates and -dishes; this fine phenomenon has entered the service of the Carlsbad -housewives: an image of genius which degrades itself by lending its -power to vile works[626]. - -Carlsbad is the meeting-place in ordinary of sovereigns: they ought -surely to get cured there of the crown for themselves and for us. - -A daily list is published of the visitors to the Sprudel: on the -old rolls we find the names of the poets and the most enlightened -men of letters of the North: Gurowsky[627], Dunker, Weisse[628], -Herder[629], Goethe; I should have liked to meet with that of Schiller, -my favourite. In the sheet of the day, among obscure arrivals, one -observes the name of the "Comtesse de Marnes:" it is only printed in -small capitals. - -In 1830, at the very moment of the fall of the Royal Family at -Saint-Cloud, the widow and daughters of Christophe were taking the -waters at Carlsbad. Their Haytian Majesties have retired to Tuscany, -near the Neapolitan Majesties. King Christophe's youngest daughter, -very well-educated and exceedingly pretty, has died at Pisa: her ebon -beauty rests free under the porticoes of the Campo Santo, far from the -cane-fields and mangrove-trees beneath whose shade she was born a slave. - -In 1826, an Englishwoman from Calcutta was seen at Carlsbad, passing -from the banian fig-tree to the Bohemian olive-tree, from the sun of -the Ganges to the sun of the Tepl; she died away like a ray from the -Indian sky lost in the cold and the darkness. The sight of cemeteries, -in places consecrated to health, is a melancholy one: there young women -sleep, strangers to one another; on their tombs are carved the number -of their days and the place of their birth: one seems to be going -through a hot-house in which flowers are cultivated of every climate, -whose names are written on a label at the foot of the flowers. - -The native law has anticipated the requirements of exotic death: -foreseeing the decease of the travellers far from their country, it -permits the exhumations beforehand. I might, then, have slept half a -score of years in the Cemetery of St. Andrew and nothing would have -hindered the testamentary dispositions of these Memoirs. If Madame -la Dauphine were to expire here, would the French laws permit the -return of her ashes? That would be a controversial point between the -Sorbonizers of doctrine and the casuists of proscription. - -The Carlsbad waters are stated to be good for the liver and bad for the -teeth. I know nothing about the liver, but there are many toothless -people at Carlsbad; perhaps the years are responsible for this, rather -than the waters: time is an arrant liar and a great tooth-drawer. - -Does it not seem to you as though I were recommencing the _Chef-d'œuvre -d'un inconnu[630]?_ One word leads me to another; I go from Iceland to -India: - - Voilà les Apennins et voici le Caucase[631]. - -[Sidenote: The Teplitz Valley.] - -And nevertheless I have not yet left the Teplitz Valley. - -To obtain a view of the whole of the Valley of the Tepl, I climbed a -hill, through a wood of pine-trees: the perpendicular columns of these -trees formed an acute angle with the slanting rays of the sun; some had -their tops, two thirds, one half, a quarter of their trunks where the -others had their feet. - -I shall always love the woods: the flora of Carlsbad, whose breath -seemed to have embroidered the grass under my footsteps, seemed -charming to me; I met again the fingered sedge, the common night-shade, -the small loose-strife, the perforated St. John's wort, the hardy -lily-of-the-valley, the white willow: sweet subjects of my early -anthologies. - -See my youth coming to hang its reminiscences on the stalks of those -plants which I recognised in passing. Do you remember my botanical -studies among the Seminoles, my cenotheras, my nymphæas, with which I -decked my Floridans, the garlands of clematis with which they entwined -the tortoise, our sleep on the island by the lake-side, the shower -of roses from the magnolia-tree that fell upon our heads? I dare not -calculate the age which my fickle "painted girl" would have reached by -now; what should I gather on her brow to-day? The wrinkles that lie -on my own. She is no doubt sleeping for ever beneath the roots of a -cypress-grove of Alabama; and I, who bear in my memory those distant, -unknown recollections, I am alive! I am in Bohemia, not with Atala and -Céluta, but near Madame la Dauphine, who is going to give me a letter -for Madame la Duchesse de Berry. - -At one o'clock, I was at Madame la Dauphine's orders. - -"You wish to leave to-day, Monsieur de Chateaubriand?" - -"If Your Majesty will permit me. I shall try to find Madame de Berry in -France; otherwise I should be obliged to make the journey to Sicily, -and Her Royal Highness would be kept too long waiting for the answer -which she expects." - -"Here is a note for her. I took care not to mention your name, so as -not to compromise you if anything happened. Read it." - -I took the note; it was written entirely in Madame la Dauphine's hand: -I have taken an exact copy of it. - - "CARLSBAD, 31 _May_ 1833. - - "It was a genuine pleasure for me, my dear sister, at last to hear - from you direct I pity you with all my soul. Reckon always on my - constant concern for you and especially for your dear children, who - will be more precious to me than ever. My existence, as long as it - endures, shall be consecrated to them. I have not yet been able to - execute your commissions as regards our family, my health having - required that I should come here to take the waters. But I shall - discharge it immediately on my return to them; they and I, believe - me, will never have any but the same sentiments on everything. - - "Farewell, my dear sister: I pity you from the bottom of my heart - and embrace you fondly. - - "M. T." - -I was struck by the reserve of this note: a few vague expressions -of attachment but poorly covered the dryness of its substance. -I respectfully said as much, and again pleaded the cause of the -unfortunate prisoner. Madame answered that the King would give his -decision. She promised me to interest herself on behalf of her sister; -but there was no cordiality either in the voice or tone of the -Dauphiness: one perceived rather a restrained irritation. The game -seemed to me lost as far as my client's person was concerned. I fell -back upon Henry V. I thought that I owed to the Princess the sincerity -which I had always employed, at my risk and peril, to enlighten -the Bourbons; I spoke to her, frankly and without flattery, of the -education of M. le Duc de Bordeaux: - -[Sidenote: I talk to the Dauphiness.] - -"I know that Madame has read in a kindly spirit the pamphlet at the end -of which I expressed a few ideas relating to the education of Henry V. -I fear lest the child's surroundings should injure his cause: Messieurs -de Damas, de Blacas and Latil are not popular." - -Madame agreed with this; she even quite threw over M. de Damas, while -saying two or three words in honour of his courage, his probity and his -religion. - -"In the month of September, Henry V. will be of age: does not Madame -think that it would be a good thing to establish a council around -him to which one would summon men upon whom France looks with less -prejudice?" - -"Monsieur de Chateaubriand, by multiplying counsellors one multiplies -opinions: and then, whom would you propose to the King's choice?" - -"M. de Villèle." - -Madame, who was embroidering, stopped her needle, looked at me in -surprise and surprised me, in my turn, by giving a pretty judicious -criticism of the mind and character of M. de Villèle. She regarded him -only as an able administrator. - -"Madame is too severe," said I to her: "M. de Villèle is a man of -method, of accounts, of moderation, of composure, of infinite resource; -if he had not had the ambition to fill the first place, he would have -been a man to keep everlastingly in the King's Council: he will never -be replaced. His presence with Henry V. would have the best effect." - -"I thought that you did not like M. de Villèle?" - -"I should despise myself if, after the fall of the throne, I continued -to cherish a sentiment of some petty rivalry. Our royalist divisions -have already done too much harm; I forswear them with all my heart and -am ready to beg pardon of those who have offended me. I entreat Your -Majesty to believe that this is neither a display of false generosity -nor a stone laid by way of prevision of a future fortune. What could -I ask of Charles X. in exile? If the Restoration were to come about, -should I not be at the bottom of my grave?" - -Madame looked at me with kindness; she had the goodness to praise me in -these simple words: - -"That is very well said, Monsieur de Chateaubriand." - -She seemed to be still surprised to find a Chateaubriand so different -from the one who had been described to her. - -"There is another person, Madame," I resumed, "whom one might send -for: my noble friend M. Lainé. There were three of us in France who -ought never to take the oath to Philip: myself, M. Lainé and M. -Royer-Collard. Outside the government and in different positions, we -should have formed a triumvirate of some value. M. Lainé took the oath -from weakness, M. Royer-Collard from pride: the first will die of it; -the second will live by it, because he lives by all that he does, being -incapable of doing anything that is not admirable." - -"Were you pleased with Monsieur le Duc de Bordeaux?" - -"I thought him charming. They say that Your Majesty spoils him a -little." - -"Oh no, no. Were you satisfied with his health?" - -"He seemed to me to be wonderfully well; he looks delicate and a little -pale." - -"He often has a nice colour; but he is nervous. Monsieur le Dauphin -is very much esteemed in the army, is he not? Very much esteemed? They -remember him, do they not?" - -This abrupt question, which had no connection with what we had -just been saying, revealed to me a secret wound which the days of -Saint-Cloud and Rambouillet had left in the heart of the Dauphiness. -She brought up her husband's name in order to reassure herself: -I hastened to anticipate the thought of the Princess and wife; I -declared, and with truth, that the army had never forgotten the -impartiality, the virtues, the courage of its Commander-in-Chief. - -Seeing that the hour for walking had come: - -"Your Majesty has no more orders to give me? I am afraid of being -troublesome." - -"Tell your friends of the love I bear to France; let them well -understand that I am a Frenchwoman. I charge you particularly to say -that; you will do me a pleasure in saying it: I regret France much, I -regret France very much." - -"Ah, Madame, what has that France not done to you? How can you, who -have suffered so much, continue to feel 'home-sick?'" - -"No, no, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, do not forget it, be sure to tell -them all that I am a Frenchwoman, that I am a Frenchwoman." - -Madame left me; I was obliged to stop on the stair-case before going -out; I would not have dared to show myself in the street; my tears -still moisten my eyelids as I retrace this scene. - -On returning to my inn, I resumed my travelling-dress. While the -carriage was being got ready, Trogoff let his tongue run on; he told me -again and again that Madame la Dauphine was very pleased with me, that -she made no attempt to conceal her satisfaction, that she spoke of it -to anyone who was willing to listen to her. - -"It's an immense thing, this journey of yours!" shouted Trogoff, trying -to drown the voices of his two nightingales. "You will see some results -from it!" - -I did not believe in any result. - -I was right. They were expecting M. le Duc de Bordeaux that same -evening. Although everybody knew of his arrival, they had made a -mystery of it to me. I was careful not to show that I was informed of -the secret. - -[Sidenote: And take my leave.] - -At six o'clock in the evening, I was rolling towards Paris. Whatever -may be the greatness of misfortune in Prague, the pettiness of the -life of princes reduced to itself is difficult to swallow; to drink the -last drop of it, one must have burnt one's palate and intoxicated one's -self with a glowing faith. - -Alas, a new Symmachus, I bewail the abandonment of the altars; I raise -my hands towards the Capitol; I invoke the majesty of Rome! But if the -god should have turned into wood and Rome fail to come to life again in -its dust? - - - -[Footnote 556: This book was written in Prague, from the 24th to the -30th of May 1833, and at Carlsbad, on the 1st of June.--T.] - -[Footnote 557: When Charles X. arrived in England, in August 1830, he -accepted the hospitality of a Catholic Jacobite family, the Welds, -which thus paid the Bourbons the debt of Stuarts. The head of that -family, Cardinal Weld, offered the King of France the use of Lulworth -Castle, in Dorsetshire, not far from the little town of Wareham. After -a stay of two months at Lulworth, the Royal Family went to live at -Holyrood Palace, in Edinburgh, where they remained for two years. On -the 25th of October 1832, Charles X. arrived in Prague, at the Castle -of Hradschin, which the Emperor of Austria, Francis I., had put at his -disposal until he was able to find a private residence. Here Charles X. -spent three years and a half. In the month of May 1836, he hired from -Count Coronini his property of Graffenberg, situated at one end of the -town of Gorlitz, on a rising ground which overlooks it.--B.] - -[Footnote 558: The notes on p. 78, Vol. IV., and p. 130 _supra_, -by M. Biré, give a brief biography, not, as stated, of this Duc de -Guiche, later Duc de Gramont, but of his father, the Duc de Gramont. -M. Biré himself corrects this error by giving the following details -of the Duc de Guiche with whom we have to do. He emigrated with his -parents when only three weeks of age. He served in Portugal and Spain -under Wellington. After the Battle of Vittoria (June 1813), he made -his way into France, established relations with the Royalists of the -South and was sent by them to Louis XVIII., in England, to ask him to -send a prince of the Blood to place himself at the head of a movement -which was being organized. He succeeded in his mission and returned to -Bordeaux, followed in a few days by the Duc d'Angoulême. Until that -time he had been known as the Comte de Gramont. By order of Louis -XVIII., he assumed, on his return to France, the name and rank of Duc -de Guiche, which had formerly been borne by the eldest sons of the -family. Under the Restoration, the Duc de Guiche became First Equerry -to the Duc d'Angoulême, served under him in the South during the -Hundred Days and, later, in 1823, in Spain. In 1830, he accompanied the -Royal Family from Rambouillet to Cherbourg, whence he was sent back to -Paris to put the Duc d'Angoulême's personal affairs in order. Having -completed this business, he went, with all his family, to join the -Prince in Edinburgh, and afterwards accompanied him to Prague. The Duc -de Guiche returned to France in 1833 and, on the death of his father, -in August 1836, succeeded to the name and rank of Duc de Gramont.--T.] - -[Footnote 559: Louise Princess of France (1819-1864), married, in 1845, -to Charles III. Duke of Parma, and Regent of Parma during the minority -of the present Duke from the date of his father's murder, in 1854, -until his own deposition in 1859.--T.] - -[Footnote 560: M. Barrande was the Duc de Bordeaux's principal -professor. Without having the title of tutor, he held all the branches -of the education in his hands, which enabled him to give a valuable -impulse to the Prince's studies. M. Barrande, at that time, was between -thirty and thirty-five years of age; he was a man of the younger -generation, a distinguished pupil of the Polytechnic School and had -a firm and severe character. He retired at the end of 1833, when the -Baron de Damas ceased to fulfil the functions of Governor.--B.] - -[Footnote 561: M. de La Villate (_b._ 1776) had served in the Royal -Grenadiers of the Guard during the Restoration. He was a brave and -loyal officer, and the Duc de Bordeaux took a great liking to him at -an early age. M. de La Villate took no part in the Prince's education -properly so-called, as he did not instruct him in any branch of -knowledge; but he exercised a real influence upon his character and -instilled into him a love of the rough, plain truth. The young Prince -loved him for his loyalty, his soldierly frankness and his white -hairs. It was not age that had turned his head white. He was eighteen -years old, in 1794, when his father was flung into prison. Young La -Villate was resolved to make every effort to save him and succeeded in -obtaining admittance to him. After a long struggle, persuaded by his -tears and his persistency, the prisoner consented to change clothes -with his son and to leave in his stead, relying upon a remnant of -humanity in his gaolers which would prevent them, who shrank from -scarcely any crime, from committing the additional crime of taking -vengeance upon this act of filial devotion. A reprieve was, in fact, -granted; and young La Villate was restored to his family on the 9 -Thermidor. But the painful emotions of that terrible night, during -which he had struggled against his father's refusal, had turned his -hair white in a few hours and given him that silver crown at the age of -eighteen years.--T.] - -[Footnote 562: In 1833, after the retirement of M. Barrande, two -Jesuits, the Pères Étienne Deplace and Julien Druilhet, were sent for -to Prague and attached to the education of the Duc de Bordeaux. They -remained only three months in Prague and were replaced by the Bishop of -Hermopolis, M. de Frayssinous, who directed the Prince's education from -1833 to 1838.--B.] - -[Footnote 563: The Abbé de Moligny was the young Duc de Bordeaux's -confessor.--B.] - -[Footnote 564: The Vicomtesse d'Agoult, the Dauphiness' habitual -companion.--B.] - -[Footnote 565: The Abbé Nicolas de MacCarthy (1769-1833) was a native -of Dublin, whose father settled in France soon after the child's birth. -Although destined for the priesthood before the Revolution, MacCarthy -was not ordained until 1814, when he became a member of the Company of -Jesus. His talent won him a quick reputation and, in 1819, he preached -the Advent sermons at the Tuileries with extraordinary success. He was -gifted with an impassioned and penetrating eloquence and shone more -particularly by his improvisation. The Père MacCarthy's action added -greatly to the value of his sermons. Many of the preachers of the time -set themselves to imitate him and went so far as to adopt in the pulpit -the peculiar attitude which he himself was obliged to assume through -an infirmity contracted in the service of the poor. This was called -preaching à la MacCarthy. One severe winter's day he had carried a -heavy load of wood up to the garret of a poor friendless woman. The -burden was beyond his strength and brought about a weakness of the -loins from which he suffered until his death, which occurred on the -3rd of May 1833, a few weeks before Chateaubriand's conversation with -Charles X. MacCarthy's Sermons, published in 1834, are remarkable for -their style, their logic and their rhetorical swing.--B.] - -[Footnote 566: _Cf._ ANTOINE DE LA SALLE, _Hystoire et plaisante -chronique du petit Jehan de Saintré et de la jeune dame des -Belles-Cousines, sans autre nom nommer._--T.] - -[Footnote 567: It is curious, in the present year 1902, to read of this -style, adopted only, I believe, by Chateaubriand. It is, of course, -wrong: Prince Charles Edward, after his father's death, was always -known to his adherents as Charles III. There was no reason, such as -prevailed with His present Majesty, to induce the Prince to style -himself Edward VII.--T.] - -[Footnote 568: Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, Pope Clement XIV. -(1705-1774), was elected Pope in 1758. Prince Charles Edward succeeded -James III. as _de jure_ King of England in 1766.--T.] - -[Footnote 569: Giovanni Angelo Braschi, Pope Pius VI. (1717-1799), was -elected Pope in 1775, succession to Clement XIV. He survived Charles -III. by eleven years.--T.] - -[Footnote 570: Marie Louise Françoise de Lussan d'Esparbès, Vicomtesse -de Polastron (1764-1804), was married to the Vicomte de Polastron, -Madame de Polignac's brother, in December 1780. Her connection with the -Comte d'Artois commenced before the Revolution and was continued during -the Emigration. She died of a slow fever, in Brompton Grove, after -confessing to the Abbé de Latil and imploring the Comte d'Artois, on -her death-bed, to swear that she should be his last mistress, his last -love on earth, that he should thenceforth love none other than God. The -Prince swore and kept his word.--T.] - -[Footnote 571: Alfred Charles François Gabriel Comte de Damas -(1794-1840), a knight of St. Louis and of the Legion of Honour and an -honorary lord of the Bed-chamber to Charles X.--B.] - -[Footnote 572: Robert II. (sometimes called Robert I.) King of France -(971-1031), surnamed the Pious, son of Hugh Capet, whom he succeeded in -996.--T.] - -[Footnote 573: Bruno of Carinthia, Pope Gregory V. (_d._ 999) was -elected Pope in 996. Mademoiselle was two years out: the Pope reigning -in 1001 was his successor, Silvester II., who died in 1003.--T.] - -[Footnote 574: Basil II. Emperor of the East (_circa_ 958-1025) became -Byzantine Emperor in 976.--T.] - -[Footnote 575: Otto III. Emperor of the West (980-1002), surnamed the -Wonder of the World, succeeded as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in -983, and assumed the reins of government in 996.--T.] - -[Footnote 576: Veremund II. King of Leon and Asturias died in 999; he -was succeeded by Alphonsus V., who reigned till 1027. In this case -Henry V. was two years out.--T.] - -[Footnote 577: Ethelred II. King of England (968-1016), surnamed the -Unready, succeeded to the throne in 979.--T.] - -[Footnote 578: Edmund II. King of England (_circa_ 989-1016), surnamed -Ironside, son of Ethelred the Unready, whom he succeeded in 1016, -himself dying in the same year.--T.] - -[Footnote 579: Henry IV. abjured Calvinism in 1593, in order to secure -his recognition as King of France.--T.] - -[Footnote 580: In the royal domain of Chantilly.--T.] - -[Footnote 581: Blondel (_fl._ 12th Century), the French troubadour, -said to have found Richard Cœur-de-Lion, in the castle in which the -King was confined, by singing under his tower a song which the two had -composed.--T.] - -[Footnote 582: Leopold I. or V. Duke of Austria (1157-1194) took -Richard prisoner in Austria, in December 1192, and kept him in the -Castle of Dürrenstein until March 1193, when the King was transferred -to the Emperor Henry VI.--T.] - -[Footnote 583: Charles VI. King of France (1368-1422) succeeded to -the throne in 1380, but became deranged in 1392, four years after he -had assumed the government. Cards are generally supposed to have been -invented about this time to amuse the unfortunate King: "they were -invented," I have heard it said, "to amuse a fool and they have amused -fools ever since."--T.] - -[Footnote 584: Oger, or Ogier, or Outcaire, or Adalgarius (_fl._ 9th -Century), the Danish paladin of Charlemagne, gives his name, in the -French pack of playing-cards, to the Knave of Spades.--T.] - -[Footnote 585: Étienne de Vignoles, known as Lahire (_circa_ -1390-1443), the valiant captain of Charles VII., has the Knave of -Hearts called after him on French cards.--T.] - -[Footnote 586: _Cf._ Vol. III. p. 129, n. 4. The Baron Capelle was -Minister of Commerce in the last Cabinet under Charles X.--T.] - -[Footnote 587: Charles Le Mercher de Longpré, Baron d'Haussez -(1778-1854), Minister of Marine in the Polignac Cabinet, fled from -France in 1830 and went to England, where he wrote his Grande Bretagne -en 1833, the work referred to. Subsequently he travelled in Holland, -Germany and Italy, describing his journey in the _Voyage d'un exilé_ -(1835) and in Alpes et Danube (1837). He returned to France in -consequence of the political amnesty decreed in 1837.--T.] - -[Footnote 588: The Comte de Montbel (_cf._ p. 81, n. 5, _supra_), who -was Minister of the Interior and, later, Minister of Finance in the -Polignac Cabinet, published, in 1833, a _Notice sur la vie du duc de -Reichstadt._--B.] - -[Footnote 589: _Cf._ Vol. IV. p. 138, n. 4.--T.] - -[Footnote 590: The "Royalist Butcher." _Cf._ Vol. I. p. 109, n. 2.--T.] - -[Footnote 591: João de Castro (1500-1548) was Portuguese Governor of -India, in 1545, and won several signal victories over the natives. -He was as upright as he was brave; he died poor and was buried at -the expense of the public. He is said to have offered to pledge his -mustachios in exchange for a loan from the merchants of Goa; but the -merchants were satisfied with his word.--T.] - -[Footnote 592: "This is the famed Battle of Prag; fought May 6th, -1757; which sounded through all the world, and used to deafen us in -drawing-rooms within man's memory." (CARLYLE, _History of Friedrich II. -of Prussia, called Frederick the Great_, Book XVIII., Chap, II.)-T.] - -[Footnote 593: The Comte de Chambord was destined to spend over fifty -years more in Austria: he died at Frohsdorf, about thirty miles from -Vienna, on the 24th of August 1883.--T.] - -[Footnote 594: Jan Sigismund Boncza Skrzynecki (1786-1860) served -in the Polish contingent in aid of Napoleon; joined in the Polish -Insurrection in 1830; served with distinction at Grochow, on the 25th -of February 1831, and was appointed commander-in-chief on the next day. -He defeated the Russians at Warwe and Dembe in March and at Iganie on -the 8th of April; but his nominal victory at Ostrolenka (26 May 1831) -was tantamount to a defeat, owing to his subsequent inaction, and he -was superseded in August. He fled to Bohemia and lived in Prague until -Leopold I. placed him in command of the Belgian Army. In 1839, the -representations of Russia, Austria and Prussia compelled him to lay -down this command. General Skrzynecki continued to live in Brussels -until 1859, when he obtained leave to settle in Cracovia. He died in -the month of January of the following year.--T.] - -[Footnote 595: Johann Rudolf Count von Chotkowa and Wognin (1748-1824) -was Grand Burgrave of Bohemia from 1802 to 1805.--T.] - -[Footnote 596: _Anglicè_, in the original.--T.] - -[Footnote 597: _Mémoires du maréchal de Bassompierre_, Vol. I. p. 326 -_et seq._--B.] - -[Footnote 598: Karl Robert Count Nesselrode (1780-1862), the famous -Russian statesman, was Minister of Foreign Affairs almost continuously -from 1813 to 1856.--T.] - -[Footnote 599: Blacas d'Aulps the troubadour died in 1229; Blacas -d'Aulps the "Great Warrior," one of the most gallant knights at the -Court of Provence, in 1235.--T.] - -[Footnote 600: _Cf._ Vol. II., p. 202, n. 5. Blacas d'Aulps and -d'Épernon were both natives of the South of France.--T.] - -[Footnote 601: The Obelisk of Luxor was brought from Egypt in 1831 and -set up in Paris, on the Place de la Concorde, in 1836. It weighs 240 -tons.--T.] - -[Footnote 602: Luc de Clapier, Marquis de Vauvenargues ( 1715-1747), -the French moralist, author of the _Introduction à la connaissance de -l'esprit humain_, took part in the retreat from Prague (December 1742) -as a captain of foot. His health suffered, and he was obliged to resign -his commission soon after.--T.] - -[Footnote 603: Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), the celebrated Danish -astronomer, entered the service of the Emperor Rudolph II. and settled -in Prague in 1599. The constellation which Tycho discovered in 1572 was -Cassiopeia, in which appeared a temporary star brighter than Venus at -its brightest.--T.] - -[Footnote 604: Shakespeare: _Winter's Tale_, Act III. sc. iii. 1-2, 45, -48, 53-54.--T.] - -[Footnote 605: Wenceslaus VI. King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany -(1361-1419), surnamed the Drunkard, was the son of the Emperor Charles -IV. He was elected King of the Romans in 1376 and succeeded to the -German and Bohemian Thrones in 1378. His cruelties made him so odious -that his Bohemian nobles imprisoned him in 1394 and, in 1400, he was -solemnly deposed from the Throne of Germany. He renounced his right -to the Imperial Crown in 1410, but continued to reign as King of -Bohemia.--T.] - -[Footnote 606: John Wyclif (_circa_ 1324-1384) became Master of Balliol -in 1360. Huss began spreading his doctrines in Prague in 1398.--T.] - -[Footnote 607: Vaclav Hanka (1791-1861), an eminent Bohemian -philologist and poet.--T.] - -[Footnote 608: Frantisek Ladislav Czelakovsky (1799-1852), the poet -and philologist. He published his collection of Slav folk-songs in -1822-1827.--T.] - -[Footnote 609: Boguslav Lobkowitz, Baron von Hassenstein (1462-1510), -the author of a number of odes, elegies and letters in Latin, of which -a German translation was published, in Prague, in 1832.--T.] - -[Footnote 610: Mahomet II. Sultan of Turkey (_circa_ 1430-1481), -surnamed the Conqueror, or the Great. He besieged and captured -Constantinople in 1453; and conquered the Morea, Servia, Bosnia and -Albania and made the Crimea a dependency of Turkey in 1457.--T.] - -[Footnote 611: Louis XII. King of France (1462-1515), surnamed the -Father of the People.--T.] - -[Footnote 612: CHATEAUBRIAND: _Le Roi est mort! Vive le roi!_ -(1824).--B.] - -[Footnote 613: It was not at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818, as Chateaubriand -says in error, that the Allies called for the dismemberment of France, -but three years earlier, during the discussion of the Treaties of 1815. -It was then that the Emperor Alexander gave the Duc de Richelieu this -"map of Styx," as an incontestable proof of the concessions obtained by -the latter. On this map, our new frontier is marked out by a line drawn -in blue, which takes away from France a portion of the Departments of -the Isère, with Fort Barraux; of the Ain, with Belley, Gex and the -Fort de l'Écluse; of the Jura, with Saint-Claude; of the Doubs, with -the Fort de Tour, Pontarlier, Saint-Hippolyte and Montbéliard; the -whole of the Haut-Rhin; the whole of the Bas-Rhin; the whole of the -Moselle; a part of the Meuse, including Montmédy; the Ardennes, with -Sedan, Mérières and Rocroy; the whole Department of the Nord, excepting -Cambrai and Douai. The fact that this blue line was not put through and -France not wiped out from the political map of Europe we owe entirely -to Louis XVIII. and the Duc de Richelieu.--B.] - -[Footnote 614: William Cobbett (1762-1835), the peasant essayist and -politician. The letter referred to is his _Letter to Monsieur de -Chateaubriand on his speech in the French Chamber of Deputies, on the -25th February_, 1823, _relative to the war proposed to be undertaken by -France against the Revolutionists of Spain_, dated Kensington, 5 March -1823.--T.] - -[Footnote 615: Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice (_circa_ 1108-1205), -became Doge in 1192. He went as Ambassador to the Byzantine Court in -1173 and was blinded by order of the Emperor Manuel I.--T.] - -[Footnote 616: Jean Châtel (1577-1594), in December 1594, stabbed Henry -IV. on the lip, while the King was stooping to lift up two officers who -were kneeling to him. Châtel was sentenced by the Parliament of Paris -to be quartered.--T.] - -[Footnote 617: Dominique de Vic, Viscount d'Ermenonville (_d._ 1610), -one of the most faithful servants of Henry IV. Passing, after the -King's death, through the Rue de la Ferronnerie, in which Henry had -been assassinated, he was seized with a grief so keen that he died of -it the next day.--T.] - -[Footnote 618: Joachim Simon Comte de Trogoff (1763-1840) was born at -the Château de Penlan, in Brittany. He entered the service in 1779 -and fought in the War of American Independence. After the Emigration, -he joined the Austrian service, where he remained till 1814, when -the Restoration made him a brigadier-general and the Comte d'Artois -admitted him to his intimacy. When Charles X. became King, he appointed -Trogoff to the Governorship of Saint-Cloud. In 1830, at the time of the -halt at Rambouillet, Trogoff acted as governor of the palace and wanted -to fight, but was not permitted. He accompanied the King to the ship -which was to take him to England and, having accomplished this duty, -withdrew to the Château de Keruroret, near Saint-Pol, which he never -left except to go to visit his old master in exile.--B.] - -[Footnote 619: St. Clodoald, or Cloud (_d._ 560), was the son of -Clodomir King of Orleans and the grandson of Clovis King of the Franks. -After the death of his father and the murder of his two elder brothers, -in 533, he devoted himself to a monastic life and lived in a retreat -near Paris which was subsequently called after him. St. Cloud is -honoured on the 7th of September.--T.] - -[Footnote 620: VIR., _Georg._ IV. 515.--B.] - -[Footnote 621: And not Friday the 1st of June, as the earlier editions -have it.--B.] - -[Footnote 622: The Duc d'Angoulême had taken the name of Comte de -Marnes in exile,--T.] - -[Footnote 623: Charles IV. King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany -(1316-1378) succeeded his father as King of Bohemia on the death of -the latter at Crécy, in 1346, and was crowned Emperor in the following -year.--T.] - -[Footnote 624: Robert I. Bruce, King of Scotland (1274-1329), died -seventeen years before the Battle of Crécy; but his son, David II. -Bruce (1324-1371), invaded England in 1346, was defeated and captured -at Neville's Cross (17 October 1346) and kept in captivity till -1357.--T.] - -[Footnote 625: Philip VI. King of France (1293-1350), the first king of -the House of Valois, was defeated by Edward III. at Crécy on the 26th -of August 1346.--T.] - -[Footnote 626: I omit a quotation from Alexandre Dumas' translation in -verse of Lobkowitz' Latin Ode to the Sprudel.--T.] - -[Footnote 627: Gurowsky (_b._ 1800), the Polish poet.--T.] - -[Footnote 628: Christian Hermann Weisse (1801 -1866), author of the -_System der Ästhetik_ (1830) and other philosophical works.--T.] - -[Footnote 629: Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), the German -critic and poet.--T.] - -[Footnote 630: The _Chef-d'œuvre d'un inconnu, poème heureusement -découvert et mis au jour par le docteur Mathanasius_ is an amusing -satire by Hyacinthe Cordonnier (1684-1746), known as Thémiseuil de -Saint-Hyacinthe, published in 1714, in the midst of the "quarrel of -the ancients and moderns." Its success was maintained throughout the -eighteenth century.--T.] - -[Footnote 631: LA FONTAINE, _Le Rat et l'huître_: - - "Here stand the Apennines and here the Caucasus." - -_Cf._ JOHNSON: "Survey mankind from China to Peru."--T.] - - -END OF VOL. V. - - - - -APPENDIX - -THE ROYAL ORDINANCES OF JULY 1830 - -"CHARLES, etc. - -"To all to whom these presents shall come, health. - -"On the report of our Council of Ministers, We have ordained and do -ordain as follows: - -"Art I. The liberty of the periodical press is suspended. - -"II. The regulations of Articles I., II. and IX., of the First Section -of the Law of the 21st of October 1814 are again put in force; in -consequence of which no journal, or periodical, or semi-periodical -writing, established, or about to be established, without distinction -of the matters therein treated, shall appear in Paris or in the -Departments, except by the virtue of an authority first obtained from -Us by the authors and printer respectively. This authority shall be -renewed every three months. It may also be revoked. - -"III. The authority shall be provisionally granted and provisionally -withdrawn by the Prefects from journals and periodicals, or -semi-periodical works, published, or about to be published, in the -Departments. - -"IV. Journals and writings published in contravention of Article II., -shall be immediately seized. The presses and types used in the printing -of them shall be placed in a public depository under seal, or rendered -unfit for use. - -"V. No writing of less than twenty printed pages shall appear, except -with the authority of Our Minister the Secretary of State for the -Interior in Paris, and of the Prefects in the Departments. Every -writing of more than twenty printed pages, which shall not constitute -one single work, must also be published under authority only. Writings -published without authority shall be immediately seized; the presses -and types used in printing them shall be placed in a public depository -under seal, or rendered unfit for use. - -"VI. Minutes relating to legal process and minutes of scientific -and literary societies must be previously authorized, if they treat -in whole or in part of political matters, in which case the measures -prescribed by Article V. shall be applicable. - -"VII. Every regulation contrary to the present shall be without effect. - -"VIII. The execution of the present Ordinance shall take place in -conformity with Article IV. of the Ordinance of 27 November 1816 and of -that which is prescribed by the Ordinance of 18 January 1817. - -"IX. Our Secretaries of State are charged with the execution of this -Ordinance. - -"Given at the Palace of Saint-Cloud, this 25th day of July in the Year -of Grace 1830 and the sixth of Our reign. - -(Signed) "CHARLES. - - (Countersigned) "Prince de POLIGNAC, President. - "CHANTELAUZE, Keeper of the Seals. - "Baron d'HAUSSEZ, Minister of Marine. - "MONTBEL, Minister of Finance. - "Comte de GUERNON-RANVILLE, - Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs. - "Baron CAPELLE, Secretary of State for - Public Works." - -"CHARLES, - -"To all to whom these presents shall come, etc. - -"Having considered Article L. of the Constitutional Charter; being -informed of the manœuvres which have been practised in various parts -of Our Kingdom, to deceive and mislead the electors during the late -operations of the electoral colleges; having heard our Council, We have -ordained and do ordain as follows: - -"Art. I. The Chamber of Deputies of departments is dissolved. - -"II. Our Minister the Secretary of State of the Interior is charged -with the execution of the present Ordinance. - -"Given at Saint-Cloud, this 25th day of July in the Year of Grace 1830 -and the sixth of Our reign. - -(Signed) "CHARLES. - -(Countersigned) "Comte de Peyronnet, Peer of France, Secretary of State -for the Interior." - -"CHARLES, - -"To all who shall see these presents, health. - -"Having resolved to prevent the return of the manœuvres which have -exercised a pernicious influence on the late operations of the -Electoral Colleges and wishing, in consequence, to reform, according to -the principles of the Constitutional Charter, the rules of election, -of which experience has shown the inconvenience, We have recognised -the necessity of using the right which belongs to Us to provide, by -acts emanating from Ourselves, for the safety of the State and for the -suppression of every enterprise injurious to the dignity of Our Crown. -For these reasons, having heard Our council, We have ordained and do -ordain: - -"Art I. Conformably with Articles XV., XXXVI. and XXX. of the -Constitutional Charter, the Chamber of Deputies shall consist only of -Deputies of Departments. - -"II. The electoral rate and the rate of eligibility shall consist -exclusively of the sums for which the elector and the candidate shall -be inscribed individually, as holders of real or personal property in -the roll of the land-tax, or of personal taxes. - -"III. Each Department shall have the number of Deputies allotted to it -by Article XXXVI. of the Constitutional Charter. - -"IV. The Deputies shall be elected, and the Chamber renewed, in the -form and for the time fixed by Article XXXVI. of the Constitutional -Charter. - -"V. The Electoral Colleges shall be divided into Colleges of -Arrondissement and Colleges of Departments, except the case of those -Electoral Colleges of Departments to which only one Deputy is allotted. - -"VI. The Electoral Colleges of Arrondissements shall consist of all the -electors whose political domicile is established in the Arrondissement -The Electoral Colleges of Departments shall consist of a fourth part of -the most highly taxed of the electors of Departments. - -"VII. The present limits of the Electoral Colleges of Arrondissements -are retained. - -"VIII. Every Electoral College of Arrondissement shall elect a number -of candidates equal to the number of Departmental Deputies. - -"IX. The College of Arrondissement shall be divided into as many -Sections as candidates. Each Division shall be in proportion to the -number of Sections and to the total number of electors, having regard -as much as possible to the convenience of place and neighbourhood. - -"X. The Sections of the Electoral College of Arrondissement may -assemble in different places. - -"XI. Each Section of the Electoral College of Arrondissement shall -choose a candidate and proceed separately. - -"XII. The Presidents of the Sections of the Electoral College of -Arrondissement shall be nominated by the Prefects from among the -electors of the Arrondissement. - -"XIII. The College of Department shall choose the Deputies; half the -Deputies of Departments shall be chosen from the general list of -candidates proposed by the Colleges of Arrondissements; nevertheless, -if the number of Deputies of the Department is uneven, the division -shall be made without impeachment of the right reserved by the College -of Department. - -"XIV. In cases where, by the effect of omissions, or of void or -double nominations, the list of candidates proposed by the College of -Arrondissement shall be incomplete, if the list is reduced below half -the number required, the College of the Department shall choose another -Deputy not in the list; if the list is reduced below a fourth, the -College of the Department may elect the whole of the Deputies of the -Department. - -"XV. The Prefects, the Sub-prefects and the General Officers commanding -Military Divisions and Departments are not to be elected in the -Departments where they exercise their functions. - -"XVI. The list of electors shall be settled by the Prefect in the -Council of Prefecture. It shall be posted up five days before the -assembling of the Colleges. - -"XVII. Claims regarding the power of voting which have not been -authorized by the Prefects shall be decided by the Chamber of Deputies, -at the same time that it shall decide upon the validity of the -operations of the Colleges. - -"XVIII. In the Electoral Colleges of Departments, the two oldest -electors and the two electors who pay the most taxes shall execute -the duty of scrutators. The same disposition shall be observed in the -Sections of the College of Arrondissement, composed, at most, of only -fifty electors. In the other Sections, the functions of scrutators -shall be executed by the oldest and the richest of the electors. The -secretary of the College or Section shall be nominated by the President -and the scrutators. - -"XIX. No person shall be admitted into the College, or Section of -College, if he is not inscribed in the list of electors who compose it. -This list will be delivered to the President and will remain posted up -in the place of the sitting of the College, during the period of its -proceedings. - -"XX. All discussion and deliberation whatever are forbidden in the -bosom of the Electoral Colleges. - -"XXI. The police of the College belongs to the President No armed -force, without his order, can be placed near the hall of its sittings. -The Military Commandant shall be bound to obey his requisitions. - -"XXII. The nominations shall be made in the Colleges and Sections of -Colleges, by the absolute majority of the votes given. Nevertheless, -if the nominations are not finished after two rounds of scrutiny, the -bureau shall determine the list of persons who shall have obtained the -greatest number of suffrages at the second round. It shall contain a -number of names double that of the nominations which remain to be made. -At the third round, no suffrages can be given except to the persons -inscribed on that list; and the nominations shall be made by a relative -majority. - -"XXIII. The electors shall vote by bulletins; every bulletin shall -contain as many names as there are nominations to be made. - -"XXIV. The electors shall write their vote on the bureau, or cause it -to be written by one of the scrutators. - -"XXV. The name, qualification and domicile of each elector who shall -deposit his bulletin shall be inscribed by the secretary on a list -destined to establish the number of the voters. - -"XXVI. Every scrutiny shall remain open for six hours, and the result -shall be declared during the sitting. - -"XXVII. There shall be drawn up a _procès verbal_ for each sitting. -This _procès verbal_, or minute, shall be signed by all the members of -the bureau. - -"XXVIII. Conformably with Article XLVI. of the Constitutional Charter, -no amendment can be made upon any Law in the Chamber, unless it has -been proposed and consented to by Us and unless it has been discussed -in the bureau. - -"XXIX. All regulations contrary to the present Ordinance shall remain -without effect. - -"XXX. Our Ministers, the Secretaries of State, are charged with the -execution of the present Ordinance. - -"Given at Saint-Cloud, this 25th day of July in the Year of Grace 1830 -and the sixth of Our reign. - -(Signed) "CHARLES." (Countersigned by all the Ministers.) - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of François René Vicom -e de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassad, by François René Chateaubriand and Alexander Teixeira de Mattos - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF FRANCOIS RENE, VOL 5 *** - -***** This file should be named 55070-0.txt or 55070-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/0/7/55070/ - -Produced by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe at -Free Literature (online soon in an extended version, also -linking to free sources for education worldwide ... MOOC's, -educational materials,...) Images generously made available -by the Hathi Trust. - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |